An academic fascination with West Edmonton Mall
It’s the best of places, it’s the worst of places, and possibly the best place to complain about how it’s also the worst place. That place is West Edmonton Mall, the subject of a new book about the intersection of shopping culture and the millennial thought process.
Big Mall: Shopping for Meaning is the brainchild of Kate Black, one part academic examination of consumerism viewed through the experience of the shopping mall and one part personal fascination with one of the world’s biggest retail and entertainment centres. Big Mall was published by Coach House Books and released Feb. 13.
Black lives in Vancouver but grew up down the street from the shrine to over-consumerism we call West Edmonton Mall. While her education would give her the tools to express her concern with unfettered consumerism, Black says she’s always had a complicated relationship with the mall and everything it represented.
She expresses that distaste and fascination through a book that blends her love of mainstream pop culture and modern references with her criticism of the mall, a sort of millennial/academic mixing that results in a very relatable whole.
“I listen to Taylor Swift, but I also love reading Marxist texts, or sophisticated political critique. There’s a lot of truth to blending those things,” says Black.
Black talks about the connection Edmonton, and the province, have with the giant mall. It plays an outsized role in perceptions of the city, getting more than a few “have you been to the big mall?” queries when people find out she’s from Edmonton.
Even before she had a way of communicating her discomfort with the spending frenzy the mall brings out, she had a fascination with the stories surrounding the mall, the stories people tell each other and whisper about the massive adult playground.
“There are so many urban legends around the mall,” admits Black about the unsubstantiated rumours and darker stories from the roller-coaster accident of the mid-’80s to unwelcome six-legged guests at the water park. To be clear, these are all rumours and can say more about those collecting and spreading the information than it does about the mall itself.
For more about the author, go to kategraceblack.com.
MENTAL HEALING THROUGH PROSE AND ART
A former Edmontonian has published a book of art about mental health and healing.
All Sky, Mirror Ocean: A Healing Manifesto comes from Brad Necyk, who now lives in Vancouver but spent many years in Edmonton. The book is both art and stream of consciousness, a collection of ideas about mental health, healing and community.
The book was published in January by the University of Alberta Press.
Necyk is a visual artist and author whose work focuses on mental health, psychedelics and consciousness. All Sky, Mirror Ocean is his first book.
For more about the author, visit bradnecyk.com.
THREE NEW POETRY RELEASES
The University of Alberta Press released three books of poetry in February. Northerny, released Feb. 2, is a new collection from Dawn Macdonald about Canada’s North and people from the region telling their stories in their own voices. It’s not about adventure or northern lights, but about the day-to-day reality of Canada’s northernmost communities.
Deviant from Patrick Grace, a poetic exploration of queer self-discovery from childhood through to adulthood, came out Feb. 12. Grace collects memories, dreams and fears about identity in this coming-of-age poetry book, the first from Grace.
What we can hear, along with what we can’t, is at the heart of That Audible Slippage from Margaret Christakos, released Feb. 2.
To find out more about the three books, visit the publisher’s website at ualbertapress.ca.
A NEW LOCATION FOR LOVE
Looking for love in all the wrong literary places? A new bookstore in town hopes to fix that.
The Book Boudoir is a new bookstore dedicated to the genre of romance in all of its published shades from science fiction and fantasy to more traditional fiction and 2SLGBTQ+ literature.
The store is the brainchild of Kelsey Orlecki, who opened an online store last year and moved into a brick-and-mortar location a couple of weeks ago on Valentine’s Day.
The new store is at Manchester Square, 10716 120 St. Find the store online at bookboudoir.ca.
A NOTE ABOUT GRIEF
A local author has a new notebook and journal coming to help people work through their grief.
Forget You Not: A Guided Grief Journal & Keepsake for Navigating Life Through Loss is a journal for friends and family when “there are no words.”
Local author and designer Brittany DeSantis lost her father at the age of 13, the inspiration for designing a book to help other people through a difficult time.
The book is set to be released Feb. 27 by Paige Tate & Co, an imprint of Blue Star Press.
DeSantis is a calligrapher and watercolour artist, and the owner of Peak Paper Co., where she teaches painting and writing workshops and creates art prints.
She will be doing a book launch and signing at The Secret Garden, 10550 115 St., on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
To learn more about the author and her book, go to peakpaperco. com/my-book.
NATIONAL AWARD FOR INDIGENOUS STORIES
Brandi Morin was announced as the winner of the 2024 Freedom to Read Award presented by The Writers’ Union of Canada.
Morin is an author and journalist of Cree, Iroquois and French origin from Treaty 6 in Alberta. Her work has appeared in publications from National Geographic and Rolling Stone to The New York Times, The Guardian, Al Jazeera English and more.
Already the recipient of multiple awards, her reporting focuses on challenges faced by Indigenous communities and she was recently arrested while covering the forcible removal of encampments of unhoused individuals by Edmonton police.
This award announcement is part of the national Freedom to Read week, which wraps up Saturday.