This great little stop-motion film, The Joy of Books, was done at the Type Bookstore in Toronto.
When the owner is away, the books shall play!
It’s that time of year again when five great Canadian books (backed by 5 renown Canadians) do battle debate style for the Canada Reads title. This year’s twist, the books are all non-fiction:
The Game
by: Ken Dryden
Defended by: Alan Thicke
On a Cold Road
by: Dave Bidini
Defended by: Stacey McKenzie
Prisoner of Tehran
by: Marina Nemat
Defended by: Arlene Dickinson
Something Fierce
by: Carmen Aguirre
Defended By: Shad
The Tiger
by: John Vaillant
Defended by: Anne-France Goldwater
The first round of chats with the debaters are being posted with the debates themselves to air February 6-9 at 11:00 a.m. on CBC Radio One and live-streamed on CBC Books at 10:00 a.m. EST. Also, you can follow the debates and discussion here (www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads) or download the podcasts if you missed the live debates.
Each Spring, The Alcuin Society holds an annual competition for Excellence in Book Design in Canada. The 30th anniversary of the Alcuin Book Awards will be held this coming March 31st and is open to all Canadian book designers.
The Alcuin Society encourages students, private presses and self publishing artists to participate in this prestigious event. The Limited Editions category is most appropriate, as only one copy of a book needs to be produced to be eligible (although it must be a complete book, and is judged alongside books produced by seasoned book artists). Books in this category are returned to the senders.
Although there are no cash awards for winners, there is considerable promotion and prestige attached to winning. Photographs of the books appear in the Alcuin Awards Catalogue and on their website. The books will also be exhibited in venues across Canada, at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, and will be Canada’s official entries in the February 2013 international book design competition in Leipzig, Germany. Winners also receive a beautifully calligraphed award certificate which is presented at the Alcuin Award ceremonies.
This year’s Call for Entries can be found here, and the deadline for entry is March 10, 2012.
Good Luck!
Be still, thy beating heart…for we are back in business!!!*
After a rather lengthy hiatus, due to the unrelenting assault from malevolent spirits of the Internet who seek out humble book blogs in which to infest and spread their disease from (coupled with an epic bout of procrastination on my part to actually deal with the issue), we are back and blogging in the New Year. Who would have thought to see a New Year’s resolution acted upon and take effect so quickly!
It has been a long time since I last posted (nigh on 6 months I believe), so much redemption will be needed in 2012 to bring the Bytown Bookshop Blog back to its former glory and vast readership (mom, you still there?). I’ve had a number of ideas fulminating over the past few months that will hopefully come to fruition soon, and of course will, as always, continue to post on local book events, sales, reviews, odd finds and what’s happening in the Canadian Private Press scene (they’ve been busy).
My original intention had been to write a lengthy post covering all the wonderful things the bookshop has been involved with over the latter portion of 2011, but unfortunately while the evil demons of the Net have been beaten back (thanks to a good friend who is wily in the ways of interweb), my good friend procrastination has yet to be fully subdued. In fact, even as I write this I am also making the final preparation for a weekend getaway and will not likely be posting again until next week.
So, I guess a Happy New Year to all who have followed us in the past and those who may just be joining us now (don’t worry you didn’t miss much…), and we look forward to a fun and fulfilling 2012!
To keep you occupied the next few days whilst we are vacationing, I highly recommend checking out what a properly managed blog looks like at Intentionally Entertaining. If you love food and the art of hosting, this blog is for you.
As for what has kept me occupied these last few months that would allow my website to remain in such a state of disrepair……why this little lady of course!
Yes, she already has her own e-reader…..
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*The whole website blog thingy I mean, we never really went “out of business” (doing quite well online actually…)
What: Devonshire Community Public School Book Sale
When: June 11th and 12th. The doors open on Friday at 3:30, and along with the books, there will be a silent auction, bake sale table and BBQ. Saturday morning, from 9am to 12pm, will be the book sale only.
Where: Devonshire Public School is located at 100 Breezehill Ave. N. (between Somerset and Gladstone, just west of Preston) in Hintonburg.
The blog of the Providence Public Library which I came across a couple months ago, Notes For Bibliophiles has great regularly posts of new acquisitions and other interesting items from their collection, often with great pictures of pieces (particularly Americana) not often seen. A great example of a library making available and sharing it’s collection virtually with book lovers from around the world. Hopefully many more with continue to follow suit!
Hope to see everyone there!!
Once again this year, Elgin Street Public School (310 Elgin-directly across from Minto Park) will be holding their annual used book sale on:
Thursday & Friday, June 16th & 17th 3:00-9:00pm;
Saturday, June 18th from 9:00am - 4:00pm; and
Sunday, June 19th from 10:00am – 3:00pm
Happy Hunting!
Nigel Beale, who’s biblio interviews I’ve posted here before, has recently started an online venture The Literary Tourist. After recently purchasing the Book Hunter Press (publishers of the Used Book Lover’s Guides and owners of a massive online database providing traveling bibliophiles with instant access to info on over 8,000 used bookstores worldwide), Nigel has merged it with his already successful Lit-blog Nota Bene to create a bibliohaven for book lovers at www.Literarytourist.com. The site also hosts hundreds of literary landmarks, book fairs, writers’ festivals, rare book libraries and other literary destinations, events and activities, all with the goal of making travel more fun and exciting for book lovers.
To top if off and celebrate the site having just gone live, Nigel is offering a free Literary Tourist membership for the summer to anyone who visits the site, reviews two bookstores and then e-mails with which bookstores you review in the month of May.
A great site with an abundance of information for the travelling book hunter!
The Porcupine’s Quill has just released a wonderful new edition of Alice in Wonderland lavishly illustrated with wood engravings by George Walker and with a new introduction by Alberto Manguel. Following in the tradition of the Chesire Cat Press edition published nearly 25 years ago by Bill Poole, George Walker and Joseph Brabant (one of the finest examples of a Canadian private press book), the story is as beautiful woven through the illustrations and design as it is through the magical words we are all familiar with.
Copies can be had a your local independant bookstore, or online via Chapters or Amazon. Or, if you are fortunate enough to be in Ottawa June 11th, you may be able to snatch one up from George himself at the CBBAG Book Arts Fair!
Also recently released from the Porcupine’s Quill is issue 68 of the Devil’s Artisan, featuring none other than the wonderful wood engravings of George Walker through a number of great articles and scads of illustrative examples of George’s work. Definitely worth picking up.
