Rattling Books at Book Expo Canada: Booths 925 or 908

Rattling Books will be at Book Expo Canada
June 15-16 2008
Booth 925

Come and meet us! Mark Callanan of Rattling Books will be available through the Newfoundland and Labrador Publishers Booth # 925

Or speak to House of Anansi (our distributor) Booth #908

Rattling Books


Listen, a way to read more.

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Rattling Books is a Canadian audiobook publisher of poetry, unabridged fiction and historical true adventure titles.

Rattling Books are distributed in Canada through House of Anansi by HarperCollins Canada.

Library Digital Downloads through Overdrive.com.

Recognized by AudioFile Magazine with three Earphones Awards and a place on their list of the 12 Best fiction audio books of the Year (Montreal Stories by Mavis Gallant, narrated by Margot Dionne)!

Praise for Rattling Books:

A masterful performance.
- Publishers Weekly

Sheer perfection.
- The Ottawa Citizen

Highly reccomended.
- Library Journal

To download a PDF File of
Rattling Books 2007/2008 Catalogue

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Authors:

Captain Bob Bartlett
Michael Crummey
Mary Dalton
Mavis Gallant
Sir Wilfred Grenfell
Frank Holden
Joel Thomas Hynes
Andy Jones
Robin McGrath
Don McKay
Lisa Moore
Susan Rendell
Janis Spence
John Steffler
Dillon Wallace
Agnes Walsh
David Weale
Michael Winter

Telegram article on May 3rd Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council annual awards show

Cross-culture celebration
Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council adds international spice to annual awards show

HEIDI WICKS

Special to The Telegram

From Afghani, Thai, Indian, Japanese or Greek fare to traditionally downhome Mac 'n' Doo at Get Stuffed on Water, the food scene in St. John's has become an explosive mesh of worldly tang and Newfoundland staple dishes. Toutons are served with a hint of curry-cinnamon, fish and brewis with ginger root.

The local arts scene has followed the trend - if it didn't start it - embracing artists from all over the globe to expand and enlighten local products. Locals inspire internationals, and vice versa. The theme Weaving Our Culture is reflected in this year's Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council (NLAC) awards show, happening Saturday evening at the Reid Theatre, in Memorial University's Arts and Administration Building.

Danielle Irvine is directing and producing this year's show.

"My grandfather is 97 years old now, and when he was young, Water Street was always sort of an international hub," she says, explaining her inspiration for the show's international theme. "People stopping here from around the world, or stopping here on their way somewhere, are always going to bring a piece of away to here, and a piece of home away, to join together to inform each other and making each other richer."

Irvine believes that the oil and gas industry, along with international university students, are creating a resurgence of that intercontinental meeting point.

"It's beautiful to watch," she continues, "because there's been an increased appreciation of our own culture, but intermingled with it are all these other homegrown cultures that have become part of ours."

The evening will be hosted by Neil Butler and Deidre Gillard-Rowlings, and includes performances by the Nipik Inuit Drummers, Dzolali African Drum and Dance Ensemble, along with internationally inspired artists like Shelley Neville, a soprano who has been performing in Italy, and Mary Dalton, a poet whose writings are Newfoundland-inspired.

Read the rest of this article in the Telegram.

John Steffler to read at John Abbott College in Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Tuesday April 8

John Steffler, Canada's Third Parliamentary Poet Laureate, will read from his poems and speak about the role of Poet Laureate on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. at John Abbott College (in the agora) in Ste. Anne de Bellevue. Sponsored by the John Abbott Faculty Association. Free. Call 514-457-6610, Local 5171.

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John Steffler's classic The Grey Islands, the unabridged audio edition, is available from Rattling Books, Canada's SMALL but fine publisher of unabridged audio books.

Don McKay reading at Hamilton, ON gritLIT event April 3

gritLIT: Readings by Don McKay, Lee Maracle and Marilyn Gear Pilling

Thursday, April 3, 2008 - 7:30pm

Art Gallery of Hamilton
123 King Street WestHamilton, ON
Map to Art Gallery of Hamilton

Details
Poetry readings by Don McKay (Strike/Slip), Lee Maracle (Bent Box) and Marilyn Gear Pilling (Cleavage: A Life in Breasts) at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Thursday, April 3, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Visit the gritLIT website for more details.

Back to back Poetry Events at the Majestic Theatre in St. John's, Newfoundland this Wednesday, March 5

Launch of The Echoing Years:
Wednesday, March 5, at 4:00 pm
and the March Hare
Wednesday, March 5, 8:00 pm.
in St. John's, Newfoundland:
Majestic Theatre on Duckworth Street

An anthology of contemporary Canadian and Irish poetry, The Echoing Years, published in Ireland, is being launched at the Majestic Theatre on Duckworth Street.

Some of the Irish and Canadian contributors to the anthology will be reading a poem, among them:
Irish poets Katie Donovan and Grace Wells; Newfoundland & Labrador poets Mark Callanan, Mary Dalton, Agnes Walsh, and Enos Watts; Griffin Prize winner Don McKay; and Saskatchewan-born Karen Solie. Irish poet and editor John Ennis will emcee the event.

The same evening at the Majestic, the St. John's March Hare begins at 8:00 pm. Poets from Canada, Ireland, and Nepal will read, including: Katie Donovan, Grace Wells, Don McKay, Karen Solie, and Yuyutsu Sharma. Also featuring storytellers Don Downer and Paul Dean, and music by Ellen Power, Daniel Payne, and Baxter Wareham.

Tickets are $10 and are available from Spirit of Newfoundland Productions (telephone (709) 579-3023) or at the door. The March Hare invites you to come along and fight winter with some of the very best antidotes.

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Both Mary Dalton and Agnes Walsh have works available from Rattling Books in audio: Merrybegot by Mary Dalton and In the Old Country of My Heart by Agnes Walsh. The audio component of Going Around with Bachelors (Brick Books) is also available as a Digital Download for your mp3 player or ipod. Don McKay's Songs for the Songs of Birds is coming in April.

The Moravian Inuit community of Hebron and its musical legacy

Music, Media and Culture Lecture Series

The sixth Music, Media and Culture Lecture series will showcase diverse research areas, approaches, and presentation styles.

Lecture Series Brochure (PDF)

The Final Lecture of the 2007-08 Series...
Dr. Tom Gordon
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
MMaP GalleryArts and Culture Centre

Memorial University musicologist Tom Gordon will offer a brief introduction to the Moravian Inuit community of Hebron and its musical legacy.

The highlight of the presentation will be six of the anthems from Holy Week in Hebron in 1859 performed by a choir and small orchestra from the School of Music under the direction of Amy Henderson. The works performed include Kuvianak Bethania iglunga, Nâlegavut ivsornaitoksôvok, PiniarneK ussornartoK!, NâlegaK inôgutaujoK, Merngoêrsertillutit ikkingnît and Nertorisiuk SalaKartoK.

First installment of Fictional Life, a New CBC Radio undertaking: Michael Crummey and Bernice Morgan

Wednesday, February 13, 2008
8:00pm - 10:00pm
Petro-Canada Hall, MUN School of Music

Award-winning authors Michael Crummey and Bernice Morgan read from their work and discuss issues of truth and invention in their historical novels.

The show will be recorded live for the new CBC Radio program "The Fictional Life" with host Jamie Fitzpatrick.

Admission is free and parking is available in Lot 15, just across from the Hall entrance.

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The audio recording Hard Light: 32 Little Stories by Michael Crummey is published by Rattling Books. Narrated by Michael Crummey, Ron Hynes and Diedre Gillard-Rowlings it is available as audio CD or Digital Download from rattlingbooks.com.

Gower Wassail: a song from South Wales and an event in St. John's today!

Gower Wassail
(From Wikipedia)

The Gower Wassail is a wassail song from Gower in South Wales. It is printed in A.L. Lloyd's book Folk Song in England (1967), having been heard from Phil Tanner.

The Gower Wassail is also a Christmas Carol Singalong in the Gower St. United Church, St. John's, Newfoundland.

Today, December 15 is the 2nd Annual Gower Wassail organized by the Folk Arts Council of Newfoundland and Labrador.
3 - 5 pm
For more info.

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The present chair of the Folk Arts Council and one of the featured performers at this year's Gower Wassail is Anita Best.

Anita Best performs on three Rattling Books recordings. She is the voice of Mary Dalton's poetry collection Merrybegot and narrates two stories from Susan Rendell's In the Chambers of the Sea. She also narrates Robin McGrath's Coasting Trade along with Robert Joy and Rick Boland.

John Steffler reading in Ancaster, Ontario November 29

Thursday, November 29 - ANCASTER, ONTARIO - afternoon reading - John Steffler is Canada’s poet laureate and the author of The Grey Islands. 777 Garner Road East. For more information, contact Deborah C. Bowen at dcbowen@redeemer.ca

Upcoming Readings by John Steffler in Ontario

Tuesday, November 27 - TORONTO, ONTARIO - Art Bar Poetry Series. S.E. Venart reads from her new book Woodshedding with John Steffler, Canada’s poet laureate, author of The Grey Islands - 8 p.m. at Clinton’s, 693 Bloor Street West, by Christie subway station. http://www.artbar.org/

Wednesday, November 28 - LONDON, ONTARIO - Poetry London - John Steffler is Canada’s poet laureate and the author of The Grey Islands. 7:30 p.m. at the Fred Landon Branch, London Public Library, 167 Wortley Road. Phone 519-439-6240 http://www.poetrylondon.ca/

Thursday, November 29 - ANCASTER, ONTARIO - afternoon reading - John Steffler is Canada’s poet laureate and the author of The Grey Islands. 777 Garner Road East. For more information, contact Deborah C. Bowen at dcbowen@redeemer.ca

Thursday, November 29 - HAMILTON, ONTARIO - Hamilton Poetry Centre - John Steffler is Canada’s poet laureate and the author of The Grey Islands. 7:30 p.m. at Bryan Prince Bookseller, 1060 King Street West. http://hamiltonpoetrycentre.blogspot.com/

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The unabridged audio edition of John Steffler's The Grey Islands is published by Rattling Books and is available from rattlingbooks.com as either a 2-CD set of Audio CDs of as an MP3 Digital Download.

“People can be bi-dialectal, as well as bilingual” says Professor Alison Henry, this year's Henrietta Harvey Lecturer (Nov. 23)

Local dialects, says Professor Alison Henry, get a bad rap as inferior to the standard – or ‘correct’ – form of a language. “There’s a general perception that there’s only one correct form of a language, and that the others are wrong.”

Professor Henry, a distinguished linguist in the School of Communication at University of Ulster at Jordanstown, will be at Memorial’s St. John’s campus to give the Henrietta Harvey Lecture on Thursday, Nov. 23. She will also talk to classes, share ideas with faculty and try to take in some local dialects during her first-ever visit to Newfoundland and Labrador.

The message she hopes to impart: local dialects are valuable both from a scientific and a cultural perspective. She notes that while there’s been a global movement to support minority languages as an important resource, respect for local dialects is lagging behind.

“There are often features of a language that are highly stigmatized, so when you use these, people will perceive you as inferior.” This can result in fewer opportunities for employment or social advancement. However, she asserts, it’s all grounded in nothing more than preference and power. “What passes as the standard form of language is purely accidental, and dependent on where the power base is located within a region.”

And it’s a two-edged sword. Sometimes moving to a more standard dialect – and developing what, in some places, is dismissed as a “too posh accent” or “putting on airs” – can lead to ostracism within one’s own community.

However, Professor Henry does believe that a standardized version of the English language is also important to facilitate communication across regions, but says one form doesn’t have to displace another.

“People can be bi-dialectal, as well as bilingual,” she says, noting she believes this message is critical for educators. “Teachers fear that if they acknowledge local dialects as valuable, they will lessen students’ ability to pick up standard English. But actually, the opposite is true. Students can more easily acquire standard English if they are taught how it differs from their own dialect.”

Professor Henry believes there are signs that dialects are gaining respect, but adds: “I wish we were making more headway.”

Dr. Henry’s Nov. 23 lecture, Local Dialects and the Myth of Inferiority takes place at 8 p.m. in the Science Building, Room SN-2105. Dr. Henry will be in St. John’s from Monday, Nov. 20 – Friday, Nov. 24.
Parking available in Lot 15.

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If you're on facebook and interested in English as spoken in Newfoundland check out the Rattling Books facebook group REDEFiNE iT: using the Dictionary of Newfoundland English.

Chasing boYs with Kathleen Winter: various locations

Kathleen Winter reading from boYs in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal in the next few days.

Kathleen Winter and Leon Rooke will be reading tonight (Friday October 12) at TYPE books, 883 Queen St. W., at 7 pm (in Toronto). Refreshments served.

Kathleen Winter, Leon Rooke and John Metcalf will be reading on Sunday (October 14) as part of the Ottawa International Writer's festival.

Kathleen Winter will be doing a Drive-by reading Monday (October 15) at the Concordia Co-op Bookstore in Montreal (2150 Bishop) at 3 pm.

Kathleen Winter chatting about "boYs' Sunday October 7, St. John's Chapters

New Quarterly Cover Girl Kathleen Winter will chat about her new collection of short fiction boYs (Bibliosasis, 2007) at Chapters in St. John's, Sunday, October 7 from 2 - 4 pm.

Winter, who is just back from reading at the Eden Mills and Winnipeg International Writer's Festivals has people shamelessly chasing boYs all over creation.

You can buy boYs online from Biblioasis.

In St. John's boYs is available from Afterwords Bookstore, Bennington Gate Bookstore, The Tickle Trunk and the MUN Bookstore.

boYs is also available directly from the author, Kathleen Winter.

Frank Holden Performs Judge Prowse Presiding in Trinity

Judge Prowse Presiding at Seasons in the Bight


Frank Holden will perform his one-man play, Judge Prowse Presiding, at the Seasons in the Bight theatre festival in Trinity, Newfoundland on the following dates:

Tuesday, June 26, 8pm
Wednesday, June 27, 8pm
Thursday, June 28, 8pm
Friday, June 29, 8pm

All performances are at the Parish Hall in Trinity, Newfoundland. Tickets are $20. For further information, please contact the box office at 1-888-464-3377 or consult Rising Tide Theatre's website.

Set somewhere in outport Newfoundland in the 1890's, written and first performed in the mid 1980's by Frank Holden, Judge Prowse Presiding brings a vital character and a near-forgotten frontier world back to life.

“A transfixing performance – simply enthralling.”
Edmonton Journal

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The audio adaptation of Judge Prowse Presiding, written and narrated by Frank Holden, is available from Rattling Books.

Joel Thomas Hynes on stage now with Say Nothing Saw Wood and on myspace.com with Down to the Dirt

All this week from the LSPU Hall in St. John's Newfoundland Joel Thomas Hynes will be performing his new one man show Say Nothing Saw Wood.
For show listings check out the new myspace.com page for Joel's audio edition of Down to the Dirt.
To read an excerpt from Say Nothing click here.

Mary Dalton Readings at Atlantic Book Festival

SCHEDULE OF ATANTIC BOOK FESTIVAL EVENTS INCLUDING MARY DALTON

N.B. For full cast of events including many other authors visit the Atlantic Book festival website here.

NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR
Tuesday May 8
7pm: Reading: Mary Dalton*, Ami McKay*, Stephen Kimber*, Elaine McCluskey*. Hosted by the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland & Labrador at the Masonic Temple (6 Cathedral St.), St. John’s.

NEW BRUNSWICK
Wednesday May 9
7pm: Atlantic Book Festival Celebrates Poets: Mary Dalton*, Steve McOrmond*, Pete Sanger* will read at the Faculty Staff Club, Ward Chipman Library Building, UNBSJ, Saint John


NOVA SCOTIA
Thursday May 10
7pm: The Shortlist Sampler: A Joint Reading with Mary Dalton,* Ami McKay,*Linden MacIntyre* and Pete Sanger* at Alumni Hall, University of King’s College (6350 Coburg Road), Halifax

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Mary Dalton's book Red Ledger is short listed for this year's Atlantic Book Festival Poetry Award.

Mary's previous book of poems, Merrybegot, is available as an unabridged audio recording narrated by Anita Best with music by Patrick Boyle from Rattling Books.

John Steffler among speakers at University of Guelph's “Last Lecture” April 4

News Release
March 30, 2007
Last Lecture for Graduating Students

John Steffler, parliamentary poet laureate and award-winning poet and fiction writer, will be among the speakers at the sixth annual “Last Lecture” for graduating students April 4 at the University of Guelph.

The event gives members of the class of 2006 the opportunity to come together to reflecton their experiences and achievements during their time at the University. This year’s theme is taken from the Shakespearean quote: “This above all: to thine own self be true.” The event begins at 5:30 p.m. in Room 104 of Rozanski Hall with president Alastair Summerlee sharing some words of inspiration. Graduating student Kira Kumagai will also give a talk, and a reception will follow.

“The Last Lecture is a unique opportunity for graduating students to look back on how their entire experience at Guelph both inside and outside the classroom has shaped them to be the citizens they are now,” said Jennifer Maddock, leadership education and development adviser in Student Life. “We want students to leave inspired by the words of our speakers and to move forward in their lives with a sense of promise for the future.”

Steffler earned an MA in English from the University of Guelph in 1974 and went on to publish five award-winning books of poetry. His novel The Afterlife of George Cartwright was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award and the Commonwealth Prize for Best First Book. Named Canada’s poet laureate in December, he will spend the next two years encouraging and promoting the importance of literature, culture and language. Steffler is the third poet to hold the post since its inception four years ago.
Kumagai, who will graduate in June with a Bachelor of Arts and Science, has been selected as the student lecturer. During her years on campus, she has been involved in a number of projects, including implementing a service-learning program on AIDS in India in which students spend a month volunteering in the country. She was helped out with Project Serve, an annual one-day volunteer event, and planned an international project that had students spending Reading Week helping with hurricane Katrina relief. She is also a recognized student leader and a member of several campus committees, including the University Centre Board, the Peace Week Committee and the Student Volunteer Connections Conference.

For more information, contact Jennifer Maddock at 519-824-4120, Ext. 54362, or maddock2@uoguelph.ca.

For media questions, call Communications and Public Affairs: Lori Bona Hunt, 519-824-4120, Ext. 53338, or Deirdre Healey, Ext. 56982.

N.B. John Steffler's classic of Canadian Poetry The Grey Islands is now available as an unabridged audio edition from rattlingbooks.com, narrated by John Steffler with additional cast and soundscape recordings.

Celebrate World Poetry Day & Ken Babstock reading in St. John's

Today is World Poetry Day (March 21 was first declared World Poetry Day by UNESCO in 1999). I'm going to celebrate by attending a poetry reading by Ken Babstock , Poet and Poetry Editor for House of Anansi Press. See below for details cribbed from WANL's (Writers Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador) Newsletter. Winterset Nominee Ken Babstock to Read at Memorial Acclaimed poet Ken Babstock will give a reading at Memorial University in St. John’s on Wednesday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m. Babstock is the author of three books of poetry: the critically acclaimed Mean, which one critic called “the yardstick for a certain generation of poets,” Days into Flatspin, winner of a K.M. Hunter Award, and most recently Airstream Land Yacht, which was shortlisted for the 2006 Governor General Award and is a contender for this year’s Winterset Award. The reading takes place at 7:30 p.m. in Room A-1046 in the Arts and Administration Building atrium at Memorial’s St. John’s campus. Everyone is welcome. Free parking in areas 1A and 1B. A map of MUN’s campus is available at: http://www.mun.ca/campus_map/index.php What are you going to do?

Brick Books Author Jan Conn touring Atlantic Canada

Jan Conn - author of Jaguar Rain Jan Conn’s new book Jaguar Rain: the Margaret Mee Poems (Brick Books 2006) is written in the voice of Margaret Mee (naturalist, explorer, and painter of flowers in the Amazon between 1956 and 1988). Jan Conn has published five previous books of poetry, most recently Beauties on Mad River: Selected and New Poems (2000). She is a Research Scientist at the Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, in Albany, NY, and Associate Professor in the Biomedical Sciences Department at the School of Public Heath at SUNY-Albany. Her current research is focused on the populations of malarial mosquitoes in the Brazilian Amazon. Fredericton - Monday, March 19 - University of New Brunswick, 8 p.m. reading with Ken Babstock in the Alumni Memorial Lounge. Halifax - Tuesday, March 20 - at 8:30ish, at the Shoestring Reading Series at the Seahorse Tavern on Argyle Street (just next to the Shoe Shop). For more information, call David Rimmington at 902-488-9643. Antigonish - Wednesday, March 21 - Evening reading at St. Francis-Xavier University. More details to follow. St. John’s, Newfoundland - Friday, March 23 - evening reading at 113 Bond Street.

March Hare tonight in St. John's, Newfoundland

Through the Looking Glass St. John’s, Wednesday March 7, 2007 Martini Bar on George (above Peddler’s) 8:00 p.m. Host & Emcee: Nick Avis Agnes Walsh Emiko Miyashita Larry Small Susan Gillis Matthew Byrne Boyd Chubbs Anne Ferncase Lorna Crozier John Steffler