This book is a love letter.

It is a love letter to family and the complex history of blood; to failed relationships and the magic left behind; to the dance of a happy marriage across the decades; to friendship; to travel; to coming home. Funny and unpredictable, honest and seductive-Joshua Levy uses poetry as a conduit for the exploration of love in its countless manifestations. He finds the silver lining in even the darkest subject matter with a sense of wonder that is refreshing and infectious. We journey with him as he visits the crooked streets of Lisbon, a kibbutz in Israel, the hollow of a guitar on a beach somewhere in Venezuela, and even an alien planet. But Levy is most fascinated with his hometown: these poems brim with affection for the city of Montreal and the things that keep him anchored here. In The Loudest Thing Levy adds his unique and vital voice to the grand chorus of Montreal Jewish writers such as Leonard Cohen, Mordecai Richler, Irving Layton, and A.M Klein, who came before him.

JOSHUA LEVY is currently CBC's Writer-in-Residence, where he writes a monthly column on CBC's website. Levy's work has been published by the Oxford University Press, Vehicle Press, and in numerous Canadian (the Malahat Review, the Walrus, Feathertale Review, Prairie Fire, Event, Queen's Quarterly, Antigonish Review, etc.) and by international literary magazines (the Rumpus, Caribbean Reader, Oxford University Press, etc.). He has been a regular contributor to CBC Radio for the past three years (Wiretap, Definitely Not the Opera, Cinq a Six, Homerun, All in a Weekend) and a consistent draw at literary events, conferences, and podcasts. Levy has won the Carte Blanche/CNFC Creative Nonfiction Prize, SLS Fiction Prize, and CBC/QWF Writing Competition, and was shortlisted or longlisted for other literary awards, including the CBC Nonfiction Prize, Chester B. Himes Memorial Fiction Contest, Vallum Poetry Chapbook Competition, and Montreal International Poetry Prize. He has written articles for many of Canada's newspapers (the Globe and Mail, Montreal Gazette, the Canadian Jewish News, etc.). Levy divides his time between Montreal and Toronto.

Joshua Levy's profile page