Rattling Books Blog

Valentine Treat from Rattling Books

2012-02-02T13:45:00.000-03:30

In the Old Country of My Heart
by Agnes Walsh

Spare your heart 30% on the cost of this audio book between now and Valentine's Day.

Poems read by the author with the pump organ of George Morgan and unaccompanied ballads sung by Simone Savard-Walsh.

Mary Dalton reading in honour of PK Page Feb 2 St. John's, Newfoundland |

2012-01-29T12:00:00.000-03:30

today.mun.ca |

Mary Dalton reading in honour of PK Page

By Janet Harron

A nationwide campaign designed to honour Canadian poet PK Page will stop at Memorial University on Thursday, Feb. 2,. Established by the League of Canadian Poets, the PK Page Trust Fund is designed to support Canadian poets and poetry.

Poet and Memorial English professor Mary Dalton will read a selection of her own new and recently published work at the reading in support of the trust fund. Professor Dalton will join the other participating poets in the Canadian campaign in donating her reading fee to the trust.

A silent auction of a letterpress print of a poem by PK Page will take place at the event, the proceeds from which will also go to the trust fund.

The event, to be held at 7:30 p.m. in room 1046 of the Arts and Administration building, is sponsored by the League of Canadian Poets (LCP) and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Prof. Dalton is honoured to participate in the event.

“PK Page is one of Canada's greatest poets," she said. "The LCP couldn't have chosen a more accomplished artist to honour with this trust fund which will help out poets who need help and will foster poetry across the country. I'm happy to be contributing to the league's efforts by sharing my new work with an audience here -- and on Feb. 2, the eve of the birthday of our own great poet, E. J. Pratt, as well.”

Born in 1916, PK Page’s artistic and poetic career spanned more than five decades, ending only with her death in 2010. More information on the trust can be found at poets.ca/wordpress/programs-2/p-k-page-trust.

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You can download poems by Mary Dalton or order the audio book CD of Merrybegot from rattlingbooks.com. Merrybegot is read by Anita Best with music by Patrick Boyle.

Nicola Hawkins at the Rooms Art Gallery Wed. Jan 25

2012-01-24T21:51:00.000-03:30

Nicola Hawkins
Junkosphere
Presentation by the Artist
Art Gallery, The Rooms, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
Wednesday, January 25, 7 pm

Exhibition publication launch, performance and gallery tour by the artist.

Junkosphere, a visual art exhibit by Nicola Hawkins with Andy Perlis is currently on exhibit at the Rooms Art Gallery

December 17 - April 15, 2012

Nicola Hawkins is an artist based in Admiral's Cove, Newfoundland. She works in whatever medium strikes her fancy. She has even been known to narrate a story by Kathleen Winter for Rattling Books.

Sparks Literary Festival, St. John's, Newfoundland January 22, 2012

2012-01-20T23:54:00.000-03:30

Once again a great line up of Newfoundland authors can be heard reading their work at the Sparks Festival spearheaded by Mary Dalton at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, January 22, 2012 at the Petro Canada Hall, School of Music. (Map)

This year's schedule below includes links for participating authors with Rattling Books recordings

to their respective pages on rattlingbooks.com.

10 a.m. - Opening remarks:
Dr. Lisa Rankin, Dean of Arts
Mary Dalton, Director, SPARKS

10:10 – 11:40 a.m. - Session 1
Chair: Joan Clark
Readers: Edward Riche, Stephanie Trevorrow, Marjorie Doyle, Mark Callanan

11:40 a.m. – 12 p.m. - Mingling with authors and exhibitors

12 – 1 p.m. - Lunch break in the Hutton Choral Room (MU-1032)

1 – 2:20 p.m. - Session 2
Chair: Ramona Dearing
Readers: Danielle Devereaux, Lesleyanne Ryan, Patrick Warner, Joel Hynes

2:20 – 2:30 p.m. – Coffee Break

2:30 – 4 p.m. – Session 3
Chair: Stan Dragland
Readers: Agnes Walsh, John Ennis, Jamie Fitzpatrick, Leslie Vryenhoek

4 – 4:20 p.m. – Coffee Break in MU-1032

4:20 – 6 p.m. – Session 4
Chair: Rob Finley
Readers: Russell Wangersky, Shoshanna Wingate, Frank Barry

Haiku competition announcement

Cox & Palmer SPARKS Creative Writing Award announcement

Closing remarks: Mary Dalton

6 p.m. – Reception in Hutton Choral Room (MU-1032)

Authors are available to sign books after their reading sessions.

The festival is open to all. Free parking is available in Lot 15B, next to (and east of) the School of Music.

For more about the Sparks Festival visit their website.

Agnes Walsh Publishes Book Of Plays

2011-06-17T22:10:00.003-02:30

Answer Me Home: Plays from Tramore Theatre (Breakwater Books, 2011) is a collection of plays written by Agnes Walsh. Tramore was founded in 1999 by Walsh and Arlene Morrisey, to promote the oral history and cultural traditions of the Cape Shore, Newfoundland.

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Rattling Books has two audio book collections of poetry by Agnes Walsh. Going Around with Bachelors is an MP3 download, available courtesy of Brick Books and the author (click here for more information, and to listen to an excerpt). In the Old Country of My Heart is available as an audio CD and an MP3 download (click here).

AudioFile Magazine Reviews Helen Porter's "Below The Bridge"

2011-06-14T01:11:00.004-02:30

Click here to read what AudioFile has to say about Rattling Books' audio edition of Helen Fogwill Porter's Newfoundland classic in its May 2011 edition.

For more information on Below the Bridge and to hear an excerpt, follow this link. Below the Bridge is available as an MP3 CD and an MP3 download.

Joel Hynes Launches Chapbook At Ship Pub, St. John's, June 7

2011-06-06T19:17:00.008-02:30

Joel Hynes' manifesto God Help Thee first showed its pugnacious face as a performance piece at the LSPU Hall, and has been infamous ever since. (In a nice way. Like its author.) Then it was a written piece in Riddle Fence and Maisonneuve, and an audio rant recorded by Rattling Books (for more information, and to listen to it for free, click here).

Now it's a goat - a Running the Goat chapbook, sprawling from hand-sewn bindings in all its mouthy glory. To celebrate God Help Thee's most recent incarnation, there will be a launch on Tuesday, June 7, at The Ship Pub, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Food, drink and a short reading by Hynes.

Battery Radio Awarded 2011 Prix Maruliç Second Prize

2011-06-02T01:11:00.005-02:30

Chris Brookes' Battery Radio has been awarded the 2011 Prix Marulic for The Annotated Jack, a documentary. The 42-minute feature was produced for Radio Telefis Eirann in Dublin. Read all about it here.

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Rattling Books' Adrift on an Ice Pan and Coasting Trade were produced by the award-encrusted Chris Brookes (Brookes narrates the former). These audiobooks are available as audio CDs and MP3 downloads. For more information and to hear excerpts, follow this link.

Get Caught Listening: June Is Audiobook Month

2011-06-01T01:11:00.019-02:30

If you're wondering about the world of tales told out loud, check out the audiobook collection at your local library. Or explore an online audiobook community, such as the Audio Publishers Association's (click here).

Already a fan of the spoken word? Browse Rattling Books' website for fine Canadian and Newfoundland literature read by talented narrators: true adventure, history, short fiction, poetry and more.

Listen: a way to read more

Patrick Warner's "Mole" Wins E.J. Pratt Poetry Award

2011-05-24T01:11:00.000-02:30

Newfoundland (by way of Ireland) poet Patrick Warner has received the 2011 E. J. Pratt Poetry Award for his collection Mole (House of Anansi, 2009). It's Warner's second Pratt win; he won the award in 2007 for There, there (Véhicule Press, 2005). To hear him read from Mole, click here.

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Patrick Warner's short story "Doubleness, the Disease of Life," narrated by the author, is available from Rattling Books as an MP3 download, and is also featured on EarLit Shorts 3. For ordering information and to listen to an excerpt, follow this link.

Greg Malone And Ron Hynes: Comedy And Music, May 24

2011-05-20T01:11:00.025-02:30

Comedian Greg Malone and musician Ron Hynes will be appearing at the D.F. Cook Recital Hall, Memorial University, St. John's, Newfoundland, on Tuesday, May 24. The event, a poverty reduction fundraiser, is being hosted by the Community Sector Council Newfoundland and Labrador. Tickets are $75 ($45 charitable receipt provided), and include a complimentary beverage and hors d’oeuvre. There will be a 50/50 draw and a live and silent auction.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit Fred’s Records at 198 Duckworth Street, St. John’s, or contact the Community Sector Council NL, 753-9860.

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Ron Hynes is one of the narrators of Rattling Books' audio version of Michael Crummey's poetry collection Hard Light: 32 Little Stories. He is also the narrator of Death on the Ice, Cassie Brown's classic account of the 1914 Newfoundland sealing disaster.

Rattling Books audio books are available as audio or MP3 CDs, and as MP3 downloads.

"Washington Post" Review Of Michael Crummey's "Galore"

2011-05-16T01:11:00.019-02:30

Newfoundland author Michael Crummey's Galore (Random House, 2009) is still garnering attention two years after its release. Galore, Crummey's third novel, won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book (Canada and Caribbean) and the Canadian Authors Association Literary Award, and was short-listed for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction and several other awards. It is currently a finalist for the 2011 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. To read a recent review of Galore by The Washington Post click here.

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Michael Crummey's poetry collection Hard Light: 32 Little Stories is available as an MP3 download or an audio CD from Rattling Books. Follow this link for more information, and to listen to an excerpt.

Jessica Grant Named Newfoundland And Labrador Arts Council Artist Of The Year

2011-05-03T01:11:00.019-02:30

Jessica Grant, whose debut novel Come, Thou Tortoise (Knopf, 2009) won the Winterset Award and the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award, is this year's recipient of the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council's Artist of the Year Award. In an interview with the Telegram, Grant said, "To be called an artist and then to be called artist of the year in a province that has so many amazing artists means a tremendous amount to me. I really can’t think of anything that’s been a greater honour.”

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Rattling Books is pleased to have Jessica Grant's short story "The Princification Process" (read by the author) available, as an individual download and as part of the short fiction collection EarLit Shorts 3.

Poet Patrick Warner Launches Novel, April 19, St. John's, Newfoundland

2011-04-18T13:11:00.005-02:30

Patrick Warner, heretofore author of brilliant poetry, is now the proud da of a novel, double talk, which Michael Crummey describes as "an exhilarating (and sometimes terrifying) look at the murky complexities that lie under the surface of all relationships."

Come help Patrick celebrate his latest literary arrival at The Ship Pub in St. John's, Tuesday, April 19, with food, drink and a reading. The fun starts at 7 p.m. and (officially) ends at 9 p.m.

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Rattling Books' EarLit Shorts 3 features a fine bit from Patrick Warner's double talk, "Doubleness, the Disease of Life." Click here for more information, and to listen to an excerpt.

"Vikings of the Ice": American Writer George Allan England's Newfoundland Seal Hunt

2011-04-18T09:51:00.000-02:30

Just before American writer and adventurer (remote islands were his specialty) George Allan England went to the Newfoundland seal hunt in 1922, he was told that the ship he was about to spend six weeks on in the northern icefields "was condemned years ago."

The last of the old "wooden walls," the SS Terra Nova (top photo) had indeed been condemned, but that didn't stop her owners from sending the ship out on the lucrative chase after seals. In 1922, as England recorded in Vikings of the Ice, the seal hunt was worth nearly $200, 000, a significant sum in those days.

England was the first and only person to observe the Newfoundland seal hunt first hand and to write about it. A committed socialist (England ran for governor of Massachusetts on the Socialist ticket in 1908), this is one of the things he wrote:

If a hunter makes $50 or $60 dollars, he's doing well. That comes to $10 to $12 dollars a week, and board . . . for hardships, perils, and toil beyond anything we know here at home. I have never known a country where employers enjoyed such a sinecure as in Newfoundland. Labour, there, has hardly begun to dream that it has any rights. And the game of exploitation goes merrily on.

England's admiration and sympathy for the sealers of Newfoundland (bottom photo) is evident in Vikings of the Ice. His fascination with their culture - in particular, its idiosyncratic habits of speech - and his ability to place the reader or listener right on the icy, bloody deck of a 1920s' wooden wall make Vikings of the Ice a compelling experience. Veteran narrator Frank Holden's seamless handling of Rattling Books' Audie-nominated audio book version of Vikings of the Ice's many voices and accents - individual sealers, ship's officers, England himself - brings the book alive. It gives England's experience directly to the listener : six hard weeks of blood, sweat and, despite the circumstances, humour. (One reader described Vikings of the Ice as a "strange admixture of implacable cruelty toward animals [and] . . . man-to-man, human warmth.")

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George Allan England was born in Nebraska in 1877. His father, George Allen England, was a U.S. Army chaplain who served on bases from Virginia to Nebraska (including Fort Nebraska, General George Armstrong Custer's base of operations against Native Americans). The family moved to Boston when England was a child; he attended Boston English High School, and was accepted at Harvard. England graduated from Harvard in 1902 with Phi Beta Kappa honours, and a special award for writing. After he obtained a master's degree from Harvard in 1903, he married and began work at an insurance company, where (he once wrote) he honed his ability to write fiction.

England soon quit the insurance business, and spent the rest of his life as a freelance writer, and a traveller (except for failed attempts at chicken farming and treasure hunting in the Caribbean). Besides writing articles for popular publications of the day (e.g., Collier's, The Saturday Evening Post), England wrote fiction, including Utopian novels based on his socialist ideals. The most famous of these is his Darkness and Dawn trilogy.

George Allan England died on June 26, 1930, in Concord, New Hampshire. His New York Times obituary compared Vikings of the Ice to Kipling's Captains Courageous.

Rattling Books' Poetry Collection By Mark Callanan

2011-04-12T01:11:00.015-02:30

April is National Poetry Month, and Rattling Books has published an audio collection of poetry by one of Canada's youngest and best poets, Mark Callanan, just in time to get in on the fun.

To find out more about National Poetry Month, follow this link. To find out more about Sea Legend and Other Poems, and to hear an excerpt, click here. Read Sea Legend, Callanan's award-winning chapbook (Frog Hollow Press, 2010).

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Rattling Books publishes fine poetry by some of the most gifted Canadian poets, available as audio CDs and MP3 downloads, or MP3 downloads only.

Riddle Fence and Rattling Books Host Short Fiction Competition

2011-04-08T01:11:00.027-02:30

Riddle Fence, a journal of arts and culture based in St. John's, Newfoundland, and Rattling Books are holding a short fiction contest. The winning entry will be published in Riddle Fence, and recorded by Rattling Books. Its author will receive $500, a publishing fee and audio royalties. Click here for details.

Launch of Bruce Johnson's "Firmament," March 29, St. John's, Newfoundland

2011-03-25T01:11:00.007-02:30

Bruce Johnson will be launching his debut novel, Firmament (Gaspereau, 2010), on Tuesday, March 29, at The Ship Pub in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Shortlisted for the Fresh Fish Award, Johnson's novel, set in an actual (yet mythical) Newfoundland outport, is "an expressionist work where the grit of the mundane intersects with the mystery of human memory and dreams."

The fun starts at 7:30 - food, drink and a reading.

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Rattling Books will be presenting an excerpt from Firmament ("Caleb") on EarLit Shorts 5, the fifth in the EarLit Shorts series of short fiction anthologies.

Rattling Books' audio books are available as audio or MP3 CDs, and as MP3 downloads.

Rattling Books On CBC's Weekend Arts Magazine

2011-03-15T01:11:00.001-02:30

Click here to listen to WAM's interview with Rattling Books owner Janet Russell, and actor Frank Holden, narrator of Vikings of the Ice, Rattling Books' 2011 Audie contender.

"Finding The Words": New Anthology Fundraiser For PEN Canada

2011-03-04T01:11:00.001-03:30

Finding the Words is a new anthology published by McClelland & Stewart in support of PEN Canada, the national arm of the global non-profit organization that goes to bat for freedom of expression. CBC Books has recently been presenting excerpts from the anthology: follow this link to read about the summer Michael Winter and Lisa Moore had jobs together on the periphery of the Newfoundland justice system, in Michael Winter's "Thinly Veiled."

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Visit Rattling Books' author profiles of Winter and Moore (click on their names above) for their Rattling Books' fiction titles. Rattling Books audio books are available as audio or MP3 CDs, and as MP3 downloads. Single stories are available as MP3 downloads.

Rattling Books' "Vikings Of The Ice" Up For Audie Award

2011-03-03T01:11:00.011-03:30

Rattling Books is the only Canadian contender for a 2011 Audie, the audio book industry’s Oscar equivalent. Vikings of the Ice, RB's unabridged audio edition of George Allan England's 1922 eyewitness account of the Newfoundland seal hunt, is a finalist in the history category.

Presented annually by the Audio Publishers Association, an American organization representing audio publishing companies and allied suppliers, distributors and retailers of spoken word products, the Audies honour the best in audio books. Last year’s winners included Nelson Mandela’s Favourite African Folktales, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, Helen Mirren, Don Cheadle and Alan Rickman, and Booker-prize winner Wolf Hall, narrated by Simon Slater.

Over 1,100 audio books were entered in this year’s competition. Winners will be announced at the Audies Gala on May 24, 2011, at the Times Center in New York City. (We've got our fingers, toes, arms, legs and hearts crossed.)

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Vikings is not only a chronicle of the early twentieth-century industrial seal hunt, but of the speech, folklore and beliefs of rural Newfoundlanders of that period. These long gone and never to return voices of the men who plied the spring seal fishery are rendered vividly by Frank Holden, veteran playwright, actor and narrator. Like Chaucer's pilgrims on the way to Canterbury, the "swilers" offer us their stories about a hard-scrabble life valiantly faced, on both land and sea.

Vikings of the Ice is available from Rattling Books as an MP3 audio book CD and an MP3 download.

Anita Best Has Never Met A Liar She Didn't Like

2011-03-02T01:11:00.001-03:30

Now that Valentine's Day is over, and all the heart-shaped boxes of chocolates are on sale for a fifth of their former price, it's time to embrace love less artificially and commercially. And who better to do that with than Ron Hynes and Anita Best, neither of whom will ever be in the running for a Slick and Void Award. "I Never Met a Liar I Didn't Like" was written by Ron Hynes (and his ex-wife, Connie Hynes), and is sung by Anita Best in this video. (If you think you have no use for liars, here's a song that just might make you run right out and acquire one.)

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Rattling Books has been fortunate to have both Anita Best and Ron Hynes as narrators. Click here to listen to excerpts from works Anita has narrated, and here for Ron's contributions to our audio productions.

Rattling Books audio books are available as audio or MP3 CDs, and as MP3 downloads. Single stories are available as MP3 downloads.

Kathleen Winter's "Annabel" Nominated For Amazon.ca First Novel Award

2011-03-01T01:11:00.003-03:30

Kathleen Winter's debut novel, Annabel, has been nominated for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award. Read all about it in this Montreal Gazette article.

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Listen to excerpts from Rattling Books' audio versions of Kathleen Winter's short stories: "The Destination," narrated by Merrill Francis; "His Brown Face Through the Flowers," narrated by Nicola Hawkins; and "Sleep, Little Baby," narrated by Mark Callanan. These stories are available as individual MP3 downloads, and are also featured on EarLit Shorts 1, a collection of short fiction by Winter, Joel Thomas Hynes and Carmelita McGrath.

Robin McGrath On Labrador, Nursery Rhymes, Marbles - And "Annabel"

2011-02-28T01:11:00.001-03:30

Robin McGrath is one of Newfoundland and Labrador's most prolific writers, and she's also a scholar of the North. Click here to read a recent interview with McGrath in the Northern Poetry Review, in which she ranges far and wide and eloquently on various topics.

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Listen to an excerpt from Coasting Trade, Rattling Books' audio book edition of Robin McGrath's "performance for three voices." Narrated by Robert Joy, Rick Boland and Anita Best, Coasting Trade is available as an audio CD or an MP3 download.

Canadian Writers On New Copyright Legislation: The Plot Thickens

2011-02-25T01:11:00.019-03:30

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Ooops . . . This blog erroneously reported earlier in the week that Richard Cumyn was the Cumyn in the above video. But no, he's Richard Cumyn's brother, Alan, also a writer. (Did their mother read War and Peace during those long months of pregnancy? Attend creative writing classes? Was she frightened twice by runaway bookworms?) Apologies to the Brothers Cumyn - but, you have to admit, the resemblance is strong. (The photo is of Richard Cumyn.)

Anyway, there are at least two Cumyns writing dandy fiction in Canada, but we have only one of them on tap. Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio edition of Richard Cumyn's short story "My Future in Insurance," narrated by Charlie Tomlinson. This story is available as a single MP3 download, and it's also part of the EarLit Shorts 3 collection of short fiction, available as an MP3 download or an MP3 CD.

Joel Thomas Hynes Has New Movie In Works

2011-02-24T01:11:00.013-03:30

Author and actor Joel Thomas Hynes is about to become a director. Hynes is currently looking for production money for Clipper Gold, a short film about moose sausages, relationships and tea. If you'd like to contribute to this project, click here. (You could end up on a Hynes motorcycle tour of Newfoundland's Southern Shore, or written into his next manuscript - check it out.)

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Follow this link to listen to excerpts from Rattling Books' audio versions of Joel Thomas Hynes' fiction - short, long and non, available as individual MP3 downloads or MP3 CDs. (Click on the images under the bio.)

CBC's Canada Reads Not Delivering The Real Goods?

2011-02-23T01:11:00.022-03:30

According to a recent article in the National Post, CBC's annual Canada Reads - "CBC's annual battle of the books, where five Canadian personalities select the book they think Canadians should read" - may be directing Canadians away from good literature. (Mavis Gallant and Alice Munro were dumped by certain Canadian celebrities one year.) Click here to read a Post contributor's take on Canada Reads.

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Rattling Books thinks Mavis Gallant is just swell, and would never dump her. Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio edition of Gallant's Montreal Stories, narrated by Audie-nominated narrator Margot Dionne. Montreal Stories is available as an MP3 download or an MP3 CD.

Freedom To Read Week, February 20 - 26

2011-02-21T01:11:00.005-03:30

This week is Freedom to Read Week. Think Canadians are free from the worst excesses of censorship? Click here for a list of some of the books (including Huckleberry Finn and Kevin Major's Hold Fast) and magazines people have recently tried to get banned from our country's libraries and schools. Sometimes successfully.

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Feel free to sample Rattling Books' fine audio productions. Follow this link to listen to excerpts from great poetry, fiction, non-fiction, short fiction and children's literature, available as MP3 downloads and audio or MP3 CDs.

Beverly Akerman: "The Meaning of Children"

2011-02-18T01:11:00.004-03:30

Read The Globe and Mail's review of Canadian writer Beverly Akerman's debut collection of short stories, The Meaning of Children.

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An audio version of Beverly Akerman's short story "Tumbalalaika," included in The Meaning of Children, will soon be available from Rattling Books. To listen to excerpts from other works of short fiction by some of Canada's finest authors in the genre, click here. Short fiction from Rattling Books is available as single MP3 downloads, or as audio CD or MP3 CD collections (which can also be downloaded).

Andy Jones And Abbie's Table, St. John's, February 19

2011-02-17T01:11:00.001-03:30

Newfoundland actor and writer Andy Jones and the Growing Up, Up In Cove Collective will present a performance based on the Abbie Table at the Eastern Edge Gallery in St. John's on February 19.

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio edition of Andy Jones' Letters from Uncle Val, narrated by the author. Letters from Uncle Val is available as an audio book CD and an MP3 download.

Michael Winter In The Running For Commonwealth Writers' Prize

2011-02-16T01:11:00.005-03:30

Canadian writer Michael Winter's novel The Death of Donna Whalen has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Canada and the Caribbean). Follow this link to read about Canada's domination of these awards this year.

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio edition of Michael Winter's The Big Why, narrated by Robert Joy. The Big Why is available as an MP3 audio book CD or an MP3 download.

Anita Best And The Ballad

2011-02-15T01:11:00.004-03:30

Follow this link to read an interview with Newfoundland singer and folklorist Anita Best about the ballad in Newfoundland culture.

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Listen to Anita Best reading the poem "Jesus and His Gashes," from Rattling Books' audio edition of Mary Dalton's Merrybegot, available as an audio book CD or an MP3 download.

Happy Valentine's Day From Rattling Books

2011-02-14T01:11:00.001-03:30

Ophelia's Valentine's Song

To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
And dupp'd the chamber- door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.
By Gis and by Saint Charity,
Alack, and fie for shame!
Young men will do't, if they come to't;
By cock, they are to blame.
Quoth she, before you tumbled me,
You promised me to wed.
So would I ha' done, by yonder sun,
An thou hadst not come to my bed.

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Give your love (or yourself, or both) the gift of literature to listen to in honour of the day: download a story or audio book from Rattling Books. Click here to sample our wares.

Valentine's Day 2011: War And Love

2011-02-11T01:11:00.001-03:30

Listen to e.e. cummings' poem "My Sweet Old Etcetera," in which the author muses upon war and love.

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Click here to listen to excerpts from some of Canada's finest poets musing upon various things. Rattling Books' poetry audio books are available as audio CDs or MP3 CDs, and MP3 downloads.

Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland And Labrador Celebrates Valentine's Day With Poetry Readings

2011-02-10T01:11:00.005-03:30

On Sunday, February 13, the Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador will be presenting Ain't Poetry Grand 4, a Valentine's eve fundraiser at the Ship Pub in St. John's featuring poetry readings by Michael Crummey, Tom Dawe, Danielle Devereaux, Monica Kidd, Michel Savard and Des Walsh. For more information, follow this link.

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio edition of Hard Light: 32 Little Stories, a collection of poems by Michael Crummey. Hard Light is available as an audio book CD or an MP3 download.

Kathleen Winter's "Annabel" Wins Indie Literary Award

2011-02-09T01:11:00.007-03:30

Kathleen Winter's debut novel, Annabel, has placed first in the literary fiction category of the inaugural Independent Literary Awards. For more information about the Independent Literary Awards, click here.

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Listen to excerpts from Rattling Books' audio editions of Kathleen Winter's short stories "The Destination," (narrated by Merrill Francis), "His Brown Face Through the Flowers" (narrated by Nicola Hawkins) and Sleep, Little Baby" (narrated by Mark Callanan). These stories are available as individual MP3 downloads, and are also featured on EarLit Shorts 1, a collection of short fiction by Winter, Joel Thomas Hynes and Carmelita McGrath.

Jessica Grant Reads At MUN's Petro-Canada Hall, February 10

2011-02-08T01:11:00.003-03:30

Memorial University's current Writer in Residence, Jessica Grant, will be giving a public reading at the Petro-Canada Hall on Thursday, February 10. For more information, follow this link.

Grant's debut novel, Come, Thou Tortoise, won the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Evergreen Award, and was a finalist for the Young Adult Canadian Book Award and a nominee for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio edition of Jessica Grant's short story "The Princification Process," narrated by the author. This story is available as an individual MP3 download, and is also featured on EarLit Shorts 3, an audio book collection of short fiction.

Russell Wangersky: Ain't It Funny How Time Slips Away

2011-02-07T00:22:00.001-03:30

Read Russell Wangersky's musings on the relativity of time.

Listen to excerpts from Rattling Books' audio edition of Russell Wangersky's short stories McNally's Fair (narrated by the author) and Echo (narrated by Charlie Tomlinson). These stories are available as individual MP3 downloads, and are also featured on EarLit Shorts 2, an audio collection of short fiction by Wangersky, Prudence Grieve, Catherine Hogan Safer and Claire Wilkshire. EarLit Shorts 2 is available as an MP3 CD or an MP3 download.

Jessica Grant: "Writers Write In A Voice They Can't Speak With"

2011-02-04T01:11:00.013-03:30

Read an interview with Jessica Grant, in which she talks about how she got her start as a writer, and discusses her new position as Writer in Residence at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Listen to an excerpt from "The Princification Process," Rattling Books' audio edition of a short story by Jessica Grant, narrated by the author. "The Princification Process" is available as an individual MP3 download, and is also featured on EarLit Shorts 3, a collection of short fiction by Grant, Richard Cumyn, Steven Heighton, Susan Rendell, Patrick Warner and Emily White.

Richard Cumyn And John Steffler Read At University of New Brunswick, February 7

2011-02-03T01:11:00.012-03:30

Richard Cumyn and John Steffler will be reading at the University of New Brunswick, Saint John, on Monday, February 7, as part of the Lorenzo Reading Series. For details, click on the UNB photo.

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio edition of Richard Cumyn's short story "My Future in Insurance," narrated by Charlie Tomlinson. This story is available as an MP3 download, and it is also featured on EarLit Shorts 3 , an audio book collection of short fiction.

Follow this link to hear an excerpt from Rattling Books' unabridged audio edition of John Steffler's poetry collection The Grey Islands, narrated by the author, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins.

Kathleen Winter On Line: "We Drank Cachaca and Smoked the Green Cheroot"

2011-02-02T01:11:00.024-03:30

Click here for Kathleen Winter's on-line journal, We Drank Cachaca and Smoked the Green Cheroot.

Listen to excerpts from Rattling Books' audio editions of Winter's short stories
"The Destination," "His Brown Face Through the Flowers," and "Sleep, Little Baby." These stories are available as individual MP3 downloads. They're also featured on EarLit Shorts 1, a collection of short fiction by Winter, Joel Thomas Hynes and Carmelita McGrath. EarLit Shorts 1 is available as an MP3 audio book CD or an MP3 download.

Andy Jones As "Uncle Val," Saint John, February 4

2011-02-01T01:11:00.013-03:30

Comedian Andy Jones will be presenting Letters from Uncle Val at the Imperial Theatre in Saint John, New Brunswick, on Friday, February 4. (For details, click on the photo.) Uncle Val is a displaced elderly out-harbour gentleman, learning to adjust to life in the suburbs of St. John's, Newfoundland.

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' unabridged audio edition of Letters from Uncle Val, available as an audio book CD or an MP3 download.

Gerard Whelan

2011-01-31T01:11:00.004-03:30

Actor Gerard Whelan (a.k.a. Gerard Neil) narrates David Macfarlane's The Danger Tree, coming soon from Rattling Books.

Don McKay

2011-01-28T01:11:00.005-03:30

Click here to read a poem ("Midnight Dip") by Canadian poet Don McKay, accompanied by music from the film Lord of the Rings.

Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' unabridged audio book edition of McKay's poetry collection Songs for the Songs of Birds, available as an audio CD or an MP3 download.

Ron Hynes' "Stealing Genius"

2011-01-27T01:11:00.011-03:30

Canadian musician Ron Hynes' 2010 CD, Stealing Genius, was inspired by the work of Newfoundland authors.

To read a review of Stealing Genius on the American alternative country music site NoDepression.com, click here.

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Listen to Ron Hynes read a poem from Rattling Books' unabridged audio edition of Newfoundland writer Michael Crummey's Hard Light: 32 Little Stories. Rattling Books' unabridged audio books are available as audio or MP3 CDs, and also as MP3 downloads.

Chris Benjamin Reports On "Environmental Racism"

2011-01-26T01:11:00.005-03:30

Click here to read an article on "environmental racism" by Chris Benjamin, published in Halifax's The Coast.

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Listen to an excerpt from Chris Benjamin's short story "Delia and Phil," narrated by Charlie Tomlinson. "Delia and Phil" is available from Rattling Books as an individual MP3 download, and it's also featured on EarLit Shorts 4, an audio book collection of short fiction featuring Benjamin, Michael Collins, Robin McGrath, Rebecca Rosenblum, J. J. Steinfeld and Leslie Vryenhoek.

Beverly Akerman

2011-01-25T01:11:00.004-03:30

After over two decades in molecular genetics research, Beverly Akerman realized she’d been learning more and more about less and less. Skittish at the prospect of knowing everything about nothing, she turned, for solace, to writing.

To read a short story by this award-winning Montreal writer, click here.

To visit her blog, follow this link.

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Beverly Akerman's short story "Tumbalalaika" will soon be available from Rattling Books, as part of the short fiction collection EarLit 5 and also as an individual MP3 download.

Canadian Author Rebecca Rosenblum's New Short Story Collection

2011-01-24T01:11:00.014-03:30

Canadian publisher Biblioasis is about to publish a second short story collection by Rebecca Rosenblum. Read the publisher's comments on her new collection, The Big Dream.

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Listen to excerpts from Rebecca Rosenblum's short stories, "The Weatherboy" (narrated by Gerard Whalen) and "Christmas with My Mother" (narrated by Janet Russell). These stories are available from Rattling Books as individual MP3 downloads, and they are also featured on EarLit Shorts 4, an audio book collection of short fiction by Rosenblum, Chris Benjamin, Michael Collins, Robin McGrath, J.J. Steinfeld and Leslie Vryenhoek.

"Rumpus" Review of Kathleen Winter's "Annabel"

2011-01-21T01:11:00.005-03:30

Canadian writer Kathleen Winter's debut novel Annabel has made a fine splash in the literary pool, and the ripples are still spreading.

Click here to read the latest review, in The Rumpus, of Annabel, which was short-listed for three major Canadian literary prizes, the Governor General's Literary Award, the Giller Prize and the Writer's Trust Prize.

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Listen to excerpts from short stories by Kathleen Winter: The Destination, His Brown Face Through the Flowers and Sleep, Little Baby. These stories are available from Rattling Books as individual MP3 downloads, and they are also featured on EarLit Shorts 1, an anthology of short fiction by Joel Thomas Hynes, Carmelita McGrath and Kathleen Winter.

Today In Meteorological History . . .

2011-01-20T01:11:00.003-03:30

On January 20, 1943, Lead, South Dakota, recorded a temperature of 52 degrees Fahrenheit. On the same day, Deadwood, South Dakota, a mile and a half away from Lead, recorded -16 degrees Fahrenheit.

Here in Newfoundland, we know how they felt. Sort of, anyway. But there are a few things that can distract us from being consumed heart and soul by aberrant weather patterns. Small children and good literature are pretty effective at focusing the heart and soul, and Rattling Books "talking books" - unabridged audio books available as CDs or downloads - allow you to watch your children gambol, say, in the kitchen, while, with your back to whatever is happening against the window, you listen to great writing from some of Canada's finest authors and narrators.

Take that, Jack Frost and Jill Flood.

January 19 Is Edgar Allan Poe's Birthday

2011-01-19T01:11:00.004-03:30

On January 19, 1809, poet Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston. A major American poet, Poe was, apparently, one of the first writers to try to make a living solely from writing. This may, or may not, have led to his rather depressing choice of subjects and early death.

Mary Dalton is one of Newfoundland's major poets. And although her poetry examines many facets of the human experience, including crawly things, she is not likely to come to a premature end. One reason is that she is also a professor of English at Memorial University, having had the good sense not to try to make a living at poetry.

Listen to an excerpt from Mary Dalton's Merrybegot, narrated by Anita Best. This unabridged audio book is available from Rattling Books as an audio CD or an MP3 download.

Today In History . . .

2011-01-18T01:11:00.003-03:30

On January 18, 1912, English explorer Robert F. Scott and his expedition reached the South Pole. Exciting stuff, but there was one problem. Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had gotten there before him.

If polar exploration is your thing, listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' The Last Voyage of the Karluk, Captain Robert Bartlett's account of being stranded in the far north during an early twentieth-century polar expedition. Narrated by Frank Holden, it's a spine-tingling story with many and various elements, including small children, dogs and Chopin's "Funeral March."

This unabridged audio book is available as an MP3 CD or an MP3 digital download.

TNQ's Nick Blatchford Poetry Contest

2011-01-17T01:11:00.006-03:30

It's that time of year again: almost-deadline time for Canadian literary journal The New Quarterly's annual Nick Blatchford poetry contest. The contest is for "poems written in response to an occasion, personal or public - poems of gratitude or grief, poems that celebrate or berate, poems that make of something an occasion or simply mark one."

For details about the contest, click on the TNQ cover image.

To read Amanda Jernigan's charming essay on poems and occasions, click here.

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Listen to excerpts from the poetry of some of Canada's best poets, presented to you by Rattling Books. Available as audio book CDs and MP3 digital downloads.

Andy Jones At The Eastern Edge Gallery In St. John's, Newfoundland

2011-01-14T01:11:00.006-03:30

Andy Jones, one of Newfoundland's most well-known actors and writers, will have a month-long (January 17 to February 19) residency at the Eastern Edge Gallery in St. John's, during which he will continue to develop The Abbie Table Project, a collaborative work started in 2006.

The centerpiece of the project is a 10' x 4' table inscribed with a story of the life of a Newfoundland family engaged in the salt fishery from the 1920s to the 1950s, which has been "illuminated" by several dozen contributors. Jones' residency at Eastern Edge will include "performances" of the table in the form of public readings and interpretive theatre pieces.

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio book edition of Andy Jones' Letters from Uncle Val. This audio book is available as an audio CD or an MP3 digital download.

Author Bernice Morgan Gives "Below The Bridge" Two Thumbs Up

2011-01-13T01:11:00.002-03:30

Bernice Morgan, author of Random Passage, said she cried when she listened to Rattling Books' unabridged audio book edition of Helen Fogwill Porter's memoir of growing up on the South Side of St. John's in the 1930s and '40s, Below the Bridge.

Lucky for us, this wasn't because of bad production values. "I thoroughly enjoyed it," Morgan said. "No one knows old St. John's the way Helen does."

Listen to an excerpt from Below the Bridge, available from Rattling Books as an MP3 audio book CD or an audio book digital download.

Rattling Books At SPARKS Literary Festival, St. John's, January 23

2011-01-12T04:53:00.018-03:30

The Memorial University of Newfoundland's Faculty of Arts will be holding its 2011 SPARKS literary festival from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, January 23, at the Petro-Canada Hall in the School of Music.

Professor Mary Dalton, the festival’s founder and director, has once again assembled a stellar group of writers to entertain and enlighten audiences during a day-long festival of readings, talks, and book and journal displays. To find out which authors will be reading, click here.

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Rattling Books will have a display at the SPARKS Festival. Follow this link to listen to excerpts from Rattling Books audio book CDs and digital downloads.

David Weale Book Added To Curriculum Of Indiana University

2011-01-11T00:12:00.015-03:30

Prince Edward Island author David Weale's Chasing the Shore: Little Stories of Spirit and Landscape has recently been adopted as a core textbook at Notre Dame University in Indiana. It will be used in a course entitled Place and Voice.

The author of more then a dozen books, Weale is best known for his children’s literature, particularly The True Meaning of Crumbfest.

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' unabridged audio book edition of The True Meaning of Crumbfest, which won an AudioFile Earphones Award.

Lisa Moore To Conduct Writing Workshop In Winnipeg, January 23rd

2011-01-10T00:12:00.011-03:30

Short-story writer and novelist Lisa Moore will be leading a fiction workshop in Winnipeg on Sunday, January 23. Writers should submit up to ten pages of work, and two or three questions they'd like answered, about the work or writing in general. These will be sent to other workshop participants a week before the workshop, and discussed during the workshop.

The deadline for applying is January 14. Submissions go to venns@mts.net.

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To hear an excerpt from a short story by Lisa Moore, click here. Rattling Books' unabridged audio book edition of Moore's short story collection Open is available as an MP3 CD or an MP3 digital download. Several of the stories can be downloaded individually.

Farewell to Christmas!

2011-01-06T16:18:00.000-03:30

Time to put the antlers away for another year.

Best wishes for the meantime.

Rattling Books

Redefining New Year's Resolutions #5: Rattling Books

2011-01-05T13:44:00.000-03:30

I resolve:

firstly: to shive all lewardly pishogues yaffled into this drung of a world by hangishores believing in boo darbies

secondly: to juggle four waddocks on the bawn and teach my merrybegot to do the same before

thirdly and lastly: I quit this droke peopled by nuzzle tripes, marl on out to the blue drop and hang with the bawks and guds.

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The above resolution was made by Rattling Books back when we were kicking off our 2008 New Year's Resolution Contest which originated from the Rattling Books facebook group/game REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English.

REDEFiNE iT was inspired in part by Mary Dalton's collection of poems entitled Merrybegot. The unabridged audiobook edition is available as an audio CD or Digital Download from Rattling Books.

Redefining New Year's Resolutions #4: Kathleen Winter

2011-01-04T08:30:00.003-03:30

Kathleen Winter

By every gud and bawk marling over drung, bawn and blue drop, I resolve to shive four hours off the night and keep writing long past midnight, no matter what lewerdly boo wants to whisper pishogues in my ear or pelt me with guilty waddocks, this angishore is sick of early to bed and early to rise just because she's mothered a brood of merrybegot nuzzle-tripes wailing all day long at her that they're hungry and she's supposed to find a fish in the droke and fry it up for them when what she should be doing is getting her yaffle of stories ready for the next bloody Pulitzer.

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The above resolution was an entry from Kathleen Winter to our 2008 New Year's Resolution Contest which originated from the Rattling Books facebook group/game REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English.

REDEFiNE iT was a tangent indulgence of Rattling Books' which was inspired in part by Mary Dalton's collection of poems entitled Merrybegot. The unabridged audio edition is available as an audio CD or Digital Download from Rattling Books. It is performed by Anita Best with Patrick Boyle on trumpet and flugelhorn.

Redefining New Year's Resolutions #3: Sigurbjörg Þrastardóttir

2011-01-03T08:30:00.000-03:30

Sigurbjörg Þrastardóttir

I promise and lewardly bawn to myself and my whole waddock of friends to yaffle, marl and bawk with more intensity and beauty in 2008 than ever before, in order to shive my angishore and crank up the nuzzle tripe of those around me, be it plainly in the blue drop, out on the drung or high up in the pishogue. This does not, of course, in any way gud my orderly mid-January droke, to stab the merrybegot though the heart with a sleek and slightly bent boo.

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The above resolution is from 2008 when Rattling Books was running a New Year's Resolution Contest which originated from the Rattling Books facebook group/game REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English.

REDEFiNE iT was a tangent indulgence of Rattling Books' which was inspired in part by Mary Dalton's collection of poems entitled Merrybegot. The unabridged audio edition is available as an audio CD or Digital Download from Rattling Books. It is performed by Anita Best with Patrick Boyle on trumpet and flugelhorn.

Redefining New Year's Resolutions #2: Don McKay

2011-01-02T08:30:00.001-03:30

Here is Don McKay's entry too ur New Year's Resolution Contest which originated from the Rattling Books facebook group/game REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English.from back in 2008. The contest required entries to use words from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English that had appeared as "words of the week" during the previous year.

Don McKay

January 2nd and your head still feels like a waddock that's been bashed up and down the field by size thirteen spaugs, and no wonder, you're after being a slinger randying all Christmas, guzzling the screech and stuffing your gob, telling your old cuffers filled with all that pishogue, how you were forever grassing in the bawn like the rawny merrybegot you are, how you'd marl up the droke with a joke and a bottle and all the girls waiting to kiss you in the drung behind the church hall, way back when you were but a lewardly nuzzle tripe of a angishore before the blue drop got in your blood and you were out jiggering for cod with the bawks and guds whirling overhead, the gillies, turrs and tickleaces skimming the surface, the swiles sculling and diving, now here you are so hung over you can hardly stand to shive the goowiddy off your fousty face, yes my son, you say to the boo in the mirror, you've been a jeezly seeny-sawny long enough, it's time for a whole yaffle of resolutions, if only you could figure out where to start.

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REDEFiNE iT was a tangent indulgence of Rattling Books' which was inspired in part by Mary Dalton's collection of poems entitled Merrybegot. The unabridged audio edition is available as an audio CD or Digital Download from Rattling Books. It is performed by Anita Best with Patrick Boyle on trumpet and flugelhorn.

Revisiting Redefining New Year's Resolutions: #1 Andreae Prozesky

2011-01-01T10:28:00.000-03:30

If you find yourself entering 2011 without any resolutions, watch this space.

Time passes. At the dawning of the year 2008 Rattling Books was running a New Year's Resolution Contest which originated from the Rattling Books facebook group/game REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English.

Over the next few days we will be re-posting some of those redefining resolutions from 2008. We'll start with the entry that won the contest.

Andreae Prozesky

My merrybegot, who may be a moss-child, but who is surely no nuzzle-tripe, wakes herself at night with boo-darby dreams; I, from this snowy droke (which was, not long ago a grassy bawn), I, drung-dweller, city marler, resolve to shive these horrors from her (and to expose them as a yaffle of pishogue and foolishness); there's not much more I can do to toughen her up - though I'm no angashore, I'm lewerdly with a waddock and would as soon find myself diving into the blue drop with the guds and bawks as getting up at five in the morning for hockey.

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REDEFiNE iT was a tangent indulgence of Rattling Books' which was inspired in part by Mary Dalton's collection of poems entitled Merrybegot. The unabridged audio edition is available as an audio CD or Digital Download from Rattling Books. It is performed by Anita Best with Patrick Boyle on trumpet and flugelhorn.

Robin McGrath on iTunes : Coasting Trade

2010-12-30T14:14:00.000-03:30

Another suggested use for that iTunes card you got from Santa:

Coasting Trade
by Robin McGrath
An audio book Performance for three voices, narrated (in order of appearance) by Robert Joy, Rick Boland and Anita Best,

produced with soundscape recordings by Chris Brookes.

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available in the Spoken Word section of the iTunes store.

And of course always also available from Rattling Books.

Don McKay on iTunes: Songs for the Songs of Birds

2010-12-28T12:31:00.000-03:30

A suggested use for that iTunes card you got from Santa:

Songs for the Songs of Birds
poems written and read by Don Mckay

featuring field recordings of bird songs by Dave Fifield

available in the Spoken Word section of the iTunes store.

Andy Jones' "Queen of Paradise's Garden" Puppet Show, St. John's, Newfoundland, December 28-31

2010-12-21T01:11:00.014-03:30

Kids making you crazy this Christmas? Of course they are: Santa's come and gone, your (ex) best friend gave your six-year-old a drum set and school is never going to open again.

All you need is a little bit of magic to overcome those homicide/suicide impulses, magic that will stick around for a while after the spell has been cast.

Best bet is to let the kids up out of the basement, remove the duct tape, wrap them and yourselves up in something cosy and go to the LSPU Hall some afternoon in late December. That's when Andy Jones' puppet show, based on his book, The Queen of Paradise's Garden, will be casting its glamour over burnt-out parents and permanently wired children (God love 'em!). Click on the LSPU Hall link for information about tickets and times and so forth.

The story is a free adaptation by Jones of a Jack tale told by Albert Heber Keeping of Grand Bank, which he got from Billy Quann of Sagona Island. Billy Quann had it from . . . never mind. The tale goes back a long way, to "olden times, when quart bottles held half a gallon and houses were papered with pancakes."

(Of course, the kids are going to start up again sometime. It might be a good idea to have a copy of The Queen of Paradise's Garden to fend them off with. Follow this link to its place of purchase.)

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Andy Jones wears many hats — many heads, actually. Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio book edition (available as an audio CD or MP3 download) of Jones' Letters from Uncle Val (Uncle Val being an outharbour gentleman who finds himself adrift in the suburbs of St. John's).

Check out Rattling Books' new holiday prices: thirty percent off everything until Old Christmas Day (January 6).

Annual "A Feast of Cohen" Festival, St. John's, Newfoundland, December 27 - 29

2010-12-20T01:11:00.027-03:30

All around the world, a fat jolly old Gentile is about to make Christmas rock. But in these parts, Santa has a special helper. An eternally middle-aged Jewish man has been putting the a for angst in Christmas for more than a decade now.

Jesus's dad? Nope. Leonard Cohen. C'mon — surely you're familiar with that old Yuletide classic: "Rudolph takes you down/To his place by the ice fields/And he feeds you elves in honey . . . ." No?

Well, perhaps it's time you headed out to Vicky Hynes' annual A Feast of Cohen. Every year Hynes gathers Newfoundland's finest musicians for a tribute to Old Grinch Face himself. This year's concert features, among other star lights, Amelia Curran, Jenny Gear, Brian Hennessey, Colleen Power, Sean Panting, Jill Porter, Liz Solo, and Des Walsh.

For information about tickets, time and place for A Feast of Cohen, click here.

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Listen to an excerpt from Robin McGrath's Donovan's Station featuring the voice of Liz Solo (a.k.a. Liz Pickard). Donovan's Station is available from Rattling Books as an unabridged audio book MP3 CD or an MP3 audio book download.

Check out Rattling Books' new holiday prices: thirty percent off everything until Old Christmas Day (January 6).

30% Rattling Books did give to me

2010-12-19T03:15:00.001-03:30

from now until Old Christmas Day

from

rattlingbooks.com

30% off

all of our audiobook CDs

may happiness betide you!

Author Catherine Hogan Safer: Mom's The Word

2010-12-17T01:11:00.006-03:30

Catherine Hogan Safer is obviously in the Christmas mood; she has even succeeded in imagining snowflakes for herself despite the torrential downpour of the past few days.

Hogan Safer's imagination is her most powerful attribute (besides her ability to charm grocery store plants and pound puppies into blooming). Her debut novel, Bishop's Road (Killick Press, 2004), was nominated for the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award. Her children's book What if Your Mom Made Raisin Buns (Tuckamore Books, 2006) was a runner-up for the Marianna Dempster Memorial Award and the Bruneau Family Children’s/Young Adult Literature Award.

Listen to an excerpt from "Mom," a short story by Hogan Safer which features a not-exactly-the-raisin-bun-making kind of mother. This story is available from Rattling Books as an MP3 download, and it's also part of the EarLit Shorts 2 collection of short fiction (MP3 audio book CD or MP3 download.)

Check out Rattling Books' new holiday prices: thirty percent off everything until Old Christmas Day (January 6).

Canadian Author Beverly Akerman Reveals All: Santa Gate Exposé By Renta Yenta

2010-12-16T01:11:00.010-03:30

If you want to discover the connection between dirty letters written by Santa, cash payments to former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, the Guess Who reunion tour, randy goats, sustainable development and Gilbert Gottfried, click here to read Beverly Akerman's . . . um, unusual . . . Christmas story, featuring "intrepid tabloid reporter" Renta Yenta.

Montrealer Akerman, a molecular geneticist in a previous life, is now a full-time writer of fiction and non-fiction. Her work has appeared in many publications, including The Antigonish Review, Maclean's, The New Quarterly, Descant and the National Post. She recently won the David Adams Richards Prize for her short story collection The Meaning of Children.

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Beverly Akerman's short fiction will be featured in Rattling Books' upcoming collection of short fiction, EarLit Shorts 5. Follow this link to listen to excerpts from the works of other fine Canadian short story writers (click on the EarLit Shorts images).

Rattling Books audio books are available as MP3 downloads, audio CDs and MP3 CDs.

Poet Leanne Averbach Launching New Book In St. John's, Newfoundland, December 21

2010-12-15T01:11:00.016-03:30

Canadian writer, performance poet and experimental filmmaker Leanne Averbach will be launching her latest book of poetry, Come Closer (Tightrope Books), at the Leyton Gallery in St. John's on December 21. Music will be provided by Mary Barry and Charlie Barfoot.

Her debut collection of poems, Fever (Mansfield Press, 2005), was short-listed for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Its companion CD is a fusion of her spoken words and the blues/jazz accompaniment of the group Indigo.

Averbach's video-poem Carwash (below) was screened at the Visible Verse Film Festival in Vancouver.

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If you're in the mood for poetry, click here to listen to excerpts from poems by Canada's finest poets. If you're in the mood for singer and musician Mary Barry's compelling speaking voice, follow this link to hear an excerpt from her narration of Helen Porter's Below the Bridge.

Rattling Books' audio books of poetry and prose are available as MP3 downloads, audio CDs and MP3 CDs.

Mummers Parade, St. John's, Newfoundland, December 18

2010-12-14T00:12:00.008-03:30

It's that time of year again, when grown men can don dresses, paint their faces or put nylon stockings over their heads and parade in public, without fear of ridicule. (Women too.) Mummering, or janneying, is a centuries-old English Christmas tradition which survived export to the New World, at least to Newfoundland and Labrador. (And apparently to Philadelphia as well: the mummers in the photo are residents of that city. For more about mummering, click on the green, yellow and black guy.)

This year's St. John's Mummers Parade will be held on Saturday, December 18 (storm date is Sunday, December 19). If you don't have a disguise at hand, you can rig one up from bins of clothing at MacPherson Elementary at 40 Newtown Road, between one and two p. m. The parade begins from MacPherson at two, and there will be a concert and jam at The Rooms afterwards, beginning at three.

All are welcome. So are nonperishable food items.

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Rattling Books' unabridged audio version of Mary Dalton's poetry collection Merrybegot contains a poem called "Janneying." To hear poems from Merrybegot, narrated by Anita Best, click here and here. Merrybegot is available as an unabridged audio book CD, or an unabridged MP3 download.

Second Birthday Party for Newfoundland and Labrador's Journal of Arts and Culture "Riddle Fence," December 14

2010-12-13T01:11:00.014-03:30

It hasn't been all beer and skittles for young Riddle Fence, Newfoundland and Labrador's journal of arts and culture, which turns two this current issue. Or Baby Einstein and plush toys either. But mostly it has.

To celebrate its second birthday, staff and aficionados of the little whippersnapper are getting together at the Ship Pub in St. John's on Tuesday, December 14, for cake and beer (no skittles, but there will be a raffle).

The fun starts at eight p.m.; everyone is welcome. Randy Drover, Patrick Warner and Shoshanna Wingate will be reading.

To find out more about Riddle Fence, click on the image of Grant Boland's Mother and Child, featured in the journal's sixth issue.

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Listen to an excerpt from Patrick Warner's "Doubleness, the Disease of Life," narrated by the author. This short story is available as an MP3 download, and it's also featured on the EarLit Shorts 3 audio book MP3 CD.

CFA Spotlight: Leslie Vryenhoek

2010-12-10T01:11:00.008-03:30

Newfoundland and Labrador has some of the best writers in Canada; more than its fair share, in fact. For a province that has the population of a medium-sized town in Ontario, its writers cut a large swath on the Canadian literary landscape.

Some of these swath-cutters are "Come from Aways" (CFAs); that is, they were not born here. And although Newfoundland and Labrador suffers perennially from out-migration, its literary community seems to attract rather than lose members.

Leslie Vryenhoek is one of our CFA writers, and she has been busy swinging her scribbler's scythe. The former American citizen, now a resident of St. John's, is a critically acclaimed poet and short story writer. Her debut collection of short fiction, Scrabble Lessons, was published by Oolichan Books in 2009. "It all works and leaves an uneasy smile. Perfect," said The Globe and Mail.

To find out more about Leslie Vryenhoek, click on her photo.

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Listen to excerpts from Leslie Vryenhoek's short stories "All She Swallowed" (read by the author) and "Cycle" (read by Joel Thomas Hynes). These stories are available as individual MP3 downloads, and they are also featured on the EarLit Shorts audio book MP3 CD.

Rebecca Rosenblum: "Christmas with My Mother"

2010-12-09T01:11:00.003-03:30

Christmas is supposed to be the best time of the year, which is why it often ends up as a big disappointment. Or somewhere in between. Especially if you've left childhood and adolescence behind, and are knee-deep in the "real world."

Canadian short-story writer Rebecca Rosenblum is very good at describing the vagaries of the real world, without diminishing the ideal one in the process. Listen to an excerpt from her short story "Christmas with My Mother," available from Rattling Books as a single MP3 download.

"Christmas with My Mother" is also featured on the EarLit Shorts 4 audio book MP3 CD, which contains another of Rosenblum's fine pieces of short fiction, "The Weatherboy."

Newfoundland's RCA Theatre Company Call For Submissions: Christmas Monologue Contest

2010-12-08T01:11:00.012-03:30

The Resource Centre for the Arts Theatre Company is holding another round of its popular Christmas Monologue writing contest. The monologue must be about Christmas in Newfoundland – past, present or future – and run no more than five minutes.

The contest closes December 10, 2010, at 5pm. For more details, click on the image of "the Hall."

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Rattling Books has a fine selection of Newfoundland monologues. Listen to an excerpt from a Joel Thomas Hynes rant about provincial icons. Hear "Uncle Val" (Andy Jones) bemoan his lot in the suburbs of St. John's. Click here to listen to Frank Holden's Judge Daniel Woodley Prowse rail at both felons and plaintiffs in a nineteenth-century Newfoundland courtroom.

For these and other voices of Newfoundland and Labrador, visit the Rattling Books website. Our audio books are available as audio CDs or MP3 CDs, and as MP3 downloads.

Griffin Prize's Scott Griffin Funds New Poetry Contest

2010-12-07T01:11:00.029-03:30

F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, "The very rich . . . are different from you and me." (That hair, that skin, those teeth, that bank account . . .)

Canadian rich guy Scott Griffin is different even from most of the other rich guys. He is the director and volunteer advisor of Canadian Executive Services Overseas (CESO), and he helped re-organise the AMREF Flying Doctors Service for East Africa. Griffin, who has an M.A. in English and philosophy, is also a notable supporter of Canada's writers, particularly its poets.

Yes, he's the Griffin in the Griffin Prize. The Griffin Prize is Canada's most prestigious poetry award, and the world's largest prize for a first edition single collection of poetry written in English. And now Scott Griffin is funding another poetry prize: a new bilingual recitation contest that will award $10,000 to students and school libraries. Read Quill & Quire's article on the new prize for details.

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Scott Griffin has been quoted as saying, "The best way to know a poem short of writing it is to memorize it." At Rattling Books, we think one of the best ways of knowing poetry is to hear it read aloud. To listen to excerpts from some of the best poetry by the best Canadian poets, follow this link.

Rattling Books' poetry collections are available as audio book CDs or MP3 CDs.

Jessica Grant Writer In Residence At Newfoundland's Memorial University

2010-12-06T01:11:00.003-03:30

Canadian short fiction writer and novelist Jessica Grant will be Memorial University's writer in residence during the 2011 winter semester. MUN alumnus (M.A., 2003) Grant won the 2003 Journey Prize for her short story "Her Husband's Jump." Her debut novel, Come, Thou Tortoise, garnered her the Winterset Award, the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Evergreen Award. It has been nominated for the 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

Former MUN writer in residence Lisa Moore calls Grant's novel, the story of a girl and her turtle, a "tortoise de force."

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Listen to an except from Jessica Grant's short story "The Princification Process." "The Princification Process" is available from Rattling Books as a single MP3 download, and it's also featured on EarLit 4, an MP3 audio CD collection of short fiction.

Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador To Announce Winner of 2010 Heritage and History Book Award, December 7

2010-12-03T01:11:00.011-03:30

Robin McGrath's The Winterhouse and Andy Jones' The Queen of Paradise's Garden have been shortlisted for the 2010 Heritage and History Book Award, which will be presented next Tuesday, December 7, at the Ship Pub, during the Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador Christmas party. Everyone is invited; admission is free. Authors of shortlisted books will be reading from their works.

Winner of a 2010 Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Award, The Winterhouse is a novel about the marriage of a fourteen-year-old Newfoundland Gentile orphan to a Jewish remittance man. "The Winterhouse (Killick Press) is a lovely book, full of memorable characters, sharp writing and plenty of history, folklore and rustic charm." (The Canadian Jewish News; for the rest of the review, follow this link.)

According to Quill & Quire, The Queen of Paradise's Garden is a Good Thing from beginning to end. "The ample delights in store are evident from the first line – 'Once upon a time, and a very good time it was, not in your time, indeed not in my time, but in olden times, when quart bottles held half a gallon and houses were papered with pancakes and pigs run about with forks stuck in their backs seein who wanted a slice o’ham . . . .'" To read the entire review, click here.

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Listen to an excerpt from Robin McGrath's lovely short story, "The Birchy Maid," read by the author. "The Birchy Maid" is available as an MP3 single download, and it's also included in the EarLit Shorts 4 short fiction collection, which can be purchased as an audio book MP3 CD or an audio book MP3 download.

Listen to Andy Jones reading from Letters from Uncle Val, a comic masterpiece from Newfoundland's King O' Fun and Rattling Books. Letters from Uncle Val is available as an audio book CD or an audio book MP3 download.

Margaret Atwood: Hockey Night In CanLit

2010-12-02T03:22:00.005-03:30

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Canadian poet, novelist, critic and all-round literary icon Margaret Atwood mentioned that she'd accepted an offer earlier this year from Rick Mercer of the Canadian comedy show This Hour Has 22 Minutes to suit up as a goalie. "Atwood whispers an aside: 'He's from Newfoundland,' as if this explains everything."

Watch the result of the Mercer/Atwood collaboration:

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Being from Newfoundland may not explain everything - why the sky is grey (hereabouts, anyway), for instance - but it's self-explanatory when it comes to comedians and other people who like to express themselves in strange and wonderful ways. Writers, for instance.

Rattling Books has an ocean of Newfoundland literary talent on tap. Mainland Canadian talent too. Visit the Rattling Books website and sample some.

Kathleen Winter, Michael Winter's Novels Make "Globe" Best Of 2010

2010-12-01T02:29:00.024-03:30

Brother and sister literary lights (and former Newfoundland residents) Michael Winter and Kathleen Winter's critically acclaimed novels The Death of Donna Whelan and Annabel have made The Globe and Mail's Best Canadian Books of 2010 list.

To read the Globe's review of Annabel, click here . To read its review of The Death of Donna Whelan, follow this link.

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Listen to excerpts from Kathleen Winter's short stories "The Destination," "His Brown Face Through the Flowers," and "Sleep, Little Baby." These stories are available from Rattling Books as individual MP3 downloads. They are also part of the fiction collection EarLit Shorts 1, available as an audio book MP3 CD or an audio book MP3 download.

Click here for an excerpt from The Big Why, written by Michael Winter and narrated by Robert Joy. The Big Why is available from Rattling Books as an unabridged audio book MP3 CD or an unabridged audio book MP3 download.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like "Crumbfest" . . .

2010-11-30T01:00:00.005-03:30

"Crumbfest" is what the mice call Christmas in David Weale's classic story The True Meaning of Crumbfest. Recipient of the Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children's Literature, Crumbfest is the tale of Ekhart, a young mouse, and his family. As winter approaches, the mice are forced to leave the bountiful natural world for the shelter of a farmhouse, where pickings are slim. The adult mice start talking about something called "Crumbfest," but Eckhart thinks it's all hooey. Until . . .

"The mystery of Crumbfest is the mystery of the Outside and the Inside. When the Outside comes in and the Inside comes out, it is a special time, for when the Outside and the Inside meet, Crumbfest happens."

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' unabridged audio book version of The True Meaning of Crumbfest. Antonia Francis, who was five years old when she narrated Crumbfest, won an AudioFile Earphones Award for her performance. The True Meaning of Crumbfest is available as an audio book CD or an MP3 audio book download.

Ron Hynes Documentary at Empire Theatres, St. John's, Newfoundland, December 2

2010-11-29T04:36:00.049-03:30

The Man of a Thousand Songs, a documentary film about legendary Canadian singer/songwriter Ron Hynes, will be showing for one night this week at seven Empire Theatres across Atlantic Canada. If Hynes' songs make you want to know more about the man who wrote them, take a trip to the Avalon Mall in St. John's this Thursday to see William MacGillivray's intimate portrait of Hynes' rich and rocky life.

MacGillivray used something Hynes' calls a "limbo box" for the three-day interview that comprises the film's core. The result? "When Hynes opens up about his life to the camera with warm but haunted blue eyes, the film digs into an uncomfortable darkness that regular interviews can rarely reach." (National Post)

Read what The Toronto Star, Hynes and MacGillivray have to say about The Man of a Thousand Songs.

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Everyone knows Ron Hynes can sing, but there's a strong and sensitive narrator in there too. If you'd like to hear that side of Hynes, click here to listen to a sample from Hard Light, in which the Man of a Thousand Songs, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and Michael Crummey read thirty-two "little stories" by Crummey. Hard Light: 32 Little Stories is available from Rattling Books as an audio book CD or MP3 audio book download.

Death on the Ice, Cassie Brown's iconic book about the 1914 Newfoundland sealing disaster, also narrated by Ron Hynes, is currently in the Rattling Books works. Stay tuned . . .

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The Man of a Thousand Songs also features Joel Thomas Hynes, Ron's literary nephew. Like his uncle, Hynes the Younger is multi-talented: follow this link for samples of Hynes' work for Rattling Books, which includes his own writing and also the skillful presentation of works by other fine authors, available as MP3 audio book downloads, audio book CDs and MP3 audio book CDs.

Best-selling Author Simon Winchester Live Interview, St. John's, Newfoundland, November 26

2010-11-26T02:04:00.011-03:30

Simon Winchester, OBE, British journalist, broadcaster and author, will be talking about his latest book, Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories, in St. John's, Newfoundland on November 26, during an onstage interview at the Johnson Geo Center Reception Hall with Angela Antle, host of CBC Radio's Weekend Arts Magazine. (The interview begins at seven o'clock; admission is free.)

Winchester, "one of those maddeningly gifted British writers who could probably write the history of mud and make it fascinating" according to a review by the Washington Post of his new book (click here to read the review), travelled the Atlantic Ocean from north to south and east to west in the process of writing Atlantic.

Having studied geology at Oxford University, Winchester likely could make mud fascinating; he made it rather fetching in his 2003 bestselling book about a volcano, Krakatoa.

Oceans are already fascinating, but Winchester's book reminds us just how fascinating, and how important the Atlantic Ocean in particular has been to the history of the West. Winchester, who fell in love with the Atlantic on his first trip across it as a young man, by ocean liner, bemoans what we are doing to it these days. "There has been a steady lessening, some would say an actual abandonment, of humankind's duty of care toward it," he says.

This video features Simon Winchester talking about his novel The Man Who Loved China. (If you want to know who invented the hysterectomy, listen up.)

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When it comes to the history and culture of the Atlantic, the North Atlantic anyway, Rattling Books is no slouch itself. Listen to excerpts from Sir Wilfred Grenfell's Adrift on an Ice Pan, George Allan England's Vikings of the Ice, Chris Brookes' Great Circle: The Viking Discovery of the Americas, Robin McGrath's Coasting Trade and Michael Crummey's Hard Light, available from Rattling Books as unabridged audio books (audio CD or MP3 CD format; also as MP3 downloads).

Joel Thomas Hynes Winner of Newfoundland's Cuffer Prize

2010-11-24T02:23:00.062-03:30

Novelist, playwright and short-story writer Joel Thomas Hynes seems to be having a pretty good November. Earlier this month, the British and Irish press waxed enthusiastic about Down to the Dirt, his 2004 debut novel, which has just been released in the UK and Ireland. Last week, Hynes won the Cuffer Prize, a short story competition sponsored by St. John's newspaper The Telegram and Creative Book Publishing.

His winning entry, "Conflict of Interest," is an excerpt from a work in progress, which will be published by Beth Follett's Pedlar Press. To read Hynes' sharp glittery shard of Cuffer-awarded fiction, follow this link.

The Cuffer's second place award went to Michael Collins, also no mean hand at putting nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives exactly where they should go. Collins garnered second place for his short story "Mrs. Wakeham." Another of his stories, "The Last Islander," was shortlisted for the award.

Scene from the movie version of Down to the Dirt, with Hynes in the title role.

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Cuffer judges Ramona Dearing, Joan Sullivan and Russell Wangersky thought they might have been dealing with a Hynes wannabe when they read his story. Hynes' said (tongue glued to cheek), "That was because I watched my language and peeled back some of the darkness." If you'd like to hear Hynes when he's not being shy, listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' MP3 download of God Help Thee: A Manifesto, first published in Riddle Fence and read live by Hynes.

Rattling Books is pleased to have Michael Collins on offer as well. Listen to an excerpt from his short story "Slip," narrated by Joel Thomas Hynes. "Slip" is available as a single MP3 download, and is also featured on the MP3 audio book CD EarLit Shorts 4.

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Click here to listen to Helen Porter's interview with Angela Antle on last week's Weekend Arts Magazine about Rattling Books' new audio version of her 1970s memoir Below the Bridge. Below the Bridge is the story of Porter's childhood in the 1930s and '40s on the South Side of St. John's. It is also a rich memorial to a community that disappeared: the homes and places of work of the South Side were demolished in the late '50s and early '60s to permit harbour development. In the process, the grave of Shawnadithit, the last known survivor of Newfoundland's indigenous Beothuk, was lost.

Below the Bridge, narrated by Mary Barry, is available from Rattling Books as an unabridged audio book MP3 CD or MP3 download.

Robert Chafe Wins 2010 Governor General's Award For Drama

2010-11-24T02:08:00.010-03:30

In 2004, Newfoundland playwright Robert Chafe's Tempting Providence and Butler's Marsh were shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for Drama (English). Last week, Chafe won the prestigious literary award for his stage adaptation of noted Canadian poet, short story writer and novelist Michael Crummey's short story Afterimage.

Chafe says Afterimage is an "amazing kind of spare, sad, beautiful, story about this family of outcasts who have, at their core, a little boy who is . . . not an outcast." The mother of the family, Lise Lacoeur, a nurse, has psychic powers, for which her community shuns her. The father is a burn victim, who fell in love his fortune-telling nurse. Two of their three children are also psychic. One can predict the weather and the other can see the future. One child has no powers.

Read the Montreal Gazette's interview with Robert Chafe about his GG win.

Watch this video of Artistic Fraud's performance of Afterimage, in which the actors are all wired. (For electricity, that is.)

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio version of Michael Crummey's Hard Light: 32 Little Stories, a selection of poems based on stories told to Crummey by his father and other family members. Narrated by Crummey, Ron Hynes and Deidre Gillard-Rowlings, Hard Light is available as an audio book CD or an MP3 audio book download.

Journal Of Arts and Culture "Riddle Fence" Looking For Submissions

2010-11-22T21:45:00.046-03:30

With about-to-be-hot-off-the-presses issue number seven, Newfoundland and Labrador's Riddle Fence celebrates its second birthday. As one of its editors notes, "We, the editors of this labour-of-love journal, have endured sleepless nights and teeth-cutting, and with jubilation witnessed a distinctive personality emerging, one that is multi-faceted and perhaps shifts issue to issue as we try to pinpoint it."

Young Riddle Fence is definitely a prodigy: although it doesn't sing and dance, its talent for literature and the visual arts are doubtlessly the envy of many older journals. (And even singing and dancing may be found in its pages, in the form of articles about musicians and votaries of Terpsichore.)

The journal's latest deadline for submissions of previously unpublished poetry, prose, creative non-fiction and artwork is December 10, 2010. For submission guidelines, click on the Riddle Fence image.

Riddle Fence interview with authors Bernice Morgan and Joan Clark.

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Mark Callanan, a Riddle Fence editor, is also a talented poet, critic, novelist and narrator. Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio version of Kathleen Winter's short story "Sleep, Little Baby," narrated by Callanan. "Sleep, Little Baby" is available as an MP3 download, and it's also featured on the audio book MP3 CD, EarLit Shorts 1, which also contains short fiction by Carmelita McGrath and Joel Hynes.

Don McKay, Songs for the Song of Creation

2010-11-19T02:00:00.005-03:30

Two-time winner of a Governor General's Literary Award, winner of the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize, Member of the Order of Canada and co-founder (with Stan Dragland) of Brick Books, Don McKay has been writing and publishing some of the best eco-poetry in Canada for nearly forty years. He used to do this in places such as Ontario and British Columbia, but these days McKay is praising the natural world from Newfoundland and Labrador.

McKay has been quoted as saying his poetry is “nature poetry in a time of environmental crisis.” Here is one of McKay's superlative hymns to all things bright and beautiful:

Song for the Song of the Loon

If that’s the word:
the song’s already gone
before it’s uttered so the ear is left
full of its emptiness,
bereft.
It seems the loon
opens its throat to some old
elemental wind, it seems that time
has finally found its syrinx and for a moment
lets itself be voice.
Jesus,
what perilous music!
Surely, like Odysseus, we ought
to stop our ears against this feral
MRI with its dreadful
diagnostic reverb?
But no, we would rather
be stricken, rather suspect
that the spirit also is a migratory species,
that it is right now flying to star river —
as the ancients called the Milky Way — that in
fact it is already there,
yodelling for no one and
ignoring us, the collectors,
with our heads full of closets,
our hearts full of ovens,
and our sad feet.

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Listen to Don McKay read a poem from Songs for the Songs of Birds, which contains poems selected for Rattling Books and read by the author on the theme of birds, birding and flight. Songs for the Songs of Birds is available as an MP3 download or an audio CD.

Rick Boland, CornerBoy

2010-11-18T01:30:00.005-03:30

For many of us, the sound of Rick Boland's distinctive Townie drawl conjures up the early, heady days of theatre and film in Newfoundland. If Boland didn't make at least a cameo appearance on the boards or the celluloid, chances are whatever you were watching wasn't a local product.

A founding member of Rising Tide, Boland was also involved with the Newfoundland Travelling Theatre Company and the Mummer's Troupe. He and Mary Walsh developed the RCA Theatre Company, an early supporter of Canadian actors such as Walsh, Cathy Jones, Rick Mercer and Gordon Pinsent. Boland played the role of a revolutionary cabinet minister in Newfoundland's first full-length feature film, The Adventure of Faustus Bidgood, nominated for three Genie awards.

More than three decades later, Boland is still one of the prominent faces of Newfoundland theatre and cinema. He and Mary Walsh are currently involved in CornerBoys, a company that presents interactive theatre at historic sites in St. John's. Boland's poker face and impeccable timing, comic and otherwise, can be seen recent films and sitcoms such as The Breadmaker, The Bingo Robbers, Young Triffie’s Been Made Away With, The Republic of Doyle ("A Horse Divided") and Diverted, a made-for-TV movie about Gander's role in 9/11.

In 2008, Boland was inducted into the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council's Hall of Honour for his distinguished lifetime contribution to the province's culture.

Watch this clip to see some of what's on offer by Walsh and Boland's CornerBoys Productions.

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' unabridged audio edition of Robin McGrath's Coasting Trade, featuring the voice of Rick Boland. Coasting Trade, narrated by Boland, Robert Joy and Anita Best, is available as an MP3 download or an audio CD.

Canadian Author Richard Cumyn Publishes New Collection of Short Fiction

2010-11-17T00:12:00.003-03:30

In 1991, former researcher for Canadian prime minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, uranium prospector, short-order cook and able seaman Richard Cumyn decided to take up writing full time. What was undoubtedly a loss to his other professions became a boon to Canadian literature: Cumyn's critically acclaimed fiction has been nominated for the Journey Prize and the ReLit Award, his nonfiction shortlisted for a National Magazine Award.

“He is one of our finest story writers,” says author Steven Heighton, “exacting, surprising, deftly attuned both to language and to character, tough-minded and large-hearted at the same time—often within the same sentence.”

Cumyn's latest collection of short fiction, The Young in Their Country (Enfield & Wizenty, 2010), was a finalist for the inaugural Colophon prize. Besides being a prolific producer of short fiction, Cumyn is also the author of an elegant jewel of a novella, The View from Tamischeira, the story of a turn-of-the-twentieth-century quest in the Caucasus Mountains, "fabled land of Argonauts, Amazons, and Cossacks." Click here to read an interview with Cumyn, in which he discusses the origins of his novella, and his own origins as a writer.

Follow this link to view Cumyn's favourite rejection letter.

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio version of Richard Cumyn's short story "My Future in Insurance," read by Charlie Tomlinson. This story is available as a single MP3 download, and it's also featured on EarLit Shorts 3 (MP3 CD).

Anita Best At The Ottawa International Storytelling Festival, November 18-21

2010-11-16T00:30:00.003-03:30

Newfoundland musician, singer and storyteller Anita Best will be one of the headline acts at this week's Ottawa International Storytelling Festival, along with some of the best raconteurs in Canada, Europe and the US. Best has made a career out of collecting and relating the traditional stories of Newfoundland and Labrador and singing its songs, and she will be doing both at the festival.

Watch this video of vintage Best caressing an old Irish folksong, along with former Figgy Duff band mate Pamela Morgan.

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Listen to an excerpt of Anita Best reading from Rattling Books' unabridged audio version of poet Mary Dalton's award-winning Merrybegot. Click here for other Rattling Books' MP3 downloads and audio or MP3 CDs featuring Anita Best.

Andy Jones, Jack and Jesus, November 16, St. John's, Newfoundland

2010-11-15T04:31:00.011-03:30

On Tuesday, November 16, Running the Goat Books & Broadsides will launch Andy Jones' Jack and the Manger at the LSPU Hall in St. John's. Illustrated by Darka Erdelji, who collaborated with Jones on Running the Goat's internationally acclaimed The Queen of Paradise's Garden, this Christmas "Jack tale" is both funny and poignant.

The Jack tales were originally Germanic oral stories, used for "the edification of princes." Jack is an archetypal Everyman, but in this case he is also a particular individual: Andy Jones comes through loud and clear, while maintaining the integrity of the Jack tradition. Even if you're not a prince, or a princess, there's no doubt you'll be edified by Jones' unique retelling of the Nativity story.

The launch features music by Sandy Morris and Graham Wells, and a cash bar too.

ANDY JONES READING FROM THE QUEEN OF PARADISE'S GARDEN

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' unabridged audio edition of Andy Jones' Letters from Uncle Val. An outharbour gentleman, Uncle Val is having a difficult time adjusting to his new home in the 'burbs of St. John's. You can hear the entire story of his trials and tribulations by purchasing an MP3 download of Uncle Val, or the audio CD.

Canadian Poet John Steffler Reads The Plumber Poem

2010-11-12T04:18:00.016-03:30

Canadian poet and novelist John Steffler, a native of Ontario, lived in Newfoundland for thirty years. The Grey Islands, Steffler’s collection of poetry written after a sojourn on an uninhabited island off the coast of Newfoundland, has been hailed as a masterpiece of Canadian wilderness writing.

Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' unabridged audio edition of The Grey Islands, read by the author, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins. The Grey Islands is available from Rattling Books as an MP3 download and an audio CD.

Christina Smith and Jean Hewson Play MUN's Petro-Canada Hall, November 12 and 13

2010-11-11T05:03:00.006-03:30

This weekend, Newfoundland musicians Christina Smith and Jean Hewson are celebrating 25 years of making music together with two concerts at Memorial University's Petro-Canada Hall.

Christina Smith (left) is a classical cellist, but she's best known as a fiddler. Smith has played all over, including Japan, England, Ireland, Mexico, and the U.S. She's backed up some of the province's best musicians, including Emile Benoit, Buddy Wassisname, the Irish Descendants, Fergus O'Byrne, Jim Payne and Ron Hynes. For the past ten years, Smith has taught more than a hundred young people the music of Rufus Guinchard and Emile Benoit.

Jean Hewson (right), talented balladeer and guitar player, was a member of the now defunct folk group Barkin Kettle. Other bands Hewson has been involved in include Tuckamore, the Sub-Sisters, Strings Attached, Saddle Sorority, This Side Up and Sweet Absalone. She and Smith co-produced and arranged a critically acclaimed instrumental album, Fiddle Me This (1995).

Click here to watch a video of Smith and Hewson performing at the 2009 Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival.

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Christina Smith provided the haunting music for Rattling Books' audio edition of Sir Wilfred Grenfell's Adrift on an Ice Pan. Listen to a sample from this famous saga of the missionary doctor's harrowing near escape from death in the pitiless North, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence. Adrift on an Ice Pan is available from Rattling Books as an MP3 download and an MP3 CD.

Joel Thomas Hynes Interviewed By "The Irish Times"

2010-11-10T03:48:00.000-03:30

The fact that schools no longer teach geography is beginning to tell. The Irish Times published an interview with Newfoundland writer Joel Thomas Hynes in its November 6 edition under the heading "Labrador Unleashed." No, that's not the title of a new Hynes' novel or play, or even a nod to his prose's Churchill Fallsian kilowatt power. For some reason, the Times reporter thought Calvert, Hynes' home town, was in Labrador.

It's a good read all the same, vintage Hynesight. Click here to go to the Times' interview.

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According to The Irish Times, Joel Thomas Hynes' favourite piece of his own work is the play Say Nothing, Saw Wood. "It's about a murder that happened in my home town in 1971, and it's told through the eyes of the murderer. Now that was a really controversial thing that I did. Down to the Dirt was one thing. But dragging up that old wound was another thing altogether."

Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' unabridged version of Say Nothing, Saw Wood, narrated by the author. Say Nothing, Saw Wood can be purchased from the Rattling Books' web site as a single MP3 download. Follow this link to buy the MP3 CD version, featured on EarLit Shorts 1 (along with fiction from Newfoundland writers Carmelita McGrath and Kathleen Winter).

Rebecca Rosenblum In Fall Edition Of "The New Quarterly"

2010-11-09T01:00:00.000-03:30

Canada, which has produced two of the world's best writers of short fiction, Alice Munro and Mavis Gallant, is still serving them up hot. Toronto's Rebecca Rosenblum, whose short fiction is featured in the current issue of The New Quarterly, won the 2008 Metcalf-Rooke Award for her short story collection Once. Named one of Quill & Quire’s 2008 15 Books That Mattered, Once also got Rosenblum dubbed "Canlit Rookie of the Year" by Maclean's. Rosenblum's fiction has been short-listed for the Journey Prize, the National Magazine Awards and the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, and long-listed for the Relit Award.

For more Rebecca Rosenblum, follow this link.

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Listen to excerpts from two of Rebecca Rosenblum's short stories: Christmas with My Mother, narrated by Janet Russell and The Weatherboy, narrated by Gerard Whalen. These stories can be purchased individually as downloads, and are also included on Rattling Books' EarLit Shorts 4 CD, which features a selection of stories by talented Canadian writers.

Joel Thomas Hynes' "Down to the Dirt" Given Thumbs Up By The "Guardian"

2010-11-04T00:32:00.025-02:30

Canadian writer Joel Thomas Hynes' 2004 debut novel, Down to the Dirt, came out the clear winner in this week's review by the Guardian of three debut novels, beating out the recently released and heavily publicized Mr. Chartwell by Rebbecca Hunt.

Being published in the U.K. and coming out on top in the Guardian is the latest in a long line of successes for Down to the Dirt, which apparently has more lives than your average cat. It won the Percy Janes First Novel Award, was shortlisted for the Winterset Award and nominated for the Dublin IMPAC Award, became a play and then an award-winning film. To read what the Guardian has to say about the grunge rocker of Can Lit's initial offering, click here.

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' unabridged audio version of Down to the Dirt.