Recent News and Announcements

news | Thursday March 28, 2024

Do you mind if I sit here? Has Arrived!

Hot off the press! The innovative new multimedia play from James Long and Marcus Youssef has arrived at Talonbooks! Do you mind if I sit here? is set in Vancouver thirty years from now. Three social planners visit Vancouver’s Russian Hall, long abandoned due to earthquakes and flooding, with a seemingly straightforward task: repurpose the hall for common use. But the trio soon discover the project won’t be an easy fix. An eccentric squatter, armed with a trove of Soviet industrial films on 16 mm stock, has made the damaged hall their home … and they’re not leaving.

An excerpt from Do you mind if I sit here?:

A
Scarcity.

C
Scarcity.

A
This is a scarce time.

B
For all of us.
It is important for us to say it. To be allowed to say it. …
Because of –
the weather.

Pause.

A low sound enters the space.

They stop and listen to it before continuing. This

does not just function as an underscore but also

as an event and foreshadow of the same sound

that comes at the end of act one as a much more

substantial sound event.

A
And the consequences.”

Order your copy here!

news | Monday March 25, 2024

Celebrate World Theatre Day!

March 27 is World Theatre Day! To celebrate, we’d like to share some of the phenomenal plays we’ve had the honour of publishing in recent years.

1. Antigone In Spring by Nathalie Boisvert and translated by Hugh Hazelton

Inspired by the classic play by Sophocles, Antigone in Spring takes us to a fictional Québec rife with political upheaval against a government led by the autocratic Creon. Siblings Antigone, Polynices, and Eteocles learn a shocking family truth and become tangled up in the revolution sweeping the city.

2. No More Harveys by Chantal Bilodeau

No More Harveys is the third play of the Arctic Cycle, a series of eight plays that looks at the social and environmental impacts of the climate crisis on the eight Arctic states. In No More Harveys, our protagonist flees her abusive husband and heads for Alaska to reunite with friends – and instead encounters the wonder of whales. This play presents a world dominated by colonialism, capitalism, and patriarchy where the problems that plague our communities, be we women or whales, share the same gnarled roots.

3. Do you mind if I sit here? by James Long and Marcus Youssef

Thirty years from now, three social planners visit Vancouver’s Russian Hall, long abandoned due to earthquakes and flooding, with a seemingly straightforward task: repurpose the hall for common use. But the trio soon discover the project won’t be an easy fix. An eccentric squatter, armed with a trove of Soviet industrial films on 16 mm stock, has made the damaged hall their home … and they’re not leaving.

4. The Piano Teacher by Dorothy Dittrich

In this Governor General’s Literary Award–winning play, classical pianist Erin experiences the loss of the life she knew and finds herself dealing with the departure of her own musical expression as well. Navigating her way through this change, she meets an unconventional piano teacher who gives her new hope for the future. As Elaine gently reacquaints Erin with her instrument, other life changes naturally follow – not just for Erin but for Elaine as well.

5. Kisses Deep by Michel Marc Bouchard and translated by Linda Gaboriau

Consumed by fantasies of opulent fabrics and women’s high fashion, a young man desperately tries to restore his mother’s tarnished reputation. Channeling Yves Saint Laurent, his idol and muse, Hugo sets out to right the widespread rumours about his mother, Béatrice, by designing the perfect outfit for her court appearance.

6. Moving the Centre by Andrew Kushnir and Khari Wendell McClelland

Moving the Centre explores the work of two theatre artists who dare, fumble, and persist in bringing audiences into a space where we can all listen differently. The two plays it includes — Small Axe and Freedom Singer — lean into the problems and possibilities of verbatim theatre to engage questions of justice and identity and the complex history all around us. Originally developed and produced by Toronto’s socially engaged theatre company Project: Humanity, these plays explore the power of recorded “real-life” encounters as a way for artists and the public to re-examine our defining narratives.

7. Shadow Catch by Daphne Marlatt

The Noh-influenced libretto of Shadow Catch recounts the dreams – or are they dreams? – of the Runaway, a teenage boy who ends up one night in Oppenheimer Park in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Here four troubled spirits from the park’s past appear to him: the Spirit of the Maple Tree from K’emk’emeláy̓ whose grove was decimated by loggers, a member of the brilliant Asahi baseball team whose players were sent off to Japanese internment camps, the keeper of a 1920s brothel who is haunted by the tragic death of one of “her” women, and a roughneck policeman from the 1930s who gave in to corruption.

8. The Ballad of Ginger Goodwin & Kitimat by Elaine Ávila

Discover how Canada got the eight-hour workday! Visit the first town to vote on Big Oil! The Ballad of Ginger Goodwin recreates the events surrounding the mysterious death of Albert “Ginger” Goodwin, who led a strike at a Canadian zinc smelter in Trail, BC, that brought the WW I British war machine to a halt. In Kitimat, residents of an industry town in the glorious BC wilderness struggle to decide between economic prosperity and environmental protection when they must vote yes or no to a proposed oil pipeline.

9. Inheritance by Daniel Arnold, Darrell Dennis, and Medina Hahn

An urban couple are on a getaway to visit her father at his vast rural estate. But when they arrive, they find him missing and a local Indigenous man staying there instead. They ask him to leave … and with an anonymous click of your remote, you choose what happens next.

When it’s revealed that the colonial rights to this entire property are actually up for grabs, you must continue to decide how the story unfolds, ultimately determining how the land will be stewarded, and by whom.

We are grateful to work with so many sharp, insightful writers who explore and then share the world through theatre. Happy World Theatre Day!

news | Tuesday March 19, 2024

All Lit Up on One Good Thing

Lovely to see One Good Thing by M.A.C. Farrant on All Lit Up’s list of 10 Books in Bloom to read this vernal equinox. From the article:

“The letters frequently start with gardening questions but divert into meditations on creativity, writing, and family, all delivered with Farrant’s signature sense of humour.”

Check out all of their recommendations here

news | Wednesday March 13, 2024

Celebrate Pi Day!

March 14 (3/14) is Pi Day! We may think of it as more of a mathematical than literary day, but why not both? Song & Dread by Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize–winner Otoniya J. Okot Bitek features a section of Pi Day poems.

From “Pi Day 8”

“six days since i wore earrings
but the garbage was picked up
the gardens outside are still manicured
& cherry blossoms are outrageous in their fullness”

Check out Song & Dread here. Happy Pi Day!

news | Saturday March 9, 2024

Elaine Ávila Interviewed in BC BookLook

There’s a detailed interview with Elaine Ávila about her latest plays, The Ballad of Ginger Goodwin & Kitimat in BC BookLook.

From the interview: “BCBookLook: How did you first discover Ginger Goodwin? What about his life attracted you to write a play about him?

Elaine Ávila: I learned about Ginger Goodwin in the Cumberland Museum and Archives. They had a display, featuring Goodwin’s fly-fishing rod and tackle. It detailed his assassination, which led to Vancouver’s first general strike, Canada’s first general strike, and to Canadians getting the 8-hour day. People came from as far away as Chile to lay wreaths on Goodwin’s grave, yet few Canadians have heard of him. Goodwin’s fishing gear was such an intimate object, showing his love of life, poignant against the massive historical struggles which led to his death.”

Read the complete interview here.

news | Thursday March 7, 2024

It's International Women's Day!

March 8 is International Women’s Day, and to celebrate in 2024, we want to highlight some of the incredible women authors we have had the privilege of working lately with who set the literary landscape ablaze. Below are just a handful of recommendations for International Women’s Day.

1. A Family of Dreamers by Samantha Nock

In this debut collection, Samantha Nock weaves together threads of fat liberation, desirability politics, and heartbreak while working through her existence as a young Indigenous woman coming of age in the city. A Family of Dreamers is a love song to northern cuzzins, dive bars, and growing up.

2. No More Harveys by Chantal Bilodeau

No More Harveys is the third play of the Arctic Cycle, a series of eight plays that looks at the social and environmental impacts of the climate crisis on the eight Arctic states. In No More Harveys, our protagonist flees her abusive husband and heads for Alaska to reunite with friends – and instead encounters the wonder of whales. This play presents a world dominated by colonialism, capitalism, and patriarchy where the problems that plague our communities, be we women or whales, share the same gnarled roots.

3. Jigsaw by M.A.C. Farrant

By turns whimsical, insightful, meditative, funny, and factual, the “pieces” of Jigsaw touch on themes readers of the celebrated humorist and fiction writer M.A C. Farrant have encountered before: existence, love, joy, science, history, aging, roads, and Buddhism – and our seemingly universal love of jigsaw puzzles.

4. Canoes by Maylis de Kerangal and translated by Jessica Moore

In Canoes seven stories orbit a central novella, creating a collection that resonates with the vibrations and frequencies of women’s voices. Daughters, friends, sisters, young and old, talkative or daydreaming – in this moving and poetic collection, Maylis de Kerangal casts light on them all, exploring human entwinement and the precarious balance between life and death.

5. Song & Dread by Otoniya J. Okot Bitek

Rife with the paradoxical forces of boredom and intensity, the early days of COVID-19 passed under an inescapable pall. The poems of Song & Dread seek quietude, order, refuge, and space within that shroud. They remind us of community, connectedness, and what is inherently shared.

6 The Ballad of Ginger Goodwin & Kitimat by Elaine Ávila

Discover how Canada got the eight-hour workday! Visit the first town to vote on Big Oil! The Ballad of Ginger Goodwin recreates the events surrounding the mysterious death of Albert “Ginger” Goodwin, who led a strike at a Canadian zinc smelter in Trail, BC, that brought the WW I British war machine to a halt. In Kitimat, residents of an industry town in the glorious BC wilderness struggle to decide between economic prosperity and environmental protection when they must vote yes or no to a proposed oil pipeline.

7. Spells, Wishes, and the Talking Dead: ᒪᒪᐦᑖᐃᐧᓯᐃᐧᐣ ᐸᑯᓭᔨᒧᐤ ᓂᑭᐦᒋ ᐋᓂᐢᑯᑖᐹᐣ mamahtâwisiwin, pakosêyimow, nikihci-âniskotâpân by Wanda John-Kehewin

In Spells, Wishes, and the Talking Dead: ᒪᒪᐦᑖᐃᐧᓯᐃᐧᐣ ᐸᑯᓭᔨᒧᐤ ᓂᑭᐦᒋ ᐋᓂᐢᑯᑖᐹᐣ mamahtâwisiwin, pakosêyimow, nikihci-âniskotâpân, John-Kehewin plays with form, space, and language, demonstrating which magics cannot be suppressed. Here is an unflinching look at colonialism’s sickening trail: its ongoingdetriment to the safety and mental health of Indigenous people, its theft of language, and its intergenerational harms. But here also is the unrelenting power of resistance, and the great strength in truth. Wanda John-Kehewin “stands in her truth” so that other survivors may stand in theirs.

8. The Boys’ Club by Martine Delvaux and translated by Katia Grubisic

Forthcoming in spring 2024, The Boys’ Club examines the history of gentlemen’s clubs and male fraternity in this devastating wide-reaching study of patriarchy. Delvaux lays bare the brazen misogyny of boys’ clubs across many fields, including media, politics, technology, law enforcement, architecture, and the military. Examining popular media produced by men about men, The Boys’ Club exposes a culture of consumption which profits off female experiences while disregarding female voices.

Happy International Women’s Day!

news | Thursday March 7, 2024

Art Miki Interview in the Bulletin

John Endo Greenaway interviewed Art Miki in the Bulletin following the release of Miki’s new memoir, Gaman – Perseverance: Japanese Canadians’ Journey to Justice.

From the interview: “Is there a moment, or moments, from your early years that shaped you in terms of how you saw the world and led you to the life or service that you have pursued?

The first time my interest was peaked was during the Centennial year when I learned so much of our past history and the injustices that my grandparents, parents and the Japanese Canadian community encountered during the Second World War. That was motivation for me to participate nationally. The other moment was during the very early stages of redress when struggle for political power within the Japanese Canadian community led to divisions and conflicts. That was when I was persuaded to take the leadership role as President of the National Association of Japanese Canadians.”

Read their full exchange here.

news | Tuesday March 5, 2024

Lha yudit'ih We Always Find a Way in BC Studies

Andrea Hilland reviewed Lha yudit’ih We Always Find a Way: Bringing the Tŝilhqot’in Title Case Home by Lorraine Weir with Chief Roger William in BC Studies.

From the review:

Lha Yudit’ih We Always Find a Way: Bringing the Tsilhqot’in Title Case Home is a rich ethnography…a valuable contribution to decolonizing and resurgence scholarship”

Read the complete piece in BC Studies here.

news | Thursday February 29, 2024

the berry takes the shape of the bloom Review

BookTuber Lindy’s Magpie Reads recently chatted about the berry takes the shape of the bloom by andrea bennett in her most recent video. bennett’s amazing new poetry collection was featured alongside several other fabulous titles, including a recent work by Maylis de Kerangal. Check out Lindy’s video here.

news | Tuesday February 20, 2024

Jigsaw Reviewed in the British Columbia Review

Heidi Greco reviewed Jigsaw: A Puzzle in Ninety-Three Pieces, the latest work from the ever-witty M.A.C. Farrant.

From the review:

“The book is a compendium of delightfully quirky short pieces, each commenting on some aspect of puzzle-making. Although the author’s focus is primarily the joy of jigsaw puzzles, she does credit other kinds of brain workouts, from crossword puzzles through Sudoku.

…Several of Farrant’s entries go by the title “Whimsy Piece”—a term that refers to puzzle bits that have been cut into some recognizable shape. …Farrant’s ‘whimsy pieces’ share some particular bon mot that sparkles in its own way.”

Read the complete review in the British Columbia Review here.

news | Tuesday February 13, 2024

Happy Valentine's Day!

Chocolate and roses may be the cliché, but have you considered the ever-romantic book for Valentine’s Day? If you’re looking for love in all the literary places, allow us to recommend the following:

1. Blue Box by Carmen Aguirre is a sexy, fast-paced, and darkly comic memoir in the form of a one-woman play that follows Carmen, whose past has been interrupted and then shaped by the 1973 military coup that overthrew Salvador Allende, the democratically elected, socialist leader of Chile. She becomes a revolutionary, giving up everything for love of the cause. As an adult, Carmen once again unconditionally gives everything of herself – for love of a different kind. She begins a passionate but emotionally impossible relationship with a handsome Chicano TV star whom she pursues with abandon. Order a copy of Blue Box here.

2. From the vault, this iconic queer novel shook the bounds of what literature when it was first released in 1964. Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule follows Evelyn Hall, a literature professor who travels to Reno, Nevada in the summer of 1958 in order to obtain a divorce and thus put an end to her disastrous sixteen-year marriage. She is divorcing her husband on the advice of his psychiatrist because, this being the ’50s, he believes that Evelyn’s success is causing her husband’s depression. It is during her six-week stay at a boarding house that Evelyn meets Ann Childs, and everything changes. Pick up your copy of Desert of the Heart here.

3. It’s right in the name! Check out Rom Com by Dina Del Bucchia and Daniel Zomparelli. Vibrant and brimming with personality and charm, the poems in Rom Com deconstruct as well as engage in dialogue with romantic comedy films and the pop culture, celebrities, and tropes that have come to be associated with them. This dynamic duo of authors both have new books coming out with Talonbooks this spring, so watch this space! Grab a copy of Rom Com here.

Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us at Talonbooks!

news | Wednesday February 7, 2024

You're Invited to the Talonbooks Spring 2024 Launch!

Save the date! Join us on April 24 at Pyatt Hall for Talonbooks’s spring 2024 launch. We can’t wait to introduce you to this season’s new titles.

Here’s what’s launching:

Eric Schmaltz will be reading from his introduction to Another Order.
Daniel Zomparelli will be launching his new poetry collection Jump Scare.
Tiziana La Melia will be launching her new poetry book lettuce lettuce please go bad.
Leanne Dunic will be launching her new collection Wet.
Dina Del Bucchia will be launching her new poetry collection You’re Gonna Love This.

The launch will be hosted by Samantha Nock, author of A Family of Dreamers.

Help us welcome these fabulous books to the world! Doors open at 7:00 p.m.; readings begin at 7:30 p.m.

Pyatt Hall is wheelchair and scooter accessible. Snacks and drinks will be served. A live stream will be available on the Talonbooks YouTube channel, so tune in remotely if you can’t attend in-person. We hope to see you there!

news | Wednesday February 7, 2024

It's Black History Month!

This February, we’d like to share three absolutely stellar titles – current, past, and forthcoming – by Black authors. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

A 2023 poetry collection we absolutely love is Song & Dread by award-winning author Otoniya J. Okot Bitek. This keenly observant collection looks at the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Song & Dread keeps its gaze faced outward, the narrator observes not just her immediate community but as structures of inequality that were and in many ways still are being exacerbated by the pandemic. From “Pi Day 16”:

“now they’re calling it the feminist virus
because it kills more men than it does women
because the uk metro headline announces
woman with family locked down in italy
poses naked with face masks to urge
everyone to be safe

another woman dreams of her family some dead
some alive some she may never see again
somewhere somewhere a group of women
are in a factory producing 50k masks a day in lockdown
& the cbc news clip ends with
they care more for patriotism
than for their own families”

Pick up your copy of Song & Dread here.

If you haven’t yet checked out this amazing play from the vault, Consecrated Ground by the late George Boyd retells the struggle of Africville’s residents to save their homes and their dignity. With tremendous wit and gravity, George Boyd takes us back to Africville on the verge of extinction, making us a gift of characters believable in their vulnerabilities, their courage and their outrage. From Consecrated Ground:

WILLEM

You sole yer place? (He chuckles.) That’s a good one! Like

somebody’s gonna buy a place in Africville? Jimmy there’s some

miracles even Jesus can’t make happen. (He starts lifting his bucket.)

Unless you gonna be serious, I gotta get me goin’.

JIMMY

I-I-I is s-s-serious, Willem. I-I-I … is!

WILLEM

Well who bought it?

JIMMY

(Blurting.) The city!!

WILLEM halts abruptly.

WILLEM

The city?

JIMMY

Uh-hunh …

WILLEM

Now what’s the city want with this ol’ piece

a land?

Order your copy of Consecrated Ground here.

Finally, coming this spring we have a new play from Amy Lee Lavoie and Omari Newton. Redbone Coonhound follows interracial couple, Mike and Marissa, who meet a dog with an unfortunate breed name: Redbone coonhound. This small detail unleashes a cascading debate between them about race and their relationship that manifests as a series of micro-plays, each satirizing contemporary perspectives on modern culture. Watch this space for more details about this brilliant play!

We hope your Black History Month is full of great reads and great art.

news | Tuesday January 30, 2024

andrea bennett on Page Fright

Catch the latest episode of Page Fright: A Literary Podcast to hear host Andrew French chat with andrea bennett about their latest poetry collection the berry takes the shape of the bloom, the ocean, and much more! Listen to the episode here.

news | Saturday January 27, 2024

Hot Off the Press! Antigone in Spring Has Landed!

Ready for a new twist on a classic? Antigone in Spring by Nathalie Boisvert and translated by Hugh Hazelton has arrived!

Antigone in Spring takes us to a fictional Québec where dead birds fall from the sky, covering highways, rooftops, and parks. The citizens demand an explanation, but the answer never comes. The government, led by the autocratic Creon, refuses to tell the truth. A revolution is brewing, however, and the youth of the population and their supporters, inflamed by the unprecedented ecological disaster, are calling for freedom. Born into a happy family that flees from the world every summer to their cottage in Rivière-Éternité, Antigone and her brothers, Polynices and Eteocles live in the certainty that the world is a safe place of warmth and honesty. But after returning to the city for school they accidentally learn the truth: their mother Jocasta is married to her own son, Oedipus. The three siblings are caught up in the revolution sweeping through the city. Written in free verse and inspired by the courage and integrity of the protesters during the student demonstrations that rocked the streets of Montréal in 2012, Antigone in Spring is an ode to all the revolutions in the world whose stories remain untold.

Get your copy of Antigone in Spring here!

news | Thursday January 25, 2024

Speaking Through the Night has Arrived!

It’s here! Speaking Through the Night: Diary of a Lockdown, March–April 2020 by Wajdi Mouawad and translated by Linda Gaboriau has arrived at Talonbooks. A gorgeous, diaristic literary work from the award-winning author of Anima and more, Speaking Through the Night captures the early days of lockdown, while remembering back to the author’s childhood in Lebanon, adolescence in Montréal, and more.

An excerpt from the text:

‘My father, like so many others, doesn’t fear confinement as much as he fears solitude at the moment of his death. War, it’s true, had accustomed my father to solitude. For years on end, having stayed in Lebanon to continue working while we were in Paris, then in Montréal, he had to learn to cope with unhappiness. For years, much later when I would stop by to visit him, I often asked him about those terrible years. He always avoided the question, finding clever ways to change the subject and bring me back to the question of money, his favourite subject. But as the years went by, with the onset of old age, illness, and the prospect of death, his heart opened and he began to speak more openly, freed from the sclerosis of shame that had restrained him for such a long time. “How did you manage on your own during the war, Papa? When the bombing was so intense, not only was it impossible to leave the house but it was impossible to communicate with us or with anyone? Internet didn’t exist, cellphones didn’t exist, and the phone lines were always down. So what did you do?…” I think I asked him that question every Sunday for ten years. And one day, instead of dismissing the question with his usual answer, “I don’t know. What do you expect me to say?! That’s how it was, there was no way around it. What do you think we could do? I don’t know. How can you expect me to remember? Stop asking me these questions, yallah khalas!”…One day, instead, he started to laugh and he said: “You won’t believe it, but I’ll tell you anyway, and you can use it for one of your plays and you’ll stop thinking your father’s an idiot and it will be a great comedy.”’

Pick up your copy of Speaking Through the Night here.

news | Wednesday January 24, 2024

Congratulations, Adeena Karasick!

A huge congratulations to Adeena Karasick for being named a finalist in the League of Canadian Poet’s inaugural Spoken Word Award! This is a wonderful shortlist of talented poets. See the complete shortlist here!

news | Tuesday January 23, 2024

M.A.C. Farrant Interviewed on the Artsy Raven

JF Garrard interviewed M.A.C. Farrant about her latest book Jigsaw, her writing process, and how cows can be an incredible source of inspiration on the podcast The Artsy Raven. Listen to the episode here or watch the full interview on The Artsy Raven’s YouTube channel here!

news | Friday January 19, 2024

Giveaway!

***GIVEAWAY ALERT***

In honour of M.A.C. Farrant’s fantastic new book Jigsaw: A Puzzle in Ninety-Three Pieces and National Jigsaw Puzzle Day on January 29, we’re conducting a giveaway! You could win a one-of-a-kind 1000-piece puzzle featuring the cover of Jigsaw!

To enter the draw, sign up for the Talonbooks Newsletter by midnight PST on January 29th, 2024, or show us that you’re already subscribed by sending us a DM or e-mailing erin@talonbooks.com. Entrants must reside in Canada or the US. The winner will be announced on January 30!

You can sign up for the newsletter here.

Good luck, and happy puzzling!

news | Tuesday January 16, 2024

Ballad of Ginger Goodwin & Kitimat Reviewed in British Columbia Review

Ron Verzuh reviewed Elaine Ávila’s latest plays, The Ballad of Ginger Goodwin & Kitimat: Two Plays for Workers in the British Columbia Review! These two plays delve into labour rights in Canada and explore themes of environmentalism and the power of everyday people coming together to achieve change.

“Ávila mixes dialogue and song to convey that emotion as she moulds history to culture to politics, giving readers a welcome new perspective on BC community life”

Read the complete review here.