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Small Press Saturday: Hingston & Olsen

This week for #SmallPressSaturday, we are delighted to feature “a literary press in the frozen north” based out of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, with a passion for the physical book at its core: Hingston & Olsen Publishing. Best known as the publishers of the Short Story Advent Calendar, Hingston & Olsen was founded in 2015 by author Michael Hingston and designer Natalie Olsen, according to their website, “as a means of finding out just how far an untested idea could be taken.”

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Toni Morrison’s Birthday

Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio as Chloe Ardelia Wofford on February 18, 1931. She was nothing short of amazing and the world suffered a great loss when she passed away on August 5, 2019.

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An “I Read Canadian Day” addendum

An amazing and accidental last minute addition to my “I Read Canadian” pile! The Barnabas Project by Terry, Eric, and Devin Fan — The Fan Brothers — edited by Tara Walker, designed by Kelly Hill, and published by Tundra Books.

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Happy I Read Canadian Day 2021!

Today is a day of celebration across our country, a celebration of Canadian books for young people. People across the nation are being challenged to Read Canadian for 15 minutes and to share their experience. We are celebrating by sharing a small photo gallery of some our personal copies of Canadian books for young readers, and a video from Marty Chan!

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My Canadian Family

In honour of Family Day, celebrated on the third Monday of February here in our corner of the “real” world, we thought it fitting to introduce you to one of those book friends, Raina Schnider, and give a shout out to her book My Canadian Family.

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Ten Little Zombies: A Love Story

There lurk some stranger, darker corners here within the Butterflies & Aliens Library of Literary Eccentricities & Rarities. It is against that backdrop, in honour of the annual day of celebration of love and flower shops that we call Valentine’s Day, that I share one of my favourite books of the love poetry genre, Ten Little Zombies: A Love Story.

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Small Press Saturday: Erewhon Books

Happy Small Press Saturday! This week we showcase a small press that has only been around since 2018: Erewhon Books, a small independent Canadian press that focuses on novel-length works of speculative fiction.

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A short love letter to libraries…

On the first day of kindergarten I went to school and fell in love. Sunk three steps into the middle of the school’s central atrium, a circular open-concept library formed the literal and figurative heart of Duggan Elementary School in south Edmonton.

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Happy Birthday, Alice Walker!

Alice Walker was born on February 9th, 1944, in Eatonton, Georgia, USA. A writer and poet, she has written seven novels, four collections of short stories, and four children’s books, as well as essays and poetry.

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Happy Birthday to “The Man who Invented the Future”

Born on this day in 1828, Jules Gabriel Verne is considered by many to be one of the parents of modern day science fiction literature.

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Small Press Saturday: Orca Book Publishers

Welcome to Week Six of Small Press Saturday! Today, we get to embrace our inner child and talk about a small Canadian children’s publisher. Say “Hello” to Orca Book Publishers!

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Eric Gill’s The Four Gospels

Have I mentioned before that my favourite place at the University of Alberta… one of my five favourite places in the world, in fact… is the Bruce Peel Special Collections Library?