Banana Capital: Stories, Science, and Poison at the Equatorby Ben BrisboisPublished by University of Regina PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$34.95 ISBN 9781779400345 Dole. Chiquita. Del Monte. These banana empires are household names, and as a frequent consumer of bananas, I read Banana Capital: Stories, Science, and Poison at the Equator, by Montreal academic Ben Brisbois, with great interest. Frankly, though I’ve consumed a bunch of bananas in my lifetime, I’ve never peeled back their long and troubling story. Ben Brisbois has. Over about fifteen years, Brisbois—an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine of the Université de Montréal’s School of Public Health—researched, analyzed, and wrote about pesticides’ dangerous health effects on the often exploited workers at banana plantations and farms, with his PhD fieldwork centred in the self-proclaimed “banana capital of the world,” Machala, Ecuador. He ”laboriously designed a project that would try to bring about real change by valuing the lived experiences of pesticide-affected banana workers and farmers, and by being realistic about the political and economic power relations [both globally and locally] affecting coastal Ecuador.” There was much to unpack, and this reader got an education, beginning with the nefarious ecological and political history of…

Dog and Moonby Kelly ShepherdPublished by University of Regina PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$19.95 ISBN 9781779400383 Quirky contradictions, interconnectedness, and more swerves than the North Saskatchewan—Kelly Shepherd’s Dog and Moon delivers an audacious selection of poems that’ll make you think and possibly cheer, thanks to wordplay concerning the natural world, domesticity, etymology, poetry workshops (“Describe snow to someone who has never experienced it before”) and metaphors against a backdrop of shadows, mirrors, moons, frogs, feathers, Canadian writers and “concrete-coloured snow.” In this third poetry collection, Shepherd’s used the ancient ghazal form for inspiration, but he gives his couplets a contemporary twist with reverberations, koan-like riddles, a dash of politics and lines that had me smiling. Even titles are a hoot: “The Poetics of Space Heaters,” and “If Your Eyes Weren’t Prisms, Would You Notice?” Prediction: this book will earn awards. Firstly, the pairings and unusual juxtapositions. The book begins: “A man walks out of a forest. What walks out of him?” In the second poem: “Fish grow leafy fins and tails. Trees grow fish-shaped leaves./The trees, water, fire of childhood.” The poet takes two things, ie: fish and trees, then throws in a random third element, ie: “fire of childhood.”…

Restoring Relations Through Stories: From Dinétah to Denendehby Renae WatchmanPublished by University of Regina PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$35.95 ISBN 9781779400031 The striking cover photo of Renae Watchman’s Restoring Relations Through Stories: From Dinétah to Denendeh features green aurora borealis dancing above the natural monolith Tsé Bit’a’í (the Rock with Wings), Watchman’s “maternal family’s hometown landmark” on Navajo Land near Shiprock, New Mexico. In her new book, the Diné author and associate professor in Indigenous Studies at McMaster University (Indigenous Literatures and Film) frequently addresses the “sentinel’s” cultural importance to the Diné (Navajo), and she discusses ties she discovered between the American Diné and the Dene people north of “the medicine line” in Canada. The scholarly text examines traditional stories by Diné and Dene storytellers, writers and filmmakers and explains their significance. Watchman advocates for “the recognition of hane’ [story, narrative, wisdom] in oral, literary, and visual formats (spoken, published, directed, and beaded) to demonstrate “Hózhǫ́,” an important Diné precept that encompasses beauty, order, harmony, and the idea of striving for a balanced life. The tragic effect of COVID-19 on the Diné; ceremonies; beadwork; and “pretendians” are also some of what’s covered. Watchman introduces herself by acknowledging her Clan relations,…

Tales from the SilenceEdited by James BowPublished by Endless Sky BooksReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$26.99 ISBN 9781998273225 James Bow spawned a stellar idea for an anthology. The fantasy and science fiction aficionado and communications officer (most Canadian writers have a day job) not only created a fictional universe, “Silent Earth,” he also bravely invited ten other sci-fi, fantasy and YA writers to share this post-apocalyptic universe by contributing their own diverse stories, each set within the confines he’d created for “the isolated colonies of the inner solar system.” The Ontario writer and editor’s included five of his own stories—including the 48-page “The Phases of Jupiter,” set in 2151—and his contributors hail from across Canada and as far away as Australia. One commonality between the stories is that the characters all “operate independently but in tandem, encountering the same tragedies, occasionally the same joys, fighting the same battles, and making the same mistakes.” Readers will identify with the soup of human emotions the displaced individuals feel, and credible dialogue—something Bow’s particularly good at creating—helps “ground” the stories and makes them relatable. Bow’s first piece, “The Phases of Jupiter, is significantly set on August 4th, 2151. After climate disasters and civil strife,…

Where the Cherries End Up: A Memoirby Sandra RamberranPublished by Wood Dragon BooksReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$19.99 ISBN 9781990863769 “You have not lived until you have shared a staff room with ten other women, sharing information about male genitals …” British-born Sandra Ramberran writes in Where the Cherries End Up: A Memoir. This quote exemplifies the brazen author’s honesty and matter-of-fact confessions in her tell-all, and clearly demonstrates that from the time she was nine and a fellow student “put his hands down [her] knickers,” her body’s been controlled by others. Soon an older man was also taking advantage of her and other “young, maturing school girls” by offering to “put money in their training bras.” The quick cash allowed them to “buy sweets or single cigarettes from the local shop.” Born the eldest of six with an alcoholic father, Ramberran’s rape at age fourteen and the ability to drink “more than most women,” seemed to set the stage for several challenging decades among “the world of massage parlours, drugs, and sex.” School was something to be endured, and as a teen, “done with childhood games,” her focus turned to “chasing boys and being chased”—and she had an eye for…

In the Light of Dawn: The History and Legacy of a Black Canadian Communityby Marie Carter, Foreword by Afua CooperPublished by University of Regina PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$36.95 ISBN 9781779400468 Canada’s multicultural history is diverse and complex, and at times its narratives have been erroneously rendered. Take Black Canadian history, for example. Take the Dawn Settlement, a historical abolitionist community at the end of the Underground Railway (UGRR) in the area in and around Dresden, Ontario. Intended to be a “utopia” for emancipated American slaves, the Dawn Settlement has often been portrayed as a failure and its numerous founders overshadowed by the spotlit fame of one individual, Reverend Josiah Henson. The role of the British American Institute (BAI) has also been conflated in Dawn’s 200-year historical record. Furthermore, not all of the Black asylum-seekers who arrived in Canada via the UGRR were part of “a destitute band of fugitives” … many were members of the “Black Elite:” educated Pennsylvanian activists who migrated north and contributed intellectual and financial wealth to the “vibrant multicultural community.” These idealists fought for both the eradication of slavery and for securing equality, ie: in the segregated education system. In her book In the Light…

My Tarzan Tree and Other Farm Boy Memoriesby Doug CameronPublished by Cameron NarrativesReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$25.00 ISBN 9781738687749 I grew up in small-town Saskatchewan and thus am familiar with folks who congregate daily at “coffee row” to remember the good old days, tell amusing stories, share gossip and passionately discuss current events. I continually thought about coffee row while reading Swift Current-area writer Doug Cameron’s memoir, My Tarzan Tree and Other Farm Boy Memories. This 1945-born author is obviously a storyteller at heart, but more than that, he’s done what many people talk about doing—writing a book about their life—but few accomplish. Cameron’s light and informal tone; the emphasis on his rural upbringing (near Alcomdale, Alberta); and rambling reminiscences of boyhood escapades with eight siblings, cousins, and friends reads like coffee row conversation: I could even imagine Cameron’s coffee mates nodding in recognition as they stirred another spoonful of sugar into their coffee cups. Cameron, who had a significant career in agricultural science (he was employed at Ottawa’s Agriculture Canada Research Station, and worked globally), has culled his varied childhood experiences into an easy and pleasurable read. He says that he’s “always wanted to write about [his] boyhood days…

kôhkominawak ocihcîwâw: Our Grandmothers’ Hands – Repatriating Métis Material Artby Gregory Scofield, Historical Overview by Sherry Farrell RacettePublished by Gabriel Dumont Institute PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$65.00 ISBN 9781988011226 In Gregory Scofield’s introduction to Our Grandmothers’ Hands: Repatriating Métis Material Art, the multi-genre Métis author, academic and bead-worker immediately demonstrates his poetic prowess via a description of the said, titulary hands: “I always imagine them as fine-boned birds, taking musical flight over a pattern traced onto velvet, stroud, or hide.” This fine writing compelled me to sink into this 245-page treasure trove of photographs, descriptions, and necessary stories about the grandmothers’ beaded artifacts—what Scofield refers to as “grandmother-pieces”—and his years-long efforts to repatriate them from “antique stores and ‘Indian art’ galleries, e-Bay and Etsy, and online auctions”. It was the myriad pieces themselves, he explains, that “guide[d] and educate[d] him” to give voice and honour to these Métis women and their creations during “a time of reconciliation” and “colonial reckoning.” Scofield recalls his Aunty Georgina teaching him—a nicâniskôhpicanisak, or “little ancestor”—to bead at her kitchen table, and recounts his ongoing dedication to learning how to “properly care for historic beadwork and silk embroidery.” Scofield’s illuminating introduction is followed by Sherry…

Dark Chapters: Reading the Still Lives of David GarneauCurated by Arin Fay, Paintings by David Garneau, Edited by Nic WilsonPublished by University of Regina PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$32.95 ISBN 9781779400536 How did I not know about Saskatchewan-based David Garneau? The Governor General award-winning Métis artist, writer and educator initiates integral conversations about Indigenous identity and experience, colonization and the academy through politically-charged art and writing, and now 17 Canadian writers have responded to his large, compelling and highly symbolic still life series, Dark Chapters, in a striking new text. Titled Dark Chapters: Reading the Still Lives of David Garneau, the collection’s contributor list reads like a who’s who of contemporary Canadian literature, including poetry from Susan Musgrave, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Fred Wah and Rita Bouvier, and essays from Trevor Herriot, Jesse Wente, Paul Seeseequasis and curator Arin Fay. “Dark Chapters” refers to Justice Murray Sinclair’s Reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and many of the book’s contributors are of Indigenous heritage. Editor Nic Wilson shares how across Garneau’s lifelong art-making, “Each foray is soaked in [Garneau’s] incredible attention to the codes of history, meaning, emotion, sociality, and pedagogy.” The book contains numerous colour images of Garneau’s provocative still lives,…

“Isúh Áníi: Dátł’ìshí Ts’ìká áa Guunijà / As Grandmother Said: The Narratives of Bessie Meguinis”As narrated by Dátł’ìshí Ts’ìká Bessie Meguinis and Ninàghá Tsitł’á Willie Little BearRetold by Dit’óní Didlíshí Bruce StarlightIllustrated by Treasa StarlightPublished by University of Regina PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$24.95 ISBN 9780889779853 The University of Regina Press is doing important work with their commitment to honouring the traditional languages, legends and cultures of Canada’s First Peoples, and the list of books in their First Nations Language Readers series recently grew again with the landmark publication of Isúh Áníi: Dátł’ìshí Ts’ìká áa Guunijà / As Grandmother Said: The Narratives of Bessie Meguinis. This is the first book to be published in Tsuut’ina (“a critically endangered language”) in more than one hundred years. It contains nine traditional narratives originally narrated by Elders Dátł’ìshí Ts’ìká Bessie Meguinis (1883-1987) and her son, Ninàghá Tsitł’á Willie Little Bear (1912-1989). Here they’re retold by Dit’óní Didlíshí Bruce Starlight, the grandson of Bessie Meguinis. Dr. Starlight spent much of his early childhood with Meguinis, listening to her stories and teachings as he recovered from tuberculosis, and with the help of colleague Dr. Christopher Cox—and chapter-beginning, black and white illustrations by Treasa Starlight—he shares…