K.D. Miller in Maclean's and Globe and Mail: up for Writer's Trust Tonight!

Besides teaching me so much about writing, Alice Munro once taught me something about being a writer. It was 1986. She had just launched The Progress of Love and was doing a reading in a local library. I couldn’t afford to hand her one of the glossy new hardcovers to sign, so I took along my least-tattered Munro paperback – Lives of Girls and Women. She opened it tenderly, looked up and gave me a gracious smile before signing her name.I learned that night that the reader is to be honoured – even if she shows up with a second-hand copy of the wrong book.

A lovely anecdote from K.D. Miller about the graciousness of Alice Munro in The Globe and Mail as part of yesterday's feature on the Writer's Trust award, for which K.D. is up tonight. 

And speaking of influence and homage, K.D. was also featured in Maclean's this past Monday, where she spoke of her debt to Flannery O'Connor and her ability "as a religious person, to see beyond the borders of her faith and at times stare straight into the eyes of evil," something readers acquainted with All Saints and the character of Alice Vipond will no doubt be familiar with.

The Writer's Trust Award is announced tonight at 6:30PM at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto.

Our fingers are crossed for you, K.D.!

"Hallelujah! A Canadian Classic is Born"

Well, it's no exaggeration to say that Anne Kingston's review of All Saints in today's issue of Maclean's Magazine is so glowing you may need sunglasses to read it (well, it's actually raining here, but you know what I mean). It was the first review in the section, it was the title review, and it had full banner art. What you see above ("Hallelujah! A Canadian Classic is Born") is the headline. And though it's hard to pull any one sentence out from the others, as the review consists of two full columns of praise, we think you'll agree that this bit is particularly wonderful:

"Miller's genius, like that of Alice Munro, is wringing suspense—and poignancy—from the quotidian ... Plots and characters link in haunting and astounding ways. As a collection, the stories reflect the power and purpose of all communities, ecclesiastical or otherwise: read like a novel, they offer multi-faceted perspective and illumination. The result is a Canadian classic. If this book doesn't get a Giller prize nod, something is wrong." (our emphasis).

Our cup runneth over. To get a copy of this wonderful linked collection, get thee to a local indie, and remember also that all Biblioasis books are available for sale directly from our website. Booksellers: our books are distributed, as ever, from Raincoast, and if you're interested in a reading copy, give me a shout and I'd be happy to send one your way: jeckerlin@biblioasis.com.

Happy Wednesday!    

Biblioasis's John Metcalf named 2014 Editor of the Year

It's our great pleasure this afternoon to tell you that John Metcalf, known and beloved to many of you as a writer, mentor, editor, and friend, was named Editor of the Year last night at the 2014 Libris Awards. The Libris Awards, presented annually by the Canadian Booksellers Association to the extraordinary professionals who deliver great books to Canadian readers, are nominated and voted on by members of the Canadian bookselling community. On behalf of John and ourselves we would like to offer our heartfelt gratitude and thanks to everyone at the CBA for your support.

It's difficult to sum up the achievements of the man whom Alice Munro has described as authoring "some of the very best stories ever published in this country." As an editor he is Argus-eyed, attentive, inexhaustible, challenging, and compassionate. He was Senior Editor at the Porcupine's Quill until 2005, he's now Fiction Editor at Biblioasis, and he's worked tirelessly on numerous projects besides (including Best Canadian Stories). Beside Clark Blaise, Ray Smith, Ray Fraser, and Hugh Hood, Metcalf was a Montreal Storyteller; he's the author of more than a dozen works of fiction and non-fiction (including the remarkable Going Down Slow and the inflammatory Kicking Against the Pricks); he's also devoted much of his life to discovering, encouraging, and supporting talented young writers, frequently pro bono and on his own time. We can say without exaggeration that without his dedication—which has lasted a lifetime—Canadian fiction, and particularly Canadian short fiction, would be a far poorer thing. We feel very strongly that John Metcalf has raised the standards for what short stories can and should do in this country.

If you'd like to read more about John's life and work, we encourage you to take a look at his memoir, available in two volumes: vol. 1, An Aesthetic Underground, was originally published by Thomas Allen in 2003 and will be reissued in paperback by Biblioasis this fall, while vol. 2, Shut Up He Explained, is available to order via our website or our distributors (see below). If you'd like to order vol. 1 in the original hardcover, feel free to call us at 519-968-2206, and we can help you out. 

On behalf of the press we'd like to offer our congratulations to John's deserving co-nominees, Jennifer Lambert of Harper Collins Canada and Nicole Winstanley of Penguin; to Groundwood Books, Small Press Publisher of the Year; Penguin Canada, Publisher of the Year; Joseph Boyden, Author of the Year; Blue Heron Books, Bookstore of the Year; to Stuart McLean, for his Lifetime Achievement Award; and to all the other deserving book stalwarts who were honoured last night. We at the Bibliomanse salute you.

Munro's Books

Pssst. For those of you out west, there's a little celebration happening on Thursday night in honour of Alice Munro; if you have a minute, or forty, or three hundred plus, I'd say it's worth going attending. Here's the description (courtesy of Rod Mickleburgh). Go! Fête! Celebrate!

To mark this wonderful moment in our literary history, a few of us have organized a night of appreciation and readings devoted to Alice Munro’s prodigious body of work. The list of speakers/readers is impressive:

Shaena Lambert; Hal Wake; Anakana Schofield; Sandy Garossino; Actor Tom Scholte; Caroline Adderson; Anne Giardini (novelist and Carol Shields’ daughter); Cynthia Flood; Cathleen With; Aislinn Hunter (Alice’s cousin); Betsy Warland; Fiona Lam; Elise Partridge; and me.

Host for the evening is the Globe and Mail’s superb arts correspondent, Marsha Lederman, while the tireless Kerry Gold has been chief motivator.

We are calling the event, Munro’s Books, with the kind permission of her ex-husband, Jim, who runs the great bookstore of that name in Victoria. 

It takes place Thursday night, 7 o’clock, at The Tangent Café, 2095 Commercial Drive. Snow or no snow. Craft beer on tap. Free admission. Y’all come, now. It should be quite the evening. 

To whet your appetite, here is a 45-minute interview with the great Alice Munro, just posted on the Nobel Prize website.

Introducing Cynthia Flood's The English Stories

Cynthia Flood's The English Stories is a quiet marvel of a book, set to be released May 1st. A series of linked fictions detailing the story of Amanda Ellis, a young Canadian girl who goes with her parents to England "for a year that stretched into two," and her life at St. Mildred's school, it is a collection which should help to cement Biblioasis's reputation as one of the pre-eminent presses for the short story in Canada -- not that there are many out there vying for such a distinction. Unlike many linked short story collections -- Alice Munro's Lives of Girls and Women comes to mind -- Flood's suite is not limited to first person narration, but rather offers a range of perspectives, including those of teachers at St. Mildred's, guests at the Green House, a hotel the Ellis family stays at through out their journey, among others. The feel of this collection is much more novelistic than many, as Flood captures a fully realized and inter-connected world. Like Munro's Girls and Women, this as well is a coming of age tale; but its range is also quite a bit more broad than this. The English Stories offers a subtle portrayal of an England cut adrift, unsure of itself as its Empire collapses into the less grand Commonwealth, and of the ensuing tensions which become obvious in the everyday interactions between the English and their colonial brethren. First and foremost this is evinced through language, the subtle -- and occasionally not-so-subtle -- slighting of colonials, and the different ways identities are shaped and communities differentiated by everyday rituals and commonplaces.

John Metcalf, who edited this collection, has said that he think The English Stories ranks as among the Top Ten short fiction collections published in Canada, ever. Regardless, it is a magnificent book, and one that I hope reaches its fair share of readers.

We'll be having Cynthia in to guest-blog in the coming weeks about the origins of this collection. Also working to set up an Ontario tour, likely in June, so stay tuned.