Canadian writer Joseph Howse’s Russia situated novels win him multiple literary awards
The author of his two critically acclaimed novels is currently in South Africa to promote his latest novel The Circus and the Atom. He was a panellist at the just ended Kingsmead Book Fair.
By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor
If you did not know why it is so, that is what seems to be a fascination, almost literary obsession with everything about Russian culture and their way of life, you would not be unreasonable to curious.
This is especially so, because he is a writer from North America, whose culture and views of the world are often diametrically opposite to those held by writers and certainly ordinary Russians, with the Cold War, having amplified such differences between the two geopolitical regions.
I mean Joseph Howse is a Canadian computer engineer turned writer, whose two books, The Girl in the Water and recently, published a sequel to it, The Circus and the Atom are both situated in what was then Russia in the 1980s. Just as the life changing revolution was about to take place, which eventually balkanised a big chunk of the massive Soviet Union into several countries that broke away and became part of the Western World. In a way, that revolution ended what was called the Cold War between the US and what in the aftermath of the revolution, became Russia, minus the break-away countries that became European countries.
Howse’s books, with the third one on its way, and scheduled to be published next year, have the theme of Russia running throughout their pages. In fact, the two novels that he has published so far, and that is The Girl in the Water and recently, The Circus and the Atom, are both situated in Russia. The third one has a strong Russian flavour running through it too, but also carries a surprise for readers that have read the last two books, according to the author.
“This third book in the series, whose title is Vladimir and I, is situated in multiple geographies. Without giving away too much details, it has scenes in several countries, including Russia, Switzerland, Canada and Namibia. He told CITYLIFE/ARTs this week, May 25, 2026. The interview was held at famous Melville eatery and coffee shop, De Baba, at its new location, not far from where it was before relocating on 4th Avenue, Melville still.
“I was curious to know what the fascination with Russia by the author
“My father is a retired journalist, who worked for a Canadian newspaper, and his beat was reporting on Russia. It is also for me, a way to unlearn whatever I have learned when I was young, fed certain information about Russia, especially during the Cold War. As North Americans, we were part of the other, holding a view of Russia informed by North Americans view of Russia during the Cold War.
“In movies, as young people growing up during that time, the movies always portrayed the Russians as the bad guys,” he explained.
That curiosity to know the other side, free of dominant Western narratives about Russia, saw the author devour books about Russia, particularly when he took a break from assisting his big brother Sam in running a technology company, which designed computer related programs for clients. Sam died in 2006 after being diagnosed with cancer, after which Joseph took over the running of the computer company.
“When I took a break from working with my brother in the computer company, I went to university to study computer science. However, at the same time, I delved deeply into world literature, including French, English and Russian literature. As far as reading Russian literature is concerned, I did it as part of the unlearning process. I came to understand better the culture of Russians that way. That and researching more about Russia by speaking to friends who are Russian, assisted me a lot in situating my characters properly within the broad framework of Russian culture.
Indeed, in The Circus and the Atom, as a reader, you will get introduced to characters that are Russian, as well as prominent land marks that are part of the city’s architecture. In his writing, Joseph is big in detail when it comes to describing and naming these landmarks, and he situates properly culturally, his characters that you would believe that the book is written by someone who is Russian or has lived in Russia for a long time. However, he has not. But the fact that the details are precise and landmarks are named correctly, the novel achieves the important literary feat of authenticity.
“I have however travelled to Ukraine and Estonia. The rest of the information about Russian culture that is weaved into The Circus and the Atom, and certainly The Girl in Water, and the forthcoming Vladimir and I, is as a result of research. Research forms a big part of my writing process, and that is why my books take time before they are published,” Howse said.
in The Circus and the Atom, you indeed as a reader be given into insight into Russian culture and its nuances through the lens of the characters. Such as the eccentric Ida, who has a secretive past, Nadia, a third year student of Fine and Performing Arts at Lomonosov University, where she shares a student room with her friend Annika, an international scholar from Namibia, and the rather, eccentric Dasha, a fellow student.
You will also get to know other interesting and strong characters that carry this novel. Such as Giorgie, Nadia’s brother-in-law and a detective married to her bigger sister Nastya, an artist. They have a toddler son Daniilushka, who has a strong bond with her aunt Nadia.
In fact, most of the characters populating the pages of The Circus and the Atom, are equally interesting. They each play an important role in creating a compelling narrative of this novel about the country and its way of life. Just before the revolution changed the country’s trajectory, political leadership and sealed its fate as a balkanised edifice. Left without the pretence of being this big giant, constited several countries within it, whose people’s identities were inevitably swallowed by the dominant Russian culture.
The charaters in this novel are alive, just like actual human beings in life. Here, I am talking about such characters as Misha, Nadia’s father, a shipping clerk facing troubles of his own with the law, and yet on the cusp of the promise of freedom. Liza, a dormitory attendant at Lomonosov University, Maks, Katya’s confidant and a naval officer. The famous clown, Oleg Popov. There are however, more characters, whose roles in this novel will assist you to navigate that novel, which is at the intersection of politics, culture and history.
What I also found striking textually, is the writer’s rare ability to describe the characters’ actions in a way that you start understanding their positions on various issues raised within the novel. That is notably, without them loudly uttering a a single word.
The charcters’ Actions therefore, speak volumes. Also the way the writer, through his well detailed descriptions of objects, makes you see something alive in an otherwise inanimate object. You simply will not ignore the objects due to the details the writer describes them. His gripping descriptions are precise and specific. This is perhaps where his science mind collides nicely with his literary side, creating images that are beautiful in the eye, feelings and mind of the reader.
The writer also successfully employs this power of description to capture a scene, so beautifully that he situates the reader to the scene he is describing.
“Near the centre of the bus, a man in a lanky pullover was stretching, rolling his shoulders as he gripped the overhead rail with both hands. He was with a woman who hugged his waist and swayed with him, sometimes nuzzling his chest and sometimes staring up into his eyes. She took a break to look down, lift the hem of his jumper, and clean her glasses on it,” one such a powerful paragraph capturing a scene reads in The Circus and the Atom.
The circumstances under which Joseph wrote his first novel, The Girl in the Water, were rather tragic. At the time, the world was anxious as a dark cloud of disease had just descended, threatening people’s existence around the world.
“When Covid-19 arrived, it found me at home, a fishing village, where most of the people are ordinary people, making a living through fishing. When Covid-19 struck, people’s movements were curtailed. A decision was reached to bring my parents (His father Bob Howse and mother Janet Howse an artist, who created the art work donning the cover of The Circus and the Atom) to come and live with me.
It was in March 2020 when we were all at home when my mother said to me, perhaps this is the time when you should start writing that book. I agreed and said I was starting right away that day, and I did,” he said.
That brave move and determination has paid off because so far, this series, a multigenerational saga called Next Year’s Snow, has so far won the Independent Press Award for Literary Fiction, (2023 and 2026), the IAN Awards for Outstanding Multi-cultural Literary Fiction (2023), and the Best Novel Prize in the Sunspot Literary Journal Solar Flare Contest (2025).
What brought me to South Africa this time, having been here before, is the Kingsmead Book Fair this past weekend, where I was part of a panel, as well as looking for a publicist (Janine), looking for a distributor for The Circus and the Atom, as well as attend a medical conference, representing my computer company, which among other industry provides technology solutions to the medical industry,” he told CITYLIFE/ARTS.
.The Circus and the Atom is now available in bookstores around the country retailing for R320 per copy.