Alumni Publish

King’s is pleased to share announcements of books alumni have published that we learned about this year. You will also find announcements of previously published books that have been nominated for awards in ALUMNOTES.

Gail (MacDonald) Crawford, BA’55,

DipJ’55, has written three books, A Fine Line Studio Crafts in Ontario from 1930 to the Present (Dundurn Press), Studio Ceramics in Canada (Goose Lane) and Hearts of Oak: A Gaelic Legacy, published in 2015 (Boularderie Island Press). Together with Lynn J. Salmon, author John M. MacFarlane, BSc’70, has chronicled the journey of Captain John Voss, a Canadian sailor who in 1901 circumnavigated the globe in a dugout red cedar canoe called the Tilikum. For Around the World in a Dugout Canoe: The Untold Story of Captain John Voss and the Tilikum, the North American Society for Oceanic History has awarded them the John Lyman Book Award.

Though some personal accounts exist from Voss and original mate N.K. Luxton, this book draws on research from libraries, archives, museums and primary sources around the world to provide a full and fair account of the remarkable voyage.

Alan McHughen’s, 1972, latest book, DNA Demystified, brings the reader up to speed on what we know, what we don’t and where genetic technologies are taking us. From laying the basic groundwork and a brief history of DNA and genetics, to newsworthy topics like DNA fingerprinting, using DNA in forensic analyses and identifying cold-case criminals, DNA Demystified offers an informal yet authoritative guide to the genetic marvel of DNA.

Martine Jacquot, BJ’84, author of over 30 books, has a new trilogy of historical fiction novels that is being published in Europe and Africa: Les Terres Douces is set in the ’40s to the ’50s; Les Glycines is set in the ’50s to the ’60s; and Les Colombes is set in the ’70s. The publisher, Prince Kum’a Ndumbe III, salutes the essential role of women throughout history as painted in Jacquot’s writing.

Alan Doerksen, BJ’88, has published the novel The Lost Princess of Loulan—a historical fiction story about a young woman

in the ancient western Chinese kingdom of Loulan who is tragically lost at a young age and grows up not knowing her true identity as the heir to the throne.

Jane Doucet, BJ(Hons)’93, is pleased to announce that Vagrant Press, the fiction imprint of Nimbus Publishing, will publish her second novel, Fishnets & Fantasies—a funny, heartwarming story about a married couple in their late 50s who open a sex shop in Lunenburg, N.S.—in July of 2021. Fishnets & Fantasies is currently available for online preorders at Indigo/Chapters and Amazon. Jane’s first novel, The Pregnant Pause, was shortlisted for a 2018 Whistler Independent Book Award. She is working on her third novel, which will combine characters and locations from her first two books.

Lindsay Cameron Wilson, BA’95, BJ’99, and Justine Barnhart have created a new cookbook, FOOD + REFLECTION. The book is an intimate collection of 20 recipes photographed through Lindsay’s kitchen window during isolation. They will be donating a portion of the sales to The North Grove, a Dartmouth, N.S., non-profit organization and community hub that offers services and space for people to learn and connect through family support, food and friendship. Robert Muggah, BA(Hons)’97, and Ian Goldin have published Terra Incognita: 100 Maps to Survive the Next 100 Years. The book, published by Penguin Random House, is being released in 10 languages and in countries across the world. Terra Incognita highlights the power of maps to improve awareness and inspire action to solve global challenges. It shows how maps are not just informative but can inspire optimism. In constant need of renewal, maps reveal progress while signalling how a combination of political leadership, smart incentives and regulatory pressure can improve the human condition. At a time when we feel inundated with data, maps help cut through the noise and offer deeper insight into our transforming world.

Chad Lucas, BJ(Hons)’01, has written Thanks A Lot, Universe. Brian has always been anxious, but things get worse when he and his brother are placed in foster care. Ezra notices Brian pulling away and wants to help, but he worries his friends might figure out he has a crush on Brian. But when Brian and his brother run away, Ezra takes the leap and reaches out. Both boys must decide if they're willing to risk sharing parts of themselves they'd rather hide. If they can be brave, they might find the best in themselves—and each other. Thanks A Lot, Universe will be available from May 2021 from Amulet Books. Natelle Fitzgerald, BJ’02, released her first novel Viaticum, through Now or Never Publishing. Viaticum is a psychological thriller about Annika, whose decision to sell her life insurance policy for cash unexpectedly binds her to Matt, a desperate investor in need of a big payout. It is a drama about two people fighting to maintain their dignity in a world that objectifies them.

In 2015, Eva Holland, BA(Hons)’05, was forced to confront her greatest fear when her mother had a stroke and suddenly passed away. After the shock and grief subsided, Holland began to examine the extent to which her many fears had limited her and wondered whether or not it was possible to move past them. Fear is a universal human experience and Nerve, published by Penguin Random House, answers these questions in a refreshingly accessible way, offering readers an often personal, sometimes funny and always rigorously researched journey through the science of facing our fears. Nerve was one of four Canadian titles named to Time’s, “100 Must-Read Books of 2020” list, and was listed on the Smithsonian Magazine’s “Ten Best Science Books of 2020.”

Emily Sharpe, BA(Hons)’05, has published a book entitled, Mosaic Fictions: Writing Identity in the Spanish Civil War. It is the first book-length critical analysis of Canadian Spanish Civil War literature.

The book focuses on the extensive contributions of Jewish Canadian authors as they articulate the stakes of the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) in the language of nascent North American multiculturalism. The book demonstrates how marginalized North American supporters of the Spanish Republic crafted narratives of inclusive citizenship amidst a national crisis not entirely their own.

Natural Killer is a harrowing personal account of Harriet Alida Lye’s, BA(Hons)’09, battle with cancer at age 15. Her rare form of leukemia, the eponymous ‘Natural Killer,’ has a grim prognosis. Yet she survived and at age 30 became pregnant—something she was told her extensive chemotherapy would make near impossible. Drawing from personal and family accounts from her time at the hospital as well as contemporary reflections, this is an intimate portrait of illness and learning to trust in your body again.

David Huebert, BA(Hons)’08, has published a new book of poetry, Humanimus. Humanimus presents a world of soiled nature, of compromised ecology, of toxic transcendence. Raising environmental precarity to the level of mythos, this book implicates readers in what Dominic Pettman calls the “humanimalchine,” where modern cyborg bodies are rewired and remixed with mechanical membranes and animal prostheses. Revelling in corporeal excess and industrial abjection, Humanimus fans the ash of the human experiment to see what strange beauty might wilt and whimper there.

Wolfville, N.S.-based writer Deborah Hemming, BA(Hons)’11, has written her first novel. Throw Down Your Shadows is a dark coming-of-age tale that follows a 16-year-old girl whose life and friendships are upended by the arrival of a magnetic new companion.

Jen Powley, BJ’01, MFA’15, has made her first foray into fiction with Sounds Like a Halifax Adventure, which became available on June 15. It’s a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ book for adults about two sounds—Pia, the sound of a door chime, and Edgar, the sound of a refrigerator hum—who go on an adventure to some of Halifax’s landmarks, with multiple possible endings. The book features 16 original illustrations by Bee Stanton.

Powley’s first book Just Jen received the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award at the Atlantic Book Awards.

Janice McDonald’s, MFA’16, book, Fearless: Girls with Dreams, Women with Vision, was published in March and appeared on the Toronto Star’s national bestseller list just a week later.

In this collection of inspiring true stories, McDonald—entrepreneur, speaker, and host of the Fearless Women podcast—brings together more than 100 extraordinary, unafraid women and asks them to look back at the moments in their youth that set them on the path to leadership. From high-profile entrepreneurs to philanthropists, athletes, artists, and states-people, the lives featured in this book represent the many journeys women can take to find their passion, create change and make a monumental impact on the world around them.

No More Nice Girls: Gender, Power, and Why It’s Time to Stop Playing by the Rules, the new book, published by House of Anansi Press, from Lauren McKeon, MFA’16, asks an important question: why do we expect women and other marginalized genders to try to win an unfair game rather than change the rules? A follow-up to her incisive 2017 book, The F-Bomb: Dispatches from the War on Feminism, McKeon examines the institutional discrimination that curbs women’s personal, political and economic power, and posits that lone success stories of women who break through shouldn’t be a measure of success.

Christian Smith’s, MFA’17, MFA-project book, The Scientist and the Psychic: A Son’s Exploration of his Mother’s Gift, is a captivating, one-of-a-kind memoir about a scientist’s life with his famous psychic mother and his revealing exploration of the paranormal realm.

Today, Smith is a molecular biologist at a hospital in Toronto, and his mother, Geraldine, is retired and in poor health. They are closer than they’ve ever been, and now he shares the story of her undeniable perceptual abilities and pioneering work as a psychic—and endeavours to make scientific sense of it. Karen Stiller, MFA’18, had her book project published by Tyndale House Publishers (Chicago) in May 2020 as The Minister’s Wife: a memoir of faith, doubt, friendship, forgiveness and more. The spiritual memoir-in-essays explores themes of faith and belonging.

Jenni (Evyenia) Sisovitis, MFA’19, has published a collection of poetry and prose, What I Remember About Dying. Through the collection, she navigates love in all forms. The loss, the longing and the suffering. She also explores mental health and the ways in which it can dictate another person’s life. With multiple voices diversified in age, this collection introduces the reader to a speaker who is learning what love is all over again.

Iguana Books published Marilyn Carr’s, MFA’20, book, Nowhere Like This Place: Tales From a Nuclear Childhood, in the fall of 2020. Nowhere Like This Place tells the story of growing up in the quirky, isolated, company town of Deep River, Ont., in the 1960s and ’70s.

Jennifer Bain, MFA’20, is pleased to announce that her first travel book, 111 Places in Calgary That You Must Not Miss, has been published by Emons Verlag in Germany. It’s part of a global series of insider guides. These are not your typical travel guides. The chapters revolve around quirky things like abandoned places, cemeteries, haunted places, historical crimes, public art, artifacts and interesting washrooms. Each chapter gets a two-page spread with a fullpage colour photo and a 300-word, Atlas Obscura-style story.

Jon Tattrie, MFA’20, has published Peace by Chocolate. The book tells the extraordinary story of the Hadhad family—Isam, his wife Shahnaz, and their sons and daughters—and the founding of the chocolatier, Peace by Chocolate. From the devastation of the Syrian Civil War, through their life as refugees in Lebanon, to their arrival in a small town in Atlantic Canada, Peace by Chocolate is the story of one family. It is also the story of the people of Antigonish, N.S., and so many towns across Canada, who welcomed strangers and helped them face the challenges of settling in an unfamiliar land.