Operation Readaloud

Operation Readaloud was created by Lisa von Drasek (formerly of Bank Street and now directing the Kerlan Collection) in response to the need to aggregate children's book creators read-alouds while children are sequestered at home. Submissions from all authors and illustrators are more than welcome! There are millions of Canadian kids out there who had their school years cut short by the pandemic, and countless more who don't have access to the generous resources our school systems and libraries provide. Spread the word, my friends! You never know how far a virtual read-along can go!

Here is the link to Lisa von Drasek's Facebook page for Operation Readaloud:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/138080447610791/

Ken Liu & Chinese Sci-Fi Translations!

Hello to all you lovely Sci-Fi fans. If you haven't yet had the opportunity to read Cixin Liu's SF-revelation The Three-Body Problem which was published by TOR (one of my favorite books in recent memory), please do yourself a favor: head to your nearest Indie Bookstore and buy a copy immediately. If you're like me, and you've read it already (and perhaps more of Liu's work, revolving in and around this series) there's a great article to check out that centers on the book's translator, Ken Liu.

Check out the full article here:

Friday Black

Race, class, consumerism, and justice? Tackling some of the most relevant issues we face today, Nan Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's debut collection of short stories has it all. Friday Black has been described by Roxane Gay with three simple words: "read this book." Adjei-Brenyah recently joined CBC's Q with guest host Saroja Coelho to chat about his sudden rise and the themes he tackles in his fantastic authorial debut. Check out the interview here. 

A Message to Caregivers: You Are Not Alone

This is one of my favourite books of the year.
Seven years ago, accomplished poet and author Mike Barnes became his mothers caregiver. "I think I'm about where anyone would be seven years into caregiving, which is fairly embattled and somewhat ground down," Barnes told CBC's Tapestry host Mary Hynes. Along the way, Barnes began to write letters about the issues and emotions he lived day-to-day. Those letters now form his newest book, Be With: Letters to a Caregiver, a collection of letters and vignettes that share Barnes' experience, and let caregivers know that it is okay to feel overwhelmed. Barnes discussed his new book and his experience caring for his mother with CBC's Mary Hynes. Listen to the full interview here. 

Where Will We Be by 2030?

Robot pharmacists, implanted microchip cellphones, and 3-D printed organ transplants were at once considered zany science-fiction - and are still considered ludicrously far fetched today! But over 800 experts at The World Economic Forum would disagree: according to them, these once-impossible advances could be commonplace within the next 12 years! Check out Tech Insiders awesome vision of the future based on what they learned at The World Economic Forum in the video above. 

Your Gateway to NYTimes.com

Do you ever get struck by a link to an awesome New York Times article, start scrolling through, and have your heart broken when you're told that the story is for subscribers only? For Toronto Public Library cardholders, those days of frustration are over! TPL has added the NYT to its awesome list of digital subscriptions that already includes the Globe and Mail, the Atlantic, Macleans, and so much more! To access these great sources, via a library computer or your own advice, click here. 

Beautiful Boy

David Sheff's touching memoir recounting the harrowing tale of his son's journey through addiction, adapted by Amazon Studios, is hitting the big screen this fall. Initially published in 2009, Beautiful Boy is the haunting and heartbreaking story of a journalist desperately researching ways to help, and a father that refuses to give up on his son. Check out the first full trailer here. 

Fighting for Israel, Searching for Peace

There are no easy solutions. This sentiment has echoed throughout the world as the conflict between Israel and Palestine has rumbled along generation through generation. In his new memoir, former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak recounts growing up in this reality, the first seven decades of his country's existence and, through candid assessment of his fellow Israeli politicians, its major successes and its biggest misjudgments. Barak recently joined CBC's The Current to discuss his memoir, as well as current Prime Minister Netanyahu and the future of Israel. My Country, My Life: Fighting for Israel, Searching for Peace is available now.

Tomi Adeyemi

We’ve all agreed that Tomi Adeyemi is pretty much the greatest right? Her viral reaction to unboxing her first book sure isn’t the only reason! In her phenomenal interview with CBC’s Q with Tom Power she describes her personal relationship with character representation in fiction, and how her debut novel works to change that. In The Guardian she talks empowerment and inspiration from West Africa. And in this review from The Atlantic, her novel is explored for its incredible value in the Black Lives Matter Movement. We can't get enough!

In Case I Go

Ever thought of blending a ghost story, adultery drama, anti-racist consciousness, and magical realism, all told by a child narrator? Most would never dare, but Angie Adbou went there! Still hot on the success of Between, in her newest piece In Case I Go. Abdou once again writes a challenging and captivating narrative that "explores the uneasy place where white liberal guilt intersects with the horrors of colonialism." Check out this glowing review in the Edmonton Journal, and grab your copy today!!

Imagine Peace

September 21^st is the International Day of Peace – and what anthem celebrates peace more than John Lennon’s “Imagine”? With the help of illustrator Jean Jullien, Lennon’s words have been translated into a beautiful picture book, published in partnership with Amnesty International. Celebrate the International Day of Peace with these fantastic “Imagine Day” activity kits, available here. 

For more details on the International Day of Peace, and Imagine, head over to this beautiful website featuring Lennon's music video, and user written messages of peace from around the world. Be sure to leave your own!

Be Inconvenient

One Decade ago, Vice President Al Gore brought climate change to the forefront of world issues. Today, ten years later, his message has only increased in importance. An Inconvenient Sequel has Gore exposing Humanity’s role in the degrading climate of our planet, presenting around the world, his stories of change, progress, and the real action that can be taken to reverse the damage. An Inconvenient Sequel is out July 25, 2017, with the feature film in theatres July 28, 2017. 

A Girl's Right to an Education

Malala Yousafzai was only 11 years old when she wrote her first blog (using a pseudonym) for the BBC, detailing her life under the Taliban rule, and the challenge girls faced while trying to get an education. Today, she is known globally after miraculously surviving an assassination attempt last year. Her book, I Am Malala, was released in October and has been well-received. Kids Can Press's CitizenKid series is an inspiring collection that aims to inspire children (ages 8-12) to be better global citizens.

Razia's Ray of Hope is written by Razia Jan, CNN hero and founder of the Razia's Ray of Hope Foundation and the Zabuli Education Center for Girls which is dedicated to improving the lives of women and children in Afghanistan. This is one of my favourite books in the collection; a beautiful story of a young girl's fight for an education, as she struggles for her father and brother's permission. And if this book couldn't get any better, it is based on real stories from Razia's experience at the the Zabuli Education Center for Girls, which made it even more dear to my heart. Click here to see the full CitizenKid collection. I highly recommend them!

The Future and Libraries According to Neil Gaiman

"We have an obligation to imagine." - Neil Gaiman 

Neil Gaiman's latest, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is one of my favourite books this fall. With his book fresh in my mind, I read
his recent Reading Agency lecture in England and couldn't agree more with his top arguments defending children's literacy, the freedom to read and the importance of libraries.

When you consider the recent Banned Books Week last month, I think advocates like Neil Gaiman are beneficial to promoting the freedom for children to read what they want, when they want. Although he admits to allowing his 11-year-old to read Stephen King's Carrie probably too soon, Gaiman argues the more we shelter our children from books, the less appealing reading will become for them. He also makes a clever analogy that printed books are like sharks - who have existed before and outlived dinosaurs, because there's nothing like them. In the wise words of Neil Gaiman, real books are "good at being books and there will always be a place for them."

I couldn't have said it any better! To read more about Gaiman's lecture, click here. 

Promoting Humanity Through Art. . .

Rosalyn and I have just returned from working the bookfair at the Congress for Social Sciences and Humanities - Canada's largest annual academic conference. This year it was held at Concordia University in wonderful Montreal (and trust me, if you have to spend 9 days in a row at a conference, Montreal is THE city to do it in!). While the show can be fairly exhausting at times, I have always found Congress quite exhilarating, and intellectually stimulating; I have great conversations about books with professors, grad students and other publishers, and I was delighted to find many NYRB groupies among them. For that week the bookfair also becomes Canada's largest bookstore, showcasing not only academic books (many of which would appeal to a broad reading public) but many from the smaller literary presses as well. I love to visit the booths, browse through catalogues and yes, I can never resist picking up a few books for myself. I'll blog about some of my discoveries and upcoming books in a few days, but first a nod to the other thing I love about Congress - the talks by influential thinkers, writers and artists.

Reza is an Iranian photographer, now living in Paris, who has worked as a journalist for the last thirty years covering Afghanistan, Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East. His talk which was part of a day devoted to Human Rights, was very inspiring. Not only did he relate the stories behind his incredible photographs - all included in this stunning collection War + Peace - but talked about the importance of bringing humanity to areas of the world devasted by war or famine. As an example, he talked about a four month project in which he and some volunteers took photographs of 12,000 African children who were displaced orphans, in the hopes of connecting them with perhaps an uncle or a grandmother. The photos were exhibited in refugee camps and the project reunited 3,500 children with a member of their extended family. He's helped Afghani women start up their own radio station, and Afghani children their own magazine written by, and for, themselves. He talked about the importance of bringing education into the home and said that he judges a country's level of civilization by the percentage of their gross national product that governments spend on education. The book has an introduction by his friend Sebastian Junger and it would make a perfect visual companion to Junger's recently published War.