WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE ...?
What’s Your Favourite ...?
Author and AMA member Conor Kerr shares Edmonton’s best bookstores and the most beautiful prairie birds.
By Nicole Keen
EDMONTON-BASED Métis Ukrainian wordsmith Conor Kerr is a modern-day renaissance man. When he isn’t winning accolades for his poetry and fiction, Kerr teaches at the University of Alberta, or he’s out in the field hunting birds with his two Labrador retrievers. He’s written an astonishing six books in six years, including the novella Beaver Hills Forever, which debuts September 2025, and the novel Duck Blind, coming in 2027.
Edmonton’s Porch Light Books opened its airy, welcoming storefront in 2024. | PHOTOS: COURTESY OF CONOR KERR; JON RODE/COURTESY OF PORCH LIGHT BOOKS
You have a penchant for cowboy hats. Do you have a favourite fictional cowboy?
The number one that comes to mind is Jake Spoon. He’s one of the main characters in Larry McMurtry’s famous novel Lonesome Dove.
Where do you find inspiration?
My Métis grandmother as well as my Ukrainian grandfather are both incredible storytellers. I spent a lot of time with them growing up, and I definitely learned my storytelling craft from them.
“I love a place-based book that celebrates cities that aren’t necessarily heralded in the literary circuits of North America.”
Robert Urich as Jake Spoon in the 1989 miniseries adaptation of Lonesome Dove; a male sharp-tailed grouse, mid-mating dance. | PHOTOS: ALBUM/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; BGSMITH/ADOBE STOCK
What’s your favourite bookstore in Edmonton?
I actually have three! Magpie Books focuses on Indigenous, Black, queer and Arabic writers. The staff there is incredible, and it’s on my dog-walking circuit. There’s a new one that just opened called Porch Light Books. It has a selection of new and used books, and it’s a great community space. And then there’s Paper Birch Books, which is a classic used bookstore.
What have you been reading lately?
I recently read Small Ceremonies by Kyle Edwards — probably one of my favourite books of the last decade. It’s Winnipeg-based, and I love a place-based book that celebrates cities that aren’t necessarily heralded in the literary circuits of North America.
I understand that you’re an avid bird hunter. What do you like to hunt?
I really like pheasants — they’re kind of my favourite birds — and Hungarian partridges. But the ultimate bird is the sharp-tailed grouse. They’re just astoundingly beautiful prairie birds. They dance in the spring [as part of their courtship rituals], and it’s quite a sight to see. AMA
EDMONTON-BASED Métis/Ukrainian wordsmith Conor Kerr is a modern-day renaissance man. When he isn’t winning accolades for his poetry and fiction, Kerr teaches at the University of Alberta, or he’s out in the field hunting birds with his two Labrador retrievers. He’s written an astonishing six books in six years, including the novella Beaver Hills Forever, which debuts September 2025, and the novel Duck Blind, coming in 2027.
Robert Urich as Jake Spoon in the 1989 miniseries adaptation of Lonesome Dove. | PHOTO: ALBUM/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
A male sharp-tailed grouse, mid-mating dance. | PHOTO: BGSMITH/ADOBE STOCK
“I love a place-based book that celebrates cities that aren’t necessarily heralded in the literary circuits of North America.”