Artwork by Sara Wiens. New media roundup.

Radical Roots: A Collection of Paintings, Stories, and Poems Celebrating the 500th Anniversary of Anabaptist Origins; On the Cruel Edges of the World: A Memoir of Carrying Help and Hope Into Dark Places in Dangerous Times; Looking Back, Leaning Forward: Wrestling With a Church’s Story; Tradition and Tension: The Presbyterian Church in Canada, 1945–1985; Navigating Life Series; Cassandra's Reward . . . for Failure; The Immortal Mind: A Neurosurgeon's Case for the Existence of the Soul

NEW MEDIA ROUNDUP

• Radical Roots: A Collection of Paintings, Stories, and Poems Celebrating the 500th Anniversary of Anabaptist Origins, by Gareth Brandt (Masthof Press, 2024). An educational and inspiring introduction to the early Anabaptists by a B.C. author and artist.
• On the Cruel Edges of the World: A Memoir of Carrying Help and Hope Into Dark Places in Dangerous Times, by Reg Reimer (Independent, 2024). Canadian activist reflects on his mission work in the Vietnam War, the Cambodian and the Rwanda genocides, African famines and more.
• Looking Back, Leaning Forward: Wrestling With a Church’s Story, by Jon Coutts and Heather Renée Morgan, editors (New Leaf Press, 2023). Essays on extending the fourfold gospel of the Christian & Missionary Alliance [now The Alliance] into the changing contexts of Canada.
• Tradition and Tension: The Presbyterian Church in Canada, 1945–1985, by Stuart Macdonald (McGill-Queen's, 2025). Professor at Knox College examines postwar suburban boom, renewal efforts in the 1960s, and later waning influence and growing rift between modernizers and traditionalists in a changing Canada.
• Navigating Life Series, by Glenn C. Taylor (Kainos, 2022). Four books of insights from a veteran Christian counsellor and leader: Navigating Hurts to Healing, Navigating Relationships for Life, Navigating Transitions and Navigating Dementia. GlennCTaylor.ca
• Cassandra's Reward . . . for Failure, by Nancy Young (FriesenPress, 2025). Calgary novelist portrays a Victorian widow who counts herself a failure because nothing she does goes according to plan. She insists on fixing her problems by herself, not asking for help. Only when she gives her issues to God does she find peace and a new love.
• The Immortal Mind: A Neurosurgeon's Case for the Existence of the Soul, by Michael Egnor and Denyse O’Leary (Worthy, 2025). New York professor of neurosurgery joins Victoria, B.C., author Denyse O'Leary for a bestseller presenting evidence the brain alone does not explain the mind.

Canadian creatives

“My intention is to express both the wonder and meditative experience of nature, and to engender a love of the natural world that cuts through the noise of data. I often work with themes of conservation, gaining specific inspiration from exploring throughout British Columbia. My most recent work examines the effects of forest fires in an attempt to lead viewers to experience the grief of climate change, bringing sadness alongside beauty in order to instigate a desire to protect and connect to creation.”

Charcoal Sentinels (21” x 27”, oil on canvas) by Sara Wiens. SaraWiens.art PAINTING: © SARA WIENS