"Whimsy, darkness, comedy, fear"

Well it's been a quiet couple of days here at the Manse, with Dan at the Translation Fair in Montreal, but as of this afternoon we're able sign off with good news: Jim Bartley is doing a story-by-story run-down on Suitable Precautions in this Saturday's Globe. Take a look and find out exactly what about Laura Boudreau he thinks is "barbed and arresting," "familiar but irresistable," or (my personal favourite), "fl[ying] on snarky energy."

Light Lifting an ALA Notable Book for 2012

The Notable Books Council, a group of readers' advisory experts within a division of the American Library Association, has selected Alexander MacLeod's Light Lifting as one of twelve notable fiction titles for 2012. They write that MacLeod's stories "explore the limits of physical and emotional endurance in muscular prose." Other selectees include Julian Barnes and William Trevor(!), and their press release can found online here. Congratulations to Alex! More info about the NBC below.

Since 1944, the goal of the Notable Books Council has been to make available to the nation’s readers a list of about 25 very good, very readable and, at times, very important fiction, nonfiction and poetry books for the adult reader. A book may be selected for inclusion on the Notable Books List if it possesses exceptional literary merit; expands the horizons of human knowledge; makes a specialized body of knowledge accessible to the non-specialist; has the potential to contribute significantly to the solution of a contemporary problem; and/or presents a unique concept.

"Of moose and men"

As some of you may know, Alexander MacLeod's Light Lifting was recently published in the U.K. by our friends at Jonathan Cape. This afternoon we're happy to report that Alex's UK edition was reviewed--warmly? glowingly? ecstatically?--by The Economist. Here's a taste of what they had to say:

"A good novel woos its readers, tantalises them with glimpses of flesh and gradually lures them into a world from which they later emerge changed. Short stories, by contrast, rely on instant attraction and immediate gratification. If they are good they leave one hungry for the next encounter. More often, though, they leave the reader slightly jarred, looking for greater fulfilment.

Alexander MacLeod does not. His brilliant debut collection, “Light Lifting”, is engrossing, thrilling and ultimately satisfying; each story has the weight of a novel. The young Canadian writer is already winning plaudits in his own country. He can expect acclaim far beyond."

You can read the rest of the review online here.

The Women's Post on The Big Dream

Afternoon's greetings from Emeryville, which today looks much like the Arctic (if the Artic had suburbs--?). Snowy bluster bluster freeze. Dan, brave soul, has ventured forth into the cold to fetch a wandering poet, while Chris and I get to remain warm at work, secure and safe ... and, er, while I get to tell you about the latest review of Rebecca's book, which was published yesterday by The Women's Post. Sarah Mahmood is an intern there and took the opportunity to write about the stories she likes best. Check it out, if such is your fancy--and also, kudos to the WP for encouraging its journalism interns to review fiction titles! We need more of that in the world. More reviews, less snow. A motto for February, perhaps? Hmm.

"The quietest kind of brilliant"

Good morning, Biblioworld! What better way to wake up than with a happy bit of criticism? Alex Boyd, whose Least Important Man is readying itself for the press has we speak, has a few insights to share about his colleague David Hickey on Northern Poetry Review. Check it out! Open Air Bindery is David's second collection with Biblioasis, and à mon avis one of 2011's brightest jewels (poetry-wise, and to continue the gemology metaphors). It's lovely to see it under glass once more.

"A little gem"

A happy note to kick off a snowy weekend: keep an eye out for Rebecca Rosenblum in this Saturday's Globe and Mail. Diana Brydon's review of the Big Dream is Top Notch! "The overlap of characters and accretion of detail between stories is like office gossip," she writes: "Rosenblum is an elegant stylist and spiky humorist; her language is precise, her ear for dialogue almost faultless. Her characters are alone or lonely, frail stoics who may hope for rescue but certainly don’t expect it. I found myself yearning for more connection, less deprivation on their behalf, and wasn’t sure if their plight was part of her uncompromising world view, or a consequence of working at Dream Inc. I suspect both. This is the way the world is now, she seems to be saying. Stop dreaming. Wake up."

Be sure to check out the rest of the review tomorrow in the paper.

Snowetry

There's white on the ground for the first time in weeks here at the Bibliomanse, but it seems there's more than snow squalling on the horizon. Yes, that's right: the poets are on the move! Howling at Argo Books, we'll have Mr. Zach Wells (Montreal, Jan. 16); sighing before The Single Onion, we have Sir Joshua Trotter (Calgary, Jan. 19); and finally, brewing before the Grad Club in Kingston on Jan. 23, we have Mr. Wells once more. Take note: an iamb keeps the season's griefs away! So if you're nearby, go on out, then come on in, shake the snow from your feet (ha ha), and have a listen.

A little wonder (post-Epiphany)

For those of you not up on your liturgical calendar, yesterday was the feast of the Epiphany. Three wise men, a baby Jesu, a donkey, a revelation of divine splendour ... and some lost camels, if you're T.S. Eliot. If you're Yeats? It's that uncontrollably mystery on the bestial floor. And if you're a parenting journal in Austin, Texas, well, it's David Hickey's A Very Small Something, which was strongly recommended by Parent Wise editor Kim Pletichka. "This whimsical tale," she writes, "told in lilting poetic form, harkens back to stories written a generation or more ago. The poetry itself is beautiful, trumped only by the fantastic tale it tells ... A lovely story for both preschoolers and early elementary children—and parents looking for stories filled with wonder."

Now Olive Bezzlebee might not be as wise or as grizzled as Melchior, or Balthazar, or that other one, but she did go out chasing a small bright something in the sky—and so "wonder" is exactly the right word for her journey. A very small something indeed! May good things and gumballs manifest to everyone in 2012.

The Wall Street Journal, and plain ol' Wall Street

Douglas Glover, whose new book of essays on writing Biblioasis is proud to be publishing this spring, was roundly praised in the Wall Street Journal this morning. "A master of narrative structure"? You bet. For Darin Strauss's paean (and a nifty metaphor about boulders), take a look.

(And, um, speaking of Wall Street, Wage Slave co-author Mark Kingwell was interviewed last week by Aid Netherlands. Here's a taster: "I was especially upset about the police crackdown because of the cavalier way in which ‘health and safety concerns’ became a blanket justification for police action. The books in the OWS library ... were tossed in garbage containers. In a strange way, this blithe trashing of books was worse than setting fire to them. For this neo-liberal police state, books are not even dangerous or important enough to burn. A depressing thought.")

Biblioasis Hits the Canadian Bookshelf

Congratulations to Anakana Schofield and Alex Boyd, whose forthcoming books were given special mention in Canadian Bookshelf's Most Anticipated preview for 2012. If you're up for a little Malarky (or, um, if you've ever felt like The Least Important Man), you should check it out.

Five Reasons Why Most Self-Help Books are Bullsh*t

Anyone watching Strombo last night? You know, that beguiling fellow, Clooney-esque good looks, uncipherable last name? Well if you were, you might have seen this: Ray Robertson telling the CBC-TV waves why most self-help books ain't gonna help you do squat. Try Montaigne, he says. And, well, why not?

(Sorry. Couldn't resist. But seriously, watch the clip. It's great.)

Resource Links Praises A Very Small Something

Calling it " an engaging story with crisp rhymes and brilliant illustrations ... a concord of colour" Resource Links recommends our late 2011 publication of David Hickey's and Alexander Griggs-Burr's marvellous children's book A Very Small Something. Who loves bubblegum? It seems just about everyone under eighty.

For more information about the book please check out the website.

Lucky Bruce on WSHU Public Radio

Last but not least! Tune in for a lovely little feature on Bruce Jay Friedman that aired last week on WSHU out of Connecticut: "Friedman tempers hot remarks with humor (often hilarious), and affection for friends and foes alike ... refreshingly candid ... never mere dish."

(Two Thousand and) Eleven Days in Review

Well this morning the Bibliomanse flings wide its gates once again--or, rather, we're now open for business after a whole week off. A week! How is it so much can happen in 11 days? Review-wise, Ray Robertson was featured on That Shakespearean Rag ("The Three Stooges or Voltaire," Dec. 22), and interview-wise, David Hickey talks to Elan Paulson on The Rusty Toque (Dec. 23); Biblioasis furthered its global blog invasion with appearances on The Story Prize Blog by Cathy Stonehouse (Dec. 29) and Alexander MacLeod (Dec. 31); and last but not least, our authors continued to be highlighted in best-of lists both at home and abroad. The Irish Times recommended Light Lifting for readers in 2012, and Clark Blaise's The Meagre Tarmac was tenderly mentioned by Philip Marchand (National Post), Ian McGillis (Montreal Gazette), and Quentin Mills-Fenn (Uptown) in their years-in-review. ("You know it's going to be a stellar year for fiction when Clark Blaise publishes something," QMF writes: damn straight it was!) Amanda Jernigan's Groundwork appeared (officially) on NPR's best 100 Poetry Books of 2011, with a paragraph praising her "daunting formal skill," "emotional intensity," and "light, perfecting touch"; and last (but certainly not least), our very own Laura Boudreau came in fourth (fourth!) in the National Post's Readers' Choices survey. That makes her the second Biblioasis author to have beat out Ondaatje's The Cat's Table in recent weeks. (Suitable Precautions may also be topping the import lists in Switzerland, but that's another story.)

So! That was the break. Keep tuned for more news, and an annum faustum to you all!

A Pinch of One More Thing

Just when you thought Thirsty was waterblogged, we find ourselves trudging back to the well. Something about drinking salty ink? Congrats to Ms. Rosenblum for making the top 10 books of Canadian short fiction for 2011, & thanks to Chad Pelley for the shoutout. (It's worth visiting the site for the picture of Zsuzsi Gartner alone, who looks not unliked the winged Nike of the CBC. Yowsers.)

... and to conclude today's Blog Binge ...

Just a quick note to say that the Who Killed CanLit? issue of CNQ is now not only on the newsstands, but up and running online. Check out notesandqueries.ca for select features, select online-only features, new fiction from Nathan Whitlock, and new poetry from Nyla Matuk, and more!

Quillcast Clark Blaise

I'm sure many of you have seen this already, thanks to the its appearance on the Walrus Blog and of course thanks to Quill & Quire, but in case you haven't, take a listen. This interview with Catherine Bush was recorded in October of this year, when Clark was in Toronto for IFOA and the Writers' Trust Awards. It's called "Clark Blaise and the Writing Life," but really it's just about Life full stop, and It. Is. Great. Why--gasp--is writing a short story harder than writing a novel? How does the son of an Amoskeag Mills bobbin boy end up studying with Bernard Malamud? And what, most tantalizingly, is our very own master storyteller and border-crosser planning next? If you don't already know, find out now.

Well we always kinda assumed we had the best darn poets around ...

But now we know it's really true, because NPR and the Boston Globe say so. Congratulations to Amanda Jernigan, whose Groundwork will appear shortly on NPR's top 100 poetry books for the year, and again to Marsha Pomerantz, whose Illustrated Edge made the Boston Globe's Best Poetry Books of 2011.

If you'd like to learn a little more about Amanda and Groundwork--and if you weren't lucky enough to catch part of her east coast odyssey this fall--well, this past week she recorded a truly epic podcast for Indi 101.5's Art Waves, and it's almost as good as hearing her in person.

Short Fiction Gets Tangential

Sounds like a limbo move or a calculus maneuver, but no: it's Laura Boudreau, live from The Story Prize Blog. Our dynamic cosmopolite talks about Singer, Carver, travelers, and what (if anything) holds a collection of short fiction together. Take a look!

Two More for the Poets

Good morning, folks. As Christmas rolls down toward the two-tongued sea here by the Bibliomanse (or rather, as piffling amounts of snow continue to melt into Lake St. Clair), it seems that our minds are turning to two very important seasonal things: poetry, and cake. On December 18th, Marsha Pomerantz was the Poetry Daily Poet with the title poem of The Illustrated Edge. Since December 18th is exactly one week before Christmas, and since one of her "edges" is a table with "drips and crumbs and bellies pressed up close," I figure I can segue rather neatly to the unexpected theme of 2011: CAKE. The year of cake closed with one final slice this Saturday at the London Children's Museum, where David Hickey read to a captivated crew of children and parents. What happens when you combine cake, gum, balloons, and poetry? See for yourselves. More pictures shortly. Also keep an eye out on the London Free Press, who did (bless 'em!) give us a shout-out before the launch, and an interview during.

Claire Tacon on CFRU 93.3

Hey, all! This morning Dan Evans of The Bookshelf interviews Dan Wells and Claire Tacon on Books for Breakfast (yum, books). Take a listen! Claire Tacon in the 8 AM slot, and Dan Wells in the 9. Highlights include a nice summary of what small presses can do, and a handsome paean by Mr. Evans on the merits of good book design.

First Toronto, then New York (or: the Poets Bury Ondaatje)

For those of you keeping track of R. Rosenblum's campaign for global blog domination, you'll have seen the pickup last week in the New Yorker's Book Bench and on rumpus.net. "Oh my God, my friend is a" -- what? Here's a clue: the answer is neither "vampire" nor "kitten."

And in unrelated-but-equally-exciting news: a little birdie told us last week that Amanda Jernigan's Groundwork now ranks as the sixth-highest bestselling title at Bryan Prince, Booksellers, according to Open Book Toronto. That's one, two, three, four (count them, FOUR) rankings above Michael Ondaatje's The Cat's Table. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the poets are gaining on the Giller Prize, one devoted fan base at a time ... congrats to Amanda, and to Rebecca too. Keep on crusading.

Call for Submissions

Hey folks. Red Claw Press is putting out a new anthology, this time about sleep. (Sleep? Remember that? Anybody?) If your eyes are still open at 6 PM on a Monday, take a look. Deadline's February 1st.

Why Not? longlisted for Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction

All of us at Biblioasis are proud to announce that Ray Robertson's Why Not? Fifteen Reasons to Live was longlisted for the $25 000 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction. The prize recognizes excellence in Non-Fiction for books that combine "subtlety of thought and perception" with elegant style and mastery of the English Language. The Shortlist will be announced on January 10th 2012 and the finalist on March 5th 2012.

Congratulations to Ray and everyone who made the longlist!

Check out the longlist and read the full story here.

Day of the Dead, Redux

Well, Biblioasis is happy to boast that our authors have thus far authors participated in, arranged, slogged through, flew to, trained towards, and gloried over EIGHTY-TWO events this fall. Now (as people are doing their pre-Christmas memory dumps, perhaps?) the photos are trickling in, and they are MARVELLOUS. Yes indeed.

These from our Day-of-the-Dead launch of Love Poems at Dora Keogh, featuring the inimitable Colin Carberry, along with our new & dulcet-toned friend over at the Consulate General of Mexico, Gerardo Ochoa. Cameo appearances by poet Goran Simic and his lovely wife Lida, our genius-behind-the-translation-curtain Stephen Henighan, and Stephen's wife Lorena. (And pssst. Toronto-ites: look for this last uber-duo at the Aluna Café Monday night, where they'll be presenting Llosa's La Chunga. 1 Wiltshire Ave, 7 PM.)

That other person there? Rather shiny of forehead? Not me. Nope. No sir.

Therefore. Bibliophiles! Have more pictures from the fall? Send 'em my way. Thirsty drinks everything up. Much like a sponge ... or the poets at an open bar. (Jokes. Kidding! Love you all.)

David Hickey Chews the Fat--er--Gum?--with The Londoner

So Rebecca Rosenblum is tromping up and down the blogosphere, and now (it seems), David Hickey is midway through a London media coup. A charming little profile appeared in the Londoner today: if you want to hear David talk a bit about his reasons for writing A Very Small Something, you should absolutely take a look. Seems his nieces and nephews aren't the only ones who love the book--and if this keeps up, we'll have hit every paper in London! (Hear that, Free Press? Huh? ALL the cool kids are reviewing it.)

(As an aside, I tried to load the Really Very Adorable Photo of David Holding His Book and Looking Proud, but I was defeated by the Londoner's photo-embedding technology. Send me a note if you're reading this and know how to get around the problem ... and in the meantime, look at the page. Great shot. Great book. Heck, it's all great.)

The Other Voice

Hello, world. Good evening. Happy Wednesday. Just a quick note to say three cheers to Biblioasis author K.D. Miller, who's new book The Other Voice is just now out from Stonebunny. Doing a little pre-holiday Amazon snoop? Check it out.

Rebecca Rosenblum's Quest for World Domination

... okay, so that's a fib. She's not taking over the world. ("Everyone knows if I were given access to the red button, I'd put a kitten sticker on it," saith RR.) But she may just be taking over the blogosphere: yesterday she provided the 41st installment of the Story Prize blog, where she described (oh woe to all of us who have been there) the experience of a salvaging a Bad Story. And elsewhere in Toronto? Blogs are still coming out fast and furious on the Afterword. Yesterday she talked (gulp) about editors--"Scourge of the Earth or Cheap Psychotherapists?"--and today? It's anybody's guess. (Okay, granted I'm not guessing because I read it last night, but the rest of you will have to guess because I'll get in trouble if I tell you.)

Last but not least! For all you Laura Boudreau fans, knoweth that a Certain Story Prize blog abovementioned might, just might, be featuring a Certain Story Writer of the initials LB some time soon ... so keep yer ears to the ground.

Hey, there's a Shreddie on the floor! Rebecca Rosenblum Guest Edits the Afterword

Great news, folks: all this week our very own Rebecca Rosenblum will be guest editing The National Post's Afterword. Curious as to why she's more interested in stray Shreddies than the movements of the stars? Here's a taste:

For me, exploration is writing and reading and also being alive. I use the details I know to explore people and situations I don’t understand. I access them in the micro details, the laundry emergencies and poorly chosen lunches and unhappy kittens in our laps. And it is out of these details that the larger issues construct themselves…or we construct them.

Rest of the blog post is on the Post site, and more will come. Read them! Eat them! They're grrrreat. (Okay, yes, that's Frosted Flakes, but whatever.)

Dad of Divas on A Very Small Something

This weekend parenting blog host Dad of Divas took a look at A Very Small Something, and here's what he called it:

"A beautiful tale ... This author has put together a wonderful book that both children and parents will alike will enjoy and the illustrations within the book are also ones that will just jump off the page! I highly recommend this to all!"

So there we go. It's a book fit for divas, darlings, dads, dumbledorfs--everybody. And (along with a few gum balls, maybe?) what a beautiful Christmas present ...