Word on the Street 2014: Kitchener, Toronto, Halifax

In addition to the two western communities promoted earlier, Word On The Street, the annual celebration of literacy and the written word, will take place in Kitchener, Toronto and Halifax. 

Below, I've outlined the basics about the Kitchener, Toronto and Halifax WOTS, including listing of children's and young adult authors and illustrators scheduled to appear.  Check the website of the specific WOTS to determine how each author will participate in Word On The Street. Regardless, the list of youngCanLit authors and illustrators is mind-blowing! I truly hope you are near enough to attend one of these festivals.  Go YoungCanLit!

    WOTS      WOTS     WOTS      WOTS     WOTS     WOTS   

Kitchener

http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/kitchener

Date:     Saturday, September 20, 2014

Time:     11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Location:    Kitchener City Hall

YoungCanLit writers/illustrators scheduled:

• Lesley Livingston, children's and YA author of Wondrous Strange, Descendant, Now and for Never and How to Curse in Hieroglyphics

• Caroline Pignat, children's and YA author of Unspeakable, Egghead, and Greener Grass

• Eve Silver, YA author of Rush and Push

WOTS     WOTS     WOTS     WOTS     WOTS     WOTS

Toronto

http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/toronto

Date:    Sunday September 21, 2014

Times:    11 am - 6 pm

Location:    Queen's Park Circle

YoungCanLit writers/illustrators scheduled:

• Helaine Becker, children's and middle-grade fiction and non-fiction author of upcoming Dirk Daring Secret Agent,  A Porcupine in a Pine Tree, How to Survive Absolutely Everything, and Ode to Underwear

• Andrea Beck, author-illustrator of Goodnight, Canada, Pierre in the Air!, and the Elliot Moose series

• William Bell, author of YA books Fanatics, Stones, Zack and Only in the Movies

• Sangeeta Bhadra, author of upcoming picture book Sam's Pet Temper

• Megan Crewe, YA author of upcoming Earth & Sky, and dystopian The Worlds We Make, The Way We Fall and The Lives We Lost

• Laura Croza, picture book author of From There to Here and I Know Here

• Claudia Dávila, author-illustrator of Super Red Riding Hood and graphic novel Luz Sees the Light, and illustrator of Viminy Crow's Comic Book

• Rachelle Delaney, author of The Circus Dogs of Prague and The Metro Dogs of Moscow

• Cary Fagan, children's fiction author of The Show to End All Shows, I Wish I Could Draw, Oy Feh So?, Mr. Zinger's Hat and The Fortress of Kaspar Snit

• Gail Gallant, author of YA Apparition

• Jennifer Gold, author of YA Soldier Doll

• Matt James, illustrator of Northwest Passage, From There to Here, and I Know Here

• Lynne Kositsky, YA author of upcoming With Fearful Bravery, The Plagues of Kondor, and Minerva's Voyage

• Julie Kraulis, picture book author and illustrator of Whimsy's Heavy Things

• Kat Kruger, author of paranormal YA The Night is Found, The Night Has Teeth, and The Night Has Claws

• Lucy Leiderman, author of YA fantasy Lives of Kings and Lives of Magic

• Lesley Livingston, author of Now and For Never, Descendant, Wondrous Strange, and co-author of How to Curse in Hieroglyphics and upcoming The Haunting of Heck House

• Jonathan Llyr, co-author of How to Curse in Hieroglyphics and upcoming The Haunting of Heck House

• Elizabeth Macleod, children's non-fiction author of Bunny the Brave War Horse, Why Do Horses Have Manes?, A History of Just About Everything and Bones Never Lie: How Forensics Helps Solve History's Mysteries

• Brian McLachlin, comic creator of Alex & Charlie

• Angela Misri, YA mystery author of Jewel of the Thames

• Melanie Mosher, picture book author of Fire Pie Trout

• Kenneth Oppel, author of The Boundless, Such Wicked Intent, This Dark Endeavour, Silverwing, Airborn

• Stella Parthenious Grasso, children's author of 101 Creepy Canadian Jokes and There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Puck

• Karen Patkau, illustrator of picture books A Good Trade and One Watermelon Seed, and author-illustrator of non-fiction books Who Needs a Reef?: A Coral Ecosystem and Creatures Great and Small

• Shane Peacock, author of Double You, Last Message and The Boy Sherlock Holmes series

• Caroline Pignat, author of Speakable, Egghead, and Greener Grass

• Emily Pohl-Weary, author of YA Not Your Ordinary Wolf-Girl

• Robert Priest, YA author of The Paper Sword and The Old Pirate of Central Park

• Michael Redhill, author of Saving Houdini 

• Debbie Ridpath Ohi, illustrator of Naked! and I'm Bored

• Richard Scarsbrook, YA author of The Monkey Chronicles and Nothing Man and the Purple Zero

• Richard Scrimger, author of upcoming The Wolf and Me, Zomboy, Ink Me, co-author of Viminy Crowe's Comic Book

• Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, children's author of Dance of the Banished, The Best Gifts, Underground Soldier, and Making Bombs for Hitler

• Ted Staunton, children's and YA fiction author of upcoming Coda, Jump Cut, Who I'm Not and Acting Up

• Joel A. Sutherland, author of scary story collection Haunted Canada 4: More True Tales of Terrors

• Suzanne Sutherland, author of YA When We Were Good, and Something Wiki

• David Weale, picture book author of Doors in the Air, Three Tall Trees and True Meaning of Crumbfest

WOTS     WOTS     WOTS     WOTS     WOTS 

Halifax

http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/halifax

Date:     Sunday September 21, 2014

Time:    11 am - 5 pm

Location:    Halifax waterfront, around the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic

YoungCanLit writers/illustrators scheduled:

• David Atkinson, children's author of upcoming Wereduck

• Jill Barber, singer-author of Music is For Everyone

• Janet E. Cameron, YA author of  Cinnamon Toast and the End of the World

• Lesley Choyce, YA author of upcoming Into the Wasteland, Jeremy Stone, Crash and Rat

• George Elliott Clarke, poet-author of Lasso the Wind: Aurelia's Verses and Other Poems 

• Jan L. Coates, author of Rocket Man, The Power of Harmony

• Lennise Gallant, songwriter-author of Peter's Dream and A Day With You in Paradise

• Jacqueline Halsey, author of Bluenose Adventure

• Lisa Harrington, YA author of Twisted and Live to Tell

• Faith Erin Hicks, graphic artist of The Sound of Thunder and graphic novelist of Friends with Boys

• Kate Inglis, children's author of Flight of the Griffons and The Dread Crew: Pirates of the Backwoods

• Jessica Scott Kerrin, children's author of The Spotted Dog Last Seen

• Meghan Marentette, children's author of The Stowaways

• George Murray, author-illustrator of Wow Wow and Haw Haw

• Neil Pasricha, author of The Book of Awesome
  

• Natalie Corbett Sampson, author of young adult romance Game Plan

WOTS     WOTS     WOTS     WOTS     WOTS     WOTS

If there are any errors in this posting, they are completely my own. Please check the Word On The Street websites provided to confirm details.

Word on the Street 2014: Lethbridge, Saskatoon

Across Canada, five communities are planning their WOTS days.  If you see "WOTS" in Twitter, Twitterers are talking about Word On The Street, an annual celebration of literacy and the written word.  Usually held in late September, readers and writers come together to share their love of books and magazines, participate in workshops, readings, and check out the CanLit book buyer's nirvana of marketplaces. 

Details about WOTS in Lethbridge and Saskatoon follow here, with a listing of youngCanLit authors who are scheduled to attend.  I'll post about the other three WOTS directly.

Lethbridge

http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/lethbridge 

Date:   Sunday September 21, 2014

Time:   11 am - 5 pm

Location:  Main Library at 5th Ave. S. and 8th St. S.

YoungCanLit writers/illustrators scheduled:

• Karen Bass, author of Graffiti Knight and Drummer Girl

• Erin Bow, children's author of Sorrow's Knot and Plain Kate

• Jacqueline Guest, children's author of Ghost Messages, Outcast of River Falls and Belle of Batoche

• Carrie Mac, author of young adult The Opposite of Tidy, The Gryphon Project and The Droughtlanders

• Michelle Mulder, fiction and non-fiction author of Every Last Drop: Bringing Clean Water Home, Not a Chance and Out of the Box

• Ruth Ohi, author and illustrator of Fox and Squirrel, Kenta and the Big Wave, and Chicken Pig Cow

• Morgan Rhodes, author of young adult fantasy Falling Kingdoms and Rebel Spring

• Martin Springett, author of illustrated non-fiction Kate and Pippin: An Unlikely Love Story

WOTS     WOTS     WOTS     WOTS     WOTS     WOTS

Saskatoon

http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/saskatoon

Date:    Sunday September 21, 2014

Time:    11 am - 5 pm 

Location:    Civic Square around City Hall, in front of Frances Morrison Library

YoungCanLit writers/illustrators scheduled:

• Kelley Armstrong, children's and YA author of Odin's Ravens, Loki's Wolves, The Gathering, The Awakening, The Calling, The Reckoning

• Brenda Baker, YA author of Camp Outlook

• Deborah Ellis, author of newest The Cat at the Wall, Looks Like Daylight, The Breadwinner, I Am a Taxi

• Beth Goobie, author of young adult The Throne, Jason's Why and Born Ugly

• Alice Kuipers, author of  upcoming children's book Violet and Victor Write the Best Ever Bookworm Book, and young adult 40 Things I Want to Tell You and The Worst Thing She Ever Did

• Marion Mutala, author of A Magical Ukrainian Christmas

• Martine Noel-Maw, auteur de Le 13e Souhait

• Barbara Reid, plasticine illustrator of new The Night Before Christmas; also Perfect Snow, Fox Walked Alone

• Shannon Richards, author of cookbook Monkeys in the Kitchen

• Carey Rigby-Wilcox, author of My Dad Couldn't Read

• Arthur Slade, children's and YA author of the Hunchback Assignments series, Dust, and Megiddo's Shadow

• Edward Willet, author of Song of the Sword and Twist of the Blade of The Shards of Excalibur fantasy series

WOTS     WOTS     WOTS     WOTS     WOTS     WOTS

If there are any errors in this posting, they are completely my own. Please check the Word On The Street websites provided to confirm details.

Cover Reveal: Earth & Sky

Young Adult author

Megan Crewe

whose

The Fallen World Trilogy

was reviewed here at CanLit for LittleCanadians

The Way We Fall

Hyperion Disney Group

308 pp.

Ages 12+

2011

The Lives We Lost

Disney Press

288 pp.

Ages 12+

2013

The Worlds We Make

Disney Hyperion

288 pp.

Ages 12+

2014

has revealed 

the cover of her newest young adult book

Earth & Sky

by Megan Crewe

Razorbill Canada

9780670068128
336 pp.
Ages 13+
Release date: October 28, 2014

Here is a blurb about the book, as shared on YA Books Central:

Seventeen year old Skylar has always been haunted by the fleeting yet powerful feelings that something around her has gone wrong. Those impressions have never seemed to reflect anything real, and have only earned her stares and whispers behind her back. But after she meets a mysterious boy named Win, she learns an unsettling truth: We are not alone on Earth. In fact, visitors from beyond the stars are manipulating our planet and the essential fabric of our world; life as we know it is starting to unravel. And Skylar - and her heightened awareness - just may be the key to our salvation.

Giveaway too!

If you go to YA Book Central, where the cover was first revealed, 

there is a giveaway for Canadian and US readers here.

Good luck!

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.

Me & Mr. Bell

by Philip Roy

Cape Breton University Press

978-1-927492-55-0 (pb)

978-1-927492-57-4 (eBook)

140 pp.

Ages 9-13

2013

For Alexander Graham Bell, his vacation home at Baddeck, Cape Breton is his retreat and inspiration for his many ideas.  For the residents of Baddeck in 1908, Bell is the smartest man in the world and worthy of their awe and respect for his privacy and that of his family. Not surprising that everyone regularly shows up to welcome the family when they return and to witness any demonstrations the great man chooses to share publicly. Sadly, ten-year-old Eddie MacDonald who still cannot read or write bungles a message about the Bells’ return time and angers his father so much that the man deems Eddie only good enough to be a farmer and nothing else.  Chastened, Eddie accepts himself as the “learning cripple” his family and teacher believe him to be, even introducing himself as “Nobody” when he accidentally meets the famous Alexander Graham Bell.

Though no one believes that the boy has met the great man, Eddie begins to see Bell more regularly, even being invited to Bell’s home, meeting Helen Keller, and receiving mail from the man when away.  With a few revelations and much determination, Eddie learns to see himself and others in a new light, courtesy of his friendship with the elusive inventor.

In a straightforward but rich story, author Philip Roy intertwines the lives of a brilliant innovator with an unassuming boy, emphasizing their common bonds and the opportunities that can be lost when judgements override all else.

For teachers who are always looking for great historical fiction, especially for the middle grades, I would enthusiastically recommend Me & Mr. Bell.  By integrating information about a great scientist and Helen Keller (there's biographic tie-ins here) with the history of flight (another curriculum topic), simple machines and innovation, the geography of Nova Scotia, and character education (determination, perseverance and imagination), Me & Mr. Bell has it all, and at an appropriate reading level.  And it's youngCanLit which we should be supporting in all our book choices.  Perfect package for everyone!

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch: Author interview for Dance of the Banished

Dance of the Banished

by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Pajama Press

978-1- 927485-65-1

288 pp.

Ages 12+

August 22, 2014

With the official release of

Dance of the Banished 

yesterday 

award-winning youngCanLit author

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

graciously agreed to answer a few questions
for CanLit for LittleCanadians about her new book.

I'm pleased to share that interview with you here. 

  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  

HK: Your notes at the conclusion of Dance of the Banished explain how you heard of the story and your research. Why did you choose to pursue the story?

MFS: I couldn't not write this book.  It touched on so many things that I had already written about, but from an entirely different angle. As well, the First World War internment barely registers with most Canadians, and those few who do know about the internment have only ever heard about it from a Ukrainian point of view. Here was a story originating in my own home town about a mysterious group of internees that no one seemed to know much about. I like to think of myself as a librarian-detective and this one took all of my skills to piece together.

The other part of this story that intrigued me is that within Canada, Ukrainians were the minority and were persecuted in WWI, but in the internment camps, they were the majority. As a person of Ukrainian heritage myself, that flipping of the dynamic intrigued me and I wanted to explore it.



HK: The culture of the Alevi Kurds is so distinct. Have you had any opportunities to witness the semah and experience their traditions first-hand?

MFS: I have not witnessed a semah first hand yet. I've seen videos only, and descriptions in documents. There are very few Alevi Kurds in Canada and it took me a long time to gain the trust of people in that community.  I began my research for this book in 2009 but it wasn't until last year that I was finally able to connect with Suleyman Guven, who is an Alevi Kurd and also the editor of a Kurdish-Alevi-Turkish newspaper here in Canada. He was incredibly patient and very generous with his time. He corrected my scenes to ensure accuracy and gave me great insight into Ali's character. Without Suleyman's assistance, I would have been up a creek.



HK: The plight of the Alevi Kurds reminds me that throughout history and around the world, even now with the Yazidis in Iraq, a group of people has been persecuted by the majority, and there were those who showed compassion and tried to right the wrong as the consul does in your story. Do you consider them and him heroes?

MFS: The Yazidis and Alevis have very much in common. Both are very old religions that over time have taken on some aspects of the religions they come into contact with. Both groups have suffered genocide for their beliefs, and both groups have helped others who have also been persecuted.

Leslie Davis was the American Consul in Harput during WWI and the Armenian Genocide. He was most definitely heroic and I have been so fascinated by this man that he has walked into two of my novels, Dance of the Banished, and also Daughter of War. Leslie Davis had a very modern view that all people are equal and he went to extraordinary lengths to save as many people as he could.

I especially admire the Alevi Kurds of the Dersim who saved 40,000 Armenians from the genocide, openly defying the Young Turk government, and risking their own lives in the process. I also admire the director of the Red Crescent hospital in Harput who saved nearly a thousand Armenians, and the vali (governor) who turned a blind eye as the Dersim Kurds rescued the Armenians. I also admire the Muslim women who passed out bread to emaciated Armenians in the caravans, and others who rescued children.



HK: Your book provides readers with an opportunity to learn about little known historical events and those poorly understood.  While I loved learning more about this story, are you ever concerned about those who might condemn your efforts as partisan, biased or propaganda, happier to not have the story told?

MFS: When I began writing this novel I had no idea what the story would ultimately be and I guess that makes me a bad propagandist, but I write about genocide and war from the victim's point of view. Since the Republic of Turkey still does not acknowledge that the Armenian Genocide happened, yes, some people will be angry with this book.



HK: The love story in Dance of the Banished provides one foundation upon which Ali and Zeynep's determination and courage are based, yet for most of the book, they are at opposite ends of the world. What sort of challenges did this give you, as the writer?

MFS: I didn't come upon the format of writing the novel like two intertwined journals until I had already written and scrapped an entire novel length draft. In that initial version I had tried to use the same narrative technique that I used for Daughter of War, which was third person intimate, mostly from two key characters' points of view. It did not work. Ali and Zeynep were both speaking to me in first person, and they were not interacting with each other because they were apart. The challenge here was how to intertwine the two stories, how to keep the love story intimate, when Ali and Zeynep are an ocean apart.

My editor Ann Featherstone posed the idea of two journals. Once I got my head around it, I realized how well it would work -- especially because both Ali and Zeynep were bursting out of my brain in first person anyway. After spending three years on that first tortured draft, I hit delete and started anew. This one blasted out of me in about five fevered months -- the first draft of it, that is! Subsequent drafts were slower.

  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  

My sincere thanks to Marsha Skrypuch for her honest and insightful comments into the writing of Dance of the Banished and to her publicist, Kim Therriault, for arranging this Q & A.  Many thanks.

Dance of the Banished

by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Pajama Press

978-1- 927485-65-1

288 pp.

Ages 12+

August 22, 2014

Dance of the Banished is an old tale.  It's the familiar love story in which two young people are separated, here by family, distance and war.  But, sadly, it's also the story of prejudice, fear, and injustice, and the subsequent torment that intensifies that separation.  Dance of the Banished may be an old story in its foundations, but its context is wholly unique, expertly researched and penned by award-winning author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch.

Our story begins in 1913 Anatolia (now essentially the republic of Turkey), a nation of Christians, Muslims and Alevis, an ancient group with a unique Islamist belief system.  When Ali, a young Alevi Kurd, unexpectedly immigrates to Canada with his married brother Yousef, he leaves behind his betrothed, Zeynep, another Alevi Kurd, giving her a notebook in which to write him until they are together again.  Having planned to go together once they'd saved enough money, Zeynep knows Ali's mother has orchestrated this separation, and refuses to wait for him, though she gifts him with her blue evil eye necklace to keep him safe.

Though both Ali and Zeynep record their experiences in their matching notebooks, providing the basis for this book, neither is communicating directly with the other.  In fact, hearing nothing from Ali and no longer feeling a part of her community, Zeynep follows visiting Protestant missionaries to the city of Harput, hopeful of improving her lot in life, including getting an education.  Though the lifestyles of the Christian North Americans and Armenians in their Western clothing and the Turkish Muslims differ significantly from her own, Zeynep appreciates this diversity, learning and helping the Reverend John Emmonds and his wife Lenore at the hospital and at their simple home.

With much strife in Europe at the beginning of 1914, the Ottoman army is becoming more oppressive to the Alevis and the Armenians, raiding villages, taking whatever they choose, and finally, when Austria-Hungary and Germany declare war on Russia, threatening death to those who attempt to escape the draft or those who help them.  Within a few months, the Alevis are starving, and the Armenians are being murdered en masse.  Zeynep watches and listens, documenting all she witnesses in her notebook; in fact, she begins recording everything for the American Consul, Leslie Davis, who plays a significant role in saving the lives of many.

Meanwhile, with the declaration of war in 1914, Ali and Yousef, like all foreigners, are let go from their jobs in Brantford Ontario. Rounded up as Turkish "enemy aliens", Ali and Yousef, along with many others, are shipped to the wilderness of Kapuskasing.  Still in a minority, the Alevis are forced to cut majestic trees, contrary to Alevism, and endure the never-ending discrimination, even within the camp.

On different sides of the world, Zeynep and Ali continue to honour their beliefs and heritage, though choosing to think beyond themselves, all the while wondering about the other, their safety and potential for reunion.

Spotlighting little known historical injustices has become a trademark for Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, her desire to enlighten and disclose indicative of her own integrity and search for equity.  From the Armenian genocide (The Hunger, 2001; Nobody's Child, 2003; Daughter of War, 2008), to the Ukrainian Holodomyr (Enough, 2004), the treatment of Ukrainians during World War II (Stolen Child, 2010; Making Bombs for Hitler, 2012; Underground Soldier, 2014) and the Vietnamese War orphans (Last Airlift, 2012; One Step at a Time, 2013), Marsha Skrypuch ensures that transgressions, even atrocities, from our histories are not forgotten.

By creating legitimate characters in her fiction who bring varied and personal perspectives to the situations experienced and who speak through their questions and confusions and convictions, Marsha Skrypuch can tell the whole story, not just the public one.  In Dance of the Banished, we listen to Alevi Kurds and Armenians in both Canada and Anatolia, to those with family and those without, to the Turks shamed by the actions of their government and those complicit in the horrors, to Canadians who stood guard at internment camps and those who recognized the discrimination for what it was. Consequently, her readers submit to understanding the big picture, not necessarily the pretty, sanitized one.  And we are grateful for that opportunity and bold honesty.

Dance of the Banished reveals truths from Canada and Asia Minor that some may prefer to leave forgotten or hidden, but Marsha Skrypuch's words and heart tell us that we can trust her to tell it right and well, as she does so eloquently here and always.

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Today, across Canada, one hundred commemorative plaques are being unveiled to recognize the internment of "enemy aliens" such as Ali in camps across Canada.  Check the map of all sites at the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation here to attend one close to your location at 11 a.m. local time.

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Check back tomorrow for a guest post by author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch who answers questions about Dance of the Banished for readers of CanLit for LittleCanadians.