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Books Start Here campaign launch

Posted by Mike Hunter on January 28, 2016

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.

CBU Press is one of a dozen Nova Scotia publishers gathering in Halifax February 4 to launch a campaign asking… Continue»

“Fun anthology [will] tickle your funnybone: review

Posted by Mike Hunter on January 11, 2016

OTF-Herald Wow, look what papergirl brought this morning!

The Nova Scotian (Monday, Jan. 11, 2016), a pullout of the Halifax Chronicle Herald, not only published a great review of Old Trout Funnies: The Comic Origins of the Cape Breton Liberation Army, they filled the front page with the book’s cover!

Reviewer Michael Lightstone gives a great overview of the value of the book, which reprints Paul “Moose” MacKinnon’s Old Trout Funnies, a satirical comic series published in Cape Breton in the 1970s.

Link here to the whole piece on line.

Wow, look what papergirl brought this morning! The Nova Scotian (Monday, Jan. 11, 2016), a pullout of the Halifax Chronicle… Continue»

“Essential for a proper understanding”: Review

Posted by Mike Hunter on January 9, 2016

Nice review in the Charlottetown Guardian (Jan. 9, 2016) of Michael Newton’s Seanchaidh na Coille / Memory Keeper of the Forest: Anthology of Scottish Gaelic Writing in Canada (CBU Press 2015).

Memory Keeper is “essential for a proper understanding of Canada’s origin and development,” reads the review, “a window through which we can perceive an utterly different way of life and values.”

“Gaels could make a song about anything!” (Okay, we added the exclamation mark – but it’s true!)

Click here for the full review.

Nice review in the Charlottetown Guardian (Jan. 9, 2016) of Michael Newton’s Seanchaidh na Coille / Memory Keeper of the… Continue»

“A seminal work”: review

Posted by Mike Hunter on December 24, 2015

The Midwest Book Review’s Dec. 2015 “Bookwatch” includes an excellent review of Liz Doherty’s The Cape Breton Fiddle Companion (CBU Press 2015).

Margaret Lane writes that the Companion is “impressively well researched, exceptionally written, deftly organized, and accessibly presented … and inherently fascinating … that would well serve as a template for similar studies…. A seminal work of outstanding scholarship from beginning to end….”

“Highly recommended….”

We’re breathless!

Also, Liz recently received the following personal comments from other readers: “…such a wonderful gift to all those who are interested in Cape Breton fiddle music. Your introduction is so sensitive, profound and rich in information and interpretation….” “Thank you so much for this precious document!”

And, from a well-known Cape Breton music aficionado: “Congratulations on a masterpiece of cultural identity that few could have put together.”

Nice notes to end the year on!

The Midwest Book Review’s Dec. 2015 “Bookwatch” includes an excellent review of Liz Doherty’s The Cape Breton Fiddle Companion (CBU… Continue»

Happy Holidays from CBU Press

Posted by Mike Hunter on

xmas-2015

Memory-Keeper “a must”: review

Posted by Mike Hunter on December 22, 2015

Gaelic teacher and scholar Catriona Parsons – now retired from St. FX and until recently a consultant with the Nova Scotia Office of Gaelic Affairs – writes a monthly column called The Gaelic Way of Living in the World for the Victoria Standard, based in Baddeck, NS.

This month, Catriona provided readers with an overview and comments about Michael Newton’s latest book: Seanchaidh na Coille, Memory Keeper of the Forest: Anthology of Scottish Gaelic Writing from Canada (CBUPress 2015).

She writes: “If you want to understand how the Gaels of Manitoba and Alberta, Montreal and Vancouver, and all across eastern Canada, formed a Gaelic kinship nation-wide, then Dr. Newton’s latest book is a must for you. We are in his debt for this well-researched volume and for his uncompromising championship of Gaelic and its culture.”

Victoria Standard, vol. 23 #223, Dec. 21, 2015.

Gaelic teacher and scholar Catriona Parsons – now retired from St. FX and until recently a consultant with the Nova… Continue»

CBC Interview with Michael Newton now available

Posted by Mike Hunter on December 3, 2015

Michael Newton accepting Saltire Award from St. Andrews Univ., Laurinburg, NC (2014).

In October, Michael Newton, author of Seanchaidh na Coille / Memory Keeper of the Forest, was interviewed by CBC Cape Breton’s Wendy Bergfeldt. Their conversation was recently archived and is available here: http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2679919054.

In the piece, Michael backgrounds the decision-making and research for the book, hailed as “exactly what we need” (Dana), and chosen as one the best Scottish books of 2015 (Association for Scottish Literary Studies).

In October, Michael Newton, author of Seanchaidh na Coille / Memory Keeper of the Forest, was interviewed by CBC… Continue»

Men of the Deeps chorus perform “Trapper Boy”

Posted by Mike Hunter on November 30, 2015

Hugh R. MacDonald We recently discovered a smart-phone recording of Cape Breton’s famous coal miners chorus, Men of the Deeps, performing Hugh MacDonald’s song “Trapper Boy” on stage at the Miners Museum in Glace Bay, NS. Years ago, Hugh was inspired to write the song by family stories of working in the mines. In turn, the song inspired Hugh to write the novel, Trapper Boy.

You can link to the Men of the Deeps’ performance (YouTube) here.

Link here to the Trapper Boy page and in turn to interviews with Hugh MacDonald, his own music video, “Trapper Boy” and, of course, to buy the book.

We recently discovered a smart-phone recording of Cape Breton’s famous coal miners chorus, Men of the Deeps, performing Hugh MacDonald’s… Continue»

Writing of bio-fiction subject of article in ABT

Posted by Mike Hunter on November 26, 2015

Atlantic Books Today’s (#80) holiday edition, a special edition emphasizing history, goes into circulation this weekend (Nov. 27-29, 2015) – watch for it in regional newspapers and in bookstores across Atlantic Canada.

We’re delighted that Tracey Rombough’s stellar debut novel, Immortal Air, was selected for a feature interview – it’s a fine example of the blend of fact and fiction. In fact, that’s the title of the article as sent out in ABT’s Book Club Insider newsletter this week.

The article recounts the impetus for Tracey’s novel and the intricacies of marrying biography and imagination to tell the life story of New Glasgow-born poet George Frederick Cameron.

You can link here to the full article.

We’ve posted before about an article in the Kingston Whig-Standard; you can link to that article here.

In recent years, CBU Press has published a number of novels in the genre of historical fiction, both adult and young adult, including the Thomas Pichon novels, Jeanne Dugas of Acadia, Cibou and (for young people) Trapper Boy, Me & Mr. Bell and The Manager. Check out the full menu at www.cbupress.ca.

Atlantic Books Today’s (#80) holiday edition, a special edition emphasizing history, goes into circulation this weekend (Nov. 27-29, 2015) – watch… Continue»

“As Cape Breton as it gets”: review

Posted by Mike Hunter on

Great story on Old Trout Funnies in the Cape Breton Post yesterday (Nov. 26, 2015, p. B10). Old Trout Funnies: The Comic Origins of the Cape Breton Liberation Army (CBU Press) by Ian Brodie and Paul “Moose” MacKinnon (the original artist) has been in stores for just a couple of weeks now. OTF is also the subject of an exhibit in the Cape Breton University Art Gallery (until Jan. 29, 2016), curated by Ian Brodie.

Columnist Ken Macleod calls Ian Brodie’s contextual work a “perceptive” examination of the “uneasy subtext from the era,” and its “larger-than-life counterculture heroes.”

The collection hits so “close to the mark,” writes Macleod, “and as Cape Breton as it gets.”

Ian will be giving a “Curator Talk & Tour” of the exhibit on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 12-1 p.m. in the gallery.

The official launch of Old Trout Funnies, the book, will be December 16 at the McConnell Memorial Library in Sydney. The book available at the Cape Breton Curiosity Shop, Indigo Spirit (Mayflower Mall), the CBU bookstore and the CBU Art Gallery. It is also available from on-line stores and as an e-book.

Great story on Old Trout Funnies in the Cape Breton Post yesterday (Nov. 26, 2015, p. B10). Old Trout Funnies:… Continue»