By Maurice Mierau
For those of you who have been reading these pages since December 2010, when our modest Sex in Winnipeg issue first appeared, you’ll have noticed some things about The Winnipeg Review. First is that the book reviewers here actually have opinions. This shouldn’t be notable but it is. Second is the location of our home office: not in Toronto, that great bastion of pre-digested opinion in this cheerful country, but in the flat, unruly middle of things, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Third, entertainment value matters to this magazine, if only self-entertainment (among other firsts TWR published the best caricatures extant of Miriam Toews and David Bergen, both by the inimitable Dale Cummings), and issue 1 featured a review of a non-existent book.
Speaking of opinions: on my list below you’ll see Hubert O’Hearn of Thunder Bay, a man who reads a lot and never lacks for an opinion. You’ll also see the redoubtable Shane Neilson, who wrote a few pieces that elicited comment in the Excited State of Ontario. Then there’s Barbara Romanik, who has contributed lyrical and caustic observations of this city-scape right here.
My job as editor is not to prevent these people from expressing opinions, but rather to help them do so as gracefully and boisterously as possible. (If they start falling down the stairs, then I help them fall with as much elegance and wit as can be mustered.)
You might have noticed a few details too. TWR writers are not based anywhere, as in so-and-so is “Victoria-based,” as if the person flits around the country with no fixed address, thinking vaguely of what almost killed Richard Pryor (free-basing, if you’re old enough to remember). No, our writers live in specific places. Not all in Winnipeg either.
Something the writers will have noticed is that the pieces published here are edited, not curated. I do not run a museum, and I have no idea how to curate anything. But I do ask for re-writes, make line-edits, and once in a blue moon even reject a commissioned piece. Yes, we do accept unsolicited work, but it ought to be good or at least interesting.
TWR published more than 200 pieces in 2011, so this list of a dozen necessarily omits much fine writing, such as John K. Samson’s popular editorial about the new Jets logo, and Alexander Foot’s ruminations on the pleasures of rye whisky among numerous others.
***
Then without further drum-rolling here’s my duly arbitrary top twelve for 2011, in no particular order:
Robert Kroetsch, gifted poet, essayist, novelist, and influential teacher and mentor to many of us, died in June, and about two months earlier contributed this piece where, characteristically, he spoke with optimism about the future of literature in the brave new e-world.
We published three brilliant poems by Méira Cook, and a studio recording of Méira reading these poems that now appear in her collection A Walker in the City (Brick, 2011). TWR also showcased new work by poets Zach Wells, Patricia Young, Barry Dempster, and Gerald Hill, among others.
Hubert O’Hearn did not like the new Marina Endicott novel, as he was very clear about in issue 5.
Melissa Steele, a rather fine fictionist herself, wrote an incisive review of the unpronounceable Colm Tóibín’s latest book of short stories for us back in issue 1.
Shane Neilson‘s funniest piece for TWR was a sharp portrait of the outsized personality of Ken Harvey at a small literary festival in Saskatchewan.
The aforementioned Barb Romanik managed to use the verb defile and the nouns Robert Kroetsch and Museum of Human Rights all in the same piece early this year.
Stephen Henighan‘s long review essay on Guy Vanderhaeghe’s latest novel was the kind of in-depth book reviewing that editors and readers (I hope) search for. Whether or not you agree with its thesis, this essay ambitiously sets out to place Vanderhaeghe’s work in an intellectual and historical context. (Henighan’s response to our questions about ebooks was also illuminating.)
David Bergen‘s slightly facetious answers to our set questions about the ebook revolution said more than many pompous words uttered in other pubs on this topic.
Jonathan Ball wrote a terrific review of Miguel Syjuco’s jaw-dropping debut novel, and he said insightful things about ebooks too.
Charlene Diehl‘s debut column on the amazingly vital Winnipeg jazz scene should be revisited. I hope she has time for more of these soon!
The Circus Has Left Town, by Carl Matheson/ Bram Hesselius, was an hilarious advice column that I hope will see further instalments in the new year.
Richard Cumyn, prolific and expert short fiction writer, is also a fabulous book reviewer. Among a number of strong pieces he wrote for us, here‘s his review of Dani Couture’s debut novel, Algoma.
Update: I’ll make it a baker’s dozen. Patrick Friesen, one of Canada’s finest poets, wrote a wonderful piece last year on another great product of Winnipeg, Burton Cummings.
***
All the best to you, the hearty band of TWR readers huddled out there in front of miscellaneous screens. In the new year TWR will bring you new issues on YA fiction and also on nationalism vs. globalism in Canadian fiction, among others. And there’s going to be a smartphone version of TWR coming soon….
A Duly Arbitrary Top Thirteen for 2011
Articles
By Maurice Mierau
For those of you who have been reading these pages since December 2010, when our modest Sex in Winnipeg issue first appeared, you’ll have noticed some things about The Winnipeg Review. First is that the book reviewers here actually have opinions. This shouldn’t be notable but it is. Second is the location of our home office: not in Toronto, that great bastion of pre-digested opinion in this cheerful country, but in the flat, unruly middle of things, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Third, entertainment value matters to this magazine, if only self-entertainment (among other firsts TWR published the best caricatures extant of Miriam Toews and David Bergen, both by the inimitable Dale Cummings), and issue 1 featured a review of a non-existent book.
Speaking of opinions: on my list below you’ll see Hubert O’Hearn of Thunder Bay, a man who reads a lot and never lacks for an opinion. You’ll also see the redoubtable Shane Neilson, who wrote a few pieces that elicited comment in the Excited State of Ontario. Then there’s Barbara Romanik, who has contributed lyrical and caustic observations of this city-scape right here.
My job as editor is not to prevent these people from expressing opinions, but rather to help them do so as gracefully and boisterously as possible. (If they start falling down the stairs, then I help them fall with as much elegance and wit as can be mustered.)
You might have noticed a few details too. TWR writers are not based anywhere, as in so-and-so is “Victoria-based,” as if the person flits around the country with no fixed address, thinking vaguely of what almost killed Richard Pryor (free-basing, if you’re old enough to remember). No, our writers live in specific places. Not all in Winnipeg either.
Something the writers will have noticed is that the pieces published here are edited, not curated. I do not run a museum, and I have no idea how to curate anything. But I do ask for re-writes, make line-edits, and once in a blue moon even reject a commissioned piece. Yes, we do accept unsolicited work, but it ought to be good or at least interesting.
TWR published more than 200 pieces in 2011, so this list of a dozen necessarily omits much fine writing, such as John K. Samson’s popular editorial about the new Jets logo, and Alexander Foot’s ruminations on the pleasures of rye whisky among numerous others.
***
Then without further drum-rolling here’s my duly arbitrary top twelve for 2011, in no particular order:
Robert Kroetsch, gifted poet, essayist, novelist, and influential teacher and mentor to many of us, died in June, and about two months earlier contributed this piece where, characteristically, he spoke with optimism about the future of literature in the brave new e-world.
We published three brilliant poems by Méira Cook, and a studio recording of Méira reading these poems that now appear in her collection A Walker in the City (Brick, 2011). TWR also showcased new work by poets Zach Wells, Patricia Young, Barry Dempster, and Gerald Hill, among others.
Hubert O’Hearn did not like the new Marina Endicott novel, as he was very clear about in issue 5.
Melissa Steele, a rather fine fictionist herself, wrote an incisive review of the unpronounceable Colm Tóibín’s latest book of short stories for us back in issue 1.
Shane Neilson‘s funniest piece for TWR was a sharp portrait of the outsized personality of Ken Harvey at a small literary festival in Saskatchewan.
The aforementioned Barb Romanik managed to use the verb defile and the nouns Robert Kroetsch and Museum of Human Rights all in the same piece early this year.
Stephen Henighan‘s long review essay on Guy Vanderhaeghe’s latest novel was the kind of in-depth book reviewing that editors and readers (I hope) search for. Whether or not you agree with its thesis, this essay ambitiously sets out to place Vanderhaeghe’s work in an intellectual and historical context. (Henighan’s response to our questions about ebooks was also illuminating.)
David Bergen‘s slightly facetious answers to our set questions about the ebook revolution said more than many pompous words uttered in other pubs on this topic.
Jonathan Ball wrote a terrific review of Miguel Syjuco’s jaw-dropping debut novel, and he said insightful things about ebooks too.
Charlene Diehl‘s debut column on the amazingly vital Winnipeg jazz scene should be revisited. I hope she has time for more of these soon!
The Circus Has Left Town, by Carl Matheson/ Bram Hesselius, was an hilarious advice column that I hope will see further instalments in the new year.
Richard Cumyn, prolific and expert short fiction writer, is also a fabulous book reviewer. Among a number of strong pieces he wrote for us, here‘s his review of Dani Couture’s debut novel, Algoma.
Update: I’ll make it a baker’s dozen. Patrick Friesen, one of Canada’s finest poets, wrote a wonderful piece last year on another great product of Winnipeg, Burton Cummings.
***
All the best to you, the hearty band of TWR readers huddled out there in front of miscellaneous screens. In the new year TWR will bring you new issues on YA fiction and also on nationalism vs. globalism in Canadian fiction, among others. And there’s going to be a smartphone version of TWR coming soon….