Winner:
2017 IPPY Award, Bronze Medalist, Canada-East Best Regional Fiction

Kelley Aitken’s compelling short fiction collection is united by a sense of place, the Canadian Shield. Her nine short stories traverse an area between land and water; near and far, between the uncontrollable and the veneer of civility. They reflect, Janus-headed, on Nature and human nature. Canadian Shield addresses that anxious paradox between our yearning for the wild and our need for security—a profound dilemma of our time.

Nikki Abraham writes of Kelley Aitken's stories: `These are stories to shout about. They are boldly, daringly original without being difficult to understand -- no mean feat. The first-person voice, a common feature of writing these days, is made to do unexpected things, to behave in unexpected ways. Yet it feels so natural, so unforced, that it is only afterwards the realization comes: that was amazing!`

Born in British Columbia, Kelley Aitken now lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Kelley Aitken's profile page

"Loss and longing, love, betrayal and hard-won heart, the souls in these stories are mirrored in the Canadian wild. This is travel over tough terrain—river, rock and the inner landscapes of people who search—these stories will stay with you for a long time." —Kim Echlin, autho, Under the Visible Life and The Disappeared

"Aitken writes dense, layered stories that play with temporality and use the natural world as a mirror for the psyches of her characters . . . Aitken’s stories are dark, but tremendously insightful and empathetic. This is a smart, haunting collection." —Alexander De Pompa, Broken Pencil