Alberta Book Awards Gala 2013

This year’s Alberta Book Awards Gala was a wonderful event, with over 250 people attending. The banquet room at the Delta Edmonton Centre Suite Hotel was festive and welcoming. Mayor Stephen Mandel’s opening remarks were followed by the engaging keynote address of  Shelagh Rogers, CBC host of “The Next Chapter.” The event’s emcee, Todd Babiak, kept us all entertained after we enjoyed a scrumptious meal.

The appreciation for books, writers, publishers, designers, readers, funders — indeed, all those involved in the process of words materializing into books — was tremendous. With strong candidates in each category, the juries must have had a hard time selecting the winners! Our congratulations to all who made the shortlist and to the winners. It was a particular pleasure to see George Melnyk receive a lifetime achievement award.

After the ceremonies, Colleen Brown, Jerome Martin, and Art Fadum provided the closing part of the event: attendees danced the night away to their much-enjoyed musical performance.

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You Haven’t Changed a Bit Launch at Audreys

The You Haven’t Changed a Bit launch last night at Audreys Bookstore attracted more than 50 enthusiastic short story lovers. Friends, family, and colleagues came out in support of Astrid Blodgett, who read her award-winning story, “Ice Break,” that was chosen for the Journey Prize Stories in 2012.

As ever, the wonderful owners and staff at Audreys were gracious hosts, providing a space full of books, chairs, and even a microphone for Astrid to make sure that everybody would hear her softer voice. The fun continued after the reading, with people enjoying wine and cheese and chocolate while Astrid signed book after book after book.

Richard Van Camp wasn’t able to make it to the launch last night, but he has finished reading the book and sent some enthusiastic words our way:

“Astrid Blodgett explores lives in flashpoint and innocence meeting regret forever in “You Haven’t Changed a Bit” (University of Alberta Press).  My favourite stories are ‘New Summer Dresses’ and ‘Ice Break.’ What a read. Congratulations, Astrid, on a collection I’ll be thinking of for a very long time. “

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Literary Cocktails 2013

It was wonderful to have many fans and friends out to celebrate with us on April 23. Literary Cocktails is the signature event of the University of Alberta Press. Once again, it took place in collaboration with the Edmonton Poetry Festival.

Literary Cocktails is the perfect occasion to launch UAP’s new fiction titles in a festive spirit — although we are still waiting for Spring! There was something for everyone: popular culture delivered by Kimmy Beach [The Last Temptation of Bond], dramatic prose from Astrid Blodgett [You Haven't Changed a Bit], and aboriginal history via Paul Zits’s poetry [Massacre Street].

Even though the sky was grey and gloomy, we had a lovely time, led by our MC, Patricia Demers, Distinguished University Professor in the Department of English and Film Studies here at the University of Alberta. We recently published her latest book, Travels and Tales of Miriam Green Ellis.

A wonderful dimension was added by our musician-colleagues, Jerome Martin (piano) and Ted Bishop (guitar). The event was a huge success, and we hope to see all of you again next year!

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Petroleum History Society’s Book of the Year: We Gambled Everything

Arne Nielsen’s memoir, We Gambled Everything: The Life and Times of an Oilman, has received the prestigious Book of the Year award by the Petroleum History Society. Arne received a congratulatory letter and an invitation to the awards ceremony on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 27 as a part of the PHS’s Annual Meeting at the Petroleum Club in downtown Calgary.

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Arne’s book has been on the Calgary Herald‘s Best seller list three times since its publication in November, 2011 and is available in EPUB and Kindle format.

There will be a book launch at the Calgary Petroleum Club (319 – 5th Street SW, Calgary) in the Trophy Lounge at 4:40 pm on Thursday, May 23rd.

Disinherited Generations Launch at the Provincial Archives

A very special event took place on April 12, 2013 at the Provincial Archives of Alberta. About 150 people celebrated the publication of Disinherited Generations: Our Struggle to Reclaim Treaty Rights for First Nations Women and their Descendants, by Nellie Carlson and Kathleen Steinhauer, and the donation of the Indian Rights for Indian Women Collection to the Provincial Archives of Alberta.

From the opening Blessing to the closing words by Nellie Carlson, and with the participation of friends and family, the program had the perfect combination of tears and laughter, showing us all – some who were well aware of the battle and some who knew very little about it – what these remarkable women had to endure to regain rights for themselves and their children.

Special guests at the event were: Chief Bruneau, who welcomed us to his territory; Jim Robb, a lawyer who worked with Nellie Carlson and Kathleen Steinhauer for this historic cause; The Hon. Anne McLellan; Muriel Stanley Venne and other leaders in the native community, and many members of Nellie and Kathleen’s families. Gillian Rutherford of CBC Radio ensured that the event was recorded for posterity.

The families of the authors gifted Linda Goyette with a Pendleton Blanket to honour her contributions to the publication of this important oral history book.

The staff at the Archives were key to the success of the celebration, and special thanks go out to Provincial Archivist Leslie Latta-Guthrie and Jaclyn Landry for their support and hard work. The Archives’ acceptance of Jenny Margetts’ collection means that the materials recording the struggle of the women of the Indian Rights for Indian Women organization will be cared for and available to the public.

We are all proud to be part of something so important and that records the difference Nellie, Kathleen, and their colleagues made through decades of activism. Thank you all who made this evening so memorable and such a success!

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Invitation – Heifer Canada evening

Roger Epp, author of Writing Off the Rural West and We Are All Treaty People sent us an email about an event that we would like to share with you. Roger speaks very highly of Heifer Canada.

Heifer Canada is a fairly new Canadian affiliate of US-based Heifer International, an NGO which has been doing innovative, food-based community development around the world for several decades. I have been a member of the Canadian board since its inception. I was attracted to Heifer because of the way it understands food and farming issues and works with communities. In Canada, Heifer has been a catalyst in programs that involve northern aboriginal communities, urban agriculture, new Canadians, young farmers and, at the national level, the People’s Food Policy project. At this stage, Heifer Canada is looking for ways to build profile, partnerships and capacity to do both domestic and international work.

We hope you’ll be able to attend on Thursday, March 7, 5-7 p.m. It might not be too late to RSVP, if you plan to go: kathleen.crowther@heifer.org.

Game Plan Launch at City Hall

The launch of Karen Wall’s Game Plan: A Social History of Sport in Alberta during LitFest on October 22 in the grand foyer of Edmonton’s City Hall was a great success. The event, titled ”From Hoop Skirts to Hoops,” attracted more than 70 curious participants eager to learn about the evolution of women’s sport in Alberta. Three members of the U of A’s Pandas—Anneka Bakker, Megan Wickstrom, and Kelly Lyons—were there to MC the event.

In addition to Karen Wall’s talk about women’s sport in Alberta, M. Ann Hall gave a presentation about the famous Edmonton Grads and their impact on the City of Champions. Her book, The Grads Are Playing Tonight! was also available for sale. Athlete Doreen Ryan—a track and field champion, basketball player, and speed skater—was on hand to share her experiences of how it was to compete back in the 1940s.

Both books are filled with interesting and important bits of information—we highly recommend them!

Thank you to all who made this event such a great success:

• To Ann and Karen for saying “yes” to this event and bringing their knowledge and passion to the program.
• To David Chereos for bringing his vision to LitFest and setting the groundwork for a very successful event.
• To Pam Brierley, Cheryl Mahaffy and Theresa Agnew and all of the other wonderful LitFest volunteers for all their hard work.
• To the Pandas and their coach, who brought elite athleticism and energy to the evening.
• To Doreen Ryan, for attending and allowing us to salute her excellence and achievements.
• To Donna Hateley and her colleagues from the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame and Museum for bringing a special display and adding so much to the discussion.
• To the Provincial Archives of Alberta for supporting LitFest in general and this event in particular.
• To the City of Edmonton for providing the glorious foyer as a backdrop as well as the expert staff and matériel.
• To La Persaud Bistro for the beautiful and delicious trays of food.
• To Audreys Books for organizing all of the books for LitFest and supporting Edmonton’s cultural life in so many ways.

And of course to the wonderful people who came to celebrate sport and our authors.

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Intersecting Sets, Another Great Book Launch

On October 18th, we launched Alice Major’s new book, a collection of essays, Intersecting Sets: A Poet Looks at Science, at the Milner Library Theatre. The launch, a collaboration with LitFest, was very well attended. Alice was joined on stage by playwright David Belke and by audio artist Shawn Pinchbeck.

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We all thoroughly enjoyed the night, including the steady beat of the drumming circle next door (!), and would like to congratulate all for a remarkable program. Alice, David, and Shawn were fabulous, provoking new ideas and conversations that will persist for some time.

Don’t miss LitFest’s Facebook page; they have posted some great pictures of the CBC Centre Stage panel discussion that took place between Alice and François Paré on October 13th at noon.

The Man in Blue Pyjamas

The launch of The Man in Blue Pyjamas: A Prison Memoir by Jalal Barzanji on October 17th was a great success. More than 150 “book lovers,” as Jalal greeted the audience, showed up to hear Jalal Barzanji, his translator Sabah Salih, and his editor Peter Midgley talk about the process of writing, translating, and editing this fascinating memoir. The event took place in the Milner Library Theatre, as part of LitFest 2011.

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Many of Jalal’s family, friends, neighbours, and colleagues as well as the Kurdish and literary communities came out to celebrate. This book launch was one of the best we’ve had – a true celebration!

There are more pictures to see on LitFest’s facebook page.

Henry Kreisel Memorial Lecture: Annabel Lyon

If you are looking for a stimulating evening, come out to hear Annabel Lyon give the 5th Annual Henry Kreisel Memorial Lecture.

I was fortunate enough to see her last week at Grant MacEwan, with members of my book club. She is an extraordinarily gifted and generous reader and speaker. I look forward to hearing her give the lecture on Monday here at the University of Alberta.

When: Monday, March 14, 2011, 7:30 pm
Where: Timms Centre for the Arts, University of Alberta (corner of 87 Ave. & 112 St.)

Past presenters include Joseph Boyden, Wayne Johnston, Dany Laferrière and Eden Robinson.

This year, the CLC is pleased to announce Annabel Lyon as the 2011 Kreisel lecturer. A reception and book signing will follow the lecture. All are welcome, entrance is free and no RSVP required.

About the author: Annabel Lyon is a Vancouver fiction writer and teacher. Her first books are Oxygen (2000), and The Best Thing for You (2004), which was nominated for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. The Golden Mean (2009), her first novel and third work of fiction, holds the distinction of being the only book nominated that year for all three of Canada’s major fiction prizes: the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Governor General’s Award for English language fiction and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the last of which it won. The Golden Mean was also nominated for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and is being published in six languages. Given its provocative book cover, it was banned from BC Ferries in 2010, has earned international critical acclaim, and has become a Canadian bestseller. It was recently named the Grant MacEwan University Book of the Year.