Books Start Here campaign launch
CBU Press is one of a dozen Nova Scotia publishers gathering in Halifax February 4 to launch a campaign asking the Nova Scotia government to honour its promise to improve support for cultural industries in the province.
The “Books Start Here: Support Nova Scotia Publishers” campaign is designed to reiterate that there is a vibrant, expanding local publishing industry here and to convince the provincial government to support the industry at levels matching other Canadian provinces.
Trading on the popular “Ships Start Here” and subsequent social media memes appropriating that campaign, organizers want to encourage the Nova Scotia government to include measures in the 2016 budget that would implement promises of consultation and support made in the 2015 budget.
Today, publishing houses in the province publish more than 150 new titles annually with a special focus on local stories, authors and illustrators, employing editors, designers and publicists and supporting retailers. Publishers are looking to expand production, marketing and sales, generate more local jobs and higher profiles for Nova Scotia authors across Canada and internationally.
The “Books Start Here” campaign launch is scheduled for Thursday, February 4, 7 p.m. at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, 1675 Lower Water St. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments and a cash bar will be available.
Canada’s new poet laureate, George Elliott Clarke, will be there to lend his support. So will many other Nova Scotia authors including Sheree Fitch, Stephen Kimber, Frank Macdonald, Michael de Adder and Emma FitzGerald.