In 1964, the Vancouver architect Arthur Erickson, who died on May 19th at age 84, spoke with an unknown interviewer about the ideas that would eventually make him internationally-renowned. At the time, he was completing work on Simon Fraser University, the campus in Burnaby, B.C., designed with partner Geoffrey Massey, that brought him world attention […]
Arts and Books
Arthur Erickson: The Lost Interview (Part 2)
Continued from page 1 Interviewer: Are you angry? AE: Consistently. Interviewer: Is there a pride in the city? AE: No . . . I don’t think people take pride in this city. I think this is one of the reasons people don’t give money to the city or to the university beyond a token few, […]
Arthur Erickson: The Lost Interview (Part 3)
Continued from page 2 Interviewer: What do you think of the women in Vancouver? AE: They are rather fashionless. I don’t think they take advantage of their beauty. I think in general they are handsome, but they look dowdy and ill-kempt as though they just got out of bed. The men appear to lack adventure […]
Not so fast, Google
By Brian Brennan The CBC called. Would I like to go on the radio and talk to Donna about the Google book settlement? Hey people, you’re talking to an Irishman here. Of course, I would like to go on the radio and talk about the Google book settlement. I would like to go on the […]
Desire amidst holocaust
THE DISAPPEAREDBy Kim EchlinHamish Hamilton Canada224 pp, $29.00 Review by Frank Moher The first of the trials for genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia commenced on March 30th, fully 13 years after the establishment of the U.N.-assisted tribunal, and fully 30 years after the end of the four-year period during which an estimated […]
Y’all come out west, Billy Bob
By Frank Moher You have to give Jian Ghomeshi credit for the way he handled Billy Boob Thornton’s meltdown on his radio program “Q” on Wednesday morning. Respeck, too, to his long-suffering bandmates, who have obviously become practised in the fine art of prima-donna handling. At least they understood they were there to try […]
Fiercely funny
FIERCEBy Hannah HolbornMcClelland & Stewart230 pp, $22.99 Review by Frank Moher Hannah Holborn’s debut story collection, Fierce, mines one of the most pervasive memes in literature, the dysfunctional family. Whether that strikes you as good news or bad probably depends on your tolerance for the traditional — not to mention how dysfunctional your own family […]
Sandeep Chauhan’s Winter Playlist
With the whole country facing winter chills, I thought I’d focus this playlist on some jawns to keep you warm: love songs. Been a minute since last we heard from Q-Tip but damn if the wait wasn’t worth it. The Renaissance is a throwback to old ATCQ without being maudlin. With most of the production […]
“Books are a big Frankenstein monster”
backofthebook.ca editor Frank Moher talks with Kenneth J. Harvey, author of this Fall’s Giller-nominated novel Blackstrap Hawco. Read Frank’s review of the book here. Moher: Were you born in Newfoundland? Harvey: I was born in St John’s, grew up in St. John’s. My folks are from Bell Island, which is a small island off the […]
Son of the rock
BLACKSTRAP HAWCOBy Kenneth J. HarveyRandom House Canada848 pages, $34.95 Review by Frank MoherBlackstrap Hawco is a big book, but it’s also what used to be called a Big Book. This was a genre hatched in the 1950s and ’60s by U.S. authors anxious to prove that their Big Book was bigger than other U.S. authors’ […]
