#69 | Fall/Winter 2016 http://ambp.ca/pbn/ FREE

The accidental plus: New work from David Bergen inside publisher Prairie books for kids page 24 & young adults A feature on As well as fiction, drama, A novel from poetry, & non-fiction strong women gg winner Katherena … and much more! Vermette page 26 page 28 Publications Mail Agreement Number 40023290 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Association of Book Publishers 404–100 Arthur Street, , MB R3B 1H3 Escape into a good book this winter

C.S. Reardon Cora Siré Judith Alguire Endre Farkas

978-1927426-92-0 978-1927426-89-0 $19.95 $19.95 978-1927426-95-1 978-1927426-86-9 $16.95 $19.95

www.signature-editions.com

Reckoning Social Studies Tara Beagan & Andy Moro Trish Cooper 978-1927922-26-2, $15.95 978-1927922-27-9, $15.95

If Truth Be Told True Beverley Cooper Rosa Labordé 978-1927922-28-6, $15.95 978-1927922-25-5, $15.95 FALL 2016 www.jgshillingford.com REPRESENTED BY THE CANADIAN MANDA GROUP • DISTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS

With Love and Keeper a Major Organ Tanisha Taitt Julia Lederer 978-1927922-20-0, $15.95 978-1927922-22-4, $15.95

Vitals Liberation Days Rosamund Small David van Belle 978-1927922-24-8, $15.95 978-1927922-21-7, $15.95 #69 FALL/WINTER TOC 2016

NON- FICTION 7 Sacred FICTION 17 Feminine Love Beyond Space & Time 42 YOUNG ADULT & CHILDREN What Matters

OUR FEATURED PUBLISHER 7 Love Beyond Space & Time: DRAMA Sci-fi anthology gives voices to 24 The accidental publisher: 33 I Am For You: Stage fighting Indigenous LGBT writers Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing a tool for resolution 8 The Archaeologists: Characters STRONG WOMEN attempt to burst through POETRY 26 Rising Abruptly: Climbing acts suburban ennui in new novel 34 On Not Losing My Father’s as metaphor in new collection 9 The Devil Will Come: Story Ashes in the Flood: Poet 27 Stranger: Bergen’s latest a collection explores evil chronicles his father’s life and death in new book powerful novel of haves and NON-FICTION have nots 36 Silent Sister: Collection chronicles 12 Abandoned Manitoba: The 28 The Break: Vermette’s novel poet’s cancer journey friendly provinces forgotten explores identity, culture, violence, 37 Tell Them It Was Mozart: historical sites focus of new book and belonging Poet hopes to educate others 13 Best of Bridge: Cookbook 29 Lifting Weights: Short story about autism showcases 225 slow cooker recipes collection explores strength, YOUNG ADULT & CHILDREN wisdom 14 Firewater: Author challenges readers to talk about alcohol abuse 38 Another Me: YA novel shows 30 Imperial Plots: Book examines how disaster doesn’t discriminate female homesteaders on the 15 Indigenous Writes: Author Prairies wants everyone to understand 39 The Griffin of Darkwood: Indigenous issues Citra explores loss, adventure 31 The Waiting Place: Author’s first and mystery in new novel novel explores pregnancy and 16 The Pipestone Wolves: Book other labours chronicles the downfall of the 40 Panama Pursuit: Oertel release Pipestone wolves 4th book in successful series FICTION 17 Sacred Feminine: Colouring book 41 The Stone Gift: Delaronde’s latest 4 Behold Things Beautiful: Poet’s showcases culture hits home novel one of exile and courage 18 Wildlife, Land, and People: 42 What Matters: Picture book 5 Border Markers: A prairie New book explores conservatism teaches how human actions mystery unravels in flash on the prairies have environmental consequence fiction novel EN FRANÇAIS 6 Hot Town: Small town living the 47 Bookends/About Our Contributors backdrop for Trull’s short stories 32 The latest in Prairie French- language titles fiction HOME PLACE Poet’s novel one of exile and courage by Margaret Goldik

ora Siré brings her poet’s eye for detail and lyrical Clanguage to Behold Things Beautiful, a finely constructed novel which deals with, Siré says, “a recurrent theme in my writing – identity, place, and the sense of belonging.” The protagonist, Alma Alvarez, left the fictional South American country of Luscano 12 years before, after a brutal military coup when she was imprisoned and tortured. She now teaches in Montreal and is writing a book about Uruguayan poet Delmira Agustini. But she is persuaded by an old friend, Flaco, to come back to Luscano where things have not changed as much as she had hoped. Siré remarks that “I’m dealing with the about whom Siré says, “What struck me at the notion of ‘reverse exile’ or what happens outset was the timelessness of her verses, even when someone who was obliged to leave their though they were written in the early 1900s.” country returns after a prolonged absence.” Agustini died young and dramatically, and her Alma’s exile in Canada has left her life as told by Siré adds depth to the experiences grieving for her home and her loved ones. of Alma – “Imagine existing as a free spirit in the As this passage describes, she is able to wrong time, an exile in your own country.” The appreciate Luscano despite her uneasiness poet’s short life and sudden end reinforce what about returning: “Walking with Flaco from Alma knows about the power of poetry. the campus through the downtown traffic, Siré’s poetic descriptions breathe life into an Alma had breathed the city’s imaginary country. “A faint bleaching on the essence in all its layers. Coffee, horizon and the country stirred, beginning with BEHOLD THINGS exhaust fumes, puddles sizzling the airborne, horneros and swallows and pigeons, BEAUTIFUL in the afternoon sun, savoury and above them, the first airplane of the day sliding Cora Siré wafts of empanadas, the leathery south through Luscanan airspace.” Signature Editions pungency of shoe polish, the roses Canadian-born Siré travels to Argentina, Chile, $19.95 pb, 256 pages and lilies offered by vendors along and Uruguay, the countries she drew upon to create isbn: 978-1-927426-89-0 the plaza, and the hawkers’ cries. Luscano, on a regular basis. A short walk, not more than ten “To a large extent,” Siré explains, “Luscano minutes, and an immersion, her reflects my love for, and fears about, the region. I footsteps affirming, I’m back, I’m back.” think that just as you can fall in love with a person, Flaco has asked Alma to return, ostensibly to you can also fall in love with a place.” Her first trip give a lecture on Agustini. He has another, more to Argentina “coincided with the period shortly important, agenda, however, and Alma is forced after the military dictatorship during which 30,000 to face her past. Argentines disappeared, that is, were abducted and Siré takes the reader through two women’s lives killed by the junta,” she says. – Alma, physically and psychically scarred by “So with love comes fear and, through my her torture and imprisonment, who has to decide writing, I’ve explored this dichotomy.” whether or not to deconstruct the protective barriers she has built around herself, and Agustini,

4 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 fiction Murder she wrote A prairie mystery unravels in flash fiction novel by Bev Sandell Greenberg

uthor Jenny Ferguson may well have pioneered a new structure Ain her debut novel Border Markers. Written in 33 flash fiction chapters, it is a compelling story of murder in a small Prairie city.

“I thought my book would likely be students, seemed to feel complete a very large novel, but that didn’t quite enough to give a wide enough picture happen. I stumbled on the flash fiction of the world I wanted to paint.” form and it worked,” says Ferguson. “I The setting of the novel is based on wrote the first chapter and it felt right. Ferguson’s memories of Lloydminster, So I wrote 32 more chapters.” Saskatchewan. “A long time ago, as The story focuses on Poppy, a recent a teenager, I relocated from megacity high school graduate, and her brother Toronto to Lloydminster, where I was Chuck, a drug dealer. At the outset, clearly an outsider. In a way that I Chuck is serving time for the murder of hadn’t expected, Lloydminster branded Poppy’s boyfriend. A year after Chuck’s itself on whatever part of my mind is conviction, Poppy leaves home, using responsible for stories.” travel as an antidote for grief while her In fact, the title of the novel is based parents’ marriage unravels. Much of on an image from Lloydminster’s past. BORDER MARKERS the novel alternates between past and “When I moved there, massive reddish Jenny Ferguson present to reveal the events orange pillars marked the NeWest Press leading up to the murder line between Alberta and $15.95 pb, 104 pages as well as the characters’ Saskatchewan,” states isbn: 978-1-926455-69-3 back stories. Ferguson. “They loomed While writing the novel, over our lives, but one day, Ferguson enjoyed working the city took them down.” “There’s a loss at the centre of this with a large number of To a great extent, the novel. By fracturing my grief across characters. However, her novel plays with the idea a community, and by looking at it biggest challenge was of borders and how we through different lenses, I understand knowing when to stop mark them out, according that loss and others better now.” and when she had enough to Ferguson. “In a lot of On a final note, Ferguson believes characters on the pages. ways, the characters in this that Canadian books with Canadian “In the end,” Ferguson says, “I found novel are planted in the ground on the settings, such as Border Markers, can working with three distinct groups, border of two provinces,” she says. and should resonate with a worldwide Poppy and Chuck, their parents, as “The chapters serve as borders between audience. well as a group of current high school stories and between people in lives “It can reach a teenager who is where borders between people looking for some type of way to think and places matter deeply.” about the world,” she says. “However, “The chapters serve as borders At the same time, the story the book can also appeal to an adult involves loss – something who already understands grief.” between stories and between that Ferguson has personally people in lives where borders experienced. “This book was a way to process my grief between people and places – one that still haunts me,” matter deeply.” she states.

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 5 fiction Character development Small town living the backdrop for Trull’s short stories by Bev Sandell Greenberg

uthor Janet Trull thinks a lot of people in small towns way of addressing them and being part of the conversation.” are often misunderstood. That sentiment shows in A Readers are given entry to these issues through the characters in her debut short story collection, Hot Town schools and neighbourhoods. “You Asked for and Other Stories. It,” portrays the first months of an idealistic teacher in a northern community. In “Change is hard for people in “Yellow Camaro,” a local teenage girl witnesses small towns to accept. That is why the consequences of the bad choices made by her my characters are considered quirky,” immigrant friend. In “Rural Route,” a school she adds. “Not only are they angry secretary reaches out to a girl with an abusive about the state of the world, but also mother. “Polio Camp,” shows how an elderly out of step with it.” alcoholic man living next door to a poor family Trull knows whereof she speaks. gets to know the mother and her children in She grew up in rural Ontario and unanticipated ways. currently lives half of each year in Trull particularly enjoys the intuitive aspect of a town three hours from Toronto. writing stories. “The fictional characters are based “To me, there was a great comfort on my experience. The great thing about writing in knowing people in a small town, short stories is that you get to work through the though a hierarchy existed. Small storylines of your life, but in an alternate universe, towns have shifted away from it and see how the endings will turn out.” nowadays, but they still demand a She also finds that short stories are appealing certain amount of conformity, and to readers because of the length. “You can read a people measure it.” story with a quick resolution and connect with a HOT TOWN AND Conformity and restrictions character in a short time.” OTHER STORIES can make relationships tricky to Trull most wants her stories maintain. In “Wind Chimes,” two to portray to readers the sense Janet Trull At Bay Press next-door neighbours who haven’t of change that takes place $28.95 hc, 196 pages spoken in a decade meet unexpectedly within small towns. “Small isbn: 978-0-9879665-8-2 due to a neighbourhood problem; town dilemmas often involve they then discover that they have a longing for the past or the more in common than they previously status quo. We’re all in a time thought. “The Exhibition” tells of a friendship of transition, especially in between two 12-year-old girls from wealthy, but smaller settings.” very different, families, and the tragedy that results from parental transgressions. Romantic relationships don’t fare much better. Unfulfilled couples yearning for past loves are almost “The great thing about writing the norm, in such stories as the titular “Hot Town” and the final story, “Corn Roast.” The middle-aged short stories is that you get to main character in “Spoonbills” attempts to reinvent work through the storylines of her life after her husband’s desertion. A few of the stories involve social issues, such your life, but in an alternate as poverty and marginalization. “I sometimes feel universe, and see how the that I’m not being invited to the table to participate in these issues,” says Trull. “The stories are my endings will turn out.”

6 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 fiction SAFE SPACE Sci-fi anthology gives voices to Indigenous LGBT writers by Chadwick Ginther

hen asked why she formed Bedside Press, and why she chose Wto publish the Indigenous LGBT science fiction anthology, Love Beyond Body, Space & Time, Winnipeg editor and publisher Hope Nicholson is clear.

“Stories, when they’re told, have collection and his “Star People” are an enormous opportunity to connect a backdrop for a very ordinary bit of people, to bind hearts and minds and romance – a first date – between two stories, to make one feel like they’re not extraordinary characters. Van Camp LOVE BEYOND BODY, alone,” she says. wanted his aliens to be “a symbol of SPACE & TIME The authors in this anthology, all of never being able to go back to the way Edited by Hope Nicholson whom identify as Indigenous, and most humanity was before: I also wanted Bedside Press of whom identify as queer, bisexual, there to be hope,” he says. $10.00 pb, 120 pages isbn: 978-0-9939970-7-5 lesbian, and/or transgender, or two- Although the stories are sci-fi, the spirit, create a human connection with issues these characters deal with are their stories, by presenting “characters familiar to Indigenous LGBT people the hummingbird for his portrayal of falling in love today. Characters in Cherie Dimaline’s those on the margins “who are,” he and discovering “Legends are Made, Not Born” pass on says, “coming to an understanding themselves and traditions and their hope, after Earth of their own special beauty.” Nathan have the readers is gone and Indigenous people were Adler, too, was inspired by nature for carried away on a “last priority” in the evacuation. “Valediction at the Star View Motel,” epic adventures Darcie Little Badger describes “Né using spider’s silk as a metaphor for “love and it all feeling łe!” as “a lighthearted story about and connection across time and space.” very natural,” says lesbians and puppies in space.” But David A. Robertson’s characters in Nicholson. the story contains familiar sad themes, “Perfectly You” love each other in a “particularly dispossession.” virtual reality, but, as he says, “Love Machines wanting to be is love, and love is timeless.” The human is a familiar science anthology ends with Cleo Keahna’s “These are not my stories, fiction trope, but Mari poem “Parallax,” which Nicholson feels but they touch me, and they Kurisato presents it in a “puts a nice endcap on the adventures make me see the world outside refreshing way, in her new take you’ve gone through so far.” on intergenerational trauma, The best science fiction is about ideas as even more bright and “Imposter Syndrome,” which and how those ideas interact with the beautiful than I did before.” features an “artificial life form people. This collection as assembled who is desperate to escape a by Hope Nicholson is less about the It was also important to Nicholson grim fate, using her human ancestors’ aliens and technology, and more about to feature Indigenous LGBT characters memories.” Gwen Benaway found people, and their stories. because she believes two-spirit ancestral traditions empowering in “These are not my stories,” says characters are often forgotten in media, “Transitions,” imagining “a process Nicholson, “but they touch me, and or written voyeuristically. of transitioning, which is not about they make me see the world outside as Nicholson chose nine authors from a morphing our biological bodies, but even more bright and beautiful than I curated list, and recruited others during about reclaiming our souls.” did before I read them, and I know they an open submission call. Richard Daniel Health Justice also looks at will for you too.” Van Camp’s story “Aliens” opens the hope through transformation, using

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 7 fiction Day to day Characters attempt to burst through surburban ennui in new novel by Laura Kupcis

n a quest to find fulfillment in their lives, the six characters Oin Hal Niedzviecki’s latest novel, The Archaeologists, find themselves involved in a fight to control the legacy of a discovery, after what may or may not be human remains is unearthed in a suburban backyard. “They do so often unconsciously and inadvertently, and not because they are trying to solve the mystery of what THE ARCHAEOLOGISTS might have been discovered, but because the mystery Hal Niedzviecki itself represents an intriguing break with the stultifying ARP Books nothingness of their present,” Niedzviecki explains. $18.95 pb, 360 pages In the fictional town of Wississauga, June, a suburban isbn: 978-1-894037-79-2 housewife, finds herself compelled to start digging in her backyard. She becomes completely consumed by Finally, Susan, a restless soul and something of a this project – which finally gives her the purpose professional activist, has travelled across the country, never she so desperately craves – eventually, or so she settling, before finally returning home to Wississauga. When strongly believes, uncovering human remains. June uncovers what are reported to be human remains, This discovery suddenly becomes the perceived Susan sees this as a chance to once again fight for those ticket to bringing meaning – and ultimately without a voice. fulfillment and happiness – to the lives of By providing the characters with their own voices, each character. Niedzviecki gives the readers six different perspectives about Tim is back in Wississauga after receiving the discovery. More importantly, the reader is given a view a letter from his estranged, and dying, father. into what drives each character and what this discovery is

NICK KOZAK Stoned and confused, he is convinced that what purported to mean for each character – how it is supposed June is unearthing will finally answer a lifetime to change their lives. of questions and hurt. “They all have different Charlie, the novel’s youngest voice, is viewpoints, but they are all something of a loner, not yet having found “They are all searching for searching for the same thing: her place among her peers. She spends much enough of a sense of meaning of her time learning about the Natives and the same thing: enough to keep the ennui at bay,” trying to find proof of their existence in the of a sense of meaning to Niedzviecki elaborates. “It’s woods behind her home. the question of what exactly Rose, the town’s oldest living resident, keep the ennui at bay.” comprises meaning that separates clings to a historical image of how the them.” town used to be, before it was paved over, modernized, The characters struggle as they look for a deeper sense of and built up. As something of a homegrown celebrity meaning and purpose, without fully understanding this is – she is interviewed monthly on the local news – what continues to propel them forward. Rose finds meaning in staking claim to these pieces “I love the way they contradict and cancel out each other, of history. because, as with most people, I find that I have conflicting Hal, Wississauga Cable TV’s local news reporter, sees this impulses,” Niedzviecki says. “I want adventure and stability; discovery as his ticket to breaking away from his monthly I’m lazy and ambitious; I want to be recognized, and yet I meetings with Rose, and finally be recognized for his ability am resolutely anti-establishment.” to report on the real news, news that matters.

8 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 fiction In the shadows Story collection explores evil by Ian Goodwillie

here’s a darkness lurking, in the shadows, around every Tcorner, and in our souls. And that concept is explored from a multitude of angles in The Devil Will Come by author Justin Gustainis.

With a collection of stories “That’s probably why The about evil, you automatically Exorcist scared me so much think horror but in The Devil when I saw it in a theatre during Will Come that is not always its initial release: the nuns had the case. been telling me about that stuff THE DEVIL WILL COME “I’m not sure what’s more since first grade.” Justin Gustainis insidious than horror, except And the second reason for EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing maybe politics,” says Gustainis. exploring the nature of evil? $14.95 pb, 252 pages “There’s some genre variety to Gustainis says, “Then, too, it isbn: 978-1-77053-089-8 the stories, I think, the title of has to be admitted that evil is the book notwithstanding.” often more . . . interesting than These stories primarily fall in good is.” through each story: “There’s a the horror genre, but others blur Time also plays a factor in conflict in every human heart the genres of crime/suspense and how the author viewed the between the rational and the urban fantasy. There are even a subject matter. The stories in irrational, between good and couple of stories more whimsical his collection were originally evil. And good does not always in nature, like the “fractured published in various magazines triumph.” fairy tales” “Good Egg,” a and anthologies between 2002 Published by EDGE Science hardboiled detective take on and 2015. As he grew older, so Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, Humpty Dumpty, and “Huff/ did his view on the world and the The Devil Will Come is an Puff,” which adds supernatural nature of evil. impressive collection of stories elements to the Three Little Pigs. Even so, the stories hang examining the concept of evil together. When asked if that vary in tone and style but there’s anything he’d like not quality. In bit of a twist, the “I’m not sure what’s more the reader to take away last name of EDGE’s publisher is from this collection, his Hades. Is this simply an amazing insidious than horror, answer is a simple one: coincidence? Or is it all too brief except maybe politics.” “I’ll give you a concept glimpse of some Machiavellian that may fit pretty well. master plan rising from the The stories of The Devil Will It’s a quote delivered by Rutger depths of the Underworld? Come take the reader on a Hauer (playing a terrorist) in Gustainis has only one response journey through the nature of a relatively obscure Sylvester to this. evil in a variety of forms. But Stallone film from the 1980s: “I could tell you – but then where does this desire to explore ‘There is no security.’ I think that I’d have to damn you, for all evil come from? For the author, about covers it.” eternity.” there are two places. First is Beyond that, he hopes that a good ol’ fashioned Catholic the words of General Corman in upbringing that stuck with him Apoclaypse Now will resonate as he grew up. with his readers as they go

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 9 Teardown Cluck more fiction Clea Young Lenore Rowntree anthologies Young couples, parents, friends, and siblings – This quirky, darkly comic novel about the characters in this collection navigate their people living with mental illness offers a Fun on the Farm changing lives and shifting relationships, psychological look into the journey of an Edited and compiled by Deana J. Driver during what seem to be ordinary, but are in awkward, yet charming, young man. Hilarious adventures such as overturned fact pivotal, moments. (Thistledown Press, $19.95 pb, 312 pages, outhouses and mishaps at the wrong end of (Freehand Books, $19.95 pb, 216 pages, isbn: isbn: 978-1-77187-108-2) an ornery cow are captured in this collection 978-1-988298-01-6) of short stories and poems by Prairie writers. The Extra Cadaver Murder (DriverWorks Ink, $17.95 pb, 128 pages, isbn: novels Roy Innes 978-1-927570-30-2) RCMP Inspector Coswell is back, this time Accordéon with a new partner, Corporal Bostock, forcing Ten Canadian Writers in Context Kaie Kellough Coswell to stifle his gender biases, as they Edited by Marie Carrière, Curtis Gillespie, This experimental novel is both a piercing investigate the murder of a university professor and Jason Purcell deconstruction of Québecois culture and whose body is discovered on a slab alongside This book samples some of the most powerful an ode to Montréal, with a satirical Ministry the medical cadavers in an anatomy class. poets, novelists, and non-fiction writers in of Culture set on quotas, preservation, (NeWest Press, $15.95 pb, 370 pages, isbn: 978- contemporary Canadian English and French and containment according to its own 1-926455-72-3) language literature, from British Colombia cultural code. to Newfoundland, from to (ARP, $16.95 pb, 168 pages, isbn: 978-1-894037- Fragment , including excerpts of 83-9) Craig Russell their work and concise essays. This novel of speculative fiction concerns (University of Alberta Press, $24.95 pb, 208 Art Lessons a giant iceberg from the Antarctic, the pages, isbn: 978-1-77212-141-6) Katherine Koller result of global warming, which threatens This novel tells the story of a young girl, coastal continents as it creeps towards South short fiction a loner in a house of sports fans, who America and beyond. discovers the transformative power of (Thistledown Press, $19.95 pb, 214 pages, How to Pick Up a Maid in Statue Square visual art in herself as she grows and in isbn: 978-1-77187-111-2) Rea Tarvydas others as her Polish grandmother serves This collection of stories set in Hong Kong as an intuitive guide. Hanne and Her Brother captures versions of the ex-pat life that share (Enfield & Wizenty-Great Plains, $19.95 pb, Bill Stenson the feeling of being between two worlds and 240 pages, isbn: 978-1-927885-49-2) This novel tells the story of Hanne Lemmons, trying to fill that space. the daughter of Belgian immigrants, and her (Thistledown Press, $18.95 pb, 152 pages, isbn: Been in the Storm So Long journey from post–World War II Cowichan 978-1-77187-117-4) Terry Jordan Valley to Eastend, Saskatchewan, from John Healey dreams of whaling, but his life overprotected isolation to hardship and Lost Animal Club takes a few turns as he journeys from the personal discovery. Kevin A. Couture East Coast of Canada to New Orleans and The characters in these stories range from (Thistledown Press, $19.95 pb, 384 pages, back, from whaler to thief, murder accomplice abandoned children to estranged adult twin isbn: 978-1-77187-114-3) to father and husband, alive to dead and brothers, from a marathon pace-setter to the back again. A Hard Old Love Amongst Scavengers owner of a cancer-divining dog – and the (Coteau Books, $21.95 pb, 336 pages, isbn: 978- David Doucette moments depicted cut to the heart of what it 1-55050-687-7) A world-weary Cape Bretoner, a smart red fox means to be human. with reading glasses, and a ravenous coyote (NeWest Press, $19.95 pb, 166 pages, isbn: 978- The Bootlegger’s Confession pack become inexplicably intertwined in this 1-926455-66-2) Allan Levine tale set in Nova Scotia. Sam Klein, Prohibition-era Winnipeg’s best- (Thistledown Press, $19.95 pb, 240 pages, Paper Teeth known detective, returns when a routine isbn: 978-1-77187-120-4) Lauralyn Chow investigation of the death of a general store These linked stories follow the Lee family owner devolves into a kidnapping crisis, In Due Season from Edmonton in the ’60s to present-day taking Sam into the dangerous mob world of Christine van der Mark Calgary and explore the construction of 1920s New York City. This 1947 novel that broke new ground with identity and home in their Chinese-Canadian (Ravenstone-, $16.95 pb, 336 its fictional representation of women and community. pages, isbn: 978-0-88801-599-0) Indigenous people has been republished as (NeWest Press, $19.95 pb, 182 pages, isbn: 978- part of the Early Canadian Literature series. 1-926455-63-1) (Wilfred Laurier University Press, $24.99 pb, 366 pages, isbn: 978-1-77112-071-5)

10 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 Jane Dying Again for herself, whether to stay in Guatemala or Deborah Schnitzer emigrate to the U.S. This novel combines fiction, drama, and (Thistledown Press, $19.95 pb, 216 pages, poetry to tell of a woman, Jane Duc, isbn: 978-1-77187-123-5) New & Hot Fiction whose husband has a deteriorating illness, and her withdrawal into a world her The Spanish Boy m children and friends don’t know and C. S. Reardon can’t reach. Exploring the aftermath of a tragedy, this (Unlimited Editions, $20.00 pb, 284 pages, debut novel follows the Clarey family of isbn: 978-0-9919609-3-4) Halifax in the years after a night in 1937, when young Edie vanishes without a trace. A Most Unpleasant Picture (Signature Editions, $19.95 pb, 300 pages, Judith Alguire isbn: 978-1-927426-92-0) Inadvertently killing his protégé in a fire set to cover up his art forgeries is just the Terminal City beginning of the trouble art authenticator Trevor Melanson 9781771871051 • $18.95 9781771871112 • $19.95 Leonard Anderson gets himself into in this University student Mason Cross follows in latest Rudley Mystery. the footsteps of his father, a famous professor (Signature Editions, $16.95 pb, 240 pages, and necromancer, but needs to discover not isbn: 978-1-927426-95-1) only new powers, but also what a human life is really worth. Never, Again (EDGE, $14.95 pb, 256 pages, isbn: 978-1-77053- Endre Farkas 083-6) Tomi Wolfstein, the son of Holocaust survivors, is seven years old in 1956, The Traitors of Camp 133 starting school and his personal journey Wayne Arthurson from innocence to understanding as he This first Sergeant Neumann mystery is set 9781771871082 • $19.95 9781771871174 • $18.95 experiences the 1956 Hungarian uprising. in a little known location: the government- (Signature Editions, $19.95 pb, 208 pages, maintained German prisoner-of-war camps isbn: 978-1-927426-87-6) in southern Alberta in the Second World War. When a former tank officer is found New Albion dead, Sergeant Neumann investigates the Dwayne Brenna killing while negotiating the social cliques The New Albion theatre in London, England, of camp life, from Blackshirts to communist in 1850 is the setting for this novel exploring sympathizers. the changing landscape of drama and (Ravenstone-Turnstone Press, $16.95 pb, 328 how to keep a theatre operating and actors pages, isbn: 978-0-88801-587-7) and playwrights working as they age 9781771871204 • $19.95 9781771871143 • $19.95 and as audiences demand more and more. The Woman Priest (Coteau Books, $19.95 pb, 224 pages, isbn: 978- Sylvain Maréchal, translated and introduced 1-55050-677-8) by Sheila Delany This 18th-century novella, the story of a News from the Red Desert young woman in pre-revolutionary Paris Kevin Patterson who falls for a young priest and enters his This novel set in the war in Afghanistan seminary disguised as a man to be near him, is told through multiple perspectives, is a biting rebuke to religious institutions and following the men and women – American, social hypocrisy.

Canadian, Pakistani, Afghan – who seek (University of Alberta Press, $19.95 pb, 104 9781771871235 • $19.95 purpose or adventure or redemption in pages, with b/w images, bibliography, notes, a war zone. isbn: 978-1-77212-123-0) (Random House Canada, $32.00 hc, 302 Get your holiday shopping done at pages, isbn: 978-0-345-81502-6) www.thistledownpress.com or at your local bookstore. The Path of the Jaguar Stephen Henighan A young Guatemalan women, troubled by her Mayan culture, attempts to choose a path

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 11 non-fiction Manitoba lost The friendly province’s forgotten historical sites focus of new book by Margaret Anne Fehr

bandoned Manitoba: From Residential Schools to Bank Vaults to AGrain Elevators is the product of six years of prodigious research by author and photographer Gordon Goldsborough. “It started as a ABANDONED project of the Manitoba Historical Society, where I volunteer, to map MANITOBA: important historic sites around the province,” he says. From Residential Schools to Among the over 6,000 sites that to tell a story about some aspect of Bank Vaults to Grain Elevators Goldsborough documented, a significant Manitoba’s history, illustrating how the Gordon Goldsborough number were abandoned structures. province has changed over the past 150 Great Plains Publications “That got me thinking about why they years or so.” $29.95 pb, 264 pages were abandoned which, in turn, led to Another factor in determining isbn: 978-1-927855-48-5 the book that I started researching in the featured sites was they had been detail in September 2015.” presented in Goldsborough’s ongoing The book sheds light on such weekly radio series on CBC’s Weekend “I tried as much as possible to show the sites as the SS Alpha shipwreck in Morning Show with Terry MacLeod. sites in ways that people had not seen the Assiniboine River, a relic from “I selected sites for that series based on before,” says Goldsborough, who used Manitoba’s short-lived steamboat era ones that I thought listeners might not a small drone to get aerial views. of the 19th century; a weathered stone have heard about, that had an interesting Goldsborough hopes that bank vault in the middle of a livestock story, and that illustrated something Abandoned Manitoba will inspire paddock on farm property important about Manitoba’s history.” readers to get out and see their in “Old Deloraine”; and Goldsborough thinks Abandoned province. the Prairie archetype of Manitoba holds a unique a wooden grain elevator position among other Manitoba standing tall on its original historical tomes. “It uses “Readers of the book can site in the village of Helston. places that are tangible and “My point about learning visitable to illustrate provincial literally stand on the sites from abandoned places history. Readers of the book that are important to our is that they typically can literally stand on the sites illustrate how priorities that are important to our provincial history by following have changed, so the provincial history by following purpose for which an the geographic coordinates the geographic coordinates abandoned place was first provided in the book.” provided in the book.” created has changed or disappeared,” Goldsborough used the says Goldsborough. “In some cases, global positioning system (GPS) to “I feel that Winnipeggers, in the places have been fully abandoned. obtain precise geographic coordinates, particular, are generally unaware what In other instances, they may continue usually to within a couple of metres, lies beyond the Perimeter Highway,” to be used, albeit for a purpose far for each of the sites in the book. “That he says. removed from their original one.” way, people can find them easily using “I am passionate about how beautiful Goldsborough admits to having the GPS built into their smartphone or and interesting Manitoba is, and if I to choose from an embarrassment of automobile,” he says. can kindle that passion in readers, so riches in narrowing the final list to With full colour photos on almost much the better!” the 36 sites featured in the book. “The every page, the book illustrates each of bottom line was that chosen sites had the sites from a variety of perspectives.

12 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 non-fiction GOOD EATS Cookbook showcases 225 slow cooker recipes by Linda Alberta

ow many things can you make in a heated ceramic pot? That isn’t a Hriddle. It’s a real-life challenge. Tackling that challenge, the Alberta Best of Bridge women created 225 homespun recipes with their new book, Best of Bridge: The Family Slow Cooker.

“It was our first book and we had six months to were more finicky; the cakes do it,” says co-author Elizabeth Chorney-Booth. and pastas were less forgiving “It was every day of solid taste testing with more than meats and stews,” explains than one slow cooker going at a time. But testing Chorney-Booth. a slow cooker recipe often takes eight hours. So, Cooking in their own if it doesn’t work that is eight hours of your time! kitchens, one surprise for the busy women was that “My family were often guinea pigs and our custards turn out better in a slow cooker than in neighbours got loads of care packages. We ended an oven. Ramekins can be made. Another surprise up with lots of food.” was the feedback from fans in Saskatchewan. “We did a CBC call-in show in Saskatchewan where we could talk to our reading audience. Lots BEST OF BRIDGE: of people were asking or giving tips about cooking The Family Slow Cooker game meat like moose, elk, or bison, and we didn’t Elizabeth Chorney-Booth, Sue Duncan, Julie expect that. So, callers shared useful stories about Van Rosendaal using a slow cooker to cook those kinds of meat,” Robert Rose Inc. says Chorney-Booth. $29.95 hc, 342 pages Popular since the ’70s, slow cookers are enjoying isbn: 978-0-7788-0544-1 a surge. Chorney-Booth says that when it comes to the economy, especially in Alberta, people want to save money. They also want to connect with other Calgary friends and co-authors Elizabeth people and the best way to do that is through a Chorney-Booth, Sue Duncan, and Julie Van home-cooked meal. She adds that slow cookers Rosendaal carry the torch as the new Best of are good for cheaper cuts of meat but also you can Bridge team, offering a spiral use them to make big batches bound book that continues four of food and freeze that food to decades of western Canadian stretch your budget. kitchen tradition. With large, Some recipes were But the best part of slow friendly black/red print, tasty more finicky; the cooking culture is cooking with glossy photos, and 10 chapters friends. of food categories, readers need cakes and pastas were “Working with two of my best to set aside time to explore less forgiving than friends has been the best part the bounty of elegant and for me. The Best of Bridge is a practical recipes. meats and stews.” story of women working together “It’s a lot of recipes for a in western Canada creating cookbook. But the original Best of Bridge had something for themselves. It’s been an honour and at least 200 recipes so we followed their model. a joy to do that with two of my favourite people.” Basically, we started with a big list of the things we thought we might be able to cook in a slow cooker. Then we tackled each item. Some recipes

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 13 non-fiction Alcohol poisoning Author challenges readers to talk about alcohol abuse by Paula E. Kirman

o say that alcohol has had devastating effects on FIREWATER: TCanada’s Indigenous population is an understatement. How Alcohol Is Killing My People In fact, half of those in Treaty 6 territory will die a death (and Yours) that is related to alcohol. In his latest book, Firewater: How Harold R. Johnson Alcohol Is Killing My People (and Yours), Harold R. Johnson University of Regina Press $16.96 pb, 198 pages challenges readers to change the stories we tell ourselves with appendix, notes, glossary, index about alcohol, and in doing so, provides hope. isbn: 978-0-88977-437-7 Johnson is a member of the Montreal Lake Nation who has worn many hats in his lifetime. Combining traditional storytelling and He has been in the Canadian Navy, and has been a spirituality with research from modern medicine, logger, miner, trapper, fisher, mechanic, firefighter, Johnson approaches his subject matter as someone heavy equipment operator, smelter who has been personally touched by alcohol. In worker, tree planter, trade unionist, addition to his brother who was killed by a drunk educator, and writer. He left mining driver, his father died of heart disease (which can to pursue a law degree, eventually be a result of drinking, as Johnson mentions). completing a master’s degree in law Direct and succinct in his approach, from Harvard. He is now a senior Johnson rejects what he sees as incorrect Crown prosecutor in La Ronge, and counterproductive medical, social, and Saskatchewan, and he lives with his psychological explanations for alcoholism (for wife off-grid on his family trapline. example, that it is a disease). The answer to avoiding While Johnson draws upon his years all problems with alcohol is simply to avoid alcohol. as a Crown prosecutor in Treaty 6 To Johnson, there is no such thing as a safe amount territory, Firewater’s tone is extremely one can drink. “Not drinking at all will solve all conversational. It feels as though the problems with alcohol,” he says. “Drinking in Johnson is sitting right there, talking to moderation will moderate the problems. Extreme the reader, in very accessible language. drinking will make the problems extreme.” “I wrote it as though I was writing to The book was written to Johnson’s relatives and my brother who was killed by a drunk community, to his Cree Nation. “But people from “We can change driver,” he says. “Garry had a Grade outside are free to eavesdrop,” he says. He directly the story we 7 education and was a bush man confronts the stereotype of the “lazy, drunken and trapper.” Indian” and provides historical, medical, and tell ourselves He also draws upon his skills as spiritual reasons for why alcohol has become a a fiction writer – he has published problem in the Indigenous community. about ourselves five novels – and his knowledge of Johnson also includes powerful, first-person and alcohol.” traditional story, adding elements of narratives from writers Tracey Lindberg and storytelling by framing the book with Richard Van Camp. “Wisahkicâhk’s Lost Stories” and “Wisahkicâhk While he agrees that banning alcohol does not Returns to Find Out He Is Story.” work (as history has shown), alcohol is something Johnson hopes that Firewater will make clear that no one needs in their lives for any reason. that “We can change the story we tell ourselves As he says, “Alcohol is not natural, normal, nor about ourselves and alcohol.” necessary.”

14 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 non-fiction FACT CHECK Author wants everyone to understand Indigenous issues by Liz Katynski

helsea Vowel wasn’t aware of her Métis culture until she left Cher Lac Ste. Anne community to attend university in Edmonton. Now she wants her children to know who they are, and she would like everyone to better understand Indigenous issues, so she wrote a book about them. Indigenous Writes: A Guide to their point of view. Others won’t listen. Indigenous people are often referred First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in They will move on to the next issue. It’s to in school curriculum as situated Canada answers, in a well-documented very emotional. People feel their beefs in the past, she says. “Kids hear way, the questions the Edmonton with us intensely. The information has stereotypes, ridiculous narratives that teacher, lawyer, and blogger is most to percolate in them. They have to sit are taught officially or unofficially. My often asked. She writes in an informal with it.” kids are so much wiser than I was at voice, and encourages thoughtful The way non-Indigenous their age, and so much more discussion and a better understanding. people see Indigenous people prepared to deal with these “When people discuss these issues, is shaped by government things and to value their own the facts have to be right. There should policy and media, she says. culture. They have opinions. be no reason to dismiss or ignore “I call it settler anxiety. They understand what is being them,” says Vowel. Non-Indigenous people are said. It’s amazing to see what Sections of the book cover reminded (when they face they can do.” terminology, issues of identity, systemic us) every day that their claim The paperback book was violence, laws and treaties, and the to be here on the land is not designed to be an affordable debunking of various myths, including rock solid. They want to and accessible resource those of free housing, authenticity, and invalidate us and know they for everyone from teens to the big one – taxation. Vowel explains belong here. It’s not easy to articulate. academics. the falseness and danger of the idea It’s not about us. It’s about what non- “I want things to be different for my that Indigenous people don’t pay taxes. Indigenous people feel, and it’s fuelled kids. I talk to them about these things,” by stereotypes woven into our society.” Vowel says. Vowel studied Cree in university “People get into trouble when they “When people discuss and became passionate about her don’t talk about important issues. culture. She worked as a teacher in the Information and discussion make us these issues, the facts Northwest Territories, and with Inuit better people. We can do better with youth in Montreal. She studied law in every generation.” have to be right. There order to better understand policy. should be no reason to “I wasn’t aware of being anything until I went to dismiss or ignore them.” the city to study. I learned INDIGENOUS WRITES: everyone has a culture. How A Guide to First Nations, Métis & “That mistaken belief dehumanizes the people in our community Inuit Issues in Canada these people,” she says. “It assumes spoke was not a ‘poor Chelsea Vowel they are not citizens deserving of person’ thing after all. It Highwater Press-Portage & Main equal rights. Some people will be really was influenced by the Cree $26.00 pb, 306 pages surprised to learn the limitations on language. I saw the world isbn: 978-1-55379-680-0 taxes are narrow, and they will change differently.”

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 15 non-fiction LEADER of the PACK Book chronicles the downfall of the Günther while following Pipestone wolves the Bow Valley wolf pack in 2007, and when the Pipestones by Paula E. Kirman first appeared in 2009, I was the only photographer that eautiful. Haunting. Mysterious. Dangerous. Wolves was regularly going out and following the wolf family. So have captured the imaginations of people throughout B our partnership was basically the ages, but they are often misunderstood. on right from the beginning,” says Marriott. In the winter of 2008/2009, The two have since become a new wolf family from the good friends. “We both agree Pipestone Valley moved into that loving to watch wildlife the Bow Valley of Banff and document their lives does National Park, where they not mean that we have the established dominance for right ‘to trample on their nerves,’ ” says Bloch. five years. During this time, Bloch hopes that readers will realize wolves are using the good old-fashioned not simple, instinct-driven “killer-machines,” and technique of direct observation, that “people visiting national parks such as Banff internationally respected wolf will show a little more respect for the needs of behaviour expert Günther Bloch wildlife. National parks should be protected places and widely renowned wildlife photographer John where animal populations are able to thrive, and E. Marriott studied them, and documented their humans have to step back.” findings in The Pipestone Wolves: The Rise and “I really hope that readers take away a sense of Fall of a Wolf Family. The book also describes how awe at what wolves are capable of as a social family circumstances such as the increase in mass tourism unit – they show empathy for each other, they care in Banff and other factors led to the downfall of for each other, they play and have fun just like our the Pipestones. pet dogs do,” says Marriott. The Pipestone Wolves is Bloch’s first book published in English. “I have been doing field research on wolves and their behaviour ecology since 1992,” “They’re far from the bloodthirsty, THE PIPESTONE he says. “These wolves needed a single-minded villains that WOLVES: voice because they are struggling to survive due to mass tourism Hollywood and some outdoors- The Rise and Fall of and an irresponsibly one-sided people make them out to be.” a Wolf Family management policy in Banff.” Günther Bloch The book is aimed at those “They’re far from the bloodthirsty, single-minded Photographs by John E. Marriott who are interested in nature, villains that Hollywood and some outdoorspeople Rocky Mountain Books and especially wolves and make them out to be,” Marriott continues. “I $40.00 hc, 224 pages their behaviours, which are also hope that readers realize just how much of with full colour and b/w photos remarkably adaptive. According a struggle it is for wolves to survive and thrive in throughout, tables, figures to Bloch, “Humans can learn a our national parks right now. Parks like Banff are isbn: 978-1-77160-160-3 lot of social skills from these literally overrun with tourists, and as Paul Paquet wolves: helping each other, summarizes at the end of the book, these parks supporting handicapped group members via social really have become ‘wildlife ghettos.’ ” support, acting as a team, never giving up.” Adds Bloch, “We should try everything in John Marriott’s photographs add immensely our power to preserve wild places for the next to the impact of The Pipestone Wolves. “I met generations.”

16 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 non-fiction Painting a picture Colouring book showcases Anishinaabe culture by Paula E. Kirman

olouring books are all the rage right now. What used to be Cstrictly the domain of children, now has adults sharpening their pencil crayons. Sacred Feminine: An Indigenous Art Colouring Book features the work of Jackie Traverse, an accomplished artist who is Anishinaabe from Lake St. Martin First Nation. Her work is multidisciplinary, from Ride, a ride-sharing network offering painting in oils and acrylics to mixed safe rides for Indigenous women, as SACRED FEMININE: media, sculpture, and stop-motion well as Indigenous Rock the Vote, animation. As well, her art is very which encouraged Indigenous people An Indigenous Art centred around women, which is very to vote in the 2015 federal election. Colouring Book obvious in Sacred Feminine. “I want The social issues that move Traverse Jackie Traverse to express that all women are sacred to create art tend to centre around Roseway Publishing-Fernwood and for people to understand and see women and girls. Publishing how beautiful and precious our women “I always want to paint them the $20.00 pb, 64 pages are,” she says. way I feel about them as a mother isbn: 978-1-55266-919-8 of three young women and a grandmother. I want them to so many colouring books on the market see my art long after I am gone and I thought it would be a great way and to be proud of who they to share my culture, educate, heal, and are,” she explains. inspire,” she says. Art is only part of the Traverse dedicates the book to her work Traverse does. “I myself daughters and granddaughter, the had to become a part of the families of murdered and missing community which I cared Indigenous women and girls, and all about deeply – I went to the young girls in care and women in marches, rallies, vigils, and corrections. I spoke out. I also created Her intended audience for Sacred change where there was need Feminine includes women and girls of for it. As an artist I have a all ages. “I hope the book is of comfort voice, and I use it to my full to those who need it,” she says. “I hope advantage to help my people.” it instills pride, and most of all I want The images in Sacred girls and women to know anything is Feminine are presented in bold, possible – if you believe in yourself, you black lines, and descriptions of can accomplish your heart’s desire.” Traverse, a mother of three the symbolism and significance of each daughters and a grandmother of one are included at the end of the book. granddaughter, is a graduate of the Flowing hair, butterfly wings, and School of Fine Arts at the University of feathers are a few of the elements used “As an artist I have a Manitoba. She is deeply moved by the to connect women to their children, voice, and I use it to injustices towards First Nations people, their animal relatives, and their land. including missing and murdered Traverse admittedly chose to do my full advantage to Indigenous women. Residing in a colouring book due to the genre’s help my people.” Winnipeg, she is a founder of Ikwe Safe current popularity. “I saw there were

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 17 non-fiction INTO the WILD New book explores conservationism on the prairies by Liz Katynski

on Wetherell’s childhood ambition was to become an ornithologist Dbecause he loved birds and longed to better understand them. His love of wildlife stayed with him, as he pursued his studies in history, and Wetherell’s latest book combines these two passions.

Wildlife, Land, and People: A desire to create a companion. People Century of Change in Prairie Canada have concern and empathy, and they is a book about wildlife conservation, want to do good. But the moose came says the professor emeritus at to depend on him. It would probably Athabasca University. have been better off on its own.” “It explores a century of human Wetherell developed his love On the other hand, Prairie people relationships with the land and animals of nature on a mixed farm in expressed a fondness and empathy for in history, culture, and economic life Saskatchewan during the 1950s and and an interest in wild animals too, he through to the 1960s,” says Wetherell. 1960s, in a time when children were says, noting zoos were being established “The message is that our relationship free to wander. in the late 19th century, writers like with the natural world is not simple. “That’s what I did. The natural Ernest Thompson Seton included There are contradictions in our world was a part of my earliest animals in their stories, and there were everyday life. We continue to grapple memories. I recall one memory of conservation efforts for specific birds with the environment immensely. human relationships with wild animals. and animals such as elk, beaver, and We confront the legacy of our often My dad spoke about someone in the bison early in the time period covered sorry relationship with the natural community running down coyotes with by this book. world. It’s all-encompassing, touching a snowmobile. It was shocking to me, on all aspects of study from science how bad that behaviour was.” to history.” Over the years, people’s knowledge “We confront the legacy of and assumptions about wildlife varied. Animals were thought of as friends and our often sorry relationship WILDLIFE, LAND, opponents, with human characteristics with the natural world.” AND PEOPLE: and without human characteristics. A Century of Change People connected with them in popular “People wondered about wild animals, in Prairie Canada literature of the day, honoured and and wanted to understand them,” respected them, hunted them, tried to Wetherell says. “Did they have social Donald G. Wetherell domesticate them. Generally, though, structures, emotions, could they reason? McGill-Queen’s University Press the wildlife came out on the losing end. How could we explain their behaviours $49.95 hc, 640 pages “There was a persistence of a and understand the unity of the natural with b/w photos throughout, bibli- ography, index significant scale of violence towards world? isbn: 978-0-7735-4791-9 wildlife,” says Wetherell. “The “Have we made progress with war on wildlife continued until the this? Yes and no. Today’s immense 1960s. In Saskatchewan and Alberta, challenges of biodiversity include There are some unusual stories, coyotes were exterminated. In 1920– hydro development and mining. We including one about a man who rescued 21, three million gophers were killed look at issues as interconnected. a moose named Patsy. in Saskatchewan, by children. In the There’s a whole different context to our “Rescuing a wild animal is a Whiteshell, lake rehabilitation involved global community. Yet we continue to sympathetic act,” says Wetherell. poisoning lakes and restocking them wonder.” “There is admiration, impulse, the for anglers. That was pretty amazing.”

18 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 Otto & Daria: A Wartime Journey political, cultural, and procedural realms. more non-fiction Through No Man’s Land (UBC Press, $95.00 hc, 208 pages, isbn: 978-0- biography & memoir Eric Koch 7748-3374-5) This memoir tells of a man who fled Nazi Citizen: Chapters in the Life of Germany as a Jewish refugee only to be Alberta’s Lower Athabasca Basin: a Western Liberal interred as an illegal alien, and his wartime Archaeology and Paleoenvironments Garrett Wilson correspondence with an English girl of Edited by Brian M. Ronaghan This candid memoir of more than half of a bohemian temperament, restrictive family, This is the fascinating story of how an ice-age century of political life in Saskatchewan is and unusual literary talents. flood left behind a unique landscape, making told from the perspective of someone who (University of Regina Press, $25.95 hc, 282 deposits of bitumen available for mining. helped shape it, from his time as a confidant pages, isbn: 978-0-88977-443-8) (Athabasca University Press, $39.95 pb, of Premier Ross Thatcher, to the days when 412 pages, with colour plates, isbn: 978-1- the Saskatchewan Liberal Party vanished The Regiment 926836-90-4) from the political landscape. Farley Mowat (University of Regina Press, $29.95 pb, 300 First published in 1955, this story of Canada’s The American Retail Value Proposition: pages, isbn: 978-0-88977-446-9) most decorated regiment in the Second World Crafting Unique Experiences at Compelling Prices War, the “Hasty Ps,” was written by famed Forever Changed Kyle B. Murray fiction writer and member of the regiment, Cheri Helstrom This book by a professor of marketing and Farley Mowat. Introduced by Lee Windsor. Written by his daughter, the story of Ritchie the Director of the School of Retailing at (Dundurn, $26.99 pb, 408 pages, with maps, Scott is told through his eyes, following his the Alberta School of Business provides isbn: 978-1-4597-3389-3) time in the Second World War, and his resulting a framework for differentiation and post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism. Sounding Thunder: The Stories of Francis establishing a competitive advantage that (DriverWorks Ink, $16.95 pb, 128 pages, isbn: Pegahmagabow goes beyond price discounting. 978-1-927570-27-2) Brian D. McInnes (University of Toronto Press, $34.95 hc, This biography tells the story of Canada’s 256 pages, with figures, tables, isbn: 978-1- From the Tundra to the Trenches most decorated Indigenous soldier, from his 4426-3717-7) Eddie Weetaltuk, edited by Thibault Martin birth in Shawanaga First Nation, Ontario, to This new edition of a 1974 memoir by an Inuit his experiences as a scout and sniper in the Baffin Island: Field Research and High Arctic Adventure, 1961–1967 from James Bay tells how he enlisted in the First World War, to his later days as Supreme Jack D. Ives Canadian Army and served in Korea, then Chief of the National Indian Government in This highly readable book combines research returned home to work with Inuit youth 1949–50, combining oral history, historical and adventure in an informative account struggling with addiction. From the First record, and family stories. of expeditions to Baffin Island during the Voices, First Texts series. (University of Manitoba Press, $24.95 pb, 192 Golden Age of Canadian Arctic fieldwork. (University of Manitoba Press, $24.95 pb, 344 pages, with b/w photos, bibliography, index, (University of Calgary Press, $39.95 pb, pages, with b/w photos, bibliography, index, isbn: 978-0-88755-824-5) isbn: 978-0-88755-822-1) 248 pages, with colour and b/w photos Surviving the Gulag: A German throughout, notes, references, index, isbn: Her Darling Boy: A Tale of Vimy Ridge Woman’s Memoir 978-1-55238-829-7) Tom Goodman Ilse Johansen, edited by Heather Marshall, This collection of letters, with contextual translated by Hans Rudolf Gahler Behind the Walls: Inmates and Correctional Officers on the State of narrative, between the author’s grandmother This candid, first-person account of five years Canadian Prisons and the uncle he never met, shows the true in Russian prison camps by a civilian member Michael Weinrath cost of war to a family and a country. of the German military in the Second World Drawing on interviews, this unprecedented (Great Plains, $29.95 pb, 272 pages, isbn: 978- War, was written soon after her release in 1949. study looks at how inmates and 1-927855-47-8) (University of Alberta Press, $34.95 pb, 216 correctional officers perceive themselves, pages, with b/w photographs, maps, notes, their relationships with others, and new My Decade at Old Sun, My Lifetime reading list, index, isbn: 978-1-77212-038-7) of Hell developments and ongoing issues in prisons. Arthur Bear Chief non-fiction (UBC Press, $95.00 hc, 296 pages, isbn: 978-0- Arthur Bear Chief, veteran, employment 7748-3354-7) coordinator, and human rights officer, Accusation: Creating Criminals survived abuse at the Old Sun Residential Edited by George Pavlich and Matthew Unger Care, Cooperation and Activism in Canada’s Northern Social Economy School from the ages of 7 to 17, and in This collection of essays launches an Edited by Frances Abele and Chris Southcott this memoir, works toward healing and important new field of inquiry as it analyzes This collection of case studies of “third- demonstrates his resilient spirit. the role accusation plays in creating sector” organizations shows the innovative (Athabasca University Press, $19.95 pb, 190 criminals, and how it operates in theoretical, diversity and utter necessity of home-grown pages, isbn: 978-1-77199-175-9) historical, socio-legal, criminological, continued on page 21

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 19 Living in Our Natural World A wide-ranging study of people’s diverse and often contradictory relationships with wild animals in the prairie provinces.

Wildlife, Land, and People A Century of Change in Prairie Canada DONALD G. WETHERELL Cloth, 640pp, 68 b&w photos – eBook available

Available at better bookstores and online retailers. McGill-Queen’s University Press mqup.ca

Follow us on Facebook.com/McGillQueens and Twitter @Scholarmqup continued from page 19 institutions from Labrador to the Yukon, Feminist Philosophies of Life Indigenous Homelessness: Perspectives will be of interest to students of social Edited by Hasana Sharp and Chloë Taylor from Canada, Australia, and economy, Aboriginal studies, and northern This collection of essays by feminist, new New Zealand communities. materialist, post-humanist, and eco-feminist Edited by Evelyn J. Peters and Julia (University of Alberta Press, $24.95 pb, 216 philosophers approaches the question of life Christiansen pages, with b/w photos, bibliography, notes, from alternative perspectives. This collection of essays explores index, isbn: 978-1-77212-087-5) (McGill-Queens University Press, $32.95 pb, Indigenous homelessness in a global 336 pages, isbn: 978-0-7735-4745-2) context, testifying to ongoing cultural Celebrating Canada, Volume 1: Holidays, resistance and laying the groundwork National Days, and the Crafting of Fish Wars and Trout Travesties: Saving for practices and policies to address the Identities Southern Alberta’s Coldwater Streams conditions that lead to it. Edited by Matthew Hayday and Raymond in the 1920s (University of Manitoba Press, $34.95 pb, 384 B. Blake George Colpitts pages, with b/w illustrations, bibliography, Drawing heavily on primary research, This examination of the fault lines within tables, index, isbn: 978-0-88755-826-9) the essays in this collection deepen our environmental practice draws on rarely understanding of how holidays like Canadian consulted historical documents. Live Close to Home Thanksgiving, Victoria Day, and Fête (Athabasca University Press, $24.95 pb, Peter Denton Nationale have influenced the evolution of 150 pages, isbn: 978-1-927356-71-5) In his third RMB manifesto, Peter Denton Canadian identities. explains how we can change and improve (University of Toronto Press, 416 pages, with Happiness Is a Rare Bird the aspects of our lives over which we have illustrations, $75.00 hc, isbn: 978-1-4426- Gene Walz control by living close to home. 4980-4; $34.95 pb, isbn: 978-1-4426- 2713-0) A birder since 1972, Gene Walz brings to life (Rocky Mountain Books, $16.00 hc, 168 pages, the avian beauty and grace he studies in the isbn: 978-1-77160-182-5) Deadmonton: Crime Stories from field, from the common to the exotic, with Canada’s Murder City glorious details about bird life from a Prairie Mobilizing Metaphor: Art, Culture, and Pamela Roth perspective. Disability Activism in Canada This examination of some of Edmonton’s (Turnstone Press, $21.00 pb, 250 pages, Edited by Christine Kelly and Michael Orsini most notorious murders includes testimony isbn: 978-0-88801-583-9) This collection of work by artists, scholars, from victims’ relatives. and activists illustrates how radical and (University of Regina Press, $21.95 pb, 264 The Harper Era in Canadian Foreign unconventional forms of activism are pages, with b/w photos, isbn: 978-0-88977- Policy: Parliament, Politics, and reshaping the rich and vibrant tradition of 426-1) Canada’s Global Posture disability mobilization in Canada. Edited by Adam Chapnick and Christopher (UBC Press, $95.00 hc, 320 pages, with photos Farm Workers in Western Canada: J. Kukucha and illustrations, isbn: 978-0-7748-3279-3) Injustices and Activism This comprehensive analysis of Canada’s Edited by Shirley A. McDonald and Bob foreign policy during the Harper era comes Naamiwan’s Drum: The Story of a Barnetson to surprising conclusions as to whether Contested Repatriation of Anishinaabe This collection of essays looks at the origin, the transition from minority to majority Artefacts work conditions, and precarious lives of farm government shaped the way the Harper Maureen Matthews workers in terms of larger historical forces Conservatives conceived of and implemented A compelling account of repatriation as such as colonialism, land rights, and racism. foreign policy. well as a cautionary tale for museum (University of Alberta Press, $29.95 pb, 272 (UBC Press, 272 pages, $95.00 hc, isbn: 978- professionals, this story of an Ojibwe pages, with bibliography, notes, index, isbn: 0-7748-3319-6; $34.95 pb, isbn: 978-0-7748- medicine man and his water drum is told 978-1-77212-138-4) 3320-2) through numerous perspectives. (University of Toronto Press, 320 pages, with Female Suicide Bombings: A Critical Imagining the Supernatural North colour and halftone illustrations, $80.00 hc, Gender Approach Edited by Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough, isbn: 978-1-4426-5015-2; $34.95 pb, isbn: 978- Tanya Narozhna and W. Andy Knight Danielle Marie Cudmore, and Stefan 1-4426-2826-7) Drawing on a combination of feminist Donecker and post-colonial approaches as well as This collection of essays by 16 scholars from Redesigning Work: A Blueprint for terrorism studies literature, the authors seek 12 countries explores the notion of the North Canada’s Future Well-Being and Prosperity to transcend ideological divisions in order as a realm of the supernatural, from the Graham Lowe and Frank Graves to enhance understanding of how gender, perspectives of traditional Jewish folklore to Two of Canada’s leading experts on work power, and academic practices influence contemporary black metal music. and public opinion identify practical ways perceptions of female suicide bombers. (University of Alberta Press, $29.95 pb, 296 to make work more motivating, rewarding, (University of Toronto Press, 272 pages, pages, with b/w photos, bibliography, notes, and productive while painting an optimistic $75.00 hc, isbn: 978-1-4875-0007-8; $29.95 pb, index, isbn: 978-1-77212-267-1) isbn: 978-1-4875-2004-5) picture of the future of work by addressing continued on page 22

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 21 continued from page 21 job stress, work-life balance, skill use, and The Saints in Old Norse and Early for scholars and students in communications, management. Modern Icelandic Poetry environmental studies, activism, social (University of Toronto Press, $34.95 hc, 232 Kirsten Wolf and Natalie M. Van Deusen psychology, and petrocultures. pages, isbn: 978-1-4426-4445-8) This resource focuses on medieval poems (University of Alberta Press, $34.95 pb, 296 about saints and early modern devotional pages, with b/w photographs, bibliography, Re-Orienting China: Travel Writing and poetry, organizing saints’ names, notes, index, isbn: 978-1-77212-140-7) Cross-Cultural Understanding manuscripts, and editions of individual Leilei Chen poems with approximate dates, modern Towards a Prairie Atonement Featuring analyses of rarely studied writers translations, and secondary literature. Trevor Herriot on post-1949 China, including Jan Wong, this (University of Toronto Press, $95.00 hc, 420 Enlisting the help of Métis Elder Norman study demonstrates the transformative power pages, isbn: 978-1-4875-0074-0) Fleury, award-winning naturalist Trevor of travel, as it changes our preconceived Herriot addresses the question of how we can notions and embraces the possibility of critical Showdown! Making Modern Unions rediscover ways to share the land with other cross-border relationships. Rob Kristofferson and Simon Orpana creatures and one another in the wake of (University of Regina Press, $80.00 hc, 224 This graphic history of organizing labour colonization. pages, isbn: 978-0-88977-440-7) in North America, based on interviews and (University of Regina Press, $22.95 hc, 138 other archival materials, relates how workers’ pages, with maps, timeline, isbn: 978-0- Romantic Prophecy and the Resistance actions in Hamilton, Ontario, led to a new 88977-454-4) to Historicism kind of unionism and a new society in the Christopher M. Bundock decades following the Second World War. Understanding School Choice in Canada Focusing on new readings of canonical (Between the Lines, $29.95 pb, 144 pages, Lynn Bosetti and Dianne Gereluk and more obscure texts, this work is a bold isbn: 978-1-77113-272-5) This theoretical overview of the formation intervention into major concepts such as and rise of school choice policies in Canada Romantic imagination, historicity, and Tar Wars: Oil, Environment and analyzes the philosophical, historical, mediation as it argues that the repeated failure Alberta’s Image political, and social principles that of prophecy in Romantic thought is creative. Geo Takach underpin policy. (University of Toronto Press, $65.00 hc, 296 This critical, inside look at how leading (University of Toronto Press, $39.95 hc, 176 pages, with illustrations, isbn: 978-1-4426- image-makers negotiate the tensions pages, isbn: 978-1-4426-4308-6) 3070-3) between growth and environmental costs is U Write • U Publish We make your books the best

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22 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 Virgin Envy: The Cultural sites on Thunderchild First Nations’ Sundance Flapper Pie and a Blue Prairie Sky: (In)Significance of the Hymen grounds. A Modern Baker’s Guide to Old-Fashioned Edited by Jonathan A. Allan, Cristina Santos, (University of Manitoba Press, $27.95 pb, Desserts and Adriana Spahr 128 pages, with b/w photos, bibliography, Karlynn Johnston Contributors examine everything from isbn: 978-0-88755-783-5) Suitable for all baking levels, these more medieval romance to Bollywood films than 120 recipes, such as a classic Saskatoon to vampire movies, calling the hymen The Great Kananaskis Flood berry pie or root beer float cupcakes, are into question and addressing issues of Gillean Daffern and Derek Ryder sure to delight. commodification, postcoloniality, and This book tells the compelling story, in words (Random House, $32.95 hc, 320 pages, religious diversity. and pictures, of the worst recorded flood in isbn: 978-0-4490-1695-4) (University of Regina Press, $27.95 pb, 256 Alberta’s history, the 2013 Kananaskis flood, that pages, isbn: 978-0-88977-423-0) cut off towns, washed away roads and bridges, games and stranded tourists and business owners. O Canada Crosswords Book 17 Where the Truth Lies: Selected Essays (Rocky Mountain Books, $25.00 pb, 192 pages, Gwen Sjogren Rudy Wiebe isbn: 978-1-77160-158-0) This volume includes over 20 essays This collection of 95 new crosswords offers and speeches crafted from 60 years food fun, puns, and Canadiana, with puzzles on of writing on topics of the writing life, themes from NHL icons to urban islands, plus puzzles with no fill-in-the-blank clues. story, and place. Conversations in Food Studies (Nightwood Editions, $13.95 pb, 232 pages, (NeWest Press, $24.95 pb, 324 pages, isbn: Edited by Colin R. Anderson, Jennifer Brady, isbn: 978-0-88971-322-2) 978-1-926455-75-4) and Charles Z. Levkoe This collection of interdisciplinary essays, on anthologies topics ranging from urban household waste to the meaning of milk, examines and reworks Imagine This Valley: Essays the boundaries of food studies literature. and Stories (University of Manitoba Press, $31.95 pb, 312 Collected by Stephen Legault pages, with b/w photos, bibliography, index, The vibrant communities of Canmore and isbn: 978-0-88755-787-3) Banff are portrayed and celebrated by such residents as Kevin Van Tighem, , and Ian Brown. (Rocky Mountain Books, $20.00 pb, 304 pages, isbn: 978-1-77160-176-4) an imprint of Portage & Main Press art & photography

Earth and Sky: Photographs and Stories from Montana and Alberta NEW INDIGENOUS TITLES Stephen Legault This gorgeous coffee-table book showcases the beauty of Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front and Alberta’s Eastern Slopes, with Indigenous When We 200 colour and black and white images A GUIDE TO FIRST NATIONS, WritesMÉTIS & INUIT ISSUES IN CANADA and short essays about the natural CHELSEA VOWEL Were Alone history, geology, and cultural background of the region. (Rocky Mountain Books, $40.00 hc, 192 pages, with maps, technical notes, isbn: 978- 1-77160-159-7) david a. robertson julie flett Fault Lines: Life and Landscape in Saskatchewan’s Oil Economy INDIGENOUS FIRE STARTERS WILL I SEE? WHEN WE Photographs by Valerie Zink, text by WRITES for ages 12–16 for ages 16 to adult WERE ALONE Emily Eaton for adults softcover softcover for ages 5–8 This collaboration between a geographer softcover hardcover and photographer documents the complexities of Saskatchewan’s recent oil boom, from oil towns to seismic testing WWW.HIGHWATERPRESS.COM

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 23 publisher feature | ynwp The publisher Regina-based publishing house celebrates years of success

by Quentin Mills-Fenn ou could say that Heather Nickel is an accidental publisher. Nickel is the owner of Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing, and the Regina-based firm began with a favour she did for a relative. Y George Garrett and Heather Nickel YNWP was established by Nickel in 1998 after given a chance. As with traditional publishing, her grandmother asked if Nickel could “type manuscripts are assessed for commercial viability up” her handwritten memoir and photocopy and literary merit as part of a curated title list, and photos onto its pages. Having an in-home office those chosen for publication undergo professional with both computers and scanners – neither of editorial and design processes, and are distributed which were as standard then as they are now – to retailers and wholesalers after publication. along with a BA in English, “YNWP offers an inexpensive means for the future publisher knew storytellers to publish their works, producing that more than typing and books with a Prairie flavour,” Nickel says, “either photocopying was possible, in creative source, and that her grandmother’s [whether] author or recollections of life as part of illustrator, or in subject the first oil exploration crew in matter, and is deeply Saskatchewan had potential for interested readers committed to providing beyond family members. a publishing resource Nickel was right. Doodlebugging in for those niche writers Saskatchewan: A Wife Remembers 1950–1954 by and illustrators whose Elizabeth Sawatzky became stories might otherwise YNWP is what Nickel the first book on YNWP’s not be told.” title list, and Sawatzky won Asked whether calls a “hybrid” publisher, the Alberta Seniors Award YNWP considers itself a combining elements from for Accomplishment in Prairie publisher, Nickel Writing in 1999. Nickel was responds, “Definitely!” both traditional and hooked and YNWP began. That mandate is clear self-publishing models. These days, YNWP when Nickel mentions some of her fall highlights. publishes between 15 and 25 There’s The Life & Times of Lighthouse McNeil: books each year, and has created a distinct place An Adventure in the RCMP by George Garrett. for itself in publishing on the Prairies. Nickel describes it as “the incredible true story of YNWP is what Nickel calls a “hybrid” publisher, the career of Stirling ‘Lighthouse’ McNeil, one of combining elements from both traditional and the first pilots in the RCMP’s ‘Air Division,’ who self-publishing models. Authors subsidize book spent his summers on the Mackenzie River and his production, as in self-publishing, so content that winters crisscrossing Canada’s North on dogsled might not otherwise find its way to readers is patrols for as many as 700 miles.”

24 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 Government House, Regina, Good Morning, Sunshine! A Story of Mindfulness Saskatchewan: An Illustrated Trina Markusson, illustrated by History by Edward Willett, James Hearne is a full-colour, photographic In this picture book, Zachary wakes up exploration of Saskatchewan’s feeling worried about school, and learns vice-regal residence that brings six mindfulness tools to find peace and to life the role of the lieutenant- happiness – ones that real children can governor, and the history of use too. the House and the Province of (ynwp, $15.95 pb, 32 pages, isbn: 978-1- Saskatchewan. 927756-77-5) Nickel also points out some YNWP books for younger readers. Government House, Regina, Good Morning, Sunshine! A Saskatchewan: An Illustrated Story of Mindfulness by Trina History Markusson and James Hearne Edward Willett is a children’s picture book that This book tells the story of Saskatchewan’s includes tools to help children find Government House on the occasion of its peace and happiness in the present 125th anniversary, from its origins as a moment. And Along Comes a one-storey frame house to the stately brick structure of today, including the many Wolfe by Angie Counios and David Gane, “YNWP has been fortunate to uses the building has served. a YA mystery featuring detective duo Tony publish a number of award-winning (ynwp, $39.95 hc, 352 pages, with colour Shepherd and Charlie Wolfe, is the first and bestselling titles,” she adds. “I was & b/w photos, isbn: 978-1-927756-76-8) in a proposed five-book series. “Though pleased and surprised by the response to Shepherd and Wolfe are definitely not the the publication of Baba’s Babushka: A The Life & Times of Lighthouse McNeil: Hardy Boys!” Nickel says. Magical Ukrainian Christmas by Marion An Adventure in the RCMP “YNWP publishes Mutala and Wendy George Garrett books of all genres – About a third of Siemens. The initial This is the true story of Stirling McNeil, from poetry to history, print run of 2,000 copies one of the first pilots of the RCMP “Air” from business to fiction,” the books published sold out in less than two Division, a Wing Commander with the Nickel goes on to say, by YNWP are months, and the book is RCAF during WWII, leader of the RCMP “but children’s books are picture books or now in its fourth printing. Musical Ride, and community leader. one of the cornerstones “Honouring the (ynwp, $19.95, pb, 192 pages, with b/w of YNWP’s title list.” are intended for Buffalo: A Plains Cree photos, isbn: 978-1-927756-65-2) About a third of the books a juvenile audience. Legend by Ray Lavallee, published by YNWP Judith Silverthorne, and My Good Friend, Grandpa are picture books or are intended for a Mike Keepness is another book I’m Elaine Sharfe, illustrated by Karen Sim juvenile audience, and they have found particularly proud of,” says Nickel. “To This picture book tells the story of two success both in the marketplace and with help connect readers to the stories, culture, good friends, Grandpa Ed and young various book awards. and heritage of Prairie people is YNWP’s Noah, who do everything together, mandate, the fulfillment of which is truly and how Noah found a way to be a good friend when Grandpa Ed couldn’t an honour.” go out anymore. Nickel thinks the future is bright for (ynwp, $9.95 pb, 24 pages, isbn: 978-1- YN WP. 927756-71-3) “Providing a conduit for storytelling between authors and readers is the Sibling Shenanigans best part of working in the publishing Marjorie Cripps, illustrated by industry,” she says. “And there is always Val Lawton something new to learn as each project Siblings Amanda and Mitchell use unfolds. YNWP looks forward to the Grandma’s magic quilt to soar over opportunity to help tell more stories in Canada from coast to coast, in this chapter the years ahead!” book for children ages 6 to 8. (ynwp, $12.95 pb, 96 pages, isbn: 978-1- 927756-70-6)

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 25 feature | strong women Rocky mountain high Climbing acts as metaphor in new collection by Paula E. Kirman

or writer Gisèle Villeneuve, the mountains She says the challenge in the short story is to decide what shape that single strand will take – straight, creating a linear are often her muse. When she isn’t writing, F story, or a spiral or a circle or a wave, in which case the she roams the Rockies. Mountain climbing is a story takes many twists and turns, and may look like a short metaphor in the stories found in her new collection, novel, but is not, because it still only has that single strand. Villeneuve’s stories convey to readers a sense of the dual Rising Abruptly, which use form, language, and nature of the mountains, which are at once hard, difficult, narrative to deal with raw emotions like fear, love, and intimidating, but also fragile. and passion. In fact, it is precisely the juxtaposition of two opposites that often fuels Villeneuve’s writing. In “Onion,” “The stories emerged over many years and in various for example, a love relationship forms. A few, such as ‘Benighted on Mighty Mount Royal,’ develops between an insomniac who ‘Nepal High,’ and “Nuit Blanche with Gendarme,’ were first is obsessed with pickling onions and written in French,” Villeneuve, who was born in Montreal a mountain climber/roofer, for whom and lives in Calgary, explains. sleep deprivation could be fatal. “But “Around 2012, when I began thinking about the they understand each other’s desire,” collection, I translated and adapted those stories into English she says. for the pleasure of working Villeneuve doesn’t usually write with both languages. It took autobiographically, saying it tends to me about three years to shape stifle imagination. the seven stories and to finish Rising Abruptly.” Villeneuve wrote these stories as a break from “The stories were a wonderful respite. working for many years on a Like going for a simple hike on a sunny novel about mountaineering. “It was intense work, five summer day.” days a week. Like a multi-day climbing expedition,” she “However, after years of roaming the Rockies,” she says, says. “And so, on Saturdays, “I don’t mind disclosing that ‘Assiniboine Crossroads’ is I took a break from the larger probably the most autobiographical piece of fiction that I work. The stories were a have ever written. And yet, in this instance, I am pleased to wonderful respite. Like going say that imagination stayed nimble.” for a simple hike on a sunny Autobiographical or not, it is not so much what happens summer day.” in the stories that interests Villeneuve. “Mainly, I would Villeneuve describes the hope that the writing itself carried the stories well for the RISING difference between writing readers,” she says. ABRUPTLY: a novel and writing a short “As a reader, I am not so much interested in reading about Stories story in terms of strands. “I any story in particular. What interests me most is how the see the short story as being writer wrote about the story. And so, it comes down to Gisèle Villeneuve built with one strand, as playing with language, or languages, playing with form, University of opposed to the novel, which the writing itself.” Alberta Press $24.95 pb, 210 pages can have any number of isbn: 978-1-77212-261-9 strands that interact with each other,” she says.

26 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 feature | strong women PARADISE LOST Bergen’s latest a powerful novel of haves and have nots by Margaret Goldik

elebrated author David Bergen’s latest novel, Stranger, is a tour de force, Can unforgettable portrait of a country divided, and of a mother who will dare anything to recover her child.

The idea for Stranger came, according to Bergen, to always cross on green lights, and when “I had been playing around with the notion “If you see the police, and you will of border crossings, of north and south, of rich and see many, keep walking. Don’t look. poor, and the obvious result would have been a . . . Don’t let them know you’re ‘refugee’ story, powerful enough on its own terms. different.” She also meets with But I wanted to go sideways a bit, to find another unexpected kindness from people reason for crossing a ‘border,’ and so the idea of the who are marginalized or poor. fertility clinic came to me, and the theft of a child, Stranger makes it clear how deep and the resulting quest to find the child.” the divisions are in the United States: Íso Perdido, a young Guatemalan woman, is a the wealthy live in communities “keeper” at a fertility clinic near her village. She surrounded by razor wire and has an affair with an American armed guards, while doctor at the clinic, Eric Mann, and the poor live precariously, under becomes pregnant. STRANGER bridges in encampments that are Íso’s full name is Paraíso Perdido, David Bergen destroyed by the police, or squatting Paradise Lost. Bergen explains: “I HarperCollins in derelict buildings. was playing with the notion of the $29.99 hc, 272 pages “Those who ‘have’ are often ‘fall,’ and the loss of paradise, and if isbn: 978-1-44345-097-3 unwilling to give up what they have Íso herself might have had some part to help the poor, the unlucky, the to play in that fall.” less fortunate. Human nature works All of Íso’s inner strength has to be mobilized this way. We tend to think we deserve our good when Eric’s wife, Susan, arrives from the United fortune,” remarks Bergen. States to try the course of fertility treatments, with Stranger is a breathtaking, emotionally powerful Íso assigned as her keeper. novel with a strong protagonist. So what next? Eric leaves Guatemala without learning of the Bergen says, “I teach online with Humber pregnancy. When the baby is born the child is College, working with fiction writers. As far as “handed over,” a lucrative procedure arranged by writing my next book, I am fishing (metaphorically), the clinic without Íso’s knowledge. She learns that and waiting, and thinking, and scribbling.” the child has been sold to Susan and Eric, and is determined to get her daughter back. “The child, as a representation, plays with the “Those who ‘have’ are often entitlement of the privileged to have whatever they desire, and often when the wealthier nations desire unwilling to give up what something, it is the poor who suffer the loss,” says they have to help the Bergen. “This might sound like a generalization, but unfortunately it is so often true.” poor, the unlucky, the Íso’s journey through Guatemala, Mexico, and less fortunate.” into the United States is a horrific one. Íso, as an illegal alien, is surrounded by danger. She is warned

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 27 feature | strong women Finding hope

Vermette’s novel explores identity, culture, know violence doesn’t happen in a vacuum – violence, and belonging it always comes from somewhere, usually from other violence.” by Quentin Mills-Fenn One of the themes of the novel is identity. Some of the Métis characters, for example, question their n The Break, the debut novel by Governor General’s sense of belonging. Vermette, herself Métis, agrees. “I think identity is a pretty common theme in Literary Award–winning poet Katherena Vermette, I many Indigenous cultures, Métis is no exception,” perspectives shift to tell a tough-minded story about an she says. “We have a very painful history. We extended Indigenous family in Winnipeg’s North End. have been denied cultural practice, ceremony, language, and family. These are very basic human “This story has been with me for a long time, things. They make up who we are, and not having and I think I was afraid to write it,” Vermette says. them, having them forced away from you, is a “I didn’t know how. But, once I started, I had to very demeaning, completely unjust experience. stay in the story. Poetry can be short. At least my Sometimes the result is that people never learn, poetry is pretty short. It lets you dive in and dive or deny their culture. That’s a real, sad result of out. I couldn’t do that with this novel. colonialism. That’s how colonialism works.” “I wrote the characters’ It’s an emotionally difficult book to read, but it individual stories and then put was also difficult to write. them together,” she adds. “This puzzle making and making everything make sense was a challenge. It took a lot of time “I wanted to to polish and get the timeline write everyone to co-operate. It was also more intense for me.” without judgment The story opens when Stella, and just show a young Métis mother, looks out her window and sees a vicious their stories assault. Wanting to do the right as I saw them.” thing, she calls the police. But that episode is only one moment in a community coping with trauma and loss. “I didn’t want to write it but it haunted me and I “I wanted to write everyone wanted to know more,” says Vermette. “I wanted to without judgment and show their find the hope amidst the struggle. Writing requires THE BREAK stories as I saw them,” Vermette such an intimate embodiment with the subject. I says. “I had many emotional felt alongside these characters – the pain, the rage, Katherena Vermette responses to the violence in this the moments of solace, and the support. It was House of Anansi story, mostly rage and sometimes vital that I honoured those characters and got them $22.95 pb, 364 pages isbn: 978-1-4870-0111-7 sadness.” right, but I didn’t want the violence of the story to As she was writing, she thought happen at all. of restorative justice circles. “Author Morgan James said, and I’m “These are when the perpetrator of harm sits in a paraphrasing, ‘Violence is really hard to write circle with those they have harmed and everyone but even harder to live.’ That stayed with me and tells their story,” she explains. “There is pain and pushed me forward.” response, but everyone gets a chance to speak. I don’t excuse people who commit violence, but I know if you hear those people’s stories, you

28 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 feature | strong women HEAVY LIFTING Short story collection explores strength, wisdom by Margaret Anne Fehr across the back alley from me who always howled whenever he heard a udy McCrosky, Saskatoon-based siren. I needed that image to simmer author of five previous books, admits for a while in my soup pot, but that thatJ as a reader she’s never been able to was the seed.” focus on only one genre. Her most recent The title story, “Lifting Weights,” as book, Lifting Weights, shows her same well as the story “Vine” grew out of her predilection as a writer. The 10 short experience as a bullied child. “Death TV” stories reference her literary influences, describes a future society’s fascination which include Guy Gavriel Kay, Charles with watching people die as a source of de Lint and Patricia A. McKillip. entertainment, a phenomenon too close However, McCrosky hastens to add that for comfort to present-day reality TV she is really influenced by and the so-far less extreme measures everything she reads. that contribute to producing a “Basically, I write to breakout hit. become people I’m not “‘Death TV’ is one of the oldest and to have experiences stories in the book,” says McCrosky. I wouldn’t otherwise, but “Over the past years it has amazed I also explore societal me just how prescient it is. I am concepts in my work,” she a keen observer of the people, says. “I like speculative communities, and societies around fiction because one way me, and I have to confess, I develop ideas is by it’s a boost to my ego playing with reality and LIFTING when something I see as pushing its boundaries, WEIGHTS a possibility does become and speculative fiction Judy McCrosky real, even if the trend is encourages that.” Thistledown Press not a positive one.” McCrosky feels that $18.95 pb, 200 pages McCrosky expects the title, both for the title isbn: 978-1-77187-105-1 that Lifting Weights story and for the book, will appeal to a wide and symbolizes what the characters are diverse readership. doing in the stories. “The weights are “I think anyone who enjoys good not always literal, or even physical,” she fiction, from young adults to seniors, explains, “but we all encounter times in will enjoy this book,” she says. “The our lives when we do encounter heavy stories are about people who face fears lifting in an emotional and/or physical and challenges and learn of their own sense. And I loved the cover image strengths and wisdom.” when Thistledown first proposed it, McCrosky’s educational background because it shows a strong woman, but it is in psychology and she worked as a is also fun, as are many of the stories.” therapist and psychometrist for several McCrosky lets her subconscious work years before discovering that what on ideas for her stories. “Writers work she truly wanted to do was write. in many different ways, and over time, “This background helps me better I’ve learned what works best for me, and understand the issues I explore,” she that is free association,” she says. says. “But basically I’d have to say, I “For example, ‘Gated’ was written don’t set out to be accurate; I just deal because there was a dog who lived in possibilities.”

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 29 feature | strong women woman’s work Book examines female homesteaders on the Prairies by Paula E. Kirman

hile the term homesteader may conjure up images of men Wworking the land, a number of women sought land of their own during the early settlement of the Canadian Prairies. Sarah Carter presents a comprehensive look at women who acquired land and became homesteaders, farmers, ranchers, and speculators in Imperial Plots: Women, Land, and the Spadework of British Colonialism on the Canadian Prairies. “This study emerged from long- were homesteaders in Manitoba on First Nations were relegated to small standing interest in the issue of land Treaty One land. “This helped spark reserves with no right to property such on the Prairies, how it was divided up, my interest in understanding the as homesteads off reserves. parcelled out to some virtually for free, history of homesteading and settler “First Nations men were categorized and denied to others,” explains Carter, colonialism on the Prairies, why land as poor farmers, in need of little land, professor and Henry Marshall Tory was on offer to some people and denied and certainly not the free homesteads on Chair in the Department of History to others,” she says. offer to immigrant males,” says Carter. and Classics and the Faculty of Native “Why are there virtually “A desired social, cultural, Studies at the University of Alberta. no names of women on the and economic landscape was The women described in this book township maps? What are the to be sculpted and policed faced discrimination, and many legal reasons for this exclusion? It “They were through land policies.” and cultural obstacles that extended was not natural or inevitable supposed However, Carter reveals even into the 20th century. as the example of the U.S. to cultivate that the women protesting “They faced persistent, intransigent West demonstrates where against Canada’s land laws opponents over decades who insisted single women homesteaded in children and were no less discriminatory. it was not respectable for women, the thousands in every state.” not crops.” They argued that if they had particularly British women, to be While faced with obstacles, their own homesteads, they farmers,” says Carter. “They were women did prove they could farm. “The could help make the Canadian West supposed to cultivate children and book brings to light many forgotten British and not “foreign.” not crops.” female farmers and ranchers of the “They were at the centre of an The subject holds a personal Prairies beginning with the Indigenous unsuccessful and misguided campaign connection for Carter, whose ancestors women agriculturalists of the northern that sought the homestead privilege Plains,” Carter says. “The corn crops for British and Canadian-born women of these first farmers continue to play a only,” says Carter. IMPERIAL PLOTS: major role in the economies of Canada As Carter points out, settler history Women, Land, and the and the U.S.” is complicated. Spadework of British Colonialism First Nations farmers of both “Settler women participated in the genders were restricted once settler dispossession of Indigenous people, on the Canadian Prairies colonialism set in. “Closely linked to but they encountered roadblocks Sarah Carter this is the issue of what people were and obstacles not faced by settler University of Manitoba Press deemed suitable candidates to farm men. These legal and ideological $31.95 pb, 480 pages that land,” continues Carter, who encumbrances and obstructions with b/w photos, bibliography, in previous work (Lost Harvests: persisted far into the 20th century. & index Prairie Indian Reserve Farmers and “Constraining myths continue to isbn: 978-0-88755-818-4 Government Policy) looked at how marginalize women as farmers.”

30 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 feature | strong women Sowing the seeds THE WAITING Author’s first novel explores pregnancy and other labours PLACE Sharron Arksey by Yvonne Dick “My paternal grandmother Turnstone Press preferred women authors to $19.00 pb, 180 pages harron Arksey has been a writer long enough to know male authors. Men writers always isbn: 978-0-88801-591-4 how to put together a compelling story. Her first novel, wanted to have a hero, she said; TheS Waiting Place, lingers in the mind long after reading it. books by women were more reality-based. There are no heroes/ Arksey’s book is the story of life, death, and everything in heroines in this book, just ordinary people with the same vices, between on the family farm. It takes place while the main flaws, strengths, and challenges that all people have. That character, Susan, is pregnant and awaiting the birth of her doesn’t change whether you live in a rural or an urban area,” first child. Modern rural women have come a long way over says Arksey. the generations, but some things still remain. By writing throughout her life, Arksey has kept the pump The women in Susan’s life all come primed – her advice to other writers is simple yet effective. It from hardy farming stock, carrying parallels the themes of her novel, in fact. on in spite of the many things that “Read lots and keep your eyes and ears open. But also, just can go wrong on the farm, especially sit down and get the words out. It’s like priming a pump – during birthing seasons. Just as what comes out first might be muddy, but it will get clearer women in previous generations felt a and fresher with the time and effort spent.” sense of duty to family, children, and the chores that make up farm life, so do the modern women. These are the women who try their best to tame their little piece of earth alongside their husbands. As a teenager, Arksey wrote for that Prairie institution known as the Young Co-operators Club, which allowed her to submit stories and poems to the farming magazine The Western Producer. Her love of writing continued with a career as a community newspaper reporter in Manitoba. Eventually, love brought her back to her home community, where Arksey settled to build a farm with her husband. Though the jobs she held sometimes had nothing to do Celebrating 40 years with writing, she made being a writer a priority that never faded over time. Arksey freelanced for publications and www.turnstonepress.com wrote a weekly column called Rural Routes for 25 years. “The column probably qualified as creative non-fiction, and I eventually self-published a collection of excerpts. It wasn’t until I was nearing 50 that I returned to fiction and poetry. I do still have a full-time job, however, so the writing is woven around and between those responsibilities,” explains Arksey. The Waiting Place provides a genuine look at a woman’s first pregnancy in relation to other labours in her life. Arksey says that her novel is about pregnancy and birth, relationships and secrets, and the things we pass along from our ancestors. Her novel is an honest and engaging tale of the cycles of life. Although she remarks that some people who did not grow up on or live on a farm may not enjoy her novel, it’s hard to imagine why not.

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 31 en français

Aussi longtemps que les rivières couleront The Latest in Prairie James Bartleman Martha est enlevée à sa famille de la Première French-Language Titles Nation de Cat Lake, dans le Nord de l’Ontario, pour être emmenée par avion dans un pensionnat indien. The novel follows one Les quatre commères de la rue des Ormes fondateur de la province du Manitoba et l’un girl, Martha, who is flown far away to Louise Dandeneau des Pères de la Confédération canadienne. residential school. Elles sont quatre et, comme dirait Vigneault, Louis Riel is brought to life once more through (Plaines, $19.95. b&w pb, 272 pages elles parlent pour parler, d’autrui surtout, this richly documented full-colour graphic isbn 978-2-89611-421-4) mais sans se l’avouer, d’elles-mêmes. In this novel and historically faithful account. collection of short stories, four friends gossip, Available in French and English. Parvana : une jeunesse en Afghanistan revealing as much about themselves and the (Plaines/Vidacom, $24.95, Col. pb, 76 pages, Deborah Ellis Franco-Manitoban community of the ‘70s as isbn : 978-2-89611-531-0) Puisque les filles n’ont pas le droit de about their victims. travailler à Kaboul, Parvana, qui a 11 ans, (Blé, nouvelles, $19.95 , 164 pages, isbn: 7 Générations Volume 1 & 2 devra se déguiser en garçon pour subvenir 9782924378-38-0) David Robertson & Scott Henderson aux besoins de sa famille. Eleven year-old La série 7 générations est une bande Parvana is forced by circumstances to be the Horizons dessinée épique qui raconte la saga d’une breadwinner for her family in the war-torn E.D. Blodgett famille autochtone sur sept générations. 7 Taliban-era of Kabul, in Afghanistan. Un livre bilingue, sans être pourtant traduit, Generations (Vol. 1 & 2) is the French language (Plaines, $14.95, b&w pb, 170 pages dans lequel les langues parlent et se parlent. edition of the graphic novels Stone, Scars, isbn 978-2-89611-498-6) Governor General’s Award winner E.D. Ends/Begins and The Pact. Blodgett presents a collection of thoughtful, (Plaines, $17.95, b&w pb, 72 pages isbn 978-2- meditative poems in French and English. 89611-392-7) (Blé, poésie, $17.95 , 102 pages, isbn: 978-2- 924378-41-0) New Releases from Vidacom Publications Rolihlahla Mandela Daouda Dembélé In his play Rolihlahla Mandela, Daouda Dembélé brings to life one of the most important public figures of the 20th century. C’est la première pièce écrite en français sur Nelson Mandela. (Blé, théâtre, $15.95 , 104 pages, isbn: 9782924378-48-9) MANITOBA: THE JOURNAL OF CANADA LAND OF THE UNEXPECTED ÉTIENNE MERCIER Text by Shelagh Rogers Nouvelles orphelines Text and photography by Text by David Bouchard Photography by Robert Nicolas Mike Grandmaison Art by Gordon Miller Mike Grandmaison Robert Nicolas’ Nouvelles orphelines is a Come discover Manitoba’s “David Bouchard scores with In this breathtaking collection of short stories about life’s ordinary, untamed wilderness and this quirky concoction of history, cross-Canada photographic every day dramas. Avec un sérieux teinté myriad landscapes, from art, nature, and folk songs. The journey, Shelagh Rogers and Journal of Etienne Mercier, like Mike Grandmaison portray a parfois d’un humour décapant, l’auteur its prehistoric bedrock and imposing lakes to its endless Bouchard’s previous If You’re vast country whose geography tisse des scènes plausibles qui dérapent tundra and vast prairies, in Not from the Prairies and The from coast to coast reflects régulièrement, entraînant le lecteur dans des this elegant and enriching Colours of British Columbia, the many moods of nature in situations cocasses, hors de l’ordinaire. coffee-table book. is a book for most ages.” all its glory. (Blé, nouvelles, $18.95 , 128 pages, isbn: ISBN 978-1-9881820-0-1 | $29.95 Quill & Quire ISBN 978-2-89611-420-7 | $49.95 English version ISBN 978-1-9881821-0-0 | $19.95 English version 9782924378-29-8) English version These titles will also be published in French in 2017 by Les Éditions des Plaines. Louis Riel, patriot / Riel, patriote Robert Freynet Cette bande dessinée met en scène le drame www.plaines.ca www.vidacom.ca tragique de la vie du chef métis Louis Riel,

32 Prairie books Now | fall/winter1064 Vidacom2016 Prairie Books 1/3 pg ad.indd 1 2016-12-08 4:53 PM drama EN GARDE! Stage fighting a tool for resolution by Steve Locke

Am For You is a play that begins with I AM FOR YOU a conflict between two girls in a high Mieko Ouchi I Playwrights Canada Press school drama club. From the internal $17.95 pb, 80 pages monologues, it’s quite clear they hate each isbn: 978-1-77091-511-4 other. Feelings of judgment and anger build until the slightest trigger sets them off, and “They have made him love theatre, but have also then it’s on. Stage directions read: They fight. shown him how powerful theatre and the arts can be for anyone to experience,” says Ouchi. Vicious. Messy. Not a girl fight. Readers come to be acquainted with each girl’s fighting style, as both look to violence to resolve As the reader can quickly see, Mieko Ouchi has conflict. Lainie is described in the list of characters flipped the script on violence, using her writing to as a fighter, where Mariam is a fencer. Mariam has explore gender stereotypes. a leg-up on Lainie in the stage fighting practice with “I feel like sometimes girls are thought to be foils, which she uses to her advantage, while Lainie non-violent or less violent,” she says, “although provokes Mariam with brutish force. we know from research that girls can participate in “Each has something very different to prove,” bullying or violence as much as says Ouchi. “Part of the reason is to allow kids boys do, though this may take to see a little of themselves in at least one of the different forms or be expressed characters.” in different ways.” As the story progresses and the girls are Luckily, student teacher empowered to perform the male roles due to their Caddell Morris steps in before skill and co-operation, the play’s title begins to take any serious harm is done. Seeing on a depth of meaning. In Romeo and Juliet, the an opportunity to resolve the character Tybalt uses “I am for you” as a taunt conflict through the school’s towards Mercutio, in effect saying, “bring it on.” production of Romeo and Juliet, As the girls learn to understand each other and he proposes a deal: they meet on work together, the meaning changes somewhat. the weekend to practise stage fighting. Where this “They have entrusted their safety to each other,” might seem counterintuitive, conflict resolution is says Ouchi. “They are willing to work together. exactly what both Caddell and Ouchi have in mind. They have each other’s backs.” “I had studied stage combat myself at school, and absolutely loved it,” says Ouchi. “The beautiful thing about it is, freedom to read week that to make the fight look realistic and february 26–march 4, 2017 impactful, stage fighters have to work Visit our Facebook page and join the conversation together intensely.” @Freedom_to_Read | #FTRWeek In the following training scenes, Order Freedom to Read, our annual Ouchi writes great character moments review of current censorship issues for each of the three leads. The audience in Canada, and 2017 poster at finds out that Caddell had struggled Freedomtoread.ca to find consistent work as an actor and stage fighter, and has come into teaching by way of inspiration from past mentors.

FTRW2017_PrairiebooksNOW.indd 1 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 20162016-12-20 33 4:09 PM poetry True lives Poet chronicles his father’s life and death in new book by Ariel Gordon

uring the 2013 flood in Calgary, Richard Harrison thought his Dfather’s ashes had been lost when his basement flooded. Later, he found the urn in a Harrison takes this responsibility seriously, as a box with books and a remote- father and son, and as a poet. controlled car: “And now it sits “I try to be true to their lives, and try never to on a shelf in my living room, / lose sight of the fact that I was writing from an my father’s ashes not taken by acknowledged point of view; that this was how the flood / that I will not give to I saw them, that they were bigger or more than the air / until I have learned all the figures they appeared to be in my work; the he has to teach me / with the last obligation to make the poems about them right part of the earth that was him.” was a serious one.” Harrison’s sixth book of But even after acknowledging that his father and poetry, On Not Losing My his family were his muses, writing about his father’s Father’s Ashes in the Flood, is death felt different for Harrison. in part about the decline and “The most surprising thing, perhaps, was how eventual death of his father. not ‘easy’ but necessary it was (and continues to be) This wasn’t Harrison’s first for me to write about it,” says Harrison. attempt at parsing the events in his father’s life, or in the life of his family. His last book of poetry, 2005’s Worthy of “The most surprising thing, ON NOT LOSING His Fall, took on fatherhood perhaps, was how not ‘easy’ MY FATHER’S ASHES against the backdrop of the but necessary it was (and IN THE FLOOD war in Iraq. Big Breath of a Wish – nominated for the continues to be) for me to Richard Harrison Governor General’s Literary Wolsak & Wynn Award for Poetry – looked at write about it.” $18.00 pb, 100 pages parenting through the linguistic isbn: 978-1-928088-22-6 discoveries children make in “I still go back to that room, the last room where their first two years of life. he was alive, and look at it, exploring it, like it “When I started writing this way – realizing that was a work of art with a meaning I haven’t yet my father and my family were the subjects that understood. Maybe his death is the most religious made me want to write in a way that few other thing I’ve ever experienced. It didn’t then and subjects did – I talked to my father about it,” says doesn’t now bring me any closer to what religion Harrison. calls faith, but it does bring me closer to the mystery His father told him, “I know how much it takes that bounds life and is not answerable by anything to write a poem, so if you can write these, I can other than, for me, by living and by making art. read them.” “I’ve almost become comfortable with the idea “Thinking about it now,” Harrison says, “I that he’s continuing to teach me things that I realize that he was making me the custodian of couldn’t learn from him until he’d died.” his life in poetry, and thus the weight of his life-as- perceived, just as the weight of the perceived life of anyone who appeared in my poems, would be all mine to hold up.”

34 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 Cemetery Compost art, Legris breaks open and finds the poetic more poetry Murray Reiss potential in language and body. Blood Orange In the tradition of poetry of witness, Reiss (New Directions Books, $20.95 pb, 126 pages, Heidi Garnett writes of indifference toward the poor, isbn: 978-0-8112-2537-3) These poems of quiet horror and displaced injustice toward the oppressed, political fairy tale images tell of Garnett and her irrationality, and friends’ dying moments, The Long Walk mother’s forced migration from post-war but he also writes with humour, particularly Jan Zwicky Poland to Western Canada, exploring the when dealing with gardening and baldness Through bush, along streams, into snow, meaning of home and homelessness. and cats. these poems walk the reader to deep (Frontenac House, $15.95 pb, 92 pages, isbn: (Frontenac House, $15.95 pb, 92 pages, isbn: places, deep into the grief and guilt around 978-1-927823-52-1) 978-1-927823-58-3) our damaged environments and broken relationships, into the “wreckage of The Bone Weir Digsite meaning.” D. S. Stymeist Owain Nicholson (University of Regina Press, $19.95 pb, 80 Digging up and into bones and flesh, artifacts Drawing on his experience working in the pages, isbn: 978-0-88977-449-0) and history, these poems tear open ideas about Alberta oils sands and arboreal forest, and our colonial past, evolution, art, ritual, and lust. through an archaeological lens, Nicholson Nineteen Fifty-Seven (Frontenac House, $15.95 pb, 82 pages, isbn: explores the places we have lost over tens of Jim McLean 978-1-927823-55-2) thousands of years. This poetry collection is about Prairie life (Nightwood Editions, $18.95 pb, 96 pages, after the Second World War, with sentimental Buoyancy Control isbn: 978-0-88971-324-6) images of the landscape as well as darker Adrienne Gruber poems on death, suicide, and alcoholism. In these poems of earth and sea, life events The Hideous Hidden (Coteau, $16.95 pb, 128 pages, isbn: 978-1- are portrayed through images of sticky road Sylvia Legris 55050-675-4) trips, a chameleon-like octopus and other sea Playing with the words of the ancients creatures, and diving lessons. (Hippocrates and his ilk) and the scientific (to (bookthug, $18.00 pb, 84 pages, isbn: 978-1- do with botany, glands, and skin diseases), 77166-222-2) and with the imagery of da Vinci’s anatomy

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 35 poetry HEALING WORDS Collection chronicles poet’s cancer journey by Ariel Gordon

hen Calgary-based writer Beth Everest sat down to or afraid or something else,” says Everest. “Sometimes write about the cancer that claimed her left breast, W the words and gestures are she had decades of teaching creative writing under her belt. hurtful – I even had people It didn’t matter. walk away saying nothing – but that doesn’t necessarily “I cried a lot,” Everest says. “I mean that they don’t care; wanted to be alone a lot. I learned a rather that we often don’t lot about love.” know what to say, can’t say, In the end, Silent Sister: The don’t have the language to Mastectomy Poems emerged as a say, or are afraid to say.” long poem. Everest believes it was But she had some the only form that allowed her to wonderful and surprising get at the truth of what it felt like to encounters, too. “More than once I opened the have cancer. door to people I had only previously seen while “It was the most natural way to dog walking. I didn’t even know their names. They harness the potent images in my have now become important people in my life. I head,” says Everest. “And it allowed wanted to capture this in the book.” me a more-or-less chronological And there is more work to be done, beyond narrative punctuated by recollection, improving our way of responding to cancer. memory, hallucination, and dream.” “I want the book to reach out to people who have After surviving cancer and then cancer, have had cancer, and have – and have had writing about it, Everest hopes her – people in their lives with cancer, I wanted with SILENT SISTER: second collection – after 2004’s the book to be able to open the conversation,” says The Mastectomy There Will Be Blood & I Will Tell Everest. “Not just for women. Many men too have Poems You, Put Your Hand Down Here, reacted to say, that’s Beth Everest a book focused on pregnancy and what I felt, and did you Frontenac House mothering – will do double the work “What do you feel X also? I want the $15.95 pb, 116 pages out in the world. book to reach into the isbn: 978-1-927823-61-3 “I want the book to be seen as a say to someone medical community so literary collection, but I also want with cancer, to that they too can say, the reach to be much further than ‘Here’s a book that that,” says Everest. “One of the things I have people facing might help.’ ” contemplated very much in the thick of everything Although Sile nt is that people (and in many instances, specifically their own sense Sister has only been women) don’t have language to talk about of mortality, recently released, certain things. Everest says that’s “What do you say to someone with cancer, insecurities, or already happening. to people facing their own sense of mortality, even death?” “I’ve had requests insecurities, or even death?” to do guest lectures, to The responses Everest received during her own make the book available to the Women’s Breast treatment led her to believe that she could help Health Centre library, to share with physicians and people answer that question. other medical personnel,” Everest says. “Often we rely on platitudes, euphemisms, or we “That makes me happy.” say whatever comes to mind because we are nervous

36 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 poetry Ability matters Poet hopes to educate others about autism by Quentin Mills-Fenn

ell Them It Was Mozart is a descriptions of meetings with therapists, excerpts from parenting poetry collection rooted in T books, and callous quotations from life, the life of its author and her teachers. The result is both warmly family. Winnipeg poet Angeline human and acutely critical. “Sometimes in an exasperating Schellenberg is the mother of moment with my kid,” she says, “I’d two teenagers on the autism start to laugh, thinking, ‘This will make spectrum and this book, her first, a great poem!’ Seeing the humour gave me more grace for myself and for them. is a frank, informed, and often Other times, I’d look back on a painful funny, look at one family’s life. meeting with a psychiatrist and, by her Winnipeg launch, she and her son poking fun, exact my playful revenge.” wowed the audience with a dramatic Schellenberg is forthright about why Schellenberg makes it clear that reading of “Echolalia (the Sibling she wrote this book. this isn’t a book of poetry inspired Rivalry),” and her daughter acted out “News stories about autism often use by autism, but a book about autism most of the poems from the front row. words like tragedy, epidemic, crisis,” written in poetry. She wants people to “I considered masking their identity,” she says. “Parenting books hold out come away with a deeper empathy for says Schellenberg, “but for this book to one more exhausting therapy that could families with disabilities. do what I wanted it to do – to show make all the difference (but probably “I’ve had people say, ‘I don’t get the value of every won’t). I wanted to say, ‘Enough! poetry, but I like yours,’ so I’m individual – I had They are who they are. Let’s just enjoy confident readers won’t get lost,” she to base it on real each other.’ says. “I do fear being misunderstood, children, rather but the emotional ‘pow’ of poetry is than composites worth the risk. Sometimes getting of symptoms and “I hope people who are people to ask questions effects more interests. Each change than straight facts ever could.” child with autism inexperienced with or fearful Some of the best poems in the is unique.” of disability will realize collection – the warmest and most we’re not that different.” humorous – relate episodes of parents and children, whether encountering TELL THEM IT “I hope literary types enjoy the unfamiliar toilets or imaginary WAS MOZART poetry,” she adds, “but my primary wildlife. Angeline Schellenberg targets are people who are intimately “There are hard things about autism I Brick Books affected by autism and those who have want Walmart shoppers and education $20.00 pb, 136 pages never encountered it. I hope people on ministers to understand,” Schellenberg isbn: 978-1-77131-442-8 the spectrum and their families will says. “But I also really want people to read it and think, ‘I’m not alone in know about purple squirrels. Laughing feeling this way.’ And I hope people together bonds people. When readers who are inexperienced with or fearful or listeners open their mouths to laugh of disability will realize we’re not with me about finding my kid slathered that different.” in lipstick and Anusol, their hearts Throughout, Schellenberg performs open too. erasure on found texts and tells “[My children] are proud of the short narratives. She deftly combines book – and their mom!” she adds. At

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 37 young adult & children WE ARE ONE YA novel shows how disaster doesn’t discriminate by Amanda Sanders

hen people fantasize about Wiseman believes, and she is fascinated periods of history that they by how natural disasters like the plague wishedW they lived in, you will never had an impact on the lives of the people hear anyone say they wished they lived living in those times. during the bubonic plague. Winnipeg “The plague was a critical moment author Eva Wiseman’s latest novel in history and in the history of the takes place during 14th-century Jews,” says Wiseman. “The events of France, where Jewish residents were this era also illustrated the courage and ANOTHER ME being accused of and prosecuted for resilience of the Jewish people in face Eva Wiseman poisoning the water supply. Another Me of tremendous adversity, and I wanted Tundra Books tells the story of Natan, a Jewish son of to portray this.” $21.99 hc, 240 pages a merchant, and Elena, the Christian Natan is a gentle soul, and this is isbn: 978-1-77049-716-0 daughter of a master draper. Natan and shown by the poetry that he recites Elena fall in love, and have to keep it a throughout the book. secret as Christian and Jewish people “His poetic side made him more The general events of the plague and are forbidden to fraternize. believable and real,” says Wiseman. the struggles in the town of Strasbourg While unpleasant, the bubonic “I hope that it brought him to life for are true to history, and while Wiseman plague is an important part of history, my readers.” (or anyone else) cannot say for a fact Tragedy strikes Natan, and he that an ibbur was present during all of THE FINAL becomes an ibbur, someone who is this, the persecution of Jewish residents righteous in spirit whose soul enters the and the devastation of the plague are WORK FROM body of living person temporarily so they accurately depicted. The plague did not W. P. KINSELLA can perform a religious duty that can discriminate the way the residents of only be accomplished in the flesh. Strasbourg did – both Christians and Natan’s duty is to prove that the Jewish people died from the plague in Jewish people in Strasbourg, astounding numbers. France, are not responsible In the midst of the bubonic for poisoning the town’s “The events of plague and the struggles water supply. of the Jewish people in this era also While most of the Strasbourg, Natan and characters in the novel are illustrated the Elena’s love is put to the test. fictional, Wiseman included courage and When Natan becomes an one historical figure, Peter resilience of the ibbur and occupies someone Schwarber, in the novel. Jewish people in else’s body, Elena’s love for RUSSIAN DOLLS “I included a real historical Natan is revealed. character for two reasons,” face of tremen- Wiseman states that with A SERIES OF LINKED she explains. “First of dous adversity, the idea of the ibbur she was STORIES WRAPPED IN all, a real character gives and I wanted to able to explore this thorny more veracity to the book portray this.” subject of true love. A NOVEL which is a work of fiction. “I was also interested in Secondly, the presence of Peter why we love someone,” she says. “Is Schwarber emphasizes that even it because he or she is handsome or Available from though the characters in the book are beautiful? Or is it because the object fi ne bookstores fictional, there were real people living of our desire is kind and good?” everywhere or visit: www.coteaubooks.com through the horrors of the times of the bubonic plague.”

38 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 young adult & children Losing his will Citra explores loss, adventure and mystery in new novel by Amanda Sanders

ill Poppy is a boy with an extraordinary writing Wtalent, that is, until his author mother unexpectedly passes away. Forced to live with his horrid Aunt Mauve, and mourning his mother, Will loses all desire to write.

Becky Citra tells a story of such as the poet Vespera loss, adventure, and mystery in Moonstone and the bookseller The Griffin of Darkwood. The Favian Longstaff, help Will adventure begins when Will and learn all about Sparrowhawk Mauve leave the city and head to and Sparrowhawk Hall, and Sparrowhawk, a tiny town with a the mysteries surrounding the THE GRIFFIN OF DARKWOOD castle, Sparrowhawk Hall, which “curse” on the hall – it seems Becky Citra Mauve has purchased – complete something horrible happens Coteau Books with “two loyal servants” – as if whenever someone lives there. $10.95 pb, 184 pages she were under a spell. That spell Together, Thom, Emma, isbn: 978-1-55050-691-4 is just a taste of the magic that and Will explore the castle and lives in Sparrowhawk. the history of Sparrowhawk, an elementary school teacher,” Mauve is a nasty character, discovering how medieval she says. “We shared hundreds and Citra believes every fantasy tapestries, including a piece of books together as one of my story requires a villain. with the words, “The favourite times of the school day “In ‘real life,’ of Griffin of Darkword,” was story time. course, no one is all unlock the mysteries “I have retired from teaching good or all bad, but of the weird noises and now, but when I write I am in a fantasy it’s fun to ghostly presences. Citra inspired by those children – have a truly wicked states that the starting their interests, what they loved character,” she says. point for developing about books, what sparked The author contrasted the plot was the idea their imagination. I love the Will’s deceased mother, of medieval tapestries opportunities I have to visit Adrienna, who is kind, telling a story. schools and libraries to talk gentle, and loving, with This is a book about about my books and reconnect Aunt Mauve, who is story and writers and with students.” conniving, grasping, and spiteful, writing. Even though Will The Griffin of Darkwood to give the reader more reason doesn’t feel like even opening his will capture the imaginations of to feel sympathetic towards Will writing book with the emerald young readers with its adventure, and his situation. cover, both his muse, a knight, mystery, magic, and adversity. Once Will and Mauve arrive and Adrienna’s muse, an ancient Citra says, “To make a story in Sparrowhawk, they feel Greek woman in a long white interesting and suspenseful, the distinctly unwelcome (the words dress and with green leaves in characters must face obstacles. “GO AWAY” are painted on the her hair, won’t leave him alone. The solution for Will could not front door), but Will is fortunate Citra says she is also fortunate be easy.” enough to make two friends enough to have muses. quickly – Thom and Emma. They, “They are the children that and a cast of eccentric characters I taught during my career as

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 39 young adult & children DIGGING IN THE DIRT Oertel releases 4th book in successful series by Shirley Byers

ndreas Oertel loves his day job as a provincial health inspector, Abut he can tell you exactly how long it will be before he can retire (4.46 years). “Yup, I’m counting down the weeks, so I can spend more time putting all my crazy ideas on paper.”

His latest book, Panama Pursuit, The first book in the Shenanigans the fourth in his Shenanigans series, series, History in the Faking, was tells the story of Cody, Rachel, Eric, published in 2009. and their friend Anna as they travel “I was thrilled,” says Oertel. “It to an archaeological dig in Panama. was a dream come true to finally Anna’s uncle has been charged with have a book contract. Then, when the theft of an ancient crystal skull, my publisher informed me that they and because they are kids, the four can wanted to develop it into a series, I ask questions and gather information was blown away. That was almost too without arousing suspicion. much for an emerging writer like me page perfect, I might get bogged down to comprehend.” and discouraged from finishing the The Shenanigan series has been manuscript,” he explains. “After my PANAMA PURSUIT nominated for several awards, rough (sometimes very rough) first The Shenanigans Series – including the Silver Birch Award, the draft is complete, I’ll settle down and Book Four Manitoba Young Readers Choice go over the work again and again – Andreas Oertel Award, and the New York State editing, rewriting, and fine-tuning.” Wandering Fox Books- Reading Association Charlotte Award. Shenanigans fans will be happy Heritage House Like most writers, Oertel has a to learn that Oertel has many more $9.95 pb, 206 pages writing process that he adheres to fairly archaeological adventures in mind for isbn: 978-1-77203-097-6 strictly because it works for him. the Shenanigans characters. “I’ll keep “I usually let the spark of an idea, working on those stories as long as the the premise, smoulder in my mind for a publisher will have them,” he says. Manitoba-based Oertel long time before I ever sit down to type But he’s also been “ruminating” on has been writing and a word,” he says. “I won’t even outline some stories for young adults. “If I have experimenting with different the plot, for fear that seeing those ideas time this winter, I might even tackle genres for over 30 years. His on paper might somehow discourage one of those projects.” first published work was a me from further fleshing out children’s story printed in the the tale. Then, after I have a United States. thorough understanding of “I usually let the spark of “It wasn’t a great piece,” he the story in my head – strong says, “but being published (and beginning, exciting climax, an idea, the premise, smoulder paid royalties!) after receiving satisfying conclusion – I’ll dozens of rejection letters was a real start writing.” in my mind for a long time confidence booster for me. I think I Once he’s writing that first before I ever sit down to was actually more excited about finally draft, he strives to get it down being published than I was about the quickly. “I don’t stress about type a word.” story itself. That experience motivated grammar, typos, and sentence and inspired me to continue to write structure, because I worry that if I and learn the craft.” spend too much time making every

40 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 young adult & children Those who’ve done, write Delaronde’s latest hits home by Shirley Byers

eborah Delaronde’s 10th book, The “As Indigenous people, we all carry scars,” she says. “Some Stone Gift, opens in a hospital. D carry them deeper than others. A young man is slowly waking up; he can’t see, Understanding and forgiveness are there is no feeling where his left leg should be, and the key to healing.” he is very thirsty. Memories of his life, his parents, While many of her stories are the sweet-sounding girl at his bedside, and even his based on childhood memories, own name seem to be lost. some are based on what she calls, He quickly learns that his memory loss is due “sleeping inspirations.” to a severe beating, possibly gang related. His Delaronde explains, “The idea name is D. J., the young woman is Hannah, and for the book developed while I his memory will likely return. In the meantime, was sleeping. When that kind of he must deal with other injuries, including facial inspiration occurs, I am compelled injuries so severe that his parents recognized him to get up and follow through with writing all the only by the clothes he wore. ideas and feelings associated with those ideas But, when his grandmother gives him a special before I can go back to sleep again. This usually stone to wear around his neck, his body begins to occurs anywhere from midnight to 4 a.m. It’s not heal, astoundingly quickly. something I can turn on and off, and it gets to While all this is be annoying.” going on, another In 2015 Deborah Delaronde won the first THE STONE storyline emerges. Beatrice Mosionier Aboriginal Writer of the Year GIFT Whenever D. J. falls Award. This award recognizes excellence Deborah Delaronde asleep, he seems to in writing in the past year and engagement Kegedonce Press be watching a drama in work that supports and encourages $18.00 pb, 134 pages about two boys, Jeff Aboriginal writing in Manitoba. isbn: 978-1-928120-07-0 and Tim. Tim is being “Like other art forms, writing is a craft pressured to join a that is both personally challenging but gang at school and Jeff, new at the school, is trying rewarding in itself,” she says. “It’s an to help him. The two story lines flow concurrently, activity I do because I enjoy doing it. creating a page-turning narrative. “Through your writing, if you can help Several of the elements of this book – growing up someone find solutions to a problem, learn in a foster home, commercial fishing, supernatural something new, or influence a child in a visions/dreams, healing stones – are things positive way, that is successful writing, Delaronde, a retired librarian, has experienced in published or unpublished!” her own life, and this is typical in her work. “There is a little bit of me in each of my 10 published books,” she says. “Working on this story brought forward “As Indigenous people, we all carry scars. forgotten childhood memories and some self- Some carry them deeper than others. reflection. Later in my life, I connected with my biological family. I have one sister and two brothers Understanding and forgiveness are the that I didn’t know existed. They think I’m smart. key to healing.” I laugh at them knowing that is not entirely true.” Smart or not, Delaronde has done some deep thinking about healing.

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 41 young adult & children CAUSE and EFFECT Picture book teaches how human actions have environmental consequence by Linda Alberta

hen the flutter of butterfly wings influences a Whurricane weeks later, it’s called the “butterfly effect.” The idea that small causes lead to larger effects is the premise of Alison Hughes’s new picture book, What Matters. HEINTZMAN BARBARA

This story begins with an unlikely catalyst – a lot of them are fact based, so I wanted something rumpled pop can. Scooping this litter and placing gentle for young children that showed in a simple it in a recycle bin, a young boy triggers a small way the interconnectedness of the environment. It’s tsunami of change in the local park ecosystem important for kids to learn that right off the bat.” and beyond. Spiders, Hughes says that one challenge with her book ants, snails, baby birds, was leaving enough room for the illustrator by not and crabs in the ocean all over-explaining ideas. She adds that picture books have important lives and have to be written in a way that leaves half of the now their lives are better book with space for the artist to interpret and show. because of the boy. She thinks of it in musical terms. The story’s pop can was based on a pop can seen on a routine hike. WHAT MATTERS “I hike a lot in the Alison Hughes Edmonton River Valley, and Illustrated by Holly Hatam one day I was marvelling at Orca Book Publishers a pristine beautiful scene, $19.95 hc, 32 pages and I did see a crumpled-up isbn: 978-1-4598-0910-9 pop can. You wonder why would someone do that to nature?” says Edmonton “It’s like putting words to music, in a song. author Alison Hughes. The words are meaningful, but so is the music “My book was created “It made me think of and they’re parts of the whole. Picture books are to illustrate the concept writing a book about the a lot about the illustrations. They enhance words consequences of each small but ultimately it begins with the story.” She adds of the ripple effect – thing. So, my book was that although she has never met illustrator Holly nature’s connections.” created to illustrate the Hatam, she did send an email thanking her for her concept of the ripple effect beautiful digital art. – nature’s connections.” With two books slated for 2017 – Kings of the Hughes adds that she often carries a plastic bag Court and her first young adult novel Hits the in her backpack to pick up litter while hiking. Ground Running – the award-winning author says She says this is her contribution to making the that as one project finishes another opens up. Edmonton River Valley cleaner, and she wants “I write in my home office. But there are dogs children to learn to do their part too. that need walking, children to pick up from school, “I didn’t want the book to be heavy handed or and laundry and groceries. You have to carve preachy,” she says, “but I wanted to set a scenario writing time. and let readers draw their own conclusion. A lot “But I have so many story ideas in my computer of books out there are aimed at older kids and a that they should last me until I am 95.”

42 Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 The Day Santa Stopped Weenipeeg tells the story of how twin brother Connor must solve more young Believing in Harold Winnipeg, meaning dirty water, a mystery and discover the adult & Maureen Fergus, illustrated by got its name, and how the river town librarian’s lost key so children Cale Atkinson turned red. that Lark can take out some In this role-reversing story, Santa (Manitoba First Nations mystery books. picture books has a crisis of faith, wondering Education Resource Centre, $9.95 (Orca, $6.95 pb, 80 pages, isbn: why Harold looks so different A Big Mistake? pb, 32 pages, isbn: 978-1-927849- 978-1-4598-0727-3) from how he looked last year, Richelle Lovegrove, illustrated 26-2) and why his handwriting is Rescued by Amber Green now so neat, and who really In this charming story about We Sang You Home Janice Howden puts the cookies and milk out on This book tells the story of generosity, Summer follows her Richard Van Camp, illustrated Christmas Eve. Hawkeye, a Tibetan terrier, Elder’s teaching when she gives by Julie Flett (Tundra, $21.99 hc, 32 pages, This sweet and lyrical board book who is raised in a puppy mill away the necklace her kokum isbn: 978-1-77049-824-2) captures the wonder new parents and rescued from the streets to gave her, but when her kokum feel as they welcome their baby finally be adopted into a home comes to visit, she worries that I Love You Too, I Love You Three into the world, parents who sing, with a caring family. she made a mistake. Wendy Tugwood, illustrated by “As we give you roots / you give (DriverWorks Ink, $13.95 pb, 64 (Manitoba First Nations Sheila McGraw us wings.” pages, isbn: 978-1-927570-31-9) Education Resource Centre, This picture book captures the (Orca, $9.95 hc, 26 pages, isbn: $9.95 pb, 40 pages, isbn: 978-1- love between mother and child 978-1-4598-1178-2) 927849-16-3) for middle readers in a counting game that plays with words while expressing Across the Floor The Boy and the Bindi early chapter love and reassurance. Natasha Deen Vivek Shraya, illustrated by books (Firefly, $14.95 hc, 24 pages, isbn: Luc has his sights set on a football Rajni Perera 978-1-77085-784-1) Lark Holds the Key career, but when his coach This playful story is about a Natasha Deen orders him to take contemporary young boy’s fascination with the Mary au parka rouge In this first book of the Lark Ba dance classes, Luc starts to think dot on his mother’s forehead, and Peter Eyvindson, translated detective series, Lark and her he may be willing to give up a how he learned that wearing his by Mona Buors, illustrated by continued on page 45 own bindi allows him to explore Rhian Brynjolson and express his own difference. This French-language edition (Arsenal Pulp, $17.95 hc, 32 pages, of the enduring book for young isbn: 978-1-55152-668-3) readers, Red Parka Mary, tells the heartwarming story of a Buddy and Earl and the Great Up North, Big Baby little boy scared to walk past a Maureen Fergus, illustrated by neighbour’s house until he learns and Never Grim Carey Sookocheff a new friend is only a smile away. Mrs. Cunningham comes to visit, (Pemmican, $10.95 pb, 44 pages, isbn: 978-1-926506-03-6) The charms of the Cree language and but when her baby gets out of his the inimitable beauty of Canada’s North playpen, it’s up to Buddy the dog and Earl the hedgehog to save Mona Nantow/Seasons of marry in Seasons of the North. Flora Rideout the North the day. introduces and translates Cree words and phrases, Flora Rideout, photographs by (Groundwood, $16.95 hc, 32 while Robert Rideout’s photographs capture a rare, Robert Rideout pages, isbn: 978-1-55498-716-0) magical land through the turn of the seasons, The turn of seasons in northern Manitoba is told in English for an invitation you’d never want to resist. Chinook and Winter and Cree, in joyous, easy-to- Rhonda Hunter, illustrated by Seasons of the North understand fashion, with Jayce Lamontagne Written by Flora Rideout illustrations of seasonal standbys Photography by Robert Rideout This lively tale is about the ago- ISBN: 978-1-926506-02-9 paired with photographs. old tussle between Chinook and $10.95 (Pemmican, $10.95 pb, 36 pages, Old Man Winter, and how one isbn: 978-1-926506-02-9) For more information on new titles, past titles and e-book titles, please visit our year, the game goes wrong and website at www.pemmicanpublications.ca, or call us at (204) 589-6346. people wonder if winter will Weenipeeg ever end. Bill Ballantyne, illustrated by (Pemmican, $10.95 pb, 40 pages, 150 Henry Avenue Nicole Marie Burton Winnipeg, Manitoba • R3B 0J7 isbn: 978-1-926506-01-2) Telephone: (204) 589-6346 In a mixture of Cree and English, www.pemmicanpublications.ca and in a graphic novel format,

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 43 Sacred Feminine An Indigenous Art Colouring Book by Jackie Traverse

Sacred Feminine is a colouring book by Anishinaabe artist Jackie Traverse. The beautiful and intricate works of art within depict images of strength, resilience and empowerment.

The first of its kind, Sacred Feminine is intended to heal and educate readers and colourers of all ages. ROSEWAY PUBLISHING an imprint of Fernwood Publishing

B ringing Métis Children’s Literature to Life Resource Kit This kit contains 21 resources and includes: 13 children’s books - 12 bilingual in English and Michif complete with an audio CD with the narrations in both languages, one English only children’s book 4 DVDs – 3 made from books, 1 Métis dance DVD 2 sets of study prints 1 series of 5 booklets done in graphic novel style 1 teacher guidebook; 5 themes with lesson plans for each Who are the Métis?; Métis Values – Good Medicine; Métis Roots; Métis Entertainment and Stories; Métis Dance

Bringing Métis Children’s Literature to Life Guidebook • Written by renowned Métis educator, Wilfred Burton • Supports teaching about the Métis and utilizes strategies that foster and promote literacy development (listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and representing) A $400 value if purchased separetely. • Brings traditional and contemporary Métis culture to life This special-priced kit at $300 Download this free resource at: includes the 80-page guidebook. http://www.metismuseum.ca/resource.php/13827 continued from page 43 future in professional football to opportunity to take control pursue a new dream. of the story and tell the truth (Orca, $9.95 pb, 144 pages, isbn: about what was done to her 978-1-4598-0920-8) this past spring by boys she has to face every day in school. Barracuda Another emotionally powerful Sigmund Brouwer novel from award-winning Jim Webb thinks his Florida Beth Goobie. vacation with his grandfather will (Second Story Press, $12.95 pb, be spent fishing for barracuda, but 256 pages, isbn: 978-1-77260- then he finds out that the dying 020-9) resort owner is in fear of losing his treasure and his mind, and he Quista, Book One: Danay needs their help. Aviva Bel’Harold (Orca, $9.95 pb, 192 pages, isbn: Danay is an outsider on the 978-1-4598-1152-2) water planet of Uma’Three, and when the Emperor’s fleet Billboard Express arrives to conduct loyalty tests, Sigmund Brouwer and Cindy she finds herself branded a Morgan traitor and learns that only she Elle has come to Nashville to be has the power to save the ones a star, but her agent and label she loves. executives want to change (EDGE, $12.95 pb, 360 pages, everything about her, including isbn: 978-1-77053-108-6) her music. (Orca, $9.95 pb, 128 pages, isbn: The Salarian Desert 978-1-4598-1108-9) Game, The Unintentional Adventures of Kia and young adult Agatha, Book 2 J. A. McLachlan And Then the Sky Exploded When Kia’s older sister, in a David A. Poulsen desperate bid to erase their When Christian Larkin goes on a family debt, loses a gambling school trip to Japan and meets an game in Salaria and forfeits who are we? 81-year-old victim of the first bomb her freedom, Kia is determined Recent years have seen one With verve and wit, and drawing of Canada’s founding peoples, upon years of teaching Metis courses to rescue her by disguising that exploded over Hiroshima, he the Metis, come to national at the University of Manitoba and decides to try to make amends for herself and taking part in the prominence at last. Yet many the University of Saskatchewan, the fact that his great-grandfather treacherous desert game. questions remain. Where did Shore combs the threads of history to explore and explain many aspects had been part of the team that (EDGE, $12.95 pb, 288 pages, the Metis come from? Why are the people once denounced as that have mystified the general isbn: 978-1-77053-114-7) created the atomic bombs. ‘half-breeds’ recognized now as public, from the origins of a nation (Dundurn, $12.99 pb, 208 pages, Indigenous people? How much through the fur trade to the recent isbn: 978-1-4597-3637-5) Trouble Makes a Comeback did they build of Manitoba? legal victories for recognition. Stephanie Tromly A new book from Canada’s Threads in the Sash – Gang Tackle In this sequel to Trouble Is a eminent Metis publishing house, The Story of the Métis People By Fred J. Shore Eric Howling Friend of Mine, Zoe must again Pemmican Publications, answers those questions and many more, ISBN 978-1-926506-05-0 When the president of a sporting choose between a normal high $20.95 for a provocative, peppery read school social life and out-of- goods company offers to fund that earns pride of place in every Threads in the Sash – The Story of the the Southside Saints, the football control schemes helping Philip curriculum. Threads in the Sash – Metis People will arrive in early 2017 team can’t believe their luck, but Digby find his sister who was The Story of the Metis People, by through Pemmican Publications. Fred J. Shore, is Canadian history Advance orders and additional information can they overlook his racism and kidnapped years ago. at its liveliest and most illuminating. are available through our office. bullying? (Kathy Dawson Books, $23.99 (Orca, $9.95 pb, 176 pages, isbn: hc, 304 pages, isbn: 978-0-5254- For more information on new titles, past titles and e-book titles, please visit our 978-1-4598-1225-3) 2841-1) website at www.pemmicanpublications.ca, or call us at (204) 589-6346.

The Pain Eater 150 Henry Avenue Beth Goobie Winnipeg, Manitoba • R3B 0J7 Telephone: (204) 589-6346 A group novel-writing assignment www.pemmicanpublications.ca in English class gives Maddy the

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 45 Printing great Canadian books.

Reading, naturally.

Donovan Bergman [email protected] 204.319.8114 books.friesens.com about our contributors credits Linda Alberta is an Alberta freelance Ariel Gordon is a Winnipeg writer. writer and songwriter who loves to executive editor Carlene Rummery Bev Sandell Greenberg is a Winnipeg combine unusual chords with homespun editor Marjorie Poor writer and editor. verse. She is an artist who wears a hard ambp executive director Michelle Peters Liz Katynski is a Winnipeg writer. hat and reflective vest at work. copy editor Bruce Symaka Paula E. Kirman writes, edits, takes Shirley Byers is a freelance writer and Relish New Brand photographs, and plays music. She graphic design editor based in northeast Saskatchewan. Experience Inc. lives in Edmonton where she edits an is a central Alberta The views expressed in Prairie books NOW Yvonne Dick inner city community newspaper, is do not necessarily reflect the views of the magazine writer with more than two an organizer in the activist movement, Association of Manitoba Book Publishers, decades of experience who enjoys reading rides her bicycle, juggles, and sometimes the Executive Editor, or the Editor of Prairie anything she can get her hands on. drinks too much coffee. Her website is books NOW. Margaret Anne Fehr is a freelance . Prairie books NOW is made possible with writer and editor who resides in Milton, Laura Kupcis is a Toronto-based the financial support of The Canada Council Ontario. freelance writer and editor. for the Arts, the Department of Canadian is the author of Heritage, the Manitoba Arts Council, Chadwick Ginther Steve Locke is a Winnipeg writer, the Thunder Road Trilogy and numerous Manitoba Sport, Culture and Heritage, spoken word poet, and arts educator. He and the Winnipeg Arts Council. short stories. He lives and writes in is currently enjoying his work with youth Winnipeg. Advertising rates are available upon in school residencies, building confidence request; phone (204) 947-2762. Discounts Margaret Goldik is secretary of in self-expression through writing and are available for contract advertisers. We the Quebec Library Association and performance. welcome all letters to the editor and other a freelance editor and writer, living in Quentin Mills-Fenn reads and writes, submissions on matters of interest to Montreal. mainly about books, in Winnipeg. readers of Prairie books NOW. We reserve is a freelance writer the right to select and edit submissions. Ian Goodwillie Amanda Sanders is a Library Assistant based out of Saskatoon who contributes I at the Thompson Public Library in Prairie books NOW is published by the regularly to The Feedback Society. He Association of Manitoba Book Publishers. Thompson, Manitoba, where she does blogs, writes screenplays and short It is published two times per year for programming and ordering for Children distribution free of charge in selected fiction, and maintains a day job writing and Teens. It’s also where she fills her Canadian locations. Bulk rates to radio advertising. It’s the long way of to-be-read list with an insurmountable institutions are available upon request. saying he spends a lot of time in front number of books. issn 1201-5962. of a computer. Subscriptions are available for $12.75 per year. Send cheques payable to the Association of Manitoba Book Publishers. bookends Printed in Manitoba, Canada by The Prolific Group. Prairie books NOW values your feedback. Wondering how to order? Please send your comments to [email protected] . Prairie books NOW 100 Arthur Street, Suite While we wish we could pass on your orders 404, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada r3b 1h3 • On the cover to bookstores or wholesalers in your region, tel (204) 947-2762 • fax (204) 956-4689 • it is best for you to direct order any or all of Our cover illustration is from The Pipestone e-mail [email protected] • http://ambp.ca/pbn/ the books in Prairie books NOW through the Wolves and comes courtesy Rocky Mountain trade bookstore or wholesaler you normally Books and photographer John E. Marriot. The deal with. The information provided at the book is featured on page 16 of this issue. end of every article is there to make ordering from a bookstore or wholesaler as easy as possible.

Which would you rather take to bed? When it comes to books, we swing both ways. Books. E-pub. Branding. relishbranding.ca

Prairie books Now | fall/winter 2016 47 greatplains_winter2017_ad.pdf 1 2016-12-20 10:02 AM

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