Pynchon preps return with new work of fiction
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/04/2025 (518 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Reclusive American novelist Thomas Pynchon has a new novel slated to be published this fall, his first since 2013’s Bleeding Edge.
The author Gravity’s Rainbow, The Crying of Lot 49, Inherent Vice and others returns with Shadow Ticket, to be published in Canada on Oct. 7 by Penguin Press.
The book is purported to be set in 1930s Milwaukee, and follows a private eye hired to find and bring back the heiress of a Wisconsin cheese fortune.
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Two Canadian authors have made the five-book short list for the 2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, which sees the winning writer take home a cool US$150,000 prize (around $213,800 Canadian).
Canisia Lubrin’s Code Noir and Dominique Fortier’s Pale Shadows (translated from French by Rhonda Mullins) are the finalists from this side of the border; rounding out the list are American authors Miranda July (All Fours), Sarah Manguso (Liars) and Aube Rey Lescure (River East, River West).
Each of the runners up receive US$12,500 (about $17,800 Canadian). The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Chicago on May 1.
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Winnipeg michif author katherena vermette returns with a book of poetry this fall — her first since 2018’s River Woman, published by House of Anansi.
The new collection, Procession, will also be published by House of Anansi, who have published award-winning poetry collections by Winnipeg’s Hannah Green (Xanax Cowboy) and Chimwemwe Undi (Scientific Marvel). All three won the Governor General’s Literary Award for poetry (vermette won for her 2013 collection North End Love Songs).
The new collection from vermette, which publishes Sept. 30, follows generations of women through decades, musing on childhood, parenthood and a future elder through “body sovereignty and ancestral dreams.”
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Saskatchewan poet Tea Gerbeza launches her debut volume of poetry at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location today (April 12) at 7 p.m.
How I Bend Into More, published by Palimpsest Press, is a long poem based on Gerbeza’s experience with scoliosis, and explores aspects of pain, consent, trauma, disability and more. She’ll be joined in conversation at the launch by Winnipeg poet Sarah Ens. The event will also be streamed on McNally Robinson’s YouTube page.
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Former financial advisor turned sports and entertainment writer Skyler Trepel launches his debut book for young readers on Thursday at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson’s Grant Park location.
The Winnipeg author’s From Challenge to Champion: 12 Inspiring Sports Stories for New Readers is geared towards kids ages 6-9 and profiles a dozen athletes including Simone Biles, Tom Brady, Lionel Messi, Megan Rapinoe and others. The book, published by Zeitgeist (an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada), features illustrations by Italian artist Lorenzo Fornaciari. The event will also be streamed on McNally Robinson’s YouTube page.
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American novelist Garth Greenwell has won the 2025 PEN/Faulkner Award for his novel Small Rain, published in September by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
The novel tells the story of an American poet who suffers a medical crisis and, from the confines of a hospital bed, contemplates life, beauty, love, art and more.
The PEN/Faulkner Award honours the best work of fiction published by an American author and comes with a US$15,000 prize. Greenwell’s novel beat out Percival Everett’s James, ‘Pemi Aguda’s Ghostroots, Susan Muaddi Darraj’s Behind You is the Sea and Danzy Senna’s Colored Television.
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Teresa Wong’s graphic novel memoir All Our Ordinary Stories: A Multigenerational Family Odyssey has nabbed a trio of nominations at the 2025 Alberta Literary Awards.
Wong’s book, which chronicles her relationship with her parents and their escape from China during the Cultural Revolution, is a finalist for the Wilfred Eggleston Award for non-fiction, the award for best memoir and the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. The awards will be presented at a gala in Calgary in June.
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Ben Sigurdson
Literary editor, drinks writer
Ben Sigurdson is the Free Press‘s literary editor and drinks writer. He graduated with a master of arts degree in English from the University of Manitoba in 2005, the same year he began writing Uncorked, the weekly Free Press drinks column. He joined the Free Press full time in 2013 as a copy editor before being appointed literary editor in 2014. Read more about Ben.
In addition to providing opinions and analysis on wine and drinks, Ben oversees a team of freelance book reviewers and produces content for the arts and life section, all of which is reviewed by the Free Press’s editing team before being posted online or published in print. It’s part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Ben Sigurdson
Literary editor, drinks writer
Ben Sigurdson is the Free Press‘s literary editor and drinks writer. He graduated with a master of arts degree in English from the University of Manitoba in 2005, the same year he began writing Uncorked, the weekly Free Press drinks column. He joined the Free Press full time in 2013 as a copy editor before being appointed literary editor in 2014. Read more about Ben.
In addition to providing opinions and analysis on wine and drinks, Ben oversees a team of freelance book reviewers and produces content for the arts and life section, all of which is reviewed by the Free Press’s editing team before being posted online or published in print. It’s part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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