Articles

Lindsay Shepherd and the Post-Scholarship University

By John Harris | April 13, 2021

    In his article “Speaking Out” (The Walrus, June 2019), Toronto-based 30-something freelance contrarian John Semley tells the story of the Wilfred Laurier University (WLU) teaching assistant Lindsay Shepherd, who made international headlines when she was censured by a University examining committee for allegedly creating an unsafe learning environment for transgender students. The committee…

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Book Publishing, Bookselling, George Bowering, and the new censorship

By Brian Fawcett | January 13, 2021

        I read George Bowering’s latest book, Writing and Reading (New Star, Vancouver, 2019), in a single sitting, which was unique in my experience of reading him. Bowering can be demanding and occasionally hermetic, and therefore requires intense concentration. But Writing and Reading was like having a conversation with George at a…

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Why Jean Meslier matters

By Max Fawcett | November 9, 2020

Max Fawcett searches for the prophet of atheism.

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Dead Icons and Deader Icons: Which Statues Really Need to Go?

By John Harris | October 4, 2020

John Harris posts a slightly argumentative view on the Statue Wars controversy

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Preserving Racism or Preserving History?

By Margaret Randall | September 10, 2020

Margaret Randall is thinking about statues, racism, and history.

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If it quacks like a Duck, it might not be a Duck, it might be just a Quack. If it sounds like Donald Trump… well, he probably said it, or maybe it was Fox News, or QAnon, or whatever.

By Stan Persky | September 7, 2020

Did Trump say it? Did he deny saying it? Who knows?

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Laszlo F. Foldenyi

A moment With Dostoyevsky, James Wood, and an obscure Hungarian Writer

By Brian Fawcett | August 6, 2020

Brian Fawcett recalls something he discovers about how Dostoyevsky wrote dialogue that leads him to take a swing at James Wood, (the critic, not the actor)

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Kindly People Who Feed Squirrels: A Rant

By Brian Fawcett | June 19, 2020

Brian Fawcett isn’t fond of people who feed peanuts to squirrels. Here’s why.

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For Those looking for our Olga Tokarczuk Post on the Corona Virus

By Brian Fawcett | April 18, 2020

  A few days ago, Merrily Weisbord sent me a piece written by Olga Tokarczuk about the Covid-19 crisis currently sweeping the world. A friend of Merrily’s, Jerzy Przytyk, had translated the piece using Google’s notoriously mechanical translation program.  What Tokarczuk had to say in the piece was interesting simply because she is Olga Tokarczuk,…

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Ken Belford: A Personal and Literary Reminiscence

By John Harris | April 3, 2020

John Harris remembers poet Ken Belford.

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