Contemporary Canadian Literature with a Distinctly Urban Twist

Anvil Press

Body Breakdowns: Tales of Illness & Recovery

Body Breakdowns: Tales of Illness & Recovery

  • canada orders CAD 18.00
  • us orders US 15.00
  • world (outside Canada/US) orders US 15.00

Body Breakdowns is a collection of true tales about brushes with mortality and the medical establishment. Some are serious, some are funny; all are about illnesses, both minor and major.

The pieces are all related to aging and are told in strong, engaging, and authentic voices. They are about people suddenly discovering they’re vulnerable and the different ways they come to terms with that, as well as how they deal with the health professionals whose job it is to provide care for our bodies. They are also about how people who have physically suffered learn to find words for and, thus, shape the new world they find themselves in.

These stories remind us that everything can change in a moment. And that we’re all in these aging bodies together.

Body Breakdowns features writing from: Brad Zembic, Emma Kivisild, Grant Buday, Susan Olding, Bob Wakulich, Adrienne Mercer, Alan Girling, Beverley A. Feather, Jane Silcott, Kim Clark, Denise Halpern, Bonnie Bowman, Melody Hessing, Stephen Osborne, Luanne Armstrong, Dennis E. Bolen, J. Cates, Ruth Murdoch, Doreen Colmer, Crystal Hurdle, and Janis Harper.


  • Publication: Oct 2007
  • ISBN: 9781895636864
  • Pages: 168 pp
  • Size: 5.25 x 7.5 inches

is a college and university English instructor, a Vancouver actor, and singer-songwriter. She has co-founded two local periodicals and published journalism and scholarship. Her poetry and prose have appeared in Canadian literary journals, including Room of One’s Own, Contemporary Verse 2, and Tessera, and in the international fiction anthology, Lost on Purpose: Women in the City.

Books by Janis Harper, Editor