writers’ choice

Editor’s Note

EVERY YEAR in late October, Q&Q editors attempt

ART AND LETTERS Designing Leonard Cohen

To commemorate the late troubadour, M&S releases a lavishly produced posthumous collection and new editions of old works

BEHIND THE SCENES camera ready

Eden Robinson goes on set for the long-awaited film adaptation of her novel Monkey Beach

LIBRARIAN PICKS loan stars

Each month, Canadian library staff vote for their favourite

AGONY EDITOR Pillow talk

Expert advice on keeping purple prose and erotic clichés out of bedroom scenes

NEWS UPDATE In case you missed it…

Highlights of the month in publishing news from quillandquire.com

NEWS Classroom confidential

A new survey paints a grim portrait of academic contract life at Canadian post-secondary institutions

PERSONAL ESSAY True stories

Mixing memoir, fantasy, and non-fiction was a way to engage in a conversation with a deceased brother, writes

Books of the year

Q&Q editors reveal a few of their favourite releases of 2018

Critics’ corner

Q&Q reviewers weigh in with their picks

Kids’ books of the year

Q&Q’s Books for Young People editor shares her favourite children’s titles of 2018

From the kidlit aficionados

Librarians and book bloggers on some of the best children’s books of the year

Truth Seekers

Reconciliation drives public library demand for Indigenous material

Passage of rights

How blockchain technology promises to disrupt the publishing industry

ANTHOLOGIES simply the best

Russell Smith and Hoa Nguyen edit, respectively, collections of the year’s strongest short fiction and poetry

SHORT FICTION The real and the surreal

Story collections by Adam Lindsay Honsinger and Mina Athanassious explore the current cultural moment

POETRY Midday and night

Collections by Penn Kemp, Emilia Danielewska, and Pierre Nepveu take different approaches to technique, with varied results

POETRY Midday and night

Collections from Matthew Tierney and Harold Hoefle deal in different ways with the paradox of existence

SHORT FICTION stranger and stranger

Debut story collections from Catriona Wright and Melissa Bull often operate outside the mode of strict naturalism

EDITOR’S CHOICE Haters gonna hate

John Semley’s short manifesto advocates the usefulness of contrarianism in an age of bland consensus

PICTURE BOOKS Missing Grandma

Young girls cope with death and other changes in touching stories about the grandmother-granddaughter bond

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION Cursed and confused in newfoundland

A young Torontonian discovers the wonder of the East Coast, as well as her family’s history of violence and death

Covers of the Year

Q&Q editors on four of this year’s top cover designs