Thinking outside the box
Lisanne Gamelin
9 December 2020
What's the take away here? Lisanne Gamelin tackles the latest language kerfuffle in Quebec.
Salon .ll.
Welcome to Salon .ll.
Salon .ll. publishes book reviews, interviews, essays on writers, books, everything that books are about, and the world at large. We look for writing that is smart, succinct and timely. If you would like to contribute to Salon .ll., please send a query to info [a] lindaleith [dot] com with your proposal.
Photo: Contributing editors Annabelle Moreau and Marie-Andrée Lamontagne (left), with directrices littéraires Annie Heminway and Ève Pariseau (right), April 2012.
What Price Peace: Did we need the War Measures Act?
Dave Cavanagh
19 October 2020
Dave Cavanagh, a student journalist in 1970, looks back on the 50th anniversary of the October Crisis.
Silver Anniversary: Remembering the 1995 Referendum
Carolyn Marie Souaid
8 October 2020
Would Carolyn Marie Souaid's marriage survive the 1995 Quebec referendum? A lot was on the line 25 years ago.
A Funeral in the Time of Covid
Norman Ravvin
24 August 2020
Funerals in Covid times take on a special character. Norman Ravvin writes about what a Jewish funeral is like now, a theme he considers on Polish ground in his recent novel, The Girl Who Stole Everything.
Lebanon: No Going Back
Carolyn Marie Souaid
12 August 2020
Carolyn Marie Souaid remembers a country of promise and hope, but also a land of despair and ruins.
Imagine the Worst that Could Happen
Marianne Ackerman
2 June 2020
The backstage story of Marianne Ackerman’s hit comedy Triplex Nervosa, from kitchen table to opening night and beyond.
Flattening the Curb
Eric Deguire
31 May 2020
Eric Deguire explores how a television program can be a perfect match for these sad and strange times.
Connecting with the Novels of Phillip Ernest
Kenneth Radu
20 May 2020
Phillip Ernest has written two extraordinary and unique novels that have few comparisons in literature. Kenneth Radu explores the both real and imagined horrors found in The Vetala and The Far Himalaya.
The reverse of the world: Letter to Geneviève Brisac
Fanie Demeule
27 April 2020
Fanie Demeule, author of Lightness, addresses a letter to French author Geneviève Brisac, who also wrote a novel (Petite, 1994) based on her teenage years with an eating disorder. Demeule reflects on the relationship between anorexia and writing, as well as on the path Brisac inadvertently laid out for her.
The Way We Live Now, I mean now
Linda Leith
6 April 2020
When it comes to plagues and pestilence, the writers mentioned most often nowadays are Boccaccio, Defoe, Camus, and Garcia Marquez. But it’s Waiting for Godot and a 1986 story by Susan Sontag that come to Linda Leith’s mind.
A Joy to Read
Kenneth Radu
3 March 2020
Kenneth Radu remembers New York while reading Ariela Freedman's Brooklyn-set A Joy To Be Hidden.
Review: The Apocalypse of Morgan Turner
Kenneth Radu
21 December 2018
Kenneth Radu finds "a poignant and unexpectedly witty narrative about a woman trying to free herself from dark horror."
Review: Smells Like Stars
Leigh Kinch-Pedrosa
4 October 2018
In Leigh Kinch-Pedrosa's review, D. Nandi Odhiambo's new novel is "a swirling, dizzying, drama full of complex characters and high stakes."
Translation: Lu Xun's Voice, II
23 September 2018
Jennifer Quist translates this second piece by Chinese author Lu Xun, work that was carried out as part of her post-graduate work at the University of Alberta. The first piece appears here.
Q&A: Frédérick Lavoie
4 September 2018
Leila Marshy's Q&A with Montreal author and journalist Frédérick Lavoie, author of For Want of a Fir Tree: Ukraine Undone
Translation: Lu Xun's Voice, I
4 September 2018
The Apocalypse of Morgan Turner author Jennifer Quist's post-graduate work at the University of Alberta includes translations from the Chinese. These include two pieces by Lu Xun. The second appears here.
Review: The Art and Passion of Guido Nincheri
Leigh Kinch-Pedrosa
19 August 2018
Contributing editor Leigh Kinch-Pedrosa reviews Mélanie Grondin's The Art and Passion of Guido Nincheri.
Review: The Pink House
Leigh Kinch-Pedrosa
14 May 2018
Contributing editor Leigh Kinch-Pedrosa reviews The Pink House, the new collection by Montreal writer Licia Canton.
Q&A: Leila Marshy
20 March 2018
Dynamic Montrealer Leila Marshy has been part of the scene for many years, but now she's come out with her first novel, The Philistine (LLP 2018), and everyone's sitting up and taking notice.
Q&A: Jennifer Quist
11 March 2018
Linda Leith in conversation with Jennifer Quist, whose third novel, The Apocalypse of Morgan Turner, is published this month. LLP also published its award-winning precedessors, Love Letters of the Angels of Death (2013) and Sistering (2015).
Excerpt: Cecil Foster's Sleep on, Beloved
8 March 2018
This excerpt from H. Nigel Thomas's essay on Afro-Caribbean immigrant existence in Toronto was originally published in Confluences 2: Essays on the New Canadian Literature, edited by Nurjehan Aziz. It appears on Salon .ll. by kind permission of Mawenzi House.
