8 Alberta Books that Don’t Follow the Rules
School may be back in session, but these Alberta published-books are not following the rules! Discover genre-bending, innovative, and literary rule breaking books below.
Beyond the Gallery ed. Liuba González de Armas, Ana Ruiz Aguirre
This multilingual and multi-genre anthology embraces eclecticism by weaving together a labyrinth of visual experiences in Spanish and English. In Beyond the Gallery, Hispanic-Canadian authors capture the reader’s imagination with enthralling fiction, creative non-fiction, journalism, and academic research narratives. It traverses languages, cultures, and genres to hone in on the richness and variety of visual experiences to connect with the reader, building a bridge of cultural dialogue through the most elemental of senses, the sense of sight.
Beyond the Gallery an Anthology of Visual Encounters: An Anthology of Visual Encounters Published: Oct 15, 2021 by Laberinto Press
Published: Oct 15, 2021 by Laberinto Press
ISBN: 9781777085919
Available as an accessible eBook
Every Night I Dream I’m a Monk, Every Night I Dream I’m a Monster by Damian Tarnopolsky
A collection of stories with an unreliable narrator that connects most stories by explicit or implicit means, Every Night I Dream I’m a Monk, Every Night I Dream I’m a Monster offers an unfolding puzzle of the human psyche that is at once explosive, funny, dark, sweet, pained, and utterly strange. Literary ‘clues’ are scattered throughout, giving the collection a labyrinthine feel. You might discover meaning, or a dead-end! Either way, the seemingly disparate stories form a mysterious larger whole.
Every Night I Dream I'm a Monk, Every Night I Dream I'm a Monster Damian Tarnopolsky
Published: Sep 03, 2024 by Freehand Books
Damian Tarnopolsky 
Published: Sep 03, 2024 by Freehand Books
ISBN: 9781990601804
Available as an accessible eBook
On Beauty: stories by rob mclennan
On Beauty is a provocative collection of moments, confessions, overheard conversations, and memories. Situated at the crossroads of prose and poetry, these 33 vignettes explore the rhythm, textures, and micro-moments of lives in motion. Composed with a poet’s eye for detail and ear for rhythm, rob mclennan’s brief stories play with form and language, capturing the act of record-keeping while in the process of living those records. Throughout the collection, the worlds of literature and art infuse into intimate fragments of the everyday. A welcome chronicle of human connection and belonging, On Beauty will leave readers grappling with questions of how stories are produced and passed through generations.
On Beauty: stories rob mclennan
Published: Aug 22, 2024 by University of Alberta Press
rob mclennan
Published: Aug 22, 2024 by University of Alberta Press
ISBN: 9781772127690
Available as an accessible eBook
I (ATHENA) by Ryth DyckFehderau
When Athena was a young girl in the 60s, she lost her hearing to a childhood fever but was misdiagnosed as “profoundly retarded” and institutionalized for thirty years. Now she’s out of the institution, awkward and bookish, and learning to integrate with mainstream society where nothing works quite like she thinks it should. Athena researches her past, trying to understand why she was institutionalized in the first place and why the people looking after her made such a huge mistake. This book uses a variety of interesting narrators to tell its story, in addition to found documents from Athena’s past like medical reports and intelligence testing. The whole narrative is further complicated by questions of authenticity and complicity as Athena herself has control over the story by the end.
I (Athena) Ruth DyckFehderau
Published: Apr 01, 2023 by NeWest Press
Ruth DyckFehderau
Published: Apr 01, 2023 by NeWest Press
ISBN: 9781774390672
Available as an accessible eBook
The Hundred-Year Circus by Sarah Gibbs
The Hundred-Year Circus is a raucous poem/play/epic/narrative-unlimited that is by turns haunting, compelling, and fun. The story: America, riven by political division and blighted by the climate crisis, musters three figures from myth—the Tramp, the Man in the Mask, and the Prophet—to act as champions in a once-in-a-century reckoning. Along for the ride? Survivalist cults, bungling world leaders, migrant caravans, and Jokerman, the First American and immortal Judge. By means of an energetic Bob-Dylan-esque fusion of forms—including free verse, prose poems, invocations, and elegies—the collection considers the fate of a troubled republic. The Hundred-Year Circus is a meta, self-referential poetry/play/epic told via an unreliable narrator and narrative frame. The arcing story itself is intriguing— modern yet historic, disjointed yet cohesive.
The Hundred-Year Circus
Sarah Gibbs
Published: Oct 01, 2024 by Frontenac House
ISBN: 9781989466827
Goddess Alpha by Jessica Theroux
Goddess Alpha: Directions Home is a textile compendium of embroidered images and stories about goddesses, beginning with Artemis, the virginal hunter, and progressing to the ostentatious Eos, the goddess of dawn, and Hecate, the healer. It concludes with the Zorya sisters, who are responsible for watching over the beast in the sky to prevent it from devouring the universe. Each of the 26 goddesses provides guidance on homing in on our direction in life, as well as on how to creatively undertake tasks of invention and inspiration.
Goddess Alpha: Directions Home Jessica Theroux
Published: Jun 01, 2024 by Durvile Publications Ltd.
Jessica Theroux
Published: Jun 01, 2024 by Durvile Publications Ltd.
ISBN: 9781990735448
Available as an accessible audiobook
Indigiqueerness by Joshua Whitehead, in dialogue with Angie Abdou
Evolving from a conversation between Joshua Whitehead and Angie Abdou, Indigiqueerness is a rule-breaking book that celebrates genre-defying writing and art.Beginning with memories of his childhood poetry and prose and travelling through the library of his life, Whitehead contemplates the role of theory, Indigenous language, queerness, and fantastical worlds in all his artistic pursuits. The innovative layout of the book includes photo-collage, feature quotes, marginalia, and other design elements that foreground the rule-breaking nature of the book.
Indigiqueerness: A Conversation about Storytelling Joshua Whitehead
Published: Apr 25, 2023 by Athabasca University Press
Joshua Whitehead
Published: Apr 25, 2023 by Athabasca University Press
ISBN: 9781771993913
Available as an accessible eBook
In Singing, He Composed a Song by Jeremy Stewart
John is the teenage terror of his northern industrial town. With his friends, James and Simon, he is a disciple of depression and ennui. His world is a haze of smoke and heavy metal, anchored by poverty. Every day he steps closer to the edge. When an altercation at school leads to a bad encounter with the police and involuntary commitment to a psychiatric ward, John finds himself alone in the hospital Quiet Room with time to think, to reflect on who he is, how he got here, and how to move forward—whether he wants to or not. This experimental novella blends poetry and fiction to explore how a musician and songwriter understand the world and themselves.
In Singing, He Composed a Song Jeremy Stewart
Published: Sep 15, 2021 by University of Calgary Press