By: Phone Min Thant, Arts & Culture Editor “Queer Asia does not have a great history; it has never found an institutional home in the region.” This quote is one of the last sentences in Queer Southeast Asia: An Afterword, in a section about finding hope through the study of queer experiences. It is a wonder, of course, why I chose to start with this quote. It does not sound particularly hopeful. I chose it because it perfectly describes queerness across Southeast Asia: a largely grassroots network of movements fuelled by activism, passion, collective reimagination, trial and error, and language…
Continue reading
By: Jonah Lazar, Staff Writer In West Africa in the 1960s, the literary scene in the newly independent nations stretching from Senegal to Nigeria was booming. Writers such as Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and Léopold Sédar Senghor defined not just…
Continue reading
By: Tomos Land, Staff Writer Pulitzer prize-winning journalist James Risen captures the consequential life of Senator Frank Church in his aptly-titled book: The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia and the Kennedys — and One Senator’s Fight…
Continue reading
By: Phone Min Thant, Arts and Culture Editor knot body by Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch knot body is a collection of poems, short stories, and letters that address various themes, along with how people with disabilities are treated unjustly by…
Continue reading
By: Ashima Shukla, Staff Writer Revery: A Year of Bees by Jenna Butler This book feels like a long exhale. Set on an off-grid farm in Alberta, it follows Butler’s journey as a beekeeper. In the gentle rhythm of tending…
Continue reading
By: Rusham Verma, Peak Associate One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston If you’re a sci-fi fanatic and a hopeless romantic, this book was written just for you. It’s about a lonely and walled-off 23-year-old girl, August Landry, who moves to…
Continue reading
By: Yildiz Subuk, Staff Writer Content warning: this piece centres around racial segregation and systemic oppression. Over the past century, Black writers have produced some of the most impactful works of non-fiction examining race, prejudice, and oppression. The three books…
Continue reading
By: Phone Min Thant, Staff Writer Content warning: brief mentions of murder and war. Those familiar with Chinese history are probably no stranger to Empress Wu Zetian, the only legitimate empress of The Middle Kingdom. But, did you know there…
Continue reading
By: Sude Guvendik Content warning: discussions of genocide. Rashid Khalidi’s book, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, is an essential read if you want to understand the history of Palestine. The notion that this history is too complicated to understand…
Continue reading
By: Saije Rusimovici, Staff Writer Content warning: brief mention of eugenics and colonialism. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia will leave you unsettled, frightened, and absolutely horrified. Just thinking about it sends a chill down my spine. Halloween may be over,…
Continue reading