Issue 103: Natural Histories
In this issue, we introduce a great new writer from Newfoundland, Kathleen Winter. We preview a number of short stories from Kathleen's upcoming collection, BoYs, which will be published by Biblioasis this fall. Kathleen won the 2006 Metcalf-Rooke Award for the collection. Judges Leon Rooke and John Metcalf said of her stories that they have, "a clarity and lucidity of thought and language which is rare. They offer a portrait of small-town and rural Newfoundland life in a mixture of stories and sketches and in language electric." On the theme of natural histories, Kathleen finds strength in the land, "the land and the plants growing on it and the energy coming from it." Kathleen's stories vividly convey the significance of environment in her character's lives.
We have a feature on Isabel Huggan that includes an essay, two poems and an interview that explores the ways in which rivers have coursed through her life, forging a connection that transcends place in her writing, yet is undeniably tied to the river's course.
Mike Barnes' essay, Vaster Than Empires: Tales of the Tropane Alkaloids, is unlike anything we have published in the past. It is the complicated history of quest and conquest in relation to "certain green-leaved plants,." an exploration of the covert ways in which the natural world stirs the imagination.
Add to that the haunting story, "Wormwood" from Fiona Foster, "Where All the Ladders Start", Nadine McInnis' story of the physical heights that her characters overcome in order to transcend psychological depths, poetry on the botanical from Barry Dempster, and poetry on the ornithological from Jesse Ferguson.
Kathleen Winter and Buddy
