Fred Astaire’s feet were insured for $650,000.

Egg whites will turn pink when left overnight in a copper bowl.

Uncle John’s, the source for all great trivia and bathroom reading, is now hanging out on MySpace.

Here’s the link.

And if you’re really a keen fan of the Uncle John’s Bathroom Readers series you might be interested in this offer.

The first 50 friends get a free copy of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Treasury.

Visit the page and “add to friends,” then send Uncle John’s a quick message to the myspace email with your name and address.

The first 50 friends receive a free copy of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Treasury, but all friends can:

- Get up-to-date bulletins and emails
- Meet other Bathroom Reader fans
- Show some love on the comment board

Word on the Street is an annual Book and Magazine Fair held on the last Sunday in September in Vancouver, Calgary, Kitchener, Toronto and Halifax. If you missed the event or want to reminisce, have a look at the photos below. Or post the links to your WOTS photos in the comments, check out Flickr, or do whatever you like to do to share your photos.

Library Square, Vancouver

The crowd in front of the main stage.

The Word on the Street strong man.

Several Raincoast authors were also in attendance or speaking.

Sherri Magee spoke in the Authors Tent about her book with Kathy Scalzo, Picking Up the Pieces: Moving Forward After Surviving Cancer.

Most cancer survivors emerge from treatment disoriented and scarred, with side effects that include emotional and financial instability, changed relationships and spiritual questions. Picking Up the Pieces is a great resource for survivors and their friends and family. Listen to a podcast.

Author Nathan Sellyn (Indigenous Beasts: A short story collection) and author Adam Lewis Schroeder (Empress of Asia: A novel) both read in the Canada Writes tent.

Nathan’s short story collection was published earlier this year and a podcast is available. Adam’s novel Empress of Asia is hot of the presses and he will be touring and reading in upcoming months.

Dede Crane was also reading in the Canada Writes tent. She is the author of an adult novel Sympathy and a novel for teens The 25 Pains of Kennedy Baines.

The World Television Premiere of “Greenpeace: Making a Stand” is on Global Television, Saturday, September 23 at 7 p.m. 

The documentary by Leigh Badgley and Vancouver’s Omni Films is based on Rex Weyler’s book Greenpeace: The Inside Story (Raincoast 2004).

The documentary follows Rex and Greenpeace’s recent expedition in Argentina to preserve 18,000 hectares of forest for the Wichi Indians.

The film includes Greenpeace historical footage and a tribute to friend and colleague Bob Hunter.
...............

Rex Weyler sailed on the first Greenpeace whale campaign in 1975. His documentary footage, as a photographer on several Greenpeace campaigns, is extraordinary. To the left is one of Rex’s photos of cameraman Fred Easton on the first day they encountered whalers, June 27, 1975 (photo copyright Rex Weyler).

On that day Greenpeace confronted Russian whalers off the coast of California in John Cormack’s fishing boat. They had been on a bit of a goose chase across thousands of square miles of ocean, unsure of whether they’d even encounter the whalers, and suddenly here they were.

Cameraman Fred Easton was down to eight 100-foot rolls of film. About 20 minutes worth. They got in Zodiacs and took photos and film that was then seen around the world. The images of huge factory ships, harpoons and dead whales, drove monumental change in terms of the protection of certain whales and the practices for hunting them.

To read an account of that day and an excerpt from the book, visit The Tyee.

Greenpeace by Rex Weyler.

For more about Rex and to see more great photos visit his website.

And if you’re inspired to change your world, check out a new site ChangeEverything.ca.

Start small but think big.

Today is the first official day of fall.

The leaves have started to change.
The wind has started to blow.
The ducks and geese have started to migrate.

What better way to start fall than with a picture book from Lois Ehlert.

The illustrations in Leaf Man are made from actual fall leaves. The story is about the Leaf Man who gets blown from place to place.

He meets some friends along the way.

On Tuesday, CBC’s The Current opened with:

Pope Benedict the 16th issued a personal apology to Muslims for a speech implying Islam was prone to violence.

Currently, in response to the accusations of violence, Islamic extremists fire bombed six churches and a nun was shot dead.

Okay… so that settles that debate.

This is The Current.

Satire subsided to a discussion of the Arar Report and reaction to its findings, but part two returned to the Pope:

- An analysis of his controversial comments about Muslim teachings;
- and a debate about the direction the pope seems to be taking the Catholic church.

One of the interviewees was Joanna Manning, a former nun and the author of several books including her latest The Magdalene Moment: A Vision for a New Christianity (published by Raincoast).

Listen to CBC Part 2 of The Current.

Joanna also responded to the Pope’s comments on Canadian politics in a recent Toronto Star article, “Pope should stay out of Canadian politics” (Sep. 15, 2006). Her article is in response to Pope Benedict XVI’s instruction to the bishops of Ontario to pressure Catholic politicians to vote against gay marriage.

In fact, it has been secular governments worldwide, often in the teeth of virulent opposition from Catholic and other Christian churches, that historically have upheld the equal rights of women, visible minorities and gays and lesbians.
It was only a few years ago that the Catholic bishops of Quebec apologized for their attempts to force Catholic politicians to oppose women’s suffrage in the last century.

The debate goes on.

Joanna Manning will be at Word on the Street this Sunday in Toronto.

THE WORD ON THE STREET FESTIVAL is coming up this Sunday, September 24.

Celebrate the joy of reading at The Word On The Street Book & Magazine Fair.
Vancouver, Calgary, Kitchener, Toronto and Halifax
Check out the website for details in your city.

If you’re in Vancouver, there are a couple of highlights below:

CALLING ALL SERIOUS HOCKEY FANS
Canucks Legends: Vancouver Hockey Heroes chronicles the team’s first four decades through 75 player profiles and more than 300 photos. This book (retailing for $50) won’t hit bookstores until November, and we’re offering a one-time opportunity to get one of only 25 special advance copies, featuring a bookplate signed by Trevor Linden! These books will be sold by donation with all proceeds going to the Canucks Family Education Centre. What’s more, Raincoast Books has pledged to match all donations.

WRITING TALKS presented by TheTyee Books.ca
Meet me at the festival: At 12:15 I’m part of a panel discussion on Writing and the Web, Tyee Books website editor Charles Campbell will moderate a panel featuring Steve Zio, author of Hot Springs: A iNovel; SFU Master of Publishing Progam’s technology specialist John Maxwell; Raincoast Books’ Internet marketing manager Monique Trottier; and Crawford Kilian, Capilano College teacher, blogger and author of Writing for the Web. Presented by The Tyee.

THE WORD UNDER THE STREET presented by Mint Records
Enter the annual Comics Contest, meet Nardwuar the Human Serviette, take an art class with Robin Thompson and a hear a session with the widely acclaimed comics-journalist Joe Sacco (distributed by Raincoast). And of course, peruse dozens of great local comix on display for sale.

For more event highlights visit The Word on the Street website.

THE WORD ON THE STREET
One Day Only
11am to 6pm
Sunday September 24, 2006 at Library Square Vancouver
As well as locations in Calgary, Kitchener, Toronto and Halifax
thewordonthestreet.ca

Admission: FREE!

Sounds gruesome, I know. But kids do find dead birds and they want to pick them up and ask questions about death and “why the bird had to die” and “why you have to die"and d"oes everybody die.”

If you’re not thrilled by the prospect of answering these questions on your own, pick up a copy of Jan Thornhill’s latest book I Found a Dead Bird: The Kids’ Guide to the Cycle of Life and Death.

The death of a bird is the jumping-off point for this intelligent, wide-ranging look at the cycle of life.

What does it mean to be “alive”? Why are some lives short and others long? How do things live and die, and what happens to them after death? These questions and many others are tackled in this book about death and the cycle of life.

Even thinking about death can be unsettling, but avoiding the topic can add to children’s fears. I Found a Dead Bird is a groundbreaking book that explores many fascinating aspects of the cycle of life.

Jan tackles the subject head on, never shirking from reality, but with a life-affirming perspective that connects death to the world around us, a part of the natural, never-ending cycle of life. The book’s lively design and colour photographs reinforce Thornhill’s pragmatic, positive tone.

Jan Thornhill (Toronto) has been a naturalist since childhood. Her picture books Before and After, Wild in the City and Over in the Meadow have won critical acclaim, and The Wildlife ABC and The Wildlife 123 were both nominated for the Governor General’s Award. She has also won the Conaculta 7th International Award for the Illustration of a Children’s Book and an IBBY selection for Outstanding Picture Book for her book The Rumor.

There are so many fantastic authors coming to the Canadian writers festivals this year that it’s hard to keep track. Here’s a list of Raincoast authors and the events they’re attending. (Sorted by location and date.)

ALBERTA

Wordfest: Banff-Calgary International Writers Festival
October 10-15, 2006
http://www.wordfest.com/
Chester Brown
Monique Trottier

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Word On The Street Vancouver
Sunday, September 24, 2006
http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/
Dede Crane
Nathan Sellyn
Sherri Magee and Kathy Scalzo
Adam Lewis Schroeder
Monique Trottier

Vancouver International Writers Festival
October 17-22, 2006
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/
Chester Brown
Dede Crane
Patrick McCabe
Jon McGregor
Nathan Sellyn

MANITOBA

Thin Air: Winnipeg International Writers Festival
September 17 – 24, 2006
http://www.winnipegwords.com/
Gregory Scofield

ONTARIO

Toronto, Ontario

Word On The Street Toronto
Sunday, September 24, 2006
http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/
Katy Hutchison
Joanna Manning

Harbourfront Readings, Toronto (outside of the International Festival of Authors)
http://www.readings.org/
Adam Lewis Schroeder (September 2006)

International Festival of Authors, Toronto
October 18-28, 2006
http://www.readings.org/
Julie Burtinshaw
Phillipe Dupuy and Charles Berberian
Jaime Hernandez
Patrick McCabe
Tom McCarthy
Jon McGregor
Ralph Steadman

Ottawa, Ontario

Ottawa International Writers Festival
http://www.writersfest.com/index_e.htm
October 1-7, 2006
Sunday, October 1 @ 4:00 pm
The NEW Science: Super Pills: The Prescription Drugs We Love to Take with Steven Manners

Ottawa International Writers Festival (outside of the Festival)
http://www.writersfest.com/index_e.htm
October 26th
Patrick McCabe

Durham, Ontario

Words Aloud 3: Spoken Word and Storytelling Festival, Durham, Ontario
November 2006
http://www.durhamart.on.ca/wordsaloud
Gregory Scofield

Vancouver’s 12th Annual THE WORD ON THE STREET FESTIVAL is coming up Sunday, September 24.

You should come.

Reasons:
1) It’s Canada’s favourite annual book and magazine extravaganza.
2) There’s something for everyone: books, mags, hockey, wine tours, hip hop, comics, authors ... really there’s a lot.
3) It’s free.
4) I’ll be a there. At 12:15 I’m part of a panel discussion on Writing and the Web, presented by The Tyee.

Here the full event schedule.

12:15 Writing and the Web
How will the Internet affect the book? Will Amazon kill the local bookstore? Will book-scanning projects such as Project Gutenberg and Google Books change our definition of the library? Will the language of Internet communication and cross-platform novels change the nature of writing? Is our commons for civic dialogue being undermined by media fragmentation, or will the specialized interests served by both the Internet and books profit from a grand new synergy that benefits us all? The one thing we know for certain is that the enormous push and pull of the Internet creates an opportunity for lively, contentious discussion.

Tyee Books website editor Charles Campbell will moderate a panel featuring Steve Zio, author of Hot Springs: A iNovel (see p. 29); SFU Master of Publishing Progam’s technology specialist John Maxwell; Raincoast Books’ Internet marketing manager Monique Trottier; and Crawford Kilian, Capilano College teacher, blogger and author of Writing for the Web. Presented by TheTyeeBooks.ca.

What else do you need to know?

1) There are events for kids, teens, and adults.
2) There are events in French.
3) There are author readings, demonstrations, panels about writing and publishing, musical entertainment, and contests.
4) The WOTS marketplace has more than 150 exhibitors.
5) Free festival guides are available at any Vancouver Starbucks, Lower Mainland public library and at participating bookstores. Or see the event schedule online.
6) The festival is located downtown at the Vancouver Public Library on Sunday, September 24.

Johnny over at Drawn.ca and I are in perfect agreement: Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex is perhaps the greatest book we’ve read in a long time.

Here’s the review on Drawn.ca

Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich is a book of poems for kids. It’s packed with small rhyming stories and incredible paintings of the monsters the poems are about.

I think the subtitle is one of my favourite parts: Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich (and other stories you’re sure to like, because they’re all about monsters, and some of them are also about food. You like food, don’t you? Well, alright then)

Adam Rex is beyond talented. Check out the review on Drawn.ca and the link to an interview with Adam at Ironic Sans. Although this is a picture book aimed at kids, those of us “kids-at-heart” will die laughing too.