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by Diana Tegenkamp
Concordia's Creative Writing Program is reputed to be one of the best writing programs in North America, thanks to the publishing success of its faculty and students, and 1998 has been no exception.
Gail Scott, My Paris (The Mercury Press, paperback, 150 pp. Release date, March 1999) Author of Heroine and Main Brides, Scott is described by The Globe and Mail as "one of the most gutsy writers around." Her third novel is written as a fake diary, its narrator imbued with a nostalgic dream of Paris, City of Lights. Accompanied by the ghosts of Gertrude Stein and Walter Benjamin, she confronts the political impossibility of "her Paris." Scott is a professor of Creative Writing.
Anne Stone,Hush (Insomniac Press. Upcoming, spring 1999, 100 pp.) Stone's short poetic novel opens and closes with a voice-over by the dead twin sister of the main character, Rose. Stone describes Rose's nameless dead twin as a narrative omthalos, or navel, an eerie presence in Rose's belly who speaks to the love between sisters and the women of a small town. Also look for Jacks, published by DC Books, with a December release. Stone is a professor of Creative Writing.
Dana Bath,what might have been rain (Conundrum Press, $10. Available from Andy Brown, 276-8494) Bath's five linked stories take place on islands -- Montreal, Newfoundland, Japan and Indonesia. While travelling, Kathleen revisits her relationship with childhood friend Grace. The innovative book design has each story beautifully printed on a poster-size architectural blueprint, and all five blueprints are folded and tucked inside the book's cover.
Bath, an English MA student, will launch rain on November 25
at Sargeant Recruiter, 4650
St. Laurent.
Nominated for QSPELL Awards (winners will be announced on December 3): Robert Majzels,City of Forgetting (Toronto, The Mercury Press, $16.95, paperback, 168 pp.), Mary di Michele,Debriefing the Rose (Toronto: House of Anansi, $16.95, 96 pp.), and Tess Fragoulis,Stories to Hide from your Mother (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, $14.95, paperback, 156 pp.)
Diana Tegenkamp is the author and publisher, with Christina Thompson, of some delicate (The Raspberry Press), which includes an excerpt of her novel, The Beautiful Butterscotch Woman.
