Twine Loft's sayings and stories date back as far as the 1950s, when the author was growing up in Tack’s Beach, Placentia Bay, in the days before resettlement. There, words spoken caught his ear, as have other colourful phrases since. Some stories highlight what life was like in them days and, also, what life became after relocation. All tellings are based upon recollections, as factual as human memory allows. The stories are vignettes of a lifetime spent amongst diverse authors and artists in Newfoundland, a place unique, where the oral tradition no longer holds sway but where storytellers linger.

"Rex Brown nimbly captures the nuance and complexities of the Newfoundland character with an enviable glee that booms out across the pages of this enchanting collection. But don’t be fooled by the inevitable belly laughs to come; Twine Loft is an exceptionally accomplished and essential offering.” — Joel Thomas Hynes, author of We’ll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night, Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction

"Rex Brown’s Twine Loft is full of cadence, rhythm and voice, larger-than-life characters, lightning-quick humour, and glittering insights. Here is the exacting detail capable of conjuring the past with transparent clarity. Here is the sheer, undiluted pleasure of storytelling—audience and author drawn together in the same circle, bringing to life a time when ‘entertainment came free and from within.’ An elegant, elegiac love song to Newfoundland.” — Lisa Moore, author of Something for Everyone, Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short Fiction

Rex Brown grew up in Tack’s Beach, Placentia Bay, completing grade nine in 1961. He travelled to St. John’s for high school and university but returned home each summer until resettlement in 1967. He earned his keep teaching high school, retiring in 1999.The new millennium sees him about Corner Brook golfing, hanging out with the grandchildren, reading about Newfoundland and Labrador, and organizing the March Hare “celebration of words and music.” His wife, Elaine, keeps him afloat.

Rex Brown's profile page