debut collection The Miramichi Reader

Antonyms for Daughter by Jenny Boychuk

January 3, 2022 by Pearl Pirie

Antonyms for Daughter, Jenny Boychuk's poetry debut, addresses a harrowing subject: the loss of the poet's mother to addiction. Deploying a range of forms and techniques astonishing in a first collection, Boychuk creates unsparing scenes of their complicated life together.

Review of Pebble Swing by Isabella Wang and None of This Belongs to Me by Ellie Sawatsky

December 6, 2021 by Catherine Owen

Two debut poetry collections from Nightwood Editions are reviewed by Catherine Owen, "Pebble Swing" by Isabella Wang, and "None of this Belongs to Me" by Ellie Sawatsky.

Gold Pours by Aurore Gatwenzi

November 8, 2021 by Rachel Fernandes

In this debut collection by emerging poet Aurore Gatwenzi, a stunning new voice emerges as she shares the experience of being young and Black in northern Ontario.

The Junta of Happenstance by Tolu Oloruntoba

October 15, 2021 by Dominique Béchard

Tolu Oloruntoba’s The Junta of Happenstance is an impressive debut. It has many qualities I find admirable in a first collection: passion, a large number of poems, and a certain playfulness (of music and tone) that relays poetic confidence.

The Knowing Animals by Emily Skov-Nielsen

July 28, 2021 by Nicola Vulpe

In Skov-Nielsen's thrumming debut, The Knowing Animals, our consciousness is interconnected with the surrounding trees, bugs, rivers, atmospheres, and cosmos.

We Two Alone by Jack Wang

January 3, 2022July 21, 2021 by Ian Colford

A masterful collection of stories that dramatizes the Chinese diaspora across the globe over the past hundred years, We Two Alone is Jack Wang’s astonishing debut work of fiction.

Good Citizens Need Not Fear by Maria Reva

June 29, 2021 by Ian Colford

In her sure-handed debut volume of short fiction, Good Citizens Need Not Fear, Maria Reva writes with an insider’s familiarity about the last days of the Soviet Union and what followed in the months and years after the Communist regime’s ignominious collapse.

Queen and Carcass by Anna van Valkenburg

September 20, 2020September 20, 2020 by Bill Arnott

[A] rich, unpredictable, and deeply surreal exploration of identity and the multiple contradictions we each embody. These poems, set in locations real and imaginary, magical and banal, inhabited by figures out of Slavic folklore and a Boschian landscape, strive to … Continue reading

New Poetry From Deborah Banks

June 25, 2020 by James M. Fisher

While Crossing the Field

Today in November's fading garden
a female cardinal surprises us,
that bright beak amongst the bossy jays:
a coral and flax stab of restrained light
in the midst of rowdy blue baubles.

Then the walk through

some conditions apply by Mary Rykov

June 18, 2020 by Bill Arnott

When I open a book from Inanna I know I have something worthwhile. Strong, independent feminist work, a mosaic of talent and voice. Mary Rykov’s some conditions apply came to me electronically, during isolation. At times a mobile device, laptop … Continue reading