Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

Bering Expedition Island of Blue Foxes makes 2018 shortlist for RBC Taylor Prize By KJ Mullins As published on Newz4U Canadian Author Stephen R. Bown   sees and writes about dead people.    Long deceased    explorers to be precise. Bown is fascinated by brave men who are knowingly sailed out of their comfort field as they explore the unseen world of two centuries ago. Communing the dead has been good for Bown.    His latest nonfiction book 'Island of the Blue Foxes: Disaster and Triumph of the World's Greatest Scientific Expedition' is receiving rave reviews across Canada and was recently shortlisted for this year’s RBC Taylor Prize. Don’t let the title fool you. While blue foxes do have a place in Bown’s book, it is really about the failure of Danish mapmaker Vitus Jonassen Bering to overcome the harsh climate of what is now the Bering Straits, and the bungling of the Russian government who commissioned him to sail from Russia to...

Toronto Star investigative reporter Tanya Talaga's investigation into the 2011 death of teenager Jordan Wabasse opened the door for a horror show of questions. Why is there inequality in the standards of First Nations schools. Why was there negligence on the part of the Canadian Government into the disappearance and death of a First Nations' student? A journalist job is to dig and Tanya is one of Canada’s best. She began delving into ta student death in Thunder Bay and found the broken trail of six more student deaths. The result of that research is her first book, the current #1 non-fiction book in Canada,  Seven Fallen Feathers .    The explosive expose is shortlisted for the 2018 RBC Charles Taylor Prize. Racism and discrimination from the government level to the street is an everyday occurrence for Native People in Thunder Bay. In her award-winning book Seven Fallen Feathers journalist Tanya Talaga examines the deaths of seven young people who moved from res...

K.J. Mullins interviews Taylor Prize Finalist James Maskalyk By K.J. Mullins The first thing you notice about author James Maskalyk is how comforting his voice is. That voice is one that many people hear at during their hardest hours. When not writing Maskalyk is an Emergency Room doctor in Toronto and Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he has helped to train the 25 emergency doctors that treat people in that country. James Maskalyk photo by George Socka Maskalyk's latest award-winning book Life on The Ground Floor was recently shortlisted for this year’s RBC Taylor Prize. The doctor takes readers through the A, B, Cs of emergency medicine in both a modern hospital and one where doctors have to deal with broken equipment while repairing hearts and limbs. During the brief moments of downtime, Maskalyk is with his beloved grandfather, a true man's man. Living in a trapper's cabin in Alberta the older man's last years are thoughtfully arc...

Michelle Alfano's 'The Unfinished Dollhouse' Brings Raw Emotion of Parenting a Transgender Child By K.J. Mullins,  Newz4U   Michelle Alfano - photo by K.J. Mullins Being a mother is not an easy job. In her new book 'The Unfinished Dollhouse' Michelle Alfano details her personal struggles with raising her transgender son Frankie with a rawness that doesn't gloss over her true emotions. What happens when a child's gender identity isn't the same as the gender they were born with. Is there a way to come to terms with what a parent has dreamt of when it will never come to be? When Alfano's daughter was born weeks early her “Momma Bear” instincts came out. She protected her perfectly formed child throughout childhood, treasuring every moment. The little girl was perfect in Alfano's eyes and the author loved dressing her up in little dresses and styling her beautiful locks. The image may have been perfect but the reality was far from...

RBC Finalist Matti Friedman (Pumpkinflowers) describes his life in the Israeli armed forces as  "beyond the mindset of life in Toronto.” --> review by K.J. Mullins for Weir website Matti Friedman When Matti Friedman moved from Toronto to Israel he thought he had landed on another planet.  He was 17 and he was leaving the world’s most diversity friendly city for a place that  was “so beyond the mindset of life in Toronto.” “I was young enough to roll with the punches,” Friedman said of the move from his safe North York childhood home to the Middle East as we started to talk about the differences between North American and Middle Eastern culture and his current book Pumpkinflowers which has been shortlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction. “I liked the cultural shock. Israel is chaotic with its Middle Eastern culture.” One of the most jarring differences between Canada and Israel is in the military draft. All yo...