Literature
Issue: 2018-05-16, PHOTO: Lara Melnik
The Northern Review looks at literature
The Northern Review #46, published by Yukon College This edition was edited by Maureen Long, Eric Heyne, Andrew Richardson and Jamella Hagan. On its website, the Northern Review, which is published by the School of Liberal Arts at the Yukon... more
Issue: 2018-05-02, PHOTO: courtesy of Freehand Books
A raw and real experience of the war in Syria
In 2010, nine-year-old Abu Bakr al Rabeeah and his family moved from Iraq to Syria. Their home had become politically unstable, and the threats of violence were turning into reality – but Syria was supposed to be safe... more
Issue: 2018-04-25, PHOTO: Lori McNulty
Zsuzsi Gartner: Aspiring to the darkly tragi-comic
While Zsuzsi Gartner built her early career as a writer in journalism, working as a newspaper reporter, then a TV current affairs producer and then a magazine writer and editor, she has been interested in creative writing from an early age.“ more
Issue: 2018-04-25, PHOTO: courtesy of What’s Your Story?
Putting Canada 150 between two covers
CBC/Radio-Canada got involved in the Canada 150 sesquicentennial celebrations in a big way, starting about a year earlier with an open call for submissions to be put in a 2017 yearbook. According to the forward written by president and CEO Hubert... more
Issue: 2018-04-25, PHOTO: courtesy of Owen Laukkanen
Owen Laukkanen: “Keep writing and edit your own work ruthlessly”
Owen Laukkanen is unabashedly a writer of commercial fiction, also known as “genre” fiction, having produced a novel every year since The Professionals came out (and was nominated for four major genre awards) in 2012. The Professionals was Book 1... more
Issue: 2018-04-25, PHOTO: courtesy of Tyrell Johnson
Tyrell Johnson: ‘Write the story you would want to read’
Lots of writers can point to a specific event or person that sent them in the direction of a career in writing; Tyrell Johnson isn’t one of those people. “I don’t think it was one specific thing,” he said. “I’ve always loved being creative. I love... more
Issue: 2018-04-18, PHOTO: Nadine Peters
Poetry Corner: Victoria Peters
A Sea Shell ... by Victoria aged 7 [almost 8] more
Issue: 2018-04-18, PHOTO: Dan Davidson
Gearing up to explore ideas and the written word
In 1990, a number of organizations joined together to meld the Young Authors’ Conference and the National Book Festival into a farther reaching Yukon Writers’ Festival to highlight the Canadian literary arts in the Yukon. The current sponsors of... more
Issue: 2018-03-21, PHOTO: courtesy of Dan Davidson
Looking back at Canada’s Centennial Year
When we look back on Canada’s sesquicentennial year (and yes, I did look it up to make sure I spelled it correctly), what will we think of it? There were some who felt that the events, which began somewhat sluggishly under one government... more
Issue: 2018-03-14, PHOTO: Vanessa Ratjen
Bridging the Divide
Kate Harris grew up geeking out on Mars. But when it became apparent that visiting the red planet meant cutting out such creature comforts as breathing fresh air, Harris decided there might be some benefits (like sufficient oxygen supply and more... more
Issue: 2018-02-28, PHOTO: Dan Davidson
13 Ways to look at Canada
I Am Canada – A Celebration (North Winds Press, $19.99) has come up with a novel way of assembling an overview of special things about our country. In an author’s note in the back of the book, Heather Patterson explains the vision behind her... more
Issue: 2018-02-07, PHOTO: Amazon
Strange things won from the midnight sun
In keeping with this column’s focus on Yukon related material, I’m returning this week to a successful thriller that is set in a version of Dawson City. It’s not quite my town in both geography and details, but Elle Wild didn’t try to pretend it... more
Issue: 2018-01-24, PHOTO: Vanessa Ratjen
A new narrative on gold rush history
On the surface of national history, the Yukon is primarily known for events that happened more than a hundred years ago: the Klondike Gold Rush. Residents of the Territory today know, intimately, how much more there is to the region than its... more
Issue: 2017-12-20, PHOTO: Dan Davidson
A tale of Arctic exploration
It’s been just 10 years since Amazon sold its first Kindle reader devices and the market for ebooks exploded. Not that there weren’t ebooks before that. The Palm series of personal digital assistants (PDAs) made ebooks possible as early as 2002... more
Issue: 2017-12-06, PHOTO: Jozien Keijzer
An afternoon of coffee and fresh ideas
On Sunday, December 10, you are invited to come out to the roastery at Bean North Café and listen to readings by several poets and writers. Kathy Munro and Elisabeth Weigand are putting on the event, in which both of them will read from their own... more
Issue: 2017-12-06, Credit: Amazon.ca
Through dark to the light
A boy is born, unbreathing, the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. With his first croak of life, his mother sighs in relief. But after this early brush with death, her intuition warns her that “winter” will arrive prematurely in her son’s life.. more
Issue: 2017-11-29, PHOTO: Elke Reinauer
Yukon writers gear-up for Frankfurt Book Fair
With over 280,000 visitors and 1,000 authors, the Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest book fair in the world and an important event for international trade deals, with over 7 000 exhibitors from 100 nations, according to the fair website. It is... more
Issue: 2017-11-15, PHOTO: amazon.ca
Drifting Home covers 3 generations of Bertons
In the summer of 1972 Pierre Berton decided to recreate a trip he had taken with his mother, father and sister back in the 1930s and take his family rafting from Bennett Lake to Dawson City. Some of them had earlier hiked the Chilkoot Pass, so... more
Issue: 2017-11-08, PHOTO: courtesy of the Gates Collection
The Northern Review remembers World War I
This is a slightly different edition of The Bookshelf. As with the earlier columns, this one features a book that reflects on Canadian and Yukon history. The difference is that this column is going to direct you to a website... more
Issue: 2017-10-25, PHOTO: Pixabay
What’s your digital footprint?
The editor at What’s Up Yukon doesn’t often receive handwritten letters, but there were two on file when I arrived. We’ve sent Mrs. Schorn a copy of her letter in print and I hope she’s found some new penpals from our efforts... more