Author Kat Kruger: Book Tour (Toronto)

Young adult author

Kat Kruger 

whose supernatural series, The Magdeburg Trilogy, 

I've completely reviewed and recommended, 

is hitting the road (well, at least into the Toronto area) 

to promote the series' final volume, The Night is Found.  

You've got five wonderful opportunities 

to meet and learn from the popular author of

  The Night has Teeth, The Night has Claws and The Night is Found, 

all from Fierce Ink Press.

Kat Kruger will be at the following locations and times:

ChiSeries Reading
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
8-10 p.m.
The Round Venue
152 Augusta Avenue (Kensington Market area)

The Night is Found book signing
Thursday, September 18, 2014
12-4 p.m.
Indigo at Bay and Bloor


Q & A with Kat Kruger
Thursday, September 18, 2014
7-8 p.m.
Toronto Public Library, Spadina Branch
10 Spadina Road

Writing Workshop with Angela Misri, author of Jewel of the Thames
Friday, September 19, 2014  
1-3 p.m.
Riverdale Library
370 Broadview Avenue

Word on the Street (Toronto): Reading and book signing
Sunday, September 21, 2014
11:45 a.m.
Queen's Park Circle

Word on the Street (Toronto): Wattpad Meet and Greet 
Sunday, September 21, 2014 
3 p.m.
Queen's Park Circle

Say hello from me!

Cheryl Rainfield: Author Event (Scarborough)

Join

award-winning YA author

of

Scars

Westside Books

248 pp.

Ages 14+

2010 

Hunted

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

316 pp.

Ages 13+

2012

Reviewed here

Stained

HMH Books for Young Readers

304 pp.

Ages 14+

2013

Reviewed here

Cheryl Rainfield

at 

Chapters Scarborough 

on 

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Come and learn 

• why Cheryl Rainfield wrote Stained 

• how she draws on her trauma experience to write her books, and

• why strong girl characters are needed.

Then, get signed copies of Stained, Scars, and Hunted, 

and ask Cheryl questions.

Eden Mills Writers' Festival (Ontario)

 Sunday, September 15, 2013 (noon-6 p.m.)

Village of Eden Mills (east of Guelph, Ontario)

(see details at the EMWF website for dates and times of additional events)

The 25th anniversary of the Eden Mills Writers' Festival is fast approaching!  It's been 25 years since Governor General award-winning writer Leon Rooke and his wife Constance Rooke invited an illustrious set of authors, including Michael Ondaatje, Rohinton Mistry and Jane Urquart, to help launch his newest book.  Over 300 people showed up that day to hear authors read, and twenty-five years later, thousands now participate in the outdoor festival that brings together authors, readers, artists, poets, and performers for a glorious September weekend of words.

The EMWF has grown to include additional workshops, presentations and concerts prior to the Sunday event and full details of this year's schedule can be found at its new website at http://edenmillswritersfestival.ca/. But, my focus here is to showcase the impressive line up of children's and young adult authors that are scheduled to visit. Take advantage of this early notice to book September 15 to attend, particularly as several authors will be releasing new books at the Eden Mills Writers' Festival before available in stores! Copies of many books will be on sale on-site courtesy of The Bookshelf (Guelph) and it's a perfect opportunity to get your books signed and maybe get your photo taken with a youngCanLit author and/or illustrator.

To date, these are the authors and/or illustrators (with covers of some of their most recent and important works) who CanLit for LittleCanadians fans may be interested in seeing. 

Deborah Ellis

Sheree Fitch

Rachel Hartman

Darren Hynes

Lesley Livingston

Kat Kruger

 Philip Roy

 
 
Anne Laurel Carter

 
Aubrey Davis

Sheree Fitch 

Monica Kulling

Jennifer Lanthier

Andrew “Too Tall” Queen

Frank Viva

Werner Zimmermann

Come for the words

and

enjoy the Eden Mills Writers' Festival!

Lesley Livingston's Wondrous Strange series

Wondrous Strange

Written by Lesley Livingston

HarperCollins

978-1-55468-273-7

327 pp.

Ages 12+

2008

Darklight

Written by Lesley Livingston

HarperCollins

978-1-55468-345-1

312 pp.

Ages 12+

2010

Reviewed from audiobook
Harper Audio
ASIN: B00309TZ04
Narrated by Lesley Livingston
6 hours, 58 minutes
2009

Tempestuous

Written by Lesley Livingston

HarperCollins

978-1–55468-455-7

361 pp.

Ages 12+

2011

Reviewed from audiobook
Harper Audio
ASIN: B004G81VZ0
Narrated by Lesley Livingston
8 hours, 39 minutes
2010

 

Lesley Livingston burst onto the YA literary scene in 2008 with her first novel, Wondrous Strange, which quickly won the accolades of readers and juries, winning the 2009 Canadian Library Association's Young Adult Book of the Year Award. Set in New York City, the Wondrous Strange series is an urban fantasy with the contemporary mortal world crossing paths with the hidden Faerie worlds, often as a consequence of the popular vices of revenge, greed and power.

Kelley Winslow is a young actor enjoying her first foray into professional theatre, performing in the Avalon Players' production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream. But, a chance and memorable meeting with the attractive Sonny Flannery, a Janus Guard, defender of the infrequently-opened gates between the Otherworld and the mortal realm, and Kelley's rescue of a horse from the lake in Central Park bring the Faerie world from the fiction of Kelley's script into her reality.

While Kelley attempts to explain and rid herself of the horse that magically re-appears in the apartment she shares with the beautiful Tyff, Sonny discovers evidence of a kelpie (magic-infused horse that drowns its victims) and ultimately the secret of Kelley's heritage. Through skirmishes with all manner of mortal and Otherworldly creatures, Sonny must convince Kelley of the reality and dangers of the Faerie Realm and keep her safe, while preventing the re-awakening of the deadly Wild Hunt.

In the second book, Darklight, the two young people, so desperately in love, are now forced to live in two different worlds: Sonny, still under orders from King Auberon, must destroy any remnants of the Wild Hunt in the Otherworld, while Kelley continues to perform with the Avalon Players, this time in Romeo and Juliet. After another Janus Guard, the Fennrys Wolf, tries to save Kelley from another attack in Central Park, they tumble into the Otherworld. But Kelley and Sonny's reunion is short-lived after Bob, the boucca, requests that Kelley visit the ailing Auberon and she refuses. Sonny, dealing with the jealous images Queen Mabh has shown him of Kelley with Fennrys, cannot comprehend Kelley's refusal, and seeks out Auberon himself. Happily, Kelley and Sonny are able to re-establish their love when they work together to thwart the leprechauns and the Green Magick, while attempting to save Auberon.

Sadly, Tempestuous begins with Sonny overhearing Kelley telling Tyff that she does not love him. Knowing that Faeries cannot lie, and not knowing Kelley's intentions (to keep him safe), Sonny disappears among the Lost Fae. But the murderous actions of rogue Janus Guards bring Sonny out of seclusion to fight, as does Kelley, those who would trade loyalty for power. As Shakespeare's The Tempest, the Avalon Players' current production, seems recreated in their lives, Sonny and Kelley do all they can to save each other and those for whom they care, mortal and Fae alike.

Though I've tried to give very little away regarding the plots of each book (not wanting to allude to culminating events that are key in the subsequent books), I can tell you that each book in the Wondrous Strange series has Lesley Livingston's signature wit, honest relationships, and sophisticated plotting, all embedded in the Old English folklore and the Bard's comedies and tragedies. For a special treat, listen to an audiobook of at least one volume of this series, as nothing can compare to author-actor Lesley Livingston reading her own work. Not only can she manipulate her voice to create very distinct characters, from young modern-day Kelley, to strong and loyal Sonny (with his disarming romantic side), mischievous Bob, regal Auberon, and self-absorbed Tyff, her sense of timing in the delivery of the clever repartee is impeccable. And the narrative, whether read or heard, is rife with the magick of a wordsmith who is able to forge rich tales that are emotionally engaging (whether to cheer for Kelley and Sonny's growing love, or despise the manipulations of the Faerie kings and queens) and edge-of-your-seat riveting (with chase scenes, deadly altercations, various assaults, and surprise revelations). The series may be called Wondrous Strange but it is more akin to Uniquely Wonderful.

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BOOK TRAILERS

I've put all the book trailers, uploaded by harperteen to YouTube, for the Wondrous Strange series on one page HERE for readers' perusal.

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AUTHOR TALKS

The following three videos (Lesley Livingston - On the Fly I, II and III), while not book trailers, offer a glimpse into Lesley Livingston's choices for her setting, characters and plot in the Wondrous Strange series.

Uploaded by HarperCollinsCanada on Jan 26, 2009 to YouTube

Uploaded by HarperCollinsCanada on Jan 26, 2009 to YouTube

Uploaded by HarperCollinsCanada on Jan 26, 2009 to YouTube

Hugh Brewster presents ... Titanic stories

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Titanic & History enthusiasts of all ages:

Join 

author of award-winning Canadian historical fiction and non-fiction for young people and adults

  Hugh Brewster

who presents his research, writing and stories

to commemorate

 the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic 

March 24, 2012
Titanic High Tea, with book talk and signing
Creemore Train Station, Creemore, Ontario
4:30 p.m.

March 29, 2012
Titanic dinner and book launch  
for RMS Titanic: Gilded Lives on a Fatal Voyage
Grano Ristorante, Toronto
6:30 p.m.

March 30, 2012

Titanic talk and book signing 

Royal Ontario Museum,  Toronto

7:15 p.m. 

April 4, 2012 
A Titanic Scandal
An illustrated talk about Lady Duff Gordon, a Guelph girl who became a fashion designer and survived the sinking of the Titanic
Guelph Civic Museum,  Guelph, Ontario
7:00 p.m.


For details about additional events in Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Massachusetts, and the U.K., see Hugh Brewster's schedule of presentations here.

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