Deepfake Serenade


Book Description

In Deepfake Serenade, Chris Banks’s sixth poetry collection, irreverent charm, emotional distance and surprising hot takes leap off every page. He writes in the title poem, “Inside every one of us is a deepfake. A holy ghost,” suggesting people have a choice to feel either like sad imposters or, if they're brave, like survivors staring down a world both utterly familiar and strange. These poems, sometimes narrative, sometimes surreal, oscillate between these two extremes as they confront middle age, new love, renewed optimism and memories, all with Banks’s signature wit and inventiveness. This collection is for anyone who has ever wished to wear “a halo of knowing,” or to be “the sparks flying” when outer phenomena and inner impulses collide. “Earn your rewards,” Banks writes in one poem, and we do, with every turn of the page.




Alternator


Book Description

Alternator blends catastrophe and consciousness, modern living and past transgressions, off-kilter imagery and the “hidden room” of the unsayable to construct a polyphonic triumph. Chris Banks threads fire through the eye of his imagination, and the product is these poems born of whole cloth: surrealist meditations, modern ghazals and powerful narrative sonnets that are both alive and burning.




Deepfake Serenade


Book Description

In Deepfake Serenade, Chris Banks's sixth poetry collection, irreverent charm, emotional distance and surprising hot takes leap off every page. He writes in the title poem, "Inside every one of us is a deepfake. A holy ghost," suggesting people have a choice to feel either like sad imposters or, if they're brave, like survivors staring down a world both utterly familiar and strange. These poems, sometimes narrative, sometimes surreal, oscillate between these two extremes as they confront middle age, new love, renewed optimism and memories, all with Banks's signature wit and inventiveness. This collection is for anyone who has ever wished to wear "a halo of knowing," or to be "the sparks flying" when outer phenomena and inner impulses collide. "Earn your rewards," Banks writes in one poem, and we do, with every turn of the page.




The Cold Panes of Surfaces


Book Description

[Banks' work] manages to combine humour and breathlessness in a way that Canadian poetry seldom does. --Emily Schultz, Broken Pencil




Eight-Track


Book Description

Eight-Track is composed of eight tracks (or series) plus two bonus tracks, each of which explores one of the various meanings of the word "track," such as a musical track, a physical path, the marks left by a person or animal, speech tracking, animal and human tracking, and systems of surveillance. Questions asked: How can a trace be sonically and visually embodied? What do our systems of surveillance reveal about ourselves? How does language oppress?




Parturition


Book Description




Aggie and Mudgy


Book Description

Based on the true story of the author’s biological mother and aunt, this middle-grade novel traces the long and frightening journey of two Kaska Dena sisters as they are taken from their home to attend residential school. When Maddy discovers an old photograph of two little girls in her grandmother’s belongings, she wants to know who they are. Nan reluctantly agrees to tell her the story, though she is unsure if Maddy is ready to hear it. The girls in the photo, Aggie and Mudgy, are two Kaska Dena sisters who lived many years ago in a remote village on the BC–Yukon border. Like countless Indigenous children, they were taken from their families at a young age to attend residential school, where they endured years of isolation and abuse. As Nan tells the story, Maddy asks many questions about Aggie and Mudgy’s 1,600-kilometre journey by riverboat, mail truck, paddlewheeler, steamship, and train, from their home to Lejac Residential School in central BC. Nan patiently explains historical facts and geographical places of the story, helping Maddy understand Aggie and Mudgy’s transitional world. Unlike many books on this subject, this story focuses on the journey toresidential school rather than the experience of attending the school itself. It offers a glimpse into the act of being physically uprooted and transported far away from loved ones. Aggie and Mudgy captures the breakdown of family by the forces of colonialism, but also celebrates the survival and perseverance of the descendants of residential school survivors to reestablish the bonds of family. Winner, 2022 City of Victoria Children's Book Prize Winner, 2022 Jeanne Clarke Regional History Award Shortlisted, 2022/23 First Nations Communities READ Award Nominated, 2022 Rocky Mountain Book Award




Midlife Action Figure


Book Description

Banks’s stunning new collection, exploring bold frontiers “Poetry is an act of mischief,” Theodore Roethke famously once said, and Chris Banks takes this as his credo in Midlife Action Figure. His subject matter ranges from the familiar to the surreal, taking readers through poems that are both wondrous and strange, heartfelt and humorous, controlled and impatient. Whether calling a tree “an anthology of leaves” or describing time as “a Fisher-Price View-Master of ‘first kisses’ and ‘no return’ policies,” Banks approaches writing as if anything might make for alarming, strange, and dizzying verse. Banks knits together wit with wildly inventive imagery as he follows his poems outside convention where they play with stolen matches. Capable of both deep introspection and the quick turn of phrase, he places his tongue firmly in his cheek as he looks for a measure of human wonder in this intermission between TED Talks and the apocalypse. Midlife Action Figure is a tour de force for anyone looking for that rare book that is as exciting as it is provocative, showcasing both pathos and humor, while it explores what it means to be alive in the early 21st century.




Indigenous Relations


Book Description

"We are all treaty people. This eagerly awaited sequel to the bestselling 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act offers practical tools that will help you respectfully avoid missteps in your business interactions and personal relationships with Indigenous Peoples. This book will teach you about: Aboriginal Rights and Title, and the treaty process the difference between hereditary and elected leadership, and why it matters the lasting impact of the Indian Act, including the barriers that Indigenous communities face which terms are preferable, and which should be avoided Indigenous Worldviews and cultural traditions the effect of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in Canada the truth behind common myths and stereotypes perpetuated about Indigenous Peoples since Confederation. In addition to being a hereditary chief, Bob Joseph is the President of Indigenous Corporate Training Inc., which offers programs in cultural competency. Here he offers an eight-part process that businesses and all levels of government can use to work more effectively with Indigenous Peoples, which benefits workplace culture as well as the bottom line. Embracing reconciliation on a daily basis in your work and personal life is the best way to undo the legacy of the Indian Act. By understanding and respecting cultural differences, you$1 (Bre taking a step toward full reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples."--s.




Awake in the Dark


Book Description

"Arriving fifty years after Ebert published his first film review in 1967, this second edition of Awake in the Dark collects Ebert's essential writings. Featuring new Top Ten Lists and reviews of the years' finest films through 2012, this edition allows both fans and film buffs to bask in the best of an extraordinary lifetime's work."--Provided by publisher.