Charles R. Saunders’s landmark essay in The Spirit of Africville was ‘a trial’ to create

by

๐‘พ๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’† ๐‘ต๐’๐’˜! ๐‘พ๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ฑ๐’๐’ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’•๐’•๐’“๐’Š๐’† ๐’Š๐’” ๐’…๐’๐’๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ $๐Ÿ“๐ŸŽ ๐’‚ ๐’Ž๐’๐’๐’•๐’‰ ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐‘พ๐‘ญ๐‘ต๐‘บโ€™๐’” ๐‘ช๐’‰๐’‚๐’“๐’๐’†๐’” ๐‘น. ๐‘บ๐’‚๐’–๐’๐’…๐’†๐’“๐’” ๐‘ท๐’“๐’Š๐’›๐’† ๐’‡๐’๐’“ ๐’•๐’˜๐’ ๐’š๐’†๐’‚๐’“๐’”. ๐‘ญ๐’๐’“ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“, ๐’˜๐’†โ€™๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’†๐’๐’ ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’๐’–๐’• ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ ๐’„๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’Š๐’„๐’‚๐’ ๐’ƒ๐’๐’๐’Œ๐’” ๐‘ช๐’‰๐’‚๐’“๐’๐’†๐’” ๐’‘๐’–๐’ƒ๐’๐’Š๐’”๐’‰๐’†๐’… ๐’Š๐’ ๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’๐’Š๐’‡๐’†๐’•๐’Š๐’Ž๐’†.ย ย  ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘บ๐’‘๐’Š๐’“๐’Š๐’• ๐’๐’‡ ๐‘จ๐’‡๐’“๐’Š๐’„๐’—๐’Š๐’๐’๐’†, ๐’ƒ๐’š ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐‘จ๐’‡๐’“๐’Š๐’„๐’—๐’Š๐’๐’๐’† ๐‘ฎ๐’†๐’๐’†๐’‚๐’๐’๐’ˆ๐’š ๐‘บ๐’๐’„๐’Š๐’†๐’•๐’š ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐‘ถ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’” โ€œYou donโ€™t know what a trial it was to do … Read more

How Charles Saunders’s ‘Sweat and Soul’ boxing book planted the seed for Sword and Soul

by

๐‘พ๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’† ๐‘ต๐’๐’˜! ๐‘พ๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ฑ๐’๐’ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’•๐’•๐’“๐’Š๐’† ๐’Š๐’” ๐’…๐’๐’๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ $๐Ÿ“๐ŸŽ ๐’‚ ๐’Ž๐’๐’๐’•๐’‰ ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐‘พ๐‘ญ๐‘ต๐‘บโ€™๐’” ๐‘ช๐’‰๐’‚๐’“๐’๐’†๐’” ๐‘น. ๐‘บ๐’‚๐’–๐’๐’…๐’†๐’“๐’” ๐‘ท๐’“๐’Š๐’›๐’† ๐’‡๐’๐’“ ๐’•๐’˜๐’ ๐’š๐’†๐’‚๐’“๐’”. ๐‘ญ๐’๐’“ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“, ๐’˜๐’†โ€™๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’†๐’๐’ ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’๐’–๐’• ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ ๐’„๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’Š๐’„๐’‚๐’ ๐’ƒ๐’๐’๐’Œ๐’” ๐‘ช๐’‰๐’‚๐’“๐’๐’†๐’” ๐’‘๐’–๐’ƒ๐’๐’Š๐’”๐’‰๐’†๐’… ๐’Š๐’ ๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’๐’Š๐’‡๐’†๐’•๐’Š๐’Ž๐’†.ย ย  ๐‘บ๐’˜๐’†๐’‚๐’• ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐‘บ๐’๐’–๐’: ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘บ๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’‚ ๐’๐’‡ ๐‘ฉ๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’Œ ๐‘ฉ๐’๐’™๐’†๐’“๐’” ๐’‡๐’“๐’๐’Ž ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐‘ฏ๐’‚๐’๐’Š๐’‡๐’‚๐’™ ๐‘ญ๐’๐’“๐’–๐’Ž ๐’•๐’ ๐‘ช๐’‚๐’†๐’”๐’‚๐’“๐’” ๐‘ท๐’‚๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’† Charles R. Saundersโ€™s fourth book was … Read more

The Trail of Bohu was Charles R. Saunders’s first novel written from scratch

by

๐‘พ๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’† ๐‘ต๐’๐’˜! ๐‘พ๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ฑ๐’๐’ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’•๐’•๐’“๐’Š๐’† ๐’Š๐’” ๐’…๐’๐’๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ $๐Ÿ“๐ŸŽ ๐’‚ ๐’Ž๐’๐’๐’•๐’‰ ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐‘พ๐‘ญ๐‘ต๐‘บโ€™๐’” ๐‘ช๐’‰๐’‚๐’“๐’๐’†๐’” ๐‘น. ๐‘บ๐’‚๐’–๐’๐’…๐’†๐’“๐’” ๐‘ท๐’“๐’Š๐’›๐’† ๐’‡๐’๐’“ ๐’•๐’˜๐’ ๐’š๐’†๐’‚๐’“๐’”. ๐‘ญ๐’๐’“ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“, ๐’˜๐’†โ€™๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’†๐’๐’ ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’๐’–๐’• ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ ๐’„๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’Š๐’„๐’‚๐’ ๐’ƒ๐’๐’๐’Œ๐’” ๐‘ช๐’‰๐’‚๐’“๐’๐’†๐’” ๐’‘๐’–๐’ƒ๐’๐’Š๐’”๐’‰๐’†๐’… ๐’Š๐’ ๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’๐’Š๐’‡๐’†๐’•๐’Š๐’Ž๐’†.ย ย  The Trail of Bohu In what would prove to be his last days in Ontario, Charles got to work on Imaroโ€™s … Read more

The Monster of Eldenhaven by Halifax’s Jennifer Giesbrecht will creep you out

by

March 2025 ๐‘ฉ๐’๐’๐’Œ ๐’“๐’†๐’—๐’Š๐’†๐’˜ ๐’”๐’‘๐’๐’๐’”๐’๐’“๐’†๐’… ๐’ƒ๐’š ๐‘พ๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’† ๐‘ต๐’๐’˜! ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ฑ๐’๐’ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’•๐’•๐’“๐’Š๐’†. ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘€๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐ธ๐‘™๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘‘โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘›, ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐ฝ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘›๐‘–๐‘“๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐บ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘โ„Ž๐‘ก I had a meeting at Halifaxโ€™s Trident Bookstore a few months ago to talk about the Charles R. Saunders Prize. On a whim, I told the owner that Charles had lived above the store when he first … Read more

Saunders launched ‘a whole new flavour of fantasy’ with Imaro II: Quest for Cush

by

๐‘พ๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’† ๐‘ต๐’๐’˜! ๐‘พ๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ฑ๐’๐’ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’•๐’•๐’“๐’Š๐’† ๐’Š๐’” ๐’…๐’๐’๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ $๐Ÿ“๐ŸŽ ๐’‚ ๐’Ž๐’๐’๐’•๐’‰ ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐‘พ๐‘ญ๐‘ต๐‘บโ€™๐’” ๐‘ช๐’‰๐’‚๐’“๐’๐’†๐’” ๐‘น. ๐‘บ๐’‚๐’–๐’๐’…๐’†๐’“๐’” ๐‘ท๐’“๐’Š๐’›๐’† ๐’‡๐’๐’“ ๐’•๐’˜๐’ ๐’š๐’†๐’‚๐’“๐’”. ๐‘ญ๐’๐’“ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“, ๐’˜๐’†โ€™๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’†๐’๐’ ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’๐’–๐’• ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ ๐’„๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’Š๐’„๐’‚๐’ ๐’ƒ๐’๐’๐’Œ๐’” ๐‘ช๐’‰๐’‚๐’“๐’๐’†๐’” ๐’‘๐’–๐’ƒ๐’๐’Š๐’”๐’‰๐’†๐’… ๐’Š๐’ ๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’๐’Š๐’‡๐’†๐’•๐’Š๐’Ž๐’†.ย ย  Charles spent 1981 to 1983 working on Imaroโ€™s second novel. As with the first, Charles combined existing short stories into what … Read more

Charles R. Saunders climbs the mountain to write his first novel: Imaro

by

๐‘พ๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’† ๐‘ต๐’๐’˜! ๐‘พ๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ฑ๐’๐’ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’•๐’•๐’“๐’Š๐’† ๐’Š๐’” ๐’…๐’๐’๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ $50 ๐’‚ ๐’Ž๐’๐’๐’•๐’‰ ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐‘พ๐‘ญ๐‘ต๐‘บโ€™๐’” ๐‘ช๐’‰๐’‚๐’“๐’๐’†๐’” ๐‘น. ๐‘บ๐’‚๐’–๐’๐’…๐’†๐’“๐’” ๐‘ท๐’“๐’Š๐’›๐’† ๐’‡๐’๐’“ ๐’•๐’˜๐’ ๐’š๐’†๐’‚๐’“๐’”. ๐‘ญ๐’๐’“ 2025, ๐’˜๐’†โ€™๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’†๐’๐’ ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’๐’–๐’• 12 ๐’„๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’Š๐’„๐’‚๐’ ๐’ƒ๐’๐’๐’Œ๐’” ๐‘ช๐’‰๐’‚๐’“๐’๐’†๐’” ๐’‘๐’–๐’ƒ๐’๐’Š๐’”๐’‰๐’†๐’… ๐’Š๐’ ๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’๐’Š๐’‡๐’†๐’•๐’Š๐’Ž๐’†.ย ย  Imaro Charles started out writing short stories in the 1970s and the challenge of turning Imaroโ€™s adventures into his first novel … Read more

Grow up, Rory Rafferty adds a Pride twist to historical fiction in Canada

by

๐‘ฉ๐’๐’๐’Œ ๐’“๐’†๐’—๐’Š๐’†๐’˜ ๐’”๐’‘๐’๐’๐’”๐’๐’“๐’†๐’… ๐’ƒ๐’š ๐‘พ๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’† ๐‘ต๐’๐’˜! ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ฑ๐’๐’ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’•๐’•๐’“๐’Š๐’†. ๐บ๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘ข๐‘, ๐‘…๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ ๐‘…๐‘Ž๐‘“๐‘“๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘ฆ, ๐‘Ž ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘™ ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐ต๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘Š. ๐ต๐‘–๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ If youโ€™re hitting this frosty January hankering for a fresh start, may I suggest jumping into an airplane with Rory Rafferty as he leaves the Nova Scotia of his youth for the Toronto of his future? … Read more

What’s the Point by Steven Laffoley is a Point Pleasant Park must

by

๐‘ฉ๐’๐’๐’Œ ๐’“๐’†๐’—๐’Š๐’†๐’˜ ๐’”๐’‘๐’๐’๐’”๐’๐’“๐’†๐’… ๐’ƒ๐’š ๐‘พ๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’† ๐‘ต๐’๐’˜! ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ฑ๐’๐’ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’•๐’•๐’“๐’Š๐’†. ๐‘Šโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘กโ€™๐‘  ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ƒ๐‘œ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘ก: ๐ด๐‘› ๐ผ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก ๐บ๐‘ข๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘ƒ๐‘œ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘ƒ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘ƒ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘˜, ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐‘†๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘› ๐ฟ๐‘Ž๐‘“๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘ฆ. Buy 5 copies of Whatโ€™s the Point, give 4 away as gifts, and keep the fifth for yourself. Veteran Nova Scotian writer Steven Laffoley is the author of lucky 13 previous books, and … Read more

George Elliott Clarke shows us Where Beauty Survived in his memoir of ‘race, family secrets, and Africadia’

by

๐‘ฉ๐’๐’๐’Œ ๐’“๐’†๐’—๐’Š๐’†๐’˜ ๐’”๐’‘๐’๐’๐’”๐’๐’“๐’†๐’… ๐’ƒ๐’š ๐‘พ๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’† ๐‘ต๐’๐’˜! ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ฑ๐’๐’ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’•๐’•๐’“๐’Š๐’†. ๐‘Šโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐ต๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ข๐‘ก๐‘ฆ ๐‘†๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘‘: ๐ด ๐‘€๐‘’๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘–๐‘Ÿ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘…๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’, ๐น๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘–๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘†๐‘’๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘ , ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐ด๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘Ž, ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐บ๐‘’๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘”๐‘’ ๐ธ๐‘™๐‘™๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘ก๐‘ก ๐ถ๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘˜๐‘’ Need a Christmas gift for yourself? George Elliott Clarke was visiting Halifax this summer and he managed to squeeze in an hour to talk to me about his old friend, Charles … Read more