The spring issue of the Newfoundland Quarterly celebrates spirited women.

As Joan Sullivan, managing editor of the Quarterly, explains, the idea for the issue came to her after she received a submission from author and filmmaker Marjorie Doyle, chronicling Ms. Doyle’s mother’s relationship with the Roman Catholic Church.

“It was very funny – the part about her mother teaching the Mother Superior how to drive, for example – so we decided to build from there,” said Ms. Sullivan.

Other theme features include an exploration of the art of Alma Rumball by Dr. Maggie Atkinson of Grenfell Campus, and an archival interview with former premier Joseph R. Smallwood about Pentecostal missionary Alice Belle Garrigus by Burton K. Janes.

The issue also includes a lively review of Greg Malone’s Don’t Tell the Newfoundlanders by Edward Riche and Edward Roberts. A pair of poems by award-winning St. John’s poet Dana Evely are also showcased, along with the winners of the Writer’s Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador’s postcard story competition and a Memorial Presents feature about the changing face of regional development in this province.

If you’re interested in picking up the issue, or subscribing to the Newfoundland Quarterly, please visit the Memorial University Bookstore in the University Centre, or call or email the NQ at 709-864-2426, or nfqsub@mun.ca.