An Eclectic and Engaging Small Press Like No Other!

In 2023 we presented the following books as part of our “Pandemic Recovery” initiative – a special project supported by the Government of Canada • Canadian Heritage, so that readers would discover great Canadian books and authors!

For February/March of 2024, this Special Offer page has been renewed for our new subscribers to EXILE Quarterly – each of whom will have received a 2-sided promo card with their first issue (46.1 mailed mid-February). And, all titles are discounted 20–40%, with shipping included!

At EXILE, we not only publish a singular literary and visual arts magazine (EXILE Quarterly celebrated 50 years in 2022/23), but Exile Editions has released over 500 literary titles since 1975! Below, you will find each “Pandemic Recovery” BOOK’s TITLE is linked to a PRODUCT PAGE that provides info on a book. We hope you Enjoy! (and all of Exile Editions’ books are available at: Exile Editions ).

24 “Pandemic Recovery” books:

The pandemic affected all industries, and in a big way, Canadian publishing. Here we are celebrating Exile books that did not receive the attention they should have because of lock downs, closed retail outlets, lack of in-person events, and the general disruptive reality brought on by Covid-19.

You can also download our complete 2023 titles – along with all releases from 2022 and 2021, and selected highlights from previous years. View or Download the Catalogue:

Click on a book’s title to purchase.

Literary and Speculative Fiction

Ferry Back the Gifts ($14.95 @ 40% discount) is Kate Story’s hilarious, moving, and dazzling-by-turns speculative fiction collection from one of Newfoundland’s most idiosyncratic writers. You will be seduced by its raw wisdom, and it will befriend you with a wry wit that crosses communities, times, and places.

Paradise Island and Other Galaxies ($13.95 @ 40% discount) is Michael Mirolla’s foray into the multiverse of imaginative fiction. Both cerebral and playful, this collection of speculative stories is replete with painterly imagery and whimsically creepy irony.

The delicious Food of My People anthology ($29.95 @ 25% discount) gathers a range of speculative writing that engages our fascination with the apple that can be both candy-coated and poisoned. Eating is a symbolic and magical act, a transformation, a covenant, a ritual, a comfort, a necessity – but all through history, food-themed stories have also had their dark sides… (co-edited by Candas Jane Dorsey and Ursula Pflug)

Dying Times ($23.95 @ 20% discount/hardcover) by Darlene Madott is the uplifting story of a successful though conflicted lady litigator, told with a dark undercurrent of humour that underpins this striking meditation on dying, and discovery of a meaningful approach to living.

Dreamers and Misfits of Montclair ($13.95 @ 30% discount) is Mark Paterson’s wise and humorous collection of stories that explore and celebrate the restlessness of ordinary people’s extraordinary lives as they overcome the boredom and conformity of Montclair, a fictional suburb of Montreal.

Equipoise ($19.50 @ 30% discount) begs comparison with Alice Munro… I was deeply altered by the stories and their ties to the cold and bewildering speed, excess and isolation of contemporary life. Katie Zdybel possesses an acutely intelligent feminine gaze… —Malahat Review

A Fine Line ($13.95 @ 40% discount) is Marc Séguin’s profound and moving novel that is an irresistible story about friendship, art, sex, and love as he revisits the boy, the adolescent, and the young man he once was.

Indigenous/Bipoc Fiction • Poetry • Memoir

In Plaza Requiem ($13.95 @ 30% discount), winner of Latino Best Short Fiction Award, Mexican-Canadian Martha Bátiz has crafted visceral stories with piercing and evocative women who are trapped in violent relationships, facing dangerous political situations, or learning to live with the pain of betrayal. Yet the stories shimmer with the emotional surge of vindication, evoking the rewards women attain after a powerful exploration of their darkest moments. (Damiana’s Reprive is the author’s second book with Exile, and also part of our Pandemic Recovery initiative.)

Wapke ($14.95 @ 40% discount) means “tomorrow” in the Atikamekw language: This is Quebec’s first collection of science fiction by Indigenous writers: 14 short stories from various nations and different backgrounds that project us into the future through their moving, poetic, worrying, and fantastical perspectives. (edited by Michel Jean)

In the Innu language Amun ($13.95 @ 40% discount) means “gathering” and this collection of 10 stories does just that as it gathers tales – based in history and tradition, set in multiple epochs and contexts – which offer glimpses of lives that provide a wider view and understanding of Indigenous experiences. (edited by Michel Jean)

Karen Lee White’s The Silence ($17.95 @ 20% discount) is written with a deep empathy for her characters, emergent Indigenous identity, and discovery through dreams, spirits, songs, and journals – it is also a cri de coeur that lives alongside Smart’s By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept and Kogawa’s Obasan. (Includes a CD of the author’s original Indigenous music; affixed to inside cover.)

In a time of malevolent righteousness, often described as Cancel Culture, J’Accuse…! Poem Versus Silence ($18.95 @ 30% discount) is a poetic response by Canada’s Parliamentarian Poet Laureate emeritus, George Elliott Clarke, to being “cancelled.” 

The Life Crimes and Hard Times of Ricky Atkinson ($27.95 @ 20% discount) is a rivetting memoir about organized crime, and the structural, cultural, historical, and situational contexts that aligned when Ricky Atkinson, leader of the notorious Dirty Tricks Gang, was growing up fast and hard in one of Toronto’s toughest neighbourhoods. (Central feature: an 8-page colour photograph section.)

Bawaajigan ($19.95 @ 20% discount) is an Anishinaabemowin word for dream or vision. This book is a singular anthology of Indigenous writing, co-edited by Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler and Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith: “Stories that have the power to transform character and reader alike, and overall this is a collection in which the high points are numerous and often dizzying in their force.” —Quill & Quire

In his first collection of stories, The Chronicles of Kitchike ($19.95 @ 20% discount), Louis-Karl Picard-Sioui takes us on a journey into the heart of a very colourful Indigenous community where traditions, dreams, deprivation and, yes, corruption exist side by side.

Amazing Poetry

The Selected Gwendolyn MacEwen ($29.95 @ 20% discount) is a terrific way to get a broad sampling of this icon of Canadian literature: poetry, short works, novels (excerpts, of course) and theatre. Own this collection, and you will not be disappointed! And you may well discover an amazing human being whose insights and unique creativity will lead you to conclude that she’s one of the greatest writers of our times. (edited by Meaghan Strimas)

Infinite Gradation ($15.95 @ 20% discount) is Anne Michaels’ astonishing meditation on what art makes of death, and the moral, emotional, and philosophical implications of love and the creative act. In lines as precise and profound as any she has written, she lays out for the reader a lyrically compelling praise-song to love and the enduring mysteries at the core of existence. (See also Railtracks – her collaborative book with UK author John Berger.)

Brian Brett’s To Your Scattered Bodies Go ($17.50 @ 30% discount) is writing so vivid, observations so telling, that these sobering and profound poems culminate in a singular achievement: a triumphant appreciation of the human predicament.

From the widely-praised Beth Goobie comes Lookin’ For Joy ($13.95 @ 40% discount), her fourth collection of startlingly original poetry (among her some-30 books, in multiple genres) – and there are few Canadian talents writing today capable of crafting subtle imagery and delicate phrasing to compare with that found in this collection of arresting poetry.

With My Eyes Wide Open ($13.95 @ 40% discount) is poetry that stand fiercely on its own: tight and clear and clean, navigating life’s catastrophes, failures, and rebirth, and new possibilities.; grief, family, and resiliency are the backdrop to racism and near poverty, explored with earnestness and no filter. Michael Fraser’s work is astute and praise-worthy confessional poetry with flair!

The Long Arc of Hope ($22.00 @ 20% discount) is a distinctive collection of poems that is honest, thought-provoking, and sensitive by way of James Clarke’s belief in the need to embrace life with faith, hope, and an ever-gentle spirit of love: that’s where the child in us is constantly reborn, through joy and gratitude.

“The haiku [in The Old Man in the Mirror Isn’t Me: Last Call Haiku] ($11.95 @ 40% discount) are impacted diamonds, small through either density or subtlety, but either way, undeniably rich. These are Ray Robertson’s modern haiku, urban and gritty, while seeking tenderness.” —Broken Pencil

Art and Words

Gail Prussky’s incredible brain-on-fire short fiction and poetry ($18.95 @ 30% discount) is complemented and completed with her own singular art: over 50 colour and 20 black-and-white illustrations and paintings. A book like no other!

If you love entertainment that makes you laugh out loud, then you’ll be a big fan of The Secret Life of Doris Melnick (Introduced by David Cronenberg), an illustrated tale in which “Prussky creates the life of a forgotten woman…with dark humour and a keen eye for the absurd.” —Deborah Dundas, Toronto Star

Yo! Wiksas? / Hi! How Are You? ($13.95 @ 30% discount) by Chief Rande Cook and Linda Rogers, is a book for curious kids who ask big questions, and adults who help them discover the answers.

“Squirrel Nation and discerning kids everywhere will be delighted with this fun, fast-paced, and rollicking collection of poems by Linda Rogers, accompanied by silk screen images by Chief Rande Cook. Yo! Wiksas? is an innovative fusion of Kwakwaka’wakw art, Kwak’wala terms, and delightful English-language verse.” —Richard Mackie, Editor, The Ormsby Review

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The above 24 titles are featured as part of a project focusing on books that were adversely affected by the pandemic. The initiative, supported in part by a Government of Canada grant, originally ran between September 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023 (with additional followup through July, 2023). It also included over 35 in-person author presentations at 11 book events in Toronto, Peterborough (Ontario), Victoria and Vancouver (B.C.), Montreal, Saskatoon, and Halifax. We gratefully acknowledge the Canada Book Fund/Government of Canada for their financial support toward this project, and our general publishing activities.