The STU Reader

Remember when you would piece together all of your favourite songs for someone special on a mixed cassette or CD? Carefully chosen and woven into a rich sonic tapestry, the sum was often greater than its individual parts. Although styles and sounds could be all over the musical map, there were enough thematic threads there to create a cohesive experience for the lucky recipient.

Like those little acts of love, The STU Reader is Goose Lane’s gift to readers.

To celebrate St. Thomas University’s 100th anniversary, two of its most esteemed professors—Douglas Vipond and Russell A. Hunt—have compiled a collection of writing from some of the finest scribes to have ever walked the halls of the Fredericton-based institution.

The end result is a feast for the hungry mind; a magnificent mélange of fiction, non-fiction and poetry that takes readers on a journey that is both regional and universal in scope and tone.

Beginning like the bang of a hammer upon wooden gavel, Philip Lee’s Sold! opens the anthology with a terrific telling of a trip to the auctioneer. Sheree Fitch is next with several surprising stanzas depicting street life as seen through the eyes of a cop. Over the next 200+ pages, snippets by the likes of Sheldon Currie, David Adams Richards, Raymond Fraser and Al Pittman ground the collection in a familiar flavour, but it is the work of lesser-known names—Kathy Mac, Carla Gunn, Ian Brodie and Victoria Kretzschmar Eastman in particular—that give the literary soup its true seasoning and spice.

Best savoured in small spoonfuls, The STU Reader is a tasty treat for those looking to satiate their pangs for ideas and emotions with a scrumptious snack in between bigger meals. Thankfully, there is a setting for everyone at the table. —Stephen Clare