Friday, June 17, 2011

Agnes Walsh Publishes Book Of Plays

Answer Me Home: Plays from Tramore Theatre (Breakwater Books, 2011) is a collection of plays written by Agnes Walsh. Tramore was founded in 1999 by Walsh and Arlene Morrisey, to promote the oral history and cultural traditions of the Cape Shore, Newfoundland.

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Rattling Books has two audio book collections of poetry by Agnes Walsh. Going Around with Bachelors is an MP3 download, available courtesy of Brick Books and the author (click here for more information, and to listen to an excerpt). In the Old Country of My Heart is available as an audio CD and an MP3 download (click here).



Canadian audiobooks produced by Rattling Books in Newfoundland and Labrador

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

AudioFile Magazine Reviews Helen Porter's "Below The Bridge"

Click here to read what AudioFile has to say about Rattling Books' audio edition of Helen Fogwill Porter's Newfoundland classic in its May 2011 edition.

For more information on Below the Bridge and to hear an excerpt, follow this link. Below the Bridge is available as an MP3 CD and an MP3 download.





Canadian audiobooks from Rattling Books in Newfoundland and Labrador

Monday, June 06, 2011

Joel Hynes Launches Chapbook At Ship Pub, St. John's, June 7

Joel Hynes' manifesto God Help Thee first showed its pugnacious face as a performance piece at the LSPU Hall, and has been infamous ever since. (In a nice way. Like its author.) Then it was a written piece in Riddle Fence and Maisonneuve, and an audio rant recorded by Rattling Books .

Now it's a goat - a Running the Goat chapbook, sprawling from hand-sewn bindings in all its mouthy glory. To celebrate God Help Thee's most recent incarnation, there will be a launch on Tuesday, June 7, at The Ship Pub, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Food, drink and a short reading by Hynes.

Thursday, June 02, 2011

Battery Radio Awarded 2011 Prix Maruliç Second Prize

Chris Brookes' Battery Radio has been awarded the 2011 Prix Marulic for The Annotated Jack, a documentary. The 42-minute feature was produced for Radio Telefis Eirann in Dublin. Read all about it here.

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Rattling Books' Adrift on an Ice Pan and Coasting Trade were produced by the award-encrusted Chris Brookes (Brookes narrates the former). These audiobooks are available as audio CDs and MP3 downloads. For more information and to hear excerpts, follow this link.



Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Get Caught Listening: June Is Audiobook Month

If you're wondering about the world of tales told out loud, check out the audiobook collection at your local library. Or explore an online audiobook community, such as the Audio Publishers Association's (click here).

Already a fan of the spoken word? Browse Rattling Books' website for fine Canadian and Newfoundland literature read by talented narrators: true adventure, history, short fiction, poetry and more.

Listen: a way to read more

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Patrick Warner's "Mole" Wins E.J. Pratt Poetry Award

Newfoundland (by way of Ireland) poet Patrick Warner has received the 2011 E. J. Pratt Poetry Award for his collection Mole (House of Anansi, 2009). It's Warner's second Pratt win; he won the award in 2007 for There, there (Véhicule Press, 2005).

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Patrick Warner's short story "Doubleness, the Disease of Life," narrated by the author, is available from Rattling Books as an MP3 download, and is also featured on EarLit Shorts 3.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Greg Malone And Ron Hynes: Comedy And Music, May 24


Comedian Greg Malone and musician Ron Hynes will be appearing at the D.F. Cook Recital Hall, Memorial University, St. John's, Newfoundland, on Tuesday, May 24. The event, a poverty reduction fundraiser, is being hosted by the Community Sector Council Newfoundland and Labrador. Tickets are $75 ($45 charitable receipt provided), and include a complimentary beverage and hors d’oeuvre. There will be a 50/50 draw and a live and silent auction.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit Fred’s Records at 198 Duckworth Street, St. John’s, or contact the Community Sector Council NL, 753-9860.

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Ron Hynes is one of the narrators of Rattling Books' audio version of Michael Crummey's poetry collection Hard Light: 32 Little Stories. He is also the narrator of Death on the Ice, Cassie Brown's classic account of the 1914 Newfoundland sealing disaster.

Rattling Books audio books are available as audio or MP3 CDs, and as MP3 downloads.

Rattling Books is a Canadian audiobook producer in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Monday, May 16, 2011

"Washington Post" Review Of Michael Crummey's "Galore"

Newfoundland author Michael Crummey's Galore (Random House, 2009) is still garnering attention two years after its release. Galore, Crummey's third novel, won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book (Canada and Caribbean) and the Canadian Authors Association Literary Award, and was short-listed for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction and several other awards. It is currently a finalist for the 2011 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

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Michael Crummey's poetry collection Hard Light: 32 Little Stories is available as an MP3 download or an audio CD from Rattling Books.

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Jessica Grant Named Newfoundland And Labrador Arts Council Artist Of The Year

Jessica Grant, whose debut novel Come, Thou Tortoise (Knopf, 2009) won the Winterset Award and the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award, is this year's recipient of the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council's Artist of the Year Award. In an interview with the Telegram, Grant said, "To be called an artist and then to be called artist of the year in a province that has so many amazing artists means a tremendous amount to me. I really can’t think of anything that’s been a greater honour.”

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Rattling Books is pleased to have Jessica Grant's short story "The Princification Process" (read by the author) available, as an individual download and as part of the short fiction collection EarLit Shorts 3.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Poet Patrick Warner Launches Novel, April 19, St. John's, Newfoundland


Patrick Warner, heretofore author of brilliant poetry, is now the proud da of a novel, double talk, which Michael Crummey describes as "an exhilarating (and sometimes terrifying) look at the murky complexities that lie under the surface of all relationships."

Come help Patrick celebrate his latest literary arrival at The Ship Pub in St. John's, Tuesday, April 19, with food, drink and a reading. The fun starts at 7 p.m. and (officially) ends at 9 p.m.

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Rattling Books' EarLit Shorts 3 features a fine bit from Patrick Warner's double talk, "Doubleness, the Disease of Life."

Rattling Books is a Canadian audiobook publisher in Newfounland an Labrador.

"Vikings of the Ice": American Writer George Allan England's Newfoundland Seal Hunt

Just before American writer and adventurer (remote islands were his specialty) George Allan England went to the Newfoundland seal hunt in 1922, he was told that the ship he was about to spend six weeks on in the northern icefields "was condemned years ago."

The last of the old "wooden walls," the SS Terra Nova (top photo) had indeed been condemned, but that didn't stop her owners from sending the ship out on the lucrative chase after seals. In 1922, as England recorded in Vikings of the Ice, the seal hunt was worth nearly $200, 000, a significant sum in those days.

England was the first and only person to observe the Newfoundland seal hunt first hand and to write about it. A committed socialist (England ran for governor of Massachusetts on the Socialist ticket in 1908), this is one of the things he wrote:

If a hunter makes $50 or $60 dollars, he's doing well. That comes to $10 to $12 dollars a week, and board . . . for hardships, perils, and toil beyond anything we know here at home. I have never known a country where employers enjoyed such a sinecure as in Newfoundland. Labour, there, has hardly begun to dream that it has any rights. And the game of exploitation goes merrily on.


England's admiration and sympathy for the sealers of Newfoundland (bottom photo) is evident in Vikings of the Ice. His fascination with their culture - in particular, its idiosyncratic habits of speech - and his ability to place the reader or listener right on the icy, bloody deck of a 1920s' wooden wall make Viki
ngs of the Ice a compelling experience. Veteran narrator Frank Holden's seamless handling of Rattling Books' Audie-nominated audio book version of Vikings of the Ice's many voices and accents - individual sealers, ship's officers, England himself - brings the book alive. It gives England's experience directly to the listener : six hard weeks of blood, sweat and, despite the circumstances, humour. (One reader described Vikings of the Ice as a "strange admixture of implacable cruelty toward animals [and] . . . man-to-man, human warmth.")

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George A
llan England was born in Nebraska in 1877. His father, George Allen England, was a U.S. Army chaplain who served on bases from Virginia to Nebraska (including Fort Nebraska, General George Armstrong Custer's base of operations against Native Americans). The family moved to Boston when England was a child; he attended Boston English High School, and was accepted at Harvard. England graduated from Harvard in 1902 with Phi Beta Kappa honours, and a special award for writing. After he obtained a master's degree from Harvard in 1903, he married and began work at an insurance company, where (he once wrote) he honed his ability to write fiction.

England soon quit the insurance business, and spent the rest of his life as a freelance writer, and a traveller (except for failed attempts at chicken farming and treasure hunting in the Caribbean). Besides writing articles for popular publications of the day (e.g., Collier's, The Saturday Evening Post), England wrote fiction, including Utopian novels based on his socialist ideals. The most famous of these is his Darkness and Dawn trilogy.

George Allan England died on June 26, 1930, in Concord, New Hampshire. His New York Times obituary compared Vikings of the Ice to Kipling's Captains Courageous.


















Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Rattling Books' Poetry Collection By Mark Callanan

April is National Poetry Month, and Rattling Books has published an audio collection of poetry by one of Canada's youngest and best poets, Mark Callanan, just in time to get in on the fun.

Sea Legend, Callanan's award-winning chapbook (Frog Hollow Press, 2010, Audiobook Rattling Books, 2011).

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Rattling Books publishes fine poetry by some of the most gifted Canadian poets, available as audio CDs and MP3 downloads, or MP3 downloads only.

Friday, April 08, 2011

Riddle Fence and Rattling Books Host Short Fiction Competition

Riddle Fence, a journal of arts and culture based in St. John's, Newfoundland, and Rattling Books are holding a short fiction contest. The winning entry will be published in Riddle Fence, and recorded by Rattling Books. Its author will receive $500, a publishing fee and audio royalties. Click here for details.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Launch of Bruce Johnson's "Firmament," March 29, St. John's, Newfoundland

Bruce Johnson will be launching his debut novel, Firmament (Gaspereau, 2010), on Tuesday, March 29, at The Ship Pub in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Shortlisted for the Fresh Fish Award, Johnson's novel, set in an actual (yet mythical) Newfoundland outport, is "an expressionist work where the grit of the mundane intersects with the mystery of human memory and dreams."

The fun starts at 7:30 - food, drink and a reading.

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Rattling Books will be presenting an excerpt from Firmament ("Caleb") on EarLit Shorts 5, the fifth in the EarLit Shorts series of short fiction anthologies.

Rattling Books' audio books are available as audio or MP3 CDs, and as MP3 downloads.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Rattling Books On CBC's Weekend Arts Magazine

Click here to listen to WAM's interview with Rattling Books owner Janet Russell, and actor Frank Holden, narrator of Vikings of the Ice, Rattling Books' 2011 Audie contender.

Friday, March 04, 2011

"Finding The Words": New Anthology Fundraiser For PEN Canada

Finding the Words is a new anthology published by McClelland & Stewart in support of PEN Canada, the national arm of the global non-profit organization that goes to bat for freedom of expression. CBC Books has recently been presenting excerpts from the anthology: follow this link to read about the summer Michael Winter and Lisa Moore had jobs together on the periphery of the Newfoundland justice system, in Michael Winter's "Thinly Veiled."

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Visit Rattling Books' author profiles of Winter and Moore for their Rattling Books' fiction titles. Rattling Books audio books are available as audio or MP3 CDs, and as MP3 downloads. Single stories are available as MP3 downloads.

Thursday, March 03, 2011

Rattling Books' "Vikings Of The Ice" Up For Audie Award

Rattling Books is the only Canadian contender for a 2011 Audie, the audio book industry’s Oscar equivalent. Vikings of the Ice, RB's unabridged audio edition of George Allan England's 1922 eyewitness account of the Newfoundland seal hunt, is a finalist in the history category.

Presented annually by the Audio Publishers Association, an American organization representing audio publishing companies and allied suppliers, distributors and retailers of spoken word products, the Audies honour the best in audio books. Last year’s winners included Nelson Mandela’s Favourite African Folktales, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, Helen Mirren, Don Cheadle and Alan Rickman, and Booker-prize winner Wolf Hall, narrated by Simon Slater.

Over 1,100 audio books were entered in this year’s competition. Winners will be announced at the Audies Gala on May 24, 2011, at the Times Center in New York City. (We've got our fingers, toes, arms, legs and hearts crossed.)

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Vikings is not only a chronicle of the early twentieth-century industrial seal hunt, but of the speech, folklore and beliefs of rural Newfoundlanders of that period. These long gone and never to return voices of the men who plied the spring seal fishery are rendered vividly by Frank Holden, veteran playwright, actor and narrator. Like Chaucer's pilgrims on the way to Canterbury, the "swilers" offer us their stories about a hard-scrabble life valiantly faced, on both land and sea.

Vikings of the Ice is available from Rattling Books as an MP3 audio book CD and an MP3 download.















Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Anita Best Has Never Met A Liar She Didn't Like

Now that Valentine's Day is over, and all the heart-shaped boxes of chocolates are on sale for a fifth of their former price, it's time to embrace love less artificially and commercially. And who better to do that with than Ron Hynes and Anita Best, neither of whom will ever be in the running for a Slick and Void Award. "I Never Met a Liar I Didn't Like" was written by Ron Hynes (and his ex-wife, Connie Hynes), and is sung by Anita Best in this video. (If you think you have no use for liars, here's a song that just might make you run right out and acquire one.)

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Rattling Books has been fortunate to have both Anita Best and Ron Hynes as narrators.

Rattling Books audio books are available as audio or MP3 CDs, and as MP3 downloads. Single stories are available as MP3 downloads.

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Kathleen Winter's "Annabel" Nominated For Amazon.ca First Novel Award

Kathleen Winter's debut novel, Annabel, has been nominated for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award. Read all about it in the Montreal Gazette.

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Listen to excerpts from Rattling Books' audio versions of Kathleen Winter's short stories: "The Destination," narrated by Merrill Francis; "His Brown Face Through the Flowers," narrated by Nicola Hawkins; and "Sleep, Little Baby," narrated by Mark Callanan. These stories are available as individual MP3 downloads, and are also featured on EarLit Shorts 1, a collection of short fiction by Winter, Joel Thomas Hynes and Carmelita McGrath.

Rattling Books is a Canadian audiobook publisher in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Robin McGrath On Labrador, Nursery Rhymes, Marbles - And "Annabel"

Robin McGrath is one of Newfoundland and Labrador's most prolific writers, and she's also a scholar of the North. Read a recent interview with McGrath in the Northern Poetry Review, in which she ranges far and  wide and eloquently on various topics.

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Coasting Trade is Rattling Books' audio book edition of Robin McGrath's "performance for three voices." Narrated by Robert Joy, Rick Boland and Anita Best, Coasting Trade is available as an audio CD or an MP3 download.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Canadian Writers On New Copyright Legislation: The Plot Thickens


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Ooops . . . This blog erroneously reported earlier in the week that Richard Cumyn was the Cumyn in the above video. But no, he's Richard Cumyn's brother, Alan, also a writer. (Did their mother read War and Peace during those long months of pregnancy? Attend creative writing classes? Was she frightened twice by runaway bookworms?) Apologies to the Brothers Cumyn - but, you have to admit, the resemblance is strong. (The photo is of Richard Cumyn.)

Anyway, there are at least two Cumyns writing dandy fiction in Canada, but we have only one of them on tap. Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio edition of Richard Cumyn's short story "My Future in Insurance," narrated by Charlie Tomlinson. This story is available as a single MP3 download, and it's also part of the EarLit Shorts 3 audiobook collection of short fiction, available as an MP3 download or an MP3 CD.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Joel Thomas Hynes Has New Movie In Works

Author and actor Joel Thomas Hynes is about to become a director. Hynes is currently looking for production money for Clipper Gold, a short film about moose sausages, relationships and tea. If you'd like to contribute to this project, click here. (You could end up on a Hynes motorcycle tour of Newfoundland's Southern Shore, or written into his next manuscript - check it out.)

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Follow this link to listen to excerpts from Rattling Books' audio versions of Joel Thomas Hynes' fiction - short, long and non, available as individual MP3 downloads or MP3 CDs. (Click on the images under the bio.)

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

CBC's Canada Reads Not Delivering The Real Goods?


According to a recent article in the National Post, CBC's annual Canada Reads - "CBC's annual battle of the books, where five Canadian personalities select the book they think Canadians should read" - may be directing Canadians away from good literature. (Mavis Gallant and Alice Munro were dumped by certain Canadian celebrities one year.) Click here to read a Post contributor's take on Canada Reads.

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Rattling Books thinks Mavis Gallant is just swell, and would never dump her. Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio edition of Gallant's Montreal Stories, narrated by Audie-nominated narrator Margot Dionne. Montreal Stories is available as an MP3 download or an MP3 CD.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Freedom To Read Week, February 20 - 26

This week is Freedom to Read Week. Think Canadians are free from the worst excesses of censorship? Click here for a list of some of the books (including Huckleberry Finn and Kevin Major's Hold Fast) and magazines people have recently tried to get banned from our country's libraries and schools. Sometimes successfully.

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Feel free to sample Rattling Books' fine audio productions. Follow this link to listen to excerpts from great poetry, fiction, non-fiction, short fiction and children's literature, available as MP3 downloads and audio or MP3 CDs.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Beverly Akerman: "The Meaning of Children"

Read The Globe and Mail's review of Canadian writer Beverly Akerman's debut collection of short stories, The Meaning of Children.

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An audio version of Beverly Akerman's short story "Tumbalalaika," included in The Meaning of Children, will soon be available from Rattling Books. To listen to excerpts from other works of short fiction by some of Canada's finest authors in the genre, click here. Short fiction from Rattling Books is available as single MP3 downloads, or as audio CD or MP3 CD collections (which can also be downloaded).

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Andy Jones And Abbie's Table, St. John's, February 19

Newfoundland actor and writer Andy Jones and the Growing Up, Up In Cove Collective will present a performance based on the Abbie Table at the Eastern Edge Gallery in St. John's on February 19.




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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio edition of Andy Jones' Letters from Uncle Val, narrated by the author. Letters from Uncle Val is available as an audio book CD and an MP3 download.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Michael Winter In The Running For Commonwealth Writers' Prize

Canadian writer Michael Winter's novel The Death of Donna Whalen has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Canada and the Caribbean). Follow this link to read about Canada's domination of these awards this year.

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio edition of Michael Winter's The Big Why, narrated by Robert Joy. The Big Why is available as an MP3 audio book CD or an MP3 download.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Anita Best And The Ballad


Follow this link to read an interview with Newfoundland singer and folklorist Anita Best about the ballad in Newfoundland culture.

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Listen to Anita Best reading the poem "Jesus and His Gashes," from Rattling Books' audio edition of Mary Dalton's Merrybegot, available as an audio book CD or an MP3 download.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day From Rattling Books


Ophelia's Valentine's Song

To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
And dupp'd the chamber- door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.
By Gis and by Saint Charity,
Alack, and fie for shame!
Young men will do't, if they come to't;
By cock, they are to blame.
Quoth she, before you tumbled me,
You promised me to wed.
So would I ha' done, by yonder sun,
An thou hadst not come to my bed.
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Give your love (or yourself, or both) the gift of literature to listen to in honour of the day: download a story or audio book from Rattling Books. Click here to sample our wares.


Friday, February 11, 2011

Valentine's Day 2011: War And Love

Listen to e.e. cummings' poem "My Sweet Old Etcetera," in which the author muses upon war and love.

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Click here to listen to excerpts from some of Canada's finest poets musing upon various things. Rattling Books' poetry audio books are available as audio CDs or MP3 CDs, and MP3 downloads.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland And Labrador Celebrates Valentine's Day With Poetry Readings

On Sunday, February 13, the Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador will be presenting Ain't Poetry Grand 4, a Valentine's eve fundraiser at the Ship Pub in St. John's featuring poetry readings by Michael Crummey, Tom Dawe, Danielle Devereaux, Monica Kidd, Michel Savard and Des Walsh.

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio edition of Hard Light: 32 Little Stories, a collection of poems by Michael Crummey. Hard Light is available as an audio book CD or an MP3 download.

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Kathleen Winter's "Annabel" Wins Indie Literary Award

Kathleen Winter's debut novel, Annabel, has placed first in the literary fiction category of the inaugural Independent Literary Awards. For more information about the Independent Literary Awards, click here.

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Listen to excerpts from Rattling Books' audio editions of Kathleen Winter's short stories "The Destination," (narrated by Merrill Francis), "His Brown Face Through the Flowers" (narrated by Nicola Hawkins) and Sleep, Little Baby" (narrated by Mark Callanan). These stories are available as individual MP3 downloads, and are also featured on EarLit Shorts 1, a collection of short fiction by Winter, Joel Thomas Hynes and Carmelita McGrath.

Rattling Books produces Canadian audiobooks in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Jessica Grant Reads At MUN's Petro-Canada Hall, February 10

Memorial University's current Writer in Residence, Jessica Grant, will be giving a public reading at the Petro-Canada Hall on Thursday, February 10. For more information, follow this link.

Grant's debut novel, Come, Thou Tortoise, won the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Evergreen Award, and was a finalist for the Young Adult Canadian Book Award and a nominee for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.




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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio edition of Jessica Grant's short story "The Princification Process," narrated by the author. This story is available as an individual MP3 download, and is also featured on EarLit Shorts 3, an audio book collection of short fiction.

Monday, February 07, 2011

Russell Wangersky: Ain't It Funny How Time Slips Away

Read Russell Wangersky's musings on the relativity of time.

Listen to excerpts from Rattling Books' audio edition of Russell Wangersky's short stories McNally's Fair (narrated by the author) and Echo (narrated by Charlie Tomlinson). These stories are available as individual MP3 downloads, and are also featured on EarLit Shorts 2, an audio collection of short fiction by Wangersky, Prudence Grieve, Catherine Hogan Safer and Claire Wilkshire. EarLit Shorts 2 is available as an MP3 CD or an MP3 download.

Friday, February 04, 2011

Jessica Grant: "Writers Write In A Voice They Can't Speak With"


Read an interview with Jessica Grant, in which she talks about how she got her start as a writer, and discusses her new position as Writer in Residence at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Listen to an excerpt from The Princification Process,"Rattling Books' audio edition of a short story by Jessica Grant, narrated by the author. The Princification Process is available as an individual MP3 download, and is also featured on EarLit Shorts 3, a collection of short fiction by Grant, Richard Cumyn, Steven Heighton, Susan Rendell, Patrick Warner and Emily White.

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Richard Cumyn And John Steffler Read At University of New Brunswick, February 7

Richard Cumyn and John Steffler will be reading at the University of New Brunswick, Saint John, on Monday, February 7, as part of the Lorenzo Reading Series. For details, click on the UNB photo.

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio edition of Richard Cumyn's short story "My Future in Insurance," narrated by Charlie Tomlinson. This story is available as an MP3 download, and it is also featured on EarLit Shorts 3 , an audio book collection of short fiction.

Follow this link to hear an excerpt from Rattling Books' unabridged audio edition of John Steffler's poetry collection The Grey Islands, narrated by the author, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins.

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Kathleen Winter On Line: "We Drank Cachaca and Smoked the Green Cheroot"

Click here for Kathleen Winter's on-line journal, We Drank Cachaca and Smoked the Green Cheroot.

Listen to excerpts from Rattling Books' audio editions of Winter's short stories
"The Destination," "His Brown Face Through the Flowers," and "Sleep, Little Baby." These stories are available as individual MP3 downloads. They're also featured on EarLit Shorts 1, a collection of short fiction by Winter, Joel Thomas Hynes and Carmelita McGrath. EarLit Shorts 1 is available as an MP3 audio book CD or an MP3 download.

Rattling Books produces Canadian audiobooks in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Andy Jones As "Uncle Val," Saint John, February 4

Comedian Andy Jones will be presenting Letters from Uncle Val at the Imperial Theatre in Saint John, New Brunswick, on Friday, February 4. (For details, click on the photo.) Uncle Val is a displaced elderly out-harbour gentleman, learning to adjust to life in the suburbs of St. John's, Newfoundland.

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' unabridged audio edition of Letters from Uncle Val, available as an audio book CD or an MP3 download.

Rattling Books produces Canadian audiobooks in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Gerard Whelan



Actor Gerard Whelan (a.k.a. Gerard Neil) narrates David Macfarlane's The Danger Tree, coming soon from Rattling Books.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Don McKay

Click here to read a poem ("Midnight Dip") by Canadian poet Don McKay, accompanied by music from the film Lord of the Rings.

Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' unabridged audio book edition of McKay's poetry collection Songs for the Songs of Birds, available as an audio CD or an MP3 download.

Rattling Books produces Canadian audiobooks in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Ron Hynes' "Stealing Genius"

Canadian musician Ron Hynes' 2010 CD, Stealing Genius, was inspired by the work of Newfoundland authors.

To read a review of Stealing Genius on the American alternative country music site NoDepression.com, click here.

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Listen to Ron Hynes read a poem from Rattling Books' unabridged audio edition of Newfoundland writer Michael Crummey's Hard Light: 32 Little Stories. Rattling Books' unabridged audio books are available as audio or MP3 CDs, and also as MP3 downloads.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Chris Benjamin Reports On "Environmental Racism"

Click here to read an article on "environmental racism" by Chris Benjamin, published in Halifax's The Coast.

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Listen to an excerpt from Chris Benjamin's short story "Delia and Phil," narrated by Charlie Tomlinson. "Delia and Phil" is available from Rattling Books as an individual MP3 download, and it's also featured on EarLit Shorts 4, an audio book collection of short fiction featuring Benjamin, Michael Collins, Robin McGrath, Rebecca Rosenblum, J. J. Steinfeld and Leslie Vryenhoek.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Beverly Akerman

After over two decades in molecular genetics research, Beverly Akerman realized she’d been learning more and more about less and less. Skittish at the prospect of knowing everything about nothing, she turned, for solace, to writing.
To read a short story by this award-winning Montreal writer, click here.

To visit her blog, follow this link.

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Beverly Akerman's short story "Tumbalalaika" will soon be available from Rattling Books, as part of the short fiction collection EarLit 5 and also as an individual MP3 download.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Canadian Author Rebecca Rosenblum's New Short Story Collection

Canadian publisher Biblioasis is about to publish a second short story collection by Rebecca Rosenblum. Read the publisher's comments on her new collection, The Big Dream.

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Listen to excerpts from Rebecca Rosenblum's short stories, "The Weatherboy" (narrated by Gerard Whalen) and "Christmas with My Mother" (narrated by Janet Russell). These stories are available from Rattling Books as individual MP3 downloads, and they are also featured on EarLit Shorts 4, an audio book collection of short fiction by Rosenblum, Chris Benjamin, Michael Collins, Robin McGrath, J.J. Steinfeld and Leslie Vryenhoek.

Friday, January 21, 2011

"Rumpus" Review of Kathleen Winter's "Annabel"

Canadian writer Kathleen Winter's debut novel Annabel has made a fine splash in the literary pool, and the ripples are still spreading.

Click here to read the latest review, in The Rumpus, of Annabel, which was short-listed for three major Canadian literary prizes, the Governor General's Literary Award, the Giller Prize and the Writer's Trust Prize.

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Listen to excerpts from short stories by Kathleen Winter: The Destination, His Brown Face Through the Flowers and Sleep, Little Baby. These stories are available from Rattling Books as individual MP3 downloads, and they are also featured on EarLit Shorts 1, an anthology of short fiction by Joel Thomas Hynes, Carmelita McGrath and Kathleen Winter.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Today In Meteorological History . . .

On January 20, 1943, Lead, South Dakota, recorded a temperature of 52 degrees Fahrenheit. On the same day, Deadwood, South Dakota, a mile and a half away from Lead, recorded -16 degrees Fahrenheit.

Here in Newfoundland, we know how they felt. Sort of, anyway. But there are a few things that can distract us from being consumed heart and soul by aberrant weather patterns. Small children and good literature are pretty effective at focusing the heart and soul, and Rattling Books "talking books" - unabridged audio books available as CDs or downloads - allow you to watch your children gambol, say, in the kitchen, while, with your back to whatever is happening against the window, you listen to great writing from some of Canada's finest authors and narrators.

Take that, Jack Frost and Jill Flood.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

January 19 Is Edgar Allan Poe's Birthday

On January 19, 1809, poet Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston. A major American poet, Poe was, apparently, one of the first writers to try to make a living solely from writing. This may, or may not, have led to his rather depressing choice of subjects and early death.

Mary Dalton is one of Newfoundland's major poets. And although her poetry examines many facets of the human experience, including crawly things, she is not likely to come to a premature end. One reason is that she is also a professor of English at Memorial University, having had the good sense not to try to make a living at poetry.

Listen to an excerpt from Mary Dalton's Merrybegot, narrated by Anita Best. This unabridged audio book is available from Rattling Books as an audio CD or an MP3 download.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Today In History . . .

On January 18, 1912, English explorer Robert F. Scott and his expedition reached the South Pole.
Exciting stuff, but there was one problem. Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had gotten there before him.

If polar exploration is your thing, listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' The Last Voyage of the Karluk, Captain Robert Bartlett's account of being stranded in the far north during an early twentieth-century polar expedition. Narrated by Frank Holden, it's a spine-tingling story with many and various elements, including small children, dogs and Chopin's "Funeral March."


This unabridged audio book is available as an MP3 CD or an MP3 digital download.

Rattling Books publishes Canadian audiobooks from Newfoundland and Labrador.




Monday, January 17, 2011

TNQ's Nick Blatchford Poetry Contest

It's that time of year again: almost-deadline time for Canadian literary journal The New Quarterly's annual Nick Blatchford poetry contest. The contest is for "poems written in response to an occasion, personal or public - poems of gratitude or grief, poems that celebrate or berate, poems that make of something an occasion or simply mark one."

For details about the contest, click on the TNQ cover image.

To read Amanda Jernigan's charming essay on poems and occasions, click here.

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Listen to excerpts from the poetry of some of Canada's best poets, presented to you by Rattling Books. Available as audio book CDs and MP3 digital downloads.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Andy Jones At The Eastern Edge Gallery In St. John's, Newfoundland

Andy Jones, one of Newfoundland's most well-known actors and writers, will have a month-long (January 17 to February 19) residency at the Eastern Edge Gallery in St. John's, during which he will
continue to develop The Abbie Table Project, a collaborative work started in 2006.

The centerpiece of the project is a 10' x 4' table inscribed with a story of the life of a Newfoundland family engaged in the salt fishery from the 1920s to the 1950s, which has been "illuminated" by several dozen contributors. Jones' residency at Eastern Edge will include "performances" of the table in the form of public readings and interpretive theatre pieces.

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio book edition of Andy Jones' Letters from Uncle Val. This audio book is available as an audio CD or an MP3 digital download.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Author Bernice Morgan Gives "Below The Bridge" Two Thumbs Up

Bernice Morgan, author of Random Passage, said she cried when she listened to Rattling Books' unabridged audio book edition of Helen Fogwill Porter's memoir of growing up on the South Side of St. John's in the 1930s and '40s, Below the Bridge.

Lucky for us, this wasn't because of bad production values. "I thoroughly enjoyed it," Morgan said. "No one knows old St. John's the way Helen does."

Listen to an excerpt from Below the Bridge, available from Rattling Books as an MP3 audio book CD or an audio book digital download.