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Eastword, September-October 2006imPRESSed!: The newest titles by WFNS members
Black is the companion volume to the acclaimed collection Blue. Its genesis is Clarke’s time at Duke University in the late ’90s, an experience that unleashed political and personal outrage. This poetry is white-hot with honesty and anger. It is shocking, transgressive—and ultimately transforming. George Elliott Clarke is the E. J. Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at the University of Toronto. His awards include the Portia White Prize, a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Fellowship, the Governor General’s Award for Poetry, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Achievement Award and a Trudeau Foundation Fellowship. His book Whylah Falls was a CBC Canada Reads finalist.
In the words of her psychology student daughter, Elsie Brooks is an enabler. She mothers everyone—her social work clients, her husband, her twenty-something daughters, and her reclusive sister who lives in the attic. So, when crazy Aunt Hildy writes to demand a bedroom in their Halifax home, Elsie can’t help but say yes. When Hilda arrives, she enchants and enrages the family with her moxie. She claims that she's hidden treasure in the house and the king’s ransom will go to whoever loved her most. When someone threatens Aunt Hildy, she responds with her trademark sass: “Go ahead. Shoot me. I dare you.” Whoever it is takes her up on it. Suddenly, the house is turned topsy-turvy as Elsie’s family searches for a treasure that Elsie doesn’t believe even exists, and for a killer that could be any one of them. Montreal-born Lesley Crewe now lives in Cape Breton. She has worked as a freelance writer and columnist for The Cape Bretoner and currently writes a column for Cahoots magazine. Her first book, Relative Happiness (Vagrant, 2005) was nominated for the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award.
Wild Apples marks Wayne Curtis’s return to the embrace of home and the colourful lives of the people who inspire him. Simple pleasures, like fishing on the Miramichi River, and even chores--cutting wood, planting beans, and picking crabapples--call forth homespun recollections. The birth of his sister at Christmastime, the story of his mother in her own words, and a memorable trip to the circus embody unexpected moments of family love. His meditations on public figures, such as Robert Frost and Lord Beaverbrook, cast a new, humane light on these icons. A native of Blackville, New Brunswick, Wayne Curtis has been a contributor to several newspapers, including The National Post and The Globe and Mail, as well as commercial magazines. Wayne’s stories have appeared in numerous literary journals and in the Atlantic anthology, Atlantica. His short stories have been dramatized on CBC radio and for CBC television. In 2005, Wayne was given an Honourary Doctorate (of letters) Degree from St.Thomas University. He is also the author of Monkeys in a Looking Glass. He lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Jewelweed reflects poet Karen Davidson’s experience of home in the Prairies and in the Maritimes. Here are stories of family and place that would otherwise be lost if it were not for the observant child who was often seen but not heard, the introverted teenager writing in her diary, or the gardener who has glanced up from her work and tried to express the wonder that is every day. An alumna of the Banff Centre for the Arts and the Maritime Writers’ Workshop, Karen Davidson has been quietly writing and publishing her work in periodicals, from Grain and The Pottersfield Portfolio to Border Crossings, The Fiddlehead and The New Brunswick Reader. She lives in Elgin, New Brunswick.
A Teenager in the 1970’s, Gwen is stuck in one of the last tuberculosis sanatoriums in Nova Scotia. Thoughtful and observant, she documents her surroundings in the hospital, especially the characters living with her in the anachronistic TB ward. Gwen’s method of handling her isolating sickness is to learn as much about it as she can; interspersed throughout the novel are Gwen’s research notes on the disease itself. Gwen is funny and wry about most situations, from her stairwell fling with a fellow patient to one night’s drunken escape at a party in town, but threaded through her writing are glimpses of a violent and dark stain on her recent past. Maureen Hull was born and raised on Cape Breton Island. She studied at NSCAD, Dalhousie University and the Pictou Fisheries School. She has worked at the costume department of Neptune theatre and as a lobster fisher. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, most recently in Christmas Family Treasures. Her short story collection, Righteous Living, was short-listed for the Danuta Gleed Award, and several of her stories have been read on CBC radio. Maureen lives on Pictou Island in the Northumberland Strait.
This sweeping narrative tells the story of Operation Hazen, part of Canada's contribution to the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58. Jim Lotz joined an expedition to conduct scientific research and explore the icecaps of Northern Ellesmere Island, the most northerly island in the world. Lotz writes of the rewards of going to the extreme, and he examines why people join polar expeditions. Best Journey describes a remote and beautiful part of Canada, but also underscores the harsh realities of global warming. Born in Liverpool, England, in 1929, Jim Lotz has held 25 different jobs, ranging from grouse beater in the Scottish Highlands to glacial meteorologist in the Arctic. Since 1960, he has been actively engaged in community-based development and has taught at the Coady International Institute. His travels in search of learning have taken him from Alaska to Slovakia and from the High Arctic to Lesotho. He has written more than twenty books.
The most famous fly tiers have attained the status of hero in fishing circles, and their best fly patterns have become the stuff of legend. Atlantic Canada, with its strong fishing heritage, is home to some of the most skilful and innovative fly tiers anywhere. A Little Thing I Tied Myself combines Don MacLean’s passion for fly tying and sport fishing with his love of the sport’s literature, to create the first comprehensive portrait of Atlantic Canadian fly tying. MacLean casts an expert’s eye on fly tying and sport fishing, also discussing the ecology and natural history of the region’s fishing culture. Don MacLean is a Nova Scotia biologist who works on sport-fish management. He writes a weekly newspaper column, “Tight Lines,” which is carried by The Cape Breton Post, The Truro Daily News, The New Glasgow Evening News, and The Antigonish Casket. His articles on fishing and fly tying have appeared in Eastern Woods and Waters, the Atlantic Salmon Journal, Outdoor Canada, Fly Tyer, and Canadian Fly Fisher. He is also the author of Discover Nova Scotia Sport Fishing.
Twenty-four Names for Mother describes the dark, the dangerous, the delightful, and the often times damaging aspects of dealing with a mother. This collection of poems offers both insight and clarity to a situation shared by all. Pam Calabrese MacLean lives in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, where she works at the Library of St. Francis Xavier University. Her poems have appeared in such literary journals as The Antigonish Review, Pottersfield Portfolio, Dandelion, Carousel, and subTerrain. In 2001, her chapbook On a Chair Outside the Living was shortlisted for the Shaunt Basmajian Chapbook Award; she was also the recipient of the 2003 Ray Burrell Poetry Award.
Fifteen-year-old Andrew has cool parents: his mother’s job is to discover and test electronic surveillance gear and covert law enforcement equipment, while his father is an environmental biologist and cook. What vaults Andrew and his family into action is a new guy, Brian Fiske, who shows up in their small village of Aylesworth with a very dark secret. Brian and his family are in the witness-protection program and are now in relocation. When the mobsters that Brian’s family has put into prison come looking for revenge and kidnap them, the adventure is on. Armed only with their intelligence and high-tech gadgetry, Brian and Andrew must find a way to foil the kidnapers and find safety. Andrew’s instincts — along with his mother’s electronic skills and his father’s biological savvy — lead him on a suspenseful rescue mission that could end up in success or disaster. Allison Maher was a former manager of a company that invented “spy gear”. She now lives on a small farm in rural Nova Scotia. I, The Spy is her first book.
In a culture of celebrity watchers, celebrity trials are the stuff of water cooler discussions and late-night jokes. Celebrities capture our interest without doing anything out of the ordinary. Articles on what they wear, where they shop, what they eat, and where they vacation pepper our newspapers and magazines every day. Imagine then, the level of interest generated when celebs do something out of the ordinary! From Martha Stewart and Kobe Bryant to Bill Clinton and Wynona Ryder, discover what happens when the glittering world of celebrity meets the courtroom. Celebrity Court Cases is a part of Altitude’s Late-Breaking Amazing Stories series. Writing professionally for over 25 years, donalee Moulton’s articles have appeared in more than 100 magazines and newspapers, including The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Euinox, Maclean’s, Canadian Business and The National Post. Donalee has also taught writing and communication for the past 20 years in a variety of programs at Dalhousie, Saint Mary’s and Mount Saint Vincent universities. Clare O’Connor lives and writes in Halifax. Her articles have appeared in local, provincial and national publications. She is also a public affairs specialist and facilitates government relations and communications workshops.
In Deep Water is the story of David Dobbin, who experienced life both on and beneath the waves. At a time when most Newfoundlanders made a living as sailors and fishermen, Dobbin gambled everything and became a salvage diver. The gamble paid off. This courageous pioneer in the emerging field of underwater treasure hunting collected gold, silver, money and jewelry from more than 50 shipwrecks over 14 exciting years. He even encountered a few ethereal bodies. Dobbin the Diver's skill and renown was heralded throughout the Atlantic Coast and landed him a place in the Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador. Felix Perry is the great-great-grandson of David Dobbin. In keeping with the family's tradition, he spent many years working on the Canadian Coast Guard's icebreakers and retired from the Department of National Defence Hydrographic Services Office after 25 years of service. In recent years, Felix has taken up sailing, continuing to demonstrate his love of the sea. He lives in Nova Scotia.
Nova Scotia, 1945: With reports that the war is coming to an end, the Publicovers await the return of Izzie and Joey’s father with ever more concern and anxiousness. And what could Joey’s sore neck mean when new cases of polio, or the “infantile paralysis,” are a constant threat? Patricia fears having to return to her uncaring mother in England, never to see her dear friends—or Jasper—again, and insecure Roberta will be left all alone if Izzie’s family decides to go back to Granite Cove. How will they manage without each other? In Homecoming, the fourth and concluding book of Izzie’s adventures in the Our Canadian Girl series, the end of the war means the start of big changes for everyone, along with new adventures that will continue to shape their lives long after the war is over. Since publishing her first book in 1984, Budge
Wilson has published over 32 books, with translations in 10 languages
and in 13 countries. She has also won many awards: 19 Canadian Children's
Book Centre "Our Choice" awards, First Prize in the CBC
Literary Competition, a City of Dartmouth Book Award, a Canadian Library
Association Young Adult Book Award, a Marianna Dempster Award, and
an Ann Connor Brimer Award. She lives and writes in a fishing village
on the South Shore. |
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Black
Shoot
Me
Wild
Apples
Jewelweed
The
View from a Kite
The
Best Journey in the World
A
Little thing I Tied Myself
Twenty-Four
Names for Mother
I,
the Spy
Celebrity
Court Cases
In
Deep Water
Izze:
Book Four, Homecoming