BENEVOLENCE By Cynthia Holz Alfred A. Knopf Canada 310 pages, $29.95 Review by Tara Hughes From its shocking opening to its moving conclusion, Cynthia Holz’s new novel, Benevolence, examines the destructive effects of fear and spiritual exhaustion on a marriage, and the rough healing that sometimes follows. Holz takes the reader deep into the lives […]
Arts and Books
Revisited: Billy Elliot’s big city jive
The musical Billy Elliot opened in Toronto the other night, with its composer, Sir Elton, in attendance. The Globe loved it. The Post didn’t. But great or whatever, it’s liable to hang around Toronto for as long as it has London and New York, because this is the ultimate big-city musical. In the following 2009 […]
Editing for nothing for Dire Straits
By Frank Moher You will have heard that an American publishing house has plans for an edition of Huckleberry Fiinn in which the character “N***** Jim” is to be renamed “Slave Jim.” Now comes word that the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has ruled that the song “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits is unfit for […]
The sentimental publishers of “The Sentimentalists”
By Frank Moher Okay, so I was set to go all crazy right-wing on Gaspereau Press and suggest that its federal funding should be pulled because of its refusal to capitalize on its Giller Prize victory. Johanna Skibsrud’s The Sentimentalists won the $50,000 award on Tuesday night, and immediately her Nova Scotia-based publisher, who handcraft […]
Why I won’t listen to Canada Reads 2011
By Steven W. Beattie Thirty seconds. That’s the approximate amount of time it took after the announcement of the 40 titles in contention to appear on the 2011 edition of the CBC’s “Canada Reads” program for Twitter to explode with tweets from authors, publishers, friends, and fans, all of them advocating for one title or […]
Who needs a BC arts council when we have the Liberals?
By Frank Moher Jane Danzo, in her letter of resignation as Chair of the BC Arts Council and in various exit interviews that followed, has confirmed what most of us already suspected: that the Liberal government now sees itself as arbiter of all things cultural in the province. At last, we can begin to see […]
Am I on Blackett’s “crap” list?
By Brian Brennan I applied to a provincial government agency – twice — to fund my next history book project, and was turned down, twice. Why? First, let me tell you the reason I applied for this money. You don’t make big money writing history in this country. It is the sport of amateurs. Amateurs, […]
Calgary Jazz Festival plays itself off
By Brian Brennan Chick Corea was supposed to play Calgary this Friday night, followed by Ben E. King on Saturday night. But that won’t happen now because C-Jazz, the local organizers of the Calgary Jazz Festival, have abruptly pulled the plug on the annual event. Is it possible the shows will still go on? Likely […]
Lindsay Blackett strays from the script
By Frank Moher So, Lindsay Blackett was just performing a public service when, at the Banff World Television Festival, he called Canadian TV “shit”? Apparently so. As the Alberta Minister of Culture and Community Spirit told the Calgary Herald earlier this week, his intention was to create “a national discussion” about Canadian TV’s crapitude. But […]
Betty White on Saturday Night Live: not cute
By Frank Moher The show hasn’t reached my time zone yet, but by all Twitter accounts Betty White is killing it on “Saturday Night Live” tonight. But all this amazement that she can still do the job is a bit misplaced, no? For one thing, she’s only 88-years old. My buddy Antony Holland, whom some […]
