With great pleasure we welcome Kerry Clare of the much-loved lit blog Pickle Me This to the 49thShelf.com team. Kerry will add her mind-boggling reading habits and wonderful thoughtfulness to the mix on 49th Shelf.

We thought of Kerry for the editorial position—in addition to being wowed by her blog and also by her great essay, Love Is a Let-Down, in The New Quarterly 116—because she’s as excited as we are by the idea of an inclusive, all-genre Canadian book site that appeals to a variety of readers.

Canadian publishing is well enough supplied with good lit blogs and reviewers dealing mostly in fiction and critical darlings. The 49th Shelf will definitely celebrate the best Canadian writing but with the caveat that “best” is a subjective term and readers are a heterogeneous lot. We want to extend the discussion of Canadian books beyond insider culture and the most avid readers. Anyone who wants to discover what Canadian authors and publishers are offering will be welcome on 49thShelf.com, whether their interests are fiction, poetry, non-fiction or books about hockey, gardening, cooking – or gnomes!

We have no doubt that Kerry’s imagination and enthusiasm (not to mention writing chops) will be a great fit with 49th Shelf. Welcome, Kerry.