By Rod Mickleburgh Social media reaction to the unexpected death recently of Canadian actor Jonathan Crombie, who so memorably played Gilbert Blythe in Anne of Green Gables, came almost entirely from the distaff side. Not too many guys were fans of the movie, I guess. Well, I’m a fan. A big one. Like many of my gender, […]
Allen Ginsberg, photographer
By Rod Mickleburgh I met William Burroughs once. It was during my magical year in Paris (sigh). I’d read in Libération that morning that the legendary icon of the Beats would be at the City of Light’s annual Salon du Livre at the Grand Palais. I thought ‘”What the hell,” and went down to catch […]
“The indomitable cussedness that made him unique”
By Rod Mickleburgh Paul St. Pierre, B.C.’s superb chronicler of the beautiful Chilcotin and its all-too-human characters, passed away last July. But friends and family waited until Sunday, the weekend of Mexico’s Day of the Dead, to formally say goodbye to the former Vancouver Sun columnist, Liberal MP, gifted writer, and, in the words of […]
Quidditch, Canadian style
A BoB Short: Twenty-eight athletes from across the country will be dusting off their broomsticks to represent Canada as they host this year’s International Quidditch Association (IQA) Global Games, the international championship of a sport taken straight from the pages of Harry Potter. IQA’s style of quidditch differs from its fictional counterpart in a few […]
The Alice Munro effect
Alice Munro has won the Nobel Prize for literature. In the Sept. 15, 2001 edition of Saturday Night magazine, Frank Moher, backofthebook.ca’s editor, wrote with tongue only-slightly-in-cheek about the great volume of short story collections published in Canada, perhaps inspired by having the great Ms. Munro among us. His suggestion for a short-story moratorium did […]
Every day is culture day
By Rachelle Stein-Wotten This weekend a lot of Canadians rejoiced in the cultural mecca that is this nation by participating in some 7,000 free activities in 850 communities. Creatively named Culture Days, the annual event celebrates, well, culture in its many forms – artistic, ethnic, regional, social – with events across the country. “Creative people” […]
Open season on critics
By Zoe Grams Fringe, film fest and publishing season is upon us – a time when the smell of suntan lotion lingers as we push into theatres. But it’s the critics, not just the performers, who are making headlines. With 76 events in the Vancouver Fringe, more than 100 in the Toronto International Film Festival, […]
The Giller Prize deserves an award
By Frank Moher A bunch of years ago now, I wrote an article for Saturday Night magazine decrying the fact that the Giller Prize was a captive of big name publishers and authors. On the basis of the long list for the 2012 Giller that was released last week, as well as the one from […]
Volunteers aim to avoid 200,000+ book-burning
A BoB short: Maybe it has something to do with the recent death of Ray Bradbury, and memories of Farenheit 451, but Shaunna Raycraft has found lots of help with her 200,000+ books. Seven years ago, the Pine Lake, Sask. woman rescued the massive literary hoard from a neighbour, who had threatened to burn it […]
More civil liberties at the Grand Prix
By Marilyne Veilleix This Sunday, June 10, 2012, I attempted to take part in a protest-action: over the course of a few hours, I would take the metro back and forth from Berri to Jean-Drapeau station to peacefully protest my disagreement with the Formula 1 Grand Prix, which in my opinion promotes sexism. Dressed in […]
