Premio Anagrama de Ensayo 2013, Runner-up

PRAISE FOR BOOKSHOPS

“Carrión explores the fine lines between pilgrimage destination, touristy gimmick, and decent bookshop. This is the perfect book for those who feel compelled to visit every bookstore they see.”—Publishers Weekly Starred Review

“Excellent...entertaining...this quietly intelligent little book speaks volumes” —Michael Dirda, Washington Post

“[Carrion's] purpose is to celebrate bookstores. And he does so by wandering the globe in search of those that play — or have played — a special role in the intellectual and social lives of their communities. They become Carrión’s personal mappa mundi.” — New York Times

“‘Every bookshop is a condensed version of the world,’ begins Mr. Carrión’s literary and unabashedly sentimental exploration of bookstores around the globe ... [Carrion] wanders through volume-laden aisles in Athens, Paris, Bratislava, Budapest, Tangier and Sydney, and invokes many other shops, both open and closed, telling stories about writers, readers and literary circles ... By the end, you may feel poorly read—but well armed with titles and bookshops to visit on your own." —Wall Street Journal

“Reveals a treasure trove of more obscure bits of book lore ... An exceptionally readable journey to the birth of the printed word...” —National Post

“A combination love letter, historical document, and analysis...”—Quill & Quire

“brilliant...[Carrión's] Borgesian book—it can be opened at any point and read forward, or backwards for that matter—is not at all sad. To read is to travel in time and space, and to travel from bookshop to bookshop is an ecstatic experience for Carrión, a joy he conveys page after page.”—Brian Bethune, Maclean’s

“A literate mappa mundi to bookstores ... no mere travel guide but rather a philosophical, reflective, wide-ranging inquiry into the world of books ... An insightful, educational, and erudite paean to bookshops.”—Kirkus

“[Carrión's] enthusiasm, his desire to tell the reader everything, is charming...a full, deep book.”—Globe & Mail

“A must read for bibliophiles everywhere.”—The National

“When is a book like a Swiss army knife? When it has as many tools for unlocking the mysteries of reading, books and bookstores as the famous gizmo. ... Bookshops comes from 20 years of travel, bookstore searching and musing.”— Winnipeg Free Press

“A brilliant, charming chronicle of bookstores around the world...[Carrión's] expertise shows in his delightful discussions.” —New Orleans Public Radio

“Carrión was a bibliotourist before that was a thing ... This is the ideal read for a cozy weekend trip.”— Fine Books

“A great read that makes you remember why you love the literary world and why it’s your place.” — Veronica Scott Esposito, Conversational Reading

“Bush’s translation is a delight to read, beginning with his decision to translate the title Librerías as Bookshops instead of “Bookstores” (Amazon is a bookstore, but it most certainly is not a bookshop).” —World Literature Today

“Filled with micro essays and deep contemplation, glimpses of booksellers both longstanding and soon-to-be forgotten and, yes, loving tributes too. This is a curious book and the way that it’s ordered would drive a researcher mad, but if you surrender to Carrión’s particular labyrinthine logic, it’s magical.” — A Geography of Reading

“Essential...Carrión makes a case for the importance of bookstores by exploring their vast history. Himself an expert in the field, he represents the perfect voice to bring this need to public attention.” —Seattle Book Review

“It’s fun to travel the world with Carrión, and to travel through history, too.” —Digital Insider

ONE OF CBC BOOKS' "17 WRITERS TO WATCH IN 2017"

Praise for In the Cage

“Hardcastle is one of Canada's emerging literary fiction stars.”—CBC Books

“Written in taut, tough as nails prose, with a cinematic quality comparable to McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men, Hardcastle’s In The Cage, is, to say the least, a wild, unrelenting ride, filled with thugs and desperation and innocents and heartbreak. A damn fine book.”—Donald Ray Pollock, author of Knockemstiff

“Violent and taut.”—Mark Medley, The Globe and Mail

“A potent and gripping novel that rigorously steers through rural poverty and mixed martial arts ... [the characters’] depth and richness flourish throughout Hardcastle’s captivating narrative.”—Waubgeshig Rice, author of Legacy

“Hardcastle's signature style [is] a kind of rural poetry ... closer in spirit to McCarthy than Hemingway.”—Steven W. Beattie, Quill & Quire

“Hardcastle’s descriptions possess an elegant choreography that is vivid, energetic, and well-paced ... In The Cage—like its protagonist, Daniel—is well structured, engaging, and hard to dislike.”—Shawn Syms, Foreword Reviews

“A masterful mashup between genres, matching the masculine violence of the cage match with country-tinged, Mamet-esque dialogue that elevates these characters into rich portraits of desperate people living for sheer survival. A crime novel with the pulse of a sports drama and the bitter toxicity of the best country noir.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Hardcastle works in a noirish, folkloric mode that draws on Cormac McCarthy, Alistair MacLeod and Breaking Bad ... [his] sentences are clean and hard, but the combinations are complex and deliberately crafted. Imagine the slow wrapping of a fist, knuckle by knuckle, and you get a sense of how Hardcastle tightens his narrative with a precision physics that's grim, hypnotic, sometimes heartbreaking, always humane.”—The Globe & Mail

“There is focus and energy in Daniel's quiet rage ... rather than employ a commonplace, Tarantinoesque approach juxtaposing the violence with humour or camp, Handcastle provides no adornments. His economical writing resembles dispatches from a war zone...”—Stephen Knight, Quill & Quire

“[an] impressive debut novel ... he successfully relocates the rolling, Biblical sentences pioneered by Hemingway, Faulkner and McCarthy to his small-town Ontario milieu, and the dialogue is as punchy as Elmore Leonard’s ... Hardcastle is a writer to watch.”—Toronto Star

“Hardcastle's laconic, sometimes stoic prose will likely always get attributed to rural tough guy brooding, but he doesn't write romanticized brawling bumpkins. Rather, his cast is composed of smart, hardworking, devoted people whose intelligence, ethic, and honour are both defined by and in spite of their surroundings.”—Andrew Hood, Bookshelf Blog

“...beautifully written, at times harrowing, and often heartbreaking...”—Open Book

“Hardcastle's writing could be compared to that of Hemingway, Cormac McCarthy or Ken Bruen. His pared down sentences scrutinize a way of life that is rough and unrelenting. His characters are reminiscent of those of David Adams Richards, who come across as marginalized and scorned. Yet the author has found his own style, is in command of his pen and knows his subjects.”—Praire Fire Praise for Kevin Hardcastle

“There is a sure-handed display of craftsmanship in [Debris], and a panoply of human miseries for Kevin Hardcastle’s characters to contend with ... People make dire decisions; violence is commonplace but indelibly described. Hardcastle does darkness well; heartbreaking endings come naturally to him. Everyone gets hurt, but everything makes sense, and the storytelling is so good—the language, a soothing balm for the pain.”—John Irving, author of The Cider House Rules

“[Debris] has flesh and bone, soul and brain. It’s a rare, rock-solid first book by ... a dexterous writer with unflinching vision. This book’s gift is in constructing a museum of hard lives, letting us circle them like excavated marble statues, taking us close enough to see all their mutilation, power, and rough beauty.”—Alix Hawley, National Post

“Unflinching ... Debris is impressive for any writer, especially for a first collection ... Hardcastle comes close to a masterpiece.”—The Winnipeg Free Press

“[Debris] has its own strong voice ... smoothly connected by uncompromising settings and Hardcastle’s authentic, plainspoken country-noir voice, the 11 stories collected here will appeal to fans of gritty, back-country crime fiction, even those who typically shun short stories.”—Booklist

“Each story is a fully realized world—as rich as it is bleak, the characters powerfully and carefully drawn ... Debris is a collection to savour.”—Quill & Quire, starred review

“Debris carves straight to a reader’s gut, and more importantly to their heart. Kevin Hardcastle knows the characters who populate his stories intimately—their troubles, their fears, whatever’s ticking deep at their cores. This collection thrums with subtle power and grit, but also a well-earned measure of hope.”—Craig Davidson, author of Rust and Bone

PRAISE FOR RED, YELLOW, GREEN

“Deftly deploying multiple styles and perspectives, Saravia has added something original to the immigrant novel, and reminded us of how many untold stories lie just below the surface of urban life.” —Montreal Gazette

“A labyrinthine narrative that lodges like shrapnel – bracing and painful ... playfully absurdist, funny, brilliant, and courageous ... Saravia’s accomplishment in Red, Yellow, Green is to make you care, and deeply.” —Montreal Review of Books

“Heartbreaking and uplifting, full of humour and irony, and innovative all throughout, [Red, Yellow, Green] stretches the limits of genre and language as it speaks of love, life and suffering as remembered, and/or imagined by the protagonist.” —María José Giménez

PRAISE FOR WHAT CAN YOU DO

“...page-turning reading... Flood's writing is sparse and direct, and tackles the challenging topics unfolding in her stories with welcome clarity. The stories are brief, but the time it takes to mull them over is bound to be much longer... brief, engaging and entertaining...”—Vancouver Sun

“Veteran Canadian short story writer Flood isn't a household name, but should be... Flood is impeccable with invoking, with the barest of detail, the yawning gap between the archival past and the tenuous present. Her stories often feel like archeological digs, sifting down through accrued detail to reconstruct the wounded lives of her characters.”—Toronto Star

PRAISE FOR CYNTHIA FLOOD

“Complicated, passionate, genuine.”—Chatelaine

“Flood is a highly accomplished stylist, whose technique is tightly calibrated and precise... Anything superfluous is ruthlessly pared away... The stories in Red Girl Rat Boy are brief, but dense, requiring concentration and attention... [yet are] as emotionally engaging as any flat-out storyteller.”—The National Post

“Flood challenges, enlightens, disturbs... a stunning fifth book.”—The Vancouver Sun

PRAISE FOR PENINSULA SINKING

“[Peninsula Sinking]establishes Huebert as one of Canada's most impressive young writers ... the stories are far-reaching, but tightly woven, each focused on characters in significant moments of development or change.”—Robert Wiersma, Quill & Quire

“A sense of wonderment penetrates the everyday lives of characters from the Maritimes in this well-crafted, compelling collection that displays a mastery of classical short-story structure and technique. Huebert’s vibrant language juxtaposes tough characters with tender preoccupations, creating narratives that are unsettling and mesmerizing, making ordinary moments in relationships thrilling and dangerous.”—Danuta Gleed Literary Award Jury

“Peninsula Sinking comes on like weather: A gust, then calm, then a whiteout, then sheet lightning followed by a bone-soaking warmth as another treacherous cloudbank forms in the distance. David Huebert’s prose doesn’t flag, not once. Each sentence is alive and crackling. His turns of phrase will catch your breath in your throat. These stories will sweep you up.”—Laurie D. Graham, author of Rove

“…one of those young writers who has the ability and confidence to present the everyday in extraordinary ways. Many of his characters are seemingly trapped not only by common demands and current circumstances but also by their own desire to be unambitious. His characters might sometimes be a little lost, but like David Huebert’s writing they often soar far above the mundane and demand to be hard.”—David Layton, author of The Dictator

“Peninsula Sinking brings all of the beauty, grace and heartbreak that the form excels at and then rattles you with its imagery...this collection is remarkable, and it speaks to a talent that will be unfolding before us for some time.” —The East Mag

PRAISE FOR DAVID HUEBERT

“A paean to intimacy and to things rarely seen, ‘Enigma’ is an eloquent meditation on the mystery of life and death, love and grief, both human and animal. This is a vivid personal narrative of remarkable spiritual and emotional grace.”—CBC Short Story Prize Jury Statement

“I was impressed by the way that “Colloquium: J.T. Henry and Lady Simcoe on Early Ontario Petrocolonialism” repurposes historical texts to frame the ongoing violence of extraction and dispossession within the language of early settlers.”—Damien Rogers

"These poems have the keys to the zoo, and they’re ready to let the wild rumpus start.”—Geoffery Morrison

Praise for Best Canadian Stories

“The arrival, late in the fall each year, of [this] collection is always cause for fanfare.”—Quill & Quire

“The legacy of this series is massive ... a literary institution.”—Ottawa Citizen

PRAISE FOR BEST CANADIAN STORIES 2017 "[O]ne comes to such a book with high expectations. The results are solid . . . it’s not hard to understand why any given story was selected." —Atlantic Books Today PRAISE FOR BEST CANADIAN STORIES “The arrival, late in the fall each year, of [this] collection is always cause for fanfare.” —Quill & Quire “The legacy of this series is massive... a literary institution.” —Ottawa Citizen

PRAISE FOR THE STAND-IN

“David Helwig is one of Canada’s most unsung writers, talent-wise. The Stand-In is not only a witty, eloquent and satirical impromptu, but an artfully regulated romp…a triumph of comic exposition.”—Toronto Star

“The Stand-In is a witty, inventive, sometimes disturbing excursion into the genre of the dramatic monologue, that literary form perfected in poetry by Robert Browning, and here equally successful in prose, in which a single speaker addressing an unseen audience reveals more about himself than he realizes or perhaps intended.” —Prairie Fire

“Helwig superbly explores complex philosophical ideas. His style is engaging and informing, his sense of dialogue extraordinary.”—The Winnipeg Free Press

“A teasingly complex book, The Stand-In combines the intellectual playfulness of a postmodern novel with the high drama of an old-fashioned whodunnit.” —Kim Jernigan, The New Quarterly

Praise for Norman Levine

“If Levine lacks for a Canadian readership, it could be in part because there is no definitive, breakout collection of his stories...that might change with I Don't Want to Know Anyone Too Well. ... If great writing has a mark, surely this is it.”—André Forget, The Walrus

“emblematic of our national literature ... [his] protagonists are forever curious about another class, another generation, another place or culture; about alternative choices that might have resulted in different outcomes ... masterful prose.”—Quill & Quire

“Reading Levine, this most painterly of Canadian writers, is a bit like his examining that Monet. Up close, the stories seem simple, almost anecdotal. At a remove, Levine’s technique, and his themes of exile and loss, of hope and disappointment, of deep empathy for one’s fellows come clearly into focus.”—Toronto Star

“I Don’t Want to Know Anyone Too Well is a delightfully contradictory thing: a massive book by a minimalist of language. . . Absorb these stories as they first appeared, one at a time. Let one sit and steep before you move on to the next. They will stay with you. Welcome this collection into your home and place it on your shelf where it belongs: in among your Gallants, your Munros and, yes, your Chekhovs. Norman Levine deserves it and his time has come.”—Ian McGillis, Montreal Gazette

“For me, Norman Levine’s stories are about the fleeting and yet durable moments between strangers – or among family, who are another kind of unknown. … He is a master at recording the intimate particulars of one person meeting another, at exploring the mystery of what stays in the mind when the other person has gone”—André Alexis, author of Fifteen Dogs

“Levine’s stories are made of things that stick, unexpectedly, in the imagination.”—Globe and Mail

“Norman Levine stands at the very centre of achievement in Canadian short story writing.”—John Metcalf

“Mr. Levine is a true artist, who grinds his bones—and anything else he can lay his hands on—to make his bread.”—Bernard Levin, The Sunday Times

“One of the most moving, most sad, most deeply felt, savage and loving pieces of autobiography I’ve ever read.”—BBC

“It is extraordinary that the most spare prose can contain such compassion.”—London Daily Telegraph

“…a masterly touch.”—Times Literary Supplement

“Levine’s is a subtle, penetrating and quietly compassionate vision of many sad facets of the human condition: reduced expectations, confused identities, stunted family feeling, the quiet ravages of passing time assuaged by an equally quiet appreciation of what the moment has to offer.”—The Montreal Gazette

“[Levine’s] writing is distinctive for its visual clarity, for the Matisse-like simplicity of his images, a trait that owes much to his friendship with painters ... Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron, and Francis Bacon.”—The Ottawa Citizen

“A marvellous style. His stories are spare but there is so much hidden beneath the surface of them.”—Robert Weaver

PRAISE FOR WHEREVER WE MEAN TO BE “A poem by Sarah could fit into the palm of your hand ... Wherever We Mean To Be showcases [her] gifts: her visual clarity, no-nonsense voice, compressed language, rhythmic prowess, and metaphoric agility. These qualities speak from a long-cultivated focus and bespeak a writer who pays fierce attention to the basic fact of being in the world." —Anita Lahey, The Walrus “This city, read by a kind of hidden code, seems lost in time; lives lived in its outmoded rooms have a timeless quality...the voice remains utterly its own, in pursuit of what Sarah calls “the lost soundtrack of daily life.” —Canadian Jewish News PRAISE FOR ROBYN SARAH “So assured and musical is the hand that shaped them that these poems tend to memorize themselves, as though they had always formed part of our experience.” —Eric Ormsby “The cool delight of her poetry is to turn those subjects of routine forgetfulness into words that quiver in the heart... Sarah knows the language: its pressure points, its traditions, its crevices. Trained as a musician, she also understands flow and timing, when to sing and when to keep silent.” —Montreal Gazette