Zoe Whittall's first novel, Bottle Rocket Hearts, was named one of the Best 100 Books of 2007 by The Globe and Mail and one of the Best Ten Books of the 2007 by Quill & Quire magazine. Now Magazine awarded her the title of Best Emerging Author of 2007. She has published two books of poetry, The Best Ten Minutes of Your Life and The Emily Valentine Poems. She is a freelance arts critic for a variety of Canadian magazines, teaches writing workshops, and is currently finishing her Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of Guelph. The Globe and Mail called her "the cockiest, brashest, funniest, toughest, most life-affirming, elegant, scruffy, no-holds-barred writer to emerge from Montreal since Mordecai Richler…". She was born in South Durham, Quebec, resided in Montreal during the early 1990s and has lived in Toronto since 1997. Her most recent book of poems, Precordial Thump, launched in Fall 2008 with Exile Editions.
Bottle Rocket Hearts
Bottle Rocket Hearts is bursting with the neuroticisms of the mid-twenties heart. Leonard Cohen meets Trainspotting (and falls in love).
(Cormorant, Lead Fiction, Éditions Québec Amérique)
Longlist, 2008 ReLit Award, Novel
Globe and Mail, Top 100 Books of 2007
Selected, Books of the Year, 2007, Quill & Quire
World Rights Available Ex:
English in Canada: Cormorant Books, 2007
French in Canada: Éditions Québec Amérique
Books available
"A woeful and hilarious ode to the last days of a girl's childhood. Whittall has created characters who combine the luminous joie-de-vivre of Oscar Wilde with the self-destructive fury of Johnny Rotten. A portrait of Montreal in the mid-nineties that successfully recreates its hedonistic, Salvation Army band, gender-bending glory."
– Heather McNeill, author of the CBC Canada Reads-winning Lullabies for Little Criminals
"Zoe Whittall is so real. Her writing conjures up all the joy and toughness and melancholy of being a girl, elegant and scruffy at the same time, in the best way. She's awesome."
– Michelle Tea, author of Rose of No Man's Land and Valencia
"Zoe Whittall might just be the cockiest, brashest, funniest, toughest, most life-affirming, elegant, scruffy, no-holds-barred writer to emerge from Montreal since Mordecai Richler...Bottle Rocket Hearts is a major statement about lessening unhappiness by overcoming the small dishonesties that creep into everyday life."
–The Globe and Mail
"Whittall's background as a poet shines in every paragraph. Her poetic voice hits hard and with beauty… Gutsy, gritty, urban and sleek, Bottle Rocket Hearts is a compelling story told by a writer skilled in her craft. It leaves me wanting more."
–Vancouver Sun
"Bottle Rocket Hearts is a coming-of-age tale that goes down like a cherry popsicle…her writing makes noises; it has a heartbeat. This sensitive treatment of a difficult subject will be a classic. Buy it, read it, keep it for your daughters."
–Now Magazine
"Coupland-esque…Zoe Whittall's lively and winsome narrative of a queer girl's maturation in '90s Montreal evokes a convincing milieu…"
–Toronto Star
"Whittall pulls off a believable coming-of-age story…Bottle Rocket Hearts [is] a Bildungsroman worth reading."
–Quill & Quire
"Hearts aflutter over debut novel…Bottle Rocket Hearts is an achingly good read…Whittall's writing is eloquent and infused with snippets of Canadiana. Her writing style is Coupland-esque. It's a book I devoured page after page…one I didn't want to end. This book comes alive for the reader and is a lovely coming-of-age story for women to reflect on and perhaps even relate to their daughters."
–Calgary Herald
“The only book of poetry I enjoyed this year was Zoe Whittall’s The Best 10 Minutes of Your Life ”
– Geist Magazine
“Brave, fun inventive poetry…favoring the emotional and the sensual, these delicate reflections and reinventions create a space where desire and distance combine. ...Whittall has established her potential and promise with this collection ”
– Broken Pencil Magazine
“Whittall’s narrative voice is confident and engaging, at times poignant, and other times laced with a sense of adventure and humour. The voice is compelling and fresh… ”
– WORD
