Happiest of Fridays my friends,
I look forward to spending the first Friday of every month together from here on out. I’m also delighted to bring you two pieces of incidentally great CANCON this month: an exhibition on at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) that I got to visit during the DesignTO - ROM After Hours party (they hold these monthly so you, too, can go drink with the dinosaurs!) and a book that I got an advanced reader copy for (with an imminent release date in February).
In keeping with my personal tradition of January being a bit of a write-off, I have lots of big exciting things coming down the line for February. May you all have the manifestation success of a skinny blonde girl on TikTok*.
I am optimistic for our collective February.
*”I’m really lucky and things just always work out for me,” has been my go-to and I must admit, I fear I may have actually girlbossed too close to the sun.
The best thing I’ve heard lately
“Did you just do a crossword in twenty minutes? My brother can do one in 5 but he can’t hold down a job.” — I really can’t remember where I heard this but it was in my notes app for just this occasion.
No Bullshit Art Review: Kent Monkman - Being Legendary
On at the ROM until April 16 2023
If you’re able to hit the ROM in the next few months to see Kent Monkman’s exhibition, BEING LEGENDARY, you’re in for a treat. Hot off the heels of his very successful commission of two murals for the Met, the celebrated Cree artist has created a body of work in direct response to the collection at the ROM. And while some fancy art critics—whose job, I suppose, is to critique—might find fault in parts of the program, I thought it was exciting, vivid, and an emotional journey.
His work incorporates everything from the palaeontology collection to indigenous artefacts both deftly and with humour. If you go, prepare to be awestruck at the size, scale, and colour in some areas, and heartbroken in others.
I don’t think Cherie Dimaline could write a bad book if she tried
VenCo by Cherie Dimaline (Release Feb 14 2023)
The season of the witch is still upon us, and I think it may have saved the best for last. Cherie Dimaline, the Métis writer behind The Marrow Theives returns yet again with VenCo, a novel about a coven assembling in modern North America. After an autumn where there was a veritable deluge of witchy books, I’d forgive you for thinking “really? another one?” then smack you upside the head and say if you were going to read one new witchy book this cold season, this should be it.
Cherie Dimaline’s book is an undeniable page turner, especially given the time-crunched nature of our girl squad’s quest. But where others have handheld witch-loving readers through obvious character assessments, Dimaline embraces nuance and subtlety in letting her characters speak for themselves and show you who they are, rather than tell you.
And really, everything Dimaline writes has all the fun, intrigue, and pacing of the best NyQuil-fuelled fever dream you’ve ever had.
Like what you’re reading? Why not do me a kindness and share this little slice of CANCON-loving internet pie with a friend: