Memoirs | The Miramichi Reader

40 Days and 40 Hikes: Loving the Bruce Trail One Loop at a Time by Nicola Ross

March 11, 2025 by Susan Wismer

This book gives hikers concise one-page summaries of each loop, including maps, technical information about trail requirements, entrances and exits, interesting plants and animals to look for along the way. The accompanying text offers a well-researched recounting of the history, present circumstances and possible futures of the snake spine of land that rises through South-Central Ontario and is the Niagara Escarpment and of the Bruce Trail that follows it.

She and Poetry is Queer by Kirby

January 15, 2025January 14, 2025 by Susan Wismer

In the world I inhabit much of what is commonly understood about mutual attraction continues to be based on cis-gendered heterosexual and patriarchal ideas of what “sex” is, of what we understand to be “male” or “female” to be. Anything else is queer, as in othered.

Cover of Just Say Yes: A Meori by Bob McDonald. The cover has a sky blue background, with a picture of the author, an older man with white hair. The title is above his head, with Yes written in big yellow letters.

McDonald’s Memoir Reflects on the Power of Yes

January 12, 2025 by Lisa Timpf

Just Say Yes: A Memoir chronicles the highlights of McDonald’s life, from his youth in Orillia to his status as a high-profile science reporter and radio host. Along the way, McDonald discusses how being open to new opportunities was a key to his success.

Vantage Points: On Media as Trans Memoir by Chase Joynt

December 18, 2024November 30, 2024 by Michael Bryson

Chase Joynt is a non-fiction filmmaker and author whose work often focuses on trans themes.

I Don’t Do Disability And Other Lies I’ve Told Myself by Adelle Purdham

December 18, 2024November 13, 2024 by Alison Manley

I admire Purdham’s willingness to give voice to the ugly thoughts a lot of us have had about disability or other perceived differences — because we do have them.

Relative to Wind: On Sailing, Craft, and Community by Phoebe Wang

November 9, 2024 by Alison Manley

This is a how-to-sail (if you do well in learning by reading, with no guiding pictures), a meditation on unexpected hobbies, and a toast to community. Wang’s love of sailing is infectious — truly, I’ve sailed maybe once in my life at this point, and I at least idly considered looking up yacht clubs near me to see if any of them worked in the same way Wang’s does.

Heart on My Sleeve: Stories from a Life Well Worn by Jeanne Beker

October 11, 2024 by Mala Rai

On a few Saturday early evenings in the late 80s and early 90s, I often looked forward to watching Jeanne Beker’s Fashion Television.

Always Pack a Pen: An Interview with Marion McKinnon Crook

July 7, 2024July 5, 2024 by Cathalynn Labonté-Smith

“I will never stop writing,” says Marion McKinnon Crook after thirty books to her credit.

Indigiqueerness: A Conversation About Storytelling by Joshua Whitehead, in dialogue with Angie Abdou

July 1, 2024July 1, 2024 by Carrie Stanton

Indigiqueerness is a lean, skinny book full of meat. At just under 100 pages, it is a comprehensive dive into who is Joshua Whitehead. And, through this vessel, what makes a storyteller?