Due West: 30 Great Stories from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba

Martha Wilson is Canadian correspondent for the Japan Times (Tokyo) and
a Toronto-based freelance editor and writer.

A co-publication involving three literary presses, Due West is intended
to honor the voices of writers from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
The anthology is wide-ranging, with contributions from 30 authors—some
established, others new.

Many of these voices are fresh and simple. “I kept hoping I’d see
someone famous,” says Meeka Walsh’s narrator, “I hadn’t given up
on that. I wanted to know how tall were they.” The wonderful “how
tall were they,” with its trace of a questioning lilt is unique as
well as revealing.

There is a wealth of imagination in this book. Here’s Ven Begamudré:
“Ray chipped out part of the wall in the dining room, then plastered
around the coffin cover. The first few evenings, Edna left the light on
in the dining room—that Egyptian looked so spooky.” Less successful
is Warren Cariou’s “Puerto Escondido.” The reader quickly tires of
its choppy, one-sentence paragraphs. Norm Sacuta’s story is told in
the second person, a device which is almost always problematic.

Sharon Butala’s “Act of Love” is a stark account of a devastating
experience. Sheila Stevenson’s narrator describes the difficulty of
bringing a white friend to a Native reserve. Bonnie Bishop writes about
the loss of a baby. Such stories are acts of faith, gifts from the
heart.