Riding da Riddim: The Culcha Dancehall Clash, II, by Maurie Alioff

24 April 2014

Miley Cyrus’s eyebrow-raising “twerking” is a bland white-bread facsimile of what happens all over Jamaica, every night, when the selectors program hot songs the deejays rap, and partiers dance until dawn.

Rising dancehall queen Tifa at the Montreal Reggae Fest
Riding da Riddim: The Culcha Dancehall Clash I, by Maurie Alioff

24 April 2014

Reggae music linked up to the anti-colonial, back-to Africa, enlightenment-seeking Rastafari movement that originated in the 1930’s. It became the only widely popular recent music to transmit religious and political beliefs, and many other outgoing messages. Jah-struck roots reggae (or “culture,” pronounced “culcha”) works like gospel music.
Like a Beast, by Joy Sorman, I, translation by Lara Vergnaud

5 April 2014

Like a Beast tells the story of a young man, Pim, who loves animals. He loves them so much that he learns to butcher them. Perfectly. The author’s meticulous research helps carry the reader deep into the realm of its subject.

Translated by Ellen Sowchek 

[Photo: C. Hélie. All rights reserved.]
Linnet, as in Linnet Muir, by Linda Leith

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
The Immortal Dany Laferrière

13 December 2013

Salon .ll. congratulates Dany Laferrière, the first Canadian to join the Immortals 

[Photo: Linda Leith]
Daewoo, by François Bon - Part Two

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. 

 
Daewoo, by François Bon - Part One

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."
Mont-Royal métro

20 September 2013

Just read this post from writer Will Aitken on Facebook, along with comments from other friends. Incidents of this kind are happening every day here in Montreal, prompted by the Quebec government's recently revealed "Charter of Values."
 

 

 
A Midsummer Night's Dream

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]
2013 Commonwealth Literary Prize shortlists

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.

 
How to Eat Like an Italian, by Davide D'Alessandro

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.

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