The roots of Black History Month in Canada stretch back more than forty years. In 1978, the Ontario Black History Society was founded, and the following year, its founders, Dr. Daniel G. Hill and Wilson O. Brooks, successfully petitioned the City of Toronto to have February proclaimed as Black History Month.
Lest We Forget: Bombs and Barbed Wire
On November 11th, Goose Lane Editions pauses to recognize and remember those who gave their lives defending freedom and democracy.
This month we also celebrate a new edition in the New Brunswick Military Heritage Series produced in partnership with the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society. Bombs and Barbed Wire: Stories of Acadian Airmen and Prisoners of War, 1939-1945 tells previously untold stories of Acadian veterans.
Two Books, Two Major Awards
Congratulations to Nicholas Herring on winning the $60,000 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize for his debut novel, Some Hellish. The award was presented at the 2022 Writers’ Trust Awards on Wednesday, November 2. The livestream was recorded and is available for viewing online.
And congratulations to Kazim Ali on winning the $2,500 Banff Mountain Book Award for Environmental Literature for his book Northern Light on Thursday, November 3.
Shadows and Light
“It was the night I lost a patient who I thought would survive and shared a terminal diagnosis with a man not much older than myself. I hadn’t stopped to eat, drink, or use the bathroom in over eight hours, and by the end I was exhausted. It was a difficult night but not unusual except for one thing: I felt nothing. I struggled to rally the passion I had once felt as an emergency physician. I wondered how long I could continue.”
Heather Patterson was already burnt out working as an emergency physician, and then COVID-19 hit her Calgary emergency room. Thrust into ground zero of a global crisis, Patterson began to chronicle what she saw, photographing her colleagues and patients to show the real impact of the pandemic.
Poetry!
Poetry! That’s been the subject of many conversations here at Goose Lane over the past week.
From the launch of two poetry titles to Fredericton’s nineteenth annual Poetry Weekend to over half a dozen other poetry events this week and next, we’ve been excited to see so many of our poets sharing their innovative work.
Banner photo: Group photo of Poetry Weekend participants.