The Fed Anthology: Brand New Fiction and Poetry from the Federation of BC Writers

Douglas Barbour is a professor of English at the University of Alberta.
He is the author of Lyric/anti-lyric : Essays on Contemporary Poetry,
Breath Takes, and Fragmenting Body Etc.

The Fed Anthology is truly “a gathering of flowers”—which, editor
Susan Musgrave reminds us, is the original meaning of the term
“anthology.” Given, however, that it is a gathering under the
auspices of the Federation of BC Writers, it is a rather unwieldy one.
Musgrave did have some control, and received far more entries than she
could finally include, but, still, the book features just one piece from
each contributor, and those contributors range from such well-known and
admired writers as Lorna Crozier, Patrick Lane, Tom Wayman, David
Watmough, and Alan Twigg to a number of writers I had never heard of.
That latter situation may in fact be just another example of how
regional and parochial the various parts of Canada remain.

There are quite a few important B.C. writers who, for one reason or
another, don’t belong to the Federation and therefore are not included
in the book. But for people interested in seeing the range and quality
of writing in British Columbia these days, The Fed Anthology has much to
offer. What it does fairly well is present a lively collection of
poetry, fiction, and non-fiction by a widely divergent group of writers
who nevertheless have joined together in an organization that works to
better writers’ working lives.