We are thrilled for authors Tasha Spillet and David A. Robertson, both 2019 Manitoba Book Award Winners. Spillet took home the Manitoba Indigenous Writer of the Year Award, presented to an Indigenous writer who demonstrates excellence in writing and engagement in work that supports and encourages Indigenous writing in Manitoba. Robertson, who was also a finalist for the Writer of the Year Award, received the McNally Robinson Book for Young People Award for Monsters, the second book in his YA trilogy.
Thomas King‘s DreadfulWater mystery series, to Alire (French in North America), by Anna Jarota at Anna Jarota Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler of Westwood Creative Artists for Jackie Kaiser.
Patricia Joudry and Maurie Pressman’s TWIN SOULS, renewed by Ankh Hermes (Netherlands), by Stijn De Vries at Marianne Schonbach Agency, on behalf of Meg Wheeler of Westwood Creative Artists for Bruce Westwood.
M.G. Vassanji’s THE BOOK OF SECRETS, to Mamdouh Adwan Publishing House (Arabic), by Meg Wheeler of Westwood Creative Artists for Bruce Westwood.
Douglas & McIntyre has aquired Canadian English rights to adventure traveller Bruce Kirkby‘s KINGDOM OF THE SKY: From Distraction to Stillness, a Family Journey in the Forgotten Himalaya, a memoir which focuses primarily on the Kirkby family’s three months spent living amongst the Lamas of Zanskar Valley, and explores the themes of modern distraction, the loss of ancient wisdom, and the author’s personal coming to terms with his elder son’s diagnosis on the autism spectrum. The deal was arranged by Anna Comfort O’Keeffe at D&M and John Pearce and Chris Casuccio at Westwood Creative Artists for Fall 2020 publication.
Katie Hearn at Annick Press acquired world rights to Tiffany Stone’s new picture book TALLULAH PLAYS THE TUBA, about a diminutive but resourceful girl determined to master her favourite instrument, for publication in October 2019. Hilary McMahon of Westwood Creative Artists represented Stone on the deal. Sandy Nichols was brought on board by Annick to illustrate.
Anna Comfort O’Keeffe at Douglas & McIntyre has acquired North American English-language rights to three novels (two adult and one YA) by Charles Demers, author of Property Values. The two adult novels are mysteries featuring a psychiatrist, Acadian-born Dr Annick Boudreau, as the detective. Each mystery in the series will spotlight a different mental-health issue. PRIMARY OBSESSIONS and SUICIDAL THOUGHTS will be published in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The YA book, entitled THE GODSON, features a young boy who is fighting back against bullying and prejudice at a US military base where his father, a former mobster who has enrolled in Witness Protection, is being held. Deals for all three books were arranged by John Pearce of Westwood Creative Artists.
Harriet Low at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has bought Calgary writer Alexandra Latos‘s debut YA novel UNDER SHIFTING STARS, about twins struggling for belonging: Audrey, who feels responsible for her brother’s tragic death and wants to leave her alternative classroom for public school, and Clare, who is hiding the turmoil she’s feeling about her sexuality and gender. Publication is scheduled for fall 2020; Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists brokered the deal for world rights.
Congratulations to the 2019/2020 finalists for the Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Awards including, The Ice Chips and the Haunted Hurricane, the second book in the Ice Chips series from father-daughter writing duo Roy and Kerry MacGregor, and Susin Nielsen’s middle-grade story, No-Fixed Address.
The 2019-2020 shortlist will be promoted at this year’s ceremony on May 31st at the Halifax Central Library. The shortlisted books will then be read in the 2019-2020 school year by thousands of children in the Atlantic region. Young readers will vote for their favourite book, and four winners will be announced at the Hackmatack Awards Ceremony in May 2020.
Margaret Atwood has selected Barbara Gowdy’s novel, The White Bone, as the inaugural title for The Globe and Mail‘s book club. Subscribers are invited to discuss the book in an online forum in response to a weekly discussion question. The book club will culminate in a live event where Atwood will interview Barbara Gowdy at the Globe and Mail Centre on May 24.
First published in 1998, Quill & Quire said of the national bestseller, “With writing that manages to be both incisive and hallucinogenic, and that is born along by a moral vision and a deftly controlled sense of outrage, Gowdy has created a landscape, a cosmology, and a community that are wholly surprising and believable. The White Bone is a singular and remarkable novel.”
Operatic, from author Kyo Maclear and illustrator Byron Eggenschwiler has received starred reviews from Booklist, Quill & Quire, and School Library Journal.
“Opera is an unusual but pitch-perfect match for that swell of overwhelming feeling, and Maclear and Eggenschwiler fold it into the story perfectly. A poignant, pithy, and arrestingly illustrated story.” —Booklist
“Operatic offers a deft look at adolescence, rich but subtle, accessible but beautifully complex.” —Quill & Quire
“Brimming with raw emotion, music references, and gorgeous art, this memorable and relatable graphic novel will linger with readers.” –School Library Journal
Operatic publishers April 1, 2019 with Groundwood Books.
We’re delighted to share that Christine Higdon’s The Very Marrow of Our Bones is a 2018 Forward Indies finalist in the category of Literary Adult Fiction.
Winners in each genre will be announced June 15, 2019.
Congratulations to Alice Kuipers who has been shortlisted for two Saskatchewan Book Awards! Her chapter book Polly Diamond and the Magic Book, illustrated by Diana Toledano, is nominated for the Muslims for Peace and Justice Fiction Award. Kuipers’ novel, Me (and) Me, is one of three finalist for the G. Murray and Edna Forbes Young Adult Literature Award.