Lisa Bird-Wilson -- Book Launch

Tuesday May 21 2013 7:00 pm - Travel Alcove, Saskatoon

Just Pretending (Coteau Books)

From one of Canada’s most exciting new Métis voices comes a book whose recurring themes include the complexities of identity, belonging/not belonging, Aboriginal adoption, loss and abandonment, regret and insecurity.

A deadbeat dad tries to reconnect with his daughter after 22 years away. A selfish poet has been scarred by an upbringing that leaves him emotionally distant from his children and spouse. A pot-smoking middle-aged man undertakes a modest quest for meaning following a brush with mortality. A fourteen-year-old girl struggles to come to terms with her feelings of abandonment.

The characters are often fragile, sometimes unlikeable, but ultimately can be identified or sympathized with. At the centre of the stories are notions of identity and belonging, and the complex relationships between children and parents, both those who are real and those who are just pretending.

Lisa Bird-Wilson is a Saskatchewan Métis writer whose stories have been finalists for the Journey Prize, among others. They have appeared in periodicals such as Grain, Prairie Fire, Geist, and in the anthology Best Canadian Essays. Just Pretending is her first book-length work of fiction. Lisa is the author of one other book, An Institute of Our Own: A History of the Gabriel Dumont Institute, and has also written curriculum and other materials for the Ministries of Education and Advanced Education. Saskatchewan born and raised, she works as a director of the Gabriel Dumont Institute and lives in Saskatoon with her family.

Kimmy Beach -- Book Launch

Thursday May 23 2013 7:00 pm - Travel Alcove, Saskatoon

The Last Temptation of Bond (The University of Alberta Press)

Kimmy Beach’s The Last Temptation of Bond is a frisky and erudite romp into the world of pop culture icon, James Bond. As 007 comes to terms with his own mortality, the women in his life (and there are many), circle in for the kill. For once, they will influence the narrative of his life. Parodies of pop culture have long been Beach’s trademark territory, but what sets The Last Temptation of Bond apart from her previous work is the ease with which she straddles the perceived divide between contemporary pop culture and modernist literature. Raunchy and irreverent, The Last Temptation of Bond will appeal to the rabble and the literary aesthetes.

Kimmy Beach is the author of four other collections of poetry. Her second, Alarum Within: theatre poems has twice been adapted as a stage play. Her work has appeared widely in journals across Canada and in the UK. She was the 2005 International Guest Poet for the Dead Good Poets Society in Liverpool, UK, where she launched her third book, fake Paul, onstage at the Cavern Club in Mathew Street. Kimmy has served as Writer in Residence for the Writers Guild of Alberta, the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild, and the Parkland Regional Library. She is on the faculty at Sage Hill Writing Experience in Saskatchewan where she co-facilitates with fiction writer, John Gould. She lives in Red Deer her husband, Stu. Visit her online here.

Anthony Bidulka -- Book Launch

Saturday Jun 01 2013 3:00 pm - Travel Alcove, Saskatoon

Saskatoon launch of When the Saints Go Marching In (Insomniac Press)

Join Anthony Bidulka for a come’n'go, wine’n'cheese, book signing from 3:00-5:00 pm. At 4:00 pm, Anthony will be interviewed by Brent Loucks (The Brent Loucks Show) and Penney Murphy (Penney Murphy & Associates).

When the Saints Go Marching In is the first book in the highly anticipated new series by Saskatchewan author Anthony Bidulka. The fast paced thriller features a new kind of hero, Disaster Recovery Agent Adam Saint.

Anthony Bidulka is best known as the author of the beloved long-running series featuring another unique main character. The award-winning Russell Quant mysteries tell the story of a world-travelling, wine-swilling, wise-cracking, gay, Canadian, prairie private eye. Anthony Bidulka has enjoyed time well-spent and misspent in the worlds of academia, accounting, footwear, food services, and farming. In 1999, he left a decade-long career as a chartered accountant to pursue writing. Anthony has toured extensively and spoken at conferences and literary events throughout Canada and the United States.

A great believer in community involvement, Anthony has sat on the boards of Persephone Theatre, The Saskatchewan Writer’s Guild, AIDS Saskatoon, Crime Writers of Canada, the International Association of Crime Writers, and is co-founder of Camp fYrefly-Saskatchewan (a life skills camp for LGBT youth). Anthony was inducted onto the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Education Wall of Honour in 2011. Anthony lives in Saskatoon and loves to travel the world and throw a good party. Visit Anthony online.

Marie Donais Calder -- Book Signing

Saturday Jun 08 2013 1:00 pm - Main Floor, Saskatoon

The Other Side of Liberation (Borealis Press), the eleventh novel in the Other Side series

This novel evokes powerful emotions as it celebrates the liberation of the Netherlands by the Canadians while, at the same time, exploring the plight of children when their family members perished before their eyes. Who was left to care for these destitute children? Can you imagine hiding within the walls of a house, in some cases for years at a time? The Other Side of Liberation shares a view of the liberation of the Netherlands as recounted by a young Dutch boy in his later years. He and his family immigrated to Canada and spent decades trying to find the Canadian soldier who they billeted for a short time in 1945. They found Clifford in Saskatchewan and remained lifelong friends.

Beginning with The Other Side of War, Marie Donais Calder's series of YA historical novels are based on real people, centering around her father, Edmond Joseph Donais.

Marie Donais Calder was raised in Tilston, Manitoba in a home where her imagination flourished. In spite of being born with severe myopia, which has deteriorated to low vision, Marie enjoyed sports, track and field, climbing the highest trees (and jumping down from the highest branch) and any other challenges that came her way in her childhood. She received her B.Ed. after marrying her husband Darcy and having their three daughters, Nicole, Chantelle & Kari-Lynn. She had a rewarding 30-year teaching career and is now ready to tell the many stories residing within her. Marie and Darcy live in Estevan, SK. They have two granddaughters, Piper and Kyenna and one surrogate granddaughter, Lyanna.

Arlette Kouwenhoven -- Speaking & Signing

Monday Jun 10 2013 7:00 pm - Travel Alcove, Saskatoon

Speaking & Signing The Fehrs: Four Centuries of Mennonite Migration (Winco Publishing)

This book documents the dramatic events in the lives of fifteen generations of Fehrs/DeFehrs. Their history can be traced back to the 16th-century Amsterdam grain merchant Gijsbert de Veer. The story is based on archival and secondary sources, and runs parallel to what ten thousands of their Mennonite brethren have experienced through time.

It is a story about heretics, martyrs, grain merchants and brandy distillers; about pioneers, farmers and industrialists. It is also about tradition and change, inflexibility and adaptation, sorrow and hope and above all about an endless search for salvation.

Arlette Kouwenhoven is a Dutch anthropologist working as a publisher and writer. From 2007 she made trips to Poland, Ukraine, Canada and Mexico documenting the history of the conservative line of the Fehr family. The book was published in Dutch in 2011 and is at its fourth printing.

Mennonite Girls Bev Klassen and Anneliese Friesen -- Speaking and Signing

Thursday Jun 13 2013 7:30 pm - Prairie Ink Restaurant, Saskatoon

Mennonite Girls Can Cook Celebrations (Herald Press)

Join Bev Klassen and Anneliese Friesen of Mennonite Girls Can Cook as they speak about their new cookbook. We invite you to try a special menu item inspired by the recipes and created by Chef Justin of Prairire Ink Restaurant, and enjoy a complimentary treat, too!

The bestselling authors of Mennonite Girls Can Cook return with a second course in their new Celebrations cookbook. From mouthwatering mini-muffins and succulent soufflé to campers' stew and lattice-topped grilled apples, the Mennonite Girls share recipes to honor all of life. Filled from cover to cover with devotional reflections, personal stories, and beautiful photos, this book contains much more than recipes—it will soon become your kitchen companion for life's celebrations.

"Wonderful things happen when people are given the opportunity to gather around the table—a chance to nurture and build relationships, fellowship and encourage one another and create a place of refuge for those who have had a stressful day." —Charlotte Penner, Mennonite Girls Can Cook

Mennonite Girls Can Cook started quietly as a blog among friends and acquaintances back in 2008. Today the site receives nearly 7,000 hits per day. In 2011 the Mennonite Girls took their talents beyond the blogosphere with their bestselling cookbook, Mennonite Girls Can Cook. Now, with more than 32,000 copies sold, the girls launched their new cookbook, Mennonite Girls Can Cook Celebrations, on May 1, 2013.

Terry Chamberlain -- Book Signing

Saturday Jun 15 2013 1:00 pm - Main Floor, Saskatoon

Stories in the Dirt and other Rural, Urban, Universal and Comic Themes

Terry Chamberlain lives with his wife Esther on an acreage at the edge of Smeaton, Saskatchewan. He is a retired teacher - mostly of high school English, though he began by teaching grades one to eight in one-room schools. He was engaged in farming for a time as well, and still does a bit of farm work.

He has written about 600 columns for Rural Roots, a weekly published in Prince Albert, for 21 years, and has also written for the Moose Jaw Times Herald, Agworld News, The Saskatoon Sun, Western People magazine, Folklore magazine, and CBC radio. He has now compiled some 200 of these columns, along with some new material, into a new book, Stories in the Dirt. He has also written two other books, The ABC's of Farming: a Lighthearted Dictionary of Stubblejumper Jargon and The ABC's of Retirement: How to Not Work and Love It, both published by Thistledown Press in Saskatoon.

Terry and Esther both spent their childhood years on farms near Snowden, Saskatchewan, and both left to spend their working years and raise families elsewhere. Their paths crossed in 1993 in their old home town and they were married the next year. Besides traveling to promote their books, they like to camp, garden, curl, hike, cross-country ski, snowmobile, play guitar and sing for local events; also they involve themselves in community duties and visit their 6 children and 12 grandchildren.

Douglas De Long -- Book Launch

Monday Jun 17 2013 7:00 pm - Travel Alcove, Saskatoon

Past Lives for Beginners: A Guide to Reincarnation & Techniques to Improve Your Present Life (Llewellyn Worldwide)

Explore your previous lifetimes, embrace your wondrous history, and recognize that you, as a human soul, are eternal. Once you discover your past lives, you can change the present in positive ways and ultimately create a better future.

Past Lives for Beginners is a detailed and approachable introduction to understanding reincarnation and how it impacts your present life. Using fascinating case studies, author Douglas De Long describes different types of past-life recall experiences and shares his favored techniques to gain access to those memories, including meditations and visualizations. This guide provides a wealth of exercises and resources for understanding past lives, allowing you to explore spiritual growth and your own immortality.

Douglas De Long is a past-life therapist, chakra master, medical intuitive, counselor, and spiritual teacher. He and his wife, Carol, operate the De Long Ancient Mystery School in Saskatchewan. They travel throughout North America and Hawaii teaching healing classes and providing services. His current works are Ancient Teachings for Beginners, Ancient Healing Techniques, and Past Lives for Beginners, published by Llewellyn Worldwide. Visit him online www.douglasdelong.com.

Tracy Friesen -- Book Signing

Saturday Jun 29 2013 1:00 pm - Main Floor, Saskatoon

Ride the Waves: How to take control of your life one emotion at a time (FriesenPress)

Ride the Waves is a different type of reading experience because of the brilliant way the book is designed. Starting today, reading just one of the 366 ways to discover the fortune that lies hidden in your emotions, you will find wisdom and inspiration to guide you to what you really want in life. The book shines a light to the fact that you are responsible for your own life. It’s up to you how you want to live your life so isn’t it about time you learn to Ride the Waves?

Tracy Friesen is a Certified Energy Medicine Practitioner and in the course of sharing her lifetime of experiences through her writing and coaching individuals in her group sessions and one-on-one sessions, she has already helped many people manifest the life they have always dreamed of living by releasing what isn’t working for them any longer to discover that in the end everything really is OK.