André Alexis's new book, he writes, is an "attempt to see over the fence of my own imagination, to look beyond the self into other worlds." Indeed, in Beauty and Sadness -- a collection of four stories, two essays and a memoir -- Alexis has written a number of pieces that explore the liminal space between worlds.

Alexis -- the author of two novels, Childhood and Asylum, and a volume of short fiction, Despair -- was born in Trinidad in 1957 and came to Canada in 1961. As such, he uses the language of immigration to articulate his engagement with literature. "I explore literary worlds and use unfamiliar literary symbols as I explored Canada...when I first came to the country."