Today is Family Literacy Day

Family Literacy Day is a national awareness initiative created by ABC Life Literacy Canada in 1999 and held annually on January 27 to raise awareness of the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. Their website has all kinds of materials and resources available to promote family literacy. Check them out!

Author Events at the 2016 OLA Superconference

The Dewey Divas & Dudes are looking forward to the OLA Superconference January 28th & 29th! 

Here's a summary of the author signings that will be happening at our booths during the trade show this year. Even if you can't make it to a signing, please drop by and say hello! 

You can also pick up our lists of new Dewey Diva picks for Winter & Spring/Summer and enter a draw for a great prize pack of books. 

We hope to see you there! 

 Thursday January 28th

10:00 AM: Kenneth Oppel, The Nest HarperCollins Canada- Booth 730/732

10:00 AM: Patricia Storms, The Ghosts Go Spooking

Scholastic Canada- Booth 211

10:30 AM: Allison Day, Whole Bowls Thomas Allen & Sons- Booth 318/320

11:00 AM: E. K. Johnston, A Thousand Nights Canadian Manda Group- Booth 217/219

11:00 AM: Barbara Reid, Read Me A Book and Sing a Song of Bedtime- Scholastic Canada- 211

12:00 PM: Don Cummer, Blood Oath

Scholastic Canada- Booth 211

12:30 PM: Joel A. Sutherland, Haunted Canada 5 Scholastic Canada- Booth 211

1:00 PM: Teresa Cascioli, M is for Money: The Storybook Vol. 1 Canadian Manda- Booth 217/219

1:00 PM: Lena Coakley, Worlds of Ink and Shadow HarperCollins Canada- Booth 730/732

1:00 PM: Kelley Armstrong, City of the Lost  Penguin Random House Canada- Booth 716-724
1:00 PM: Jennifer Mook-Sang, Speechless Scholastic Canada- Booth 211
1:00 PM: Toko Hosoya,  A, B, C Animals and 1, 2, 3 Sea Creatures Thomas Allen- Booth 318/320

2:00 PM: Terry Fallis, No Relation & Tanis Rideout, Above All Things Penguin Random House Canada- Booth 716-724
2:00 PM: David Skuy, Last Shot Scholastic Canada Booth 211
3:00 PM: Karma Brown,  The Choices We Make HarperCollins Canada- Booth 730/732

3:00 PM: Mahtab Narsimhan, Mission Mumbai Scholastic Canada- Booth 211

Friday January 29th

10:00 AM:  Evan Munday, Loyalist to a Fault: The Dead Kid Detective Agency #3 Canadian Manda Group- Booth 217/219

10:00 AM: Stella Partheniou Grasso, Five Busy Beavers Scholastic Canada- Booth 211
10:30 AM: Jennifer Robson , Moonlight Over Paris HarperCollins Canada- Booth 730/732

11:00 AM: Frank Viva, Young Charlotte, Filmmaker, Canadian Manda Group-Booth 217/219

11:30 AM: Helaine Becker, A Porcupine in a Pine Tree Scholastic Canada- Booth 211
11:30 AM: Caroline Fernandez, Boredom Busters and More Boredom Busters Thomas Allen & Sons- Booth 318/320
12:00 PM: Emil Sher, Young Man With Camera Scholastic Canada- Booth 211

12:30 PM: Amanda Sun, Heir To The Sky HarperCollins Canada- Booth 730/732
1:00 PM: Frieda Wishinsky, Survival: Shipwreck! Scholastic Canada- Booth 211
1:30 PM: David Carroll, Sight Unseen Scholastic Canada- Booth 211
2:00 PM: Leah Bobet, An Inheritance of Ashes Scholastic Canada Booth 211

The Gallery of Overlooked Books

Mark Medley did a very cool post this weekend on Nicky Drumbolis. He is a bookseller who has recently relocated to Thunder Bay with what is seemed to be one of the most interesting book collections in Canada. Check it out!

Chip Kidd on Designing Books

Chip Kidd is probably the best known book designer in North America. His TED Talk on book design his awesome. As he says the job of the book designer is to give form to content. He gives some great insight into his designing of some the biggest books out there...and it's pretty funny to boot.

The Sweet Sixteens

The Sweet Sixteens is a group of authors who write middle grade and teen fiction and will have their debut novels published this year. They are working together to promote their and each others books.
They are super active on FaceBook, the Twitter and all that other stuff. Their collective publishing output is pretty darn impressive.

Yang Named National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

This news has been everywhere and I think it is so cool, Gene Luen Yang has been named the US's National Ambassador for Young People's Literature; he is in great company: Kate DiCamillo and Jon Scieszka are two of the previous holders of this role. What an inspired choice! Naturally his work is amazing...this also shows how graphic novels are now a regular every day part of reading.

David Bowie's Formative Reading List

Very sad news about David Bowie. At the AGO's retrospective of his work they included a list of the books that influenced him. As you can imagine it is a wide ranging and eclectic list including The Brief  Wondrous Life of Oscar Woo, A Clockwork Orange and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

How awesome is this!!!!

I love George Elliott Clark! I don't know of a more passionate or hard working poet in Canada...when he gives a reading your hair literally stands on end! Mr. Clark has been named our new Poet Laureate...yee haa!!! Here is the Globe's take on it.

Bill Gates' Book Blog

In Sunday's NYT, there was a fun piece on Bill Gates' book blog.
His reading list is pretty awesome...there is some pretty heady stuff and a few laughs as well (aka Allie Brosh).

Happy New Year!

I hope you have had a fantastic break and caught up on a bunch of reading; I haven't done as much as I would like. I did read this excellent article about the origin of One Hundred Years of Solitude that was in Vanity Fair...very cool.