National Network for Equitable Library Service

In 1995, Canadian novelist and critic Hal Niedviecki started publishing Broken Pencil, a magazine dedicated to the zine scene, the independent and alternative arts community that had been boiling below the surface of Canada’s culture. Broken Pencil’s mandate was (and is) to bring the submerged cultural urge into Canada’s collective consciousness, to help lift it up and lend it legitimacy.

18 exhilarating journeys into Rush-inspired worlds

The music of Rush, one of the most successful bands in history, is filled with fantastic stories, evocative images, and thought-provoking futures and pasts. In this anthology, notable, bestselling, and award-winning writers each chose a Rush song as the spark for a new story, drawing inspiration from the visionary trio that is Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart.

Author Scott Fivelson takes the reader on a literary journey from Paris to Pamplona as a marathoner on his last legs reflects on the sport as it might have been written about if Hemingway had been a runner.

Gisèle Villeneuve’s short stories test the elastic pull between passion and terror. For inspiration, Villeneuve turned to her personal history to examine what lures urban dwellers outdoors, to test themselves against peaks and valleys. Using the overarching metaphor of mountain climbing, she plays with form, language, and narrative to reveal our fears, our loves, our passions. Rising Abruptly is a perfect companion for anyone who likes to travel, loves a climber, or simply glories in the allure of the mountains. "Even the unassuming day trips deliver their moments. The whiteouts.

Secrets aren’t good for families. — from “Big Luck Island” In The Left-Handed Dinner Party and Other Stories—a collection of new, delightful, distinctive short stories—everyone is missing something or someone; every family is riven by secrets and absences. From “The Remedy,” a tale of revenge and justice, to “The Smart Sisters,” a story of tricky family dynamics, Coulter’s narratives portray relationships, loss, and what we learn in the aftermath of death. Ghosts, echoes, memories, regrets...Coulter’s characters are haunted in many ways.

Through mesmerizing forays into characterization, voicing, and narrative technique, and with a clean economy of style rare even in short fiction, Astrid Blodgett conjures the moral and existential freight of her fully fledged characters in the throes of realistic moments. From the fascinatingly unhinged hero of "Getting the Cat," to the dreamy survey of prairie landscape and childhood experience of "New Summer Dresses," to the fatal irony of "Ice Break," readers will be hooked from first sentences and carried along on crisp prose.

I woke up with Moses Henry’s boot holding open my jaw and my right eye was looking into his gun barrel. I heard the slow words, “Take. It. Back.” I know one thing about Moses Henry; he means business when he means business. I took it back and for the last eight months I have not uttered Annie Mukluk’s name. In strolls Annie Mukluk in all her mukiness glory. Tonight she has gone traditional. Her long black hair is wrapped in intu’dlit braids. Only my mom still does that. She’s got mukluks, real mukluks on and she’s wearing the old-style caribou parka.

Un jeune garçon avale les pages de cinq livres dans lesquels croit-il, se trouve le code qui pourrait permettre à un capitaine et à ses acolytes de retracer son père disparu. Afin de sauver sa vie, un explorateur se voit contraint de raconter à la tribu amérindienne qui le retient prisonnier les histoires qu'il connaît, qu'il crée ou qu'il combine. Une femme ravissante se plaît à réinventer sa propre histoire lors des soirées mondaines. Perdu sur les glaces à la dérive dans l'Atlantique Nord, un autre explorateur est tourment. Par les sempiternelles questions d'un enfant.

Un prétendu éditeur découvre un mystérieux coffre rempli de manuscrits. C'est là le prétexte pour retracer les pas de personnages associés à la famille Ashfaq, issue de la bourgeoisie musulmane d'une ville indienne dévastée par les émeutes religieuses des années 1990. Au fil des nouvelles de ce recueil, le lecteur voyage en Inde, en Birmanie, en Angleterre, en République tchèque, au Groenland, aux États-Unis et au Canada, de la Seconde Guerre mondiale à aujourd'hui. Il y découvre une gamme de personnages et de sociétés aux prises avec la violence et l'oppression.

Le Carnaval du quotidien, version française de Dressing up for the Carnival, est le troisième et dernier recueil de nouvelles de Carol Shields. Les nouvelles de Shields dévoilent le côté ludique et l'imagination féconde de cette grande dame de la littérature canadienne. Une grève de météorologistes provoque une suspension totale du climat (Acclimatement). Le gouvernement instaure une taxe sur les fenêtres qui incite la population à se replier dans la noirceur en recouvrant toutes les surfaces vitreuses des demeures (Fenêtres). Stop!