The New Wascana Anthology is named for the Cree word "oskana," meaning "bones,"* but this anthology is no literary graveyard. It will introduce you to stories, poems, and essays that can be discussed over drinks, or used to impress friends years after leaving English 100 behind.

Offering a taster's choice of the best Canadian writing, with a special focus on Aboriginal and Prairie writers, this anthology includes pieces selected to introduce you to the English literary canon. Going back hundreds of years, the oldest poems included here have no known author, while the youngest writer is a recent university graduate.

Building on the bones of the canon (including all of Canada's Man Booker Prize-winners and newest Nobel Laureate), The New Wascana Anthology features writers such as Flannery O'Connor, Thomas King, Carmine Starnino, and Ursula K. Le Guin who will challenge your worldview. Most importantly, this anthology is about turning the page, opening your mind, and revelling in the pleasures of reading.

*The bones referred to are the bones of plains bison, a species that once numbered in the tens of millions on the Great Plains.

Medrie Purdham's poetry has been published in journals across the country, broadcast on the former CBC Saskatchewan radio program Sound X Change, and three times anthologized in Tightrope Press's Best Canadian Poetry series. She was the runner-up in Arc Magazine's Poem of the Year competition in 2019. She holds a Ph.D. from McGill University and presently lives with her family in Regina, Saskatchewan, Treaty 4, where she teaches at the University of Regina.

Medrie Purdham's profile page

Michael Trussler’s work engages with the beauty and violence of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries from a neuro-divergent, fluid perspective. His writing encompasses several genres and modes of expression, ranging from the lyrical to the avant-garde. (An avid photographer, he sometimes blends Polaroid photography with text.) He is the author of ten books, including The History Forest, winner of the Saskatchewan Book Award for Poetry; the short fiction collection Encounters, winner of the Saskatchewan Book of the Year Award; and a memoir entitled The Sunday Book, which won the Saskatchewan Book Award in both the Non-Fiction and City of Regina categories. Deeply compelled by the natural world, Trussler hikes in the Canadian Rockies at every opportunity. He teaches English at the University of Regina. 10:10 is Michael Trussler’s seventh book of poetry.

Michael Trussler's profile page