Muriel A. Jarvis & Mary E. Vandergoot -- Signing

Saturday May 26 2012 1:30 pm - Main Floor, Saskatoon

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Thin Pink Lines: My Life as a Nurse & Beyond (Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing)

The inspiring story of a girl from Kenaston, Saskatchewan, who had a dream...

And her dream changed a province.

Muriel A. Jarvis has seen many changes in Saskatchewan since her birth on the Prairies in 1920: the Saskatoon City Hospital is now a gleaming structure of steel and glass with ten floors and a central transparent elevator, a transformation from the brick structure where she trained and worked as a young nurse in the 1940s. Health care too has changed a great deal since then; nursing has been transformed, and the status of women revolutionized.

Mary E. Vandergoot is a registered doctoral psychologist with Mental Health and Addiction Services, Saskatoon Health Region. She lives in Saskatoon with her husband, Robin. Thin Pink Lines is her second book.

KPMG Enterprise -- Book Launch

Tuesday May 29 2012 7:00 pm - Travel Alcove, Saskatoon

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KPMG Enterprise presents: That’ll Never Work (Penguin Group Canada)

Have you ever pictured yourself as an entrepreneur? Wondered what it takes to start your own business? Fought to shrug off your personal doubts and join the ranks of independent business owners living their dream? Join KPMG Enterprise for the launch of the number one best selling non-fiction book in Canada, That’ll Never Work: Business Lessons from Successful Canadian Entrepreneurs, and an evening filled with stories of entrepreneurial trials and triumphs.

A finalist from the University of Saskatchewan Wilson Centre's i3 Idea Challenge and Charlie Spiring, the former founder, Chairman, and CEO of Wellington West, and one of the entrepreneurs profiled in That’ll Never Work, will share their entrepreneurial journeys.

All guests that attend can receive a copy of That’ll Never Work in return for a $20 donation to READ Saskatoon.

6:30pm to 7:00pm - Doors open

7:00pm to 8:30pm - Presentation

RSVP to Brianna Bergeron at 306.934.6263 or bbergeron@kpmg.ca.

J. Beverly Dick -- Book Launch

Wednesday May 30 2012 7:00 pm - Travel Alcove, Saskatoon

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Prairie Life

Poems about the seasons, farming, nature, places, buildings, the death of farms, towns, elevators.

This book of poems takes you through the four seasons of life on the prairie. It is for you who farm, who work outdoors, who enjoy nature, who see the beauty, and understand the challenges of life on the prairie.

Beverly Dick, a retired school teacher, grain farms with her husband Jim, at Lacadena, Saskatchewan. She views the prairie with the eyes of a painter and the heart of a native and farmer. She writes poetry on many and any subject, some of which include character sketches (serious and humorous), political issues, social issues, religious issues, farming issues, memories of childhood, and everyday life and events (serious and humorous).

Peter Eyvindson -- Book Launch

Thursday May 31 2012 7:30 pm - Travel Alcove, Saskatoon

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Kookum’s Red Shoes (Pemmican Publications)

Kookum is a little girl taken away from her home to live in a residential school. Wanting very much to leave, she decides that only by being good will she be released. After all, Kookum only wants to be with her parents and her baby brother and to wear her bright red shoes. Peter Eyvindson's Kookum's Red Shoes is a story of one girl's strength in the face of oppression. Acclaimed illustrator Keiron Flamand has provided beautiful pictures to compliment Kookum's story.

It is my hope that Kookum's Red Shoes will be a gentle reminder to all Canadians of the importance of nurturing our children, protecting them and providing them with a safe positive environment, regardless of their race, culture or creed. - Peter Eyvindson.

Peter Eyvindson is a Saskatchewan author and storyteller who lives in Clavet. After completing Bachelor degrees in Arts and Education, he became a teacher-librarian, partially fulfilling his passion for books and teaching children about them. While at the Snow Lake School in northern Manitoba he began writing for children. In 1983, he decided to indulge his passion full time and has since then written some very popular children's books, all of them best sellers. First published in 1996, Red Parka Mary is currently in its seventh edition. It was adapted for television recently for the PBS network series, Between the Lions. Other enduring titles include Chester Bear, Where are You?, The Wish Wind and The Missing Sun.

Peter is a writer and storyteller who continues to give numerous readings yearly to children across Canada. He uses a high-energy presentation to introduce children to the writing and publishing process.

Linda Hutsell-Manning -- Signing

Sunday Jun 03 2012 1:00 pm - Main Floor, Saskatoon

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That Summer in Franklin (Second Story Press)

A Long Ago Summer. A Long Held Secret.

In 1955, two fifteen-year-olds with immeasurable optimism shared a summer working as waitresses in the small town of Franklin's flourishing Britannia Hotel. Forty years later, Hannah, now a successful teacher with a younger lover, rushes home from Toronto to find her mother in hospital while Colleen, still in Franklin and married with five children, copes with her alcoholic father. Both women try to deal with the pain and guilt of admitting their parents to the local nursing home.

Meanwhile, an ambitious young reporter has begun to chronicle the Britannia Hotel’s history and has uncovered the mysterious unsolved death of Charlie Eliott in the summer of 1955. It’s time for Hannah and Colleen to finally talk about what they witnessed that summer in Franklin. They owe it to the memory of Charlie, a gentle soul who worked as a handyman at the hotel and made everyone’s lives easier that summer. By rescuing Charlie’s story from obscurity both women find a sense of peace with their own lives and the decisions they’ve made.

The sadness and frustration that Hutsell-Manning captures as her characters try to cope with their aging parents will hit home for many. As well as the realization that, while life does not often turn out the way we imagine it will in our youth, the lives we build and the people we come to love will sustain us.

Linda Hutsell-Manning's writing career spans thirty years and includes poetry, plays, children's television, short fiction and novels, including the juvenile Wonder Horn series. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Linda now lives near Cobourg, Ontario.

Treena Wynes -- Speaking & Signing

Thursday Jun 07 2012 7:30 pm - Travel Alcove, Saskatoon

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Eating Ourselves Crazy

Fad diets do not address our emotional dependency on foods. Many of us rely on foods to soothe, comfort and provide relief. The foods we choose to cope with stress actually exacerbate our stress putting us at risk of falling into the clutches of the emotional-eating cycle. Eating Ourselves Crazy will arm you with valuable information on how our brain, hormones and moods are key players in our eating habits. How our stress and events of the day cause certain cravings and how to manage them. Overcome emotional-eating through foods and lifestyle practices that will enhance your moods, mental stamina and quality of life while you lose weight.

Treena Wynes is a Registered Social Worker, past bulimic and owner of a weight-loss counselling business who focuses on emotional health to obtain healthy weight-loss goals.

Mitch Spray -- Signing

Saturday Jun 09 2012 1:00 pm - Main Floor, Saskatoon

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The History of Naming Cows (Hagios Press)

In The History of Naming Cows Mitch Spray reveals with a startling depth of vision, life and death on a prairie farm. Through stories of family and perseverance the land is shown to be an intimate and unforgiving teacher. In his evocative poems we are allowed to drink the strong coffee of the earth, and taste the gritty bond between the stock man and his cattle, where nothing is earned without sweat and the sharp taste of blood.

The poems in this first collection are original in the only way that matters-- they speak clearly of their source. They are inseparable from the surprising, eventful, passages of new seasons, and new understandings that alter everything. Themes of fear and fury course through this collection as one family experiences the pain of loss as well as the steady radiance of living close to the extremes of weather and land. Here is a young poet who possesses both the craft and the insight to convey the poetry of real life, bright and stark with hard truths shown in the blinding light of winter.

Mitch Spray is a Saskatchewan poet with a background in farming, road construction and academia. He grew up on a small mixed farm near Okla, Saskatchewan. Encouraged by his parents he began pursuing writing seriously in high school and he continued to write in university. Mitch obtained a Master of Arts in aboriginal literature from the University of Saskatchewan. In university writing classes Spray discovered poetry was the best fit for his episodic storytelling. His poetry has appeared in The Antigonish Review and in the chapbook Farm Raised (JackPine Press 2011) which is bound in baler belting. Mitch lives with his wife Hannah in Saskatoon where he works in agriculture sales.

Ryan Thaddeus -- Signing

Sunday Jun 10 2012 1:00 pm - Main Floor, Saskatoon

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Pure Baseball (Fiction Studio Books)

What would it take to become the world's greatest hitter of all time?

Pure Baseball is the story of an all-but forgotten baseball legend of epic lore who dreams of batting 1.000. Carl Jaxsom is a parallel of the classic, tragic, Greek mythological hero as a figure with a reputation for possessing baseball skills that are larger than life. He appears in the real world of baseball in 1904 Boston as a fanciful legend, seemingly manifested by folklore coming out of a closing American West. His tale is anchored deep in major moments of American history with possible ties to The Civil War, slavery, and the Indian Wars to name a few. In pursuit of his goal, Jaxsom's single-minded, adventurous nature manages to spark the imagination of an ever-industrializing nation. This fact is evidenced, in the story, in the case of the city of Boston itself, where two inevitably storied franchises are about to lock horns for the fist time in a battle for American League supremacy.

Ultimately, the question that needed to be asked was, was there more to the cancellation of the 1904 World Series than we know? Pure Baseball unapologetically plays with this idea, with the intention that this basis in history creates a deeper sense of authenticity for the reader. This, in turn, serves as a vehicle to send her or him to that time of 1904 Boston in a very real way.

I grew up on a ball field watching my dad play the game of fast-pitch softball. It was through him that I developed my love for the game, serving first as bat boy for his team and later as a player. It was then that I first witnessed grown men playing a boys’ game with incredible skill and passion. Dad was a great hitter and catcher. One of my greatest thrills was pitching to him in a real game, first as my catcher and later as an opposing hitter. I will always remember him hitting a two strike rise ball three hundred feet off me for a massive home run. Between my ambitions in certain sports along with my brain constantly turned on in obscure thought, I was always dreaming of things grand.

Over the years, I have met thousands of colorful people from every walk of life and drawn the kind of rich worldly experience that I could not have gained any other way. Life itself has proven extremely advantageous to my development as a writer. After all, fictional stories are still based on our real-life experiences, otherwise we would not have any common ground from which to make a personal connection with the characters and scenarios. It is said that the best writing comes from personal experience, and our individual perspectives of those times are what color the stories. My own approach has always been to write what I know about and discover those things that I do not, either by research or by action. It is 2012, and after all this time only recently did I decide to make writing a full-time commitment. My first offering, Pure Baseball, is a representation of some of my own life's discoveries. - Ryan Thaddeus

Shelley A. Leedahl -- Reading and Signing

Tuesday Jun 12 2012 7:30 pm - Travel Alcove, Saskatoon

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Listen, Honey (DC Books)

With grit, humour, and tenderness, in Listen, Honey, this western Canadian writer exposes the emotionally electric lives of men, women, and children. Familial and romantic relationships turn strange or go altogether awry; wild idiosyncrasies develop, and characters navigate their personal joys, ironies, and crashing disasters with courage and grace. These finely crafted stories resonate with emotion, reject sentimentality, and, like life itself, are impossible to predict. Listen, Honey is an entertaining, thoughtful, and downright sexy book.

Wretched Beast (BuschekBooks)

Wretched Beast is a visceral and imagistic sojourn documenting a poet’s walk through prairie woodlands and forests, urban Canadian streets and foreign country lanes, and across significant life transitions.

The poems in Wretched Beast bridge signpost personalities, destinations, intense phases of self-imposed solitude, and sometimes raw experiences , leaving a never-before map in their emotional wake. Ripe with birds and garter snakes, with awe for the unlikely (“skates slung over shoulders in the old way”), with whimsy, praise, and with poems unafraid to ring in the minor key, Leedahl meticulously delivers her passionate art of walking, of listening inward and out, and of rising when it is no small thing.

Shelley A. Leedahl is an established multi-genre writer with strong ties to her home, Saskatchewan, and great enthusiasm for her adopted provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Presenting and leading writing workshops across Canada and also working as an editor, book reviewer, free-lancer, mentor, and radio advertising copywriter for two Edmonton stations, she has enjoyed several national and international fellowships and has been short-listed for the CBC literary awards (poetry).

Marsha Barber -- Reading and Signing

Thursday Jun 14 2012 7:30 pm - Travel Alcove, Saskatoon

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What is the Sound of Someone Unravelling (Borealis Press)

Marsha Barber’s poetry book What is the Sound of Someone Unravelling was published recently by Ottawa’s Borealis Press. Her poetry has been called “searingly direct, honest, and by turns heartbreaking and funny.” She has won several awards for her writing, including two first place prizes from The Ontario Poetry Society. Her work has appeared in a wide range of periodicals including The Antigonish Review, The Walrus and The New Quarterly. Marsha is on faculty at Ryerson University’s School of Journalism in Toronto and previously worked for many years as a documentary maker at the CBC.

Luminous with hidden life, tender and acutely perceived, these poems reveal what it means to be a woman — unborn, blossoming, burning and maturing. - Nadine McInnis

Mike Babcock -- Signing

Sunday Jun 17 2012 12:00 pm - Main Floor, Saskatoon

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Leave No Doubt: A Credo for Chasing Your Dreams (McGill-Queen's University Press)

Mike Babcock is the only hockey coach in the history of the game to lead teams to victory in the Stanley Cup, the World Championship, and the Olympic Games. Currently head coach for the Detroit Red Wings, he is arguably the best coach in the game today.

In this book, against the dramatic backdrop of the Canadian men's gold medal victory in Vancouver, Babcock provides an inspiring roadmap for achieving goals and fulfilling dreams. This is not just a book about hockey but a book about life, rooted in Babcock's "Leave No Doubt" credo. Written by Babcock and his longtime friend Rick Larsen, the credo hung on Team Canada's dressing-room wall during their historic run to Olympic gold. It provides a compelling framework for excelling in life. Illuminated by revealing stories about overcoming doubt, "owning pressure," and making a difference, "Leave No Doubt" is based on a firm belief in everyday commitment and a step by step approach to being "better than good enough." The words originally written for Canada's Olympic gold medal hockey team - leave no doubt, every day counts, our determination will define us - inspire an approach to succeeding in life that is relevant to people of all interests and ambitions. Athlete or not, each of us will find valuable guidance in this succinct primer from one of the most respected leaders in sports.

G. V. Loewen -- Book Launch

Tuesday Jun 19 2012 7:00 pm - Travel Alcove, Saskatoon

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Aesthetic Subjectivity and On the Afterlife

There is little information concerning what use individual persons who are not responsible for creating or marketing art forms, nor are usually involved in discussions concerning art, put to their experiences with art . Four categories of such perceptions and uses were discovered, including memorialization, self-projection, the uncanny, and self-identity. Aesthetic Subjectivity is a major scholarly work that combines insights of art theory, aesthetics, sociology, psychology and phenomenology and hermeneutics in a unique study of a form of subjective experience that has been overshadowed by the objectifying discourses of art history and philosophy of art.

The most intriguing and universal questions, throughout time, have been centered on the concept of what happens when we die. In On the Afterlife: You Will Get There from Here, author G. V. Loewen presents a new, fascinating model of the concepts of the afterlife, from early human societies to our own. Based on four “types,” this theory stands apart from any kind of personal evaluation or judgment, whether the reader believes in the afterlife – either in the form of a return to life in this world, or a continuation of life in some other realm – or not. A fifth “type” is designated by the concept of “nothingness,” an integral element of understanding what happens when we die. Beginning with a discourse on how we remember and memorialize life in death, and ending with a chapter on ethics, the book demonstrates how the obligation is on us as human beings to make our lives worth dying for. This captivating book will change the way you think of the afterlife.

Social philosopher G.V. Loewen is a Professor and Chair of the Sociology Department at St. Thomas More, the liberal arts college of the University of Saskatchewan. He has taught in the USA and Canada for eighteen years. The author of fifteen books, he is one of the most prolific scholars of the 21st century.

Wes Funk -- Book Launch

Thursday Jun 21 2012 7:30 pm - Travel Alcove, Saskatoon

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Cherry Blossoms (Your Nickel's Worth Publishing)

With guest Craig Silliphant

Disenchanted with her marriage and her life on the farm in rural Saskatchewan, Cherry Markowsky grabs her dog and a few precious items and leaves for a fresh start in the city. But as she settles into a new home in Saskatoon, she finds that to be only the first of more hurdles to jump. Between dealing with a drifting son, a potential suitor, and a quirky secret about her twin brother, Cherry’s new world is overwhelming at times too.

Wes Funk’s laid back prose encapsulates his characters; many of them seem like people you’ve passed walking down the street of your prairie town. Too many regional authors think that prairie writing means long-winded stories about grain elevators. Not Funk—his rebel spirit makes him the epitome of the modern Sas­katchewan author. His writing is easy, funny, unpretentious, and best of all—honest. - Craig Silliphant (writer/critic/broadcaster)

Wes Funk is a Saskatchewan-based writer, who has dedicated his craft to telling stories which reflect his life. His first novel Dead Rock Stars was shortlisted for a Sask Book Award and his second novel Baggage has been a pick for several book clubs across Canada. Besides being an author, Wes is currently the host of the Saskatoon TV Program Lit’ Happens. He lives with his partner and pets in Saska­toon.

Lama Marut -- Reading and Signing

Tuesday Jul 03 2012 7:30 pm - Travel Alcove, Saskatoon

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A Spiritual Renegade’s Guide to the Good Life (Beyond Words Press)

A Spiritual Renegade’s Guide to the Good Life offers a radical, edgy, counter-cultural alternative to both the dead-end of modern consumer capitalist ideology and the toothless, self-absorbed navel-gazing of many contemporary spiritual self-help books. It is a hard-core, no-nonsense, but also very practical guidebook directed at the general audience, filled with “how to” advice for those who are desperate enough to take up arms and make a revolutionary inner change in their lives.

A Spiritual Renegade’s Guide to the Good Life challenges and motivates readers to take back control of and responsibility for their own lives – to stop feeling like helpless victims and to cease blaming others for their own unhappiness. This book is not for the faint-hearted but for the big-hearted! Bringing together the ancient insights of Buddhist philosophy with the recent discoveries of post-modern theory, the book is organized into sections on how to radically change both the past and the future, as well as how to live happily in the here and now regardless of external circumstances. A Spiritual Renegade’s Guide to the Good Life offers a sophisticated but workable option for readers looking for the real methods for achieving the true purpose of one’s life.

The son and grandson of Baptist ministers, a Ph.D. of Comparative Religions, motorcycle enthusiast, a former surfer, and a fully ordained Buddhist monk, Venerable Sumati Marut (a.k.a. Brian K. Smith) is a life-long teacher whose easy humor and down-to-earth style make even the most complex spiritual ideas understandable. With his unique combination of earthiness and erudition, commitment and light-heartedness, he attracts large audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

Lama Marut teaches Buddhism and Yoga philosophy, spirituality, and meditation all over the world. He is a founding Board member of the Yoga Studies Institute (YSI) and acts as the Spiritual Director of the Asian Classics Institutes of Los Angeles (ACI-LA), Cape Ann, Massachusetts (ACI-CA), and Reno, Nevada (ACI-Reno). His quarterly newsletters, blog, live video teachings, weekly audio and video podcasts, and daily tweets make his teachings easily accessible to people across the globe.