"Evanescent indeed": The Review Review Reads Fiddlehead's West Coast Issue

Lori A. May at The Review Review reads The Fiddlehead's West Coast issue, and she likes what she reads! She says, "The country may have beautifully distinguishable regions, yet the voices within them branch inward, outward, and transcend borders in original ways. Thus, this issue of The Fiddlehead is perfectly representative of the diversity of styles, voices, and approaches to writing in and about Canada."

You can read the full review on The Review Review's website.

The Malahat Review's East Coast issue Reviewed

Over at The Review Review, Jenelle Hayward enthusiastically reviews The Malahat's Essential East Coast issue.

She says,

I have always been a fan of Canadian writers but this issue of The Malahat Review reminded me just how much I enjoy them. The writing was stunning and surprising with every turn of the page.

We here at The Fiddlehead wholeheartedly agree!

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And more great news to start the new year! The Malahat no. 180 gets reviewed over at New Pages! Here's part of what reviewer John Palen has to say:

For me, the collaboration between the two magazines helps to clarify the distinction between a literature limited by its regionalism and one brought alive by its sense of place. This issue of Malahat is definitely alive.

The Malahat & The Fiddlehead Featured on CBC Radio

CBC British Columbia recently featured The Fiddlehead and The Malahat Review on their weekday afternoon radio program All Points West.

State of the Arts columnist Jennifer Chrumka examined both the West Coast and East Coast issues, and she talks about the collaboration.

Listen to the podcast here.

On the podcast, you'll also hear Ross Leckie, editor of The Fiddlehead, speak about Atlantic literature, and The Malahat's editor John Barton and University of Victoria professor Nicholas Bradley discuss West coast literature.

A Successful East Coast/West Coast Halifax Launch!

Back row, left to right: Chris Donahoe, Warren Heiti, Matt Cornfield,
Peter Sanger, E. Alex Pierce, Carole Glasser Langille.
Front row, left to right: Heather Jessup, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, Brian Bartlett.

On Thursday, October 29, 2012, the University of King's College in Halifax hosted a launch for Halifax-area contributors to The Malahat Review's East Coast issue. Authors read their work from The Malahat and selected a piece from The Fiddlehead's West Coast issue to share with the audience. Our Halifax correspondant Brian Bartlett sent us a photograph and reports that it was a "fine, lively occasion."

Dobozy Writes a Doozy

Siege 13, Tamas Dobozy (Thomas Allen)

Siege 13 is a stupendous book, a surprising book, thirteen artful and exciting stories united by the events and fallout of the bloody siege of Budapest in 1944, where Hungarians were caught between the Nazis who occupied Budapest and the Soviet behemoth Red Army which soon conquered the city (what a cheery choice: Adolf or Uncle Joe). This battle is not as well-known as Stalingrad or Berlin: the specific settings and accompanying icons — machine guns, tracers, rockets, and bodies heaped in cellars — are both familiar and unfamiliar, a puzzling, devastating cauldron of a conflict that leaves Siege 13’s characters and families haunted and driven by violence, memory, disillusionment, traps, and dreams of escape. The war ends, the Iron Curtain goes up, and the horrors and arguments resonate for decades in kitchens and lecture halls and émigré cafes.

The book’s tone resonates with Eastern European influences, perhaps more akin to Kafka or Bruno Schulz than W.O. Mitchell. The moving betrayals and disappointments remind me of the classic Stalin-era novel, Darkness at Noon, by Arthur Koestler (Koestler was born in Budapest), yet some of the cranky characters and muttering uncles in social clubs would not be out of place in the shadowed hallways of Ben Katchor’s NYC graphic novels, grainy milieus that are both aged and contemporary.

The Fiddlehead's Interview with Joan Clark

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with acclaimed Canadian author and current University of New Brunswick writer-in-residence Joan Clark. Our discussion moved from her early career in Alberta up to her novel-in-progress (which is set in Sussex, NB) and the state of Canadian publishing.

Joan Clark is a Member of the Order of Canada and the author of two short story collections, four novels, six novels for younger readers, and three picture books. She lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

- Kyle Connelly, Editorial Assistant

Listen to the interview in your web browser.

(Right Click or Control Click on the above link to download mp3 interview.)

The Fiddlehead's West Coast Issue has Arrived!

Malahat editor John Barton holds a copy
of The Fiddlehead's west coast issue
at our office in Fredericton

And we launch it tonight along with The Malahat Review's East Coast issue!

This special event takes place at 8pm in the Bailey Auditorium, Tilley Hall, UNB Fredericton. Refreshments will be served; doors open at 7:30.

Copies of both issues will be available for sale (cash or cheque). This event is free and everyone is welcome.

West Coast and East Coast Issues to Launch October 25!

On October 25, join The Fiddlehead and The Malahat Review, two of Canada’s most respected literary journals, as they present their West Coast and East Coast editions.

The Fiddlehead surveys West Coast writing and The Malahat Review shines a lighthouse beam on East Coast writing. A number of authors will be present to read from these two journals, and the event will be hosted by Ross Leckie, editor of The Fiddlehead, and by John Barton, editor of The Malahat.

The event takes place at 8pm in the Bailey Auditorium, Tilley Hall, UNB. Refreshments will be provided. Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.

Thanks to our sponsor