Attention Print Publishers & Literary Agents: Tonight's Author on CBC Radio's Between the Covers has never been Between the Covers

Reminder

Tonight on CBC Radio's Between the Covers, hear Newfoundland writer/actor/director Janis Spence finish off Bar Beatty in her work of short fiction, The Painted Ladies.

The Painted Ladies is the first story in a collection of six interconnected short stories available in Audio only (no print edition) in the Earphones Award winning collection on the beach in spanish room (Rattling Books).

An Author as good as Spence should not only be Heard but Read. Some print crowd out there should publish this stuff. In the meantime, if you want to hear more from Spence's collection of short fiction check out the full set of six stories (four hours of listening) on MP3 CD or as a Digital Download from rattlingbooks.com.

The Next Big Thing: Poetry? - oscar nomination for The Danish Poet

We're not sure about the exact order of what the NEXT BIG THING is going to be, whether Colouring will come first or Poetry. The way for Poetry is still being laid but there's an early warning sign in the Oscar nomination for Canadian animation The Danish Poet by Torill Kove.

Janis Spence story on CBC Radio's Between the Covers January 25-26

Tune in this Thursday and Friday night to CBC Radio's Between the Covers Program for The Painted Ladies, a short story by Newfoundland writer/actor Janis Spence.

The Painted Ladies, the first story in Janis Spence's collection of short fiction on the beach in spanish room (Rattling Books) will broadcast on the National CBC Radio program Between the Covers, January 25 - 26, 2007

on the beach in spanish room by Janis Spence

What an unassuming but brilliant little gem this recording is. Set in Newfoundland, all six stories stand proudly on their own, but together they have the sweep of a novel. The reason is Janis Spence's marvellous characters, "who wore their lives as casually as big sweaters." ... Spence gives a masterful performance of all the roles she's created - and it doesn't hurt that she's got that incomparable Newfoundland accent."
- AudioFile Magazine, Earphones award winner

Poetry in the Library (Memorial University of Newfoundland)

Poetry in the Library presents new work from four St. John's poets, Susan Ingersoll, Wade Kearley, Agnes Walsh and Shoshanna Wingate, as well as poetry from Memorial's outgoing Writer-in-Residence, Don McKay.
Readers will find poems posted throughout the Queen Elizabeth II Library and online at http://www.library.mun.ca/qeii/pil/index.php
If you would like to comment on this project or make suggestions, please contact Pat Warner at pwarner@mun.ca.

Congratulations to Brick Books on 31 years of publishing great Canadian Poetry

Rattling Books loves Brick Books. I just wanted to get that out of the way well in advance of Valentine's Day. Brick Books is 31 and Rattling Books is only 3 so it's not what you're thinking. They've been more than kind to us and we just want to thank them for being like that. Especially after 31 years!

In 2006 Brick Books published the following seven poetry titles:

When Earth Leaps Up Anne Szumigalski Edited by Mark Abley; Preface by Hilary Clark; Afterword by Mark Abley

I, Nadja and Other Poems Susan Elmslie
Kingdom, Phylum Adam Dickinson
Ink Monkey Diana Hartog

Jaguar Rain: the Margaret Mee Poems Jan Conn Preface by Sir Peter Crane, Director of the Royal Botanic (Kew) Gardens, London, England

Ghost Country Steve Noyes

Anatomy of Keys Steven Price
From Brick Books' email update (which you can sign up for on their website) comes the following summary of some other highlights for Brick Books in 2006.

...Barry Dempster won the 2006 Jack Chalmers Poetry Award [Canadian Authors Association] following his nomination for the 2005 Governor General’s Award for Poetry for his book The Burning Alphabet; this book was also longlisted for the Re-Lit Award. On November 22, 2006 Susan Elmslie won the 2006 A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry and was shortlisted for the McAuslan First Book Prize for her first book I, Nadja and Other Poems [Quebec Writers’ Federation]. Anatomy of Keys by Steven Price is a Globe 100 title for 2006.

An Oak Hunch by Phil Hall was nominated for the 2006 Griffin Poetry Prize. Karen Solie’s second book Modern and Normal was nominated in 2006 for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry. David Seymour was shortlisted for a Gerald Lampert Memorial Award for his first book Inter Alia. Lunar Drift by Marlene Cookshaw, Modern and Normal by Karen Solie and Souwesto Home by James Reaney were all longlisted for a Re-Lit Award...

For more information on any of these titles, visit Brick Books website.

There are two Brick Books that have or will appear as audio editions with Rattling Books:

Hard Light: 32 Little Stories by Michael Crummey, narrated by Ron Hynes and Diedre Gillard-Rowlings (2003)

The Grey Islands by John Steffler, narrated by John Steffler with Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Diedre Gillard-Rowlings and Daryl Hopkins (coming in March 2007)

Kathleen Petty interview with Parliamentary Poet Laureate John Steffler, CBC Radio's The House, January 6

Canada's new Poet Laureate, John Steffler is planning to develop an audio archive of Canadian Poets reading their poetry. He outlined his plans in an interview with Kathleen Petty on The House, CBC Radio, January 6, 2007

To listen to Kathleen's conversation with John Steffler go to The House website and look for the January 6, 2007 Archived Broadcast for that date. Scroll through the broadcast to find John's interview between 37:38 and 44:00 minutes.

John Steffler has an audio recording of his own forthcoming with Rattling Books. The unabridged audio recording of The Grey Islands by John Steffler will be released March, 2007.

Janis Spence short story will broadcast on CBC Radio's Between the Covers January 25-26, 2007

The Painted Ladies, the first story in Janis Spence's collection of short fiction on the beach in spanish room (Rattling Books) will broadcast on the National CBC Radio program Between the Covers, January 25 - 26, 2007

on the beach in spanish room by Janis Spence

Six otherwise unpublished inter-connected short stories follow the lives of a group of friends from early childhood through a rebellious and sometimes catastrophic young adulthood and on into an unsettled middle age. Written and performed by veteran actor, playwright and stage director Janis Spence, this collection garnered Rattling Books an Earphones Award from the US magazine AudioFile.

"What an unassuming but brilliant little gem this recording is. Set in Newfoundland, all six stories stand proudly on their own, but together they have the sweep of a novel. The reason is Janis Spence's marvellous characters, "who wore their lives as casually as big sweaters." ... Spence gives a masterful performance of all the roles she's created - and it doesn't hurt that she's got that incomparable Newfoundland accent."
- AudioFile Magazine, Earphones award winner

"Oh, it’s black. And sometimes bleak, yet amazing in its ability to lift the characters above it through irony, humour and the character’s own sense of the absurd. "
- The Current

"...without sounding the least bit over-the-top, she shifts from hearty priest to ancient crone to drugged-out con artist in the blink of an eye. And she is funny! "
- Northeast Avalon Times

Listening Clip 1:
Listening Clip 2:

A Rattling Books Razorbill for Old Christmas Day

Rattling Books would like to thankMike Mouland for designing the fabulous Razorbills you see on the Rattling Books website. To your left is one of the Christmas set, perhaps my favorite.

Hope these twelve days of Christmas have been good to you.

A Bird for the Tenth Night of Christmas

Mike Mouland designed Rattling Books four Christmas Razorbills and so for each of the last three nights of Christmas we will flaunt one here. The Razorbill is also the bird in our logo.

Hats off to a New Year

Rattling Books would like to thank everyone who helped us get through 2006. Looking forward to 2007 and wishing you and yours a safe and healthy year.

May Happiness Betide You.