Publisher Group Canada Blog

A Thousand Sisters Book Launch and Fundraiser

2010-04-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

Zerofootprint Foundation Invites you to join
Lisa Shannon, author of A Thousand Sisters and Dominique Bikaba of the Congolese
Pole Pole Foundation for two inspirational events to fundraise for Zerofootprint Foundation projects supporting women and the environment in the Congo.

Monday, May 10, 2010
Private Reception, 5:30pm
Meet Lisa Shannon and Dominique Bikaba for an intimate reception.
Panorama Lounge, 51st Floor, Manulife Centre, 55 Bloor Street West, Toronto
For every $150 donated, one ticket and signed book will be issued.

Book Reading, 7:00pm
A special appearance by Lisa Shannon. Open to all, A free event!
Indigo Books, Manulife Centre, 55 Bloor Street West, Toronto
30% of the proceeds from book sales at the event will go towards supporting the Congo.

Contact Doree at
doree.marentette@zerofootprint.net or at (416) 365-7557 x 167.

Learn more about Zerofootprint’s projects in the Congo click here!

Karl Marlantes: On Writing Matterhorn for 30 Years

2010-03-29T07:04:00.001-07:00

Award Winner!

2010-03-23T11:22:00.000-07:00

Sherman Alexie has won the PEN/Faulkner Award! Alexie's 2009 novel, War Dances, came out on top of a list of finalists that included literary greats Barbara Kingsolver and Lorrie Moore, along with Coleson Whitehead and Lorraine N. Lopez.

Sherman Alexie has previously won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, awarded in 2007 for "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," as well as the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010 for his contribution to Native American writing. Alexie's writing, which includes four novels, three short story collections, and poetry, focuses on Native American characters and issues, though he is well known for making these topics widely accessible and relatable.

PEN/Faulkner judge Al Young commented on choosing "War Dances":

""War Dances" taps every vein and nerve, every tissue, every issue that quickens the current blood-pulse: parenthood, divorce, broken links, sex, gender and racial conflict, substance abuse, medical neglect, 9/11, Official Narrative vs. What Really Happened, settler religion vs. native spirituality; marketing, shopping, and war, war, war. All the heartbreaking ways we don't live now--this is the caring, eye-opening beauty of this rollicking, bittersweet gem of a book."

Available at bookstores everywhere.

New In Fiction

2010-03-09T07:02:00.000-08:00

A great early review for the playfully titled Orion You Came and Took All My Marbles by Kira Henehan

"[A] sublime and cryptic debut in the vein of Sam Lipsyte's The Subject Steve . . . At its heart, the novel is an impressionistic tale propelled by Henehan's gorgeously arch prose and a constant stream of droll humor. The ephemeral plotting will either be frustrating or fabulous, depending on the reader, but there's no doubt that Henehan is a talent." --Publishers Weekly

The book is published by Milkweed Editions and is due to hit stores May.

What Is Happiness by Deepak Chopra....NYC January 2010

2010-03-01T13:44:00.001-08:00

Deepak Chopra on Happiness.

Catch Deepak in Montreal!
Happening Now: An Evening with Deepak Chopra in Montreal.
Dr. Deepak Chopra will be speaking at le Theatre Maisonneuve at La Place des arts, on March 30th, 2010, 7:30pm. Tickets available through the box office at (514) 842-2112 or 1 (866) 842-2112, or online at laplacedesarts.com

Deepak's latest book The Fifth Agreement (Amber-Allen Publishing) is in stores now!

2010-02-24T06:45:00.000-08:00

Connie Gault's first novel Euphoria has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize.

The Commonwealth Prize celebrates the best fiction in each region of the Commonwealth and propels authors into the literary spotlight. "The books that win often have strong insight, spirit and voice." Winners will be announced on April 12th.

Euphoria was published by Coteau Books in September 2009.

Sherman Alexie and his book WAR DANCES was named a 2010 finalist for the PEN Faulkner Award For Fiction. The winner will be announced on March 23rd. The award is North America's largest peer-juried prize for fiction.

War Dances was published by Grove Press in October 2009.

Sorrel King won The First Book Award from Books For A Better Life for JOSIE'S STORY: A Mother's Inspiring Crusade to Make Medical Care Safe. And earlier this year Sorrel was named one of 50 influential women changing the world by Woman's Day magazine.

Josie's Story was published by Atlantic Monthly Press in the fall of 2009.

The latest arrival from McSweeney's

2010-02-23T12:12:00.000-08:00

THE PANORAMA (Issue 33 of McSweeney’s Quarterly) is a one-time only, Sunday-edition-sized newspaper. It has news and sports and arts coverage, and comics (sixteen pages of glorious, full-color comics, from Chris Ware and Dan Clowes and Art Spiegelman and many others besides) and a magazine, and is basically an attempt to demonstrate all the great things print journalism can (still) do, with as much first-rate writing and reportage and design (and posters and games and on-location Antarctic travelogues) as we could fit in there. It features journalism from Andrew Sean Greer, fiction from George Saunders and Roddy Doyle, dispatches from Afghanistan, and much, much more.

Pick up a copy at your local book store or
Chapters.Indigo.ca
Amazon.ca

Food, Inc. trailer

2010-02-03T08:56:00.001-08:00

Food Inc has been nominated for an Oscar for best documentary!

The movie was produced in conjunction with Food Inc the book edited by Karl Weber. Contributors include Michael Pollan, author of Food Rules.

Published by Public Affairs the book is available across Canada

9781586486945 * $17.50 Paper

The Taqwacores Movie Trailer - Official (HD)

2010-01-18T07:18:00.001-08:00

The trailer for THE TAQWACORES feature film at Sundance, based on the Soft Skull book by Michael Muhammad Knight (9781593762292), is available on YouTube.

Paying Back Jack: Vincent Calvino Novel

2009-12-15T08:35:00.001-08:00

Check out the book trailer for the latest novel by Christopher Moore in his Vincent Calvino series.

History of Communism in One Volume

2009-11-10T13:38:00.000-08:00

The Red Flag: A History of Communism by David Priestland

“The best and the most accessible one-volume history of communism now available . . . A far-reaching, vividly written account.” —Foreign Affairs

In The Red Flag, Oxford professor David Priestland tells the epic story of a movement that has taken root in dozens of countries across two hundred years, from its birth after the French Revolution to its ideological maturity in nineteenth century Germany to its rise to dominance (and subsequent fall) in the twentieth century.

At a time when global capitalism is in crisis and powerful new political forces have arisen to confront Western democracy, The Red Flag is essential reading if we are to apply the lessons of the past to navigating the future.

Published by Grove Press

Available at your favourite local book store or:
Chapters.Indigo.ca
Amazone.ca

New and Noteworthy

2009-11-10T13:05:00.000-08:00

New titles this month

My Life With Sudden Death by Michael Downing

Michael's father died suddenly when he was three. In 2003 one of his brothers died suddenly. No autopsy was performed. Alarmed, Downing pursued a diagnosis: he had inherited a mutant protein from his father, and the first symptom would be his sudden death. To save his life, a defibrillator was hard-wired to his heart. Within weeks, he needed emergency surgery to remove the device and the life-threatening infection he got with it. Two months later, he was re-implanted — only to read in his morning newspaper that the new wires anchored to his heart were prone to failure. His device might be powerless, or it might deliver a series of unwarranted, possibly fatal, shocks.

From a bedeviled boyhood in the Berkshires to a grim comedy of errors in one of Boston’s best hospitals, Life with Sudden Death is a wild ride.

Published by Counterpoint

Available now!

Amazon.ca
Chapters.Indigo.ca

Anniversary Edition

2009-11-10T12:43:00.000-08:00

Naked Lunch: 50th Anniversary Edition

On the fiftieth anniversary of its first publication, Grove Press and PGC are proud to issue a special hardcover edition featuring the restored text that is faithful to Burroughs’s original composition, an introduction from David Ulin, book editor of the Los Angeles Times, as well as reproductions of original manuscript pages and drawings.

A must have for the Burroughs fan!

"Burroughs's voice is hard, derisive, inventive, free, funny, serious, poetic, indelibly American." --Joan Didion

Available at your favourite local book store or:
Amazon.ca
Chapters.Indigo.ca

In Town This Week

2009-10-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

Sherman Alexie is in Toronto for IFOA this week!
He is here promoting his latest collection of short stories - War Dances published by Grove Press.

Sherman participates in a roundtable discussion Friday, Oct 23rd at 8:00pm and has a reading Saturday, Oct 24th at 8:00pm.

For more check out: Readings.org

Also in town for IFOA- Michael Thomas, author of the IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize-winning Man Gone Down. His reading takes place Friday, Oct 30th at 8:00pm
Readings.org

And finally, we are thrilled that Elina Hirvonen will also be in Toronto. Her novel When I Forgot published in the spring to much critical acclaim. She is from Finland. She participates in a roundtable Friday, Oct 30th at 8:00pm and a reading on Saturday, Oct 31st at 1:00pm. Readings.org

Go Wild!

2009-10-09T07:29:00.001-07:00

It's here, it's here! The Wild Things by Dave Eggers is a novelization of the Where The Wild Things Are screenplay he co-wrote with Spike Jonze.

About:
The Wild Things — based very loosely on the storybook by Maurice Sendak and the screenplay cowritten with Spike Jonze — is about the confusions of a boy, Max, making his way in a world he can’t control. His father is gone, his mother is spending time with a younger boyfriend, his sister is becoming a teenager and no longer has interest in him. At the same time, Max finds himself capable of startling acts of wildness: he wears a wolf suit, bites his mom, and can’t always control his outbursts. During a fight at home, Max flees and runs away into the woods. He finds a boat there, jumps in, and ends up on the open sea, destination unknown. He lands on the island of the Wild Things, and soon he becomes their king. But things get complicated when Max realizes that the Wild Things want as much from him as he wants from them.

The movie opens in theatres everywhere Friday, Oct 16th and the book is now available at your favourite local book store or here:

Chapters.Indigo.ca
Amazon.ca

In the News

2009-10-01T14:07:00.000-07:00

A great review of Guardians of Being in today's Shelf Awareness

A couple highlights:
". . . superb new picture book . . . packed with hilarious, big-hearted art by Patrick McDonnell, the creator of the comic Mutts."

and:
"According to Tolle, when I pet my cat, I'm participating in his "nowness," that my grumpy, comical, bossy feline friend is constantly teaching me and healing me, attuned to the moment, living effortlessly in the now. Proving this point are McDonnell's illustrations that are pure genius, achingly touching and quietly goofy and unpretentiously wise."

Now Available!

2009-10-01T13:56:00.000-07:00

Guardians of Being by Eckhart Tolle and Illustrated by Patrick McDonnell

This wonderfully unique collaboration brings together two masters of their fields, joining original words of wisdom by Eckhart Tolle with delightful illustrations by Patrick McDonnell. Inhabited by beloved MUTTS characters, every heartwarming page provokes thought, insight, and smiling reverence for each moment. Sure to be a classic, this charming book will inspire readers everywhere to recognize the lessons of the present moment, as embodied by the dogs and cats who share our world.

Praise for MUTTS: “One of the best comic strips of all time.”
—Charles Schulz, Peanuts creator

Praise for Eckhart Tolle: “He is a prophet for our time.”
—O, The Oprah Magazine

Patrick McDonnell is the award-winning creator of the MUTTS comic strip, which appears in over 700 newspapers in 20 countries and has an estimated daily readership of 50 million, as well as the author and illustrator of the picture books The Gift of Nothing, Hug Time, and the upcoming October release, Wag! (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers). He lives in New Jersey. His website is www.muttscomics.com

Eckhart Tolle is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Now (3 million copies sold) and A New Earth, the fastest-selling Oprah Book Club selection ever (5 million copies sold). He speaks and teaches extensively throughout the world. He lives in Vancouver, Canada and his website is www.eckharttolle.com

Published by New World Library

Available at your favourite local bookstore or here:
Amazon.ca
Chapters.Indigo.ca

How to Survive a Zombie Holocaust? Handbook Required

2009-07-29T08:33:00.000-07:00

THE ZOMBIE HANDBOOK by Rob Sacchetto

You may be familiar with Rob already - that's right, he's the Sudbury born (and still living in) creator of the website ZombiePortrait.com
You send in a photo and he zombie-fies it for you.

His latest zombie contribution is a new handbook that tells you: How to Identify the Living Dead and Survive the Coming Zombie Holocaust.

This definitive study combs through every zombie-ological subject, from feeding habits to favorite sexual positions. Of course, the book's most important section is surviving and fighting the brain-eaters when the inevitable zombie apocalypse arrives. There's vital information on everything from weaponry and battling techniques to booby traps and zombie-proofing a home.

Beginning with a fascinating historical retrospective on the "living dead" and continuing with an in-depth look at modern zombies, the book also addresses the crucial question of the day—can human beings and zombies peacefully coexist?

Rob will also be appearing at the Rue-Morgue Festival of Fear National Horror Convention this August 28th-30th. He'll be exhibiting at the Metro Convention Centre.

The Zombie Handbook
Published by Ulysses Press
In stores now

It's All In the Cover

2009-07-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

Another reason to buy Zeitoun - it's beautiful design a lovely addition to any personal library.

In the News

2009-07-24T12:36:00.000-07:00

Can't wait to see this weekend's Picture Perfect selection in The Globe and Mail!
This book is both fascinating and macabre. The 'Dark Humour' being the most intriguing of all sections in the book. I'll let you see the review, then buy the book!

Dissection: Photographs of a Rite of Passage in American Medicine 1880-1930
by John Harley Warner
9780922233342 * Blast Books

ZEITOUN by Dave Eggers is starting to get some media attention.
Brian J Davies wrote a lovely review in this week's EYE. A taste here:
"While much outrage has been focused on the lack of federal response to the flood, the Zeitouns’ story puts front and centre the nightmare response the government actually came up with. By turning a humanitarian disaster into a military operation with National Guard troops frazzled from Afghanistan and Iraq, war was brought home. Yes, there are faxes in which the government literally warns that terrorists would be likely to operate during a hurricane. One hopes that with Zeitoun, any debate about the ways in which Eggers chooses to tell stories is put to rest. Let's just be glad that they're being told."

For the full review: EYE WEEKLY

CBC: Anthrax War: part 2/7

2009-06-25T12:34:00.001-07:00

Had to air part 2 as well.

Anthrax Wars - a documentary based on Bob Coen's DEAD SILENCE: FEAR AND TERROR ON THE ANTHRAX TRAIL (Counterpoint Press) It's in stores now.

CBC: Anthrax War: part 1/7

2009-06-25T12:30:00.001-07:00

Bob Coen's fascinating documentary that aired early spring.

His book DEAD SILENCE is now available

A Cover That Needs To Be Felt

2009-06-18T07:38:00.000-07:00

This is the fantastic cover for The Wild Things Limited Edition coming out this fall by Dave Eggers.

Name me an electronic reader that can even come close to providing the tactile experience that this faux fur covered novel promises.

About The Book:
The Wild Things — based loosely on the storybook by Maurice Sendak and the screenplay cowritten with Spike Jonze — is about the confusions of a boy, Max, making his way in a world he can’t control. His father is gone, his mother is spending time with a younger boyfriend, his sister is becoming a teenager and no longer has interest in him. At the same time, Max finds himself capable of startling acts of wildness: he wears a wolf suit, bites his mom, and can’t always control his outbursts. During a fight at home, Max flees and runs away into the woods. He finds a boat there, jumps in, and ends up on the open sea, destination unknown. He lands on the island of the Wild Things, and soon he becomes their king. But things get complicated when Max realizes that the Wild Things want as much from him as he wants from them. Funny, dark, and alive, The Wild Things is a timeless and time-tested tale for all ages.

Coming this October in both a fur covered limited edition and regular cloth.
It's published by McSweeney's.

Congratulations Michael Thomas!

2009-06-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

First-time novelist Michael Thomas won the world's richest literary prize for his novel, MAN GONE DOWN. He won 100,000 Euros in the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, announced June 11th.

The Boston native now lives in New York with his wife and three children, and his book faced stiff international competition with 145 titles, nominated by 157 public libraries from 41 countries.

From the judges:
"We never know his name. But the African-American protagonist of Michael Thomas' masterful debut, "Man Gone Down," will stay with readers for a long time. He lingers because this extraordinary novel comes to us from a writer of enthralling voice and startling insight. Tuned urgently to the way we live now, the winner of the International Dublin IMPAC Prize 2009 is a novel brilliant in its scope and energy, and deeply moving in its human warmth."

Man Gone Down
Michael Thomas
9780802170293 * $18.00 Paper
Grove Press

Available at your favourite local bookstore or:
Amazon.ca
Chapters.Indigo.ca

New Dave Eggers coming this July!

2009-06-10T06:48:00.000-07:00

McSweeney's recently announced ZEITOUN, a new book by Dave Eggers, will release this summer

About the Book:
When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a prosperous Syrian-American and father of four, chose to stay through the storm to protect his house and contracting business. In the days after the storm, he traveled the flooded streets in a secondhand canoe, passing on supplies and helping those he could. A week later, on September 6, 2005, Zeitoun abruptly disappeared.

Eggers’s riveting nonfiction book, three years in the making, explores Zeitoun’s roots in Syria, his marriage to Kathy—an American who converted to Islam—and their children, and the surreal atmosphere (in New Orleans and the United States generally) in which what happened to Abdulrahman Zeitoun was possible. Like What Is the What, Zeitoun was written in close collaboration with its subjects and involved vast research—in this case, in the U.S., Spain, and Syria.

Zeitoun ships later this month and hits stores mid-July.

McSweeney's
978-1-934781-63-0 * $30.95 cl
Nonfiction/Current Affairs/Politics
6 x 8.5 * 342 pages

Ali Velshi in Toronto

2009-06-04T08:37:00.000-07:00

Ali Velshi, chief business correspondent for the CNN is in Toronto this week promoting his book GIMME MY MONEY BACK published by Sterling & Ross.

Check out his television appearances:

CBC The Hour
BreakfastTelevision Toronto

Indigo Manulife Centre is hosting a book launch
Thursday, June 4th at 7:00pm
Join us for a talk, q&a, followed by a book signing.

About the book:
One way or another, you lost money as a direct result of the financial crisis. Now you have to start making it back, and you can do that by reading this book.

This book shows how the markets work and how to be involved, how to calculate personal risk tolerance based on personality, goals, age and years from retirement, how to avoid losing money, and how to use mutual funds, index funds, stocks, ETF’s, bonds, and other investment vehicles to speed up readers’ own personal recovery. Includes model portfolios to get you started right away.

Written by CNN Chief Business Correspondent Ali Velshi using his trademark user-friendly voice, GIMME MY MONEY BACK is a straightforward guide to understanding how we got into the mess we’re in, with concrete, simple, proven steps to get you out of it.

9780981453569
$16.95 Paper

Available at your favourite local book store or
Amazon.ca
Chapters.Indigo.ca

Indie publisher and new author score cover of NYTBR!

2009-05-13T09:19:00.001-07:00

Everyone at the PGC office was thrilled that one of their favourite novels of the spring season scored a great review, and the cover, in the New York Times book section this past Sunday.

www.nytimes.com"

When I Forgot by Elina Hirvonen
Published by Tin House Books
978-0-9802436-5-9

An astonishingly assured and compelling debut, When I Forgot explores the relationship between a sister and her brother, the past that they share, and the painful memories that shape their lives forever.

Anna is on her way to the hospital where her brother has been institutionalized when she falters, and in that pause her world splinters in a blazing display of memory and madness, of childhood security treasured and shattered, and of families blighted by psychological trauma—her brother's and that of her boyfriend's father, a Vietnam vet. September 11 serves as a backdrop for the story, and the Finnish perspective on America and its politics is as uncomfortable as it is compelling. In Elina Hirvonen's skillful hands, the grimness is illuminated by firecracker insight and surprising beauty. And, above all, there is hope.

When I Forgot is Elina Hirvonen's first novel. Hirvonen is a celebrity in Finland, where she has previously been a TV presenter and chat show host. She has just finished her first documentary, which focuses on African migration to Europe. She is a passionate traveler and has journeyed independently through thirty different countries.

Available at your favourite local bookstore or
Amazon.ca
Chapters.Indigo.ca

Award Announcement

2009-04-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

One of our favourite picture books of 2008 has been shortlisted for an
E.B. White Award!

The E.B. White Awards are the Association of Booksellers For Children’s national book awards. The E.B. Whites are given in two categories: Picture Book, and a Book For Older Readers.

Congratulations to Kathryn Otoshi, KO Kids, and the illustrator of ONE.

“A remarkable small press book that impressed the committee because of the elegance of its writing and design paired with the complexity of its message.”

One
Kathryn Otoshi
978-0-9723946-4-2 • $22.00 cl
KO Kids Books
Ages 4 to 8

Available at your favourite local book store or
Amazon.ca
Chapters.Indigo.ca

Disturbing Cover and a Creepy Read!

2009-04-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

Looking for a disturbing bed time read?

The Pilo Family Circus by Will Eilliot is now available.
$19.50 Paper

Echoes of Lovecraft, Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and early Stephen King resound through the pages of this magical, gleefully macabre work nominated as Best Novel by the International Horror Guild.

"Elliot's clowns are as unnerving as they come." --Guardian

"Dark, wickedly inventive comedy . . . Awesome." --Maxim

"I couldn't put Elliot's novel down. It's fantastic." --Independent on Sunday

At your favourite local book store or:
Amazon.ca
Chapters.Indigo.ca

Just Announced

2009-04-02T09:50:00.000-07:00

Steve Carell to star in a new film - Dumped.

The movie is based on the book by Andrew Gottlieb, Drink, Play, F@#k: One Man's Search For Anything Across Ireland, Las Vegas, and Thailand

About the book:
In Drink, Play, F@#k Bob Sullivan, a jilted husband, sets off to explore the world, experience a meaningful connection with the divine, and rediscover his passion. His travels lead him from his home in New York City to a drinking bender across Ireland, through the glitz and glamour that is Las Vegas, and to the hedonistic pleasure palaces of Thailand. After a lifetime of playing it safe, Mr. Sullivan finally follows his heart and lives out everyone's deepest fantasies. For who among us hasn't dreamed of standing stark naked, head upturned, and mouth agape beneath a cascading torrent of Guinness Stout? What could be more exhilarating than losing every penny you have because Charlie Weiss went for a meaningless last-second field goal? And what sensate creature could ever doubt that the greatest pleasure known to man can be found in a leaky bamboo shack filled with glassy-eyed, bruised Asian hookers? Bob Sullivan has a lot to teach us about life. Let's just pray we have the wisdom to put aside our preconceptions and listen. Because what Bob Sullivan finds isn't at all what he expected.

$16.95 Paper

Available at your favourite local book store or
Amazon.ca
Chapters.ca

Congratulations!

2009-04-02T09:40:00.000-07:00

Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas has made the shortlist for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award!

The nominees are:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (Dominican / American)
Ravel by Jean Echenoz (French) in translation
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (Pakistani / British)
The Archivist's Story by Travis Holland (American)
The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles by Roy Jacobsen (Norwegian) in translation.
The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt (American)
Animal's People by Indra Sinha (Indian / British)
Man Gone Down by Micheal Thomas (American)

The winner will be named June 11.

Man Gone Down
9780802170293 * $18.00 Paper
Grove Press

Available at your favourite local book store!

Be A Nose! HD

2009-03-16T09:39:00.001-07:00

Be A Nose by Art Spiegelman - Available Now

Go to your favourite local bookstore or Amazon.ca or Chapters.Indigo.ca to purchase

Favourite New Fiction

2009-03-12T12:00:00.001-07:00

Absolutely loving the latest fiction release from Black Cat!

Book of Clouds by Chloe Aridjis is beautifully written and brings us on an intimate journey through the streets of Berlin. Our guide, Tatiana, is a quiet, dreamy young woman and as you follow her aimless wanderings into the employment of a curious old man it's hard to imagine where the story is taking you. But it doesn't matter - her writing is so compelling that you want to keep reading no matter where Tatiana is headed!

“Exquisitely written, Book of Clouds is a perfect Berlin story for our unsettled times, and a remarkable debut.” —Francisco Goldman

“A stirring and lyrical first novel by a young writer of immense talent.” —Paul Auster

“Chloe Aridjis writes with a fine-tuned sensitivity and a captivating charm. Her universe is offbeat, rich, and disturbing in equal measure—but always utterly compelling.” —Tom McCarthy, author of Remainder

978-0-8021-7056-9 * $18.00 Paper

Available at your favourite local book store or here:
Amazon.ca
Chapters.Indigo.ca

Great New Memoir

2009-03-04T07:22:00.000-08:00

A Pocket History of Sex in the 20th Century
by Jane Vandenburgh
978-1-58243-459-9 * Counterpoint Press

Born into “a certain kind of family”—affluent, white, Protestant—Jane Vandenburgh came of age when the sexual revolution was sweeping the cultural landscape, making its mark in a way that would change our manners and mores forever. But what began as an all-American life soon spun off and went spectacularly awry.

Her father, an architect with a prominent Los Angeles firm, was arrested several times for being in gay bars during the 1950s, and only freed when her grandfather paid bribes to the L.A.P.D. He was ultimately placed in a psychiatric hospital to be “cured” of his homosexuality, and committed suicide when she was nine. Her mother—an artist and freethinker—lost custody of her children when she was committed to a mental hospital. The author and her two brothers were raised by an aunt and uncle who had, under one roof, seven children and problems of their own.

In the midst of private trauma and loss, Vandenburgh delights in revealing larger truths about American culture and her life within it. Quirky, witty, and uncannily wise, A Pocket History of Sex in the Twentieth Century is a brilliant blend of memoir and cultural revelation.

Available at your favourite local bookstore or here:
Chapters.Indigo.ca
Amazon.ca

TINARS pics with Michael Muhammad Knight!

2009-02-27T11:43:00.000-08:00

Event Announcement

2009-02-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

Michael Muhammad Knight will be in Toronto discussing his book Taqwacores in celebration of Freedom To Read Week!

Pages Books & Magazines presents This Is Not A Reading Series (TINARS)
Visit: www.pagesbooks.ca

This Is Not A Reading Series celebrates Freedom To Read Week with the Canadian premiere of Michael Muhammad Knight’s controversial underground novel about the Muslim- punk movement, The Taqwacores (Publishers Group Canada). Montreal filmmaker Omar Majeed is currently working on a feature documentary about the real-life taqwacore bands who were inspired by Knight’s fictional creation. Majeed and Knight will show footage and discuss the politics of the Muslim-punk scene. Knight will then have an extended Q & A session with the audience, to be included in the documentary-in-progress.

A This Is Not A Reading Series Event presented by Pages Books & Magazines, Publishers Group Canada, Eye Steel Films, EYE WEEKLY, Gladstone Hotel and Take Five On CIUT.
Gladstone Hotel Melody Bar, 1214 Queen Street West
Tues Feb 24; 7:30pm (Doors 7pm) $5 (Free With Book Purchase)

MEDIA CONTACTS
Michael Muhammad Knight: Jennifer Lynch, Jennifer@pgcbooks.ca, (416)934-9900 ext 202
This Is Not A Reading Series: Chris Reed, tinars@pagesbooks.ca, (416) 598-1447 ext 221

Congratulations to Michelle Margorian

2009-01-09T08:08:00.000-08:00

We are delighted to officially announce Just Henry by Michelle Magorian has won the Children’s category of the Costa Book Award 2008. If you would like to read more about these click on CostaBookAwards.com

Michelle Magorian will be attending the awards ceremony on the 27th January, where the overall winner of the Costa Book Award will be announced.

Well done Egmont Press on winning this prestigious award!

Just Henry by Michelle Magorian
978-14052-2757-5 * $15.00 Paper

New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2008

2008-11-26T13:08:00.000-08:00

Great to see a couple of PGC titles made the list!

Black Flies by Shannon Burke (Soft Skull Press, $19.50 pb)
A Rookie Paramedic in New York City is overwhelmed by the horrors of his job in this arresting, confrontational novel, informed by Burke's five years experience on city ambulances.

School on Heart's Content Road by Carolyn Chute (Atlantic Monthly, $31.00 cl)
In Chute's first novel in nearly 10 years, disparate characters cluster around an off-the-grid communal settlement.

Available at your favourite local bookstore or at
Chapters/Indigo.ca
Amazon.ca

A Deceptively Simple Book With a Powerful Message About Bullying

2008-11-20T14:15:00.000-08:00

“Otoshi's picture book about a bully stands out for its deceptive simplicity and its message of inclusion.”
-Shelf Awareness
One by Kathryn Otoshi

Blue is a quiet color. Red’s a hothead who likes to pick on Blue. Yellow, Orange, Green, and Purple don’t like what they see, but what can they do? When no one speaks up, things get out of hand — until One comes along and shows all the colors how to stand up, stand together, and count. As budding young readers learn about numbers, counting, and primary and secondary colors, they also learn about accepting each other's differences and how it sometimes just takes one voice to make everyone count.

“The use of colors and numbers gives the story a much needed universality, and there is a visceral power in the “strength-in-numbers” gambit… Otoshi cleverly offers a way to talk to very young children about the subject of bullying, even as she helps put their imaginations to work about solutions.”-Booklist, starred review

"The text is very simple, but meaningful, and the moral is subtly told. This is an offering with great potential for use with very young readers."-School Library Journal (December)

One by Kathryn Otoshi
978-09723946-4-2
$22.00 Cloth

Available at your favourite local bookstore

The Music Book of 2008 has arrived!

2008-09-17T13:50:00.000-07:00

"I called myself Joe Strummer because I can only play all six strings at once, or none at all." --Joe Strummer from The Clash

The Clash were a band like no other. Part of the original wave of British punk bands to emerge in the 1970s, their incendiary gigs, intelligent song writing, and definitive style caught the spirit of the times and made them a worldwide phenomenon. Rolling Stone magazine declared London Calling one of the greatest albums of all time.

The Clash, in partnership with Atlantic Books, have released a spectacular biography. Yes, it is big and it is hot pink, and yes it is filled with amazing unseen archival photography, tour posters and artwork.

What makes this book unique and engaging is the narration by each of the band members. In a conversationalist tone, each member recounts their childhood, their early influences, and their beginnings in the music industry.

What follows is a personal and honest account of life on the road, in the studio, on stage, and at home as each band member tells their story in their own words.

The Clash
Edited by Atlantic Books
9781843547884 * $49.95 Cloth * In stores now

To purchase go to your favourite local bookstore or click here:
Amazon.ca

A freakishly charming tale of star-crossed, would-be step-sibling love in a family of failed bodybuilders in suburban Los Angeles

2008-07-07T13:31:00.001-07:00

William Miller-- confirmed mamma's boy and weak eyed vegetarian in a family of bodybuilders-- learns at a tender age what amounts to the Cartesian dictum for bodybuilders everywhere: no pain, no gain. I hurt, therefore I am--words he learns to live by in the wake of his mother's death. When his father remarries a relentlessly kind grief counselor, Will is completely, utterly and irrevocably captivated by his new step-sister, Lulu.

"My life began again the moment I met Louisa Trudeau. Without Lulu, I might never have existed again, might never have known the smell of a gauze bandage or felt the delicate winking of an eyelash against my cheek... All I wanted to do was look at her. She was Mr. Potatohead beautiful. Nothing fit right. But somehow this girl in the yellow socks, with the small nose, and the big ears, and the gap-toothed smile achieved a certain harmony, a beauty greater than the sum of its parts...She was like nothing or no one I had ever imagined. Never had I been so completely and unexpectedly disarmed by a stranger."

It is with this first meeting that Will's obsession is born, and Lulu quickly becomes the center of his universe. But as Lulu's behavior becomes increasingly erratic and inexplicably cruel, Will's sense of identity begins to founder. Faced with the knowledge that he can never hold the key to Lulu's heart, Will only clings harder to her, until his unwanted affection drives Lulu into a pattern of self-destruction which follows her into adolescence.

Lulu's departure to college, marks for Will the beginning of a personal odyssey which includes a crash course in western philosophy, a series of epic bad dates, and the enduring friendship of a poultry-obsessed former Soviet wrestler turned free-market capitalist, with whom he establishes Hot Dog Heaven on the Venice Beach Boardwalk.

Working nights as a producer at the college station, Will catches a break one night when the overnight host eats bad razor clams, forcing Will to take the mic without warning, where his performance catches the ear of the program director. In a world made of meat, a world where the corporeal is everything, and identity is measured in mounds of flesh and striated muscle, Will finally discovers his strength in the disembodied voice of his late-night radio persona.But when Lulu self-destructs, William is drawn back into her life, and ultimately discovers that Lulu was never who he believed her to be.

All About Lulu is an absolute must-read. Funny, wise, and heartbreaking, Evison's story is an agonizingly honest reminder of the heart fluttering, gut wrenching pangs of adolescent longing and desire.

Paper 5 1/2 x 8 1/4 320 pgs. ISBN: 1-59376-196-1 List: $16.50 07/1/2008

Soft Skull Press

"All About Lulu is an exhilarating, wholly original and brave novel about obsession, love and becoming. With Will Miller Evison has created a thoroughly modern protagonist steeped in Dickensian complexity, pure yet conflicted, lost yet driven to find truth in the dysfunctional American abyss."- James P. Othmer, author of The Futurist

"All About Lulu is a novel of tremendous energy and heartbreaking, hilarious insight, a novel with a heart of gold. In a manner that is both breathless and effortless, Evison reminds us of life's beautiful oddity. A remarkable debut." - Brad Listi, author of Attention Deficit Disorder

"All About Lulu is a fascinating meditation on growing up and growing inward, a wry portrait of the American family in all its excessive, dysfunctional, heartbreaking purity."- Josh Emmons, author of The Loss of Leon Meed

"Evison keeps all kinds of balls up in the air, seemingly without effort. All About Lulu is the happiest sad story around, a meditation on the meaning of family, and how we fit amongst the people we love and misunderstand."- Greg Downs, author of Spit Baths

To purchase go to your favourite local bookstore

To order from Amazon online Click Here

To order from Chapters online Click Here

A raw and unforgettable portrait of life in Arctic Alaska.

2008-06-11T06:29:00.000-07:00

Beginning with his parents’ migration to the wilderness of Arctic Alaska and extending to contemporary struggles between subsistence living and sport hunting, Shopping for Porcupine provides an illuminating, unforgettable account of life in the far north.

Memories of an imaginary source of childhood surfeit; a grown man’s appreciation for his young daughter’s unfettered understanding of language; enlightened meditations on the permanence, severity, and grandeur of nature; and finally, elegiac warnings and stirring calls to action—taken together, these essays provide a revealing portrait of the author of the bestselling novel Ordinary Wolves, and of the land he so deeply loves.

Through it all we hear the voice of a true artist. The prose slows and rifles, then leapfrogs and pauses the passage of time, in a landscape unlike any other. Moving, alarming, and utterly beautiful, this collection will further establish Seth Kantner as one of the most original writers in America today.

This book features the largest published collection of Kantner's photography to date.

978-1-57131-301-1 * Milkweed Editions * $28.00 Hardcover

Praise, praise, praise...

"Shopping For Porcupine brings the searing honesty, lyric style, and raw emotional power we've come to anticipate from this home-grown Alaska prodigy." Nick Jans (author of The Last Light Breaking)

"One of the most beautiful books you'll ever read--truthful, raw, and lovely. The photographs make the sparse arctic Alaskan landscape monumentally visible and profound, while Kantner's writing imparts heroic dignity to the lives around him. From a childhood spent in a time when 'Frostbite was a way of life' to an adulthood fiercely lived, the tale of this man's life is original and funny, vivid and touching." Jonis Agee (author of The River Wife)

With Ordinary Wolves, Seth Kantner came streaking up out of the Arctic tundra like a blazing meteor in reverse. If it isn't the best novel to come out of Alaska so far, I don't know what is. Now, with his new collection of autobiographical vignettes and photographs, we get a closer look at the unique upbringing that informs that fine work. He brings us into the wildest scenes as only someone of this place can do. For all the popularity of the recent best sellers and hit movies about Alaska, Shopping for Porcupine comes from a place you haven't seen yet and can hardly imagine." Dan O'Neill (author of The Firecracker Boys)

See Kantner's stunning photographs and find links to his writing at http://kapvikphotography.com/index.htm

Black Flies graces the cover of this week's New York Times Sunday Book Review

2008-05-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

Novelist Shannon Burke earned stunning reviews for his debut book, Safelight, and now he returns with the same minimalist intensity in this arresting follow-up.

Black Flies is the story of paramedic Ollie Cross and his first year on the job in mid-'90s New York. It is a ground's eye view of life on the streets: the shoot-outs, the bad cops, unhinged medics, the hopeless patients, the dark humor in bizarre circumstances, and one medic's struggle to balance his desire to help against his own growing callousness.

It is the story of lives that hang in the balance, and of a single job with a misdiagnosed newborn that sends Cross and his partner into a life-changing struggle between good and evil.

Already garnering praise, Black Flies graces this week's cover of the New York Times Sunday Book Review. Hailed as "searing and morally resonant", Liesl Schillinger embraces and applauds the powerful and gritty realism that marks Burke's work.

An excerpt from the New York Times Review:

"Be warned:... many of the most vivid scenes in "Black Flies" make for harrowing reading. Visceral and mercilessly detailed, they are not included for sensational purposes — not as an E.R. version of "war porn." Instead, Burke uses them as shock treatment for the conscience, like the paddles that resuscitate a 12-year-old girl who has been electrocuted. "It was the most eerie, unnatural thing I’d ever witnessed,"says the medic who saves her. "I watched death recede from her." For anyone who has flirted with fashionable jadedness or suffered disappointments that led to a sullen fascination with the darker side of human experience, Burke blows apart the pose."

978-1-59376-191-2 * Soft Skull Press * $16.50 Paper

Further praise...

"[R]aw and fascinating...Burke is a poet of trauma, and his expert, macabre portrayal takes its toll on the reader just as the job takes its toll on Cross." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

To purchase go to your favourite local bookstore
To order from Amazon online Click Here
To order from Chapters online Click Here

The New Leisure Class?

2008-04-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

Andrew Blechman’s first book, the critically acclaimed and commercially successful Pigeons, was a charming look at the much-maligned bird and the quirky subcultures that flock to it. In Leisureville, Blechman investigates another subculture, but one with more significant consequences.

Blechman delves into life in the senior utopia, offering a hilarious first-hand report on all its peculiarities, from ersatz nostalgia and golf-cart mania to manufactured history and the residents’ surprisingly active sex life.

He traces the history of the trend, and travels to Arizona to show what has happened to the pioneering utopias after decades of segregation. Blechman investigates the government of these “instant” cities, attends a builder’s conference, speaks with housing experts, and examines the implications of millions of Americans dropping out of society to live under legal segregation.

A fascinating blend of serious history, social criticism, and hilarious, engaging reportage, Leisureville couldn’t come at a better time!

978-0-87113-981-8 * Grove Press * $27.50 Cloth

Praise

“Andrew Blechman’s account of the rampant unreality that has become the normal condition of life in Florida’s child-free retirement ghettos is fascinating. The generation that enjoyed the greatest economic boom in the history of the world is going out with a bang—the sound of society blowing up in our faces. Blechman has a laser eye for the tragicomic absurdities of all the fun, games, and wild sex in theme-park senior villages where Oz-like control is exercised by the developer and his minions. His mordant report from a strange land is consistently interesting.”—James Howard Kunstler

“Leisureville is like the science fiction of Kurt Vonnegut—except that it is reality. What a great country!”—Andrés Duany, author of Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream

Rogue Economics - Book Trailer

2008-03-26T23:18:00.007-07:00

Rogue Economics - Interview

2008-03-26T23:18:00.005-07:00

Million Dollar Mischa

2008-02-28T11:19:00.000-08:00

Mischa Barton, the former O.C. actress, was photographed last week on the set of her current movie, The Homecoming, holding a copy of Million Dollar Bash: Bob Dylan, The Band, and the Basement Tape by Sid Griffin. It was published last October by Jawbone Press.

Will the recent film I'm Not There along with this star sighting launch the book the same way Posh Spice launched Skinny Bitch to the top of the bestseller lists?

While it may be a boost to sales, Bob Dylan is likely not as big a draw as fad dieting and Posh Spice. We're just happy to see Hollywood stars set examples as avid readers!

Million Dollar Bash by Sid Griffin * Jawbone Press
978-1-906002-05-3 * $21.50 Paper * In stores

How Not To Date - Perfect Anti-Valentine's Day Gift

2008-02-06T11:18:00.000-08:00

This hilarious little book covers all the basics:

*How not to date a cheater
*What not to state in a personal ad
*The escalating levels of crazy
*Bad pickup lines
*How not to date a porn star
*And much, much more

Judy McGuire provides a story (either a personal one or from the hundreds submitted to her advice blog) for almost every possible bad date scenario you can think of - from the downright silly to the well.. disgusting, nasty, creepy, and ridiculous.

An excerpt on hygiene:
OOOH, THAT SMELL!
"Ned had messy bleach blond hair, giant bright blue eyes, and the air of a lost puppy . . . . Unfortunately, Ned was also so hygiene-impaired that I regularly made him leave his shoes out on the fire escape when he came for sleepover visits. Ned was a vegan and fancied himself an anarchist punk rocker. Translation: He got all sanctimonious if I dared to eat meat in front of him, and believe me, I dared. Because leather was off limits, he wore vinyl pants instead. Do you have any idea how gnarly sweaty vinyl smells? No? I'll do you a favor and spare you the description."

What a perfect anti-valentine's day gift!

978-1-57061-532-0 * $18.50 paper * Sasquatch Books

Available at fine bookstores everywhere.

New in Paperback - The Pakistani Bride

2008-01-29T07:22:00.000-08:00

Bapsi Sidhwa is one of Pakistan’s finest writers

This, her first—and arguably best—novel, is finally available after being out of print since 1983

Prescient and provocative in its assesment of the plight of women in tribal society in Pakistan, the first of Bapsi Sidhwa's novels is a story of marriage and commitment, of the conflict between adherence to tradition and the indomitable force of a woman's spirit.

978-1-57131-063-7 * $15.50 Paper * Milkweed Editions

Available at your favourite local bookstore or click here
Amazon.ca
Chapters/Indigo.ca

Bag of Sticks

2007-12-12T06:57:00.001-08:00

Check out Mr Gum's favourite, action packed video

Lemony Snickets Spreads Odd Brand of Holiday Cheer

2007-12-03T07:34:00.000-08:00

Looking for that perfect quirky, little gift?
The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming by Lemony Snickets is a funny, irreverent little book that defies explanation. Let's just say that it is literally about a screaming potato latke and is a tale that will tickle both children and adults.

Published by McSweeney's you can find this book at your favourite local bookstore or click here:
Amazon.ca
Chapters/Indigo.ca

American Gangster

2007-10-31T14:01:00.000-07:00

The film isn't even out yet and already receiving praise. From the New York Post:

"It (the film) left me wanting more. That's one of the biggest compliments I can pay one of the year's best movies - and surely a major Oscar contender."

For a complete review Click Here

If you want to learn more about the seedy dealings of the main character - Lucas and also delve into 30 years of New York's criminal history you must pick up the book by Mark Jacobson.

“[The] riveting account of Lucas’ rise and fall is reason enough to pick up the book, but Jacobson’s other stories, spanning 30 years of NYC history, offer gripping reading as well. Whether covering the high life or lowlifes, Jacobson boasts a novelistic eye and muscular prose in the tradition of urban chroniclers like Joseph Mitchell, A.J. Liebling, and Pete Hamill. A-“ —Josh Rottenberg, Entertainment Weekly

In stock * 978-0-8021-4336-5 * Grove Press

To purchase go to your favourite local bookstore or go to
Amazon.ca
Chapters/Indigo.ca

Jessica Alba - Another Skinny Bitch Fan

2007-10-30T14:07:00.000-07:00

Celebrity sightings are quite common with this hot book, full of practical, no-nonsense advice on how to get, and keep, that skinny shape.

From Posh Spice to Paris Hilton and now to Jessica Alba women are finding this an indispensable tool for keep themselves trim.

Check out Celebrity Babylon.com for more gossipy reading.

Skinny Bitch * 978-0-7624-2493-1 * Running Press * In stock

AMERICAN GANGSTER- Full Trailer

2007-10-16T11:14:00.001-07:00

Read the Book, Then see the Movie!

American Gangster - starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe - is based on the book American Gangster and Other Tales of New York by Mark Jacobson.

Published by Grove Press
978-0-8021-4336-5

In stores now!

Charlie Wilson's War Trailer

2007-10-12T11:59:00.001-07:00

See the movie, Buy the Book!

Both coming soon to a theatre or bookstore near you.

978-0-8021-4341-9 * Grove Press

Blackwater: Shadow Army

2007-10-02T12:53:00.001-07:00

Jeremy Scahill and Blackwater remain in the news. As Blackwater is sent packing from Iraq, Scahill's book is ever more timely.

Mandy Moore speaks Czech

2007-10-02T12:43:00.001-07:00

Mandy Moore mentions our favourite travel publisher - Time Out. Time Out Prague helps her learn Czech!

Great Historical Fiction

2007-09-24T09:59:00.000-07:00

It may be easy to overlook this slim novel on the bookshelves, especially with those Giller long-listed heavyweights vying for your attention, but please pick this one up. It will leave you gasping.

Desjardins masterfully pulls you along as the characters slowly reveal the grievances and hurts of their pasts. Just as you begin to wonder where it is heading she unleashes the brutal, shocking climax, ending the novel with no concern for the sentimental reader. It is perfect. That Lily McEvoy is swallowed whole by her bitterness, that her selfishness and pride erodes her soul (as literally as does her obsession with and consumption of salt) leaving her bereft and isolated is a just and fully satisfying outcome. Hats off to Desjardins.

Praise:
“In carrying us to a very dark place where totters the border between our country and that of legends … Desjardins offers to Québécois literature one of its great contemporary Gothic novels … [A] true jewel from a writer as discreet as gifted.” — Le Libraire

Do not skip this gem when you're out shopping for this fall's great Canadian literature.

A Covenant of Salt
Martine Desjardins

Talon Books * 978-0-88922-566-4 * $17.95 paperback * In stock

For more about the book go to Talon Books.com

Purchase from your favourite local bookstore or click here:
Amazon.ca
Chapters.ca

Polar Bear Scare

2007-09-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

It's common knowledge that human activity is leaving a terrible stain on our planet. No where is this felt more accutely than in the Arctic and Canada's northern territories. The ice caps are melting and polar bears are now officially facing extinction. What can we do and where do we begin?

Jean Davis Okimoto's picture book Winston of Churchill comes at precisely the right time. IChurchill, Manitoba, the Polar Bear Capitol of the world, is the setting for her story about global warming, starring the indomitable Winston. There is no other picture book that takes on global warming with such intelligence, clarity, and humour. Getting our children reading about these issues early is the key to cultivating a greener society.

Winston of Churchill will be published this December by Sasquatch Books.
978-1-57061-357-9 * $19.95 cloth * Ages 6 to 10
Written by Jean Davis Okimoto
Illustrated by Jeremiah Trammell

To purchase go to your favorite local bookstore or click here:
Chapters.ca
Amazon.ca

Pick it up in Paperback

2007-08-23T12:34:00.000-07:00

Birth
The Surprising History of How We Are Born

978-0-8021-4324-2 * $17.50 * In stock

Tina Cassiday takes all the romance out of the miracle of giving life in this fascinating, gory read. The horrors that women have suffered giving birth over the centuries is documented here in detail. While it is graphic, Cassidy doesn't paint an entire picture of doom and gloom as she goes on to highlight the process by which women have gained ownership over their personal birthing experience.

Praise:

"There is a collective, willful amnesia about birth . . . that has been begging for (Cassidy's) clear-headed dissipation. We want it to be meaningful and we want it to be mercifully brief. This book is both." - The New York Times Book Review

"Fascinating, funny, and occasionally shocking - should be at the top of every pregnant woman's reading list." - Kirkus Reviews (starred)

Purchase from your favourite local bookstore or online at:
Amazon.ca
Chapters/Indigo.ca

Congratulations!

2007-08-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Sebastian Copeland who has won Professional Photographer of the Year in the book category at the 2007 International Photography Awards. The IPA is the most prestigious photography contest for both professional and amateur photographers-- it is the Oscars of photography contests.

Visit photoawards.com for more information and a complete listing of winners.

Copeland won for his stunning book Antarctica: The Global Warning
The book features a Forword by Mikhail Gorbachev and an Introduction by Leonardo DiCaprio

9781933784199 | $68.95 cl | Earth Aware Editions

Coming this October

Move over Paris and Posh - Miller was caught too!

2007-08-10T09:31:00.000-07:00

While it may be a bit of a stretch to put these three in anywhere near the same category, Miller is at least a celeb on the local scale.

The paparrazi have caught him here holding Time Out Toronto. Time Out is one of our favourite travel publishers and have been called "The best city guides in print." by The Independent.

Time Out Toronto * 978-1-84670-015-6 * $24.95 paper * In stock

Order from your favourite local bookstore or online at:
Chapters/Indigo.ca
Amazon.ca

Visit timeout.com for a complete list of guides.

Are Books the new Celeb Accessory?

2007-08-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

Have books replaced Paris's beloved chihuahua? Is Posh now shopping for books over baubles, clothes, jewellery or whatever it is she normally shops for?

Whatever the case publishers and booksellers alike can agree that this is great pr for their books: glam girl publicity is more than welcome.

PGC Books seen here:

Paris is holding The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
ISBN 978-1-57731-480-6 * $17.50 paper * New World Library

Posh is holding Skinny Bitch by Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman
ISBN 978-0-7624-2493-1 * $17.00 paper * Perseus Books Group

New in Paperback

2007-07-24T12:52:00.000-07:00

The Return of the Player
by Michael Tolkin

978-0-8021-4302-0 * $16.50 paper * In stock

The sequel to the Hollywood classic The Player, and a satire on power, wealth, and family in the twenty-first century

This book has a slick, new package and is getting rave reviews:

“Poor Griffin Mill—once a mover in Los Angeles—is down to his last six million dollars, and that isn’t the worst of it in Tolkin’s sharply observed sequel to The Player. Tolkin’s still got a firm hold on Tinseltown’s fluttery pulse.”— People (Critic’s Choice)

“Tolkin remains impressive as a scorched-earth social satirist.”— The New York Times

“Heartfelt and cynical, a powerful dark comedy that transcends . . . Hollywood satire.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“At once funny, absurd, and hopeful, The Return of the Player is, above all, surprising.”— Kirkus Reviews

“Tolkin's understated style and over-the-top characters continue to amaze. Only in Hollywood could this bizarre tragicomedy seem even remotely plausible. Recommended for collections with readers lusting for the lives of the rich and famous.” — Library Journal

To purchase go to your favourite local bookstore or,
To order from Amazon online Click Here
To order from Chapters online Click Here

Books that Raise Awareness for Young People

2007-07-24T09:36:00.001-07:00

It is possible to introduce young readers to serious subject matter if done with skill and talent.

Tradewind Books has published two books this summer that will engage, educate and entertain your young reader.

Honey Cake
by Joan Betty Stuchner, illustrated by Cynthia Nugent

A Jewish family is forced to flee the Nazis after the Danish occupation in 1943. The story is told through the eyes of the son, young David Nathan.

From the Quill and Quire:
"How does one stand against tyranny? What’s the true nature of bravery? Big questions for an early-reader chapter book, but Joan Betty Stuchner handles them with grace and honesty." Click here for full review.

978-1-896580-37-1 * 19.95 cloth * In stock

The Eco-Diary of Kiran Singer
by Sue Ann Alderson, illustrated by Millie Balance

A young girl chronicles her encounters, through poetry and journal entries, with her grandmother and the "Crazy Boggers" trying to preserve the 2000 year-old Camosum Bog. The Bog is brought to life through charming, rich illustrations.

"The book happily introduces children to the urgent concerns of saving the earth, by starting with a child's eye view of one cherished part of it." - X.J. Kennedy, winner of the National Council of Teachers of English Award for Excellence in Children's Poetry

978-1-896580-47-0 * 18.95 cloth * In stock

To purchase go to your favourite local bookstore
To order from Amazon online Click Here
To order from Chapters online Click Here

Time Out - Your Hip City Guide

2007-07-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

Looking for new ways to tackle old cities? Time Out has just the guides for you.

Vanity Fair will be including Time Out in its travel guide round-up for their street-smart city guides and their hip, urban appeal to those under 35.

"... these guides take you underground, under the skin of various cities. Fun and insiderish." (August Issue)

Be sure to enter the Time Out library contest. The lucky winner will receive a selected library of the city-savvy guides. The contest is running on torontolife.com
Click here to enter

New In Hardcover

2007-07-09T12:53:00.000-07:00

Chasing Kangaroos
A Continent, a Scientist, and a Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Creature

By Tim Flannery

978-0-8021-1852-3 * $29.95 cloth * In stock

From the internationally acclaimed author of The Weather Makers comes a panoramic book about a scientist, a continent, and a beloved and intriguing animal: the kangaroo

Praise
"Chasing Kangaroos is almost unclassifiable. It is partly about Flannery’s formative years as a palaeontologist, partly a natural history of the Australian landscape, and partly a study of the evolution of kangaroos, which, I know, sounds like three reasons not to read it. In fact, from beginning to end it is absorbing, funny, and wondrously learned." — Bill Bryson, author of A Walk in the Woods

"Australian scientist/conservationist/explorer Flannery tells the remarkable story of underappreciated marsupials thriving Down Under…. Quite exhaustive, fired by boundless exuberance that leaps off the page." ––Kirkus Reviews

"Having given us a real fright about global warming in The Weather Makers, Australian author Flannery hops right to it and tells us everything we wanted to know about kangaroos." ––Library Journal

"Written with both earthy humor and scientific precision, this book is almost as unique as its subject…. Readers who start out thinking that Flannery’s mania for marsupials is a bit nerdy will soon envy his passion so much that they’ll feel like they’re the real nerd themselves. This delightful journey of discovery will appeal to fans of Bill Bryson and Mark Kurlansky."––Keir Graff, Booklist

"Tim Flannery provides a fascinating account of the kangaroo’s evolution and a natural ode to his beautiful homeland, Australia."—Chicago Tribune

To purchase go to your favourite local bookstore or click here:
Amazon online
Chapters/Indigo online

In the News

2007-06-27T06:38:00.000-07:00

Pirates have taken over this summer!
The Magazine has announced its Book of the Month and the honour goes to The Wave Runners by Kai Meyer.

978-1-4052-1635-7 * $12.95 paper * In stock * Published by Egmont UK

Their verdict: "Fast-paced and action-packed, this one's a perfect read for those who have PIRATES on the brain."

Watch for The Shell Magicians, the second book in the trilogy coming this fall.

A Must Read for Summer

2007-06-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

Up High In The Trees
A Novel by Kiara Brinkman

Grove Press, ISBN 978-0-8021-1847-9, $28.95 cloth, on sale this July

If this book isn't on your summer reads list, it should be.

Of Note:

Up High In The Trees is one of O magazine's 24 best reads of summer.

Up High In The Trees is a Barnes & Nobles Discover New Great Writers Pick as well as a Borders Original Voices pick for Fall 2007.

Up High In The Trees makes the Time Out Chicago and the San Francisco Chronicle summer reading lists.

I'll let the praise win you over:

"Could be the most oddly moving debut novel since Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. Up High In The Trees, told by a gentle, precariously sensitive young boy with Asperger's syndrome who viscerally mourns his mothers death and tries to connect with his wounded family, in a voice as quietly urgent as a prayer."-O Magazine

“An astonishing debut by a gifted young writer. Up High in the Trees captures, pitch-perfectly, the voice of one autistic nine-year-old boy. That the story is also compelling, beautifully written, humorous, and heartbreaking makes it necessary reading. Sebby Lane is a Little Prince for our times.”—Cristina Garcia, author of Dreaming in Cuban

“Up High in the Trees is a hauntingly beautiful debut, a stunner. Kiara Brinkman has masterfully created an enchanting, poignant, and wholly original child narrator out of taut, spooky, electric sentences and elegant, musical concisions. The most remarkable thing is that you don’t, at first, notice the razor-sharp precision of Brinkman’s technique; the book is so vibrant, so alive, it’s as if she’s channeling this nine-year-old boy and his visceral, riveting, often terrifying, depiction of the otherworld that is childhood.”—Maud Casey, author of The Shape of Things to Come

“Up High in the Trees is a visceral, heart-wrenching, gorgeous book. What moves me most about Brinkman’s first novel is the voice: it’s pitch-perfect and mesmerizing. With Up High in the Trees Brinkman has created a fully realized, wholly original, and powerfully felt world.”—Alison Smith, author of Name All the Animals

“Told in brief poetic vignettes, the novel moves quickly and episodically, like a series of snapshots from the camera of Sebby's unique mind.”—Publishers Weekly

“What does come strong and clear…is the author’s impressive ability to connect with and portray the myopic grief of a bereft child. . . . A promising debut.”—Kirkus Review

“Up High in the Trees by Kiara Brinkman is a moving portrait of upheaval. Told through the narrative voice of an 8 year old boy, the novel explores the immediate impact of loss on a family in New England. Sebby s narration moves between succinct descriptions of the world around him and poetic internal monologues about the loss of his mother. After refusing to go to school, his father takes Sebby to their family cabin to regroup. However, it is this isolation that pushes his father further into his breakdown. Sebby narrates everything with such a simple voice, that it adds so much more horror to the events he witnesses. Brinkman has created a stunning novel about overcoming loss, the ties of family and neighbors and how the memories in our heads can become the only photographs we have left to treasure.”—Becca Krik, Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse, Washington, D.C.

“The characters in Up High in the Trees linger with the reader long after the book is finished, almost like friends you haven't seen for awhile and you hope are doing fine. Told in the first person by young autistic Sebby, this is a story of a family that falls apart and comes back together again in unexpected and poignant ways.”—Linda Ramsdall, The Galaxy Bookshop, Hardwick, VT

“Through the spare narration of 8-year old Sebby Lane, Kiara Brinkman manages to tell a rich, nuanced story that deeply delves into the adult themes of grief, family ties and friendship. It's hard not to love Sebby and his wise innocence from the very first page as he tries to cope with his mother's death.”—Arsen Kashkashian, Boulder Book Store, Boulder, CO

Office Picks - Top Funny Reads For Summer

2007-06-15T13:12:00.000-07:00

If you're looking to wash away the stress of work on your summer vacation there is no better way than with a great, belly-laugh inducing, book.

A quick office poll brought out some of our favourite funnies--whether playful, dark, satirical, or absurd--the PGC list offers something for everyone's palate.

In no particular order:

I Love You More Than You Know by Jonathan Ames
978-0-8021-7017-0 * In Stock * $17.50 pb
Grove Press/Black Cat

Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy O'Toole
978-0-8021-3020-4 * In Stock * $20.95 pb
Grove Press

Animals of the Ocean, In Particular the Giant Squid by Doris Hagis-on-Whey
978-1-932416-39-8 * In Stock * $23.00 cl
McSweeney's

Mother's Milk by Edward St. Aubyn
978-1-890447-42-7 * In Stock * $17.50 pb
Grove Press

Hold Me Closer Tony Danza: And Other Mishead Lyrics by Charles Grosvenor Jr.
978-1-57061-533-7 * Coming This Fall * $15.95 pb
Sasquatch Books

Turpentine by Spring Warren
978-0-8021-7036-1 * Coming This Fall * $17.50 pb
Grove/Black Cat

The Independent Publisher Awards were just announced and PGC is happy to find its publishers among the winners!

2007-05-30T12:26:00.000-07:00

2007 Independent Publisher Book Awards Outstanding Books of the Year

Winners Include:

Most Outstanding Design
Gold goes to Pictures Showing What Happens on Every Page of Thomas Pynchon’s Novel Gravity’s Rainbow, artwork by Zak Smith
Tin House Books 9780977312795 | $49.95 pb

"Pictures Showing What Happens on Every Page of Thomas Pynchon’s Novel Gravity’s Rainbow is a prodigious work, a feast for the eyes and the intellect, and a fitting homage to one of the greatest novels of our times.”⎯Los Angeles Times

Most Life-Changing
Gold goes to It Takes a Nation: How Strangers Became Family in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina, edited by Laura Dawn; photographs by C.B. Smith, Earth Aware Editions 9781932771862 | $30.95 pb

"Hurricane Katrina may have exposed the worst of our cronyism-laden government, but it also brought out the best in the American spirit as captured in these stories and images. Thanks to MoveOn's Hurricane Housing Project, the victims of Katrina found shelter. And thanks to the citizen activism these amazing stories will surely inspire, we can all look forward to a more engaged and hopeful country."—Arianna Huffington, editor HuffingtonPost.com

Freedom Fighter Award
Bronze goes to What Do You See? by Irene Kai
Silver Light Publications |9780974489025 | $18.50 cl

With engaging, provocative, and sometimes erotic images of the human body, What Do You See? asks this question: Do you have the courage to see the truth? This beautifully designed book showcases the inspiring black and white photos, as well as text from four spiritual traditions to encourage self-reflection and abandoning presumptions, and challenge the reader's personal biases.

Julia Golding

2007-05-29T06:10:00.000-07:00

Julia Golding, author of Den of Thieves, will be at the Enwave Theatre (231 Queens Quay West, Toronto, ON) at 1:30pm, Saturday June 9th as part of BOOKED. Check out event details on the BOOKED! website here.

As a part of Book Expo Canada, Julia will be signing her books on Sunday June 10th 11am-noon at the PGC booth.

Sherman Alexie

2007-05-17T13:23:00.000-07:00

Publishers Group Canada will be having an event for Sherman Alexie (author of Flight) with the Toronto Women's Bookstore Friday, June 8th at 7:00pm. It will be a reading, talk, Q&A and signing at the store.

Sherman will also be reading at this year's BOOKED! on Sat, June 9th, 4:30pm.

Blackwater Reviewed in NOW Magazine

2007-05-17T12:26:00.000-07:00

Check out the recent review of Blackwater by Howard Goldenthal (of CBC's Fifth Estate) in today's issue of NOW Magazine: www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2007-05-17/books_reviews2.php.

What Happened This Summer

2007-05-14T10:44:00.000-07:00

Paul Yee, author of What Happened This Summer will be in Toronto reading, speaking and doing a Q&A for the Toronto Public Library’s Asian Heritage Month at the Annette Street Branch (145 Annette Street, Toronto ON M6P 1P3) on Wednesday, May 16th at 10:00am.

Paul Yee is the recipient of the Governor General’s Award for Ghost Train and the City of Vancouver Book Award for Saltwater City. He has authored numerous books for young people, including The Jade Necklace and The Bone Collector’s Son. Paul is a leading chronicler of the Chinese immigration experience in Canada.

PGC Book Reviews - In Print

2007-05-09T10:40:00.000-07:00

Books in Canada March 2007 – “Theatre Reviews” including Miss Julie by David French – Talonbooks

Georgia Straight 23/03/07 – Book review of The Breakdown So Far by MAC Farrant – Talonbooks “A resolute anti-materialism runs through the work – or at least a recognition that possessions don’t equal happiness.”

Vancouver Sun 31/03/07 – “Have Guns Will Travel” article featuring Blackwater by Jeremy Scahill – Nation Books + book cover

Vancouver Sun 31/03/07 – “Ted Hughes’ ‘Other Woman’” book review of Lover of Unreason by Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev + interior image from book of Wevill “[the authors] display a talent for weaving scrupulous and unflinching journalistic detail into a riveting retelling of Wevill’s life.”

Ajax-Pickering News 11/04/07 – “Luxury SUV Shoppers Want Comfort and Performance” article featuring Kelley Blue Book

Clipper Weekly (Beausejour) 18/04/07 – “Proper Washing and Waxing Adds Value to Your Vehicle” article featuring Kelley Blue Book

Mississauga News 18/04/07 – “Kelley Blue Book Posts US Resale Values for Every New Vehicle on KBB.com” article featuring Kelley Blue Book

Nanaimo News Bulletin 19/04/07 – “Special Occasions Top Reason for Car Washing” article featuring Kelley Blue Book

Toronto Star 21/04/07 – “Celebrity Chef’s New Ways with Ontario Lamb” article featuring Who’s Coming for Dinner by Jeffrey Suddaby – Stovetop Publishing + colour author photo

Globe and Mail 21/04/07 – “Books in Brief” book reviews featuring A Woman of Uncertain Character by Clancy Sigal – Carroll & Graf “…Sigal’s raucous coming-of-age memoir…”

Globe and Mail 21/04/07 – “Watch” article featuring Rick Steves’ Europe – Avalon Travel

Calgary Herald 21/04/07 – “Guide to World’s Woman-Worldly Places of Adventure” article featuring 100 Places Every Woman Should Go by Stephanie Griest – Travellers’ Tales “The only thing hotter than the travel checklist, seemingly, is chick travel…”

Winnipeg Free Press 22/04/07 – Book review of The Emotional Lives of Animals by Marc Bekoff – New World Library + colour cover image “Beckoff maintains a warm and caring tone throughout… This book is about emotions that, while borrowing the language of science, appeals in large part to the readers emotions.”

Victoria Times-Colonist 22/04/07 – “Yesteryear’s Cutting Edge Looks Tarnished Now” article featuring The Playboy Interviews: Larger Than Life by Stephen Randall and Editors of Playboy – M Press “…what remarkably candid snapshots of some of the world’s most famous people over the last half century this collection constitutes.”

Toronto Star 22/04/07 – Book review of Pink Icing and Other Stories by Pamela Mordecai – Insomniac Press “If you ever get the chance, I would highly recommend attending a reading by Toronto poet and story writer Pamela Mordecai…. The first pleasure of Mordecai’s story collection, Pink Icing, is how naturally and accurately this voice transfers to prose and the printed page…. Her subjects are diverse, her storytelling immediate – especially in her use of vibrant, dynamic language that superbly articulates an irrepressible Jamaican spirit.”

Chronicle Herald 23/04/07 – “Warming up to Climate Change” article featuring The Ten Minute Activist by The Mission Collective – Nation Books + colour cover image “…delightfully engaging book…”

Chatham Daily News 24/04/07 – “Auto Sales Down” article featuring Kelley Blue Book

Metro Edmonton 24/04/07
Metro Ottawa 24/04/07
Metro Calgary 24/04/07
Metro Toronto 24/04/07 – “Top Three in Books” book review of The Ten Minute Activist by The Mission Collective – Nation Books + colour cover image “The Mission Collective, a group of five writers and activists who live in the United States, have come together to reveal more than 100 easy ways to take back our planet. This book is not just about ways to help the environment – though they do mention planting a garden and car-pooling. What they also do is reveal truths about banks, oil companies, multi-national organizations, slave labour and power generating companies and what we can do to fight back.”

Toronto Sun 24/04/07 – “In the Long Run” article featuring Marathon Woman by Kathrine Switzer – Carroll & Graf + author interview + photo from book + colour author photo (taken in front of House on Parliament)
http://blog.canoe.ca/run/2007/04/25/kathrine_switzer_interview

Red Deer Advocate 25/04/07 –“Next on Your Ipod: Music to Give Birth To” article featuring Birth: The Surprising History of How We are Born by Tina Cassidy – Grove Atlantic + interview with author

Toronto Sun 26/04/07 – “In the Long Run” article featuring Marathon Woman by Kathrine Switzer – Carroll & Graf – including extra blurbs and quotes from interview that didn’t make it into the above article
http://blog.canoe.ca/run/2007/04/26/more_from_switzer_interview

National Post 26/04/07 – “Gender Bender” article featuring Marathon Woman by Kathrine Switzer – Carroll & Graf + lengthy author interview

Alberni Valley Times 26/04/07 – “Did You Know” article featuring Kelley Blue Book

Alberni Valley Times 27/04/07 – “MP3s Ushered into Birthing Rooms” article featuring Birth: The Surprising History of How We are Born by Tina Cassidy – Grove Atlantic + interview with author

Halifax Daily News 28/04/07 – “Wave to Cyclists on the Tour de France” article featuring 100 Places Every Woman Should Go by Stephanie Griest – Travellers’ Tales “The only thing hotter than the travel checklist, seemingly, is chick travel.”
Windsor Star 28/04/07 – “See Famed Bike Race for Yourself Travel” article featuring 100 Places Every Woman Should Go by Stephanie Griest – Travellers’ Tales “The only thing hotter than the travel checklist, seemingly, is chick travel.”

Vancouver Sun 28/04/07 – “European Food, Arts, Sports, on Tap for Culture Vultures” article featuring 100 Places Every Woman Should Go by Stephanie Griest – Travellers’ Tales “The only thing hotter than the travel checklist, seemingly, is chick travel.”

National Post 28/04/07 – Book review of Pigeons by Andrew Blechman – Grove Atlantic + interview with author and photo of author in Boston with pigeons

Chronicle Journal 29/04/07 – “Understanding Self-worth” article featuring The Boy from the Sun by Duncan Weller – Simply Read Books + large cover image “…a simple but important story that will appeal to small children, but can also be enjoyed by adults who read it aloud.”

Winnipeg Free Press 29/04/07 – Book review of Remembering Tomorrow by Michael Albert – Seven Stories Press + colour cover image

Calgary Herald 29/04/07 – “Urgency Drives Collection” article featuring A Few Words Will Do by Lionel Kearns – Talonbooks “Lionel Kearns has a powerful mastery of English, so much that many poems call to be read a second time – immediately – just to savour that turning moment, for the words on which the poems hinges.”

Calgary Herald 29/04/07 –Teenager’s Holocaust Diary Heart-Wrenching & Poignant” article featuring The Diary of Petr Ginz by Petr Ginz and Chava Pressburger – Grove Atlantic “One word describes The Diary of Petr Ginz: heartbreaking…. Petr’s minimalist journal is that of a boy writing his way to his own doom. He seems not to have posterity in mind, but kept a log of daily life because he had an observant bent of mind and journal keeping is how that mind expressed itself…. The seed blooms anew now that his diary has been found.”
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/booksandthearts/story.html?id=d68b7adf-a3fa-433e-a8ab-03079f8b811c

Chronicle Herald 30/04/07 –“Critters Have Feelings Too” article featuring The Emotional Lives of Animals by Marc Bekoff – New World Library + colour cover image “Bekoff reminds us that humans are indeed animals so it should seem beyond question that other animals have emotions.” http://www.herald.ns.ca/Books/832334.html

Canadian Family Magazine May 2007 – “Smarty Pants: Brilliant Family-tested Books, Music, DVDs, and Games for Every Kid in the House” article on page 79 including Awake to Nap by Nikki McClure – Sasquatch (listed as “family-tested”) + colour A–B book spread “It appeals to Sienna, and it’s sturdy for little hands. Even her three-year-old brother loves it.”

Canadian Gardening Magazine June 2007 – “Clippings” book review of Timber Presss Pocket Guide to Ground Covers by Davis MacKenzie – Timber Press + colour cover image“…comprehensive guide to ground covers…such a useful reference.”

Philosophical Wizardry

2007-05-04T06:59:00.000-07:00

Harry Potter has put a spell on millions of readers, and they all want to find out more about the deeper meaning of his adventures. In Harry Potter and Philosophy, 17 experts in the field of philosophy unlock some of Hogwarts' secret panels, uncovering surprising insights that are enlightening both for wizards and for the most discerning muggles. Individual chapters look at such topics as life revealed in the Mirror of Erised; the ethics of magic; Moaning Myrtle, Nearly Headless Nick, and the relation of the mind to the brain; and the character of Hermione as a case of "sublimated feminism." Also examined in this witty collection are how Aristotle would have run a school for wizards; whether the Potter stories undermine religion and morality; how to tell good people from evil ones through the characters in these novels; and what dementors and boggarts can teach readers about happiness, fear, and the soul.

Egmont Reviews

2007-05-04T06:12:00.000-07:00

An update on the latest Egmont reviews:

Sarah’s Stars Kids Reviews May 2007 – Five star book review of Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo – Egmont "Enthralling and excellently written, this book will seize you in a chokehold and throw you into this invigorating tale of Charlie Bone."
http://www.kalwriters.com/kidswwwrite/60/bone.html

Sarah’s Stars Kids Reviews May 2007 – This month’s cover art – a kid drew the cover of Mr Gum and the Biscuit Billionaire by Andy Stanton – Egmont
http://www.kalwriters.com/kidswwwrite/60/gum.html

Today’s Parent Magazine March 2007 – "Kids Rule!: When the Going Gets Tough, These Kids Get Tougher in Five Stories Where Children Outwit Their Elders" article in Family File Reviews featuring You’re a Bad Man, Mr Gum by Andy Stanton – Egmont "Funny, inviting text."

Deakin Newsletter of Children’s Literature April 2007 – Book review of Who Are You, Stripy Horse by Jim Helmore and Karen Wall – Egmont + colour image of cover "Here is a delightful, clever and appealing tale of a stripy horse tucked into a corner in a second hand store…. Bright, lively pictures depict the sympathetic and engaging characters… This is a good solid story well told, one that children will want to read again and again, and it is peopled by charming characters."

Hi-Rise Newspaper March 2007 –Books review of Seeker by William Nicholson – Egmont UK "It’s a dramatic tale, made all the more suspenseful because its characters are, as real people so often are, nicely unique and original, and their behaviour cannot always be predicted. This is the first of a trilogy, but has a satisfying ending of its own."

Winnipeg Free Press 17/12/06 – What’s On Winnipeg article "Debut Novel Wins Nestle Children’s Prize" article noting winner of award: The Diamond of Drury Lane by Julia Golding – Egmont

Creemore Echo 22/12/06 – "Some Ways to Keep the Kids Busy this Christmas" article featuring holiday titles: It’s Christmas: A Festive Lift-the-Flap Book, 100 Things to Do at Christmas, Step-by-Step Crafts for Winter, on Angels Wings by Quentin Blake – Egmont "With Christmas almost here it’s good to have festive things to keep excited children busy. Three books from Publishers Group Canada will do just that…. A nice children’s book from PGC is On Angel Wings…"

The Magazine (for kids) January 2007 –"Booky" section featuring Rift by Beverley Birch –Egmont "This tense mystery is made even more intense because of the setting in Africa and the different perspectives of the action offered by the police reports and letters."

Sergeant Stubby

2007-05-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

On seeing a photo of Sergeant Stubby, I immediately thought of Walter the Farting Dog. While Walter may have problems passing too much gas, Stubby - a WWI war dog - had problems being poisoned by gas. He was also shot at, granaded and bombed numerous times in his 18 months of trench warfare.

The bizarre and fantastic story of Sergeant Stubby is worthy of telling. Sergeant Stubby was a war dog in the 102nd Infantry, 26th Division during World War I. According to Wikipedia:

"He entered combat on February 5, 1918 at Chemin des Dames, north of Soissons, and was under constant fire, day and night for over a month. In April 1918, during a raid to take Schieprey, Stubby was wounded in the foreleg by the retreating Germans throwing hand grenades. He was sent to the rear for convalescence, and as he had done on the front was able to improve morale. When he recovered from his wounds, Stubby returned to the trenches. After being gassed himself, Stubby learned to warn his unit of poison gas attacks, located wounded soldiers in no man's land, and — since he could hear the whine of incoming artillery shells before humans could — became very adept at letting his unit know when to duck for cover. He was even solely responsible for capturing a German spy in the Argonne. Following the retaking Château-Thierry by the US, the thankful women of the town made Stubby a chamois coat on which were pinned his many medals. There is also a legend that while in Paris with Corporal Conroy, Stubby saved a young girl from being hit by a car. At the end of the war, Conroy smuggled Stubby home."

A photo of a taxidermied Stubby can be seen on the Smithsonian's website The Price of Freedom: Americans at War. More photos and a description of his service can be found at Governor's Foot Guard.

Pigeons

2007-05-03T09:04:00.000-07:00

Some interesting facts about pigeons from Andrew Blechman's latest book Pigeons has led me to looking for some of my own.

- according to the Canadian Government, the biggest problem with pigeons is "...the tremendous amount of feces they produce."

- according to the British Government, we should not feed pigeons because "Food such as bread, cakes and buns give them diarrhoea...". Oh, dear, more of what the Canadian Government fears!

- you can sign up to be a PigeonWatcher and help the international study of feral pigeon colors.

- Cher Ami was a famous homing pigeon who was awarded the Croix de Guerre for his service during WWI. His enshrined remains are on display at the Smithsonian Institution along side Sergeant Stubby. More on Sergeant Stubby in another post.

Fall 2007 Catalogues

2007-05-03T08:51:00.000-07:00

Our Fall 2007 Children's and Adult catalogues are in! To download a copy, go to http://pgcbooks.ca/catalogues.html.

Kathrine Switzer on The Gill Deacon Show

2007-04-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

Kathrine Switzer is on The Gill Deacon Show twice today - airing at 11:00am and 2:00pm.

Kathrine Switzer interview

2007-04-26T08:31:00.000-07:00

Kathrine Switzer was recently interviewed by Lee Hewitt from the Toronto Sun. Check out some quick highlights on his blog.

Mr Gum and the Biscuit Billionaire

2007-04-24T13:43:00.000-07:00

Check out Mr. Gum's website for a lots of fun backround on Mr Gum and Andy Stanton.

The BBC has a great article from Andy on How To Not Be a Writer.

Media to watch for this week

2007-04-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

CBC's The Current interview with Kathrine Switzer will be airing Wed April 25.

The National Post interview with Kathrine Switzer MAY run Wed April 25 - tbc

CBC's The Gill Deacon Show interview with Kathrine Switzer will be airing Friday at 11:00am and 2:00pm

CFRB's The John Moore Show interview with Kathrine Switzer will be airing Wed April 25 at 5:30pm

Book reading, speaking, signing for Kathrine Switzer at World's Biggest Bookstore Wed April 25 at 7:00pm

Breakfast TV interview (Vancouver) with Michelle Goodman will be airing Thurs April 26 7:15-8:30am (Vancouver time)

940AM Montreal Today CBC's BC Almanac interview with Michelle Goodman will be airing Thurs April 26 1:30pm (Vancouver time)

Book reading, speaking, signing at Sophia Books for Michelle Goodman Thurs April 26 7:00pm (Vancouver time)

CFUN Radio's Nik & Val Show interview with Michelle Goodman Fri April 27 10:00am (Vancouver time)

Book reading, speaking, signing, network event at VPL 7:30pm

Welcome

2007-04-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Publishers Group Canada's Blog!