6 March 2014
6 March 2014
To begin at the end, here is a coda to the talk I gave today at the Atwater Library in Montreal on Mavis Gallant.
Mavis Gallant at The Standard, Montreal
29 January 2014
Mark Abley's Conversations with a Dead Man is an unorthodox mash-up of sources, but it is this generic variety which allows the text to both entertain and succeed.
13 December 2013
Salon .ll. congratulates Dany Laferrière, the first Canadian to join the Immortals
[Photo: Linda Leith]
25 November 2013
Part Two: Fameck, May 2003: Waiting for the mailman, and Sylvia
Daewoo, an evocative historical novel by François Bon, gives voice to the (mostly women) workers who were the ultimate victims of this corporate crime.
15 November 2013
Based on documentary research and personal interviews with some of the workers, François Bon has created a work that captures the very human and often tragic side of this drama. As he himself describes it, "If these female workers no longer have a place anywhere, let this novel be their memoir."
22 October 2013
Pamela Davison writes about Vigilante Season, the second in Peter Kirby's gripping Luc Vanier series of crime novels, launching today at Montreal's Paragraphe Books.
20 September 2013
13 September 2013
Author Connie Guzzo-McParland
Connie Guzzo-McParland is the author of The Girls of Piazza d'Amore, a first novel published by Linda Leith Publishing of September 14th, 2013. Literary critic Linda Morra conducted this interview with her on the eve of publication.
3 August 2013
Jennifer Quist is an Alberta writer whose first novel, Love Letters of the Angels of Death, is published today by Linda Leith Publishing. This interview took place on the eve of publication.
Jennifer Quist
14 July 2013
This is what makes a culture, this kind of occasion, this play, this green sward, this shared delight, the company of all these friends and strangers. This is Shakespeare in the Park, thanks to Repercussion Theatre.
Julie Tamiko Manning as Titania and Alain Goulem as Bottom [Photo: Repercussion Theatre]
23 June 2013
The Tate resurrected my joy. Perhaps a replica or reconstruction may have the tendency to kill the imagination or spirit. Perhaps there is a dark aspect to glorifications and resurrections from cultural graves.
Courtyard of the Tate Modern, London
9 April 2013
The Commonwealth Foundation has announced shortlists for the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Part of Commonwealth Writers, the prizes unearth, develop and promote the best new writing from across the Commonwealth, developing literary connections worldwide.
25 March 2013
Photo courtesy Davide D'Alessandro
We all must eat to survive, but visitors to Italy are invited to join in a little activity, done three times daily, that is another pillar of the dolce vita, namely eating to have pleasure. And lots of it.
Another excerpt from Davide D'Alessandro's unpublished book The Dolce Vita Code.
16 March 2013
A gelato, that most simple, small, and affordable item of gastronomic art, is a fundamental part of the dolce vita. Few things, big or little, so easily inject us with happiness and evoke a smile of satisfaction. Have it often, certainly daily, while in Italy.
More from Davide D'Alessandro's The Dolce Vita Code.
Luca D'Alessandro [Photo courtesy Davide D'Alessandro]
6 March 2013
Via Veneto, Rome [Photo: Linda Leith]
Why do so many visitors to the mecca of pleasure fail to experience the wonders of the dolce vita? The answer, I submit, lies in psychological research.
The Foreword to Davide D'Alessandro's The Dolce Vita Code.
2 March 2013
It’s worth remembering that the word paradise traces its origins to the word pairidaeza, which in the ancient Iranian language Avestan, means a wall constructed to enclose cultivated grounds or a small grove of fruit trees. There is the wall again. As for Eden, that fabulous paradise lost, one need say no more.
Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall
28 February 2013
Aside from necessary funds, restoring a landscape or great garden requires patience, understanding, knowledge, and a good helping of genius. Gardens, unlike pyramids or palaces, can disappear through neglect, financial collapse, or death of original maker. They are often staked to the fortunes of the families.
Eden Project, Cornwall
27 February 2013
A garden requires walls, water, and stone.
Xstrata Treetop Walkway, Kew Gardens
21 February 2013
Step Six: Buying a Car and a Home
If you insist on buying a house, then at least be smart enough to wait until at least 7-10 years after your arrival. Do the math. You need to spend the first three years on your education, one year getting out of debt, and three years earning enough to put aside a big down payment.
8 February 2013
Maybe I will go easier on my sons the next time they can’t find something — but only if it’s something green.
![McCord Museum](http://<a href="http//www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/VIEW-23291/" title="More information about this image"><img src="http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/ObjView/v23291.jpg" width="385" height="305" alt="Photograph | Sherbrooke St. from roof of Ritz Carlton, Montreal, QC, 1925 | VIEW-23291" /></a>){kind=link}