One woman’s struggle to move forward in the system that holds her back The following is an excerpt from the March 2016 Halifax Magazine feature called “My life behind the welfare wall,” by Kyla Derry as told to Chris Benjamin: Here’s something you may not know about poverty: when you get off welfare and get […]
How short-term energy-price politics prevent us from making real progress in the fight against climate change. On December 14, Minister of Energy Michel Samson stood before the legislature and introduced Bill 141 – Electricity Plan Implementation Act. “Mr. Speaker,” he said, “I’m pleased to stand for a third time to speak about this important bill…The […]
The following is an excerpt from a feature story about Atlantic Canadian writers who were finalists in CBC’s annual short story contest, written by Chris Benjamin and published in Atlantic Books Today in April 2016. The CBC announced yesterday that David Huebert, who grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has won this year’s prestigious
A little late, as has become my custom, here are the best books I read in 2015, in the order I read them [Click on the image to learn more about the book]:
Esteemed poet and author Gary Geddes, once described as “Canada’s best political poet,” has written a thoughtful and thought-provoking review of Indian School Road: Legacies of the Shubenacadie Residential School. The review will appear in his forthcoming new book, Medicine Unbundled (Heritage House Publishing), which is a
The following is an excerpt from an article by Maia Kowalski that originally appeared in The Signal on October 16, 2015: Author Chris Benjamin talks about the history of the Schubenacadie Residential School. Maia Kowalski Speaking to a small crowd at Saint Mary’s University last night, [Chris Benjamin] said he was surprised by how much […]
Chris Benjamin will be at the Literary Fair in Musquodoboit Harbour in the Old School Gathering Place on November 7 from 1-4 pm. This event is part of a weekend long celebration of authors and words: Saturday, November 7 Afternoon Readings from 1 to 4 pm. There will also be a book fair during this […]
This Q&A originally appeared in The Coast, July 23, 2015. Ashram Parsi has saved thousands, but still has a ways to go. By Chris Benjamin In 2005, Iranian queer activist Arsham Parsi became a refugee in Canada. Through his Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees, he’s helped more than 1,100 other LGBTQIA Iranians escape a country […]
The following is an excerpt from a column about young writers in Atlantic Canada, written by Chris Benjamin and published in Atlantic Books Today in June 2015. This column focused on Newfoundland poet Mark Callanan: In the mid nineties Mark Callanan could have been a portrait of proto-teen, banging awkwardly at a guitar trying to […]
The following is an excerpt from an article published by Men’s Journal in June 2015, called “The 4 Fallacies of NBA Analytics,” based on an interview with economist David Berri: In recent years, basketball fans and writers have shed heavy pixels and ink on the ascendancy of geeks over jocks in pro sports. Heavy number […]
