Contemporary Canadian Literature with a Distinctly Urban Twist

Anvil Press

The Underwood

By P.G. Tarr

The Underwood is a loss-of-innocence novel set in an atmosphere pervaded with nostalgia and a yearning for a bygone era. Holden Caulfield meets Barton Fink.

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Unravel

By Tammy Armstrong

Unravel is Armstrong’s follow-up volume to her Governor General Award nominated debut collection, Bogman’s Music.

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Unus Mundus

By Mari-Lou Rowley

In this, her ninth collection of poetry, Mari-Lou Rowley explores how we, as a species, have moved beyond our search for a union with the cosmos—in the spiritual sense—to the desire to conquer its mysteries and exploit its resources.

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Valery the Great

By Elaine McCluskey

Valery the Great is a crackling, electric collection of dark humour that follows the bizarre and beautiful lives of its protagonists. Sometimes sweet and gentle, sometimes sharply sarcastic, the unique narrative voices in this collection are always powerfully touching.

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Vancouver Confidential

By John Belshaw

Vancouver Confidential is a collaboration of artists and writers who plumb the shadows of civic memory looking for the stories that don’t fit into mainstream narratives.

We honour the chorus line behind the star performer, the mug in the mugshot, the victim in the murder, the teens in the gang, and the “slum” in the path of the bulldozer.

By focusing on the stories of the common people rather than community leaders and headliners, Vancouver Confidential shines a light on the lives of Vancouverites that have for so long been ignored.

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Vancouver Noir: 1930-1960

By John Belshaw & Diane Purvey

It was an era of gambling, smuggling rings, grifters, police corruption, bootleggers, brothels, murders, and more. It was also a time of intensified concern with order, conformity, structure, and restrictions. Vancouver Noir provides a fascinating insight into life in the Terminal City, noir-style.

Lavishly illustrated with black & white archival photographs.

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Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award

Vancouver Vanishes: Narratives of Demolition and Revival

By Caroline Adderson et al.

Based on the popular Facebook Page, Vancouver Vanishes is a collection of essays and photographs that together form a lament for, and celebration of, the vanishing character homes and apartments in the city.

Vancouver Vanishes includes essays from Caroline Adderson, Kerry Gold, John Atkin, Elise & Stephen Partridge, John Mackie, and Eve Lazarus as well as poems from Evelyn Lau and Bren Simmers. Introduction by Michael Kluckner.

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Viral Suite

By Mari-Lou Rowley

Viral Suite explores our relationship with self, other, environment, space, and time. The sensual and the cerebral. How the we/here/now is evolving and mutating with each downloaded packet.

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Vs. (Finalist, Acorn-Plantos Award)

By Kerry Ryan

Throughout the collection the author reflects on what it means to be a woman and a fighter, as well as a poet and a fighter. But, ultimately, Vs. is about the fights we all face: brain vs. body, intention vs. action, perception vs. identity, who we are vs. who we want to be.

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What It Feels Like for a Girl

By Jennica Harper

What It Feels Like for a Girl is a book-length series of poems that tell the story of two teenage girls as they delve into the big, strange world of sex.

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