In celebration of April as Poetry Month, CBC is promoting poetry on the site CBC.ca/wordsatlarge.

The site mentions that the League of Canadian Poets established April as Poetry Month in 1999, and that “The League brings together bookstores, libraries, literary organizations, cultural centres and poets to celebrate and acknowledge the vital role of poetry, arguably the world’s oldest form of literature.”

In recognition of poetry month, Raincoast would like to celebrate award-winning poet Gregory Scofield.

Singing Home the Bones is Scofield’s first book in more than five years. He reclaims through poetry and storytelling the untold history of the Metis people and his own biological family—in particular, his mysterious father, whom he discovers to be Jewish.

Singing Home the Bones is a startling mix of narrative prose and lyric poetry, and it is my personal favourite. To me, the format is comparable to Dennis Cooley’s Irene, Robert Kroetsch’s Seed Catalogue or any of the great prairie long poems, which are a collection of poetry, prose--and sometimes recipes, quotes or snippets of other memorabilia.

Gregory Scofield (Calgary) is a Metis poet, writer, activist and community worker whose maternal ancestry can be traced back five generations to the Red River Settlement and to Kinesota, Manitoba. He has published four much-praised and award-winning books of poetry as well as a memoir, Thunder in My Veins: Memories of a Metis Childhood. He teaches First Nations and Metis poetry at Brandon University in Manitoba.

For more books by Gregory Scofield, visit the Raincoast website.

Buy the Book from Amazon.ca or search for a Canadian independent retailer.

Twenty years have passed since the nuclear power plant disaster on April 26, 1986, in Chernobyl, Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. The Chernobyl disaster is widely regarded as the worst accident in the history of nuclear power, but it also provided the background for Beryl Young’s novel for young adults Wishing Star Summer.

Wishing Star Summer deals indirectly with the Chernobyl disaster but more directly with issues of friendship and jealousy.

Jillian Nelson, 11 years old and newly moved to Vancouver, has struck upon an ingenious solution to her friendless existence in grade six: Tanya, a Belarus girl exposed to Chernobyl radiation, will stay with the Nelsons on a summer exchange. But language barriers, poor health and culture shock strain the nascent friendship. Jillian’s jealousy and selfishness threaten to alienate Tanya in the very place she is meant to feel safe.

Can Jillian put aside her anger and earn the friendship she has wished for?

A glossary of Russian words is included.

Search Inside the Book at Amazon.ca

Seeing by Jose Saramago, translated from Portuguese to English by Margaret Jull Costa, is newly available in stores.

Seeing is the companion novel to Saramago’s earlier Blindness.

About the novel Seeing by Jose Saramago
On election day in the capital, it is raining so hard that no one has bothered to come out to vote. The politicians are growing jittery. What’s going on? Should they reschedule the elections for another day? Around three o’clock, the rain finally stops. Promptly at four, voters rush to the polling stations, as if they had been ordered to appear.

But when the ballots are counted, more than 70 percent are blank. The citizens are rebellious. A state of emergency is declared. The president proposes that a wall be built around the city to contain the revolution. But are the authorities acting too precipitously? Or even blindly? The word evokes terrible memories of the plague of blindness that had hit the city four years before, and of the one woman who kept her sight. Could she be behind the blank ballots? Is she the organizer of a conspiracy against the state? A police superintendent is put on the case.

What begins as a satire on governments and the sometimes dubious efficacy of the democratic system turns into something far more sinister. A singular novel from the author of Blindness.

For bookclubs
A reading guide is available on the Harcourt website. It features 15 questions for discussion. See the Reading Guide.

An excerpt is also available. Visit Harcourtbooks.com

View more books by Jose Saramago or Search Inside the Book: Amazon.ca

Design*Sponge has started podcasting and their first interviews happen to be with two fantastic designers, who among other projects, create Chronicle gift products: stationery, cards, address books and journals. Find out how they began, how they work and what inspires them.

Design*Sponge’s first podcast is an interview with Lotta Jansdotter
http://designsponge.blogspot.com/2006/04/ds-podcasts_13.html

See images on the Chronicle website

Here’s another podcast from Design*Sponge —an interview with Jill Bliss.
http://designsponge.blogspot.com/2006/04/jill-bliss-podcast.html

There’s also a (written) interview with Jill Bliss on fredflare.com
http://fredflare.com/diary/jillbliss.php

See images on the Chronicle website

In 2004, Raincoast Books published Anosh Irani’s first novel, The Cripple and His Talismans. In his bestselling debut novel, a jaded young man wanders the streets of a teeming, mythical Bombay, searching for his lost arm.

Doubleday Canada has now published his second novel, The Song of Kahunsha.

In celebration of BC Book & Magazine Week, Anosh Irani will be part of the CBC Radio Studio One Book Club. The CBC Studio One Book Club is an intimate gathering of only 120 audience members. It is hosted by Sheryl MacKay of CBC Radio and John Burns of the Georgia Straight, and is recorded for broadcast on North by Northwest and other CBC Radio programs. Microphones are set up for audience questions. The only way to get in, is to win! For all the details go to http://www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub/anoshirani.html.

Anosh Irani at CBC’s Studio One Book Club
Presented by CBC Radio One
Date: Saturday, April 29, 1:00 to 2:30 pm
Location: CBC Radio Studio One, 700 Hamilton Street, Vancouver.

For more on Anosh Irani and his first novel, visit www.raincoast.com. Or download a PDF sampler of The Cripple and His Talismans

8-year old Duncan Uszkay and 11-year old Hannah Walsh won the Maple Tree Press contest to Name a New Species.

From over a thousand entries that came in for the Maple Tree Press “Name a New Species” contest, one name was chosen as the favourite by the judges. Surprisingly, the winning name of “Salsolis” was entered twice, separately, by 8-year old Duncan Uszkay and 11-year old Hannah Walsh. To honour this coincidence (surely a testament to the endless ingenuity and intelligence of kids), Maple Tree Press offers the heartiest congratulations to the winners: Duncan Uszkay and Hannah Walsh! The common name for the new species is “Salsolis.”

Background on the contest:
In October 2005, Maple Tree Press announced the exciting Name a New Species Contest in conjunction with the publication of Strange New Species: Astonishing Discoveries of Life on Earth by Elin Kelsey.

The contest ran from November 1st, 2005 to March 31st, 2006 giving children across North America the chance to enter a name for a newly identified species and leave a permanent mark on science.

About the newly discovered species:
The new species to be named was found in the Great Salt Lake in Utah. This microbe is part of a group of organisms called extremophiles, so named because of their ability to survive in extreme environmental conditions that would kill humans in seconds flat. More specifically, this organism is classified as a halophile or salt-loving microorganism because it thrives in water ten times saltier than the sea.

The new species was identified in 2004 by 21 year-old college student Ashlee Allred, part of a team of scientists--led by American biochemist Dr. Bonnie Baxter--who are doing research on life in extreme environments, on Earth and other planets.

Read the press release announcing the new name

About the new name “Salsolis”:
To quote the scientist whose team discovered the new species, and who was also one of the judges, Dr. Bonnie Baxter says:

“The scientists on the judging committee were astounded by the variety and numbers of names submitted. Most of us were particularly drawn to the rationale that children used to choose a name. Some of the children took this very seriously and presented names with Latin roots or named by the discoverer. Others decorated these microbes with creative and imaginative names. Still others gave names of compassion: one after her late father, another after Hurricane Katrina. To all of these kids, thanks for participating and helping us name this very important little part of our natural world!”

Hannah and Duncan both chose the name “salsolis” because sal means salt and solis means sun in Latin, which describes two of the defining characteristics of this newly discovered species of halophile (meaning salt-lover).

Salsolis thrives in water ten times saltier than the sea and contains such an abundance of carotinoid pigments that it is completely resistant to ultraviolet rays. Dr. Baxter hopes that these tiny microbes could lead to breakthroughs in understanding how to prevent UV damage to humans.

Other finalists:
The winners and 10 lucky finalists will receive a copy of Strange New Species signed by the author, Elin Kelsey. The finalists are:
Jeffrey Martin, “Saladuro”
Cameron Coyle, “Salteenies”
Kate Eppler, “Solsaphilia”
Lindsay McKay, “Lawrence”
Cooper Harcott, “Fire Saltan”
Carly Wood, “Allred”
Kris Mutafov, “Sallum”
Jared Edwards, “Sicro”
Maritza Morales, “Variphile”
Jordan Kovacs, “Salty the Basking Carrot”

Congratulations to all the finalists, the winners, the panel of judges and Maple Tree Press.

New book offers guidance on transition from hospital to home

Press Release (Vancouver)— An estimated 153,100 Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer in 2006: 2 out of every 5 men and 1 out of every 3 women. Of those, about 45% will not survive. What will happen to the remaining 82,700?

These cancer survivors are told they are the lucky ones: they beat a horrible disease and can now go back to normal life. But what is normal for someone who has just faced death? Stepping back into everyday life is not as simple as it sounds.

Raincoast Books is proud to publish Picking Up the Pieces: Moving Forward After Surviving Cancer. Written by the leading Canadian experts on life after cancer, Picking Up the Pieces is the first book to offer a practical recovery process that acts as a bridge from hospital to home.

Authors Sherri Magee, Ph.D and Kathy Scalzo, M.S.O.D. have spent a combined 20 years working in cancer care and research, rehabilitation medicine and change and transition management. They interviewed hundreds of cancer survivors and combine these inspiring voices with practical methods to help ease the journey to recovery.

Podcast
A podcast featuring Sherri Magee and Kathy Scalzo is available at www.raincoast.com/pickingupthepieces

More on Picking Up the Pieces
Content for media, including sample interview questions and author commentary, is also available on the site:
www.raincoast.com/pickingupthepieces

For review copies and interviews, please contact
Selina Rajani, Publicist, Raincoast Books
604-323-7100
selina at raincoast dot com

About Raincoast Books
Raincoast Books is a Canadian publisher and distributor based in Vancouver, BC. Raincoast Publishing, which includes the Polestar imprint and key titles from Press Gang Publishers, produces a wide range of fiction and non-fiction titles for adults and children. Raincoast Distribution is the exclusive Canadian distributor for publishers from the U.K., the U.S. and Canada.
http://www.raincoast.com
http://www.blogs.raincoast.com

Paul William Roberts joins Alison Pick and George Elliott Clarke at this week’s Ottawa International Writers Festival.

In advance of one of his 3 events, Embassy Magazine posted this excellent review/interview/profile:

Read the article.

Embasy Magazine book review by Christopher Guly, “Avoiding Bullets and Arrest In Search of the Truth”

“Paul William Roberts has made it his business to uncover what’s really going on in Iraq during the U.S. occupation, a career move that’s since put restrictions on his passport, but has made him an award-winning journalist and Middle East expert.”

The article continues with details on the mysterious disappearance of the Republican Guard and Roberts’ suspicions that a nuclear bomb was used to vaporize the 40,000 missing guardsmen.

Paul William Roberts will speak twice at the Ottawa International Writers Festival. Check Listings for details.

Raincoast Authors Attending:
Paul William Roberts
Alison Pick
George Elliott Clarke

Matthew Bogdanos, author of Thieves of Baghdad will be lecturing at the ROM tomorrow night.

Crimes Against Culture
Thursday, April 20, 7-9 pm

Classics scholar and lawyer by training, Colonel Matthew Bogdanos also happened to be in Baghdad during the invasion of Iraq and the looting of the Iraq Museum. Bogdanos was instrumental in organizing a recovery of the lost antiquities. Many items were recovered, however, much still remains missing.

Bogdanos will talk about the illegal business of trading stolen cultural property--paintings, sculptures, documents and archaeological artifacts--and why it should be important to all of us.

Book signing after lecture.
 
Lecturers: Col. Matthew Bogdanos, New York City prosecutor, Marine colonel, head of international investigation into looting of Iraq Museum, author of Thieves of Baghdad.
Bonnie Czegledi, barrister and solicitor, international art and cultural heritage law, and director, Institute of Arts and Cultural Heritage.

Visit the ROM website for tickets and details:
$22 (online $20)
ROM members $18 (online $16)

Globe and Mail article on Bogdanos and the ROM event.

Today San Francisco residents marked the 100 year anniversary of the Great Quake, the 1906 earthquake that shattered the city.

The magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck April 18, 1906, at 5:12 am.

In his novel, 1906, James Dalessandro brings to life the untold scandal and intrigue surrounding the events of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The novel has the pace of a major motion picture. Definitely a historical page-turner. 

Patrick Conlon, author of No Need to Trouble the Heart, will be speaking at a professional development event for the Ontario Hospital Association.

The event focus is on Family- and Patient-Centred Care.

Ontario Hospital Association
Course code: EP107
April 24, 2006 - April 24, 2006
Location: Renaissance Toronto Hotel Downtown

About the event:
The best health care happens when patients, families and health care professionals all share their knowledge. Families, like other members of the health care team, are entitled to complete, understandable, unbiased and timely information offered in a supportive way. Families should be also be active participants in the choices and decisions made for the family member requiring care. In a pro-family and patient centred care environment, practitioners offer suggestions and choices rather than prescriptions and orders. Click here for more info.

AGENDA
0910h “Partners in Care”

Patrick Conlon and Jim O’Neill
Members of the Mount Sinai Hospital’s Multi-Disciplinary Adult Critical Care Team

Bookstore Girl at Cantstopreading recently posted about a couple of Raincoast-distributed titles:

Goose Girl by Shannon Hale and Marie, Dancing by Carolyn Meyer

Here’s an excerpt of her review of Goose Girl by Shannon Hale: “I picked it up when I read Leila (from Bookshelves of Doom)’s excitement over a new book by Hale being published ... It is apparently based on a Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale, though I don’t think I ever heard this particular story. It’s the story of Ani, who is not a very good Crown Princess, though she does have a rather uncanny ability to speak with animals. Mostly birds, as they are the most talkative animals. Ani’s mother arranges to have her married off to the neighbouring country’s prince, in order to prevent war, and that’s when things start to go wrong. Ani does arrive in the new country, though not with her escort, and not as a princess. She has to make a living, and so becomes a goose girl. Eventually Ani learns of the plots of the imposter who has taken her place. And she must find the courage to stand up to her and make herself known. Although there were a few predictable bits in this book, they were predictable in the same way that all fairy tales are. Obviously there’s going to be a happy ending, but how else would you want it? I would definitely highly recommend this, and I can’t wait to get started on Hale’s newest book, Princess Academy.”

I haven’t read Goose Girl yet, but now I’m interested. I have, however, read Marie, Dancing and loved it.

Here’s what Bookstore Girl has to say about Marie, Dancing by Carolyn Meyer: “... for the most part, quite the accomplishment. I say this because Meyer takes us into the slums of Paris, circa 1870, and yet, keeps things clean enough for a 10 year old. Marie and her sisters are all ballet dancers, which, it turns out, is not really all that glamorous an occupation. Their mother is an absinthe addict, and the only bright spot in Marie’s days are the times she models for the artist Edgar Degas. I also enjoyed the ending, which, while not sad, was not the perfect happy ending of many children’s books.

For more book reviews, check out Bookstore Girl at Cantstopreading.blogspot.com.

Have you reviewed any Raincoast books on your site? Do you have a book-focused blog? Let me know. I’d like to link to you.

Frames per Second magazine, www.fpsmagazine.com, is running a contest to win a copy of The Art of Cars (Chronicle Books).

Enter to Win here

Contest Details
The Art of Cars Contest: This June, Pixar releases Cars, their latest CGI feature and their last before their sale to Disney. In collaboration with Chronicle Books, fpsmagazine.com is giving away five copies of The Art of Cars, a 160-page examination of the storyboards, photography and sketches that went into the making of the film. For your chance to win, all you have to do is fill out the entry form. The contest closes on April 24, at 11:59 EST.


About The Art of Cars
From the Academy Award-winning studio behind the animated hits Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, comes Cars, the hilarious and heartwarming story of a wily race car who discovers that life begins at the off-ramp. Released in summer 2006, this is the last movie under the Disney/Pixar contract.

The Art of Cars is an overflowing scrapbook of hundreds of pieces of concept art used to convert real life imagery and stories into memorable characters and colourful backdrops. Intriguing storyboards and on-the-road snapshots—a new feature—uncover the origins of a charming and clever automobile-based world.

With an introduction by director John Lasseter, quotes from the artists and production team and lively text by two Route 66 experts, The Art of Cars is a spirited ride behind the scenes of a masterful animated film.

Buy the Book
The Art of Cars, 0-8118-4900-7

Amazon.ca
chapters.indigo.ca
Independent retailers

Raincoast Books congratulates Brenda Brooks, whose novel Gotta Find Me an Angel has been shortlisted for the 2005 Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award.

About Gotta Find Me An Angel
Our 35-year-old heroine works as a film projectionist at a second-run cinema in Toronto. She finds herself at an existential crossroads, haunted by the ghost of a friend who died long ago. During the course of one dark night, she addresses a passionate, wickedly funny lament to the ghost, recounting her failed attempts at finding true love.

“A deliciously funny, dark swoon of a novel about love in all its guises.” --Emma Donoghue

“When a poet turns her attention to prose, something special can happen ... A heartfelt story told with precise and energetic language.” --Globe and Mail

“Love, longing and loss painted in vividly original language.” --Vancouver Sun

“Brooks writes with a soft, emotionally engaged voice ... An unusual, but delightful, read.” --The Georgia Straight

About Brenda Brooks
Brenda Brooks has published two books of poetry, Somebody Should Kiss You and Blue Light in the Dash (Polestar, 1996). She was born in Rivers, Manitoba, and for over 10 years worked at Canadian Press in Toronto. She now lives on Salt Spring Island, B.C.

Check out Search Inside the Book on Amazon.ca and read an excerpt from Gotta Find Me An Angel.

On April 1st, Chronicle Books (distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books) launched a podcast series.

Every two weeks podcasts subscribers will get behind-the-scenes looks at upcoming and newly released titles from Chronicle Books. Each episode will feature exclusive author interviews, man-on-the-street commentary and entertaining tidbits on topics ranging from cooking to vacations.

Like the Raincoast Podcast series, Chronicle’s podcasts are absolutely free.

Visit the Chronicle Books website to listen to the podcast or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. 

About Episode 1 of the Chronicle Podcast
Episode 1 features the authors of The Meat Club Cookbook, a quick tip from the author of the best-selling Worst Case Scenario handbook series, and comedian and novelist Craig Ferguson on his new book, Between the Bridge and the River.

Meat Club (Girls Only) Cookbook by Vanessa Dina, Kristina Fuller and Gemma DePalma; and illustrated by Caroline Hwang.

Perfect for gals who love their meat! In the podcast, the authors note that they’ve been cooking together for forever but officially the meatclub happened in 2002 when they were “tired of the Portobello mushroom burger, which is not a burger.” They talk about needing a good cut of meat and a great butcher. The book is an easy reference for women used to reheating pre-made meals. It’s basically a one-on-one guide to cooking meat, which the authors assure us is “really very simple.” So sit down, listen to the podcast, and enjoy a good steak.

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Life by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht

Coming soon is the next handbook in the Worst-Case Scenario series. The Life handbook presents instant, make-or-break solutions to hundreds of everyday life crises of relationships, parenting, weather, travel, sports and hobbies, pets, money, school, technology, beauty and fitness, holidays and more.

In the podcast David Borgenicht answers the question “What would you do if you were caught on a golf course in a thunderstorm?” (Insider tip: Don’t stand under the trees.)

Between the Bridge and the River: A Novel by Craig Ferguson

Glasgow-born Craig Ferguson took over the Late Late Show on CBS in 2005. Between the Bridge and the River is his foray into fiction. In the podcast Ferguson says “the only thing comparable to writing a novel is standup.”

Between the Bridge and the River follows two preachers, one Scottish and one American, as they head for a comic collision. Ferguson says he wrote the novel trying to sort out his own attitudes to death and religion. About the God Thing, he says “my mother was a church goer and my father wasn’t. There was no real argument about it. It was just who did you side with on Sunday morning. Obviously as soon as possible I went with my father’s hanging around watching TV approach."

Buy the Books
Amazon.ca
chapters.indigo.ca
Independent retailer

Podcast Links
Chronicle Books podcasts
Raincoast Books podcasts