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Outstanding Books for Kids Aged 10-13 read more

2018 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Shortlist read more

Editors' Picks for Week of Nov 12 to Nov 18 read more

Iona Whishaw's Amazing List of "Out of Place" Narratives read more

New Book Giveaways for Members! read more

New Poetry

We Like Feelings. We Are Serious.

by Julie McIsaac

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This Is Why We're Made in the Dark

by Justin Lauzon

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Culverts Beneath the Narrow Road

by Brenda Schmidt

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Nightlight for Children of Insomniacs

by Shannon Quinn

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Salt Fires

by Janet Barkhouse

"Timeless, wise, and sensual." —Barry Dempster, author of Disturbing the Buddha

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Everyone Rides the Bus in a City of Losers

by Jason Freure

“A nostalgic, irreverent debut collection arranged according to the city’s metro. Simultaneously flaneur and commuter (“a young man with a noteb …

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Midday at the Super-Kamiokande

by Matthew Tierney

There's a brand-new law of thermodynamics waiting to be discovered in the poems of Matthew Tierney, which zip and whiz about the page with beguiling a …

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I Sleep in the Arms of Your Eyes

by Beverly Ellenbogen

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Some of Us and Most of You Are Dead

by Peter Norman

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Dread Poetry and Freedom

Linton Kwesi Johnson and the Unfinished Revolution

by David Austin

Praise for Fear of a Black Nation: "[this book] solidifies David Austin's place as one of the most important Black writers and intellectuals in North …

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What Your Hands Have Done

by Chris Bailey

Chris Bailey canvasses easily—adroitly—that difficult, East Coast world of hardscrabble, hard-luck ports and hard-living, hard-drinking fishers, t …

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Poetry Is Blood

by Keith Garebian

Poetry is Blood is a passionate and riveting journey into Armenian genocide memory and trauma, vision, and fact. Garebian's poems bear witness across …

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The Flame

by Leonard Cohen

A Heather's Pick

"There is something irresistible about Cohen's charm." --The New Yorker
"Leonard Cohen was the poet laureate of the lack, the psalmist …

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Shatter the Glass, Shards of Flame

by Gerald Arthur Moore

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Bec and Call

by Jenna Lyn Albert

"Albert is direct and trenchant in these poems..."

"a brash and headstrong debut shot through with an undercurrent of vulnerability"

…

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Furious

by Erin Moure
introduction by Sonnet L’Abbé

Praise for Erín Moure and Furious:
WINNER, 1988 GOVERNOR GENERAL’S LITERARY AWARD FOR POETRY

Praise for Erín Moure and Kapusta:
FINALIST, 2015 A …

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On the Blog

"The trauma of war bifurcates the lives of many into branches of what existed before and what remains after; so too can the past feel like an alternate plane of existence, leaving survivors feeling fragmented as they are grafted into the circumstances of their new lives."

Radical Acts: An Interview with Andrea Warner

By Kerry Clare

Buffy Sainte-Marie's official biographer on her experiences telling the story of a music legend.

Melissa Barbeau: Where Magic Meets Science

By Kerry Clare

The author of novel The Luminous Sea on books that ask if there is space left for wonder in the world.

Shelf Talkers: Books to Carry You Through November

By Rob Wiersema

I’m really not sure of the cause, but it happens every year at around this time. I find myself thinking about the past, about my place in the world, about the people around me, the stories they’re …

Remembering World War One

By Kerry Clare

A century after the end of World War One, we're still not done telling stories about this historical event.

Bill Stenson on the Best Use of a Bobby Pin in Literature, and Other Great Reads

By Kerry Clare

The author of new novel Ordinary Strangers on going beyond Earle Birney, the powers of understatement, and the poet that no Canadian should die without reading

@49thshelf on Twitter

Andrea Warner on working with a music legend (using a non-linear form to represent her non-linear thinking) and on… https://t.co/FndJIFt85oBy 49thShelf – 1 hour(s) ago
What’s @KerryReads been recommending on @CBCOntMorning these days? Oh, just the start of your wish list for Christm… https://t.co/lbXlccISE6By 49thShelf – 2 hour(s) ago
Such a good reading list from Melissa Barbeau! Magic, nature, master storytelling! And a new book discovery for us… https://t.co/lVSWNuXwIuBy 49thShelf – at 09:28 on 14 Nov
Eight of the best literary podcasts, from the @washingtonpost https://t.co/AdNLSAvr13 Thanks @dana_sidney for the share!By 49thShelf – at 09:22 on 14 Nov
RT @MotherofaSon: I'm reading Songs for the Cold of Heart right now. Wow. This is the kind of contest that is worth entering! #books #Gil…By 49thShelf – at 12:31 on 12 Nov