|
|
|
|
Eastword, May-June 2008imPRESSed!: The newest titles by WFNS members
This book of unassumingly daring poems is Brian Bartlett's most personal yet also most historical collection, filled with the lives of his family, neighbours, and ancestors. Bartlett finds poetry in crossword puzzles, an island's flotsam and jetsam, and his son's discovery of newborn spiders. A meditation on time, the book includes a watch's wanderings, apocalyptic visions of a stark future, and an address to Time itself. Wrestling with the years as if he were both Jacob and the angel, Bartlett presents a startling evocation of both time's dominion and human mutability. Brian Bartlett is the author of five collections and four chapbooks of poems, including winner of the 2004 Atlantic Poetry Prize, Wanting the Day: Selected Poems. He has also edited a volume of prose, Don McKay: Essays on his Works (Guernica, 2005) and one of selected poems, Earthly Pages: The Poetry of Don Domanski (Wilfred Laurier U P, 2006). He has taught Literature and Creative Writing at Saint Mary's University in Halifax since 1990.
Alison is held captive by the powers of a mysterious pipe bowl belonging to a Mi’kmaq shaman. The bowl takes her back in time where she forms friendships with troubled ghosts. She must uncover the history of the pipe before she is consumed by the grim fate of the pipe’s beholders. Mary Alice Downie is a pioneering children's author of historical fiction, folktales and picture books, and is the co-editor of the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon award-winning book The Wind Has Wings. Mary Alice and husband John Downie also co-authored Honour Bound and Danger in Disguise. They live in Kingston, Ontario.
A rich man and a poor man are found dead of gunshot wounds outside a seedy bar on Barrington Street in Halifax. The police declare it a murder-suicide, but bluesman/lawyer Monty Collins — hired to represent the victims’ families — suspects it’s a double murder. The case gets complicated when police link the gun to the suspicious death of a high-flying lawyer named Dice Campbell. Helped by his friend Father Brennan Burke, and hindered by his femme fatale law partner Felicia Morgan, Monty explores the dark side of Halifax society. Monty also finds himself returning again and again to trade barbs with Dice Campbell’s hard-drinking wife, Mavis, whose motives are not as clear as they initially seem to be. A threat of blackmail, and turmoil with his estranged wife Maura, have Monty singing the blues, lashing out at his closest friends, and spending far too much time in the bars of Halifax. Anne Emery is also the author of Sign of the Cross and Obit. She is a graduate of Dalhousie Law School and has worked as a lawyer, legal affairs reporter, and researcher. She lives in Halifax with her husband and daughter.
This touching poem portrays the Nova Scotian community of Preston. Short, staccato lines, musicality and the use of real, spoken language, and Susan Tooke’s breathtaking illustrations using real models from the community, combine in a sensory experience that is sure to wow readers of all ages. Grant’s memories of growing up reflect a magical place where landscape, food, history and, most of all, people come together in a community filled with love and beauty. Shauntay Grant is a writer, journalist, and spoken-word performer with roots in North Preston, Nova Scotia. Her poetry and music have been featured nationally on CBC Radio, CBC TV, and Vision TV. Shauntay is a founder of the Word Iz Bond Spoken Word Artists’ Collective, and as a spoken-word performer she has shared her poetry at festivals and events across Canada and internationally. She is the host of CBC Radio-Two’s “All the Best.” She lives in Halifax. Susan Tooke is an award-winning artist whose work has been exhibited across North America. She has illustrated numerous books for children, including Free as the Wind, A Fiddle for Angus and Brave Jack and the Unicorn. In 2003, she received the Halifax Mayor's Award for Illustration for Full Moon Rising, as well as the Lillian Sheppard Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration. Born in New Jersey, she now lives in Halifax.
Set in the misty waters around Halifax Harbour, this fun read-aloud pirate story follows the adventures of a terrible, horrible, smelly pirate named Sydney and his friend Parrot Polly. After answering a riddle set by a tricky mermaid, the rascals dig for treasure by the old lighthouse on McNab’s Island. Carrie Muller grew up in Cape Breton and now lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, where she is employed at Halifax Public Libraries as a library assistant. Carrie has been bringing her love of literature to children through stories, puppet shows and general zaniness for many years. Jacqueline Halsey is a writer, artist, and avid reader. Her book, Peggy's Letters, was nominated for three children's choice book awards: Hackmatack, Rocky Mountain and Silver Birch. For the last fifteen years, she has worked as a programmer in the youth services department of Alderney Gate Library. She lives in Beaverbank. Eric Orchard attended the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design where he studied painting and art history. His first picture books, A Forest for Christmas and Anything But Hank were released in the fall of 2007.
Tucked away beneath a big tree on the edge of a field lies a home — a small burrow — for many. Each season, a different creature makes its home here and then moves on, making room for the next occupant. After a long winter's sleep, the woodchuck relocates to another burrow, but its former home is not left vacant for long. A cottontail rabbit raises her family there. After the kits have all hopped away, a salamander takes refuge in the same safe place. Through this engaging and informative introduction to woodland animals in their habitat, young readers will delight in learning about natural science as it is integrated into an inviting picture book. Pamela Hickman, a biologist, is the author of over 30 books about nature and wildlife, including Turtle Rescue and Animals Hibernating. She worked for many years as an education coordinator for the Federation of Ontario Naturalists. Pamela lives in Canning.
As a mother and grandmother, Andria Hill-Lehr writes about her eldest son’s decision to join Cadets, then Reserves, and his deployment to Afghanistan in 2006. She explains what inspired her to become a peace activist. She reflects on the influence of her mother, a writer who recalled with painful accuracy how she endured the London Blitz, and her father, who was a World War Two veteran and an inspector with Metropolitan Toronto Police. Her son’s path inspired Hill-Lehr to scrutinize Canada’s military culture and the influence of the American armed forces. Andria Hill-Lehr also examines the practices used by Canada’s Armed Forces to cultivate children as young as twelve to become future recruitment prospects or loyal supporters of the military through schools, co-op education programs, military displays, advertising and marketing, and video games. She hopes those who read this book will think critically about the proclaimed virtue of military programs for youth, and that Canadians will challenge Canada’s military policies.
The murder of Eleanor's brother leaves her the sole heir to the crown of Eswy, a pawn in the struggle for power between different religious and political alliances. With her father a prisoner, Eleanor flees her mother's schemes to marry her off to her cousin and finds herself hunted through the wilderness, facing treachery on all sides. Maurey, the hero of Nightwalker, and his friend, the Fen witch and warrior Korby, are summoned back from a mission overseas to find and protect the princess. While the two human kingdoms of the island are threatened with tyranny and Talverdin itself with annihilation, Maurey and Eleanor struggle to unravel the plots that threaten the princess's life and the peace of the three kingdoms. K.V. Johansen is the author of numerous YA books, including Nightwalker, the first book of this series. Originally from Kingston, Ontario, K.V. studied english and history at Mount Allison University, received a master's in medieval studies from the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto, and another master's in English, from McMaster University. She lives in Sackville, NB. In 1932, Michael Renner arrives in Berlin to care for his elderly grandmother. Entranced by a city that is surging in spirit, and buoyed after years of depression by the rising tide of National Socialism, Michael never goes home. He marries and becomes a father, even works for his father-in-law, auctioning the property of persecuted Jews. While his family and friends reassure Michael that the cruelties of nationalization are a necessity, he strays. Berlin’s legendary sexual underworld proves too irresistible an intrigue and solace—as does his unrequited love for a promiscuous and difficult little man he meets in those mad cabarets, whose masochistic theatre can only mimic the spiraling violence on the streets above.
Archie is a story of friendship between a miner and a heroic little pit rat. Based on the stories miners tell about rats in the coal mines, how they fed the rats and had them for company. David Muise, a miner’s son, tells the story of a pit rat whose friendship with Milton the Miner made him a hero when Milton got into trouble. Using the background of Cape Breton coal mines, illustrator Louise Brooking-McDow brings Archie’s underground world alive. David Muise lives in Grand Lake and this is their first book.
Alain écrit un roman du roman pour pallier son tourment. Pour faire faux-bond au temps et aux événements. Il crée une belle libraire Anglaise et en tombe complètement amoureux. Lorsqu’il apprend, un mois après le début de sa narration, qu’une prise d’otages a lieu au musée de l’Ermitage à St-Pétersbourg, il est sûr qu’elle s’y trouve. La belle lui avait dit qu’elle s’y rendait pour étudier le russe. Sur un coup de tête, il décide d’aller la sauver. L’expérience est tragique. Son sort, funeste. Quand le picaresque rencontre le quotidien… Quand un auteur en quête de lui-même fait l’ultime confidence. Originaire de la France, Alain Raimbault vit en Nouvelle-Écosse depuis neuf ans. Depuis son arrivée au Canada, il enseigne à l’école Rose-des-Vents à Greenwood. Il a commencé par publier de la poésie et des nouvelles dans des revues littéraires de la francophonie. Par la suite, il a publié pour les jeunes dans la collection Plus chez Hurtubise HMH : Herménégilde l’Acadien, L’Arbre à chaussettes et Un étrange phénomène, et, pour les adultes, Roman et Anna et Confidence à l’aveugle.
Johanna Skibsrud’s debut poetry collection makes inquiries into that peculiar phenomenon of being alive in the world, opening wide moments of uncertainty in the search for a sense of inner resolve that resembles the outer calm of trees and neighbours. At each step testing the waters of her own words, Skibsrud turns her reality over in search of constants. The collection’s title chapter is a series of takes on the Western genre, its character profiles, sweeping landscapes and the hyperbolic adventures to be had within. Whether based in Nova Scotia, Montana or Arizona, Skibsrud colours the facts with fantastical elements, transforming stories into ballads and road trips into cowboy-studded escapades. Johanna Skibsrud’s poetry has appeared in various journals, including The Antigonish Review, Prism International, Lichen and Exile. Originally from Scotsburn, Nova Scotia, she currently lives in Toronto where she works for the Canadian Scholars Press. |
|
Last Updated:
|
©WFNS
|
Barrington Street Blues
A Mother's Road to Kandahar
Archie The Pit Rat Hero
Late Nights With Wild Cowboys