Lisa Martin’s first novel A Story Can Be Told About Pain is a book about ruins and remains — the things that stick around even if we don’t think we need them anymore. Martin’s novel tells the story of 14-year-old Shiloh and her mother Ruth, who are forced to move to the city in the wake of a tragic accident. Their new home backs onto an old, abandoned psychiatric hospital, and their lives quickly become intertwined with the desolate building and with their neighbourhood community.
Martin is probably best known to Edmonton audiences as a poet — her most recent poetry collection, Believing is Not the Same as Being Saved, was published in 2017. In her novel, her poetic talents thread their way through her lyrical and descriptive prose.
The book received a warm Alberta welcome when it was published earlier this year, and is worthy of a place on your fall reading list.
A Story Can Be Told About Pain is published byNeWest Press, and it’s available from your local bookseller.
Marie Kondo’s “KonMari Method” asked if our possessions “spark joy.” Big Stuff, the latest production from comedy duo and real-life couple Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus, asks something deeper: what do our things reveal about love and loss? Opening October 18 at the Citadel, the show blends improv, sketch, and audience participation to explore how objects tether us to those we cherish — and those we’ve lost. The idea was sparked by the death of their last surviving parent, which left them confronting both grief and inherited “stuff.” Their approaches couldn’t be more different — Baram is a purger, Snieckus a keeper — and that tension shapes the performance as much as their partnership. Citadel artistic director Daryl Cloran says he knew right away he wanted to bring the piece to Edmonton. “It’s very personal,” he said, “but there’s something about their experience that’s also very universal and relatable.”
Big Stuff is at the Citadel Theatre from Oct. 18 – Nov. 9, 2025.
Sarah McLachlan is having a moment. Thirty years after the release of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, the record that made McLachlan a household name, she has a new album (Better Broken), a new documentary (Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery) and a tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of her breakout record. This Sunday, Oct. 19, the Fumbling Towards Ecstasy 30th Anniversary Tour makes its way to Rogers Place where McLachlan is sure to dazzle audiences with old favourites from her multiple platinum albums, reminding Edmontonians why she remains one of Canada’s musical wonders.
See Sarah McLachlan in Edmonton on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025.
