BooksCanada Reads 2020

Megan Gail Coles

Megan Gail Coles is the author of Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club.

Author of Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club, defended by Alayna Fender

CBC Books Posted: Jan 21, 2020 8:25 PM EST | Last Updated: April 7, 2022

Megan Gail Coles is the author of Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club. (CBC)

Megan Gail Colesis a graduate of Memorial University of Newfoundland and the National Theatre School of Canada, and she has recently completed a MFA from the University of British Columbia. She has written and produced numerous plays. Her first fiction collection, Eating Habits of the Chronically Lonesome, won the BMO Winterset Award, the ReLit Awardand the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, and it earned her the one-time Writers' Trust 5x5 prize.

Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club, her debut novel, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.Alayna FenderchampionedSmall Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club by Megan Gail Coles onCanada Reads2020.Amanda Brugel wonCanada Reads2020defendingWe Have Always Been HerebySamra Habib.

Originally from Savage Cove on the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland, Megan currently resides in Montreal, where she is a PhDcandidate at Concordia University.Her debut book of poetry,Satched, was published in 2021.

Coles, along with Canadian poetsArmand Garnet RuffoandHoa Nguyen,is onthe jury for the2022 CBC Poetry Prize.

Why Megan Gail Coles wroteSmall Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club

"My book is very much about power imbalance. It is about people who have power and people who do not, and why. The novel is set in a restaurant called the Hazel in downtown St. John's on Duckworth Street. It takes place over the course of one day in February. I set a hard story in the hardest part of the year.

It seemed to me that the only way to get people to wake up was to actually stage the book inside of a living nightmare.- Megan Gail Coles

"I know there will be people who are uncomfortable with the tone of the novel because it is so full on. It is unrelenting at times by design. There have been times when I have tried to approach this same discussion and I have been ignored. It seemed to me that the only way to get people to wake up was to actually stage the book inside of a living nightmare. But I urge everyone to be brave enough to move through it."

Books by Megan Gail Coles

Interviews with Megan Gail Coles

Why Alayna Fender thinks books can accomplish more than just inspire hope

4 years ago

1:26

On Day Three of Canada Reads 2020, the social media star talked about how literature can best encourage change in society.

Alayna Fender and Megan Gail Coles discuss Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club

5 years ago

5:24

YouTuber Alayna Fender will defend Megan Gail Coles's debut novel Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club on Canada Reads 2020.

CBC Books6:43Megan Gail Coles on her novel Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club

Megan Gail Coles talks to CBC The Homestretch host Doug Dirks about her novel Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club, which will be defended by Alayna Fender on Canada Reads 2020.

The Next Chapter17:07Megan Gail Coles on Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club

Shelagh Rogers talks to 2019 Giller Prize nominee, Megan Gail Coles, about Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club.