Much-anticipated, curious, or simply thrilling, here are some new and notable books out this month.
The Griffin Poetry Prize 2013 Anthology: A Selection of the Shortlist (House Of Anansi) edited by Mark Doty, Suzanne Buffam, Wang Ping — The Griffin Poetry Prize honours the world’s best poems written in English. The 2013 anthology includes selections from the shortlist: Jennifer Maiden’s Liquid Nitrogen, Alan Shapiro’s Night of the Republic, Brenda Shaughnessy’s Our Andromeda, and Ghassan Zaqtan’s Like a Straw Bird it Follows Me, and Other Poems. Canadian selections include poems from David W. McFadden’s What’s the Score, James Pollock’s Sailing to Babylon, and Ian Williams’ Personals. Release Date: June 8, 2013
Rewire: Digital Cosmopolitans in the Age of Connection (WW Norton) by Ethan Zuckerman — Media scholar and activist Ethan Zuckerman traces the movement of human connections and cosmopolitanism in the age of digital technology. Challenging the notion that instant communication leads to meaningful connection, Zuckerman utilizes sociology, psychology, politics and technology to present a renewed understanding of sincere worldwide connection. Release Date: June 18, 2013
Nature for Sale: The Commons versus Commodities (Pluto Press) by Giovanna Ricoveri — Ricoveri explores the history of common ownership and the sustainability of natural resources, from their decline in Industrial Age Europe to the current limitations imposed by capitalism. In doing so, she demonstrates the possibility and value of resurrecting the commons in today’s troubled economic environment. Release Date: June 20, 2013
Stay, Illusion!: The Hamlet Doctrine (Pantheon) by Jamieson Webster and Simon Critchley — The complexity of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is reinterpreted by Webster and Critchley, who read the tragedy as structured around an “absent centre”. Their close analysis of the paradoxical interplay of thought and action is developed into their daring proposal that, against Hamlet’s introspective paralysis, Ophelia emerges as the play’s true hero. Release Date: June 25, 2013
Red Rooms (Theytus Books) by Cherie Dimaline — A young prostitute, a couture collector, a businesswoman, a photographer, a woman ending an affair. These are the temporary tenants of a busy hotel, observed unknowingly by Naomi, a Native chambermaid. With the remains left behind by these individuals, Naomi weaves a highly imaginative narrative that reflects the complex nature of an urban Native community. Release Date: June 30, 2013