MEDIA RELEASE:

FREEHAND BOOKS ANNOUNCES INAUGURAL LINEUP

For Immediate Release

CALGARY—Freehand Books, Canada’s newest literary imprint, has announced its inaugural lineup. The first four Freehand titles will be published simultaneously on September 10, 2008.

In keeping with Freehand’s mandate to publish original works by Canadian writers at all stages of their careers, all four titles are by Canadian authors. Good to a Fault, a novel by Cochrane, Alberta writer Marina Endicott, is the author’s second book (her first, Open Arms, was a finalist for the Amazon-Books in Canada First Novel Award). It’s Hard Being Queen: The Dusty Springfield Poems is the fourth book of poetry for Jeanette Lynes, a past winner of the Ralph Gustafson and Bliss Carman Poetry Prizes and co-editor of The Antigonish Review. Two of the titles are debut books: Pathologies, a memoir-in-essays by Kingston, Ontario author Susan Olding; and Mother Superior, a collection of seven stories and two novellas by Montreal author Saleema Nawaz. Both Olding and Nawaz have already been widely recognized for their writing: Susan Olding was named one of The New Quarterly’s “Most Loved Living Writers” in 2007 based on the essays that appear in Pathologies, and a story from Saleema Nawaz’s Mother Superior will appear in the 2008 McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize Anthology.

The acquisitions were made by Freehand Editor Melanie Little in consultation with an editorial review committee consisting of fellow Calgary authors JoAnn McCaig, Barbara Scott, and Don LePan.

The four titles were chosen from among over two hundred submissions, both solicited and unsolicited. “We’re very pleased, with this first list, to be offering one of each of the genres Freehand is committed to publishing: novels, short fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction,” said Little. “That, however, is a happy coincidence rather than a deliberate plan. We were looking for the four absolute best manuscripts available in the country, period—and I’m convinced that we’ve found them. This list is exemplary of the outstanding quality we will continue to insist upon. We want exquisitely crafted books that will appeal to a broad range of readers—great books that are also great reads.”

Freehand Books will continue to publish at least four books each year. Acquisitions for upcoming seasons include a first collection of stories by Toronto writer Anik See; poetry collections by Calgary writer Joan Crate and debut author (and Cornwall, Ontario native) Jesse Ferguson; and a collaborative text-and-graphic memoir by Calgary brothers Clem and Olivier Martini.

Today also marks the official launch of Freehand’s website at www.freehand-books.com.

For more information please visit the site, or contact Melanie Little at melanie@broadviewpress.com or at (403) 232-6863 / mobile (403) 801-4709.

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