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Happy Birthday to the Bard of Avon!
Bookish Calendar Stacey and Winston Bookish Calendar Stacey and Winston

Happy Birthday to the Bard of Avon!

It’s been a busy few weeks here at the Butterflies & Aliens Library and, yeah, we haven’t managed to post as much as we would have liked, but what’s done is done. Though we’ve seen better days, we definitely couldn’t let this day go by without at least a tip of the virtual quill to the Sweet Swan of Avon, the National Poet of England, the Immortal Bard… William Shakespeare!

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Small Press Saturday: Freehand Books
Small Press Saturdays Stacey Kondla Small Press Saturdays Stacey Kondla

Small Press Saturday: Freehand Books

This weekend I am taking things more literary and local (to me) – I am happy to introduce you to Calgary-based Freehand Books.

Freehand Books started out in 2007 as the literary imprint of academic publisher Broadview Press.

Since Freehand was established, they have released 65 titles. They only publish Canadian authors of fiction, poetry, literary graphic novels, and creative non-fiction, with significant representation of authors from marginalized communities

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Is Big Brother watching?
The Book as Performance Winston Pei The Book as Performance Winston Pei

Is Big Brother watching?

Content Warning: The following post describes and shows a book being physically altered.

In one of my earlier contributions to the Butterflies & Aliens Library, I shared the process of creating my first altered book project, Spark Unnecessary, using Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 as the source work. Since completing that project back in 2017, I’d been pondering other altered books projects based around themes of dystopia and censorship, slowly gathering up materials and ideas.

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On hand rails and old books…
Book Adjacent Winston Pei Book Adjacent Winston Pei

On hand rails and old books…

You can’t really tell from looking at this photo, but years of people sliding their hands along this wood railing have polished the outside edge so smooth that it feels like polished marble. Everything else around me was rough and “natural,” even the exposed grain and scratchy texture of the rest of the railing. Then out of the blue, this uncanny unexpected smooth…

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Happy Birthday, William Morris!
Bookish Calendar Winston Pei Bookish Calendar Winston Pei

Happy Birthday, William Morris!

Born on this day in 1834, William Morris is perhaps best known as an artist and designer, and a major force behind the Arts & Crafts movement. But he was also a poet and novelist, connected to the Pre-Raphaelite movement of the mid-1800s, and also the founder of the Kelmscott Press in 1891.

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Shop Local
Bulletin Board Stacey and Winston Bulletin Board Stacey and Winston

Shop Local

While we here at the Butterflies & Aliens Library are always happy when people get books into their hands, we’re especially delighted if it happens by way of an independent bookseller. As part of supporting such efforts, we have begun adding connections to the Shop Local initiative of Bookmanager, a Canadian company that provides bookstore management software to many independent booksellers in Canada and the US.

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Bibliotherapy: The Power of Story
Book Life Stacey Kondla Book Life Stacey Kondla

Bibliotherapy: The Power of Story

The past couple of weeks have been challenging. Not because work has been particularly hard or because anything bad has happened. Just because I sank into a bit of depression…

So, what helped me recently was completely escaping reality with a book series…

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