2016 Wordfest authors – The List

Meeting an actual person who wrote an Rencontrer LA personne qui a écrit un livre -en actual book -especially one that students particulier celui que les élèves ont lu et apprécié- have read and enjoyed- is a rare, captivating est une expérience relativement rare, captivante and transformative experience. Wordfest et précieuse. Wordfest et le Festival des mots Youth supplies authors from across Canada rassemblent des auteurs et illustrateurs du and around the world to present fun, inspiring Canada du monde entier pour favoriser ces in- and out-of-school events that promote a rencontres entre élèves et auteurs lors love of reading and a deeper appreciation of d’événements en théâtre et en école qui the written word. favorisent un amour de la lecture et une appréciation plus profonde de la littérature.

Looking for a book of interest for your Vous cherchez un livre intéressant pour vos students? Look no further! The reading list élèves ? Ne cherchez plus! La liste de livres ci- below, organized by grade level, regroup all dessous, organisée par niveau scolaire, the artists available to visit your school1, from regroupe tous les artistes souhaitant visiter votre Kindergarten to Grade 12. école, de la maternelle à la 12e année.

Contact Wordfest to discuss your needs and Contactez Wordfest pour discuter de vos the artist you’d like to meet; depending on besoins et de l'artiste que vous souhaitez their availability, we will definitely work with rencontrer; en fonction de leur disponibilité1, you to create an event that will inspire your nous travaillons avec vous pour créer un students. événement qui inspirera vos élèves.

Wordfest - Youth 117-200 Barclay parade SW [email protected] , AB T2P 4R5

403-237-9068. ext. 223 @wordfestyouth

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DIVISION IV - HIGH SCHOOL - GRADES 10-12

Cahokia de Camille Bouchard - FRANÇAIS Année 6+ The Killer Whale Who Changed the World by Mark Leiren-Young - ALL AGES The Hill by Karen Bass Grade 7 &up Urban Tribes by Lisa Charleyboy Grade 7 &up Jillian Christmas (Slam Poetry) Grade 7 &up Saving Montgomery Sole by Grade 7 &up The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben Grade 7 &up Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel Grade 8 &up Precious Cargo by Craig Davidson Grade 9 &up Poemw by Anne Fleming Grade 9 &up Flannery by Grade 9 &up The Man Who Saved Henry Morgan by Robert Hough Grade 9 &up Beware that girl by Teresa Toten Grade 9 &up The Break by Katherena Vermette Grade 9 &up Tomboy Survival Guide by Grade 10 &up Black Apple by Joan Crate Grade 10 &up Fire by C.C. Humphreys Grade 10 &up Bad Singer by Tim Falconer Grade 10 &up One Soldier by Russell Hillier Grade 10 &up Subdivided by Jay Pitter Grade 10 &up By Gaslight by Steven Price Grade 10 &up Lives of the Poets (with Guitars)by Ray Robertson Grade 10 &up Among Strange Victims by Daniel Saldaña París Grade 10 &up Lines of Flight: An Atomic Memoir by Julie Salverson Grade 10 &up Do not say we have nothing by Madeleine Thien Grade 10 &up Double Dutch by Laura Trunkey Grade 10 &up The Naturalist by Alissa York Grade 10 &up Eva Sleeps by Francesca Melandri Grade 11 &up The Best Kind of People by Grade 11 &up We Were Feminists Once by Andi Zeisler Grade 11 &up

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Cahokia de Camille Bouchard - FRANÇAIS Année 6+

Auteur de 85 romans, Camille Bouchard est récipiendaire de nombreux prix littéraires, dont la plus prestigieuse récompense canadienne, le Prix littéraire du Gouverneur général du Canada, qu’il a reçu en 2005 et auquel il a été finaliste à cinq autres reprises depuis 2008. La plume de Camille Bouchard alterne avec un égal plaisir entre les textes pour adultes et ceux pour les jeunes. Voyageur passionné, Camille Bouchard puise son inspiration dans ses escapades aux quatre coins du monde. Jason Byrd est un drôle d’oiseau. Ses camarades de classe l’ont remarqué et ne se gênent pas pour le lui dire. On se moque d’ailleurs souvent de son nez crochu, qui lui donne un profil de volatile. Or ce trait physique un peu particulier n’est pas la seule chose dont Jason a hérité de ses ancêtres : il fait partie d’une longue lignée d’hommes-oiseaux aux pouvoirs extraordinaires. Par les histoires successives des ancêtres de Jason, on assiste à la naissance, à l’apogée et enfin au déclin d’un peuple méconnu.

Thème(s) Fiction – Histoire; fantastique; culture amérindienne.

The Killer Whale Who Changed the World by Mark Leiren-Young - ALL AGES

Mark Leiren-Young is the author of two comic memoirs, Free Magic Secrets Revealed and Never Shoot a Stampede Queen: A Rookie Reporter in the Cariboo, which won the 2009 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour and was also adapted for the stage. He won the Jack Webster Award for his CBC Ideas radio documentary Moby Doll: The Whale that Changed the World. Leiren-Young is currently finishing a feature length film on the Moby Doll, the subject of his new book. His stage plays have been produced throughout Canada and the US and have also been seen in Europe and Australia. As a journalist Leiren-Young has written for TIME, Maclean’s, The Hollywood Reporter, The Walrus and most of Canada’s daily newspapers. Killer whales had always been seen as bloodthirsty sea monsters. That all changed when a young killer whale was captured off the West Coast of North America and displayed to the public in 1964. Moby Doll was an instant celebrity. He died within a few months, but his famous gentleness sparked a worldwide crusade that transformed how people understood and appreciated orcas. Mark Leiren-Young gives a fascinating and heartbreaking account of Moby Doll, the first publicly exhibited captive killer whale, whose story forever changed the way we see orcas and sparked the movement to save them.

Theme(s) Non-fiction – Animal, killer whales, conservation, animal protection, environment.

The Hill by Karen Bass Grade 7 &up

Karen Bass is a multi-award-winning author of novels for young adult readers. Graffiti Knight won the CLA Young Adult Book Award, the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People, the R. Ross Annett Award for Children’s Literature, and the CAA Exporting Alberta Award. Uncertain Soldier is nominated for the OLA Forest of Reading Red Maple Award. A former library manager, Karen now dedicates herself full-time to writing.

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The Hill is an eerie thriller that draws on the Wîhtiko legend. Jared’s plane has crashed in the Alberta wilderness, and Kyle is first on the scene. When Jared insists on hiking up the highest hill in search of cell phone reception, Kyle hesitates; his Cree grandmother has always forbidden him to go near it. There’s no stopping Jared, though, so Kyle reluctantly follows. After a night spent on the hilltop—with no cell service—the teens discover something odd: the plane has disappeared. Nothing in the forest surrounding them seems right. In fact, things seem very wrong. And worst of all, something is hunting them.

Theme(s) Fiction – Survival; ; stereotyping; acceptance; prejudice; friendship.

Urban Tribes by Lisa Charleyboy Grade 7 &up

With over ten years as a published writer, Lisa Charleyboy has written for publications such as The Guardian, CBC, THIS Magazine, Spirituality & Health, and SPIRIT Magazine. Lisa enjoys every platform where she’s able to share stories from the heart. She is the founder of Urban Native Magazine, a Native lifestyle magazine geared toward inspiring Indigenous youth with positive success stories. Urban Tribes offers unique insight into this growing and often misperceived group. Emotionally potent and visually arresting, the anthology profiles young urban Natives from across North America, exploring how they connect with Native culture and values in their contemporary lives. Their stories are as diverse as they are.

 Best Books for Kids & Teens 2016, *starred selection, Canadian Children’s Book Centre  Skipping Stones Honor  Book Information Book Award finalist, Children’s Literature Roundtables of Canada Theme(s) Non-Fiction - First Nations, biography; multicultural; stereotyping; acceptance; prejudice; self-esteem; tolerance

Jillian Christmas (Slam Poetry) Grade 7 &up

Born and raised in Markham, Ontario, Jillian Christmas serves as Artistic Director of Versəs Festival of Words. An enthusiastic organizer and activist in the Canadian arts community, Jillian’s focus is to increase anti-oppression initiatives in spoken word. Jillian’s work has been featured in numerous publications including the Huffington Post, and published in a number of collections, including Matrix New Queer Writing (issue 98), The Post Feminist Post, Plenitude Magazine, Room Magazine and celebrated anthology, The Great Black North. She has participated in, developed and executed programs in partnership with Poetry Project, Wordplay, Brendan McLeod’s Travelling Slam, University of , Opera, and the CULTCH Mentorship, and facilitated spoken word workshops for youth and adults across the country.

Theme(s) Poetry – Activism; feminism; marginalised groups; multiculturalism; racism; resilience; hope; courage.

Saving Montgomery Sole by Mariko Tamaki Grade 7 &up

Mariko Tamaki has garnered much acclaim for both her written and performance-based work. The graphic novel Skim (with Jillian Tamaki) was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award and received numerous other accolades, including the Doug Wright Award for Best Graphic

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Novel, the Ignatz Award, and the Joe Schuster Award. Tamaki was also awarded the Writers’ Trust Honour of Distinction for her body of work. Montgomery Sole is a square peg in a small town, a girl with two moms forced to go to a school full of homophobes and people who don’t even know what irony is. Her saving grace–her two best friends, Thomas and Naoki. When strange things actually start happening to Monty, she realizes that the greatest mystery of all is herself. Thoughtful, funny, and honest, this book will make you want to laugh and cry over a big cup of frozen yogurt with extra toppings and your best friends at your side.

Theme(s) Fiction –Peer pressure; alternative family; bullying; stereotype; resilience; relationship

The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben Grade 7 &up

Peter Wohlleben spent over twenty years working for the forestry commission in Germany before leaving to put his ideas of ecology into practice. He runs an environmentally friendly woodland in Germany, where he is working for the return of ancient, sustainably managed forests. He holds lectures and seminars and has written a number of books on woodlands and nature conservancy. His presentations can be in English and/or German How do trees live? Do they feel pain, or have awareness of their surroundings? Research is now suggesting trees are capable of much more than we have ever known. In The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben tells their stories, revealing the delightfully complex life of the trees around us and the incredible role forests play in our world. Wohlleben draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries and his own observations to describe the wonders of the tree, explaining the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration within forests. In evocative language, he explains how forests are social groups akin to human families; tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers.

Theme(s) Non-Fiction - Nature, forest, trees, environment, sustainable farming

Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel Grade 8 &up

Kenneth Oppel is the Governor General’s Award–winning author of the Airborn series and the Silverwing Saga, which has sold over a million copies worldwide. His most recent novels are Half Brother, winner of both the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award and the Young Adult Book Award; This Dark Endeavour, finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award; and Such Wicked Intent, finalist for the CLA Young Adult Book Award. Canada’s nominated author for the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award,

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Romeo and Juliet meets Indiana Jones in this this new YA epic from prize-winning author Kenneth Oppel that combines the hunt for a dinosaur skeleton buried for millions of years, a mysterious legend, bitter rivalries and a forbidden romance. Every Hidden Thing is an historical YA novel about the forbidden love between the son and daughter of arch-rival fossil hunters who are racing against each other to uncover the first complete T. Rex skeleton.

Theme(s) Fiction – Conflict; safety; anxiety; paleontology; Badlands (AB); relationships.

Precious Cargo by Craig Davidson Grade 9 &up

Craig Davidson has published previous books of literary fiction: Rust and Bone, which was made into an Oscar-nominated feature film, The Fighter, Sarah Court and Cataract City established him as one of our most talented novelists. Davidson’s articles and journalism have been published in the National Post, Esquire, GQ, The Walrus, and The Washington Post, among other places. One morning in 2008, desperate and impoverished while trying unsuccessfully to write, Davidson plucked a flyer out of his mailbox that read, "Bus Drivers Wanted." That was the first step towards an unlikely new career: driving a school bus full of special-needs kids for a year. Precious Cargo is the extraordinary story of that year and those relationships. It is also a moving, important and universal story about how we see and treat people with special needs in our society.

Theme(s) Non-Fiction – Autobiography; Personal Memoirs; Disability, Acceptance, stereotyping, Relationship; Humour

Poemw by Anne Fleming Grade 9 &up

Anne Fleming’s first book, Pool-Hopping and Other Stories (1998), was shortlisted for the Governor-General’s Award, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and the Danuta Gleed Award. She now divides her time between Vancouver and BC's Okanagan Valley, where she teaches creative writing at UBC's Kelowna campus. In poemw, the third finger of the left hand hits 'w' instead of 's' and makes up a new kind of poem, the sort-of poem, the approxi-lyric, the poem that doesn't want to claim poemness. poemw are about daily things -- graffitti, hair, sea gulls, second-hand clothes -- and rarer things -- dead crows, baked mice, ski accidents, Judith Butler. They're jokes-and-not-jokes, cheeky, goofy. poemw is unapologetically quirky. poemw is proudly other. poemw is the perfect choice for Pride reading.

Theme(s) Poetry

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Flannery by Lisa Moore Grade 9 &up

Lisa Moore is the acclaimed author of February and Alligator. February won CBC’s competition, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book. Alligator was a finalist for the Scotiabank and won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Canada and the Caribbean. Her story collection Open was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and a national bestseller. Sixteen-year-old Flannery Malone has it bad. She’s been in love with Tyrone O’Rourke since the days she still believed in Santa Claus. But Tyrone has grown from a dorky kid into an outlaw graffiti artist, the rebel-with-a-cause of Flannery’s dreams, literally too cool for school. Written in Lisa Moore’s exuberant and inimitable style, Flannery is by turns heartbreaking and hilarious, empowering and harrowing — often all on the same page.

Theme(s) Fiction – Fantasy; magic; women, relationship; choices and consequences.

The Man Who Saved Henry Morgan by Robert Hough Grade 9 &up

Robert Hough’s novels have garnered critical praise and have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Trillium Book Award, and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. His most recent novel, Dr. Brinkley’s Tower, a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. The Sisters Brothers meets Master and Commander in Robert Hough’s rollicking and raucous new historical novel. The year is 1664, and Benny Wand is arrested in London for illegal gaming. Deported to the city of Port Royal, Jamaica, known as “the wickedest city on earth,” Wand is forced to join a raid on the Spanish city of Villahermosa. Wand attracts the attention of the mission’s leader, Captain Henry Morgan, whose raids on Spanish strongholds are funded by the British government.

Theme(s) Fiction – History (UK, Jamaica, Spain); Pirates; War; Games; Strategy

Beware that girl by Teresa Toten Grade 9 &up

Teresa Toten was born in Zagreb and left with her parents for Canada on the day she was born. Toten received a BA and then a MA in political science from the . Toten won the Governor General's Literary Award for The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B. She is the author of the acclaimed Blondes series, as well as The Game, The Only house, and, with Eric Walters, The Taming.

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Kate and Olivia are both seniors at Waverly School in New York City. Kate is a scholarship student. Olivia, on the other hand, is rich and privileged and leads a life of glamour. The two truly become best friends until Mark Redkin arrives at the school. The novel is a psychological study of two very different young women and what happens when they live together and attempt a friendship. Beware that Girl is a thriller which will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

Theme(s) Fiction – relationship, trust, conflict, use of prescription drugs, mental illness and sexual abuse

The Break by Katherena Vermette Grade 9 &up

Katherena Vermette is a Métis writer of poetry, fiction and children’s literature. Her first book, North End Love Songs, won the Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry. Vermette has recently been shortlisted for the inaugural Beatrice Mosionier Aboriginal Writer of the Year Award. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. The Break showcases Vermette’s abundant writing talent and positions her as an exciting new voice in Canadian literature. When Stella, a young Métis mother, looks out her window one evening and spots someone in trouble on the Break — a barren field on an isolated strip of land outside her house — she calls the police about the possible crime. In a series of shifting narratives, people who are connected in some way with the victim — police, family, and friends — tell their personal stories leading up to that fateful night. What emerges is a fascinating novel exposing the lives of residents in 's North End.

Theme(s) Fiction – Literary, women conditions, women lives, crime, resilience, family

Tomboy Survival Guide by Ivan Coyote Grade 10 &up

Ivan Coyote is the award-winning author or co-author of ten books including Gender Failure (with ) and One in Every Crowd, a collection for LGBT youth, and the creator of four short films as well as three CDs that combine storytelling with music. Ivan is a seasoned stage performer and an audience favourite at storytelling, literary, film, and folk music festivals. A funny and moving memoir told in stories, in which Ivan recounts the pleasures and difficulties of growing up a tomboy in Canada's Yukon, and how they learned to embrace their tomboy past while carving out a space for those of us who don't fit neatly into boxes or identities or labels. Tomboy Survival Guide warmly maps Ivan’s journey through treacherous gender landscapes and a maze of labels that don't quite stick, to a place of self-acceptance and an authentic and personal

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strength. These heartfelt, funny, and moving stories are about the culture of difference―a "guide" to being true to one's self.

Theme(s) Non-Fiction – Autobiography; personal memoirs; acceptance; stereotyping, relationship; LGBT youth

Black Apple by Joan Crate Grade 10 &up

Joan Crate taught literature and creative writing at Red Deer College, Alberta, for over 20 years. Her first book of poetry, Pale as Real Ladies: Poems for Pauline Johnson, has become a classic. Her first novel, Breathing Water, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Award (Canada) and the Books in Canada First Novel Award in 1989. She is a recipient of the Bliss Carman Award for Poetry, and her last book of poetry, SubUrban Legends, was awarded Book of the Year by the Writers’ Guild of Alberta. Black Apple is a dramatic and lyrical coming-of-age novel about a young Blackfoot girl who grows up in the residential school system on the Canadian prairies. Sinopaki lives with her Blackfoot family in the bush, far from civilization, until she is delivered to St. Mark’s Residential School for Girls by government decree. There, she finds herself in an alien universe. Set during and after the Second World War, Black Apple is about an irrepressible Blackfoot girl whose spirit is tested by an endless series of torments under the sharp eye of Mother Grace. All too soon her dreams warn her of unspoken dangers.

Theme(s) Fiction – History (Canada, WWII); residential school, truth and reconciliation, resilience;

Fire by C.C. Humphreys Grade 10 &up

Chris (C.C) Humphreys is a bestselling author, an actor and a swordsman. He has acted on stages all over the world in roles ranging from Hamlet to Jack Absolute to Clive Parnell on Coronation Street. His books have been published in more than ten languages and have won numerous awards, including, most recently, the 2015 Arthur Ellis Prize for Best Novel (Plague). First came Plague, now comes Fire. The epic tale of the hunt for a serial killer threatening London's rich and poor during the Great Fire of London. As the Great Plague of London loosens its grip at last, Charles II's court moves back to the city, the theatres reopen and a new year arrives. 1666. It cannot be more terrible than the previous year, surely? But it can. Another threat is on the way. It hasn't rained in five months. London is a tinderbox--politically, sexually and religiously. The Great Fire of London is about to ignite.

Theme(s) Fiction – History (UK); thriller;

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Bad Singer by Tim Falconer Grade 10 &up

Tim Falconer is an author and journalist .His previous books are Watchdogs and Gadflies: Activism from Marginal to Mainstream, Drive and That Good Night: Ethicists, Euthanasia and End-of-Life Care. He also collaborated with psychologist Alex Russell on Drop the Worry Ball: How to Parent in the Age of Entitlement. Bad Singer chronicles Falconer’s quest to understand the brain science behind tone-deafness and to search for ways to retrain the adult brain. He is tested by numerous scientists who are as fascinated with him as he is with them. He also investigates why we love music and deconstructs what we are really hearing when we listen to it. A work of scientific discovery, musicology, and personal odyssey, Bad Singer is a fascinating, insightful, and highly entertaining account from an award-winning journalist and author.

Theme(s) Non-Fiction – Entertainment; Performing Arts; Acoustics & Sound, Music & Science

One Soldier by Russell Hillier Grade 10 &up

Russell Hillier is from the Ottawa Valley. After earning a B.A in History and Politics from Carleton University, Russell went on to work on Parliament Hill with Members of Parliament and served in the army reserves. “One Soldier”, chronically his brother’s combat mission against the Islamic State is his first published book. When not working on his next book, you can find Russell in the classroom teaching history and English. When ISIS insurgents began its attack in Iraq, Dillon Hillier, a long-time soldier, felt the need to help and so became the first Canadian to volunteer to fight ISIS in Iraq. For three months, Dillon accompanied the Kurdish army as they fought a series of battles against the Islamic State. During his mission, Dillon saw combat, experienced life in the trenches and learned an important truth: that in the chaos of war, the difference between life and death is measured in inches, and some things can never be forgotten. One Soldier recounts Hillier’s three months fighting with the Kurds in Iraq, on the front lines.

Theme(s) Non-Fiction – Memoir; military; war; Middle East; life lessons; current affairs.

Subdivided: By Jay Pitter Grade 10 &up

Jay Pitter established a career as a public funder and community engagement director before earning a graduate degree at York University’s Faculty of Environmental Studies. She has written for Spacing, CBC Radio, The Walrus and the Toronto Star. A guest lecturer at various post-secondary institutions, including the University of Toronto, she was recently a faculty member at the University of Guelph-Humber.

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How do we build cities where we aren't just living within the same urban space, but living together? Through compelling storytelling and analysis, a wide range of place-makers, academics, activists and journalists ask how we can expand city- building processes to tackle issues ranging from transit equity and trust- based policing to holistic mental health, dignified affordable housing and inclusive municipal governance. Ultimately, Subdivided aims to provoke the tough but pressing conversations required to build a truly connected and just city

Theme(s) Non-Fiction – Urban studies, urban design; socio-economic disparities

By Gaslight by Steven Price Grade 10 &up

Steven Price is an acclaimed Canadian poet (with Anatomy of Keys and Omens in the Year of the Ox) and novelist. His first novel, Into That Darkness, was published to acclaim in 2011. He teaches writing at the University of Victoria. Steven Price's By Gaslight is a riveting, atmospheric portrait of a man on the brink. Moving from the diamond mines of South Africa to the fog-enshrouded streets of Victorian London, the novel is a journey into a cityscape of grief, trust, and its breaking, where what we share can bind us even against our better selves. A literary tour de force of a detective's ceaseless hunt for an elusive criminal.

Theme(s) Fiction – mystery; thriller, grief, forgiveness

Lives of the Poets (with Guitars)by Ray Robertson Grade 10 &up

Ray Robertson is the author of the novels Home Movies, Heroes, Moody Food, Gently Down the Stream, What Happened Later, and David, as well as a collection of non- fiction, Mental Hygiene: Essays on Writers and Writing. He is a contributing book reviewer to . Picking up where Samuel Johnson left off more than two centuries ago, Ray Robertson’s Lives of the Poets (with Guitars) offers up an amplified gathering of thirteen portraits of rock & roll, blues, folk, and alt-country’s most inimitable artists. Irreverent and riotous, Robertson explores the “greater or lesser heat” with which each musician shaped their genre, while offering absorbing insight into their often tumultuous lives.

Theme(s) Non-Fiction – Essays; music; artistry; survival; motivation

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Among Strange Victims by Daniel Saldaña París Grade 10 &up

Daniel Saldaña París (born Mexico City, 1984) is an essayist, poet and novelist whose work has been translated into English, French, and Swedish and anthologized, most recently in Mexico20: New Voices, Old Traditions, published in the UK by Pushkin Press. Among Strange Victims is his first novel to appear in the US.. Rodrigo likes his vacant lot, its resident chicken, and being left alone. But when passivity finds him accidentally married to Cecilia, he trades Mexico City for the sun-bleached desolation of his hometown and domestic life with Cecilia for the debauched company of a poet, a philosopher, and Micaela, whose allure includes the promise of time travel. Earthy, playful, and sly, Among Strange Victims is a psychedelic ode to the pleasures of not measuring up (Original title: En medio de extrañas víctimas - 2013) .

Theme(s) Non-Fiction – Essays; music; artistry; survival; motivation

Lines of Flight: An Atomic Memoir by Julie Salverson Grade 10 &up

Julie Salverson is a playwright, librettist, scholar and non-fiction writer who teaches drama at Queen’s University and the Royal Military College of Canada. She has published essays about the artist as witness, atomic culture, ethics and the imagination. As a playwright Julie Salverson works with survivors of trauma, helping them tell their stories. But she is buckling under the weight of her work when she is pulled into a different kind of tale. Dene from Délįne, where the uranium that went into the bomb dropped on Hiroshima had been mined, had gone to Japan to apologize for their actions. From this Northern community Salverson traces the journey of the uranium from Canada to New Mexico and onto Japan. Along the way she examines the impact of the element on the communities it passed through and its impact on her own history.

Theme(s) Non-Fiction – History; Canada; Post Confederation; atomic bomb; science, communities,

Do not say we have nothing by Madeleine Thien Grade 10 &up

Madeleine Thien is the author of the story collection Simple Recipes, which won the BC Book Prize for Fiction, and the novels Certainty and Dogs at the Perimeter, which won the Frankfurt Book Fair’s 2015 Liberaturpreis. Her novels and stories have been translated into twenty-five languages. The daughter of Malaysian-Chinese immigrants to Canada, she lives in .

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With the ease and skill of a master storyteller, Thien takes us inside an extended family in China, showing us the lives of two successive generations--those who lived through Mao's Cultural Revolution in the mid-twentieth century; and the children of the survivors, who became the students protesting in Tiananmen Square in 1989, in one of the most important political moments of the past century. With exquisite writing sharpened by a surprising vein of wit and sly humour, Thien has crafted unforgettable characters who are by turns flinty and headstrong, dreamy and tender, foolish and wise.

Theme(s) Fiction – Modern History; China, Tiananmen Square protests; cultural heritage; family

Double Dutch by Laura Trunkey Grade 10 &up

Laura Trunkey’s fiction has been published in journals and magazines across Canada, and was included in the anthology Darwin’s Bastards: Astounding Tales from Tomorrow. Her non-fiction has garnered two honorable mentions at the National Magazine Awards. She is the author of the children’s novel, The Incredibly Ordinary Danny Chandelier (2008). Intensely imaginative and darkly emotional, the weird and wonderful stories in Double Dutch deftly alternate between fantasy and reality, transporting readers into worlds that are at once both familiar and uncanny — where animals are more human, and people more mysterious, than they first appear. This enchanting and, at times, heartbreaking debut collection of stories hails the arrival of an exceptional new literary talent.

“What a mind-blowingly rich cast of characters appears in these pages. Rooted in reality but tinged with the fantastic, these stories mesmerize and haunt. Double Dutch is doubleplusgood.” — Neil Smith, author of Boo. Theme(s) Fiction – short stories; Animals; relationships; grief;

The Naturalist by Alissa York Grade 10 &up / Oct. 14

Alissa York's internationally acclaimed novels include Mercy, Effigy (shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize) and, most recently, Fauna. She is also the author of the short fiction collection, Any Given Power, stories from which have won the Journey Prize and the Bronwen Wallace Award. Her essays and articles have appeared in such periodicals as The Guardian, The Globe and Mail and Canadian Geographic. 1867, Philadelphia. More at ease among his books than in the field, Paul Ash takes a reluctant leave of absence from Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology to accompany his grieving stepmother and her young companion to the fabled River Sea. Paul holds no memory of the place, though he was born there; as it transpires, however, neither the region nor its people have forgotten Paul. The Amazon lays claim to him in no uncertain terms, but it also works a peculiar

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magic on both his father's lovely widow and her friend--a quiet little Quaker named Rachel Weaver who proves strangely at home in the wild.

Theme(s) Fiction – History; travel; grief; mystery; family relationship; spirituality; cultural heritage.

Eva Sleeps by Francesca Melandri Grade 11 &up

Born in Rome, Francesca Melandri first worked as a screenwriter, and worked on films and television series, as well as a number of prize winning documentaries. Her first novel, Eva dorme won several literary prizes in 2010 and 2011, has been translated in German, Dutch, and French. Melandri speaks English, Italian and French A bestselling novel in Italy, soon to be a motion picture directed by Edoardo Winspeare, and Elle magazine’s book of the year, Eva Sleeps is a sweeping modern story about family, forgiveness, and conflict. At its heart is the story of a woman searching for the truth about her origins. This literary page-turner will delight fans of Elena Ferrante.

Theme(s) Fiction – History; relationship, family, conflict, forgiveness.

The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall Grade 11 &up

Zoe Whittall’s debut novel Bottle Rocket Hearts (2007) made the Globe and Mail Top 100 Books of the Year and CBC Canada Reads’ Top Ten Essential Novels of the Decade. Her second novel Holding Still for as Long as Possible (2009) won a Lambda Literary Award. Whittall has also worked as a writer and story editor on the TV shows Degrassi and Schitt’s Creek. George Woodbury, an affable teacher and beloved husband and father, is arrested for sexual assault at a prestigious prep school in Connecticut. Unfolding over a one-year period, the novel focuses on the Woodbury family as they struggle to support George while privately grappling with the possibility of his guilt. His wife, Joan, a trauma nurse, is unable to triage her emotional reactions,. His daughter Sadie finds herself paralyzed on her boyfriend’s couch with a bong, while a local author attempts to exploit her story. Their son, Andrew, a lawyer in New York, assists in his father’s defense while wrestling with the unhappy memories of his own teen years in high school.

Theme(s) Fiction – family; relationship; sexual assault; justice; rape culture; guilt & innocence; morality & humanity

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We Were Feminists Once by Andi Zeisler Grade 11 &up

Andi Zeisler has written about feminism, activism, and popular culture for Ms., Salon, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Women’s Review of Books, the Los Angeles Review of Books. She is the author of Feminism and Pop Culture. Andi speaks frequently on the subject of feminism and activism at colleges and universities, and is a former Delacorte lecturer at Columbia University’s School of Journalism. Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Emma Watson are among high-powered celebrities who have recently waved the feminist flag and purported to stand up for women’s equality. Digital social media awareness campaigns like #Everydaysexism, #yesallwomen and #heforshe have made feminism (and #feminism) trending topics. What should we make of the fact that feminism has gone mainstream? Does it mean that we’ve reached a critical-mass tipping point and that trickle-down true political equality for women is on the horizon? We Were Feminists Once is the sharp and unsettling story of how we have sold out feminism and what we should do when its fifteen minutes of fame have fizzled.

Theme(s) Non-Fiction – History; feminism; pop culture; politics; social sciences; sociology.

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