Atlantic Books Today Issue 78 - Summer 2015

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BOOK NEWS REVIEWS EXCERPTS

Our first summer issue!

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VACATION READS

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HAND-PICKED HIKING GUIDES FOR

YOUR NEXT ADVENTURE

Celebrating

IN THE KITCHEN WITH ROCK RECIPES

Books

THE FRYE FESTIVAL, READING TOWN & THE ATLANTIC BOOK AWARDS SUMMER 2015

No. 78 Publications Mail Agreement 40038836

Website o n ly c on t e s t s How your favourite authors became writers A new monthly column from Chris Benjamin highlights the region’s top new authors Mark Callanan

Gloria Ann Wesley

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT

Readings, book signings, literary festivals and more

Beth Powning

EVENTS

BACK ISSUES

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Contents Summer 2015

On the Cover The famous Norrie statue was installed in front of the Moncton Public Library in July 2013. It was created by Darren Byers and Fred Harrison, in collaboration with Janet Fotheringham.

Both the Frye Festival (which you’ll learn about on page 10) and the statue commemorate Northrop Frye (1912–1991), a scholar with a deep commitment to an informed and civil society. Frye spent his childhood and teen years in Moncton. He is considered one of the greatest literary critics of the 20th century.

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Up Front 7 Editor’s message

This region is a creativity hotbed – let’s keep our talent here at home

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Current Affairs 8 Noted

Awards, awards and more awards

10 First person

Jo Treggiari explains what drove her to open a bookstore in Lunenburg, NS

11 Perspective

The Frye Festival is Canada’s only bilingual international literary festival and Atlantic Canada’s largest literary event

Author Buzz 13 Proust Questionnaire

Funny-woman Berni Stapleton on bathtubs, dating and procrastination

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14 Inside the author’s studio Cookbook author Barry C. Parsons creates big tastes in a tiny space FREE

PRESENTS

Look for this symbol

16 Profile

For one week in May, Charlottetown became Reading Town Canada Cover photo: Louis-Philippe Chiasson Content photos (This page): Louis-Philippe Chiasson, photo courtesy of Creative Book Publishing, Ken Holden; (Page 5): Joseph Muise

Books with this symbol can also be found in Atlantic Books for Spring & Summer – available now at AtlanticBooksToday.ca/magazine Atlantic Books Today

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Free

Atlantic Books today atlanticbookstoday.ca

99

books featured inside!

Book News Reviews exceRpts

Our first summer issue!

12

VACATION READS

+

HAND-PICKED HIKING GUIDES FOR

YOUR NEXT ADVENTURE

Celebrating

IN THE KITCHEN wITH ROCK RECIPES

Books

THE FRYE FESTIVAL, READING TOwN & THE ATLANTIC BOOK AwARDS Summer 2015

No. 78 Publications Mail Agreement 40038836

READ THE ISSUE ONLINE NOW

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EXPLORE OUR PUBLICATIONS atlanticbookstoday.ca/digital

2015/16 Season

Bernhard Gueller, Music Director

SYMPHONY NOVA SCOTIA Tickets are on sale now for our 2015/16 season! Order yours today and join us for spectacular performances of the music you love.

Buck 65

Holst’s The Planets

Sleeping Beauty

Upcoming highlights include: • Mozart’s Requiem • Pianist Marc-André Hamelin • Buck 65 • Holst’s The Planets • Bach’s Christmas Oratorio • Ben Caplan • The Music of Queen • Vivaldi’s Four Seasons • Handel’s Messiah • Sleeping Beauty • and so much more!

902.494.3820 • symphonynovascotia.ca

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CONTENTS

Young Readers 18 Reviews

Lisa Doucet highlights new picture books and novels for young readers

20 Mi’kmaw Munsch

Children can now read the beloved tales of Robert Munsch in their mother tongue

Features 22 Behind the scenes

Get to know Nimbus Publishing, Atlantic Canada’s largest publisher

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26 The great literary road trip

Sticking close to home this summer? Here are 12 destinations and the books you’ll want to take along

28 Atlantic Book Awards

Authors, publishers and readers gathered to celebrate the best books of 2014

Reviews 32 Book reviews

Atlantic Canadian travel, fiction, history, poetry, music, graphic and inspirational books

Food 37 Recipes

Sweet Potato Salad; Blueberry Lemon Tart

39 Reviews

Creating Good Food; A Real Newfoundland Scoff: Using Traditional Ingredients in Today’s Kitchens

37 Book Bites 40 Excerpts

Barren the Fury; History of Nova Scotia in 50 Objects; Newfoundland: An Island Apart

44 Regional reads

Get outside with new and favourite travel guides

45 Events

Grab your sun hat and lawn chair – it’s literary festival season

Contests 7 Book Club Bonanza 46 The Great Book Giveaway

22 Atlantic Books Today

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Atlantic Book Award

Winners!

TUCKAMORE BOOKS • KILLICK PRESS • CREATIVE PUBLISHERS

Mark McCrowe & Megan Coles sasha okshevsky John and Margaret savage aPMa Best atlantic Published Book First Book award

36 Austin Street, St. John’s, NL, A1B 3T7 • Tel. 709-748-0813 • Fax 709-579-6511 • www.creativebookpublishing.ca

Academia, Inc.: How Corporatization Is Transforming Canadian Universities

Atlantic Books Today is published by the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association (www.atlanticpublishers.ca), which gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Canada Book Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage. Opinions expressed in articles in Atlantic Books Today do not necessarily re­flect the views and opinions of the Board of the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association.

FERNWOOD PUBLISHING

Generation Rising is the story of the most important mass mobilization in Québec’s (and Canada’s) history. Students went toe-to-toe against the corrupt and autocratic elite in an effort to construct a horizontal, participative and grassroots democracy.

Shawn Katz 9781552667255 $22.95

Generation Rising: The Time of the Québec Student Spring This groundbreaking book addresses the negative consequences to higher education and society that result from the merging of two fundamentally incompatible institutions — the university and the corporation.

Jamie Brownlee

9781552667354 $23.95

Academia, Inc.: How Corporatization Is Transforming Canadian Universities

FERNWOOD PUBLISHING

Jamie Brownlee

9781552667354 $23.95

This groundbreaking book addresses the negative consequences to higher education and society that result from the merging of two fundamentally incompatible institutions — the university and the corporation.

Generation Rising: The Time of the Québec Student Spring Shawn Katz 9781552667255 $22.95 Generation Rising is the story of the most important mass mobilization in Québec’s (and Canada’s) history. Students went toe-to-toe against the corrupt and autocratic elite in an effort to construct a horizontal, participative and grassroots democracy.

PUBLISHER Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR and ADVERTISING SALES Carolyn Guy cguy@atlanticpublishers.ca EDITOR Kim Hart Macneill kim@atlanticpublishers.ca ART DIRECTOR Joseph Muise design@atlanticpublishers.ca

Reading, naturally.

EDITORIAL INTERN Alissa MacDougall Printed in Canada. This is issue number 78 Summer 2015. Atlantic Books Today is published three times a year. All issues are numbered in sequence. Total Atlantic-wide circulation: 60,000. ISSN 1192-3652 One-year subscriptions to Atlantic Books Today are available for $16 ($18.40 including HST).

Please make cheques payable to the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association and mail to address below or contact apma.admin@ atlanticpublishers.ca for subscription inquiries.

Publications Mail Agreement No. 40038836 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association Atlantic Books Today 1484 Carlton Street, Halifax, NS B3H 3B7

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EDITOR’S MESSAGE

inspiring time for book lovers.

In March, thanks in part to vigorous public protest, Nova Scotia cancelled a proposal to add the provincial portion of the HST to book prices, which will help keep books affordable for readers of all incomes.

In May, I attended my first Atlantic Book Awards gala, and was awed by the crowd celebrating our books. Veteran and emerging authors chatted while everyone crowded around Bookmark II Bookstore’s tables discussing their favourite reads.

But wait there’s more! Away From Everywhere, the film based on Newfoundland author Chad Pelley’s novel, began filming in St. John’s and, as I write this, Word on the Street Halifax is preparing for its 20th festival.

Atlantic Canada is a hotbed of creative talent.

From our authors and illustrators to our publishers who spread their stories. From our talented film

crews who transform words into film to our musicians whose melodies punctuate the action.

If you follow the news in Nova Scotia, you know that the 2015 budget slashed funding to our creative industries. While the film industry has been most vocal, we’re all on high alert. Film professionals are looking to Toronto to sustain their livelihoods, which will mean fewer creative people living here and, let’s be frank, paying taxes and shopping locally.

How long before our best and brightest authors and musicians, and perhaps worse, those we have yet to discover, do the same?

Our creative industries – books, music and film – are crucial to a vibrant Atlantic Canada. It’s time to add our voices to the chorus of opposition to creative sector cuts. Call your MLA, write a letter to the editor, or speak out on social media. Our voices establish our strength. When we lose our creative producers, we lose our culture.

Editor’s message

Thus far 2015 has been an

Kim Hart Macneill

Book Club

Bonanza!

Our latest winners the TGIF Book Club of Lewisporte, NL

CALLING ALL BOOK CLUBS! Want to see your book club featured on our website and in our newsletter? Fill out this ballot (or enter online at AtlanticBooksToday.ca) for your chance! The winning book club will also receive these great gifts: • We’ll bring the food or send you a $100 Sobeys gift card!

• AND we will come to your next meeting (either in person or via Skype) to tell you about the hottest new Atlantic Canadian books!

• AND you’ll win a set of Atlantic Canadian books for the group!

The information below will not be used for any purpose other than contacting the winning entry.

Name: Phone (with area code): The name of your book club: Street/mailing address: City/town, province, postal code: Your favourite book from an Atlantic Canadian author: How many members in your book club?

How often do you meet?

E-mail: YES, please send the Atlantic Books Today newsletter to my inbox. I understand that my consent may be withdrawn by contacting Atlantic Books Today at apma.admin@atlanticpublishers.ca.

Mail this form by August 28, 2015 to Atlantic Books Today Book Club Bonanza, 1484 Carlton Street, Halifax, NS B3H 3B7

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CURRENT AFFAIRS NOTED

NEWS AND AWARDS East Coast Literary Awards winners

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia presented the 2015 East Coast Literary Awards at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax on June 6th. Retired CBC broadcaster Olga Milosevich hosted the celebration.

The Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, valued at $25,000, is one of Canada’s largest literary prizes.

Darren Greer won the award for Just Beneath My Skin (Cormorant Books).

Shortlisted for the award were David Adams Richards for Crimes Against My Brother (Doubleday Canada) and Michael Crummey for Sweetland (Doubleday Canada).

The Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award, valued at $2,000, has honoured books by Nova Scotians since 1978. This year’s winner is Kaleigh Trace for Hot, Wet, & Shaking: How I Learned To Talk About Sex (Invisible Publishing). Shortlisted for the award were Heather Sparling for Reeling Roosters & Dancing Ducks: Celtic Mouth Music (Cape Breton University Press) and Graham Steele for What I Learned About Politics: Inside the Rise and Collapse of Nova Scotia’s NDP Government (Nimbus Publishing).

The J.M. Abraham Poetry Award, valued at $2,000, was created by the local writing community two decades ago. Susan Paddon claimed this year’s prize for her collection Two Tragedies in 429 Breaths (Brick Books). Shortlisted for the award were Brian Bartlett for Ringing Here & There: A Nature Calendar (Fitzhenry & Whiteside) and Sylvia D. Hamilton for And I Alone Escaped To Tell You (Gaspereau Press).

Newfoundland’s favourite meat hits the world stage

The Bologna Cookbook (Flanker Press) by Newfoundlander Kevin Phillips is the winner in the Canadian "English Best Meat Cookbook” category of the 2015 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. This is Phillips’ first book, and the first ever all-bologna cookbook, filled with 200 recipes featuring the aforementioned forcemeat.

This win also qualifies The Bologna Cookbook to go on to the Gourmand Best in the World competition, which honours the best food and wine books, and food television. The results will be announced (after press time) on June 9 in Yantai, China.

Find an excerpt from the book at AtlanticBooksToday.ca.

Meags Fitzgerald takes home a Doug Wright Award Meags Fitzgerald won the 2015 Doug Wright Spotlight for her graphic novel Photobooth: A Biography (Conundrum Press).The award celebrates a work deserving of wider recognition. Fitzgerald attended NSCAD University in Halifax and savvy readers will spot cameos by the city in Photobooth. Read a review at AtlanticBooksToday.ca.

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CURRENT AFFAIRS NOTED

More Atlantic Canadian books headed to film

Last year the film version of Lesley Crewe's novel Relative Happiness made a splash at theaters across the country. Chad Pelley, a former Atlantic Books Today regular, hopes the film adaptation of his novel Away From Everywhere (Breakwater Books), which started filming in St. John's in April, will follow suit.

The story follows the lives of two brothers as they grow to be very different men after losing their father to mental illness. Canadian actor Lexi (Melissa Bergland) and Joss (Aaron Poole) from Lesley Crewe’s novel Relative Jason Priestly from “Beverly Hills 90210” plays lead Happiness came alive on the screen last fall.

Photo courtesy of Nimbus Publishing character Alex. “I grew up watching this TV show,” says Pelley. “Now, years later, my professional life intersects with this epic 1990s TV show and Jason Priestly is asking for a copy of my novel so he can read it to get into the character. That was unimaginably great, I have to say.”

Breakwater Books publisher Rebecca Rose says, “Film adaptations are drawing attention to the talent and stories that are coming out of this region that I’m sure in some ways are often overlooked. They have the potential to make a great impact on Atlantic Canadian books and writers. Not just from an entertainment point of view, but an economic point of view as well.”

Also being adapted for a web series is Chris Ryan’s The Bay Bulls Standoff (Flanker Press). The series’ teaser trailer received about 10,000 individual views in its first month online.

Those Splendid Girls honoured – TWICE!

Katherine Dewar’s historical non-fiction book Those Splendid Girls (Island Studies Press) won PEI Publication of the Year twice! The City of Summerside Heritage and Culture Committee named it Publication Katherine Dewar receiving the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation’s Publication of the Year Award of the Year for 2014 from Lt.-Gov. Frank Lewis. in early February, and then in April the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation Heritage Awards concurred. Find an excerpt from the book at AtlanticBooksToday.ca.

EXPLORE! ATLANTIC CANADA

The gang’s all back together

In our last issue we bid bon voyage to Atlantic Books Today’s art director, Joseph Muise. He missed us so much that in late March he came back.You’ll find his photographs from the Atlantic Books Awards gala on page 28.

Feed your head

www.gooselane.com

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CURRENT AFFAIRS FIRST PERSON

A new chapter Jo Treggiari explains what drove two authors and an illustrator to dive into the book business

“W

hy open a bookstore now?

In this economic climate and when online shopping rules the universe?” is a question we – Alice Burdick, Anne-Marie Sheppard and Jo Treggiari – hear a lot as proud co-owners of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia’s brand-new Lexicon Books.

But the question we three most ask ourselves is: when did our lives not revolve around books?

We are all voracious readers. We are the type of people who can’t walk past a bookstore – new or used – without stopping in and (almost certainly) buying something. We judge towns and cities by their enormous, quaint or eclectic bookstores.

We revel in the smell of books and the comfort found among them. We share great finds with friends and are passionate about seeking out new authors, stumbling across them or

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having someone whose expertise we trust recommend them to us.

The written word informs a great part of our lives.

“Do what you love” is a wonderful mantra, but it is not enough. You also have to be skilled at what you love. Two of us have many years of experience in retail sales and management, and two of us have many years of experience starting and nurturing new businesses.

Transforming our starry-eyed dreams of owning a bookstore (“Imagine being surrounded by books all day every day!”) into a viable business model was not easy.

Our space is a mere 500-squarefeet. Figuring out our starting inventory versus blowing our entire budget, bearing in mind that the store has to appear fully stocked, is one of those nightmarish math problems we all thought we’d left behind in high school.

How many are too many? How few are too few? What’s the ratio between current literature and classic? Bestsellers and overlooked gems? Which genres to focus on? What do we love and what will our customers love? What selections will best reflect the area in which we live? How can we provide the optimum customer service and the best shopping experience?

And how to compress all that information into something that makes sense?

A bookstore is not just a store that sells books. It identifies the people who live and work around it. It is a warm and comforting place to go to. It is a community hub, a culture and arts centre hosting author events and book clubs.

It is an information source and a social gathering place. Staffed by knowledgeable people who love books, it is a friendly place to engage with others.

There is no algorithm devised by a technician and directed by a computer program that can replace a recommendation from someone who knows your tastes, likes and dislikes, who can make leaps from one author to a similar one, or from one subject to something equally intriguing. The relationship between a bookstore customer and a bookseller is, dare we say it, a sacred one. There is trust there. Trust that the recommendation will be – if not spot-on – at least pretty damn close. And that’s what we’re aiming for. ■

A bookstore is not just a store that sells books. It is a community hub, a cultural and arts centre hosting author events and book clubs.

Jo Treggiari is a best-selling author.

She’s written three books, most recently a YA novel Ashes, Ashes and a novella, Love You Like Suicide. Connect with her on Twitter @jotreggiari

CURRENT AFFAIRS PERSPECTIVE

Kathleen Winter and broadcaster Christine McLean in conversation about "Journey to the High Arctic" in front of a full house at the Café Delta Beauséjour.

STIR-FRYE Writers new and well-known mix it up at the Frye Festival Words Colleen Kitts-Goguen

J

Photos Louis-Philippe Chiasson

osephine Watson is a triple threat at Moncton’s 16th annual Fry Festival, “I’m bilingual, biracial and bicultural!” She is this year’s poète flyée.

During festival week, she flits and flies among the events, gathering material for the original poem she will compose and deliver on the last day of the festival. For Josephine, this is a week to see and be seen, to entertain and engage as well as soak up the vibes from the many well-known writers gracing stages around the city.

Named in honour of Pine Street’s pre-eminent literary critic and theorist, the late Northrop Frye, the Frye Festival-Le Festival Frye bills itself as Canada's only bilingual, international literary festival and the largest literary event in Atlantic Canada.

What sets the Frye apart is the sheer joie de vivre of everyone involved from the authors to the Frye staff and volunteers to the approximately 16,000 people who come out to the year-round festival events. In addition, more than 10,000

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CURRENT AFFAIRS PERSPECTIVE

children are reached annually through the festival’s school-youth program.

Readings take place in pubs, workshops in libraries, debates and lectures in theatres and restaurants.

Live music is also on offer, with this year’s festival featuring Jenn Grant and Caroline Savoie at the Soirée Frye evening.

Emma Donoghue (Frog Music) delighted middle school children with her Irish lilt, telling the kids at Salisbury Middle School what it’s like to be a writer and how they can become writers, too. Montreal playwright/novelist/poet Simon Boulerice had the audience in stitches at a panel discussion with tales of his larger-than-life mother, the inspiration for a good deal of his work. Here was Kathleen Winter (Annabel, Boundless); there was Giller-winner Sean Michaels (Us Conductors) and Jane Urquhart (The Night Stages) and so many others, including Nova Scotia-based poet Brian Bartlett (Ringing Here and There), the luminous Beth Powning (A Measure of Light), and Acadian musician/writer Daniel Léger (Objectif Katahdin).

It’s the kind of festival where you’ll find Newfoundland poet George Murray reading his first children’s book (illustrated by Michael Pittman), Wow Wow and Haw Haw, to a roomful of rapt four-year-olds, where you can find yourself chatting with New Brunswick poet and former Lt-Gov. Herménégilde Chiasson (Autoportrait) about Andy Warhol and Marilyn Monroe.

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There is a place for everyone at the Frye, including those just getting started. Prèlude, sponsored by the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick, featured six emerging writers – three English and three French.

Saint John’s Julia Wright was on the bill. The editor of the Hard Times in the Maritimes 'zine stood in the spotlight at the Aberdeen Cultural Centre and delivered an essay about what it’s like to be a young writer here: “New Brunswick is simultaneously a great place, and the worst place ever, to grow up as a writer… It trains the powers of observation, and the imagination, to live in a place that’s both stuck in the past and endlessly looking to reinvent itself. And figuring out how to actually stay in this place and do what you love also takes a really good imagination.”

And so it went throughout the week, emerging writers rubbed stanzas with the more established among them. Everybody took something from the experience – the chance to grow, to connect with each other and their readers, and the chance to celebrate the power and the glory of the written word.

As Northrop Frye said, “The world of literature is a world where there is no reality except that of the human imagination.” ■ Colleen Kitts-Goguen is a freelance writer and broadcaster in Fredericton. She grew up near Pine Street in Moncton and attended Victoria School, the same elementary school as Frye, though some 50 years later.

Left: Musicians Jenn Grant of Halifax and and Caroline Savoie of Dieppe, NB, shared the stage at the Soirée Frye evening.

Right: Ian Wier reads from his novel Will Starling at the Beer and Books event at the Tide & Boar Gastropub.

AUTHOR BUZZ INTERVIEW

Proust Questionnaire

BERNI STAPLETON

For 25 years, actor, playwright and author Berni Stapleton has delighted audiences with her unique take on Newfoundland and Labrador’s heritage. She’s held the titles of artistic director at the Grand Bank Regional Theatre Festival and playwright-in-residence at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Her latest book, This is the Cat (Creative Book Publishers), is a darkly humorous tale that examines the foibles and failures of memory through the lens of one woman’s life.

What do you consider your best quality?

Embracing my lesser qualities.

A quality you desire in a partner: Companionable with silence, fresh breath, fresh humour. Must like reading, me and cats, my cats in particular. Must play well with others, enjoy long meandering walks and likewise conversations.

I’m listing more than one quality in case he is reading this so he will recognize himself and get in touch with me.

What do you appreciate most about your friends?

They have greater and lesser qualities that are compatible with mine. They love me no matter what, they are usually smarter, wittier and more accomplished than me, thusly constantly massively, yet annoyingly, inspiring.

Your worst quality: I am a master procrastinator. I would win the procrastinating Olympics except I’d miss the entry deadline. I can procrastinate procrastinating.

What is your idea of happiness?

Oh my God, that moment when the

procrastinating is about done and the time has come, the walrus said, and then the writing commences.

Favourite author(s): I adore Kathleen Winter, Lisa Moore, Alice Munro, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jean Rhys and Stephen King.

Your idea of misery: Trapped in small talk at a party wearing Your favourite fictional heroes: a dress that makes me feel fat. Trapped Cleopatra (as played by Elizabeth Taylor) in small talk anywhere. I prefer tiny and Morgaine le Fay. talk. No talk. Listening.

Your real life heroes: Where you would most like to live?

My mother and my son.

I would most like to live in a small house on a hill in Italy with a bathYour favourite food & drink: tub for reading in every room, Red wine and any sort of food that a vineyard to one side, the ocean complements the wine. on the other, a garden for the cats on the other, and a chef who comes What is your greatest fear? to cook and never makes any That all my tiny fears will one day small talk. morph into a giant fear.

Favourite colour: I love riots of colours.

Favourite animal: I love cats because they are beautiful, mysterious, silly, natural-born killers.

Your favourite poet(s): I love Agnes Walsh, most especially Going Around With Bachelors.

How you want to die: Older than the oldest, in my right mind, in my own bed, in the house described above, lying next to the fellow described above.

Your present state of mind: I am filled with hope.

Favourite or personal motto: So Hum. I am. ■

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AUTHOR BUZZ INSIDE THE AUTHOR’S STUDIO

behind

The rock

Rock Recipes Deconstructing familiar foods for his family and yours

by Emily Deming

B

arry C. Parsons’ recipes are masterpieces of accessibility.

The meals featured in his Rock Recipes: The Best Food From My Newfoundland Kitchen (Breakwater Books) are easy to make, adapt and enjoy. His perfectionism is that sly brand that works behind the scenes to make his colourful family recipes happily casual yet foolproof. The sheer bulk and consistency of his creations make him saleable and effective. Without any particular dreams of grandeur, he has built the foundations of an empire one dish at a time.

Though his recipes are often quick to make, nothing about Parsons is slapdash.

The perfect example is his kitchen. It is tidy, well kept and well used, unadorned by a single impulse buy. Though he has wanted a make-over for it for years, a little more counter space and custom counters for his tall frame, he has never rushed into it.

After all, he says, “How can I be without a kitchen during renovation?” This ingrained way of both making do and just doing day in and day out has produced 1,400 recipes viewed by an average of 20,000 daily visitors to his blog, rockrecipes.com.

Parsons and Lynn (his wife, the grocery shopper, kitchen cleaner, note taker and

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general “unsung hero”) have always been meal planners. They prioritized gathering their family around the table to share freshly made hot food each night. They don’t buy or cook in bulk and almost never eat the same meal reheated the next day.

Not that food gets wasted, thanks to a combination of good planning, and friends and neighbours who are happy to help.

When food is left over it is reinvented, as Chipotle Chili Sloppy Joes or Meatloaf Marinara Panini, rather than reheated.

His pantry and spice drawer are filled with simple building blocks. His recipes call for short lists of ingredients that can be found without a trip to a specialty grocer.

In this way, he has turned the regional food security challenges that Newfoundlanders face into a shared connection with rural households across North America.

You may not have off-season access to fresh figs, artichokes and persimmons, or any access to saffron and sumac, but Rock Recipes proves you can still make hundreds of meals with what you have at hand.

Parsons knows what food is available in a range of communities as he and his family have taken what they call “diners, dives and drives-style” vacationing along “every mile of the Eastern seaboard from St. John’s to Key West, FL.”

Canvas printed photographs from these vacations hang in their dining room. This is where all the eating, writing and documenting of the chicken pies, the beef stews and stir-fries, the cakes and baked goods takes place. Natural light comes in through large glass doors opening on to a terraced yard, filled with snow in the winter, herbs and flowers in the summer. Here he works, pulling together both handwritten and online notes, photographing desserts and editing. To optimize his blog for searches, he has rewritten almost every post made since 2007. While working at this Herculean task of indexing, Parsons realized what a chronicle of his family’s life he had made. His (now teenaged) children were just eight and nine when he began. With a second cookbook in the works, a freshly organized and hugely popular blog, and freelance and commissioned requests for more recipes coming in, his memorializing of family life through meals looks like it will continue for many more years. ■ Emily Deming is a St. John’s-based freelance writer. With a background in science, she now writes about food, cocktails and the arts. Her work appears regularly in The Overcast.

Ken Holden

This is where the eating, writing and documenting takes place.

Natural light comes in through large glass doors opening on to a terraced yard, filled with snow in the winter, herbs and flowers in the summer.

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AUTHOR BUZZ PROFILE

The

town that

reads together For one week in May, the National Reading Campaign transformed Charlottetown to Reading Town Canada Words Sarah Sawler Photos Melanie Fishbane

T

he lights are low, the food is local, the wine is flowing, and the conversation shows no sign of slowing down. A group of people is gathered around a table in a cozy atticlike lounge. The talk is animated, and occasional bursts of laughter interrupt nearby conversations.

That was the scene in Marc’s Lounge on Charlottetown’s Sydney Street on May 9th, just a few hours shy of one week into Reading Town Canada, a travelling literary festival spearheaded by the National Reading Campaign.

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And this was the kind of scene the festival fostered. Reading Town Canada, which debuted last year in Moose Jaw, SK, puts a unique spin on the age-old tradition of the literary festival. Although it has plenty of the usual workshops and signings, the Charlottetown version, which was supported by the PEI Literacy Alliance, also featured little libraries set up in wooden cabinets on the street, poems delivered in pizza boxes, people reading aloud from a rocking chair in Bookmark Bookstore’s window.

“We didn’t have many people sign up before Reading Town started, but as people started sitting in the window, more people got interested,” says Lori

Cheverie, manager of Bookmark. “We heard nothing but positive feedback.

There were always people stopping and looking, and some people would come in to ask about Reading Town.”

The festival hosted a variety of local authors, like Glenna Jenkins, author of Somewhere I Belong, who ran a workshop on writing from family history; Finley Martin, who launched his new Anne Brown mystery, The Dead Letter, at Carriage House; and Dave Atkinson, author of Wereduck, who spent an evening chatting with fans at the Tween Reading Café at Beanz Espresso Bar and Café.

There were also some notable authors from elsewhere in Canada, including Zarqa Nawaz, creator of

AUTHOR BUZZ PROFILE

From left: Dave Atkinson spent an evening chatting with fans at the Tween Reading Café at Beanz Espresso Bar and Café; Bill Swan and Todd MacLean mix it up by switching signs during Reading at the Mall.

“Little Mosque on the Prairie”, who read from her new book, Laughing All the Way to the Mosque.

“Her book is about growing up in Canada,” says James Roy, Reading Town’s project manager. “She’d never been to the East before this week. I took her to a school on Tuesday afternoon, and she gave a talk to a grade 11 class and it went really well. She tried to use the opportunity to bridge the gap between cultures.”

The event also welcomed Debra Komar, who launched her newest book, The Bastard of Fort Stikine: The Hudson’s Bay Company and the Murder of John McLoughlin Jr., at the Confederation Centre Public Library.

Although the entire festival served to unite the Charlottetown community in a celebration of reading, there were two events in particular that really brought people together, and both were organized

by Bookmark.

From top: Katherine Dewar, author of Those Splendid Girls, reads in the window of Bookmark Bookstore; Little libraries popped-up around the city. The tiny cabinetlike libraries encourage users to discover new books and drop off old ones.

The first was a private event honouring its 10 top-selling Island authors from last year. The second was Reading at the Mall, a last-day-ofthe-festival family event that featured readings, signings, and visits from picture book characters.

“We were just so busy, we’re only absorbing it all now,” says Cheverie. “Every day we were involved in something, and Saturday was far bigger than we thought it would be. There

were hundreds of kids here. The other tenants in the mall were so happy about the buzz we’d created. It was amazing to see that, as a bookstore, we could create such a positive draw. Books are just so important.” ■ Sarah Sawler is a Halifax journalist, copywriter and book nerd. She’s also the marketing and communications executive of Fierce Ink Press.

Atlantic Books Today

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YOUNG READERS REVIEWS

Heartwarming reads for

summer days

Lisa Doucet is the co-manager of Woozles Children’s Bookstore in Halifax. She shares her passion for children’s and young adult books as our young readers editor and book reviewer.

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Jacob’s Landing

by Daphne Greer $12.95, paperback, 155 pp.

Nimbus Publishing, April 2015

Resigned to his fate, Jacob will be spending the summer with grandparents that he never knew existed, in the middle of nowhere: Newport, NS. Still dealing with his father’s death a year earlier, he has strong misgivings about this arrangement, particularly once he meets his newly-discovered relatives. Frank, his grandfather, seems to think he is a sea captain and behaves accordingly, while grandmother Pearl needs a lot more help around the house than she is ready to admit. But as he gets to know his grandparents and finds a friend in Ruby, a neighbour who helps him discover all that Newport Landing has to offer, he starts to feel at home. He begins to wonder in earnest about why exactly his father kept his family a secret from him for all these years.

Greer’s second novel for young readers is a gentle and warmhearted evocation of life in this rural community. As Jacob settles into the rhythm of his grandparents’ lives, he discovers the joys of being part of a small, close-knit community (and he also discovers the joys of mudsliding!). With endearing characters and a puzzling family mystery to be resolved, this book will charm young readers.

The Memory Chair

by Susan White $12.95, paperback, 155 pp.

Acorn Press, March 2015

Family visits to her headstrong great-grandmother’s have always been a chore for Betony who would try to spend as much time as possible outside, away from Gram’s constant criticisms. But Betony’s feelings change when she discovers the ability to relive memories from Gram’s past whenever she sits in Gram’s old brown armchair. As she sees more of Gram’s memories, she feels drawn to her great-grandmother and begins asking her questions about her life. She asks Gram to teach her how to quilt and soon she begins to feel a real connection with this sometimes surly woman. Then Betony makes some curious discoveries that lead her to question her family’s past. As old wounds surface and long-hidden secrets are revealed, Betony helps set the wheels in motion for healing and reconciliation.

The relationship that Betony gradually develops with her great-grandmother is heartwarming and a touching exploration of intergenerational friendship. The descriptions of Gram’s life as Betony sees it in the memories help to establish Gram as a strong and colourful character in her own right. The memories also provide an intriguing glimpse into a different era. White has once more given young readers a thoughtful and compelling family drama.

atlanticbookstoday.ca

YOUNG READERS REVIEWS

Work and More Work

by Linda Little, illustrated by Oscar T. Perez $18.95, hardcover, 32 pp.

Groundwood Books, March 2015

Me, Too!

by Annika Dunklee, illustrated by Lori Joy Smith $18.95, hardcover, 32 pp.

Kids Can Press, April 2015

The King of Keji

by Jan L. Coates, illustrated by Patsy MacKinnon $12.95, paperback, 32 pp.

Nimbus Publishing, May 2015

Toiling away on his family’s country farm, Tom yearns to go to town despite his parents’ assertions that “there’s nothing there but work and more work.” Needing to see for himself, he hitches a ride and discovers that there is always lots of work to be done. Undaunted, his wandering heart takes him farther. He goes to sea and visits many cities around the world where he finds marvelous treasures.

Eventually his travels take him back to his own cottage in the country. He is eager to share with his parents how the world is a fascinating place, filled with people who are “busy making beautiful things,” this simply confirms for them the truth that they had suspected all along.

This book has all the charm of a traditional folktale, including its pleasing and poetic turns of phrase. Tom’s joyful spirit as he embraces all of the wonders that the world has to offer is inspiring and infectious. We are nonetheless reminded that not everyone sees the world the same way, as Tom himself discovers.

Perez uses subdued and earthy tones for his richly detailed illustrations that bring each scene to life. Little’s notes at the back of the book add a wealth of interesting background information.

Annie and Lillemor have a perfect friendship. They are the same age, they like the same activities and they have the same favourite colours. But when a new girl named Lilianne arrives, Annie fears that her friendship with Lillemor is in danger. After all, Lillemor and Lilianne both have names that start with “Lil,” they are both from different countries and they both speak another language (besides Oinky Boinky, which is the only other language Annie can speak). How can Annie possibly compete?! But when she actually voices her fears, even she is able to see what she had initially missed: that all three girls have so much in common that they can easily all be good friends!

This simply-told tale addresses very real feelings of insecurity and the experience of feeling left out, and it does so in a way that is lighthearted yet perceptive.

Smith’s playful illustrations are quirky and fun, capturing the whimsical tone of the text. The speech bubbles and lively facial expressions help tell the story and add to the visual appeal. A charming, straightforward look at friendship that treats Annie’s fears with sensitivity and the right amount of humour.

“I ever tell you about the time I was king?” When Gramps tells Jacob about being King of Keji (Kejimkujik Park) the two decide to plan their own camping trip to the park. Jacob makes a list of treasures that kings might have and the two happily traipse through the woods, along the seashore, to the seaside and the open salt marsh in search of riches. To Jacob’s delight, they find an abundance of precious gifts: emerald green leaves, diamonds sparkling on the water, the seemingly endless stretch of turquoise ocean waters. Gramps takes pictures of their numerous discoveries and soon he deems Jacob ready to be dubbed the new “King of Keji.”

This beautifully-illustrated picture book highlights the natural wonders that Keji is known for, as seen through the keen eyes of Jacob and his grandfather. Coates invites readers to see the beauty in every leaf and every shell, in the waters, waves and wildlife. Patsy MacKinnon’s exquisite watercolour illustrations are gently luminous and aptly portray the riches that Jacob and Gramps encounter on this trip. A loving tribute to a magnificent place, this book is also a moving depiction of time shared by a boy and his grandfather.

Atlantic Books Today

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YOUNG READERS FEATURE Photos courtesy of Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey

MI’KMAW MUNSCH Children across Nova Scotia can now read seven iconic children’s books in their mother tongue

by Chris Benjamin

A

grandmother tucks a child into bed and sings a song from a book with a tune she creates herself. The words are by Robert Munsch. “Ksalultes iapjiw, ta’n teli-pkitawsi.

Ksalultes iapjiw, nijanites ki’l ” she sings, her voice warbling sweetly. The child feels loved.

The book is Ksalultes Lapjiw. You may know it as Love You Forever, one of the most popular among Munsch’s dozens of children’s books. It’s one of seven that were recently translated into Mi’kmaw by MK, or Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey, the organization that has coordinated the Mi’kmaw education system in Nova Scotia since 1997.

MK was founded three decades after the closure of the disastrous Shubenacadie Indian Residential School as the provincial education system continued to fail Mi’kmaw students. It put the power for Mi’kmaw education in the hands of the Mi’kmaq and encourages the education and employment of Mi’kmaw teachers. This way, students can grow up understanding their own culture and speaking their own language, opportunities that were often denied to their parents and grandparents.

An essential component in this effort is language immersion. But MK struggles to find enough teaching

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resources in Mi’kmaw. “In 2010, the school principals asked us to look for everyday books in Mi’kmaw,” Janice Ciavaglia, MK’s literacy specialist, recalls.

There were several Mi’kmaw books but they weren’t the ones most Canadian children would know. While it’s important to encourage original and traditional Mi’kmaw stories, the teachers also wanted fun, familiar material to get kids excited about reading their language.

Ciavaglia and her colleague, Blair Gould, cast their memories back to their childhoods and thought of Munsch. His frenetic, kid-centric stories have helped raise millions of Canadians since 1979.

He’d visited one of their Cape Breton schools. At the time he was making 50 appearances a year, meeting kids and sharing stories with them, creating them orally and refining them with repeated telling. Even the Elders were fans of Munsch. “We went on his website and asked if he’d be willing to let us translate his books,” Ciavaglia says.

Munsch said go right ahead. MK hired translators Elizabeth Paul and Barbara Sylliboy to navigate dialects from 13 different Mi’kmaw First Nations. “They met regularly with Elders for a year,” Ciavaglia says.

Max Johnson (top) and Stephanie Isaac (bottom) read Ksalultes Lapjiw, which you may know as Robert Munsch’s Love You Forever.

YOUNG READERS FEATURE

The translators hit some snags in the process.

Munsch’s Angela’s Airplane was to be one of the translated books but there is no Mi’kmaw word for airplane. Another Munsch classic, I Have to Go, was translated into the more literal I Have to Go Pee in order to make sense in Mi’kmaw.

But in other ways, the excitable children and adults in Munsch’s stories were a natural fit for the Mi’kmaw language, which is dynamic, actionbased, heavy on the verbs and based on interrelationships between people, animals and things. “He uses a lot of moving words and his noise words [VAROOMMM] work well,” Ciavaglia says. “His words are super dynamic and we like that he’s a Canadian author.”

Elders are happy to read the stories and children are thrilled to listen to the cadence and humour of their own language. The jokes are even funnier in Mi’kmaw.

In all, MK translated seven books including I’m So Embarrassed, Andrew’s Loose Tooth, Thomas’ Snowsuit, A Promise is a Promise, Mud Puddle, I Have To Go and Love You Forever. MK worked with Eastern Woodlands Publishing in Truro to produce 1,000 copies of each book, half for schools and libraries and the other half to sell. “A Munsch book is now a staple present in the Mi’kmaw community.”

MK also produced a teacherlesson plan to accompany the texts. The books and lesson plans have been in use since the start of the school year.

Ciavaglia and Gould had hoped Munsch could come for the launch but “he had had a stroke and couldn’t join us,” Ciavaglia says. Since his stroke in 2008, Munsch has significantly cut down on public appearances. Ciavaglia thinks he’d be pleased at the reception from all over the world, including from a similar immersion program for Maori students in New Zealand. “We had to hire somebody just to ship out all the orders.”

The most important reaction comes from home.

Elders are happy to read the stories and children are thrilled to listen to the cadence and humour of their own language. The jokes are even funnier in Mi’kmaw.

“And the kids are super proud to hear Mi’kmaw in the public library and other places where it’s not normally spoken,” Ciavaglia says. ■ Chris Benjamin is the author of three awardwinning, critically-acclaimed books: Indian School Road: Legacies of the Shubenacadie Residential School; Eco-Innovators: Sustainability in Atlantic Canada and Drive-by Saviours; as well as 14 published short stories.

Calling All Young Atlantic Authors!

Got a story?

Write it down!

Woozles’ Writes!

Writing Contest Drop off, mail, or e-mail your story to be judged by a jury of Atlantic Authors!

Prizes awarded to each winner in two categories (ages 6-10 and 11-15) Deadline is July 31, 2015 1533 Birmingham Street Halifax, Nova Scotia Atlantic Books Today

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FEATURE

A STORIED PAST The region’s largest book publisher invited us in for the day. Get to know the team at Nimbus Publishing Words Kate Watson Photos Joseph Muise

I

n 2012, changes were afoot at Nimbus Publishing, which left Terrilee Bulger and Heather Bryan with a momentous decision to make. The company’s owner, John Marshall, planned to sell the business, and general manager, Dan Soucoup, announced his retirement. The workplace the two women loved would have a new leader and be up for sale by year’s end.

“There was every possibility that a company in say, Ontario – where the provincial government provides way more support to the publishing industry than here in Nova Scotia – would

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snap it up,” recalls Bulger. “We had to ask ourselves what would become of our team if that happened.”

“Heather and I ultimately decided to purchase it. We were really committed to keeping the company here and making it work in this place.”

Bulger tells this story in the boardroom of the newly renovated Nimbus offices overlooking the Bedford Basin.

As well as being home to 15 employees, the office houses an impressive library of all the books published by Nimbus since the company’s founding in 1978.

The collection covers subjects relevant to Atlantic Canada, beginning high on a bookshelf where Joan Payzant’s Like a Weaver’s Shuttle: A History of the Halifax-Dartmouth Ferries is perched.

The Nimbus story then wends its way chronologically across rows of shelves spread through the office. Volumes of non-fiction titles slowly become interspersed with children’s books beginning in 1981 with the publication of Lance Woolaver’s Christmas with the Rural Mail.

“Nimbus made its name as a publisher of non-fiction,” says Bulger.

FEATURE

Left: Team Nimbus on Bring Your Dog to Work Day (from top left) Hayley Bryan, sales; Jenn Embree, designer; Tristan Kay, digital marketing coordinator; Patrick Murphy, managing editor; Terrilee Bulger, sales manager; Heather Bryan, production manager and art director; and Whitney Moran, editor.

Upper right: Terrilee Bulger and Heather Bryan review cover options for an new title still in production.

Lower right: A handful of the more than 1,000 books Nimbus has published since 1978.

“It was a long battle to prove children’s books could be profitable, since they are expensive to produce and the price has to be low. But kids’ books are now 28 per cent of our business.”

Adult fiction titles begin appearing in 2005 with Lesley Crewe’s Relative Happiness, the first book published under the Vagrant Press imprint.

The move into adult fiction was precipitated when Relative Happiness crossed the desk of Penelope Jackson, a Nimbus editor at the time.

“She really championed the book, and we thought it was time to move into fiction,” recalls Bulger. “But I still had to prove that I could sell fiction.”

“Fiction is different because its success relies on word of mouth. We had

to start doing advance reading copies and that meant everyone needed to be on board to get things rolling way earlier than with non-fiction.”

Patrick Murphy has been managing editor at Nimbus since Vagrant’s conception 10 years ago this fall. While he is active in shepherding all of Nimbus’ approximately 35 titles each year, he says he has a soft spot for the fiction titles.

“Of the manuscripts we publish, the majority are solicited. We reach out with ideas for non-fiction work to someone we had in mind,” explains Murphy. “But because it’s fairly rare for us to do fiction – we only do two to four titles per year – those feel kind of special.”

Unsolicited manuscripts come to Murphy first, and he says discovering

hidden gems in the slush pile, whether they be fiction, non-fiction or children’s books, is always fun.

Once a manuscript is accepted, it goes through several stages of editing that focus on the structure, the style and the nuts and bolts of the writing, says Murphy. “I think the role of the editor is to help the author give the book what it needs. We try to help them see what they can’t because they’re so close to it.”

It’s not unusual for a book to take two years to move from the contract stage to a reader’s hand.

Another part of the Nimbus story is told by the books in the expansive warehouse adjoining the office. Here the other half of Nimbus’s business is

Atlantic Books Today

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FEATURE

“

done, distributing books for a number of other Atlantic Canadian publishers like Cape Breton University Press in Sydney, NS; Pottersfield Press in Lawrencetown, NS; Bouton D’or Acadie in Moncton, NB; and Acorn Press in Charlottetown.

“This is an essential service we offer to other publishers,” says Heather Bryan, production manager and art director. “It means they don’t have to worry about selling or distributing their books.”

Bryan started at Nimbus in 1999, and it’s obvious she feels a sense of pride when she surveys the work it has produced. “I came from the magazine world where the product is disposable,” she says. “Books are different. Everyone who works here is passionate about making great books. It’s a dream job.” ■ Kate Watson is the theatre reviewer for The Coast, a freelance writer, and coordinator of the Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award. She has a keen interest in municipal politics, community-building and Twitter. Follow her @DartmouthKate.

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atlanticbookstoday.ca

From top: Bright walls keep the team sunny on even cloudy days; Whitney Moran is hard at work while her sheepdog, Oscar, keeps an eye on things; Warehouse manager Kurt Pieper keeps books from various Atlantic Canadian publishers rolling out of the Nimbus warehouse to booksellers across the country.

Editor’s note: At press time we learned that Patrick Murphy is leaving Nimbus to pursue a medical degree. In his absence, Whitney Moran will become senior editor. Congratulations Patrick and Whitney!

Your CanLit Connection Stay up-to-date on new books and up-coming authors from across the country with one annual subscription! You’ll receive three issues of Atlantic Books Today, three issues of Montreal Review of Books and two issues of Prairie Books Now for only $30 (tax included).

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ROAD TRIP

Atlantic Canada is an ideal vacation destination. Vineyards, beaches, festivals and close-to-home adventures dot our landscape. To help you plan your summer, we’ve paired 12 fun locales with great reads to send you on your way.

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Over night at the Village Historique Acadien History buffs will love the Château Albert, a reproduction 18th century hotel used as a First World War training centre. Curl up in your period room with First in Line (Creative Book Publishing) by Hilda Morrow with Steve Bartlett, the biography of Leonard Stick, a Blue Puttee.

Camping at Mactaquac Provincial Park Explore the winding trails, broad woodlands and beaches of this pristine nature preserve with your copy of Wildflowers of New Brunswick (Boulder Publications) by Todd Boland.

FEATURE

3

Weekend at the Bay of Fundy Experience the world’s highest tides in this beautiful waterfront city. Learn local history and sayings from Saint John Facts and Folklore (Nimbus Publishing) by local folklorist David Goss.

4

Cavendish Beach Music Festival Bring your dancing shoes and broadcaster Frank Cameron’s memoir I Owe it All to Rock and Roll (and the CBC ) (Pottersfield Press) to this weekend of tunes featuring Jimmy Rankin, Alan Doyle and more.

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Charlottetown Airport No matter your destination, every flight demands an engaging read.

The Bastard of Fort Stikine (Goose Lane Editions) by forensic anthropologist Debra Komar weaves a tale populated by larger-than-life characters and brimming with dramatic tension.

6

Jost Vinyard tour Tour of the province’s longest-operating winery and taste its offerings. Savour some poems over a glass of wine with Milton Acorn: The People’s Poet (Roseway Publishing) compiled by Kent Martin and Errol Sharpe.

7 8

Sea Captains’ Homes & Mercantile Heritage walk Visit this seaside town for its historic architecture and bring some inspiration with The Little Book of Sea and Soul (Nimbus Publishing) by Denise Adams.

Lawrencetown Beach day trip This shore is home to amazing ecological diversity and processes. Discover its secrets (and those of 26 other beaches) in Beaches of Nova Scotia (Formac Publishing Company Ltd.) by Allan Billard and Donna Barnett.

9

Cabot Trail road trip During your scenic drive, keep the wee one’s enthralled in the back seat with The Pup From Away by Shaun Patterson and Christina Paterson (Acorn Press).

Sydney to Port aux 10 North Basques Ferry Pass your sea-journey

with The Breakwater Book of Contemporary Newfoundland Short Fiction edited by Larry Matthews, featuring stories by the finest kind: Michael Crummey, Jessica Grant, Lisa Moore, Michael Winter and others.

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Picnic at the Cape Race Lighthouse Pair sweeping ocean vistas with a rollicking folktale offering adventure enough for the whole family: Jack, The King of Ashes (Running the Goat Books & Broadsides) by Andy Jones and Erdelji.

The Rooms St. John’s premier 12 Afternoon atcultural space unites the Provincial

Archives, Art Gallery and Museum. Read Colville (Goose Lane Editions) by Andrew Hunter and to get inspired for your visit by this Canadian icon’s paintings.

Atlantic Books Today

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FEATURE

AN EVENT TO REMEMBER Authors, publishers and readers came together at the Atlantic Book Awards to celebrate the best of 2014 Words Kim Hart Macneill Photos Joseph Muise

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FEATURE

Atlantic Books Today

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FEATURE

A

tlantic Canada’s literary community and the public came together at the Alderney Landing Theatre to celebrate the best books of the last year at the 2015 Atlantic Books Awards gala on May 14th.

Together the eight awards recognize the best creators and publishers in the region, but each celebrates a different genre or aspect of book publishing. The Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, for example, celebrates an author’s initial published work. Atlantic Book Awards Society president Heather MacKenzie was thrilled to see that this particular award received more than 30 entries this year. “There’s a huge talent pool of young and emerging writers. These first books were of really high quality. That bodes really well that these are the people we’re going to see keep publishing and creating work down the road,” she said.

Author and journalist Linden MacIntyre took home the Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award (Fiction) for Punishment. “Where I grew up there was one way to gain the positive approval of adults: to be able to play a fiddle or tell a story,” he joked. “You could be the biggest reprobate in the place, but if you could play the fiddle or tell a story, or do both, you were welcome in the kitchen. So I, lacking the discipline or the talent to play the fiddle, figured I’m gonna start telling stories because, by God, that’s one way of getting to the Atlantic Book Awards.” ■

From top right: CBC Radio’s Stephanie Domet hosted the evening with wit and grace; Our publisher Carolyn Guy and Great Big Sea front man and author Alan Doyle; Halifax Mayor John Savage presented Paul Robson with the Pioneer Award for his longstanding contribution to regional publishing; Chef Mark McCrowe excitedly thanked half of Newfoundland after Creative Book Publishing won the APMA Best AtlanticPublished Book Award for his book Island Kitchen.

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1

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And the winners are...

1. Margaret and John Savage First Book Award: Eating

Habits of the Chronically Lonesome by Megan Gail Coles 2. Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature: The End of the Line by Sharon E. McKay 3. Atlantic Book Awards Pioneer Award: Paul Robinson 4. Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award (Fiction): Punishment by Linden MacIntyre 5. Lillian Shepherd Award for Excellence in Illustration: Sydney Smith for Music is for Everyone 6. Dartmouth Book Award (Non-Fiction): Fire in the Belly: How Purdy Crawford rescued Canada, and changed the way we do business by Gordon Pitts

7. Democracy 250 Atlantic Book Award for

Historical Writing: Perished: The 1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster by Jenny Higgins 8. Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association Best Atlantic-Published Book Award: accepted by Donna Francis on behalf of Creative Book Publishing for Island Kitchen: An Ode to Newfoundland by Chef Mark McCrowe with Sasha Okshevsky 9. Atlantic Book Award for Scholarly Writing: Equal as Citizens: The Tumultuous and Troubled History of a Great Canadian Idea by Richard Starr, accepted by his wife, playwright Wendy Lil Atlantic Books Today

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REVIEWS

Book reviews Discover extended versions of these reviews and new reviews every week on AtlanticBooksToday.ca

Travel

The Great Atlantic Canada Bucket List: One of a Kind Travel Experiences

by Robin Esrock $19.99, paperback, 144 pp.

Dundurn Press, February 2015

In the travel industry, the “bucket list” is now synonymous with your must-dos or best experiences. Veteran travel writer Robin Esrock has compiled both the Central and Western Canada bucket list books and has now published The Great Atlantic Canada Bucket List.

Esrock’s travel guide is categorized by province and devotes much of the book to traveling in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. Thankfully he includes Labrador, a place often overlooked by travel writers due to the sheer remoteness of that northern region. His recommended list of things to do and see leans heavily towards active experiences but not extreme adventures. For instance, Esrock recommends hiking the 41-km Fundy Footpath along New Brunswick’s Fundy shore but cautions that only experienced hikers should attempt the trail.

Esrock rules himself out of that demanding adventure but relishes the hair-raising zip line over New Brunswick’s Grand Falls.

Not all of the recommended activities are strenuous. Local food and drink play a big role in the bucket list book, including tasting a potato smoothie in Florenceville, NB; oysters and lobsters in PEI; a brewery and tasting tour in Halifax; and Newfoundland and Labrador’s iceberg vodka, iceberg beer and the infamous Newfoundland Screech. And no deep fryers please, as the author is elegantly served the whole raw, but delicious, scallop at a Quebec scallop farm near the Labrador border.

The beauty of being a travel writer comes straight through in this engaging book as unique, even quirky, adventures are endorsed along with the more standard fare such as Moncton’s Magnetic Hill, Halifax’s Citadel and Cavendish’s Green Gables. The more unique experiences highlighted in the bucket list include getting Screeched-In in St. John’s, contemplating one of Salvador Dali’s most famous surreal paintings in Fredericton and running a race ankle-deep in the red Fundy mud.

Esrock’s bucket list for Atlantic Canada is not your usual travel guidebook since he avoids prices and restaurant endorsements because these things often change before the book is even released. Indeed, even the recommended adventures can go out-of-date such as the Reversing Falls Jet-boat operation that is now closed.

Yet the internet saves the day as the author’s web site – canadianbucketlist.com – features updated information and is occasionally updated with new experiences.

Some quibbling could perhaps point out that a lack of vineyard-wine tastings, beachoutings, winter adventures or a visit Peggy’s Cove tarnish the otherwise excellent travel guide, but above all, good travel writers deserve the freedom to select and recommend what they personally judge to be their best, most authentic experiences.

Dan Soucoup has worked as a bookseller and publisher for many years. He is the author of numerous books including Failures and Fiascos and A Short History of Halifax.

He lives in Dartmouth.

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Fiction

REVIEWS

The Little Book of New Brunswick

by Brian Atkinson $16.95, hardcover, 78 pp.

Nimbus Publishing Ltd., April 2015

Knife Party at the Hotel Europa

by Mark Anthony Jarman $19.95, hardcover, 288 pp.

Goose Lane Editions, March 2015

Ghost of the Southern Cross

by Nellie P. Strowbridge $19.95, paperback, 342 pp.

Flanker Press, February 2015

Lush landscapes, fog rolling in off the bay, rust-coloured jagged rocks and clear, blue streams: these are the images that dominate The Little Book of New Brunswick. Featuring more than 80 photographs by the acclaimed Brian Atkinson, this slender book packs an emotional punch, seducing the viewer with the province’s many charms. The result is an excellent ad campaign for New Brunswick and, indeed, some photos were shot on assignment for the tourism department.

Originally from the West Coast, Atkinson has worked all over the world but makes his home near Fredericton.

In his preface to the book, he writes, “When I look over the photos in this book it is almost like looking at a family photo album, but instead of seeing relatives and friends on each page I catch a glimpse of those moments that, collected together, are the reason I still live in New Brunswick.”

This lovely book is the perfect gift for those who love this province and fine photography.

This book is as much travelogue, novel-in-hiding and prose poem as it is a collection of stand-alone stories. In fact, many of the stories lean on each other, sharing a narrator, point of view, main characters and setting. A Canadian family man falls for a woman who then leaves him. He spends a summer recovering in Rome where he has an affair as hot as his host city.

Plot lovers beware. While that’s the gist of the story, you’ll find no chronological telling of events and therefore little in the way of narrative tension.

Rather, there’s a slow unravelling of a whole tapestry as if all the threads were being pulled at once in an effort to see what the parts are made of.

But, the overall impression is one of startling images, honest confessions, a contemporary world scarred by history and war, deftly wielded prose that dissects the workings and secrets of the heart.

Whatever feelings readers hold about Newfoundland and Labrador’s seal hunt, this fictional account of the sinking of the Southern Cross, which took the lives of 174 sealers, will move hearts.

Where recent non-fiction accounts keep the action out on the ice, this novel stays on shore with families who gathered waiting for news. The story follows two friends, Elizabeth and Maggie, the sister and fiancée of a first-time sealer aboard the Southern Cross.

Using their lives as a vehicle, Strowbridge writes a compelling social history of women’s lives in the outports, of their daily struggle to exist and of the cruel choices they were forced to make. Harsh climate, limited medical care, backbreaking work, disease, restrictive social mores and almost continuous child-bearing combined to wear down body and mind, making death a blessed release for the soul. That these women survived at all, and even managed to find brief moments of joy, is a testament to their strength of character.

Colleen Kitts-Goguen is a freelance writer and broadcaster in Fredericton. You can almost see her house on page 63 of this book.

Darcy Rhyno is a widely published writer of non-fiction. His two collections of short fiction, Conductor of Waves and Holidays are available at darcyrhyno.com.

Margaret Patricia Eaton, Moncton, is a visual arts columnist for the Times & Transcript and an award-winning poet.

Her most recent collection is Vision & Voice with artist Angelica De Benedetti.

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History

REVIEWS

Ledger of the Open Hand

by Leslie Vryenhoek $19.95, paperback, 324 pp.

Breakwater Books, May 2015

Duke

by Sara Tilley $22.00, paperback, 412 pp.

Pedlar Press, March 2015

This debut novel opens with MerielClaire driving to university. She cannot wait to be in a new place, to become a new person. She’s ready to assume fresh expressions, enticing roles, perhaps something modeled by her roommate Daneen, an exotic transplant. Certainly nothing related to her parents or brother.

This coming-of-age tale continues through her young and mid-adulthood.

Meriel-Claire begins to see the pluses, minuses and balances of life, just as clearly as the numbers she constructs and advises on as an accountant and debt counselor each day.

The genesis of the title, a biblical reference, is cited on the overleaf (‘God loves a cheerful giver’) and quoted late in the book: the question resonates throughout the text – how do you calculate the worth and cost of human relationships?

Vryenhoek has a poet’s taste for precision and unusually apt imagery. With this book she also stakes possession to the instincts of a storyteller.

Tilley’s sophomore novel, Duke, which is based on a trove of centuryold journals and letters written by her great-grandfather, chronicles his experiences working up North and his yearning to return home to the life, and love, he left behind.

This follow-up to the excellent Skin Room is a seamless marriage of fact and fiction, using those primary documents as her main source of inspiration. Duke, a young man looking to put his stamp on the world, leaves his outport community of Elliston for work on the Great Lakes steamers as a stevedore, eventually making his way to the Yukon. It’s at an isolated logging cabin maintained by his older brother where Duke’s brush with violence and sudden death has a transformative effect on him. “Alaska,” Tilley writes, “makes the spirit wild and it’s like your virtues wash away.”

Duke crosses literary genres and geographical territory and further establishes Tilley as a considerable literary talent.

Joan Sullivan is managing editor of Newfoundland Quarterly. Her most recent book, In The Field, won the Newfoundland and Labrador Book of the Year Award (non-fiction) in 2013.

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Mike Heffernan was born and raised in St. John’s, NL. He is the author of Rig: An Oral History of the Ocean Ranger Disaster and The Other Side of Midnight: Taxicab Stories. He is currently working on Scumtribe: Ten Years that Changed Newfoundland Music, 1985–95.

The Canny Scot: Archbishop James Morrison of Antigonish

by Peter Ludlow $34.95, paperback, 352 pp.

McGill-Queen’s University Press, March 2015 Archbishop James Morrison of Antigonish (1861–1950) was one of Canada’s last ascetic and powerful churchmen.

Historian Peter Ludlow’s The Canny Scot, the latest addition to the McGillQueen’s Studies in the History of Religion series, is Morrison’s biography.

In addition to examining Morrison’s personality, Ludlow also considers his tarnished legacy in relation to the internationally lauded Antigonish Movement, which he helped to create.

Ludlow does an excellent job of situating Morrison within his time and place. Today we forget the threat of communism, the viciousness of coal miners’ strikes, the thinness of the social safety net. A biography is only as strong, however, as the information the writer is able to glean. Ludlow is a fine researcher and a clear writer, but the lack of personal letters and papers, especially from Morrison’s early years, keeps us from knowing the man as well as we might.

Laurie Glenn Norris is a reviewer and writer in River Hebert, Nova Scotia.

Her book Haunted Girl has recently been optioned for a feature film.

Poetry

REVIEWS

Our Sable Island Home

by Sharon O’Hara with Mary O’Hara $19.95, paperback, 176 pp.

Pottersfield Press, November 2014

The Grey Islands

by John Steffler $20.00, paperback, 203 pp.

Brick Books Classics 2, February 2015

geo*logics

by Stephen Rowe $16.95, paperback, 72 pp.

Breakwater Books, March 2015

Our Sable Island Home opens on April 23, 1951 as the O’Hara family board the Edward Cornwallis in Halifax with all their worldly possessions. They were bound for the famous (and isolated) sandbar in the Atlantic where Ernest O’Hara was to take up duties as a wireless operator.

The back cover states that “the book tells stories that bring to life the hardships, worries, desperation, fears and uncertainties that come with such isolation.”

Our Sable Island Home delivers what it says. Yet in spite of being ill-equipped to handle every misfortune, (and there were heartbreaking situations), the story never gets mired in pity or regret. It’s a casual, conversational read that is interspersed with information about island life through the eyes of Sharon and Mary O’Hara, ages six and seven.

Bonus: there’s a lovely chapter that includes an endearing letter from the authors’ father to their mother, 33 years after they left Sable Island.

Brick Books celebrated its ruby anniversary with a classic edition of former Parliamentary Poet Laureate John Steffler’s masterpiece, The Grey Islands, featuring a new introduction

by Adrian Fowler.

Despite being a mainlander, Steffler captures the spirit and ruggedness of the place like an Islander.

Toronto’s Steffler writes, “the ground is solid rock. the clouds are solid rock./ the trees are solid rock. the snow is solid rock./ the sea is solid rock. the sun is solid rock” A place known world-round as The Rock, Steffler’s in-depth mining of Newfoundland’s unique culture and heritage is both truthful and fabricated, a tightrope of myth and memory.

He toys with Newfoundland’s lyrical dialect, and embodies the windswept coastal weather and isolation.

Steffler understood Newfoundland, its ruggedness, wildness, and untameable landscape. The very core of The Grey Islands isn’t cartography or its geography, but a portrait of its people, who are as rare and remarkable as the island on which they dwell.

This Newfoundland poet’s second book covers classic themes of poetry; the first section inquires into loss, the second into reason. He does so through classic subjects, like one’s hometown, or the author’s relationship with his parents.

Rowe chooses “My Father’s Pocket Knife” as both a starting point to describe their bond – “The handle curved like the back of a German brown / he taught me to raise from rippling water / with nothing but a line and hope” – but also a metaphor: “a stainless steel elongation of himself ”.

Rowe’s meditations on his place in the world suggest the ecopoetics of Thoreau, and of Halifax’s Brian Bartlett. The apt yet original phrases describe things like a “narrow stretch of lane, fence funneled” and a “sawblade shoreline”. He approaches hefty concerns with lightness; in discussing the inevitability of endings, “Touch” asks that you “hold out the stem of your hands” to autumn’s “martyrs”, falling leaves. geo*logics successfully mixes classic aspects of poetry with a deft use of language and form to create something wholly Rowe’s own.

Sandra Phinney is a Yarmouth Countybased journalist and photographer. She’s travelled many times to Newfoundland and Labrador and has great respect for her people’s traditions and lifestyle.

Shannon Webb-Campbell is a Halifaxbased poet, writer and journalist of mixed Aboriginal ancestry, and the inaugural winner of Egale Canada’s Out in Print Award. Still No Word (Breakwater Books, 2015) is her first collection of poems.

Kathy Mac has published two books of poetry and, as Kathleen McConnell, one book of lyric essays. She runs the creative writing programs at St. Thomas University in Fredericton.

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Music

Graphic novel

Inspirational

REVIEWS

The History of Canadian Rock ‘N’ Roll

by Bob Mersereau $24.99, paperback, 320 pp.

Backbeat Books, March 2015

The Disappearance of Charley Butters

by Zach Worton $15.00, paperback, 128 pp.

Conundrum Press, April 2015

In typical Canadian fashion, the American success of Joni Mitchell, The Band and Neil Young came not because the musicians had conquered their homeland, but because they had to leave if they wanted to succeed.

Bob Mersereau’s detail-packed, propulsive journey through 50 years of Canadian music flows with style and ease, dipping in and out of places – Toronto, Winnipeg, Halifax, Laurel Canyon, Greenwich Village – and scenes effortlessly. He keeps an eye on a chosen handful – Young, Mitchell, Robbie Robertson, Paul Anka – sticking to the rock/folk realm, with respectful asides to French (Celine Dion), pop-country (Shania Twain) and the more recent rises of Alanis Morissette, Avril Lavigne, Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire.

A pervasive Canadian inferiority complex is unfortunate – stop pointing it out and maybe it will go away – but it doesn’t hurt the wealth of information, knowledge and trivia-night fodder on display here.

Travis discovers a cabin in the woods while shooting a no-budget music video for the black-metal band he is reluctantly enlisted in. It’s the abandoned home of Charley Butters, who decades before ran away from a life on the cusp of artistic success and built a new one, free from humanity.

Charley’s diaries, honest accounts of a man dealing with mental illness and lost creative promise, keep Travis up at night. Travis sees Charley’s decision as a challenge.

Making this choice easier is the fact that Travis surrounds himself with other angrily unfulfilled people. There is a one-note quality to the relationships – they are openly antagonistic to each other, all the time, to the point where the conflict has no meaning.

Visually, there’s a lot to enjoy here.

Handsome linework brings a nice energy to the book. Worton draws faces simply and it’s a great choice that sells emotion.

Backgrounds and figures are rendered more realistically, but the character’s hands are almost too much so. He’s a talented draftsman and these elements could complement each other to better effect in future stories.

In the Spirit: Reflections on Everyday Grace

by Monica Graham $19.95, paperback, 178 pp.

Nimbus Publishing Ltd., April 2015

Tara Thorne is a typical Haligonian in that she has many jobs, some more paid than others. Her employers include The Coast, CBC Radio and the rock band Dance Movie.

Mike Holmes is an author/illustrator from Halifax. His books True Story & This American Drive (Invisible Publishing) are available everywhere. His new book Secret Coders, with Gene Luen Yang (First Second Publishing) launches this fall.

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When Halifax’s Chronicle Herald discontinued its religion page in 2013, readers of journalist Monica Graham’s weekly “In the Spirit” column, a mainstay since 2005, urged her to write a book. And so she did by compiling 60 of her columns into a pocketsize book filled with wit, wisdom and wonder.

“We’re more than the sum of our physiological parts,’ she writes, contemplating the mystery of human creation and the development of her own personal spirituality, ‘which came about because the column created a dialogue with readers who opened my eyes and challenged my viewpoints.”

Now her audience has widened to reach anyone who’s marveled at the survival of a salamander under a rock or at photographs of the Earth from space or who thought their day was going badly until television coverage of a tsunami changed their perspective. No matter how great or trivial, Graham has the gift of sifting through the events of our daily lives to make thoughtful connections with “something greater than us.”

Margaret Patricia Eaton is a visual arts columnist for the Moncton Times & Transcript and an award winning poet.

Her most recent book is Vision & Voice with artist Angelica De Benedetti.

REAL GOOD FOOD

by Valerie Mansour

Two cookbooks caught our eye for our first summer issue.

Former The Coast restaurant reviewer Liz Feltham recently published her latest collection, A Real Newfoundland Scoff: Using Traditional Ingredients in Today’s Kitchens. And Dr. Wanda Thomas Bernard, a well-known member of Nova Scotia’s African-Canadian community published Creating Good Food. Both authors understand and appreciate the importance of basic, fresh, healthy meals to one’s community and heritage. They honour traditional recipes while providing a modern twist. These two books provide irresistible recipes to try this summer.

Pineapple, Dijon mustard and crunchy bell peppers give this salad a fresh kick.

Joseph Muise

MAKE IT TONIGHT

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FOOD RECIPES

Sweet Potato Salad

From Creating Good Food I first made this salad for our pastor’s anniversary luncheon, which was primarily a salad feast. It was a big hit.

I prefer to garnish it with cilantro as it adds a bountiful flavour.

high for about 10 minutes, turning at 5 minutes. Let them cool, then peel and cut into chunks. Mix mayonnaise, mustard and seasonings in large bowl.

Add sweet potato chunks and all other ingredients. Toss gently until evenly coated. Add garnish.

Yield: 8 servings.

2 large sweet potatoes 3 tablespoons light mayonnaise 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard ½ teaspoon sea salt 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 tablespoon ground cumin 2 large celery stalks, coarsely chopped ½ cup thinly sliced red pepper ½ cup thinly sliced orange pepper ½ cup coarsely chopped fresh pineapple ¼ cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped 1 small green onion, thinly sliced for garnish: chopped chives, cilantro or mint

Scott Munn

1 Prick the sweet potatoes in several places. Wash well. Microwave them on

3 eggs 5 tablespoons lemon juice 6 tablespoons heavy (35%) cream ¼ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon chopped lemon zest 3 ounces cream cheese 2 ounces mascarpone ¼ cup sugar 1 (9-inch) tart shell, pre-baked 2 cups blueberries ¼ cup blueberry or cassis liqueur

1 Preheat oven to 325ºF. 2 Using an electric mixer, combine eggs, lemon juice, cream, salt, lemon For this tar t, you can use your zest, cream cheese, mascarpone, and favourite tar t dough recipe or, if like sugar and whisk on medium until me you despise making tar t dough, smooth. Pour into tart shell and bake just buy one. The filling will cover until set, about 20–25 minutes. any sins brought on by commercial 3 Remove from oven and let cool for shells. Raspberries work well ½–1 hour. too, but if you want to use 4 Combine berries with liqueur and par tridgeberries you may find that arrange over tart. combining them with lemon dials up 5 Serve chilled, or at room temperature, the pucker factor a bit too high. In if you can’t wait for it to chill. that case, orange juice and zest can step in to replace the lemon.

Makes one 9-inch tart ■

Blueberry Lemon Tart

From A Real Newfoundland Scoff

MAKE IT AHEAD

Use the seasonal berries of your choice to make this a truly oneof-a-kind dessert.

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FOOD REVIEWS

Creating Good Food Edited by Dr. Wanda Thomas Bernard $19.95, paperback, 154 pp.

Four East Publications, September 2014

What a great idea to collect recipes celebrating the African-Canadian community while encouraging people to eat healthily. A project of the Nova Scotia Association of Black Social Workers, Creating Good Food offers recipes for every course – snacks, sauces and breads – plus cooking tips and ideas for keeping well.

The recipes are easily explained and use healthy ingredients. (I’ll close my eyes to that Kraft Dinner Casserole.) There’s a bit of the exotic here with recipes such as African Groundnut Soup, and Unripe Plantain with Vegetable Potage and Jollof Rice from Nigeria. The wonderful flavours of Jamaica are encouraged with Jerk Chicken and Ackee and Salt Fish, while there’s a tempting recipe from Guyana called Cookup Rice with Black-eyed Peas. The book has a nice local feel and foods suitable for a crowd. We’re told Fish Cakes with Zesty Tomato Sauce are a huge hit at the annual Taste East Preston event.

The editor provides a detailed chart on each page so you can measure the good stuff, like vitamins and other nutrients, as well as sugars and fat. Unfortunately, the book’s design, while accessible, is plain, and the photos don’t make you drool.

But the recipes are the cooks’ favourites and were submitted with love and a sense of sharing. “I never make it for myself,” writes contributor Evelina Upshaw. “It is my gift to the community.”

A Real Newfoundland Scoff Using Traditional Ingredients in Today’s Kitchens

by Liz Feltham $19.95, paperback, 98 pp.

Nimbus Publishing, May 2015 There aren’t too many cookbooks with a “From the Air” chapter, but where else would you put recipes for grouse, ptarmigan and turr?

Little did I know that you could sear grouse breast in a port sauce, cook wild mushrooms with ptarmigan or concoct a blueberry glaze for turr. Feltham, a trained chef, treats popular traditional Newfoundland foods with respect and imagination – whether from the sea, land, ground or the all-important bakeshop. It’s a book that Newfoundlanders in particular should appreciate.

As expected, there are many seafood recipes including Lobster Risotto with Spring Peas and Saffron, Scallop Ceviche and the ever-popular cod tongues presented in the fashion of Louisiana’s Po’ Boy Sandwiches. And she doesn’t shy away from seal, showcasing it in Seal Rillettes and Blueberry Braised Seal Flipper.

There’s a nice international touch with Asian Squid Stir-fry and Tandoori Barbecued Leg of Lamb. For game lovers, how about Molasses Marinated Moose Steak and Caribou Roast? Even desserts have a Newfoundland edge – Chocolate Screech Cake with Chocolate Coconut Icing, anyone?

A Real Newfoundland Scoff is quite a tasty treat, replete with anecdotes from the author’s childhood and lots of culinary history and Newfoundland foodways. Feltham writes with a warm and friendly spirit in this attractive book with lovely photographs by Halifax’s Scott Munn. You’ll never look at Newfoundland cuisine the same again.

“Growing up in Newfoundland seems to be a bit of a culinary contradiction.

While the seasoning palate was limited, the self-sufficiency and ingenuity that our forefathers relied upon were still prevalent.”

Valerie Mansour combines her love of food and books as our food section editor. Based in Halifax, she works as a writer, editor and documentary film researcher.

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BOOK BITES EXCERPTS

Barren the Fury

by Brenda Leifso

“

Prologue to the end of a dream christened war. you must decide when and where waking and story begin. which lies remain necessary. understand from you we expect truth.

$20.00, paperback, 96 pp.

Pedlar Press, May 2015

The Beginning

That first spring, no ominous sign.

Crows squawked, continued to eye the world. They carried their days like cherry twigs. Rain washed the Don’t mistake me for deliverance. blossoms along the gutters and all the earth moved I have conjured no rainbows in my lifetime within softened veins, spilling into, I have not gathered elephants two by two flushing out, salmon steering towards the sea. nor crows, lions, dogs nor bears.

My daughter, though, was born finless.

I have forgotten how to count Eddies caught her – one by one caught all the stillborn daughters, have erased multiplication and purification pinned them under water and rock: from memory. In my salt-soaked brain, I hold we could not save them. Then the sun flared. only one. I. We gnawed our own skin, cut our leaking breasts.

We raged at doctors, who could not On my raft – tall cedars joined with hair rope – explain.

I I I do nothing but float. Bob for fish bellies, banana clumps, a stray leg once in a while. Horrid, hideous – yes.

I I I’ve grown exhausted with myself, with floods and the thousand shades composing each hour of each endless day.

Conception I Everything comes to nothing in the end.

Listen.

I did try, at first.

Bread for the girls who ventured into the streets.

Leave the cuttings on the counter, A dollar here, a dollar there to get a pregnant woman out the dish rag in the sink. when there was still an out to get to.

Go out from the city to a rain-dry plain.

But I am not a brave man.

God does not speak to me.

Sit.

Noah

In every man’s life there comes a time to pull the blinds, lock the door.

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Your romances do not matter now.

Think about consequence.

”

BOOK BITES EXCERPTS

A History of Nova Scotia in 50 Objects

by Joan Dawson

$21.95, paperback, 208 pp.

Nimbus Publishing May 2015

“

Object #31 – Joseph Howe’s Printing Press: 1819 In the foyer of the Nova Scotia Archives building, this old iron printing press stands alongside a row of computers. In a few years’ time the computers will have become obsolete, replaced by newer models, and discarded.

But this press will continue to be preserved because of the important part it played in Nova Scotia’s history.

From Gutenberg’s time in the fifteenth century onwards, texts have been printed on presses that allow multiple copies to be produced at ever-increasing speeds.

While they have varied in design over the years, until recently, commercial presses all operated on the same principle: type was set, letter by letter, and transferred to the press, where ink was applied, transferring the ink to the paper. […]

A printer named Bartholomew Green brought the first printing press to Halifax, from Boston, in 1751. While Green unfortunately died soon after his arrival, his business associate, John Bushell, took over his press and type and set up a printing shop on Grafton Street. It was here that the first newspaper in Canada, The Halifax Gazette, was printed in 1752. It was well

received, and soon other newspapers sprang up to rival it in popularity. […]

Numerous printers were working in the downtown area by the mid-nineteenth century, and not only newspaper publishers. The Halifax printing industry grew quickly: some printers were stationers, selling ruled ledgers and account books; some printed books; and some were booksellers.

One of Halifax’s early printers was John Howe, also from Boston, a Loyalist who established a print shop on the corner of Barrington and Sackville Streets in 1780. There, he published a newspaper, The Halifax Journal. Howe was the most successful of the Halifax printers of his day, and in 1801 he was appointed King’s Printer, responsible for printing official government documents. But it is his son Joseph, born in 1804, who is now remembered as one of Nova Scotia’s distinguished printers, publishers, and journalists, and this is his press.

The press was designed and patented in 1819 by John Wells of

Hartford, Connecticut, and Joseph, who had established his own printing business, bought it in the 1820s from a fellow Halifax printer. It served him well. Marjorie Whitelaw summarizes Howe’s printing career in her book, First Impressions: “On this machine Joe Howe, as publisher of The Novascotian, printed the editorials in which he developed his political philosophy; this was the very press on which the mighty battle for responsible government was argued and won.” […] Howe went on to a political career in which he stood up for the interests of citizens against the self-interest of officials. He was first elected as a member of the Assembly in 1836 and became speaker in 1841. He continued to write for The Novascotian and Morning Chronicle, and his editorials between 1854 and 1856 vigorously promoted the Reform Party’s efforts to achieve responsible government for the province. The highlight of his career was a successful campaign that made Nova Scotia the first of the British colonies to achieve this status.

”

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BOOK BITES EXCERPTS

Newfoundland: An Island Apart

by Dennis Minty

$18.95, hardcover, 80 pp.

“

42

Breakwater Books April 2015

Introduction To belong to a place is a gift. And I have been blessed with a profound and abiding sense of belonging to Newfoundland. My family has lived here for four generations before me, and my grandchildren comprise the seventh generation. As my birthplace and home, Newfoundland dominates my photography and my life more than any other place. For more than forty years as a photographer, I have been seeking out the island’s gems and the light that washes over them.

Since the publication of my first book of Newfoundland images, Wildland Visions, the craft of photography has evolved and I with it. Starting as an enthusiast, I now make it my living.

It is through photography, through learning the light and seeing the life of the landscape, that my connection with nature is the strongest. And this is how I’ve come to learn that the island of Newfoundland is a place apart.

Even the seasons here announce their arrival differently. Our spring does not

atlanticbookstoday.ca

occur as a sudden flourish, but rather pushes winter aside ever so slowly. On the northeast coast, March and April are the time of glorious sea ice sliding down on the Labrador Current and bringing with it harp seals and the occasional polar bear. The play of colour on the myriad glowing shapes is simply enchanting. The sea ice is followed by the great ice giants, icebergs brought from Greenland and the Canadian Arctic on a sea path known to both navigators and locals as Iceberg Alley.

Then the seabirds and whales appear with certain knowledge that the capelin will soon roll and bring an abundance of life to beaches and waters around the island. Gradually, the days grow longer and warmer as summer takes over, and a saltwater tang caresses the clean, clear air. Days on the water feel heaven-sent.

Whales and seabirds abound. It is a time to be out and about.

Then, far too soon, a crispness invades the wind, a single leaf turns yellow, and the first insinuation of fall seeps in. At

first, it is a disappointment that summer is over so early, but then I embrace the fall, my favourite time of year. The mosquitoes are gone, hiking opportunities are plentiful, and shooting comes easy in the warm, long-shadowed light. Winter, with its snow storms, reshapes and cleanses the landscape, turning rough, hard edges to soft forms that cast long, blue shadows across the land. Snowshoe-clad, I wander from shape to shape flicking up diamonds in my wake. Then, spring pushes winter aside ever so slowly.

I can be awed by the beauty and diversity of other places like Antarctica, the Hebrides, or the Rocky Mountains. I can photograph them and enjoy the process immensely. But the connection is different. They are not my place. I am a visitor. But in Newfoundland, I'm not a visitor. I belong. Just as the whales, seabirds, and caribou belong.

So with this book, small in size but large in spirit, I want to celebrate in images what this place means to me.

”

BOOK BITES EXCERPTS

“Even the seasons here announce their arrival differently. Our spring does not occur as a sudden flourish, but rather pushes winter aside ever so slowly. ”

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BOOK BITES REGIONAL READS

Books to help you enjoy the great outdoors Pam Estabrook

If you’re like me, you can’t wait to be surrounded by nature and the beautiful sights of Atlantic Canada

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FIELD GUIDES

HIKING GUIDES

The newest in the line of field guides from Boulder Publications is Wildflowers of New Brunswick

by Todd Boland.

This guide will help you identify over 700 species of wildflowers with its userfriendly design, clear colour photographs and detailed descriptions.

Also new from Boulder is Geology of Nova Scotia by Martha Hickman Hild and Sandra M. Barr. Other field guides by Todd Boland include Wildflowers of Nova Scotia, Trees and Shrubs of the Maritimes and Trees and Shrubs of Newfoundland and Labrador. Also look for Geology of Newfoundland by Martha Hickman Hild, Birds of Newfoundland by Ian Warkentin and Sandy Newton, and Edible Plants of Atlantic Canada and Edible Plants of Newfoundland and Labrador by Peter J. Scott.

New in June is the latest hiking trail guide from Michael Haynes: Trails of Prince Edward Island.

The guide lists 55 hiking and cycling trails, and includes maps, GPS coordinates, photographs and tips – everything the outdoor enthusiast needs to enjoy the Island.

Other hiking guides by Michael Haynes from Goose Lane Editions include Hiking Trails of Mainland Nova Scotia (9th edition), Trails of Halifax Regional Municipality (2nd edition) and Hiking Trails of Cape Breton (2nd edition).

Looking for a hiking guide to the Rock? Try Hikes of Eastern Newfoundland by Mary Smyth and Fred Hollingshurst and Hikes of Western Newfoundland by Katie Broadhurst and Anne Alexandra Fortin from Boulder Publications.

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FOR THE YOUNG READER New from Nimbus Publishing is Be A Beach Detective: Solving The Mysteries of Sea, Sand and Surf, Peggy Kochanoff ’s follow-up to Be A Wilderness Detective.

The author combines her experience as a biologist and her talent as an artist to provide answers to young readers’ questions about the beach and ocean life. This is the kind of book I would have loved as a child. It's brimming with beautiful watercolour illustrations and fascinating facts.

Another great book to satisfy your young reader’s curiosity about nature is Are You Looking For Me? by Charlene Lewis from Glen Margaret Publishing. Those with keen eyes can spot the surprise hiding on each page, reminiscent of Where’s Waldo. Each photo is followed by fun facts about the creature, be it a woodpecker, dragonfly or a raccoon. ■

Pam Estabrook is Regional

Procurement Specialist for Indigo.

Vi s i t

BOOK BITES EVENTS

AtlanticB o to discooksToday.ca/events

GRAB YOUR SUN HAT IT’S FESTIVAL SEASON

readingvser festivals, signingsand book a the regiocross n

July 4–August 12 PORT MEDWAY READERS' FESTIVAL Port Medway, NS Visit this historic village over the summer and you may meet a literary hero.

Ann-Marie MacDonald, Bonnie Stern, Michael Crummey and David Adams Richards will read at ticketed events, which include a book signing and light supper followed by refreshments at the fire hall. Find dates and ticket info at portmedwayreadersfestival.com July 11 READ BY THE SEA River John, NS Grab your lawn chair and head down to the River John Legion Gardens for this fantastic one-day reading festival featuring authors Linden MacIntyre, Isabel Huggan, Giles Blunt and Maureen Jennings, plus musical guests Meaghan Smith and Jason Mingo. Learn more at readbythesea.ca July 18 KEJIMKUJIK STORYTELLING FESTIVAL Annapolis County, NS Parks Canada once more hosts Kejimkujik National Park's annual storytelling event! In addition to traditional Mi'kmaw storytelling and contemporary authors reading from their books, you’ll discover workshops and demonstrations by local artisans amid nature’s beauty. Regular park admission fees apply. Learn more at parkscanada.gc.ca/keji July 18 WOOZLES' WRITES! CONTEST Young Atlantic writers are invited to submit their stories to be judged by a panel of Atlantic authors! Learn how to enter in the Woozles ad on page 21

August 6–9 WINTERSET IN SUMMER Eastport, NL For 13 years this unique literary festival has celebrated the Rock’s writers.This year BMO Winterset Award-nominee Michael Crummey and -winner Megan Gail Coles, Terry Fallis, Andrew Peacock and others will discuss their writing with hosts Mack Furlong and Jamie Fitzpatrick. See the schedule at wintersetinsummer.ca

August 11–16 WRITERS AT WOODY POINT Woody Point, NL This 11th festival year welcomes Kathleen Winter, Elisabeth de Mariaffi, Lawrence Hill and Margaret Atwood, plus musicians including The Weakerthans’ John K. Sampson and Can-con fave Bruce Cockburn. Each year these events sellout fast, so order your tickets early at writersatwoodypoint.com

EVENTS

Explore our region this summer and take-in some of Canada’s favourite authors

Lives and Landscapes A Photographic Memoir of Outport Newfoundland and Labrador, 1949–1963 Elmer Harp, Jr. Edited by M.A. Priscilla Renouf 200 colour photos, paperback

“… offers a glimpse into a now-vanished outport world and shows some of the early changes that transformed this world.”

–Louise Abbott, author of The CoastWay: A Portrait of the English on the Lower North Shore of the St Lawrence

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Great Summer Reading!

Mattie’s Story by Margaret A. Westlie

“A superior novel ... A writer to be watched.”

Elizabeth Cran, The Guardian

This is the Cat $18.95 978-1-77103-060-1 / Fiction/Humour

Prince Edward Island in 1847: Mattie Cameron is about to be married, but she doesn’t even know the first name of her groom.

Join the Community! Read the Selkirk Stories novels by Margaret A. Westlie.

Mattie’s Story is available in bookstores on PEI or order online at www.margaretwestlie.com and use the discount code 7P89E6LU for $5.00 off for Atlantic Books Today readers.

Milton Acorn: The People’s Poet Compiled by Kent Martin & Errol Sharpe Preface by Errol Sharpe; Photographs by Kent Nason

At Nanny’s House $12.95 978-1-77103-049-6 / Children’s

A multi-media collectors item containing published poems as well as a DVD containing a documentary of Milton’s life and recorded readings by Milton Acorn.

Wake the Stone Man A Novel by Carol McDougall Winner of the 2013 Beacon Award for Social Justice Literature, this is the story of two friends torn apart by personal tragedy and the impact of the residential school system, and their attempts to navigate the complicated road back to friendship and forgiveness.

9781552667262 $24.95

9781552667217 $20.95

RoSeWAyPubliShiNg fernwoodpublishing.ca/roseway

THE CANADIAN COAST GUARD FLEET 1962 – 2012 Down to Bowring’s $19.95 978-1-77103-061-9 / Memoir/History

TUCKAMORE BOOKS • KILLICK PRESS • CREATIVE PUBLISHERS

36 Austin Street, St. John’s, NL, A1B 3T7 Tel. 709-748-0813 • Fax 709-579-6511 www.creativebookpublishing.ca

A pictorial and technical survey of the ships, hovercraft and helicopters that have served in the Canadian Coast Guard during its first fifty years.

Over 300 photographs in black and white and colour with ship descriptions and technical details.

Hardcover $50, softcover $40, plus shipping.

Order online at www.longhillpublishing.ca

Long Hill Publishing Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada

Atlantic Books Today

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A History of Nova Scotia in 50 Objects

By Joan Dawson History | $21.95

Be a Beach Detective

By Peggy Kochanoff Nonfiction (5–10) | $14.95

In the Spirit: Reflections on Everyday Grace War at Sea: Canada and

By Monica Graham the Battle of the Atlantic Inspiration | $19.95

By Ken Smith Military History | $17.95

The King of Keji Story by Jan L. Coates Art by Patsy MacKinnon Picture Book (4–8) | $12.95 Jacob’s Landing

By Daphne Greer Fiction (8–12) | $12.95

The Little Book of New Brunswick

By Brian Atkinson Photography | $16.95

Here Babies, There Babies Story by Nancy Cohen Art by Carmen Mok Board Book | $8.95

All titles are available online and in stores from your favourite bookseller!