We have just kicked off a campaign with Eco-Libris that is pretty exciting. Read about the details below.
Raincoast Books and Eco-Libris announced today the results of their first joint environmental campaign: Buy a Book, Plant a Tree.
Raincoast Books has signed up 80 Canadian retailers who will be selling a wide range of environmentally themed books through April 2008 which are emblazoned with Eco-Libris stickers stating that for each book purchased a tree will be planted in Central America and Africa. Participating independent bookstores, located from cost-to-coast, have purchased over 4,500 specially stickered books and hence over 4,500 trees will be planted on behalf of Canadian readers.
Raz Godelnik, Eco-Libris Co-founder and CEO explained that these trees not only benefit the environment but also the local communities where they are planted: “More than 12 acres of trees will be planted on behalf of the Canadian readers, offering many benefits to the local communities, from trees planted on the mountain slopes in Guatemala, preventing mudslides, conserving soil for more productive crops and protecting water to fruit trees that provide additional food and income in Malawi.
“Reading books should not have an adverse impact on the environment,” adds Godelnik, “and planting trees to balance out the paper usage in books is a practical first step towards sustainable reading, by replenishing our dwindling forest resources on this planet. We plant these trees with the help of highly respected U.S. and U.K. registered non-profit organizations who are screened for, and work to, very high ecological and sustainability standards. This way we make sure that Raincoast’s efforts to go green will have a maximum impact on society and the environment
“Raincoast and our Canadian customers are very pleased to be working with Eco-Libris on the ‘Buy a Book, Plant a Tree’ campaign,” said Jamie Broadhurst, VP Marketing for Raincoast Books. “No one campaign is going to solve the challenge of creating sustainable publishing practices, but each new campaign raises more awareness and makes that goal more attainable. We have a lot more work to do.”
For more information and great book recommendations go to: www.raincoast.com/green/
For more information on Eco-Libris go to: www.ecolibris.net
The Canadian Bookseller Association announced today that Raincoast has been short listed for the CBA Libris awards for Marketing Achievement of the Year for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and for Distributor of the Year. Raincoast won the Marketing Achievement once before in 2005 and Raincoast has won a plethora of distribution awards over the years: being named the fastest distributor in the two annual Quill & Quire industry surveys (2003 and 2004), winning the CBA Distributor of the Year Award four times in the last six years and having be named by the Western Book Reps Association as The Best Shipper through Hell and High Water.
The winners of this year’s Libris Awards will be named on June 15 in Toronto. Many thanks to our customers for their vote of confidence in our abilities.
William Dalrymple, author of THE LAST MUGHAL, speaks at the ROM on March 26th
Launches campaign to restore 15th century Tibetan painting
The Friends of South Asia (FSA) at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) celebrates the re-opening of the Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery with its first event of the season: Who was the Last Mughal? Lecture & Book Signing with William Dalrymple. The reading takes place on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 6:30 pm in the Signy & Cléophée Eaton Theatre at the ROM, followed by a book-signing. Copies of THE LAST MUGHAL will be on sale: this is the launch of the paperback edition in Canada.
Celebrated historian and author William Dalrymple will speak about his latest book, THE LAST MUGHAL: The Eclipse of a Dynasty, Delhi 1857. This is the tragic story of the poet-Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II, who found himself swept up by the largest anti-colonial uprising in the nineteenth century, the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The result was the catastrophic end to the dynasty that built the Taj Mahal, horrific casualties, and an ascendant British Raj. Within five years, the last Mughal was dead, buried in an unmarked grave far from his beloved Delhi.
“Dalrymple presents a brilliant, evocative exploration of a doomed world and its final emperor, Bahadur Shah II ... That the rebels fatefully raised the flag of jihad and dubbed themselves ‘mujahedin’ only adds to the mutiny’s contemporary relevance “ (Sunday Times).
William Dalrymple is the author of five books of history and travel, including Delhi: City of Djinns and White Mughals. He has recently written about the Pakistani political scene for The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Hindu, The Guardian, and The Toronto Star. This event launches FSA’s fundraising campaign to restore a rare and extremely fragile Tibetan Buddhist painting from the 15th century. This conservation project will allow the thangka to go on display for the first time in the Museum’s history.
Tickets are now on sale: $35 Public; $30 ROM members; $25 ROM/FSA members. Register online at http://www.rom.on.ca/programs, click ROMLife lectures, Keyword Mughal or call 416.586.5797.
This event is generously supported by the Ancient Echoes * Modern Voices: South Asia Programs Fund.
FSA is a membership group which supports a deeper understanding and appreciation of the diverse and rich history of South Asian arts at the ROM through the Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery, special events and programs.
For more information, visit http://www.rom.on.ca/friends, e-mail , or call 416.586.5700.
DRY SPRING: The Coming Water Crisis of North America, by Chris Wood
“Climate change isn’t an abstract scenario for the distant future,” says award-winning Canadian journalist Chris Wood in his new book DRY SPRING: The Coming Water Crisis of North America. “It is upon us now.”
But DRY SPRING is not just “another book about ‘climageddon’,” promises Wood, a former Maclean’s editor and correspondent. It’s about protecting our water: “An extreme enough change in the climate could alter almost everything we know about our planet, but we’ll feel even a very small degree of change most personally and acutely in its effect on the distribution of fresh and ample water.”
After three decades of reporting natural phenomena for magazines like Maclean’s and The Walrus, Wood’s research for his latest book took him to the deck of a foreign freighter transiting the Great Lakes, the bed of the drained Colorado River south of the Mexican border, and the Rocky Mountain foothills where a century-old ditch recalls a long-forgotten standoff between Canada and the United States. Wood recorded scores of personal interviews with ranchers, vintners, fishermen, ship captains, families who have fled their homes - all so readers could “experience the impacts of climate change today through people like themselves.”
Wood focuses on the years immediately ahead, suggesting realistic solutions and offering guidance to policy makers, resource managers - and every citizen with a voice and a vote.
Not afraid to court controversy, Wood challenges activists like Maude Barlow who oppose the so-called ‘commodification’ of water. They are not saving the environment, Wood asserts, but instead setting it on a path to destruction. “Nothing inspires innovation faster than a problem that can be solved profitably,” he argues. “Once we shed our fear of mentioning water and markets in the same breath, a panoply of inexpensive, effective and adaptive solutions begin to recommend themselves.”
Ultimately, Wood stresses, DRY SPRING is about what we can all do, indeed must do, to ensure that we survive the changes in our climate: “There are many reasons to be apprehensive about the quarter-century ahead. Many things could go terribly wrong… Water, however, is at the heart of solving all these other problems. If we can get the water part right, we will have the chance to apply our astonishing collective ingenuity and adaptive capacity to all the rest.”
DRY SPRING is published by Raincoast Books in April 2008.
To request a review copy of DRY SPRING or to arrange an interview with author Chris Wood, please email Dan Wagstaff at Raincoast books: dan[at]raincoast.com.
Press Release:
Raincoast Books and Pocket Cine launch the “What’s Your Worst Case Scenario?” mobile video contest to encourage professional and amateur artists to explore the “third screen” (mobile devices such as cellphones and iPods) as a distribution channel for Canadian video content. Videographers are asked to use the popular Worst-Case Scenario books as inspiration for their videos. Visit Raincoast.com
Press Release:
Partners Raincoast Books and Pocket Cine Inc. present the “What’s Your Worst-Case Scenario?” Video Contest. Submit a short video of a Worst-Case Scenario survival tip for a chance to win a $500 shopping spree in a participating bookstore. Contest starts November 13 and ends January 31. Video submissions are viewable in the contest gallery and are downloadable to video-capable mobile devices such as cellphones and iPods.
Calling all fans of the best-selling Worst-Case Scenario series, plus the daredevils and the accident prone, professional and amateur videographers and animators:
What’s Your Worst-Case Scenario?
Submit a short video of your Worst-Case Scenario survival tip for a chance to win a $500 shopping spree in one of 90 participating bookstore from across Canada.
There are weekly book and gift prizes too.
Contest runs: November 13 to January 31.
Watch our promo video on YouTube.com.
See all the books in the series.
Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbooks are not just about surviving a shark attack or an avalanche, they’re also about surviving everyday crises, like:
- how to get gum out of your hair
- how to prevent your cat from clawing the furniture
- how to get a thorn out of your puppy’s paw, and
- how to win a hockey fight.
Do you have a Worst-Case Scenario? Better yet, do you have a Survival Tip?
SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY—starting November 13.
Unlucky 13 might be your lucky day.
Flavours of Canada presents: The World’s Longest Barbecue 2006 Edition
5514 kilometres, 6 time zones, 33 million guests
Saturday, August 5 @ 6 p.m.
http://www.flavoursofcanada.ca
This is a call to action…an open invitation to all Canadians everywhere on earth to head to their grills at 6 p.m. Saturday August 5, 2006 and create the largest food event in the nation’s history.
Let’s celebrate our land, its ingredients and each other.
To join the party log on to http://www.flavoursofcanada.ca
Register by telling us your story; your menu and some of the special ingredients that we can claim as our own.
Cool door prizes will be awarded for the most authentic Canadian BBQ menus.
Prizes include:
BBQ Best Cookbook Special and hard cover Everyday Favourites (Canadian Living Magazine).
10 copies of the new edition of Anita Stewart’s book, Flavours of Canada: A Celebration of the Finest Regional Foods (Raincoast Books).
GRAND PRIZE is a Weber Genesis Silver C gas grill valued at $850. ( http://www.weber.com )
Log on, sign up and spread the word.
The time: 6 p.m. no matter what time zone you’re in!
The date: Saturday, August 5
The location: Wherever you are ... on a beach or in a northern forest; in your backyard, beside the pool, aboard a fishing boat or on your balcony ... it makes no difference. Just wave the flag while you’re cooking Canadian.
Party on!
For more information visit: http://www.flavoursofcanada.ca
Or contact Anita Stewart: http://www.anitastewart.ca
Anita Stewart is the author of Flavours of Canada (published by Raincoast Books.
Flavours of Canada presents: The World’s Longest Barbecue 2006 Edition
5514 kilometres, 6 time zones, 33 million guests
From the Flavours of Canada press release:
Wherever they live on earth Canadians are being challenged to log on, register, then head to their grills on Saturday August 5 at 6 p.m. to create The World’s Longest Barbecue—one of the largest food events in Canada, if not globally. They are then asked to spread the word.
Barbecue creator and culinary activist, Anita Stewart says: “The World’s Longest Barbecue was, and is, a pride-filled grass roots celebration of our extraordinary agricultural bounty. It gives Canadians a chance to barbecue Canadian food and quaff Canadian beverages – usually of the frosty sort and share their stories.”
It’s all about Canada! Support Canadian agriculturalists. Cook Canadian on August 5.
Registered participants have an opportunity to win dozens of cookbooks and a grand prize of a Weber Silver C gas grill valued at $850. Selections will be based on the most interesting example of a Canadian menu and a random draw.
For more information visit: http://www.flavoursofcanada.ca
Or contact Anita Stewart: http://www.anitastewart.ca
Anita Stewart is the author of Flavours of Canada (published by Raincoast Books.
ANTHONY BOURDAIN UNCENSORED
Raincoast Books Brings You a Day in the Life of a Reluctant Celebrity Chef
Listen to Raincoast’s special 3-part podcast of Anthony Bourdain, celebrity chef, traveller and author of the bestsellers Kitchen Confidential and The Nasty Bits.
The Schedule: 3-Part Podcast on Anthony Bourdain
Part 1 starting July 4: Bourdain’s World (Play Now)
Part 2 starting July 11: The Book Signing
Part 3 starting July 18: Not All Nasty Bits
You can LISTEN NOW
Click here to play the MP3, running time: 14:53
Or subscribe to the podcast series
by iTunes: Searching “Raincoast” on iTunes or
(click here to subscribe directly via iTunes)
by Feedburner: feed://feeds.atlargemedia.com/raincoast
About the Anthony Bourdain Podcast
On June 12, 2006, Anthony Bourdain spent a day in Vancouver doing media interviews and bookstore appearances (see photos). He wore a lapel microphone during the entire day, allowing Raincoast Books and At Large Media to record Bourdain’s casual conversation with fans, private moments in the car, and regular interview style questions. It’s Bourdain as you’ve never heard him before.
About Raincoast Books: Raincoast Books is a Canadian publisher and distributor based in Vancouver, BC. On November 16, 2005, Raincoast officially launched its literary podcast series. Authors interviewed to date include Jim Lynch, Nathan Sellyn, and Sherri Magee and Kathy Scalzo. http://www.raincoast.com/podcast/index.html
About At Large Media: At Large Media works with world-class companies and organizations to build meaningful connections with consumers. They work across a variety of media platforms to provide clients with the strategic support they need to succeed as leaders in today’s Information Economy.
See http://www.atlargemedia.com for more information.
Media Contact
Monique Trottier
Internet Marketing Manager of Raincoast Books
monique at raincoast dot com
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
Raincoast Books and At Large Media are pleased to launch the next installment of Raincoast’s literary podcast series. In episodes 2 and 3, author Nathan Sellyn reads from his collection of short stories Indigenous Beasts.
Nathan Sellyn is an extraordinary storyteller and a bold, young writer whose work is energetic, shocking and disturbing. Joseph Boyden, author of the Governor-General’s award-nominated Three-Day Road, describes Nathan’s stories as “shockingly good.” He says, “This is a fine, fine first collection with a dark heart.”
What will draw readers to this chilling collection? Raincoast’s Internet Marketing Manager Monique Trottier says, “the podcast allows readers to discover an author without having to invest a lot of time and money. For those new to an author, the podcast is like a movie trailer. But for those who have already read the book and are looking for more, the podcast acts like the special features on a DVD, which allows the reader--including librarians, booksellers and the media--to get a better sense of behind the scenes--who the author is, what informed the work, the voice behind the words.”
Trottier adds “the short story format works perfectly for a podcast. There are longer stories that are a couple of pages and then there are short stories that are only a few paragraphs. The podcast episodes dedicated to Nathan’s work allow for the same types of discovery--short teaser podcasts and longer, interview-style podcasts.”
A short podcast teaser of Nathan Sellyn reading from Indigenous Beasts was released March 16, 2006:
LISTEN NOW
The full podcast, including Robert Ouimet’s interview with Nathan Sellyn, releases March 22:
LISTEN NOW
Readers who want to be notified whenever a new podcast is available can subscribe to the podcast via RSS or directly from iTunes.
Subscribe to the Raincoast podcasts via RSS at
http://feeds.feedburner.com/raincoast
Or subscribe to the podcast directly from iTunes. From iTunes simply search in the podcast section for “Raincoast Books”.
To find out more about Nathan Sellyn and Indigenous Beasts visit the Raincoast Books website:
www.raincoast.com/indigenousbeasts/
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About Raincoast Books’ literary podcast series:
On November 16, 2005, Raincoast and At Large Media officially launched Raincoast’s literary podcast series. The launch of the podcast series made the Vancouver-based company one of the first publishers in Canada to experiment with podcasting.
A podcast is an Internet-delivered audio show that can be listened to by any portable media player or computer.
The latest installments feature Nathan Sellyn’s Indigenous Beasts. Indigenous Beasts is a daring new collection of stories: raw and seething, bloody and beautiful, intense with despair and depravity. Joyce Carol Oates calls Indigenous Beasts, “an impressive debut. These are powerful stories, suspenseful and unpredictable, aimed for the jugular.”
www.raincoast.com/indigenousbeasts/
About At Large Media:
At Large Media works with world-class companies and organizations to build meaningful connections with the consumers. They work across a variety of media platforms to provide clients with the strategic support they need to succeed as leaders in today’s Information Economy.
www.atlargemedia.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.
Below is the January 30 press release from canada.com and Lonely Planet (distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books).
canada.com Partners with Lonely Planet to Provide New Travel Content Tool
Detailed information on over 157 destinations worldwide
(OAKLAND, CA – January 30, 2006) CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc. and operator of canada.com announced today that it has entered into a partnership with Lonely Planet, the world’s premier independent travel publisher. The partnership will provide canada.com with detailed information on over 157 destinations around the world while offering Lonely Planet access to canada.com’s extensive reach across the country.
“canada.com’s almost three million unique visitors monthly provides a perfect online audience for Lonely Planet’s award-winning guidebooks as we grow our brand in the Canadian marketplace,” said Blake Hutchison, Business Development Manager for Lonely Planet. "Our WorldGuide content, which is the cornerstone of our own website, provides succinct, punchy and inspirational information which will resonate well with Canadians who we believe represent the quintessential Lonely Planet traveler,” said Hutchison.
The new section is featured under canada.com travel and contains a map of the world that users can click on to find information about their upcoming destinations or to do research on potential destinations. Canada’s most recognizable web address, combined with Lonely Planet travel content further expands its value as Canada’s leading online destination for news, entertainment, and lifestyle information.
“This partnership with Lonely Planet is another example of our commitment to provide the most compelling and reliable content possible to our audience,” said Arturo Duran, President, CanWest Interactive. “Lonely Planet is a market leader in providing independent, unbiased travel information, and the accuracy and depth of its content is a perfect fit for canada.com’s users to help them at the pre-travel stages as well as the booking stage.”
About canada.com
canada.com is owned by CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc., which is 74% indirectly owned by CanWest Global Communications Corp, (CanWest) (NYSE: CWG; TSX: CGS.SV and CGS.NV, http://www.canwestglobal.com) and 24% indirectly owned by the CanWest MediaWorks Income Fund (http://www.canwest.com/incomefund). CanWest, an international media company, is Canada’s largest media company. In addition to owning the Global Television Network, CanWest is Canada’s largest publisher of daily newspapers, and also owns, operates and/or holds substantial interests in conventional television, out-of-home advertising, specialty cable channels, Web sites and radio networks in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
About Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is the world’s leading independent global travel information provider and publisher headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, with regional offices in the US and UK. Founded in 1973 by husband and wife team Tony and Maureen Wheeler, the company publishes over 600 titles in English and sells more than 6.5 million books a year in 118 countries. Lonely Planet has an award-winning website and online digital image library. Each year, more than 200 authors from over 20 countries research the world over and provide expert information. Lonely Planet’s Business Services Unit is dedicated to leveraging this travel expertise to create travel content for new distribution channels and business clients. Visit http://www.lonelyplanet.biz.
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Media contacts:
Cindy Cohen
Lonely Planet
510-893-8556 ext. 221
Katherine Raso
CanWest MediaWorks
416 442-2177
House of Anansi has joined Raincoast Books as one of the first Canadian publishers experimenting with podcasting.
Anansi’s first podcast features writer and critic Noah Richler interviewing Stephen Lewis, author of Race Against Time.
To subscribe to the Anansi podcast, copy and paste the below URL into the “Subscribe” function in
your podcast application or software: http://www.anansi.ca/podcast/apod.xml
The Raincoast podcast is available from iTunes by searching for “Raincoast” or the RSS feed is available from Feedburner: http://feeds.feedburner.com/raincoast
The MP3 file can also be downloaded by clicking on the below link:
Full Podcast: Listen to Jim Lynch
Jim Lynch is the author of The Highest Tide
The Raincoast podcast is available from iTunes by searching for “Raincoast” or the RSS feed is available from Feedburner: http://feeds.feedburner.com/raincoast
The MP3 file can also be downloaded by clicking on the below link:
Full Podcast: Listen to Jim Lynch
Jim Lynch is the author of The Highest Tide
Raincoast podcasts are available from iTunes by searching for "Raincoast" or the RSS feed is available from Feedburner at 
Check out our NEWEST Podcast for Clancy with the Puck, a hilarious tale of hockey hubris.