Why Not? has been long-listed for the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction! More information right here.

Now Available: Why Not? Fifteen Reasons to Live:

Soon after completing his sixth novel during the summer of 2007, Ray Robertson suffered from a depression of suicidal intensity. A year later, after physically and mentally recovering, he found he'd been provided with a rare opportunity: to write a book exploring from a uniquely advantageous perspective two of life's most central and enduring questions: what makes human beings happy? What makes life worth living?

Robertson uses both autobiographical incident and the rich written reserve that is Western art and philosophy to locate the logical and emotional sources for a deeper, more profound understanding and appreciation of human existence in this wonderfully engaging collection of essays. Find out more!

Ray Robertson is the Jerry Lee Lewis of North American Letters.

—Chuck Kinder (author of Honeymooners and The Last Mountain Dancer)

A graduate of the University of Toronto with High Distinction with a B.A. in philosophy and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Southwest Texas State University, Ray Robertson is the author of six novels, two books of essays, and is a contributing book reviewer to the Globe and Mail.

Clever, word-drunk, and falling-down funny...Robertson is a moral writer and a bitingly intelligent one, a man who writes with penetrating insight of what needs to be written about: beauty, truth and goodness.

—Globe and Mail

One of Canada's finest novelists.

—Ottawa Express