All of us have picked up a book advertised by Indigo as “a thrilling new romance between two forces of nature” only to find out it’s a drawn-out bore about two coworkers who are just afraid to ask each other out. Or maybe it’s about a woman falling in love[Read More…]
Tag: literature
The Sally Rooney effect
In reaction to the pandemic, people have indulged in melancholy. Though Sally Rooney’s novel Normal People was neither her debut nor her most recent, it was the one that made her famous. The gloomy but beautiful novel was published in 2018, and adapted for television by the BBC two years[Read More…]
Literary theorist Jeff Dolven pays a virtual visit to the English department
On Jan. 19, the McGill English Department held its 2022 Spector Lecture, an annual event that highlights contemporary work in the literary field. This year, the department welcomed Jeff Dolven, a poet, literary critic, and Princeton professor of English. Later, students and faculty had a chance to hear several of[Read More…]
Finding the right place to read
A university lecture or a book club: By way of discussion, both bring the personal act of reading into an academic or social realm. However, these cultural spaces don’t necessarily motivate the same types of discussion. Barring other factors, like contextual formality or accessibility, an individual moves through these spaces[Read More…]
Point-Counterpoint: Old literature or new literature?
The McGill Tribune contributors Sequoia Kim and Jonah Fried present their opinions on old versus new literature. The case for contemporary literature Sequoia Kim Literature has been foundational to the ebb and flow of ideas in the world: Words and stories inform, persuade, and inspire us. However, bookshelves are[Read More…]
Drawn & Quarterly welcomes up and coming Canadian authors
Canada’s contemporary literary scene is on the brink of something special. On Oct. 4, La Petite Librairie Drawn & Quarterly converted its tight space into a stage, hosting three significant writers, Alix Ohlin, Megan Gail Coles, and Audrée Wilhelmy. Ohlin and Coles’ novels have just been shortlisted for Canada’s prestigious[Read More…]
A bus ride worth a thousand words
McGill shuttle bus driver moonlights as an author and poet.
Nonfiction November—The Tribune’s favourite reads
Short of listening to a podcast, or reading a long article start-to-finish, reading nonfiction literature remains the best way of feeling like an intelligent, contemporary being. As finals season begins to rear its ugly head, and long days turn into longer nights spent in McLennan, pleasure reading can feel like[Read More…]
“The Violet Hour” provides marginalized voices with a spooky platform
The Violet Hour, founded by Christopher DiRaddio, is a bi-monthly reading series that showcases both established and emerging LGBTQ writers and performers. The reading series gives a platform to otherwise marginalized voices. Hosted in the Montreal Gay Village’s Stock Bar, attendees were also given the option to participate in a[Read More…]
The Scrivener Creative Review reclaims its place in McGill’s literary heritage
The Scrivener Creative Review is no stranger to the literary giants of this generation. Established in 1980, the journal has published the works of writers such as Leonard Cohen, Michael Ondaatje, Margaret Atwood, Louis Dudek, and Seamus Heaney; and contemporary writers like Sheila Heti and Sean Michaels. As one of[Read More…]
