Rising about the buzz of intrusive thoughts

12/04/2023

“Buzzing” is a graphic novel by Samuel Sattin about a 12-year-old boy, Isaac, navigating the challenges of obsessive-compulsive disorder and middle school. Using a bee metaphor to represent intrusive thoughts, the book explores Isaac’s struggles and triumphs, particularly his social integration through a tabletop role-playing game. It offers an authentic portrayal of living with OCD, fostering empathy and understanding, and portrays neurodiversity positively, highlighting the inclusion and acceptance of differences. … More Rising about the buzz of intrusive thoughts

Quiet intimacy in the Irish countryside

11/20/2023

Claire Keegan’s quietly devastating novella reminds me of many of my favourite, long-cherished books – and I find it as captivating as many much longer books. Although Foster’s young and neglected protagonist is not an orphan, her displaced and lonely situation makes me think of L.M. Montgomery’s Anne Shirley and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (like … More Quiet intimacy in the Irish countryside

This immigrant’s life

07/31/2023

As a preteen, Elamin Abdelmahmoud – a political and cultural writer and podcast host – left Khartoum, Sudan to live with his family in Kingston, Ontario. In Son of Elsewhere, his interlinked essays explore the conflicted space between his place of origin and his new home. “I am interested in the constant calculus of how much of yourself … More This immigrant’s life