This sparse and powerful poetic debut, weaves a tale of heartache, dissolution, and coming of age.

Onion Man is an intense and masterly sculpted series of linked poems set in London, Ontario, in the late 1980s– a time in Canada when the recession lay like a lead weight on the shoulders of young people, leaving the future bleak.

The poems are told from the point of view of an eighteen-year-old girl working for the summer at a corn canning factory, and they follow her relationship with her factory job, her boyfriend, her alcoholic mother, her terminally ill grandfather, and the man who every night “peels an onion and eats it as if it were an apple.”

The Onion Man doesn’t speak English and is tormented by the other workers. After his son dies, he commits suicide at the factory, and the girl finds his body. This traumatic event causes her to rethink the direction of her life.

About the Author

Kathryn Mockler teaches poetry and screenwriting at the University of Western Ontario. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and her Honours BA in English and Creative Writing from Concordia University. Excerpts of Onion Man were shortlisted from the 2010 CBC Literary Award. Her writing has been publishing in Rattling Books, La Petite Zine, This Magazine, Geist and subTerrain. The films have been broadcast on TMN, Movieola, and Bravo and have screened at numerous festivals. Originally from London, Ontario, she now resides in Toronto.

Praise for Onion Man

“Mockler can’t hide anything in lines this clean and spare. Onion Man delivers a bold, candid voice. It’s a book of brave choices. We have a winner in Kathryn Mockler.
– Michael V. Smith

“With Onion Man, Mockler does for the Pillsbury factory was Dante did for hell. But Mockler is funnier. Nearly every piece on this epic, romantic novel-in-verse cracked me up and, like the best comedians, Mockler breaks your heart while she makes you laugh. Her deadpan wit is dead-on and her understated insight is fathoms deep. You’ve never read a book of poetry like this.”
– Sharon McCartney

In Open Slowly by Dayle Furlong young lovers tangle, tumble and dance their way through the urban landscape. They lose each other and rediscover each other in cafs and bars, over latt and beer while the city watches and waits for solitude to reassert itself.

As the title suggests this is a book to be opened slowly, savoured like a surprise gift from a lover who will inevitably be forgotten, even while the gift remains.

Click to read an excerpt from Open Slowly.

Dayle Furlong studied English Literature & Fine Arts at York University. Her writing has appeared in Taddle Creek, Kiss Machine, The Puritan, Word & The Voice. She works as a literary publicist, a screenwriter ‘s assistant and for Descant Magazine. She has lived in all regions of Canada and has travelled throughout Central America, Asia & the US. She currently lives in Toronto.