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May 2013

Friday May 24, 2013
Guillermo Verdeccia at Canada-U.S. Border Issues and Culture Conference, Sault. Ste. Marie

Friday May 24, 2013
Chris Arnett Speaks at UVic on Colonial War and “Judicial Murder” in 1863 Vancouver

Thursday May 30, 2013
Stephen Collis Launches The Red Album, Vancouver

Friday May 31, 2013
Adeena Karasick - BookExpo America 2013

Friday May 31, 2013
Baba Brinkman’s Ingenious Nature in NYC

June 2013

Saturday June 1, 2013
Baba Brinkman’s Rap Guide to Evolution in NYC

Sunday June 2, 2013
Baba Brinkman’s Canterbury Tales Remixed in NYC

Thursday June 6, 2013
Cecily Nicholson at 2013 Virginia Woolf Conference, Vancouver

Thursday June 6, 2013
Kafka’s Hat Book Launch with Patrice Martin

Friday June 7, 2013
For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again - Michel Tremblay - Magnetic North Theatre Festival

Tuesday June 11, 2013
Marcus Youssef’s Winners and Losers in Ottawa

Thursday June 20, 2013
Adeena Karasick - 14th Annual Convention of The Media Ecology Association

Thursday June 20, 2013
The 2013 Whitehorse Poetry Festival

July 2013

Thursday July 18, 2013
The 11th Annual Denman Island Readers and Writers Festival

Tuesday July 30, 2013
Taking Shakespeare - John Murrell - Stratford Festival

Tuesday July 30, 2013
Taking Shakespeare - John Murrell - Stratford Festival

August 2013

Monday August 19, 2013
KlezKanada 2013 - KlezKanada’s Poetry Retreat - Adeena Karasick and Jake Marmer

Wednesday August 21, 2013
Marcus Youssef’s Winners and Losers at Noorderzon Festival, Netherlands

October 2013

Tuesday October 1, 2013
The St. Leonard Chronicles - Steve Galluccio - Centaur Theatre

Tuesday October 29, 2013
Seeds - Annabel Soutar - Centaur Theatre

November 2013

Sunday November 10, 2013
Marcus Youssef’s Winners and Losers in Toronto

Thursday November 21, 2013
Adeena Karasick - National Communication Association 99th Annual Convention: in the Applied Semantics and Practical Communication Across the Disciplines Session

Tuesday November 26, 2013
Adeena Karasick - Art Bar Series

December 2013

Saturday December 14, 2013
Adeena Karasick - Annual Christmas Party AB Series

Saturday December 14, 2013
Adeena Karasick - Annual Christmas Party AB Series

Posted: Tuesday May 21, 2013

Fall 2013 Catalogue Now Available Online!

Talonbooks is in the process of publishing a number of exciting new works of drama, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction – including some in translation.

Our forthcoming titles can be seen in the Fall 2013 catalogue (top right corner of this website) and along down the right-hand side of the website.

Posted: Thursday May 16, 2013

Baba Brinkman’s Evolutionary Tales Series in NYC

Baba Brinkman, author of The Rap Canterbury Tales, presents three off-Broadway shows as part of his Evolutionary Tales series: Ingenious Nature, the Rap Guide to Evolution, and Canterbury Tales Remixed. The shows run on overlapping schedules from the end of May to the third week of June.

May 31 – June 21: Ingenious Nature

June 1 – June 22: Rap Guide to Evolution

June 2 – June 23: Canterbury Tales Remixed

The Players Theatre
115 MacDougal Street
New York City, NY, United States

Ticketing and other information is available from the Evolutionary Tales website.

Posted: Tuesday May 14, 2013

They Called Me Number One on B.C. Bestsellers List!

They Called Me Number One – a frank, moving, and thoughtful memoir by Bev Sellars about her time in a B.C. residential school and the effects it has had on her life – is the sixth-best-selling book in B.C. for the week of May 12, 2013. See the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia’s list here.

Posted: Monday May 13, 2013

Two of Talon’s Translators Recently Celebrated in Montreal

On May 6, 2013, renowned playwrights from Quebec and across Canada gathered in Montreal to commemorate the last fifty years of contemporary performance writing for the stage under the umbrella of the Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal (PVM), a professional theatre centre based in Montreal and dedicated to the development of Canadian work and new writers for the stage. Translator Linda Gaboriau was honoured with a special tribute. (More on this event from the Montreal Gazette)

Translator Sheila Fischman was also recently honoured in Montreal, at the Opening Cocktail of the Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival a few weeks ago, as one of “two key players of the era in which our national literature went from neglect to proper appreciation”:

Sheila Fischman has done more than perhaps any other single person to bridge the divide between French- and English-language readers of Canadian fiction.

(More on this event from the Montreal Gazette)

We look forward to seeing the ongoing contributions of these excellent translators to Canadian literature!

Posted: Thursday May 9, 2013

Stephen Collis on Co-op Radio

Stephen Collis joined the Wax Poetic radio show on March 13th, 2013 to discuss his upcoming poetry title and works, including To The Barricades.

Click here to listen to the entire broadcast.

Posted: Monday May 6, 2013

Montreal Celebrates Fifty Years of English Theatre!

Ann-Marie MacDonald, writer, actor and television personality, will host the 50th Anniversary Gala Event, and welcome writers and guests from across Canada.

On May 6 2013, renowned playwrights from Quebec and across Canada are gathering in Montreal to commemorate the last fifty years of contemporary writing for the stage.

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Posted: Friday May 3, 2013

Interurban Launch for the Monument Cycles!

On May 11 2013 at 7:30pm, join poet Mariner Janes for the launch of his first book of poems The Monument Cycles at Interurban Gallery in Vancouver.

Written through the lens of history, geography, and a fear of memory, The Monument Cycles roams from meditations on DNA and remembrance, to transportation, nuclear weapons, and community, veering into societal invective. The book begins by investigating human relation to monuments and works of public art: Why do we make these representations of people, history, and place? From Emily Pauline Johnson’s memorial rock in Vancouver’s Stanley Park to the cenotaphs throughout the city, we attempt to make permanent the impermanent, to hold on to the fleeting, the intangible.

Posted: Wednesday May 1, 2013

Michel Tremblay and Magnetic North!

The Magnetic North Theatre Festival to be held in Ottawa includes Margo Kane and Lorne Cardinal starring in a production of the famous Michel Tremblay play, For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again, which runs June 7-11 2013 at NAC Theatre.

Posted: Tuesday April 30, 2013

This Poem in May 2013!

Adeena Karasick will be touring California and reading from her latest book of poetry This Poem in at the Studio One Reading Series in Oakland at 7:30pm on May 3, at The Music Corner in Danville at 3pm on May 5, and at University Press Books in Berkeley at 8pm on May 6.

Karasick will also present “Ceci n’est pas un Téléphone or Hooked on Telephonics: A Pata-philophonemic Investigation of the Telephone” as part of “Multi-media futures and other New Dimensions for Publishing and Content Dissemination” at BookExpo America 2013 in New York on May 31.

Posted: Monday April 29, 2013

They Called Me Number One Is Now Available!

They Called Me Number One by Xat’sull Chief Bev Sellars is the first full-length memoir to be published out of St. Joseph’s Mission at Williams Lake, BC, in which she tells of three generations of women who attended the school, interweaving the personal histories of her grandmother and her mother with her own. She tells of hunger, forced labour, and physical beatings, often with a leather strap, and also of the demand for conformity in a culturally alien institution where children were confined and denigrated for failure to be White and Roman Catholic.

Beginning at the age of five, Sellars was isolated for two years at Coqualeetza Indian Turberculosis Hospital in Sardis, British Columbia, nearly six hours’ drive from home. The trauma of these experiences has reverberated throughout her life. In this frank and poignant memoir of a highly accomplished First Nations woman, Sellars breaks her silence about the institution’s lasting effects, and eloquently articulates her own path to healing.

They Called Me Number One is now available from Talonbooks.

Posted: Monday April 29, 2013

Cliff Matias and Vassar Students in The Rez Sisters!

Cliff Matias of the Red Hawk Dancers

Tomson Highway’s award-winning play The Rez Sisters will be staged May 2 and 3, 2013 by the Vassar Drama department, with Cliff Matias of the Red Hawk Dancers joining a Vassar student cast in three performances at the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film.

The award-winning two-act play The Rez Sisters by Cree Canadian writer Tomson Highway melds the sometimes dark realities of life on a Canadian Indian reserve with humor and elements of Aboriginal spirituality. With dialogue that integrates English with the Cree and Ojibway languages, the play centers on an ensemble cast of seven women who dream of attending and winning “The Biggest Bingo in the World” in Toronto.

Posted: Wednesday April 24, 2013

Le Chant de Sainte Carmen de Michel Tremblay!

Le Chant de Sainte Carmen, du 30 avril au 25 mai 2013 au Théâtre du Nouveau Monde.

Posted: Monday April 22, 2013

Wanda John-Kehewin in Port Hardy!

For the last of this year’s North Island College Write Here Readers Series events, inspirational poet Wanda John-Kehewin will read from her new book of poetry In the Dog House on Friday, April 26 2013 at Cafe Guido in Port Hardy, BC.

This event is open to all members of the community and free to attend.

Posted: Thursday April 18, 2013

Stephen Collis and Margaret Christakos at A B Series!

After the reading in Montreal this Friday at the Drawn & Quarterly bookstore with poets Wanda John-Kehewin, Mariner Janes, and Dina Del Bucchia, Stephen Collis will head to Ottawa to read on Saturday at the Ottawa Public Library with Margaret Christakos for the A B Series.

Posted: Tuesday April 16, 2013

Haute Créature - NatPoMo Tours in Toronto and Montreal!

Auteur Dina Del Bucchia and friends to visit Toronto and Montreal this week

Talonbooks is launching new poetry collections across Canada just in time for National Poetry Month! The authors of four new poetry books, Dina Del Bucchia, Wanda John-Kehewin, Mariner Janes, and Stephen Collis, will be reading on Wednesday April 17 2013 in Toronto at the Garrison and then on Friday April 19 2013 at the Drawn and Quarterly bookstore in Montreal.

These evenings will be hosted by Poetry Is Dead‘s Editor-In-Chief Daniel Zomparelli.

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Posted: Tuesday April 16, 2013

Girl in the Goldfish Bowl Down Under!

It’s 1962 and the Cold War is at its peak. For ten-year-old Iris, not only is the world on the brink of extinction, so is her childhood. When the eccentric young girl discovers an amnesiac drifter on the shores of a remote Tasmanian fishing town, she’s sure he’s the reincarnation of her goldfish, sent to rescue her family and her youth.

Written by Morris Panych, one of Canada’s most acclaimed playwrights, Girl in the Goldfish Bowl is hilarious, yet heart breaking. The award-winning play brings back the absurdity, pain and beauty of growing up.

Girl in the Goldfish Bowl runs April 18 – 4 May 2013 at the Bakehouse Theatre Company in Adelaide, Australia.

Posted: Tuesday April 16, 2013

Drew Hayden Taylor on Urban Rush

Playwright Drew Hayden Taylor talks on Urban Rush about his impressive career and the world premiere production of his play God and the Indian, which runs through April 20 2013 at the Firehall Arts Centre in Vancouver.

Posted: Monday April 15, 2013

Can Hardly Wait For Vigil!

When an embittered, self-involved bachelor arrives to care for the dying aunt he hasn’t seen since childhood, his brief visit stretches to interminable lengths. As her health improves against all odds – and against his hopes – their relationship evolves in unexpected ways. A tour de force from Morris Panych, the creator of the runaway hit The Overcoat, Vigil offers an uncanny balance of gallows humour and insightful ruminations on family, identity, and the human condition.

Vigil runs April 17-May 4 2013 at the Baby Grand Theatre in Kingston, Ontario.

Posted: Monday April 15, 2013

A Trailer for My Turquoise Years

M.A.C. Farrant’s My Turquoise Years runs through May 4 2013 at the Arts Club in Vancouver.

Posted: Friday April 12, 2013

Monuments, Dog House, Otters!

Dina Del Bucchia plies Anza bar staff with bottomless charm while emcee Daniel Zomparelli waits for the talent to return to its seats.

We are very happy to report that our remaining Spring 2013 poetry titles arrived within a few hours of our launch on Wednesday night, and were still aglow in the hands of glowing authors Mariner Janes, Wanda John-Kehewin and Dina Del Bucchia, who joined Daphne Marlatt and Stephen Collis at a packed Anza Club in Vancouver for a highly entertaining evening.

That is to say, The Monument Cycles, In the Dog House, and Coping with Emotions and Otters are all now available!

Posted: Wednesday April 10, 2013

Wanda John-Kehewin For World Poetry Canada

Wanda John-Kehewin speaking and reading at the World Poetry Canada International Peace Festival 2013.

Posted: Tuesday April 9, 2013

Interview with Stars of My Turquoise Years

Bridget Esler plays ‘Marion’ and Wendy Noel plays ‘Aunt Elsie’

Based on M.A.C. Farrant‘s memoir of her fourteenth summer, My Turquoise Years is a comic coming-of-age story set in 1960, a time of postwar optimism, when plastic reigned and the colour turquoise was the height of chic. Marion, raised by Aunt Elsie in sleepy Cordova Bay, has grown up hearing tales of her glamorous, globe-trotting mother, Nancy. Just as Marion is blossoming into womanhood, Nancy suddenly announces a visit to Canada, throwing everyone into a tizzy.

My Turquoise Years runs through May 4 2013 at the Arts Club in Vancouver.

Posted: Tuesday April 9, 2013

David W. McFadden Up For 2013 Griffin Poetry Prize!

We heartily congratulate David McFadden along with his fellow nominees who are finalists for the 2013 Griffin Poetry Prize!

The Canadian nominees include David W. McFadden, the veteran author of 35 books, who received the nod for What’s the Score? (published by Mansfield Press imprint Stuart Ross Books). McFadden was previously nominated for the prize in 2008 for his selected poems, Why Are You So Sad?

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Posted: Tuesday April 9, 2013

Legoland: The Lambs Sing Eminem

Legoland is the first in a trilogy of theme park inspired dark comedies by Jacob Richmond, and is the prequel to the smash hit Ride The Cyclone. Penny and Ezra, the infamous Lamb siblings, extradited to Canada after a brutal attack on one of America’s most beloved pop stars, give a presentation of their harrowing journey to their social worker, and you the audience. It’s the official story straight from the “Gruesome Twosome,” Canada’s youngest drug cartel. In Atomic Vaudeville’s famed contemporary vaudeville style, the story is told using ukulele, puppets, multi-media and gangster rap.

Legoland runs through April 13 2013 at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto.

Posted: Friday April 5, 2013

God and the Indian at the Firehall Arts Centre

Drew Hayden Taylor’s God and the Indian runs April 6-20 2013 at the Firehall Arts Centre in Vancouver.

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Wednesday May 22, 2013 in Meta-Talon

Daniel MacIvor’s Cul-de-sac Reviewed by Ed Huyck

Cul-de-sac, a play by Daniel MacIvor, is currently being staged in Minneapolis, Minnesota, put on by the Loudmouth Collective at the Open Eye Figure Theatre.

Ed Huyck reviewed the play for CityPages.com. A few excerpts follow.

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Monday May 6, 2013 in Meta-Talon

Way More Than A Thousand Words: Coping with Emotions and Otters Launch

Ash Tanasiychuk takes pictures. Of Dina Del Bucchia. Nuff said. Oh, and Otters!

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Monday April 29, 2013 in Meta-Talon

Other People’s Moccasins: Joanne Arnott Interviews Wanda John-Kehewin

Joanne Arnott interviews Wanda John-Kehewin about her new book In the Dog House:

I can’t really say there were many poets of the past that influenced my writing. I think when I really started to be inspired was when I heard that there were other Native writers, and that wasn’t until I moved to the West Coast in 1991. For some reason I didn’t think it was actually something an “Indian” could do. There weren’t any books in the library that were by First Nations people when I was growing up.

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Thursday April 25, 2013 in Meta-Talon

Text in the City: Music Somewhere Near a Griffin

Garry Thomas Morse on poetry prizes and/or music in poetry. Whatever!

Not to pull an academy-bashing Joaquin Phoenix, but strictly off the record, I’ve never understood how prizes relate to poetry, exactly, and a number of acclaimed poets have confessed a similar sentiment in my presence, in one way or another. One would hope that a poet only gets into the racket out of an imperative need to do so, if not a compulsive love, implying all the emotions and forms of resentment love can contain. In that case, how can a prize for being the greatest lover compare to said love itself?

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