Sonosyntactics introduces the reader to over forty-five years of Paul Dutton’s diverse and inventive poetry, ranging from lyrics, prose poems, and visual work to performance texts and scores. Perhaps best known for his acclaimed solo sound performances and his contributions to the iconic sound poetry group The Four Horsemen, Dutton is a surprising, witty, sensitive, and innovative explorer of language and of the human. This volume gathers a representative selection of his most sig...

Who knew that the great country of Canada is named for a mistake? How about "bedswerver," the best Elizabethan insult to hurl at a cheating boyfriend? By exploring the delightful back stories of the 250 words in Wordcatcher, readers are lured by language and entangled in etymologies. Author Phil Cousineau takes us on a tour into the obscure territory of word origins with great erudition and endearing curiosity. The English poet W. H. Auden was once asked to teach a poetry class, and when 2...

To untangle the knot of interlocking meanings of these painted words, logophile and mythologist Phil Cousineau begins each fascinating word entry with his own brief definition. He then fills it in with a tint of etymology and a smattering of quotes that show how the word is used, ending with a list of companion words. The words themselves range from commonplace — like biscuit, a twice-baked cake for Roman soldiers — to loanwords including chaparral, from the Basque shepherds who came to th...

Ever feel hungry to write but can’t find an idea that whets your appetite? Whether you write fiction, poetry or memoir, there’s plenty here to get your teeth into. In this book, creative writing tutor and author Carol McKay shares not only some of her favourite prompts but also some of her tried and tested recipes to bring out the full range of flavours in your writing. The exercises, one-liners, photoprompts and definitions are suitable for those working on their writing alone or in a gr...

Deluxe redesign of the two-time Griffin Award winner's first poetry collection. Includes new material. On the occasion of the press's 40th anniversary, Brick Books is proud to present the first of six new editions of classic books from our back catalogue. This new edition of Short Talks features a foreword by the poet Margaret Christakos, a "Short Talk on Afterwords" by Carson herself, and a new cover and design by the renowned typographer Robert Bringhurst. First issued in 1992, this is C...

Since selections first appeared in the New Quarterly and the National Post as part of “The Afterword,” Steven Heighton’s memos and dispatches to himself — a writer’s pointed, cutting take on his own work and the work of writing — have been tweeted and retweeted, discussed and tacked to bulletin boards everywhere. Coalesced, completed, and collected here for the first time, a wholly new kind of book has emerged, one that’s as much about creative process as it is about crea...

In this posthumous collection from an avant-garde great, Hollo’s spare, sly, lyrical greatness is on display a final time."Someone comes alonggives that tedious old thinga new twist orbreaks its neckthe old questionsdon't change:what do you want me to say?what do you want me to do?"

With The Cape Breton Book of the Dead, Don Domanski emerged as a remarkable new voice in Canadian poetry, combining formal conciseness with broad cosmic allusions, constant surprise with brooding atmospherics, and innovative syntax with delicate phrasings. In subsequent collections, Domanski’s poetry has deepened and expanded, with longer lines and more complex structures that journey into the far reaches of metaphor. Now, with Earthly Pages: The Poetry of Don Domanski, t...

Learn to write a complete short story in 99 words or fewer. Fun, but addictive!

“John Taggart’s poetry is not like music, it is music.”—George OppenIs Music—a major retrospective of an American original—gathers the best poems from John Taggart’s fourteen volumes, ranging from early objectivist experiments and jazz-influenced improvisational pieces to longer breathtaking compositions regarded as underground masterpieces. There is a prayerful quality to Taggart’s poetry, rooted in music—from medieval Christian traditions and soul to American punk rock. ...

Unlock the more straightforward side of The Road with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Road by Cormac McCarthy, the story of a father and son travelling south to escape the harsh winter in a postapocalyptic world. On the way, they must contend with food shortages, hordes of vicious cannibals and the existential problem of what there is left to live for in a world devoid of humanity....

What is the best way to tell a story? In this anthology, the first-ever collection of essays by innovative, cutting-edge writers on the theme of narration, forty of the continent's top experimental writers describe their engagement with language, storytelling and the world. The anthology includes renowned writers like Kathy Acker, Dennis Cooper, Nicole Brossard, Daphne Marlatt, Lydia Davis and Kevin Killian, writers who have spent years pondering the meaning of storytelling and how storyte...