New EarLit short fiction "single" by Rebecca Rosenblum available as a digital download from Rattling Books

Christmas With My Mother

by Rebecca Rosenblum

narrated by Janet Russell

A new short fiction digital download "single"
from Rattling Books.

New story by Robin McGrath available as an EarLit digital download from Rattling Books

The Birchy Maid by Robin McGrath

read by Anita Best

now available

as an EarLit mp3 digital download "single" from rattlingbooks.com

This new story by Robin McGrath is part of the upcoming EarLit 4 anthology of short fiction from Rattling Books.

Leslie Vryenhoek releases debut collection of short fiction

Scrabble Lessons

a collection of short fiction by Leslie Vryenhoek

published by the Canadian literary press Oolichan Books launched November 17, 2009 by the author in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Leslie Vryenhoek's work has won the Eden Mills Literary Festival competition, the Cahoots Fiction contest and the Dalton Camp Award, and placed in the Sheldon Currie Fiction Contest (The Antigonish Review) and This Magazine’s Great Canadian Literary Hunt.

All She Swallowed, one of the fifteen stories found in Scrabble Lessons is also available as an audio digital download read by the author, from Rattling Books.

Bella's Tree illustrations by Jirina Marton win Governor General's Award

Congratulations to Jirina Marton, winner of a Governor General's Literary Award for Illustration for Bella's Tree

Children’s Literature – Illustration
Jirina Marton, Colborne (Ontario), Bella’s Tree, text by Janet Russell.(Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press; distributed by HarperCollins Canada)

Jirina Marton’s illustrations invite the reader to a winter landscape full of textures and subtle, earthy colour palettes. The Van Gogh-like interior and its warm tones create a holiday season mood that evokes an emotional response. The illustrations are well crafted and capture the imagination and humanity of the everyday lives they portray.

Janet Russell of Rattling Books publishes childrens Christmas story with Groundwood Books

Bella's Tree

By Janet Russell

Illustrated by Jirina Marton

published by Groundwood Books

is now available online from groundwoodbooks.com

Andy Jones gives first performance as MUN's new Writer in Residence on Oct 1

Andy Jones will give his first performance as writer-in-residence at Memorial University of Newfoundland on Oct. 1 at Petro Canada Hall at 8 p.m. Admission and parking is free.

On Nov. 23, he will give an afternoon workshop at the Holyrood Library, followed by an evening performance there; both events are free and open to the general public.

Seán Virgo reading at the Ship Inn, St. John's on Monday, Sept 28

WANL Monthly Reading Series featuring Seán Virgo (St. John's):

Monday, September 28th, at 7 p.m. at The Ship.

For more information, view WANL's readings & signings page. This reading is sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Bio below is from the WANL website.

Seán Virgo is a fiction writer, poet, playwright, actor, director, editor, and teacher. His most recent book is a collection of short stories, Begging Questions (Exile Editions, 2007). He has also published several collections of poetry, the most recent being Nonagaon Fugue (JackPine Press, 2006). He was a founder of TickleAce, Newfoundland and Labrador's first literary journal. His work has won various awards, including the CBC Competition (first prize for fiction, 1979); the BBC 3 Short Story Competition (first prize, 1980); and National Magazine Awards (first prizes for both Poetry [1979] and Fiction [1990]). He has just completed his term as the Haig-Brown Centenary writer-in-residence.

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Several short stories by Seán Virgo will appear in upcoming installments of EarLit Shorts, a series of audio short fiction anthologies edited by Susan Rendell and Janet Russell for Rattling Books.

Robin McGrath launches new novel The Winterhouse Sept 22 in St. John's Newfoundland

Book Launch

Robin McGrath launches new novel The Winterhouse, (Creative Book Publishing)

Bianca’s-Water St

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

Tuesday September 22 from 6pm-8pm

Joel Thomas Hynes performs "Say Nothing Saw Wood" on stages in St. John's and Toronto

Joel Thomas Hynes will perform his dramatic monologue Say Nothing Saw Wood in St. John's and Toronto this summer.

St. John's, Newfoundland
July 17 - 19, 8 pm
Arts and Culture Centre Basement Theatre
Box Office phone: (709) 729-3900

Toronto, Ontario
August 7 - 12
Summerworks Theatre Festival
Factory Theatre Mainstage
125 Bathurst Street
Box Office phone: (416) 504-9971

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Say Nothing Saw Wood , written and performed by Joel Thomas Hynes is available in audio format as part of the EarLit Shorts series of short fiction anthologies from Rattling Books. It appears in EarLit Shorts 1 and is also available as a Short Fiction Single (mp3 digital download).

Word of the Week (May 10 - 16): lawnya vawnya

lawnya vawnya

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

lawnya vawnya* n also lawnya. Cp JOYCE 283 launa-vaula; DINNEEN lán: l[án] an mhála 'the full of the bag.' A good time at a dance or party; plenty to eat.

1968 DILLON 147 We had lawnya vawnya last night. P 245-79 Lawnya—having a grand old time.


May all the mothers get one!

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT!

The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

The word of the week is brought to you each week by Rattling Books, a "so small we're fine" Canadian audiobook publisher operating from its global headquarters atop a tor on the coast of Newfoundland.

Word of the Week (May 3-9): tangler

Word of the Week over at REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

tangler

Word of the Week over at REDEFiNE iT (April 5-11): silver thaw (aka glitter)

Word of the Week over at REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

Silver Thaw

Andy Jones' adaptation of The Queen of Paradise's Garden Reviewed in the Globe

Among several new childrens books reviewed this week by Susan Perren is the latest release from Running the Goat Books.

This week: Useful ducks and fine frogs
SUSAN PERREN
Globe and Mail Update
March 20, 2009

THE QUEEN OF PARADISE'S GARDEN
Adapted by Andy Jones, illustrated by Darka Erdelji, Running the Goat Books and Broadsides, 44 pages, $18.95, ages 6 and up

Even the endpapers of this book — faded flowery wallpaper studded with ancient family photographs — are a delight to the eye. Surreal watercolours of this and that — birds in a tree, strange human figures — dot the book, fine illustrations for a delectable retelling of a fine old Newfoundland tale.

The reteller is writer and actor Andy Jones, a founding member of Newfoundland's CODCO troupe. With this provenance, you might expect something original and quite fine; you won't be disappointed.
In the fine old folk tale/fairy tale tradition, this story involves three brothers who, alarmed by their parents' rapid aging, leave home in search of a magic fruit that will reverse the decline. They're told by "Old Blind Pew" that such a thing exists, but "it only exists in the Queen of Paradise's garden, and that is three miles this side of the end of the world."

It probably won't come as any surprise to hear that Jack, the least likely brother, the kind brother, conquers all. What he conquers is told in a most satisfactory and satisfying way, in the sprightliest, most musical prose, Newfoundlandese in which nary a "g" can be found danglin' from the end of a word.

Read the rest of Susan Perren's article here.

Andy Jones, Darka Erdelji and Running the Goat Books & Broadsides launch The Queen of Paradise's Garden Sunday Mary 8, St. John's

Running the Goat Books & Broadsides
is celebrating the publication of its newest book: The Queen of Paradise's Garden, a traditional Newfoundland Jack Tale adapted by Andy Jones and illustrated by Darka Erdelji.

Sunday, March 8

The Masonic Temple
6 Cathedral St., St. John's
3 to 5 pm.

Andy will give a brief reading. Some of Darka's original illustrations will also be for sale. For details about the book, visit www.runningthegoat.com

Agnes Walsh reading in Toronto on March 10

Agnes Walsh, Ryan Kamstra and Lara Bozabalian at the Art Bar Poetry Series

Agnes Walsh, Ryan Kamstra and Lara Bozabalian are reading at the Art Bar Poetry Series at Clinton's, 693 Bloor Street West, Toronto, on Tuesday, March 10 at 8:00 p.m.
Map to Clinton's

Agnes Walsh was born and raised in Placentia, Newfoundland and now lives in St. John's. She released her first collection of poems, In the Old Country of My Heart, in 1996. In 2003 an audio edition of In the Old Country of My Heart was released with poems read by the author and music by George Morgan and Simone Savard-Walsh. In 2006 she was named the first poet laureate of Newfoundland and Labrador. In her latest collection, Going Around With Bachelors (Brick Books), Walsh explores the past in the present; Ireland and Portugal in Newfoundland; and the Cape Shore.

Ryan Kamstra is a writer of poems, fiction and songs. His first book, Late Capitalist Sublime (Insomniac Press) was published in 2002. As a musician he is known as Scratch Kamstra and his band Tomboyfriend has an album "don't go to school" due out this year. He will be celebrating his latest poetry book, Into the Drowned World (Insomniac Press).

Lara Bozabalian has been writing and performing her poetry for the past eight years. She is the author of four chapbooks. She was a runner-up in the 2007 Luminato/City of Toronto Poetry Slam and a semi-finalist for the 2008 Toronto Poetry Slam Team. She founded a Spoken Word Festival for high school students across York Region and leads teacher workshops in order to bring and Spoken Word to classrooms. She recently represented Canada at the Individual World Poetry Slam in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Call for Submissions: EarLit Shorts audio short fiction anthologies

Rattling Books is seeking previously unpublished short fiction for EarLit Shorts, a series of audio anthologies. Stories will be available on-line, singly or collectively, as digital downloads. Anthologies may also be published in MP3 CD format.

EarLit Shorts was launched in the fall of 2008 with works by Jessica Grant, Steven Heighton, Joel Thomas Hynes, Kathleen Winter, Russell Wangersky and others.

To be eligible, submissions must

· be previously unpublished between the covers of a book (i.e. stories which have appeared in periodicals are eligible);

· be between 500 and 8,000 words in length.

There are two ways to submit:

Send previously unpublished stories and covering letter to Rattling Books, General Delivery, Tors Cove, NL, Canada A0A 4A0.

Send your story or stories and covering letter to earlit.submissions@gmail.com.

Entries must be postmarked on or before March 30, 2009.

Submissions will not be returned.

Stories included in the EarLit Shorts series are subject to a royalty based publishing contract.

Website: rattlingbooks.com

Last Rights by Prudence Grieve, narrated by Jane Dingle now available as a Short Fiction Single digital download

New Short Fiction Single available
from the EarLit Shorts Collection

Last Rights
Prudence Grieve
narrated by Jane Dingle

iPod friendly mp3 digital download from Rattling Books
CanLit to listen to

EarLit Shorts audio short fiction series now available to libraries from Overdrive.com

Attention Library Audio Buyers

Now Available from Overdrive.com

The first three volumes ofEarLit Shorts
A new series of audio short fiction anthologies from
Rattling Books

The first three volumes of our EarLit Shorts series are now available to Libraries as Digital Downloads through overdrive.com.

Edited by Susan Rendell and Janet Russell, each EarLit Shorts anthology features a selection of previously unpublished works by Canadian authors. Stories are narrated by a variety of voices, including the authors'.

EarLit Shorts Authors

Joel Thomas Hynes's Down to the Dirt won the Percy Janes First Novel Award and is now a feature film. His second novel, Right Away Monday, was published by HarperCollins in 2007.

Carmelita McGrath's story collection Stranger Things Have Happened (Killick Press, 1999) won the Writers' Alliance/Bennington Gate Newfoundland Book Award and was short-listed for the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award.

Kathleen Winter's story collection, boYs (Biblioasis 2007), won the Metcalf Rooke Award and the Winterset Award. Her fiction has appeared in leading Canadian and UK literary journals, and has appeared in Best Canadian Stories (Oberon, 2008).

Prudence Grieve's work can be found in The Eye in the Thicket: Essays at a Natural History (Thistledown Press, 2002).

Catherine Hogan Safer's first novel Bishop's Road (Killick Press, 2004) was nominated for the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award.

Russell Wangersky's short story collection, The Hour of Bad Decisions (Coteau Books, 2006)) was short-listed for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Best First Book (Canada and the Caribbean).

Claire Wilkshire's short fiction can be found in the Burning Rock anthologies Hearts Larry Broke and Extremities. She and John Metcalf are the co-editors of Writers Talking.

Richard Cumyn is the author of four collections of short fiction and a novella. His work has appeared in The Journey Prize Anthology.

Jessica Grant was the 2003 recipient of the McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize. Her first novel will be published by Knopf Canada in 2009.

Steven Heighton has received numerous awards for his poetry and short fiction, including the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and the Petra Kenney Prize.

Susan Rendell's fiction has appeared in The Journey Prize Anthology; her short story collection was a runner-up for the Danuta Gleed Literary Awardand won a Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award.

Patrick Warner's book of poetry, There, there (Véhicule Press,2005) won the E.J. Pratt Poetry Award. Mole will be published by House of Anansi Press in 2009.

Emily White's work has appeared in Adbusters, The Ecologist and The Journey Prize Anthology. McClelland & Stewart will publish her non-fiction work, The Empty Room, in 2009.

Rattling Books

Rattling Books is a "so small, we're fine" Canadian audio press, publishing poetry, fiction, and historical outdoor adventure non-fiction from a perch overlooking the Northwest Atlantic. Rattling Books has won three Earphones awards from the U.S. magazine AudioFile. AudioFile selected our edition of Montreal Stories by Mavis Gallant as one of the twelve best audio fiction books for 2007, placing us in the company of Penguin Audio, Random House Audio, Harper Audio and BBC Audiobooks America. Consumers can obtain Rattling Books CDs ordownloads directly from rattlingbooks.com.

Overdrive

OverDrive has been working with digital media since 1986. As an early leader in the digital media industry. In 2000, Overdrive launched Content Reserve, their online digital warehouse that now contains over 100,000 downloadable titles from hundreds of publishers. In 2002, Overdrive launched Digital Library Reserve extending their services to libraries. In 2006, OverDrive introduced School Download Library, a download service for K-12 students. Today, OverDrive works with partners worldwide as the leading digital infrastructure provider for managing, protecting, and distributing download media.

Word of the Week over at REDEFiNE iT : spanish

Word of the Week over at our sister blog and facebook group REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English:
spanish

Russell Wangersky wins Canada's largest literary non-fiction prize

Russell Wangersky has won the $40,000 British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction for 2009. He did it with "Burning Down the House: Fighting Fires and Losing Myself" published by Thomas Allen Publishers.

Congratulations Russell!

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Russell Wangersky also distinguishes himself as a fiction writer. Two of his short stories, Echo and McNally's Fair were recently published in audio format by Rattling Books as part of the short fiction audio anthology series EarLit Shorts.

Echo a short story by Russell Wangersky is read by Charlie Tomlinson.

McNally's Fair a short story by Russell Wangersky is read by the author.

Title story from On the Beach in Spanish Room by Janis Spence now available as a Short Fiction "Single" digital download

New short fiction audio download by Janis Spence available from rattlingbooks.com

on the beach in spanish room

by Janis Spence
narrated by the author
45 minutes 

Janis Spence was a writer, actor and director living and working in St. John’s. The author of three stage plays, CHICKENS, CATLOVER, and WALKING TO AUSTRALIA, she also wrote extensively for radio and television. Janis was a major contributor and influence on the character, style and content of Rattling Books.

Word of the Week over at REDEFiNE iT (January 25 - February 1): spudgel

Word of the Week over at REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English

spudgel

(brought to you each week by Rattling Books)

Jennifer Barrett's work at Eastern Edge Gallery

EASTERN EDGE CELEBRATES 25 YEARS in 2009!
January 10th - February 21st, 2009



JENNIFER BARRETT (NL): Werebears and Only Children.





A multi-media installation including painting, sculpture and video projection based on a comic strip, Werebears and Only Children. The paintings from the comic strip are presented in the gallery on scale and at viewing height to sculptural characters of the comic strip itself. These characters then end up critiquing themselves.The sculptural figures are approximately 4 feet tall complete with speech bubbles where video dialogue ensues.



Jennifer Barrett is a painter and a printmaker and member of the board of directors of St. Michael's Printshop. She currently works as a commercial screen printer. Her work revolves around the extrapolation of blind contour drawings and the modification of autobiographical comics. She is a big fan of non-traditional comic artists, many of whom deal with personal stories that are often funny, tragic, and simply mundane. Currently she is creating work that brings her comic characters off the printed page and computer screen and into a three-dimensional setting. Her comics can be seen in The Scope and at http://www.wbaoc.blogspot.com/



*****

Jennifer Barrett is also the artist behind some images for Rattling Books.

Advance Review of Jessica Grant's "Come, Thou Tortoise" in the Quill and Quire

ADVANCE BOOK REVIEW
Come, Thou Tortoise
by Jessica Grant

Jessica Grant’s debut novel is one of those rare books that manage to entwine humour – in this case, even outright silliness – with poignant insight and a captivating plot, says reviewer Jan Dutkiewicz... Read the rest

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Jessica Grant can be heard reading her story the Princification Process at rattlingbooks.com. The Princification Process was released at the end of 2008 as part of EarLit Shorts 3.

Rattlingbooks.com sells literature to listen to in the form of mail order audio book CDs or digital downloads for your iPod or other portable mp3 player.

Word of the Week over at REDEFiNE iT (January 18 - 24): black

Word of the week over at our REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English blog:

black

Brought to you each week by Rattling Books, an audiobook publisher overlooking the Northwest Atlantic from the island of Newfoundland.

Russell Wangersky talks to Shelagh Rogers on CBC Radio's The Next Chapter: listen online

Shelagh Rogers talks to Russell Wangersky about Burning Down the House, his memoir of being a firefighter

Being a hero isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. In Burning Down the House: Fighting Fires and Losing Myself (Thomas Allen) award-winning writer Russell Wangersky relates the story of his eight-year career as a volunteer firefighter. Like many children, he grew up with the dream of becoming a firefighter and saving lives. But in reality, he found that dealing with human tragedy resulted in his own trauma.

In this feature interview from The Next Chapter, Wangersky talks to Shelagh Rogers about his book, and what it's like behind the uniform of a firefighter.

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You can listen to Russell Wangersky reading from his short story McNally's Fair at rattlingbooks.com.

Two stories by Russell were included in the new audio short fiction series EarLit Shorts from Rattling Books.

New short fiction by Steven Heighton available as a digital download from Rattling Books

New short fiction audio download by Steven Heighton available from rattlingbooks.com

The Dead are More Visible
by Steven Heighton
narrated by Jane Dingle
41 minutes long

Steven Heighton's fiction has appeared in many Canadian and international magazines and anthologies, including Best English Stories and Best Canadian Stories. The Dead are More Visible by Steven Heighton won the gold at the 2008 National Magazine Awards.

Word of the Week (January 11-17): scuddling

Word of the Week: January 11 - 17

scuddling

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

scuddling vbl n

Comb scuddling hole: hole at stern of boat through which oar is worked to steer or propel craft (Q 67-33); SCORE-HOLE, SCULLING HOLE.

scuddling oar, scuddle ~ : scull; SCULLING OAR.0 67-1

Scuddle oar—the oar used to steer the punt with. One person sits or stands in the stern of the punt and steers it with a scuddle oar. P 209-73 ~ an oar used to propel a punt through a hole in the stern.

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT!

The main thing is to RELiSH iT.We also invite you to visit our sister Facebook group.

The word of the week is brought to you each week by Rattling Books and released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Poetry - the next latte: Christian Bok's Eunoia takes Britain

Poetry
The next latte
(latest sighting)
Calgary poet hits U.K. bestseller list
(CBC News)
"Christian Bok's Eunoia, released in Britain in October, became the No. 8 seller on Amazon U.K. Christmas week, made the Times of London's list of the year's top 10 books and remains the top-selling book of poetry in Britain."

Read the rest of this article here.

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And just who is fool enough to predict that Poetry is the next latte?

My Future in Insurance by Richard Cumyn, narrated by Charlie Tomlinson is now available as a short fiction single from Rattling Books

Now available as a short fiction single
from Rattling Books:

My Future in Insurance
by Richard Cumyn
narrated by Charlie Tomlinson

from the short fiction audiobook EarLit Shorts 3
is also available as a downloadable short fiction single from Rattling Books.

A New Year's Resolution from Don McKay

We couldn't resist revisiting this New Year's Resolution from Don McKay

(it comes via our New Year's Resolution Contest last year at REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English)

January 2nd and your head still feels like a waddock that's been bashed up and down the field by size thirteen spaugs, and no wonder, you're after being a slinger randying all Christmas, guzzling the screech and stuffing your gob, telling your old cuffers filled with all that pishogue, how you were forever grassing in the bawn like the rawny merrybegot you are, how you'd marl up the droke with a joke and a bottle and all the girls waiting to kiss you in the drung behind the church hall, way back when you were but a lewardly nuzzle tripe of a angishore before the blue drop got in your blood and you were out jiggering for cod with the bawks and guds whirling overhead, the gillies, turrs and tickleaces skimming the surface, the swiles sculling and diving, now here you are so hung over you can hardly stand to shive the goowiddy off your fousty face, yes my son, you say to the boo in the mirror, you've been a jeezly seeny-sawny long enough, it's time for a whole yaffle of resolutions, if only you could figure out where to start.