The Bibliophile from Biblioasis Publishing reports on how its new biography of Pierre Poilievre, called The Ripper, came about. Gradually, and then suddenly, reports publisher Dan Wells.
No cover image yet!
Partly it's that Andrew Lawton's recent biography of Poilievre "seems to border on hagiography." Not this one. The title comes from the idea that politics today is about "rippers and weavers," and that Pierre Poilievre, "the angriest man on the political stage, constantly flinging rage" is emphatically among the rippers.
Biblioasis's author is Mark Bourrie, author of the histories Bushrunner and Crosses in the Sky, but also a journalist and a lawyer very much at home in the Ottawa political world. Bourrie may be a bit of a ripper himself -- I've been amazed by the venom he can direct against reviewers who don't treat his books with unrelenting praise. He's likely to be unsparing on Pierre Poilievre.
The Ripper should be in bookstores in March. Bourrie and Wells first discussed a book last spring. Bourrie delivered a manuscript in December, and with the Christmas turmoil in Canadian politics and the election date moving up from fall of 2024 to sometime in the spring, Biblioasis sped up its processes to have books into bookstores by the end of March.
The book could be newsy then. Good thing we have some fast-on-their-feet Canadian publishers still.
