The Department of English & Creative Writing at the University of Windsor is hosting a Poetry-Party Triple-Launch extravaganza, presented with the fine folks at Talonbooks, Juniper Books, and us here at New Star.

Gustave Morin (Gongo Dodan), Danielle LaFrance (#postdildo), and Anahite Jamali Rad (still) will be reading at Chapter Two Brewing Company in Windsor on November 25. Treats and drinks provided, along with a poetry display from Juniper Books.

WHEN: Friday November 25 7:00PM
WHERE: Chapter Two Brewing Company
2345 Edna St, Windsor ON

GUSTAVE MORIN has spent a life carving out his bold and courageous body of work by mounting a singular investigation into the countless idiosyncrasies through which the poetic impulse may be made manifest. This work has found purchase in a host of diverse titles which, taken as a whole, make him one of the more accomplished literary innovators in recent memory, committed to the opposite of whatever the official culture would presume to endorse.

Following the would-be poetics mapped in JUST LIKE I LIKE IT (Talonbooks, 2019) DANIELLE LAFRANCE arrives at thinking and acting from a position where illusions are just that, illusions, and can be destroyed. She authors Friendly + Fire (Talonbooks, 2016) and species branding (Capilano University Editions, 2010). Their fourth poetry project #postdildo thinks and writes through the limitlessness and limitations of sexuality, communication, and desire. They try to live and hate to rent and work on the stolen lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ peoples.

ANAHITA JAMALI RAD is a text-forward artist currently living, working, and making on the traditional territory of the Anishnaabeg people of the Three Fires Confederacy (Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odama). Jamali Rad’s work is founded on techno-materialist histories of dominant ideologies, class struggle, desire, place, displacement, silence, negation, and the void. They run House House Press with David Bradford and their most recent collections of poetry are still (Talonbooks, 2021) and for love and autonomy (Talonbooks, 2016). For more see anahitajamalirad.com.

The weather is finally changing and our fall books have arrived! Check below for where to find them!

GUILTY OF EVERYTHING – JOHN ARMSTRONG

John Armstrong, Buck Cherry of The Modernettes, had an unexcelled view of Vancouver’s punk music scene from its discordant late 1970s birth in the city’s suburbs through its glorious peak and heroin-addled decline. A natural story teller armed with with a sharp eye and a caustic keyboard, Armstrong brings the scene to life in this classic account, now digitally remastered from the original recording, and restores some never-before-seen scenes in Guilty of Everything.

Find Guilty of Everything at your local bookstore:
:: Massy Books – Vancouver, BC
:: Black Bond Books – Vancouver, BC
:: 32 Books – North Vancouver, BC
:: Volume One Bookstore – Duncan, BC
:: Another Story – Toronto, ON
:: Type Books – Toronto, ON
:: Book City – Toronto, ON (Queen St E, Danforth Ave, Bloor St W, & Yonge St)
:: Novel Idea – Kingston, ON
:: The Book Shelf – Guelph, ON
:: McNally Robinson – Winnipeg, MB & Saskatoon, SK
Online at:
:: Chapters Indigo
:: Amazon.ca
:: Amazon.com
:: Rakuten Kobo
:: Amazon Kindle

978155201914 :: $18.00 :: 136pp :: 5.5 x 8.5

THE SKY AND THE PATIO – DON GAYTON

The Sky and the Patio, a collection of 25 essays blending the personal with the ecological, reveals that there’s more to be told by a tree’s rings than just its age, more to be learned from the sockeye than a suitable wine pairing (though author and ecologist Don Gayton also offers his expertise there).

From ponderosa to cheatgrass, forest fires to turtle basking, and the intricacies of backyard viticulture, Gayton takes the lessons learned over a long career and sets them to paper with both a keen scientific eye and a careful, reverent pen.

The Sky and the Patio is available at:
:: Massy Books – Vancouver, BC
:: Munro’s Books – Victoria, BC
:: Mosaic Books – Kelowna, BC
:: Otter Books – Nelson, BC
:: Pages on Kensington – Calgary, AB
Online at:
:: Chapters Indigo
:: Amazon.ca
:: Amazon.com
:: Rakuten Kobo
:: Amazon Kindle

9781554201945 :: $18.00 :: 216 pages :: 5.5 x 8.5

Surprise! The ebook editions of our upcoming fall releases, The Sky and the Patio and Guilty of Everything are available now!

We’re a bit too excited to wait for the print books to trundle off the presses and across the country, so as a bonus for our digital readers, we’re releasing the ebooks early.

Don Gayton’s The Sky and the Patio blends the personal and the ecological in 25 fascinating essays portraying both the natural and human histories of his adopted Okanagan Valley homeland. While in the anniversary edition of Guilty of Everything, John Armstrong revives the glorious peak and heroin-addled decline of Vancouver’s iconic punk rock scene, now with never before seen scenes.

You can still get your hands on print copies of both of these great non-fiction titles when they hit the shelves on November 10, but if you have your eReader handy head to the links below to start reading now.

The Sky and the Patio:
Amazon Kindle
Rakuten Kobo

Guilty of Everything:
Amazon Kindle
Rakuten Kobo

Our friends at Biblioasis Bookshop are hosting a reading and (lost) launch for a few fantastic books!

Our very own Louis Cabri will be reading from Hungry Slingshots. Cabri’s most recent collection opens up the resonating chambers of constraints imposed by poetry conventions — most noticeably in the title sequence, “Hungry Sling Shots,” which hearkens to the French 17th century civil war and the widespread use of the triolet form — to make our oldest literary genre vibrate in new ways and in unexpectedly contemporary directions.

He’ll be joining Nicole Markotic with After Beowulf, a reinvigorated rendition of the original epic, and Susan Holbrook with Ink Earl, erasure poetry in an intriguing new form, both from Coach House Books.

Wednesday October 26
1520 Wyandotte St. E
7PM EST
Check out the full event details and RSVP here.

Catch Gary Barwin reading from Bird Arsonist at the Staircase Theatre in Hamilton next month alongside a lineup of fantastic readers for the Indie Reading Room series!

Presented by the Literary Press Group of Canada, the Indie Reading Room series is hosting four events across Canada. Check their social media for events in Vancouver, Edmonton, and St. John’s!

Also reading at the Hamilton event: Rod Carley, Kimia Eslah, Fareh Malik, C. I. Matthews, Radha S. Menon, Peggy Nash, Erin Pepler, Lorrie Potvin, and Janet Trull

WHEN:
November 1 – 6:00PM ET
WHERE:
The Staircase Theatre
27 Dundurn St N, Hamilton
Check the Facebook event here for updates!

AN EVENING WITH MARIE ANNHARTE BAKER

After a great run of summer events here on the west coast, Annharte will be reading from and discussing her latest collection of poetry, Miskwagoode, at an event with our good friends at McNally Robinson in Winnipeg, presented by Our Line in the Sand Manitoba in collaboration with the Winnipeg International Writers Festival for THIN AIR 2022.

Saturday October 1 – 7:00pm
McNally Robinson – Grant Park (in the Atrium) Winnipeg
Check out all the event details here.

The event will also be streaming live on YouTube if you’re not able to make it!

Watch the livestream below or here on McNally’s YouTube channel!

Don’t forget to check out the Winnipeg Writers Festival – running from September 20 through October 18 – you can catch a handful of exciting in-person events if you happen to be in Winnipeg. Not a local? Never fear! A hybrid program is on the books this year, register for the festival website today to check out a fantastic program of online events and content!

[ Image: McNally Robinson Booksellers ]

THE SKY AND THE PATIO – DON GAYTON

A forthcoming collection of essays from ecologist and writer Don Gayton is set to hit the shelves on November 10. The Sky and the Patio, a collection of 25 essays blending the personal with the ecological, reveals that there’s more to be told by a tree’s rings than just its age, more to be learned from the sockeye than a suitable wine pairing (though Gayton also offers his expertise there).

From ponderosa to cheatgrass, forest fires to turtle basking, and the intricacies of backyard viticulture, Gayton takes the lessons learned over a long career and sets them to paper with both a keen scientific eye and a careful, reverent pen.
—
DON GAYTON is the author of four previous books. His career, spanning five decades, includes working for the BC Ministry of Forests and Range, the Saskatchewan Department of Agriculture, the BC Ministry of Environment, the Lower Similkameen Indian Band, as well as numerous local governments and community organizations. He lives in Summerland, BC.

9781554201945 :: $18.00 :: 216 pages :: 5.5 x 8.5

—

GUILTY OF EVERYTHING – JOHN ARMSTRONG

John Armstrong, Buck Cherry of The Modernettes, had an unexcelled view of Vancouver’s punk music scene from its discordant late 1970s birth in the city’s suburbs through its glorious peak and heroin-addled decline. A natural story teller armed with with a sharp eye and a caustic keyboard, Armstrong brings the scene to life in this classic account, now digitally remastered from the original recording, and restores some never-before-seen scenes in Guilty of Everything.
—
JOHN ARMSTRONG is an award-winning journalist, writer and musician. He is the author of three books, Guilty of Everything (shortlisted for the BC Book Prize), Wages, and A Series of Dogs (longlisted for the Leacock Medal for Humour). After his early days as frontman Buck Cherry of The Modernettes, Armstrong began a 15-year long career as a journalist with the Vancouver Sun. He now lives with his family and dogs in Chilliwack, BC.

978155201914 :: $18.00 :: 136pp :: 5.5 x 8.5

We’re excited to announce New Star’s acquisition of Naked Defiance: A Comedy of Menace, the new novel by Vancouver writer Patrik Sampler.

Naked Defiance is the story of a turn-of-the-century radical art group and its charismatic leader, written by one of its members, Florian Moore (probably a pseudonym), and which lands on the desk of novelist / editor Patrik Sampler, tasked with preparing Moore’s manuscript for publication.

Unfolding as a report on an investigation into the death of the group’s leader Ganbold Mirzoyan while in police custody, Naked Defiance is a mystery about a series of public performances staged by the eponymous group, and the increasingly disturbing disruptions to which its own interventions become subjected.

Patrik Sampler is represented by Toronto-based TransAtlantic Literary Agency, whose Evan Brown arranged the deal. Transatlantic’s announcement can be found here.

A compelling story laced with dark social comedy, Naked Defiance is Sampler’s second novel, and will be available April 15, 2023. The Ocean Container, a dystopian eco-fiction, was published in 2017.

The somewhat delayed West Coast launch for Bird Arsonist, the phlogiston-enriched collaboration between Tom Prime and Gary Barwin released earlier in 2022, is finally happening this month, with events in Victoria (August 19) and Vancouver (August 20).

The Bird Arsonist launch will be a combined happening, enfolding Tom Prime’s Mouthfuls of Space (Anvil Press, October 2021) and (why not?) Gary Barwin’s 2015 Anvil release, I, Dr. Greenblat, Orthodontist, 251-1457.

VICTORIA – Friday August 19
6:30pm
The Spiral Cafe
418 Craigflower Rd
With a reading by Sara Cassidy and music by Novo Drom

VANCOUVER – Saturday August 20
7:00pm
The People’s Co-Op Bookstore
1391 Commercial Dr

[ Due to events beyond our control, we have been obliged to CANCEL this event. ]

Here at New Star Books we’re happy & excited to announce our first post-pandemic literary event, a six- or seven-poet group reading at the fabled ANZA Club, headlined by Annharte, whose new book Miskwagoode  launches a few days earlier at Massy Arts. Confirmed readers so far also include Roger Farr, Louis Cabri, and Mercedes Eng.

By “post-pandemic” we mean the onset of the pandemic, not that we imagine it’s over.  The ANZA Club is a pretty big room for even a group poetry event, so there should be enough space for you to keep your distance in, and plenty of empty seats in the back for the socially different.  Admission is FREE (though the fabled ANZA bar is not) and the program commences ca. 7 p.m. The ANZA Club finds itself at 3 West 8th Avenue, at Ontario St.

Some of our authors won’t be able to attend, but we also want to use the occasion to honour new books by Sharon Thesen and Janet Gallant, George Bowering, Gary Barwin and Tom Prime, and Gustave Morin. Their books will also be available at the ANZA.