A pair of new novellas from award-winning Alberta authors

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Conor Kerr wanted to write about Métis characters dealing with everyday problems, living modern lives and facing the same struggles everyone faces living in modern society.

It’s the inspiration for Beaver Hills Forever, his newest novella released by Arsenal Pulp Press at the beginning of the month. The Edmonton-based Métis/Ukrainian author wrote it as poetic prose, a series of poems following each character as they struggle, as they fail, as they succeed and as they change their lives.

“I think (the inspiration) was to press back against these popular stereotypes and misconceptions around Indigenous peoples always having to be a cultural warrior or living in destitution and poverty,” says Kerr. “Edmonton is one of the largest indigenous cities in the world. The very vast majority are just living their lives, just trying to support their family and get by. My Ukrainian grandfather doesn’t wake up and think, ‘What can I do today that’s Ukrainian?’”

His book follows four characters: a young university student struggling with his first time in the big city. A professor pushing back against the institution for using her for her Indigenous voice. A welder trying, and failing, to balance work in the oil patch and life back home. The mother of his children, yearning to be more than just a mother living in the city as her partner comes and goes every few weeks.

It’s Kerr’s fifth book since his award-winning debut, Avenue of Champions, made a splash back in 2021. His last book, Prairie Edge, was nominated for numerous awards and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize, one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the country.

Kerr walked on stage at the Toronto gala last fall, representing his prairie roots with a black cowboy hat, black dress shirt and bolo tie. It was an intentional statement from someone who has never worn a tuxedo.

“It was very much a pushback on the pretension that is making literature inaccessible,” says Kerr. “I have never worn a tux in my life. The black cowboy hat is more comfortable.”

Kerr teaches creative writing at the University of Alberta. His next novel, Duck Blind, follows a hunting guide and cigarette smuggler and should be released in 2027.

New imprint for NeWest Press

The first draft of C.J. Lavigne’s newest speculative fiction book, the launch title for a new imprint at NeWest Press, came in at an awkward size. It was too big for a novella but too short for a novel.

“I had to either shorten it or expand it,” says Lavigne. “If I made it longer, it was going to have a lot more world-building in it. Or I could cut all of that out and a streamlined, focused novella that focuses on the characters and the story.”

Her streamlined release, The Drowned Man’s Daughter, throws the reader right into the action without handholding. Naia didn’t ask to be the focus of her community, the saviour and miracle for the small group of survivors who cling to their tiny island. Danger lurks everywhere: the mainland is infested with zombie-like creatures, while under the waves are terrifying monsters who could swim up and attack without warning.

“I think I started with post-apocalyptic Nova Scotia, although we got a little bit of post-apocalyptic Iceland,” says Lavigne. “Theme-wise, I like to say this is all my climate grief dipped in pandemic angst.”

Naia is thrown into this world, discovered on the beach as a small baby shortly after a drowned man washes ashore. The community eventually believes she has the power to control the weather and possibly help them survive.

“You get the central character trying to find herself in an environment where everyone finds her an accessory in their lives,” says Lavigne.

The Drowned Man’s Daughter is the first release from Barbour Books, the new speculative fiction imprint being run by NeWest Press, based out of Edmonton. Douglas Barbour was the former president of NeWest Press and had a love for speculative fiction. The Book Publishers Association of Alberta named their speculative fiction prize after Barbour, after he died a few years ago.

Jenna Butler will be the editor at Barbour Books. She helped bring Lavigne’s first book, In Veritas, to NeWest Press back in 2020. She had a longstanding relationship with Barbour, who would send her everything from poetry to works by George RR Martin, all in the genre.

“I said to Doug, based on the type of writing you love to read, I love to read, for this text, do you think we could make a home in the press, in this type of writing?” says Butler.  “Speculative fiction tends to be looked down on, seen as not literary. So much good speculative fiction, so much good sci-fi has its grounding in great literary fiction.”

Butler says interest in Barbour Books from writers has already been strong and has seen submissions as diverse as Indigenous horror anthologies to fantasy. Their second book, Riley Mallory, is set to hit shelves in 2027.

“A focus for the imprint is seeking out books from marginalized communities, BIPOC writers,” says Butler. “I have a sneaky feeling it will be more than just one book per year, judging by the number of submissions we have received.”

Lavigne’s book is one of a number on the fall release schedule for NeWest Press. The local publisher has six books coming out over the next few months, including a memoir in essays by Danica Klewchuk called Standing in the Footprints of Beasts, starting with her upbringing in a religious environment, followed by travels through Europe, Australia and Southeast Asia.

The Edmonton Queer History Project is at the forefront of a new collection coming in October. Cruising the Downtown: Celebrating Edmonton’s Queer History explores the history of the community in Alberta’s capital, from civic landmarks to sites of resistance, the nightlife, celebration and activist spaces. The collection is edited by Dr. Kristopher Wells, the senator, longtime educator and advocate for the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

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