Biography & Autobiography Literary
An Anthology of Monsters
How Story Saves Us from Our Anxiety
- Publisher
- Canadian Literature Centre / Centre de littérature canadienne, The University of Alberta Press
- Initial publish date
- Feb 2023
- Category
- Literary, Mental Health, Essays
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781772126822
- Publish Date
- Feb 2023
- List Price
- $14.99
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781772126860
- Publish Date
- Aug 2023
- List Price
- $14.99
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
An Anthology of Monsters by Cherie Dimaline, award-winning author of The Marrow Thieves, is the tale of an intricate dance with life-long anxiety. It is about how the stories we tell ourselves can help reshape the ways in which we think, cope, and ultimately survive. Using examples from her books, from her mère, and from her own late night worry sessions, Dimaline choreographs a deeply personal narrative about all the ways in which we tell stories. She reveals how to collect and curate our stories, how they elicit difficult and beautiful conversations, and how family and community is a place of refuge and strength.
About the author
Cherie Dimaline is a Métis author and editor whose award-winning fiction has been published and anthologized internationally. Her novels include Red Rooms, The Girl Who Grew A Galaxy, A Gentle Habit, The Marrow Thieves and Empire of Wild. In 2014, she was named the Emerging Artist of the Year at the Ontario Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, and became the first Indigenous Writer in Residence for the Toronto Public Library. Her young adult novel The Marrow Thieves has won the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Kirkus Prize, the Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature and was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award and, among other honors, was a fan favorite in the 2018 edition of CBC's Canada Reads. It was also a Book of the Year on numerous lists including NPR, School Library Journal, the New York Public Library, the Globe & Mail, Quill & Quire and the CBC. From the Georgian Bay Métis Community in Ontario, she now lives in Vancouver.
Awards
- Winner, Trade Non-fiction Book of the Year, Alberta Book Publishing Awards, Book Publishers Association of Alberta
Excerpt: An Anthology of Monsters: How Story Saves Us from Our Anxiety (by (author) Cherie Dimaline)
My own personal anxiety has been the mean, twisted, maniacal life partner I drag from apartment to house, and over the midnight mark into every new year, despite promises to finally kick it to the curb. It sticks and it sings and more than anything, it tells stories... And so, anxiety and I, with our storytelling genes, we exist in a kind of friendly/dysfunctional competition that’s been set up between us—who can tell the most powerful stories and which one will determine how I feel that day.
Editorial Reviews
#6 on Edmonton Non-fiction Bestsellers list, April 30, 2023
#7 on Edmonton Non-fiction Bestsellers list, March 26, 2023
"Dimaline depicts anxiety and regret as a pushy house guest with a photographic memory.... Many recollections are funny and not at all hurtful.... Other recollections bring a stab of pain... Dimaline finds safety in family and words." Holly Doan, Blacklock's Reporter, June 17, 2023 [Full article at https://www.blacklocks.ca/review-thanks-for-the-memories]
#7 on Calgary Non-Fiction Bestsellers list, October 12, 2023
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