AND FOR THE FIRST TIME …
Literary debuts come in many forms, but rest assured, when it comes to Montreal writers, they keep on coming. Among the many joining Paige Cooper in the debutante circle this year are the four below — about as diverse an assortment of newcomers (one of them actually not so new) as could be imagined.
Reading The Art and Passion of Guido Nincheri (Véhicule Press, 236 pages, $24.95), you might sometimes have to remind yourself that the life it recounts happened mostly in Montreal. Nincheri, a master of the Old World art of stained glass, left extensive examples of his work not only in churches in and around his adopted home city, but in scattered locales all over North America. Armed with Mélanie Grondin’s engaging biography and guide, you can do a European-style self-selecting tour of a great artist’s legacy without the flight expenses.
Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada From Slavery to the Present (Fernwood, 252 pages, $25) sees Robyn Maynard bringing a feminist emphasis, a grassroots perspective and a scholarly historical sweep to a subject that couldn’t be more timely. Her book is an effective corrective to any lingering notions that the issues of which she writes are American concerns that stop at the border. They don’t.
It may seem strange to think of one of our most popular media presences as a newcomer, but this fall, remarkably, marks Stanley Péan’s first literary translation into English. Taximan (Linda Leith Publishing, 119 pages, $16.95, translated by David Homel) is a slim but evocative novel-in-episodes. Lifelong non-driver Péan draws on his extensive experience in the back seat of taxis to provide a kaleidoscopic view of the place that has been his home since he arrived as an infant from Haiti.
Vanessa R. Sasson’s Yasodhara: A Novel About the Buddha’s Wife (Speaking Tiger, 304 pages, $29) is precisely what its subtitle says it is — with the proviso that, very little being known about the woman who married the prince who went on to become the Buddha, it allows itself plenty of scope for speculation and imagination.