Blog
Nut at the Opera by Maurice Vellekoop
by monique t
Graphica + News / April 04, 2006
The main page of the CBC Arts and Entertainment website features Maurice Vellekoop's new book, A Nut at the Opera.
"Toronto-based illustrator Maurice Vellekoop has lent his inimitable drawing style to the world's leading magazines, but his new book has personal relevance. Filled with vividly imagined fictional divas (and divos), A Nut at the Opera is an ode not only to the music but to Paul Baker, the man who mentored Vellekoop back in his art-school days."
--CBC feature by Alec Scott
Alec Scott has done a full feature on Vellekoop and his book A Nut at the Opera. Included is a photo gallery of some of the artwork from the book-- marvelous caricatures of actual performers, imitations of engravings of popular opera singers in the 1700s, sketches similar to old publicity pictures and spoofs on I Love Lucy and Tintin.
A Nut at the Opera is available in bookstores now. Buy the book today.
Maurice Vellekoop (Toronto) is an illustrator whose work has appeared in Time, Cosmopolitan, GQ, Vanity Fair and Vogue. The initial drawings for A Nut at the Opera were conceived as a series of birthday cards for dear friend and mentor Paul Baker.
The Warrior Mind
by monique t
News / April 03, 2006
Attend Jim Pritchard's seminar on The Warrior Mind: Winning the War Within.
Sunday, April 9, 2-4 pm
Bookshelf, 41 Quebec St. in Guelph, ON
http://www.bookshelf.ca
Join Jim Pritchard author of The Warrior Mind, black belt and Special Forces veteran as he unmasks the secrets of the Shadow Warrior. Learn how to use your own personal powers to create a more fulfilling and powerful life.
Pritchard teaches readers how to diffuse conflict in the office and workplace, and how to handle relationship and daily challenges with confidence and resolution.
Seminar costs:
$65 cash at door
$50 if pre-registered.
Pre-register by emailing: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Receive a complementary copy of The Warrior Mind with seminar fee.
April is Cancer Awareness Month
by monique t
News / March 31, 2006
Due to enormous viewer response, CBC Marketplace will repeat Wendy Mesley's program "Chasing the Cancer Answer" this Sunday, April 2, at 7:00 p.m. on CBC Television.
After fighting the disease herself, Marketplace's Wendy Mesley is asking questions about our rising cancer rates. For example, the Canadian Cancer Society says almost one in two Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer.
According to Picking Up the Pieces authors Sherri Magee and Kathy Scalzo, most survivors emerge from cancer treatment exhausted, struggling with fears, and uncertain of the future. Survivors speak of feeling fragmented, of needing to “pick up the pieces” of their lives once the struggle with cancer is over.
Preston Manning, Former Leader of the Official Opposition and cancer survivor, reviewed the book:
“As a cancer survivor, I have experienced many of the uncertainties and emotions that Magee and Scalzo describe so well. I highly recommend their book and their helpful strategies for coping, not only to cancer survivors, but to the families, friends, and care givers of those endeavouring to 'pick up the pieces'.”
For more information on Sherri Magee, Kathy Scalzo and the book Picking Up the Pieces, visit
www.raincoast.com
Or buy the book from
Amazon.ca
Chapters.indigo.ca
or an independent retailer of your choice.
Survivorship conference: Moving forward after cancer treatment
by monique t
News / March 29, 2006
Sherri Magee and Kathy Scalzo, authors of Picking Up the Pieces: Survivors Moving Forward After Surviving Cancer, will be lecturing at the Second International Cancer Rehabilitation Conference 2006, taking place March 30th to April 1st, 2006 in Vancouver, BC.
The theme of this year's Conference is Survivorship: Moving Forward After Treatment. Details and program information are available at www.interprofessional.ubc.ca.
Sherri Magee and Kathy Scalzo's session "Picking Up the Pieces: Moving Forward After Cancer" will be Saturday, April 1 from 10:30-12:00 pm.
This interactive workshop will explore the Transition Model and the Four Phase Recovery Process developed by the authors to assist survivors as they acknowledge the changes, grieve the losses, regain control of their lives, explore the possibilities for living the life they want to live, and look toward the future. Participants will learn about the tangible tasks and practical tools that assist survivors as they move from fragmentation to integration their pre-cancer old self with their post-cancer new self.
Sherri Magee, PhD, (Vancouver) has a doctorate in Interdisciplinary Studies, specializing in the short- and long-term effects of cancer and its treatments. She designs personal cancer recovery programs and trains health care professionals to work with survivors. She is the co-founder of the Abreast in a Boat Dragon Boat Society and past executive director of the Hope House Cancer Centre.
Kathy Scalzo, MSOD, (Vancouver) is president of a consulting group specializing in change and transition management. She serves on the board of directors of the BC Rehabilitation Society and is a faculty member of the Canadian Medical Association's Physician Management Institute. Magee and Scalzo are regular lecturers at UBC's School of Rehabilitation Sciences.
Sherri Magee and Kathy Scalzo are the authors of Picking Up the Pieces.
Reviews of Indigenous Beasts by Nathan Sellyn
by monique t
Fiction + News / March 27, 2006
Several newspapers last week and on the weekend reviewed Nathan Sellyn's debut short story collection Indigenous Beasts.
View results on Google News
Here's a quick round-up of what the reviews of Indigenous Beasts had to say:
Torontoist: Tall Poppy Interview: Nathan Sellyn, Author, Wunderkind, Habs Fan
Torontoist, 23 Mar 2006, said "... we admire him because it's pretty special to be able to write a short story collection that includes murder by baseball bat, soon-to-be deadbeat dads and a guy who gets beaten up at a strip club before visiting his elderly mom, yet doesn't make us revulse in anger and disgust."
Georgia Straight's John Burns Reviews Indigenous Beasts by Nathan Sellyn
John Burns, Georgia Straight, 23 Mar 2006, said "For all that wounded pride and dumb longing are the language of the modern man, Vancouverite Nathan Sellyn manages to put some lovely words into the mouths of the men in his first collection of stories. And there's nary a metrosexual or yoga devotee among them."
Ivy League talent: Nathan Sellyn honed his writing to a fine edge at Princeton
Rebecca Wigod, Vancouver Sun, 25 Mar 2006, said "The 15 stories in Indigenous Beasts are the type you'd describe with words like 'taut' and 'muscular.' The action is splashed with violence and sex, and the writing is far more knowing than you'd expect from someone born in 1982."
Fatherless yarns linger in mind. Philip Marchand considers a debut story collection freighted with ever-present violence
Philip Marchand, Toronto Star, 26 Mar 2006, said "Sellyn, a graduate of the creative writing program at Princeton University, has clearly been well coached. He leaves no wasted words on the page. He adds the kind of extra detail or phrase to a sentence that gives it a particular sting or vibrancy ..."
What RUF beast?
Fiona Foster, Globe and Mail, 24 Mar 2006, said "Indigenous Beasts is, though, sharply perceptive, rendering the interactions between characters, and the exchanges wherein they construct and protect their fragile egos, especially well."
UPDATE:
Michael Schaub on the literary blog bookslut.com also mentions the Torontoist article and Raincoast's podcast of Nathan. Link to Bookslut.com posting
Michael Schaub, Bookslut.com, 23 Mar 2006, said " ... Sellyn's publisher, the great Raincoast Books, has a podcast of the young author reading from his work. Violence is certainly part of what ties this ..."
Listen or subscribe to the podcast.
If you're a blogger and would like to review Indigenous Beasts on your blog, email a request to monique at raincoast dot com. Please include your blog's URL.
I Can Do It Contest
by monique t
Contests + Events + News / March 27, 2006
Join Your Favourite Hay House Authors for a Weekend Retreat in Toronto.
ENTER TO WIN
two full weekend passes.
I Can Do It! 2006
Date: April 21, 2006 - April 23, 2006
Sponsored by: Hay House
Location: Metro Toronto Convention Center
About the I Can Do It Conference
24 World-Renowned Authors Gather for One Spectacular Event!
Hay House is North America's leading inspirational publisher. Hay House is bringing 24 of their most dynamic authors and speaker to Toronto for one amazing, empowering weekend.
I Can Do It! is a chance for participants to learn techniques for developing and deepening their relationships, spirituality, health, wealth, intuition, self-esteem and passion.
Keynote Speakers at I Can Dot It are Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Loretta LaRoche, Sylvia Browne, Dr. Masaru Emoto and Robin Sharma.
There are over 20 workshops with other well-known authors, including Crystal Andrus, Sonia Choquette, and Immaculee Ilibagiza.
For full details including conference schedules and speaker bios visit HayHouse.com
Torontoist: Tall Poppy Interview: Nathan Sellyn
by monique t
Fiction + News + Podcasts / March 23, 2006
Torontoist, a website about Toronto and everything that happens in it, has interviewed Raincoast author Nathan Sellyn about his new work Indigenous Beasts.
Ron Nurwisah's interview touches on the violence present in Indigenous Beasts, Nathan's Princeton days and his mentorship with Joyce Carol Oates, his literary influences, travel and Toronto. It is a good article with great insights into Nathan's character.
Want to listen to an interview of Nathan? Listen to the Raincoast podcast.
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, released March 22:
LISTEN NOW
Want to be notified whenever a new podcast is available?
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS at
http://feeds.feedburner.com/raincoast
Or subscribe to the podcast directly from iTunes. Search 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/
Brigitte Bardot Returns to Canada to Protest the Seal Hunt
by monique t
News / March 23, 2006
French actress-turned activist Brigitte Bardot returned to Canada yesterday to appeal for an end to the Canadian seal hunt.
Rex Weyler, in Greenpeace: The Inside Story, writes that in 1977, the Greenpeace Foundation in Vancouver turned its focus to the Canadian seal hunt. In the section "Vive Ecologie", Weyler describes Brigitte Bardot's arrival in Blanc Sablon.
Brigitte Bardot's appearance in the normally quiet harbour town spun the Greenpeace media plan wildly out of control. Bob Cummings staged a press conference at the Alexander Dumas Hotel, but journalists no longer wanted to talk to him or [Paul] Watson; they wanted to talk to Ms. Bardot. Canadian journalists vilified the actress in beer parlours. "The idle rich," they laughed. "Second-rate movie actress trying to revive a dead career." Her opening news conference was as much a bloodbath as the scene on the ice floes.
Bardot had arrived with her boyfriend, Sygma photographer Miroslav Brozek, and Swiss conservationist Franz Weber. Weber had raised $240,000 by selling toy seals and used the money to fly journalists and Bardot to Canada. He met with Fisheries Minister Romeo LeBlanc and offered to build a $2.5 million fake fur plant in Newfoundland to offset the loss of income if Canada ended the seal hunt. The factory, he said, would employ 600 Newfoundlanders, year-round. "Blackmail," scoffed LeBlanc. "Canada refuses to be intimidated by pressure from abroad." In Newfoundland, Richard Cashin, the union leader who had cut a deal with [Bob] Hunter the year before, also dismissed Weber's offer.
Weyler's depictions of that time continue with the antics at the press conference, the details of the Seal Protection Act, the difficulties they faced getting out to the ice floes and the campaign itself.
Miroslav Brozek's photographs of Bardot and the seals circled the globe. In Paris Giscard d'Estaing's government announced that France would ban the importation of harp seal pelts. The ensuing European ban on harp seal pelts eventually led to the current moratorium on the killing of the infant whitecoats.
Raincoast Books Adds Nathan Sellyn to Its Literary Podcast Series
by monique t
Fiction + News + Podcasts / March 22, 2006
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/
--
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.
Fantagraphics’ MOME posted on BBC
by monique t
Graphica / March 20, 2006
There was a good article posted last week on BBC about Fantagraphics' MOME publications--along with images from some of the comics, plus an interview with many of the Mome contributors--their takes on what MOME and comics are all about.
Links to the images and the interview transcript are at the top of the page. The direct link to the interview (which is the best part) is:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A10125064
How some MOME contributors explain MOME:
Martin Cendreda: MOME is like a bunch of cartoonists gathered at a party, all talking about different things. But the party is in the form of a comic anthology ...
Paul Hornschemeier: ... MOME updates the dictionary, so to speak. No language is static, and this language of symbols is furiously evolving ...
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