Recent News and Announcements

news | Wednesday February 12, 2025

On "Learning to Listen to Rivers"

Check out Queen’s University’s coverage of “Learning to Listen to Rivers, ” a two-day event conducted by sophie anne edwards. The Conversations with the Kagawong River author was recently Queen’s University’s Geopoet-in-Residence.

From the article: “‘The ethos for our time together is one of listening and responsiveness, rather than finely defined step-by-step instructions,” Edwards explains. “While we were all invited to create, and to share, we were not focused on creating finished pieces or performances: rather, we leaned into process, loosening the static boundaries of productivity. We asked questions that invite long consideration, and perhaps never a finished answer.’”

Read more here.

news | Saturday February 8, 2025

Black History and Black Futures Month

February is Black History and Black Futures Month! To mark the occasion, we want to suggest some outstanding titles by Black authors to add to your to-be-read pile. Whether it’s a new release, a classic from the vault, or a soon-to-land title, we’re excited to spotlight these remarkable talents.

First up is Redbone Coonhound by Amy Lee Lavoie and Omari Newton. This scorching satire published in 2024 won six METAs (Montréal English Theatre Awards) and was named one of the Toronto Star’s “Ten Best Theatre Shows in 2023.” Out for a walk in their Vancouver neighbourhood, interracial couple Mike and Marissa meet a dog with an unfortunate breed name: Redbone coonhound. This detail unleashes a cascading debate between them about race and their relationship that manifests as a series of micro-plays, each satirizing contemporary perspectives on modern culture. Through hard-hitting comedic elements, Redbone Coonhound explores the intricacies of race, systemic power, and privilege in remarkable and surprising ways.

Here’s an excerpt from the play:

MIKE: …“Redbone coonhound.” Really? Looking me straight in the
eyes when they said it, too … Like, really? Really?

MARISSA: Should they have not looked at you when they said it?
I think that would have been weird.

MIKE: They shouldn’t have said it at all.

MARISSA: Well, you did ask them. And it’s not like they came up
with it. They’re not nineteenth-century Quaker folk.

MIKE: They chose it.

MARISSA: If a Dalmatian was called a honky cracker, I’d
still want one.

MIKE: Disney would not have made One Hundred and One Honky Crackers.”

Pick up your copy of Redbone Coonhound here.

Have you read Je me souviens by the late, great Lorena Gale? A finalist for the 2002 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama, Je me souviens is a striking dramatic monologue that reconstructs the author’s childhood in Montréal. Her autobiographical protagonist is unabashedly one of those spoil-sport “ethniques” who, for political factions led by the likes of Parizeau, undermined and destroyed the separatist “pur-laine” vision of a new Quebec nation, sparkling and clean in its coat of only three colours—the seamless snow-white of the landscape, the royal blue of the sky, and the golden yellow of the sun (king), all allusions to the symbology of the imperialists who founded this “new nation,” this “new France.”

An excerpt from Je me souviens:

“Don’t talk back.
Don’t raise your voice.
Don’t wear loud colours.
Don’t do anything to draw attention to yourself.
Smile even when it hurts.
Just try to fit in.
And don’t rock the boat.
If anyone stops to speak to you, answer them politely and only if you have to. Otherwise
keep on moving.
Walk like you know where you’re going.
Keep focused on what’s ahead of you.
If you run into some commotion, don’t stand
around gawking.
Don’t try to help.
Just keep on moving.
If it looks like trouble is coming towards you,
then cross the street.
If it looks like trouble is sneaking up behind
you, then run.”

Order your copy of Je me souviens here.

Coming this spring is allostatic load, the much-anticipated second poetry collection by Junie Désil. allostatic load navigates the racialized interplay of chronic wear and tear during tumultuous years marked by global racial tensions, an ongoing pandemic, the commodification of care, and the burden of systemic injustice. Moving between diaristic intimacy and the remove of news reportage, this collection invites readers to hold the vulnerability and resilience required to navigate deep healing in a world that does not wish you well, in a world that is inflamed and consequently inflames us, in a world where true restoration and health must co-occur with the planet and with each other. Watch this space for more news, and pre-order your copy here.

Also forthcoming is a brand new poetry collection by the University of California Berkeley’s current Holloway Lecturer in the Practice of Poetry, Cecily Nicholson! Crowd Source parallels the daily migration of the crows who, aside from fledgling season, fly across metro Vancouver every day at dawn and dusk. This durational study echoes their flight, occasionally touching down to reflect on human-crow interactions. Continuing Nicholson’s engagement with the contemporary climate crisis, social movements, and Black diasporic relations, this is a text for all concerned about practising ecological futurities befitting corvid sensibilities, caw. Pre-order a copy of Crowd Source here.

We hope your Black History and Black Futures Month is full of the kind of books that stick with you long after you’ve finished reading them. Good reading, all!

news | Friday February 7, 2025

An Interview with sophie anne edwards

rob mclennan interviews sophie anne edwards about her debut book Conversations with the Kagawong River, her influences, and life as a writer.

From the interview:

5 – Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?

I didn’t know I would enjoy readings. I live in a pretty rural place, so readings are a rarity. The Talon launch in Vancouver was my first public reading (apart from reading stuff in workshops and at residencies). So now, as a seasoned (ha) reader after four or five events, I’m finding that I enjoy reading the work aloud. The voice does something with the work that isn’t found on the page, and I love the quiet vibe when folks are really into it.”

Read the complete piece here.

news | Wednesday February 5, 2025

Behind the Moon in Victoria Buzz

Nevada Alde writes about the upcoming stage production of Behind the Moon by Anosh Irani at The Belfry Theatre for Victoria Buzz. Dazzling for stage and page alike, Behind the Moon is a story of love and loss, freedom and faith, the meaning of brotherhood, and how we begin a new life.

Read Alde’s piece here.

news | Tuesday February 4, 2025

Congratulations, andrea!

the berry takes the shape of the bloom by andrea bennett has been awarded second place in the 2024 Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry! The poems in the berry takes the shape of the bloom entwine around enmeshed experiences of gender, family, trans pregnancy, abuse, fear, and becoming. Read about all of the winners of the eleventh annual Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry here. Congratulations, andrea!

news | Monday February 3, 2025

Hot Off the Press! Uiesh / Somewhere by Joséphine Bacon and Translated by Jessica Moore Has Landed!

We are so pleased to announce that Uiesh / Somewhere, winner of the Prix des libraires, the 2019 Indigenous Voices Award for French Prose, the Prix littéraire des enseignant.e.s de Français, and the Coup de Cœur Renaud-Bray, and finalist for the Prix Alain-Grandbois, is now available for English language readers! Written by phenomenal Innu poet Joséphine Bacon and translated by Jessica Moore, Uiesh / Somewhere is a dual-language collection, with all poems appearing in both Innu-aimun and English.

An excerpt from Uiesh / Somewhere:

“I have a hundred words to tell you
the story of my old age
my wrinkles

Gone, my lightness of foot

Short of breath now
but in my dreaming I walk on
tireless

I know how to hear the leaves
I learn the world
my age grows old with me

I haven’t got a hundred words
I haven’t lived a hundred years”

The poems in Uiesh / Somewhere are rooted in Innu Elder Joséphine Bacon’s experiences of moving between the nomadic ways of her Ancestors in the northern wilderness of Nitassinan and the clamour of the city. Wherever she is, Bacon is attentive to the smallest details of her environment, from the moon and the stars, the Northern Lights, and the falling snow, to the sirens of fire engines and the noise of a busy bar night. Pick up your copy of Uiesh / Somewhere here.

news | Friday January 31, 2025

Behind the Moon Is Here!

A brand new play by the award-winning playwright and novelist Anosh Irani has arrived! Behind the Moon is a story of love and loss, freedom and faith, the meaning of brotherhood, and how we begin a new life. In a Mughlai restaurant in Toronto, a late-night visit from a mysterious stranger rattles the cage and shatters the peace. Now the restaurant’s employee Ayub must face reality, the family he’s left behind, and the dreams he’s abandoned, all while keeping the restaurant shiningly clean.

An excerpt from Behind the Moon:

AYUB: The register’s closed for the day.

JALAL: You take it then.

AYUB: It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.

JALAL: No, no, that’s not right. Please, I want to –

AYUB: I insist. It’s a gift. One dead chicken. Smeared in butter. Way
past the best-before date.

JALAL: I really appreciate it.

AYUB: It’s okay.

JALAL: My name is Jalal.

JALAL offers his hand. AYUB shakes it. But does not

introduce himself.

And you are …

AYUB: Late. I’m late. I have to go.

….

JALAL: I’m really sorry. But I have to ask.

AYUB: Ask what?

JALAL: Why did you give me the food?

AYUB: You said it was an emergency.

JALAL: I’m not sure if you believed me.

AYUB: Does it matter?

JALAL: I would be grateful if you told me.

AYUB: Fine. I gave you the food because you passed the test.

JALAL: Test? What test?

AYUB: You did not touch the glass. When you chose your food,
you did not touch the glass.”

With stage productions running in Victoria and Vancouver this season, Behind the Moon is not to be missed. Pick up your copy here.

news | Thursday January 30, 2025

In Memoriam: Chief Bill Wilson, 1944–2025

We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Kwakwaka’wakw Hereditary Chief Bill Wilson. Father to Kory Wilson and Jody Wilson-Raybould and husband to Bev Sellars, former Chief and Councillor of the Xat’sull (Soda Creek) First Nation in Williams Lake, Wilson was a lifelong defender of Indigenous Rights. Wilson was one of the founders of the BC First Nations Congress (now the First Nations Summit). Some of his personal story and prose are included in Sellars’s Price Paid: The Fight for First Nations Survival. Wilson’s work, words, and activism were instrumental in enshrining Indigenous Title to Land and Treaty Rights in the Canadian Constitution. We extend our condolences to his loved ones and all who are mourning this terrible loss.

news | Wednesday January 29, 2025

Hot Off the Press! Feast Has Arrived!

It’s a new tale for this era of wildfires and the relentless appetite of consumerism! Feast by the award-winning playwright Guillermo Verdecchia has arrived at Talonbooks. Feast follows a comfortable North American family as they contend with compounding global crises and the end of things as we know them. Twenty-something daughter Isabel turns to activism. Her mother Julia fortifies their home in preparation. And her father Mark lets his increasingly extractive foodie cravings precipitate the family’s unravelling as he turns to super-competent, underemployed fixer and logistics genius Chukwuemeka Okonkwe for help satisfying his urge to consume more.

Here’s a sneak peek from Feast:

EMEKA
There are many stories about it, probably none of them true. Some say
it was first organized by apostates at the end of the last millennium
… a festival in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah. Almost
certainly, it is simply a cabal of occultist foodies … in any case … the
Festum Consummacionem Seculi, my friend. The Feast at the End of
the World. You want in, Mzungu?

MARK
Ah … what is it, exactly?

EMEKA
A meal like no other.

MARK
Archie, I don’t think I should …
… I’m in treatment here and things are – I’m
making changes.

EMEKA
Excellent. This is such good news.

MARK
Yes. Thank you. I’m very glad.

EMEKA
So, it is appropriate to celebrate. A final meal, then? A grand finale.
Now that you are so much better and that your life is back on course.
Say goodbye to all that in grand style and then back to your life.

(Shift.)

MARK
I fly to Tunis. There’s a young guy waiting for me, and he’s going to
drive down the coast where I’ll catch a boat that will take me to the
island of Lampedusa. The guy says nothing for the entire drive, hours.
Maybe he doesn’t speak English. When we get to the port, he gives me a
dirty cloth bag with something heavy in it. A gun.

Moving from North America to Beirut to Mombasa, with stops along the way at Starbucks, the Centre for Avant-Garde Geography, and a cave on the island of Lampedusa, Feast spans the globalized world and beyond, offering a wild, magic-realist take on the uncertainties and anxieties of the early twenty-first century. Order your copy here.

news | Thursday January 23, 2025

Lha yudit'ih We Always Find A Way Is a Finalist for the Jeanne Clark Local History Award

We are pleased to announce that the outstanding community oral history Lha yudit’ih We Always Find a Way: Bringing the Tŝilhqot’in Title Case Home by Lorraine Weir with Chief Roger William has been named a finalist for the 2025 Jeanne Clark Local History Award! Presented by the Prince George Public Library, this award was founded in 1985 to commend exceptional works which highlight and preserve local history. A huge congratulations to Lorraine Weir, Chief Roger William, and the fifty Xeni Gwet’ins, Tŝilhqot’ins, and allies who made Lha yudit’ih We Always Find A Way the outstanding title that it is.

An award ceremony announcing the winner and celebrating all of the finalists takes place at the Prince George Conference & Civic Centre, on Sunday February 23rd, 2025, at 3:00 pm. There will be author talks, brief video presentations from the finalists, and light refreshments. Attendance is free and seating is limited. To register to attend, email communications AT pgpl DOT ca by February 14.

news | Wednesday January 22, 2025

Cecily Nicholson Named Holloway Lecturer in the Practice of Poetry

Cecily Nicholson, author of the award-winning collections Wayside Sang, From the Poplars, and the forthcoming Crowd Source has been named the University of California Berkeley’s 2025 Holloway Lecturer in the Practice of Poetry! Each year, the Holloway Series recognizes one poet, awarding them a semester-long residency at the university. Read the announcement here. A huge congratulations to Cecily for this wonderful achievement!

news | Wednesday January 15, 2025

Tom Power Interviews Anosh Irani

Tom Power interviews Anosh Irani about his latest play Behind the Moon on CBC’s Q! The pair discuss how one of Irani’s characters “haunted him” until this most recent of his plays was developed. Listen to the full discussion here.

news | Wednesday January 15, 2025

The Diary of Dukesang Wong in Canadian Literature

Botao Wu writes about The Diary of Dukesang Wong: A Voice from Gold Mountain by Dukesang Wong, translated by Wanda Joy Hoe and edited by David McIlwraith and In | Appropriate edited by Kim Davids Mandar (Gordon Hill Press) in Canadian Literature. Read his complete essay here.

news | Tuesday January 14, 2025

Leanne Dunic Named the University of the Fraser Valley's Writer-in-Residence

Leanne Dunic, author of photography and poetry collection Wet, has been named the University of the Fraser Valley’s writer-in-residence! Check it out here. Congratulations, Leanne!

news | Monday January 13, 2025

My Turquoise Years in The British Columbia Review

Valerie Green reviews the twentieth anniversary edition of My Turquoise Years: A Memoir by M.A.C. Farrant: in The British Columbia Review.

An excerpt from the review: “The book is a charming, humorous, yet heartbreaking story … With Farrant’s impeccable talent for language, her story is beautifully detailed.”

Read the complete piece here.

news | Saturday January 11, 2025

sophie anne edwards Named Geopoet-in-Residence at Queen's University

sophie anne edwards has been named Geopoet in Residence at Queen’s University! edwards’ debut hybrid collection Conversations with the Kagawong River is a phenomenal site-specific engagement with an ecosystem of Mnidoo Mnising (Manitoulin Island). Read the announcement from Queen’s University here. Congratulations, sophie!

news | Friday January 10, 2025

Conversations with the Kagawong River Launch Covered in the Manitoulin Expositor

The Manitoulin Expositor provided in-depth coverage of the Gore Bay Launch of Conversations with the Kagawong River by sophie anne edwards.

From the article: “As Sophie took the stage, she admitted to ‘feeling emotional’ and to ‘choking up’ on the culmination of several years of effort in the production of Conversations with the Kagawong River. ‘I always wanted to write. It took me until age 50 to do it. There is time to write, people!’ she laughed. ‘Coming to writing after so long, I finally allowed myself the space.’

As she read, images from her book were projected in a continuous stream onto a large screen beside her. The reading became a visual performance – scenes of the River with Sophie’s scattered letters and texts floating, sinking, disintegrating; the artist underwater; paddling through lily pads and cattails; tracing on bark; we experience what she saw and heard along the River’s edge, we feel the water as at one point she dove in, we consider her artistic responses to the River’s calls, we feel the icy cold, the heat of summer as her words and images resonate through the stillness of the room, like a meditation.”

Read the full article here.

news | Thursday January 9, 2025

Talon Titles in rob mclennan's Top Poetry Books of the Year

A Net of Momentary Sapphire by R. Kolewe, The Middle by Stephen Collis, cop city swagger by Mercedes Eng, and Conversations with the Kagawong River by sophie anne edwards all appear on rob mclennan’s list of top Canadian poetry collections he has reviewed this year. See all of his top titles on Dusie here.

news | Wednesday January 8, 2025

Samantha Nock in Read Local BC

Great to see Samantha Nock, author of the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize–shortlisted collection A Family of Dreamers, named in Read Local BC’s article on must-read debut authors. Check it out here.

news | Tuesday January 7, 2025

An Interview with Jordan Abel

Laura Mushumanski interviews Jordan Abel, winner of the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction for his novel Empty Spaces (Penguin Random House, 2023) and author of multiple Talonbooks titles including The Place of Scraps and Injun, in Alberta Native News.

An excerpt from the article: “Along Abel’s journey, he came to realize the importance of genuinely trying to be a part of a community, and ‘to exist with community, you’re there actually to support people—it goes a long way.’ Jordan realized that the more he opened up by becoming involved in community, actually make friends – because we writers are a bit of a recluse, things started to open up for him, emphasizing on ‘be a part of those things that can support each other.’”

Read the complete piece here.

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