Guernica Editions

Ramya's Treasure by Pratap Reddy was reviewed in The Miramichi Reader. "An excellently told story from Mr. Reddy who is a full-time underwriter and part-time writer. He has wisely chosen to write about what he knows in both of his books, convincingly documenting the immigrant’s plight in the Western world. The fact that he has chosen to write from the perspective of a female instead of a male protagonist shows that he is unafraid to challenge himself. I eagerly await his next release." For the full review:

http://miramichireader.ca/2018/09/ramyas-treasure-by-pratap-reddy/

The 2018 Guernica Prize Longlist was announced yesterday at our Fall Book Launch.

Congratulations to the longlisted authors!

The 2018 Guernica Prize Longlist:

The Whispering Gentlemen by Sherry Cassells

A coming of age story about family tragedy and boyhood friendships deeply rooted in a rural community by the Miramichi River.

La Maison Bleue by Joan Clayton

A former member of the French resistance and concentration camp survivor contemplates her past during an extended stay at an inn in rural Quebec.

Big With by Eva Kurczyk

Set in yuppie Toronto, the story tells of a young couple's emotional roller coaster as they strive to have a baby. Clever, witty, yet true-to-life writing that unpeels the layers of heartbreak in this common human dilemma.

Both Sides NOW by Ira Nayman

A rollicking ride through a world where a gender swap somehow goes wrong, hilarity ensues, and all hell breaks loose including POTUS turning into a little Shirley Temple.

Cardinal Divide by Nina Newington

Complex tale about a recovering alcoholic who learns her adoptive father is a woman and that her birth parents might be Indigenous. Delves into Prairie history, Indigenous realities, the recovery struggle and gender identity.

Compuglobalhypermeganet by Paddy Scott

A darkly comic multi-formal mashup of the world of the modern workplace and the knowledge economy.

The Approaches by Christen Shepherd

A sympathetic tale of a lost girl must leave her lost mom to live away with her distant aunt, who lives with lost ghosts.

Do You Think This is Funny? By Marcia Walker

A woman’s emotional journey explores the consequences of broken relationships on small lives and the fragility/strength of family.

Thingummy.com, An Insider’s Story by Reese Warner

An all-knowing insider spins a tale, using memory, imagination and some primary documents, of a bright group brought together on the cusp of search engine fame.

Our Sands by Darryl Whetter

The daughter of an oil sands executive and a bicycle courier in Calgary team up to sabotage the tar sands near Fort McMurray.

An Idea About My Dead Uncle by Kevin WIlson

A witty, sharp-edged, finely-crafted story about a young man struggling with identity issues, which causes relationship disasters and a quest for his long lost uncle in China.

Watch the longlist announcement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt59AOKgAOQ&frags=pl%2Cwn

In a recent review for the Ottawa Review of Books, Timothy Niedermann described Quill of the Dove by new Guernica author Ian Thomas Shaw as “a bold tale of courageous ideals in the pursuit of peace and human dignity,” and Shaw as “an author who not only sets his story in the Middle East but who can both keep the facts straight and also avoid turning individuals and regional populations into two-dimensional caricatures.”

Niedermann’s review highlights how Shaw's service as a Canadian diplomat and aid worker in the Middle East for more than three decades contributes to his ability to portray the land and peoples of the region, right down to the details of the “hills and valleys, swamps and jungles of the political topography.”

Quill of the Dove is an intricate narrative alternating between 2007, a pivotal year in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and 1975 to 1982 when Lebanon was caught in the death throes of fratricide. Niedermann describes how deftly Shaw spins two related stories, involving Marc Taragon, an idealist French journalist at different periods of his life and two women inextricably linked to his destiny. The first woman is a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon, Hoda 'Akkawi, with whom Taragon has a passionate love affair, and three decades later the second is a young Canadian journalist, Marie Boivin, who seeks to discover through Taragon the secret to her mysterious childhood.

Niedermann expands on how “Shaw shows the loss and tragedy together with the vengefulness and bloodletting that affect and are committed by all sides. This humanizes the story, and he is successful in illustrating the grand scale of events through smaller, more personal incidents of confrontation and suffering.”

Shaw's protagonists are steeped with altruism, both as Taragon and Hoda, each in their own way tries to stem the confessional violence of the Lebanese civil war, and later, as Taragon is assisted by Marie in the pursuit of a daring private peace initiative to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Niedermann likens Quill of the Dove with its complex mix of themes and issues and powerful characters to the Middle East, itself, where “none is neatly resolved, but all are given their due” and lauds the novel as “a read to reflect upon [which] will surely stimulate both more reading and the urgent hope that characters like these exist in real life.”

For the full review:

https://www.ottawareviewofbooks.com/single-post/2018/09/01/Quill-of-the-Dove-by-Ian-Thomas-Shaw

Wordwings by Sydelle Pearl was reviewed in the September 2018 issue of the Midwest Book Review. " A fully engaging and compellingly entertaining read from beginning to end, "Wordwings" showcases author Sydelle Pearl's genuine flair for character and narrative driven storytelling. An original and deftly crafted novel, "Wordwings" is very highly recommended for community library Contemporary General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Wordwings" is also available in a digital book format"

http://www.midwestbookreview.com/sbw/sep_18.htm#fiction

Laura Casella interviews Mary Melfi and Ryan Madden on Global News Morning

https://globalnews.ca/video/4411272/writers-working-with-local-theatre

Veena Gokhale was interviewed about Land for Fatimah on Generally About Books. "There’s an authorial voice coming through at the beginning of the novel which says: Some stories cannot be contained. They refuse to remain confined to a particular place, whispered by a select group of people. These stories must get out and wander, make themselves known, grab this ear and that. Such was the story of Fatima and the Aanke from Ferun." For the full interview:

http://www.generallyaboutbooks.com/2018/08/interview-with-veena-gokhale-author.html