My Life In Books with Red Szell

In 2017, Sarah Bax Horton was researching her family history when she made the chance discovery that her great great grandfather was a Metropolitan Police sergeant who worked on the Ripper case. Little did she suspect that this would lead her to the Ripper’s true identity. In One-Armed Jack: Uncovering the Real Jack th

David Bergen is widely regarded as one of Canada’s best writers. Most of his 11 novels and two short story collections have been in contention for major literary prizes, including The Time In-Between, which won the 2005 Scotiabank Giller Prize. His latest novel, Away from the Dead, was also longlisted for the Giller Pr

Arjun Basu is a Canadian author and podcaster, whose novel Waiting for the Man was longlisted for the 2014 Giller prize. His latest book, The Reeds, is set in 2017, around Western Montreal, and follows the changing fortunes of a close-knit, middle-class family, across a single summer. By turns wry and poignant, the nov

An Astonishment of Stars is Kirti Bhadresa’s debut volume of short stories. Many of the fourteen tales in the collection chart the lives of women of colour living in Canada, as they navigate relationships, aspirations, and cultural expectations. Like all good authors of short fiction, Kirti takes everyday situations an

As a child, K.J. Aiello found hope and escape in magical stories of dragons, wizards, and fantasy. These tales provided a safe space where K.J. could reframe their battle with mental illness and trauma, and envisage the vanquishing of the darkness that haunted them. In The Monster and the Mirror: Mental Illness, Magic,

Rachel Stark’s debut, Perris California, is a beautiful and heart-rending novel. Set in the 1990s in what one character calls ‘the land of momma’s boys’, it’s a story of violence, broken dreams, tenderness, and longing that shines a light on the resilience of women living in a mostly unseen America. In a style reminisc