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“Engaging and entertaining”: review

Posted by Mike Hunter on November 26, 2015

Michael Newton’s Seanchaidh na Coille / Memory-Keeper of the Forest: Anthology of Scottish Gaelic Literature of Canada was reviewed in the latest edition of Celtic Life International magazine (Dec. 2015, p. 68).

“Newton transcends academia in piecing together an engaging and entertaining exploration of the country’s past, planting it firmly in the present,” the reviewer writes.

(Magazine contents are accessible only to subscribers.)

Michael Newton’s Seanchaidh na Coille / Memory-Keeper of the Forest: Anthology of Scottish Gaelic Literature of Canada was reviewed in… Continue»

Steele’s solution reviewed by history magazine

Posted by Mike Hunter on

Nice to see a Cape Breton author’s work reviewed in a national publication – we get lost at the periphery sometimes.

Canada’s History (formerly The Beaver) published a review of Joy Steele’s The Oak Island Mystery, Solved in the December 2015-January 2016 edition.

You can link to the review here.

Nice to see a Cape Breton author’s work reviewed in a national publication – we get lost at the periphery… Continue»

Seanchaidh among best books of the year

Posted by Mike Hunter on November 23, 2015

The Association for Scottish Literary Studies has just named Michael Newton’s Seanchaidh na Coille / The Memory-Keeper of the Forest: Anthology of Scottish-Gaelic Literature of Canada (CBU Press) as one of the Best Scottish Books of 2015. Congratulations Michael!

The citation, along with a number of other books, comes in the latest edition (No. 18, Fall 2015) of The Bottle Imp, the on-line journal of ASLS. Chosen by Silke Stroh, Assistant Professor of English, Postcolonial & Media Studies, University of Muenster, the review calls Seanchaidh “a major contribution to the Gaelic canon.”

“This contextualisation and the bilingual format make the texts accessible and attractive to general readers, even those who are new to Gaelic Studies. At the same time, it is also a great resource for more specialised readers, with academic references on sources and further reading, as well as scholarly commentary. Though necessarily brief, Newton’s commentary provides many thought-provoking observations that also make this book an important intervention in contemporary criticism….”

You can read the full review here.

Michael’s book has also been selected by ASLS to be among Scotland’s best, represented at the MLA annual convention in Austin, Texas early in the new year.

Michael Newton is the award-winning author of a number of books, including the best-selling Naughty Little Book of Gaelic: All the Scottish Gaelic You Need to Curse, Swear, Drink, Smoke and Fool Around (CBU Press 2014).

The Association for Scottish Literary Studies has just named Michael Newton’s Seanchaidh na Coille / The Memory-Keeper of the Forest:… Continue»

Truro area book club engages with author Johnston

Posted by Mike Hunter on November 19, 2015

A.J.B. Johnston, author of the Thomas Pichon novels, was the guest of a Truro-area book club earlier today (Nov. 19, 2015),to discuss his first novel Thomas, A Secret Life. Truro is Johnston’s hometown.

“I was quite blown away by their comments, how much they liked the book,” Johnston said after the meeting, “and it was fun to respond to their thoughtful questions.”

“You write books hoping people will read them, but you don’t often have a chance to talk to them about it,” said Johnston, in an article in the Truro Daily News (Nov. 19, 2015). “You’re never certain whether the reader takes the book the way you intended.”

http://www.trurodaily.com/News/Local/2015-11-18/article-4348171/An-author%26rsquo%3Bs-perspective/1

Book clubs are increasingly popular as a way to engage with other perspectives on a shared subject. Book clubs can sign up for a book club insider newsletter from Atlantic Books Today.

You can link to a series of video interviews with A.J.B. Johnston on our YouTube channel here.

A.J.B. Johnston, author of the Thomas Pichon novels, was the guest of a Truro-area book club earlier today (Nov. 19,… Continue»

Novel a story whose “time has come”: Review

Posted by Mike Hunter on

A nice overview of Immortal Air, a novel by Tracey Rombough, was recently published in the Kingston Whig-Standard. The novel is biographical fiction, the imagined life of Confederation Poet George Frederick Cameron.

Have a look at the full review here: http://www.thewhig.com/2015/11/11/kingstons-confederation-poet

Atlantic Books Today have posted an excerpt from Immortal Air, you can find it here.

And watch for the holiday edition of Atlantic Books Today for a feature article on the writing of Immortal Air.

A nice overview of Immortal Air, a novel by Tracey Rombough, was recently published in the Kingston Whig-Standard. The novel… Continue»

“seems probably true”: review

Posted by Mike Hunter on November 17, 2015

“[It] seems probably true to us and may to other readers, too” reads a recent review of Joy Steele’s The Oak Island Mystery: Solved (CBU Press 2015) in the Charlottetown Guardian.

“This book is a model for researchers,” the review continues, “and contains a theory that satisfactorily includes everything that is known about the Oak Island Mystery. It’s recommended.”

Right.

For us, “solved” isn’t just the subtitle – it’s a statement.

“[It] seems probably true to us and may to other readers, too” reads a recent review of Joy Steele’s The… Continue»

The Good Sentence Interviews Hugh R. MacDonald

Posted by Mike Hunter on November 16, 2015

We missed The Good Sentence on The Coast 89.7 Sunday evening (6 p.m., November 15, 2015), when host Paul MacDougall interviewed Hugh R. MacDonald, but it will be aired again Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 10 p.m. (November 17, 19).

Paul spoke with Hugh about his YA novel Trapper Boy (CBU Press 2012) and about Hugh’s other writing projects, as well as about his gifts as a singer and songwriter.

The Good Sentence is a regular feature The Coast’s Dialogue program, heard Sundays at 6 p.m. and re-broadcast Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 p.m. You can listen on-line at: http://www.coastalradio.ca/about/listen-live/

Paul MacDougall is a writer and playwright, and very active in Cape Breton’s literary. He is the author of Distinction Earned: Cape Breton’s Boxing Legends 1946-1970 (CBU Press 2010).

We missed The Good Sentence on The Coast 89.7 Sunday evening (6 p.m., November 15, 2015), when host Paul MacDougall… Continue»

“A convincing argument”: review

Posted by Mike Hunter on

“…forgotten history, not vast riches, is the greatest treasure to be found on Oak Island,” says a Halifax Chronicle Herald story (November 16, 2015) on Joy Steele’s The Oak Island Mystery, Solved.

“In her new book … the Sydney author delivers a convincing argument for strange discoveries and happenings…” it continues.

Right. That’s why CBU Press considers “solved” to be less a subtitle, more of a statement.

Without going into too much detail here, Joy Steele’s lengthy research situates Oak Island’s history of 18th-century global trade and politics, resulting in an intriguing account of the island’s real treasure: a seldom-explored aspect of maritime industry history.

You can link to the Herald’s full story here.

“…forgotten history, not vast riches, is the greatest treasure to be found on Oak Island,” says a Halifax Chronicle Herald… Continue»

Michael Newton interview with BBC Radio nan Gàidheal

Posted by Mike Hunter on November 5, 2015

(Nov. 5) Award-winning Gaelic scholar Michael Newton was recently interviewed by Coinneach MacÌomhair (Kenny MacIvor), a long-time supporter of CBU Press, on his BBC Gaelic radio program. The focus was on Michael’s latest effort, Seanchaidh na Coille / The Memory-Keeper of the Forest: Anthology of Scottish-Gaelic Literature of Canada.

The program has been archived and, if you have the Gaelic, you can link to it here (Michael Newton’s interview begins at about 14:20 min): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06mzdtp

(Nov. 5) Award-winning Gaelic scholar Michael Newton was recently interviewed by Coinneach MacÌomhair (Kenny MacIvor), a long-time supporter of CBU Press, on… Continue»

“Old Trout” exhibit opens Friday – book to follow

Posted by Mike Hunter on October 29, 2015

A Cape Breton University Art Gallery exhibit celebrating the satirical comic book series, Old Trout Funnies, opens October 30 and runs to the end of January.

Paul “Moose” MacKinnon, a native of Sydney Mines, Cape Breton, initially created Old Trout Funnies as a student project for a commercial design course. It was a synthesis of the underground comics tradition of the late 1960s and 1970s and an Eastern Canadian self-deprecating sense of humour. It soon morphed into something far greater, including the genesis of the satirical Cape Breton Liberation Army.

Curated by CBU folklore professor Ian Brodie, the exhibit shows original materials from the archives of the Beaton Institute, copies of the original comics, MacKinnon’s sketchbooks and various Cape Breton Liberation Army calendars. Opening reception of the exhibit takes place Friday (Oct. 30) 6-8 p.m.

In November, CBU Press will launch Old Trout Funnies: The Comic Origins of the Cape Breton Liberation Army, by Ian Brodie and Paul “Moose” MacKinnon.

Link to a Cape Breton Post article on the exhibit here.

A Cape Breton University Art Gallery exhibit celebrating the satirical comic book series, Old Trout Funnies, opens October 30 and… Continue»