Check out reviews, interviews, and other media coverage of our books!
“A pandemic project of former colleagues coming back together in midlife and ruminating and telling stories and getting real: we loved it and you loved it, so with Midlife No. 2 hot off the press, here we are again.”
“It turns out the stories we have to tell are not just gifts to us but it turns out they’re really resonating with others in our age range,” said Chan.
“The contributors that we asked to join us would not have the skills they have now if it weren’t for what they learned at The Gateway. The process to put it together was really special. And the amount of expertise that you’ll see reflected is, I think, very impressive.”
“Edmonton writers explore complexities of life at middle age in new book”
Jhenifer Pabillano and Sarah Chan speak to Stacey and Daryl for a 20 min segment on the show.
We talk to Sarah Chan and Jhenifer Pabillano, the editors of a new writing anthology looking at life in middle age.
“This is the type of thing that Douglas Coupland would write a book about.”
“I have loved every minute of reading this. I’m going to tell you, I got the e-copy, and I’m going through the book and these stories and how beautifully they’re written resonated with me so much that I immediately went and ordered the hard copy within an hour. This book to me will resonate with so many people, from the 40-55 age group, about what you’re talking about.”
“If we are fortunate enough to reach middle age then we also know it comes with as many victories as challenges, especially during a pandemic when so many things are escalated. This book is a collection of essays, and just about as local as you can get – ya gotta love when literary talent is grown on your own home soil.”
“Sarah Chan and Jhen Pabillano have stories to tell, and know others whose stories held power, meaning, and insight.”
“As I flipped through the pages and read each essay, I saw a reflection of myself in each of the contributors of this book, convincing myself each time that I was reading about myself.”
“Midlife hangs in air like the elephant in the room. It’s that time when people are either too busy, or in too vulnerable a state to talk about what’s really going on. Enter a pandemic and, lo-and-behold, people have a little more time on their hands.”
If ever there was a time for self-reflection on the bigger questions in life, it was the past 15 months or so. And Jhenifer Pabillano and Sarah Chan decided to put it in writing.
Mayor Don Iveson stops by the show to chat parenting, including the implications of climate change on our kids and the never ending search for work-life balance.
“Overall, it’s a simultaneous celebration and commiseration. Midlife examines growing older and getting busier, keeping in touch with friends, and all that happens on the road towards, well, death. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, either.”
“The essays cover everything from the metaphorical potential of the Oilers’ 2006 cup run to the nuances of renting from Blockbuster Video, and although many of them bear traces of the snarkiness that is characteristic of student journalism, they are also written with an awareness that comes with time.“
“Many [essays] include references those who came of age around the same time will appreciate – crying while watching Bridget Jones’s Diary in a mall theatre, working at Blockbuster Video, the dashed hopes of Edmonton Oilers fans after the team’s failed 2006 Stanley Cup playoff run. Many contemporaries will relate to the particular smell of Badass Jack’s barbecue sauce.”
“Hear how two friends collaborated with their university buddies, to reflect on what it means to be midlife at this moment.”
“They met at the University of Alberta’s Gateway newspaper. Then jobs and relationships and kids and life happened. Some 20 years later, newly-minted book editors Sarah Chan and Jhenifer Pabillano share the story of getting the band back together to publish an uplifting, irreverent look at arriving at middle age.”
“A newly released book shares stories of life at middle age, featuring a number of notable faces, including Edmonton’s Mayor Don Iveson.”
Two decades after we graduated, we’re learning about life from our Gateway friends all over again.
