Best Canadian Essays 2021

by Bruce Whiteman (Editor)

Overview

A Winnipeg Free Press Top Read of 2021

The thirteenth installment of Canada's annual volume of essays showcases diverse nonfiction writing from across the country.

“The exceptional essay,” writes editor Bruce Whiteman, “derives from a passionate feeling, love and anger being perhaps its upper and lower limits, coexisting with a desire for truth, and it aims for the radiance of what is.” In the 2021 edition of Best Canadian Essays, Whiteman’s selections seek truth in all the places it may be found, from walks in brambled woods and ancient cities to memories of childhoods that shape a life; to analyses of artifacts both legislative and cultural that advance equality long overdue; to reports from the field that articulate the poetry of the present, the invisibility of the poor, the social contours and consuming mental contagions of the ongoing pandemic. Drawn from leading magazines and journals published in 2020, the fifteen essays gathered here brilliantly illuminate what is.

Featuring work by:

Neil Besner
Catherine Bush
Yvonne Blomer
Jenna Butler
Elizabeth Dauphinee
Eva-Lynn Jagoe
Mark Kingwell
Frances Koziar
Hilary Morgan V. Leathem
Stephanie Nolen
Kevin Patterson
Soraya Roberts
Ian Waddell
Sheila Watt-Cloutier
Joyce Wayne
Rob Winger

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771964388
Publisher:	Biblioasis
Publication date:	10/19/2021
Series:	Best Canadian
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Bruce Whiteman is a poet, translator, culture historian, and book reviewer. His reviews appear regularly in Canadian Notes & Queries, The Hudson Review, and elsewhere. Recent poetry collections include Intimate Letters (2014), Tablature (2015), and The Sad Mechanic Exercise (2019). His translation of Fanny Daubigny's study Proust in Black: Los Angeles: A Proustian Fiction was published in 2019.

Table of Contents

Introduction Bruce Whiteman 1

Anatomy of a Pandemic Kevin Patterson 11

Upirngasaq (Arctic Spring) Sheila Watt-Cloutier 27

Tick Tock Stephanie Nolen 47

All the Kremlin's Men Joyce Wayne 65

Writing the Real Catherine Bush 83

The Meaning of Poor Frances Koziar 97

Wonder Women Soraya Roberts 105

The Finca Eva-Lynn Jagoe 125

The Medium of the Archive Elizabeth Dauphinee 131

This Is Not the End of the Story Ian Waddell 153

The Future Accidental Rob Winger 165

On Leaving and On Going Back Jenna Butler Yvonne Blomer 177

Fishing with Tardelli Neil Besner 193

The Ashes Mark Kingwell 209

To Coronavirus, C Hilary Morgan V. Leathern 219

Contributors' biographies 233

Notable essays of 2020 239

Magazines consulted for the 2021 edition 241

Acknowledgements 243

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Best Canadian Essays

“A superb collection of national thinkers, crackling with insight on the issues of the age.”
—Chatelaine

“The individual contributions in Best Canadian Essays transcend simple reportage and reach the level of art. Each one has something distinctive and informative to say. Take heed.”
—Quill & Quire

From the Publisher