Stuart Ross, promotional wizard.
November 25, 2010
The tension. The action. The special effects. Eat your heart out, Michael Bay.
Freehand authors. We love ‘em. And so does Canada.
October 25, 2010
What a month it’s been at Freehand! We couldn’t be happier for our newest award nominee, Sarah Leavitt, and our newest award winner, Stuart Ross. Sarah’s graphic memoir Tangles: A story about Alzheimer’s, my mother, and me was shortlisted for the $25,000 Writers’ Trust Non-Fiction Prize (the winner will be announced on November 2), and Stuart has won the 2010 ReLit Award for his collection of short stories Buying Cigarettes for the Dog! A hearty congratulations to you both.
To celebrate: (we recommend listening while executing a dance routine that incorporates the Gretzky fist pump)
Freehand North.
September 17, 2010
We recently had the pleasure of visiting Whitehorse to put on a publishing workshop for the lovely folks at the Whitehorse Poetry Society, and to launch Clea Roberts’s new book of poetry Here Is Where We Disembark. If you’ve never been, go. Immediately. This city rocks. Highlights include:
-The Whitehorse Poetry Society: every two years they put on a killer poetry festival; past guests have included Michael Ondaatje and Don McKay.
-The Yukon Arts Centre: these folks make sure that Whitehorsians have access to top notch theatre, music, dance, visual, and literary arts.
-Yukon Gold Beer: There’s a Robert Service poem on the can. Enough said.
Blue Sunflower Startle is out!
September 17, 2010
The last of our three fall titles, Blue Sunflower Startle by Yasmin Ladha, is now available!
Tangles and Here Is Where We Disembark are out today!
September 1, 2010
September has arrived, and that means that two of our fall books are out! Tangles: A story about Alzheimer’s, my mother, and me by Sarah Leavitt and Here Is Where We Disembark by Clea Roberts hit store shelves today. Head out to your local bookstore and pick yourself up a copy. And one for each of your friends. Trust us, these books are awesome.
WordFest 2010 lineup announced!
August 25, 2010
We spent a lovely morning over at the Art Gallery of Calgary for the WordFest launch. This year’s festival is going to be a blast, and it will feature Freehand’s own Robyn Read as part of the Bookin’ it to Alberta event!
New WordFest director announced!
August 24, 2010
After 15 years as founding general director of WordFest, Anne Green is stepping down. Jo Steffens, a Calgary native who was previously a curator at the Municipal Art Society in New York City (and ran their bookstore), will take her place. Read more about the appointment on Drew Anderson’s blog here.
Welcome Jo, and congratulations on a wonderful 15 years Anne!
The 2010 WordFest lineup will be announced tomorrow – stay tuned!
Music lessons from The Doctrine of Affections. 3.
August 19, 2010
Thurdays’ offering: The Turtles.
I’m not much for conversation with strangers, but I had to ask. “You’re not the Howard Kaylan?”
He paused. “The Howard Kaylan,” he said, leaving out the emphasis.
“Of the Turtles. Lead singer”
“That’s me. Not many people recognize my name.” Thre was suddenly a lot of stuff in his tone. Resignation. Wistfulness. Other things.
“You’re my favourite Sixties band. ‘Happy Together’ is my favourite Sixties pop song.”
“Really.” There was that tone again.
“It’s such a catchy song, so upbeat, but so sad at the same time.”
“Sad. You know, you’re the first person who ever noticed that.”
“Really?”
“No one ever noticed that.”
-from “Imagine Me and You, I Do” (The Doctrine of Affections)
Music lessons from The Doctrine of Affections. 2.
August 18, 2010
Today’s gem: Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass.
One of the truisms of jazz commentary is that a breakthrough was made when vocalists started using their voices like instruments. Freed from the limitations of attendance to the lyrics, so the argument goes, singers truly became jazz artists, improvising and creating like virtuoso instrumentalists. Ella Fitzgerald etc. But listen to Joe Pass and Ella together on “Take Love Easy.” The real breakthrough is that of the instrumentalist who uses his instrument like a voice, uses it to speak, and on that album Ella is attending to the words more than on anything else she’s ever done. Joe insists on it with every note, speaking to her more intimately than anyone else possibly could. Never have two people conversed with greater understanding, and when has Ella been better? Never.
-from “The Candle Thief” (The Doctrine of Affections)
Music lessons from The Doctrine of Affections. 1.
August 17, 2010
Paul Headrick knows more about music than anyone we’ve ever met. (Seriously, we would go double-or-nothing on Paul in a music trivia cage match over a posse of plaid-wearin’, vinyl-totin’, PBR-drinkin’, self-proclaimed music experts any day.) So, we thought we’d devote this week’s posts to songs and artists featured in Paul’s short story collection, The Doctrine of Affections. Consider it a free tutorial on the music you’ve always wanted to know about, but never had the energy to Google.
Read. Listen. Enjoy. Then hop on your fixie, put on your Wayfarers, and blow your friends’ minds with your newfound knowledge. You’re welcome.
Before they left, Jerry and Andrea gave Christopher the latest record by The Marcels, which became the first record in Christopher’s collection.
…
Christopher believes that the innocence, optimism, and beauty of doo-wop weren’t a pose, but they weren’t only what they appeared to be; they expressed defiance, insisted that these qualities could withstand the oppression, the humiliations, the decades of crimes against dignity, assaults on identity. In articles, at conferences, he has explained that doo-wop is as political, affirmative, and subversive as soul, hard bob, and gangsta rap.
-from “Highlife” (The Doctrine of Affections)
