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ON DECLINE, ON THE ORIGIN, DANTE’S INDIANA, MUSIC LATE AND SOON, and THINGS ARE AGAINST US: Podcasts & Publicity!

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On Decline coverIN THE NEWS!

ON DECLINE

Andrew Potter, author of On Decline (August 17, 2021) was interviewed for Jodi Butts podcast, @Risk, and the episode is now live! You can listen here.

On Decline was also the subject of an opinion piece in the Ottawa Citizen by Terry Glavin titled, “Glavin: Yes, civilization is in decline (though it may not stay that way)”! The article was published online on September 22. You can read it here.

Glavin writes,

“Like its historic ancestors, On Decline deserves a wide general audience and should be required reading for the incoming federal government.”

Get your copy of On Decline here!

 

THINGS ARE AGAINST US

Lucy Ellmann’s Things Are Against Us (September 28, 2021) was listed by the New York Times as a New & Noteworthy Title! The list was published online on September 22, and in print on September 26. You can check it out on their website here.

The New York Times wrote:

“Ellmann tackles the climate crisis, war and feminism in this collection of 14 searing essays on the beauty industry, ecotourism, crime fiction, Donald Trump and more.”

Things Are Against Us also received a rave review in the Winnipeg Free Press! The review was published on Saturday, September 25. You can read it out on their website here.

Reviewer Pauline Holdstock wrote:

“[Ellmann] lambastes the patriarchy with verve and gusto … The 14 pieces that comprise Ellmann’s discontents, vividly illustrated by Diana Hope, muster all of her comic powers in the service of her home truths… Ellmann is entertaining, funny, loopy and brave, but, importantly, she’s empowering. You remember that you’re not alone … It’s good to know Ellmann is keeping her formidable comic weaponry trained on the people who got us into this pig show.”

And on Sunday, September 26 we celebrated the launch of Things Are Against Us! Check out the full video of the launch on Facebook here, or on YouTube here.

Order your copy of Things Are Against Us here!

 

MUSIC, LATE AND SOONcover

Robyn Sarah, author of Music, Late and Soon (August 24, 2021) published an editorial in The Globe and Mail titled, “We should need no excuse to hold on to or reclaim something we love”! The piece was published online on September 24, and in print on September 25. Read the article here.

Sarah writes,

“… a longing to go back to what was once so central and fulfilling can haunt the years. In my own case, longing became impulse became action at the age of nearly 60.”

Robyn Sarah’s Music, Late and Soon was also featured in a review by the Winnipeg Free Press! The review was posted online on September 25. You can read it here.

Get your copy of Music, Late and Soon here!

 

DANTE’S INDIANA

Randy Boyagoda, author of Dante’s Indiana (September 7, 2021), wrote an article for the Globe & Mail! The opinion piece “Dante’s pandemic: Why the Divine Comedy helps us understand how we can respond to the challenge of living good lives in bad times” was published on Saturday, September 25, both in print and online. You can read it on their website here.

In other news, University of Toronto’s Massey College is hosting an exclusive in-person event with Randy Boyagoda on Wednesday, September 29 at 4:30 PM EDT! The event, “A Dante Theme Park? Satire and Sensibilities in 2021”, is part of the Massey Dialogues series. Randy Boyagoda, a Massey College Senior Fellow, will discuss his Dante’s Indiana with Senior Fellow Charles Foran and Junior Fellow Kate Frank. Only a limited number of people can attend, so register for a ticket here.

Get your copy of Dante’s Indiana here!

 

ON THE ORIGIN OF THE DEADLIEST PANDEMIC IN 100 YEARSOn the Origin of the Deadliest Pandemic in 100 Years cover

Elaine Dewar, author of On the Origin of the Deadliest Pandemic in 100 Years (August 31, 2021), was interviewed by Jesse Brown for the Canadaland podcast! The episode aired today on September 27. You can read the transcription and listen here.

Over the weekend, Dewar was also live on The Roy Green Show (Global News). Listen to the episode here.

On the Origin was also mentioned in an article from The Sun titled “OVEN READY Covid was ‘perfectly adapted’ to infect humans when virus emerged in Wuhan which ‘proves’ lab leak, book claims”. Read the article here.

Get your copy of On the Origin here!

This Week in Reviews!

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On the Origin of the Deadliest Pandemic in 100 Years coverIN THE NEWS!

ON THE ORIGIN

Elaine Dewar, author of On the Origin of the Deadliest Pandemic in 100 Years: An Investigation (August 31, 2021), was featured in a Q&A with Marsha Lederman in The Globe and Mail, titled “Canadian author Elaine Dewar’s book raises troubling questions about the origins of COVID-19”! The article was published online on September 10. You can read it here.

In the interview, Elaine Dewar states:

“I want to get at how come that happened. And I don’t want people to forget it. Because we have [27,000] dead people whose deaths might have been avoided if we had acted with speed. And if we had acted from a science point of view, as opposed to from a political point of view.”

And don’t miss the launch of On the Origin of the Deadliest Pandemic in 100 Years next week! Join us on Facebook Live or YouTube on Wednesday, September 15 at 6PM EDT!

Get your copy of On the Origin here!

DANTE’S INDIANA

Quite a bit of news for this title! Randy Boyagoda’s Dante’s Indiana (September 7, 2021) received a positive review in the Toronto Star! The review was published online on September 3, and it will appeared in their print issue that weekend. You can read it on their website here.

Reviewer Alex Good wrote,

“Boyagoda set himself a challenge, and it’s one that he’s up to … Boyagoda makes it seem easy with a series of apt similes … This is the sort of imaginative verbal panache that in our own vernacular pays tribute to Dante as literary guide … The classics, however, are always reimagined in ways that respond to the personal anxieties and public crises of our own time. In the shattered funhouse of the twenty-first century we may be expected to redefine the content of a faith that sustains.”

Dante’s Indiana also received a rave review in the Plough Quarterly! The review was published online on September 3. It will appear in their print issue as well. You can read it on their website here.

Reviewer Mike St. Thomas wrote,

“Randy Boyagoda’s Dante’s Indiana is many things—knee-slapping satire, social commentary, spiritual pilgrimage. But above all, it is an attempt to bring contrapasso to bear on contemporary American life, both implicitly and explicitly … As in his first novel, Boyagoda mixes the sacred and profane to great effect … By locating the sacred within the profane, Dante’s Indiana offers a counternarrative to that of the culture wars … Boyagoda’s novel is hilarious and deeply touching.”

Dante’s Indiana received a great review in Desi News, and it was the feature title! The review was published on September 1. It’s available online and in their print September issue. You can read it on their website here.

Desi News wrote,

“Dante’s Indiana is, like the first book, about Prin’s adventures in a world that is crazy and chaotic for a man of faith. And it is, also like the first, real, yet surreal. Hugely funny, yet poignant … Many of us will find our stories reflected in Boyagoda’s work, we’ll meet people we know.”

Dante’s Indiana also received a rave review in North Texas Catholic. The review was published on September 8. You can read it on their website here.

Reviewer Susan Moses raved,

“Full of memorable characters and as fast-paced as the roller coaster that will be the main ride of hell, the novel reads like a movie script … Even when the plot descends into dark topics, Boyagoda’s eye for wit keeps the novel lighthearted … Sometimes absurd, sometimes witty, the humor of Dante’s Indiana is always thoughtful, never hurtful, and often satirical … As Prin makes his path through the twists and turns of this novel, he never gives up hope that heaven awaits on the other side of purgatory.”

Finally, Dante’s Indiana was included in NOW Toronto‘s list “The 15 best new books to read this fall”! The list was published online on September 10, and it will appear in their print issue. You can read it on their website here.

Reviewer Susan G. Cole praised,

“Another sharp satire from one of Canada’s best writers.”

Get your copy of Dante’s Indiana here!

White Shadow coverWHITE SHADOW

Roy Jacobsen’s White Shadow (April 6, 2021) received a great review in Book Post USA! The review was published on September 7. You can read the review on their website here.

Reviewer Robert Karron wrote:

“Seldom do we find a protagonist who pushes against her confinement as subtlety and deftly as Ingrid does, and who allows herself, while trapped in circumstances that are beyond her control, to be so open, inquisitive, and even loving. In White Shadow, Jacobsen offers a portrait of a woman who is single-minded but not rigidly so, purposeful but not devoid of feeling … The intensity of feeling just beyond the actions described, and the effort itself of forging language to capture their evanescent reality, seems like a literary accomplishment in the family of more overtly ‘sophisticated’ novelists like Thomas Bernhard or W. G. Sebald.”

Get your copy of White Shadow here!

HOUSEHOLDERS

On Friday, September 3, Kate Cayley’s Householders (September 14, 2021) received a rave review from Kerry Clare’s Pickle Me This! You can read the review on the website here.

Kerry Clare wrote,

“Literally took my breath away … Kate Cayley is splendid in her deft arrangement of the sentence, and in her depiction of the quotidian but just askew enough to be new and surprising. These stories are rich, absorbing, and oh so satisfying, and I predict this as one of the big books of the fall literary season.”

Get your copy of Householders here!

THE SINGING FOREST

Judith McCormack’s The Singing Forest (September 21, 2021) received a great review in the Ottawa Review of Books! The review was published on September 9. You can read the review on their website here.

Reviewer John Delacourt wrote:

“Yet there is nothing bleak or drained of life in The Singing Forest, despite such harrowing scenes. The energy of the prose does not falter, transcending the expectations—if not the limitations—of a crime drama. The interiority of Leah Jarvis’s transformation in the narrative lacks some of the tonal variation and visceral impact of the chapters devoted to Drozd, but she ultimately achieves a balance of darkness and light that, aptly enough, rhymes with something like justice. Which is fitting, because the scope of McCormack’s ambition is nothing less than a poetic meditation on the mutability of identity, and with The Singing Forest, she succeeds.”

Get your copy of The Singing Forest here!

THE SINGING FOREST and AS YOU WERE: Rave Reviews!

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IN THE NEWS!

THE SINGING FOREST

Judith McCormack’s The Singing Forest (September 21, 2021) received a great review in Quill & Quire! The review was published online on Tuesday, August 17, 2021, and it will appear in the print September issue. You can read it on their website here.

Reviewer Ami Sands Brodoff wrote:

“A brilliant stroke … McCormack’s scope is impressive. The Singing Forest is a crime drama, a historical novel, and a character-driven work … This novel posits that time does not heal all wounds. Recognition, reparation, and remembrance are urgent.”

Get your copy of The Singing Forest today from Biblioasis here!

 

AS YOU WERE

Elaine Feeney’s As You Were (October 5, 2021) received a starred review in Publishers Weekly! The review was published online on August 16, 2021, and it will appear in the print issue. You can read it on their website here.

Publishers Weekly wrote:

“Feeney’s brilliant debut follows an Irish woman’s struggle to accept a terminal cancer diagnosis … Feeney skillfully tells the stories of other patients, including Margaret Rose, recovering from a stroke, and Jane, suffering from dementia. In the closed space of the ward, these three women share their secrets … Never sentimental, and full of well-crafted dialogue and rich descriptions, the story is driven forward by Sinead’s strong narration. This powerful work perfectly balances tragedy and hope.”

Preorder your copy of As You Were from Biblioasis here!

DRIVEN: Leading Up To The Launch

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It’s launch day for Marcello Di Cintio’s Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers here at Biblioasis! We’re taking a look back at some of the latest in news leading up to tonight’s launch, from interviews to twitter takeovers.

Marcello Di Cintio was interviewed about Driven in the Calgary Herald! The article was published in their print issue and online on April 30, 2021. You can read it on their website here.

Eric Volmers wrote:

“Fascinating … Nuanced … In Driven, Di Cintio stayed in his own country and paid close attention to the men and women most of us take for granted. Most were immigrants. Many came from war-torn nations. Many were what Di Cintio calls ‘chess masters of their own lives,’ possessing a genius and ingenuity that few of us recognize.”

Marcello was interviewed on May 3 on Global News Edmonton at Noon to discuss Driven and the Edmonton taxi drivers featured in the book! You can watch the interview below:

An excerpt from Driven was published in the Toronto Star! The excerpt is from the opening chapter in the book about Peter Pellier, a veteran taxi driver from Mississauga, ON. It was published on Saturday, May 8, and you can read it on their website here.

Marcello Di Cintio was interviewed on CBC’s Alberta at Noon on May 10 at 12 PM MDT! You can listen to the show here.

On May 11, Driven was featured on the Road Warrior News website, where they also hosted a book giveaway for drivers! You can take a look on their website here.

Marcello Di Cintio also did a Twitter takeover on The Walrus‘ Twitter on May 6, 2021 to highlight the different drivers in Driven. You can read the thread here. 

ABOUT DRIVEN

In conversations with drivers ranging from veterans of foreign wars to Indigenous women protecting one another, Di Cintio explores the borderland of the North American taxi.

“The taxi,” writes Marcello Di Cintio, “is a border.” Occupying the space between public and private, a cab brings together people who might otherwise never have met—yet most of us sit in the back and stare at our phones. Nowhere else do people occupy such intimate quarters and share so little. In a series of interviews with drivers, their backgrounds ranging from the Iraqi National Guard, to the Westboro Baptist Church, to an arranged marriage that left one woman stranded in a foreign country with nothing but a suitcase, Driven seeks out those missed conversations, revealing the unknown stories that surround us.

Travelling across borders of all kinds, from battlefields and occupied lands to midnight fares and Tim Hortons parking lots, Di Cintio chronicles the many journeys each driver made merely for the privilege to turn on their rooflight. Yet these lives aren’t defined by tragedy or frustration but by ingenuity and generosity, hope and indomitable hard work. From night school and sixteen-hour shifts to schemes for athletic careers and the secret Shakespeare of Dylan’s lyrics, Di Cintio’s subjects share the passions and triumphs that drive them.

Like the people encountered in its pages, Driven is an unexpected delight, and that most wondrous of all things: a book that will change the way you see the world around you. A paean to the power of personality and perseverance, it’s a compassionate and joyful tribute to the men and women who take us where we want to go.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marcello Di Cintio is the author of four books, including Walls: Travels Along the Barricades which won the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing and the W. O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize, and Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Palestine in the Present Tense—also a W. O. Mitchell Prize winner. Di Cintio’s magazine writing has appeared in publications such as The International New York Times, The Walrus, Canadian Geographic and Afar.

Don’t miss tonight’s launch of Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Driver, on Facebook Live or YouTube, where you can join in on a Q&A, and have a chance to win your own copy of the book!

Learn more about Driven at Biblioasis.

MURDER ON THE INSIDE: TV, News, and More!

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On the heels of a successful launch on Wednesday April 14, which you can watch here, Catherine Fogarty’s Murder on the Inside: The True Story of the Deadly Riot at Kingston State Penitentiary has received fantastic media attention: from TV and radio interviews, to reviews in newspapers across Canada!

IN THE NEWS!

Murder on the Inside was reviewed by the Winnipeg Free Press and The Kingston-Whig Standard, and an excerpt was featured in the Toronto Star. You can read the Winnipeg Free Press here, the Kingston-Whig here, and the Toronto Star excerpt here.

In the Winnipeg Free Press, writer Barry Craig had this to say:

“The most important observation author Catherine Fogarty makes in this her first book (and a good one) is not about the notorious riot in 1971 in Kingston Penitentiary (KP) that she examines, but her conclusion that Canada’s prisons are still much better at housing and hurting people than helping them … Fogarty’s chronicle of the KP riot is a comprehensive and action-packed explanation of what went right and wrong … Murder on the Inside is a shocking tale of sickening savagery and unrewarded heroics, and Fogarty details with growing confidence the unhealthy, sadistic straight-jacket life inside Kingston’s notorious maximum security prison 50 years ago.”

In the Kingston Whig-Standard, Peter Hendra wrote:

“The book details what happened and why, and the aftermath of the four-day standoff, while offering compelling portraits of the characters on both sides of the negotiating table.”

INTERVIEWS!

Catherine Fogarty was recently interviewed about her book on Global News Kingston by Bill Welychka. Check out the video below!

Catherine Fogarty also discussed her book on TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paiken, which you can watch below.

Additionally, Catherine Fogarty spoke to twelve CBC shows across Canada on April 13: “Up North” in Sudbury, ON at 2:30 PM EDT, “Mainstreet” in Halifax, NS at 2:40 PM EDT, “Radioactive” in Edmonton, AB at 2:50 PM EDT, “All Points West” in Victoria, BC at 3:07 PM EDT, “Homestretch” in Calgary, AB at 3:30 PM EDT, “Mainstreet” in Cape Breton/ Sydney, NS at 3:50 PM EDT, “Afternoon Edition” in Saskatchewan at 4:07 PM EDT, “Up to Speed” in Winnipeg, MB at 4:20 PM EDT, “Radio West” in Kelowna, BC at 4:40 PM EDT, “On the Coast” in Vancouver, BC at 4:50 PM EDT, “Air Play” in Whitehorse, YT at 5:30 PM EDT, “Afternoon Drive” in London/Windsor, ON at 5:50 PM EDT.

 

ABOUT MURDER ON THE INSIDE

“You have taken our civil rights—we want our human rights.”

On April 14, 1971, a handful of prisoners attacked the guards at Kingston Penitentiary and seized control, making headlines around the world. For four intense days, the prisoners held the guards hostage while their leaders negotiated with a citizens’ committee of journalists and lawyers, drawing attention to the dehumanizing realities of their incarceration, including overcrowding, harsh punishment and extreme isolation. But when another group of convicts turned their pent-up rage towards some of the weakest prisoners, tensions inside the old stone walls erupted, with tragic consequences. As heavily armed soldiers prepared to regain control of the prison through a full military assault, the inmates were finally forced to surrender.

Murder on the Inside tells the harrowing story of a prison in crisis against the backdrop of a pivotal moment in the history of human rights. Occurring just months before the uprising at Attica Prison, the Kingston riot has remained largely undocumented, and few have known the details—yet the tense drama chronicled here is more relevant today than ever. A gripping account of the standoff and the efforts for justice and reform it inspired, Murder on the Inside is essential reading for our times.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Catherine Fogarty is a storyteller. She is the founder and president of Big Coat Media and Story Hunter Podcasts. An accomplished television producer, writer and director, Catherine has produced award-winning lifestyle, reality and documentary series for both Canadian and American networks. Catherine is the executive producer of the Gemini nominated series Love It or List It and directed I Don’t Have Time for This, an intimate documentary about young women with breast cancer. Originally trained as a social worker, Catherine studied deviance and criminology. She worked with numerous at-risk populations including street youth, people with AIDS, abused women, and social services. Catherine holds an M.A. in Social Work, an MBA in Human Resource Management, and an MFA in Creative Non-Fiction from the University of Kings College. She was recently awarded the Marina Nemet Award in Creative Writing through the University of Toronto.

 

Order your copy now from Biblioasis, or from your local bookstore!

SEA LOVES ME, 100 MILES OF BASEBALL, FOREGONE: Biblioasis Books in the News!

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Check out some recent coverage of our books below:

IN THE NEWS

 

Hot off the heels of its virtual launch, 100 Miles of Baseball by Dale and Heidi LM Jacobs has had great news coverage recently from the Globe and Mail, and was listed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal‘s feature, “13 New Baseball Books Worth Adding to Your Baseball Lineup”! You can read the Globe and Mail article here, and find the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal list here.

Globe and Mail reviewer Brad Wheeler wrote:

“They soulfully documented a 2017 road trip to the obscurest of ‘play ball’ destinations, all within a limited radius … The married authors complement each other—he’s the play-by-play guy; she, the colour commentator.”

Chris Foran of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal added:

“This book is a journal … of two people seeking and finding what made them love the game in the first place.”

Check out their websites for the full reviews!

Buy 100 Miles of Baseball from Biblioasis, or from your local bookstore.

 

Sea Loves Me by Mia Couto was featured in a beautiful rave review from World Literature Today!

Reviewer Anderson Tepper wrote:

“Sea Loves Me is a thrilling addition to Couto’s extraordinary body of work, bringing together new and old stories that evoke past and present Mozambique, memories and dreamscapes, natural and spirit worlds. War, race, sky and sea, death and desire—these are just a few of the eternal elements Couto uses to mold his wise, enchanting fiction.”

Read the full review on their website here.

Order Sea Loves Me from Biblioasis, or from your local bookstore.

 

Russell Banks’ Foregone was also featured by the Globe and Mail, in an editorial by Russell Banks himself which also explores his reasons for becoming a Canadian citizen. Banks also had an interview and event with Globe and Mail writer Sandra Martin for One Page: Canada’s Virtual Literary Series! The Globe and Mail editorial can be found here, and you can still watch the One Page event and interview here.

Russel Banks explains in his article:

“I want my identity as a Canadian to be a significant part of my legacy. To do that, I first have to claim it. Also, for myself alone, I simply want to honour my father’s and my grandparents’ origins, the way I hope my children and grandchildren will someday honour mine. I want to merge my life’s story in the U.S. with my ancestors’ tales of two-and-a-half centuries of work and love in the Maritime provinces of Canada.”

Check out the links for the full editorial and event!

You can order Foregone from Biblioasis, or from your local bookstore.