P.E.I. prepping for Montgomery celebrations

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Prince Edward Islanders are chilling down the raspberry cordial in anticipation of the 150th anniversary of the birth of their most famous author.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/07/2024 (780 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Prince Edward Islanders are chilling down the raspberry cordial in anticipation of the 150th anniversary of the birth of their most famous author.

Lucy Maud Montgomery was born in P.E.I. in October 1874 and went on to create the beloved colection of novels featuring Anne of Green Gables. And local organizers are creating dozens of events to celebrate what they’re calling Montgomery 150, according to a CBC report.

In addition to the tours of Cavendish (where the historic Green Gables house is located), performances of Anne of Green Gables — The Musical in Charlottetown and the L.M. Montgomery Literary Tour, Montgomery 150 will feature musical events, hikes, journaling workshops and more.

Meanwhile, a new collection of writing inspired by Montgomery was recently published by P.E.I.’s Acorn Press. The Annethology: A collection of Kindred Spirits Inspired by the Canadian Icon includes 10 stories by young adult fiction writers that take Anne Shirley on all sorts of new adventures. Compiled by Judith Graves and edited by Robin Sutherland, contributions include work by Susie Moloney, Mere Joyce, Shari Green, Susan White and others.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

And a new version of an adult novel by Montgomery orginigally published in 1926 was recently released by Nimbus Publishing. The Blue Castle: The Original Manuscript includes scans of Montgomery’s handwritten draft as well as notes on the text by the author as well as Montgomery scholar Carolyn Strom Collins, who edited and annotated the book.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

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Award-winning illustrator and author Jonathan Dyck has teamed up with Dave Scott to create Secret Treaty, a brief graphic novel that reimagines a little-known piece of Manitoba history.

On a recent Instagram post, Dyck noted that Secret Treaty “re-narrates the landscape according to Ojibwe oral history in an area that Mennonites know as ‘The West Reserve.’” Funding for the project came via the Plett Foundation; the book is available at commonword.ca.

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A forthcoming anthology cloaked in the dark of night features contributions from a trio of local authors.

Carpe Noctum, which will be published in August by Tyche Books, features work by 22 authors including locals Chadwick Ginther and David Jón Fuller and former Winnipegger (now based in Calgary) David Fortier, and was edited by Megan Fennell and Leslie Van Zwol.

The anthology offers the option to navigate the dark tales via a solo roleplaying-type guide, by Maxwell Lander, or brave souls can opt to go it alone.

● ● ●

B.C.-based author Naomi Klein has won the inaugural Women’s Prize for non-fiction (and the accompanying $52,000 prize) for her book Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World.

The book contemplates political ideology in the modern online landscape, in particular Klein’s feminist beliefs in contrast to the ideas of right-wing theorist Naomi Wolf, for whom Klein has sometimes been mistaken.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

This year’s Women’s Prize for fiction was awarded to American author V. V. Ganeshananthan for her novel Brotherless Night. The prizes were handed out at a ceremony in London in June.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

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Peguis First Nation two-spirit author Joshua Whitehead’s book Indigiqueerness: A Conversation about Storytelling is up for two prizes at this fall’s Alberta Book Publishing Awards, which will be handed out in September.

The Alberta-based author of the Canada Reads-winning novel Jonny Appleseed is up for the trade non-fiction book of the year for Indigiqueerness, which combines memoir and conversations with Alberta author Angie Abdou and was published by Athabasca University Press. The book is also among the finalists for the prize for best book design.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

● ● ●

The Manitoba Library Association (MLA), along with the Association of Manitoba Book Publishers, has awarded its inaugural Human Rights Book Award to Cathy Ching and the South Central Regional Library (SCRL).

The SCRL has branches in Morden, Winkler, Manitou, Altona and Miami, and in 2023 faced a push by some area residents for it to be defunded if libraries didn’t remove a handful of sexual education guides for teens and children.

The award was presented to Ching and the SCRL in recognition of their “strong resolve in upholding human rights, inclusivity and equity in library access for their library,” according to the MLA website.

books@freepress.mb.ca

Ben Sigurdson

Ben Sigurdson
Literary editor, drinks writer

Ben Sigurdson is the Free Press‘s literary editor and drinks writer. He graduated with a master of arts degree in English from the University of Manitoba in 2005, the same year he began writing Uncorked, the weekly Free Press drinks column. He joined the Free Press full time in 2013 as a copy editor before being appointed literary editor in 2014. Read more about Ben.

In addition to providing opinions and analysis on wine and drinks, Ben oversees a team of freelance book reviewers and produces content for the arts and life section, all of which is reviewed by the Free Press’s editing team before being posted online or published in print. It’s part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.

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