The Penguin Book of Contemporary Canadian Women's Short Stories

by Lisa Moore (Editor)

"The short story seduces and provokes infidelity. You will be untrue to the four walls of your room, the weather outside, the city or field, supper bubbling on the stove. You will give up everything—the armchair, your lover, your children—and step through, briefly but absolutely gone."—from the Introduction by Lisa Moore Master short story writer and novelist Lisa Moore brings her talents to The Penguin Book of Contemporary Canadian Women's Short Stories , an enthralling and irresistible collection of twenty-two established writers and talented new voices who attest to the richness and continued popularity of the short story. Featuring writings that span the last two decades of the twentieth century and those of the present—described by Moore as capturing "the buzzing paranoia of post-9/11 … the white noise of the information age …dislocation, bomb scares, sexual freedom, aberration, fractured identities, nakedness, awakenings of every sort, redemption, and love"—this volume includes pieces by the best storytellers, among them "Wenlock Edge"by Alice Munro, "Spring Song of the Frogs"by Margaret Atwood, "Chemistry"by Carol Shields, "The Concert Party"by Mavis Gallant, and "Italian Postcards"by Jane Urquhart. The collection also presents wonderful stories by Jacqueline Baker, Bonnie Burnard, Lynn Coady, Camilla Gibb, Eden Robinson, and Madeleine Thien. "Sometimes I found myself reading the stories here for a second, third, or fifth time, determined to discover how they worked, but at the very last minute, I always fell in. The stories were like swimming pools, and just when I leaned in close enough, I'd lose my balance, be fully submerged."—from the Introduction by Lisa Moore Authors Margaret Atwood
Jacqueline Baker
Bonnie Burnard
Lynn Coady
Libby Creelman
Ramona Dearing
Mavis Gallant
Zsuzsi Gartner
Camilla Gibb
Jessica Grant
Elisabeth Harvor
Francis Itani
Nancy Lee
Linda Little
Annabel Lyon
Alice Munro
Emma Richler
Eden Robinson
Carol Shields
Madeleine Thien
Jane Urquhart
Alissa York

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Canada, Anthologies

Hardcover

First published August 22, 2006

About the author

Lisa Moore has written two collections of stories, Degrees of Nakedness and Open, as well as a novel, Alligator.

Open and Alligator were both nominated for the Giller Prize. Alligator won the Commonwealth Prize for the Canadian Caribbean Region and the ReLit Award, and Open won the Canadian Authors' Association Jubilee Prize for Short Fiction.

Lisa has also written for television, radio, magazines (EnRoute, The Walrus and Chatelaine) and newspapers (The Globe and Mail and The National Post).

Lisa has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She also studied at Memorial University of Newfoundland, where she became a member of The Burning Rock Collective, a group of St. John's writers.

Reviews

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book, full of fantastic stories by Canadian women. My only disappointment was that, because I do a lot of journal reading (like The New Quarterly), I found I had already read most of them. But that's not a criticism of the book--it's just that I was looking forward to discovering a bunch of stories I had never seen before.

[Abbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like some of the stories, including Wenlock's edge by Munro and Between Wars. Other's fully fly over my head like "My Husband's Jump" - literally flying over heads.
Short stories make me reflect more than longer ones because they are about the drinking in the sights of the narrator/naratress/....

[Orla Hegarty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know most of these authors from their novels and a few from just short stories. Many stories resonated deeply and the rest were merely entertaining. A great collection.

[Cecily · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of short stories from some of Canada's best female authors.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure why Moore gets top-billing; Nancy Lee is the gem in this collection, and of course Atwood can shake you even with a most everyman setting

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent anthology of short stories by Canadian women. They are all good reads! My favourite is "Wenlock Edge" by Alice Munro.