Some Great Canadians and their books

Don Newman
Don Newman, who cut his teeth as a print and broadcast journalist in Winnipeg and Regina in the 1960s, went on to become the senior parliamentary editor for CBC Television in a career that spanned almost 50 years before he retired in 2009. Candid, honest and often funny, one of Canada's most respected political commentators shares decades of insights and experiences in his first book, Welcome to the Broadcast.

An Evening with Don Newman: Mr. Newman will be in our Grant Park store on Monday, October 28th, at 7:00 pm to launch Welcome to the Broadcast. As with all of our in-store events, we welcome everyone to join us. All the details of the event can be found here.

Chris Hadfield
As Commander of the International Space Station, Chris Hadfield captivated the world with stunning photos and commentary from space. Now, in his first book, An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, he offers readers not just the inspiring story of one man's journey to the ISS, but the opportunity to step into his space-boots and think like an astronaut -- and readers can renew their commitment to pursuing their own dreams, big or small.

Launch and signing with Chris Hadfield: On Wednesday, November 13th, at 7:00 pm Mr. Hadfield will be in our Grant Park store to discuss and sign copies of An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth. As with all of our in-store events, we welcome everyone to join us. All the details of the event can be found here.

Joe Clark
Joe Clark's How We Lead: Canada in a Century of Change is a passionate argument for Canada's reassertion of its place on the world stage, from a former prime minister and one of Canada's longest-serving political figures. In a compelling examination of what Canada can yet be to the world, Clark takes the reader beyond formal foreign policy and looks at the contributions and leadership offered by Canada's most successful individuals and organizations.

An Evening with Joe Clark: Mr. Clark will be in our Grant Park store on Wednesday, November 20th, at 7:00 pm for conversation and signing of his book. As with all of our in-store events, we welcome everyone to join us. All the details of the event can be found here.

This article was adapted from the September/October edition of our newsletter, The Bookseller. You can access the full newsletter online by clicking here. Or you can pick up a free print edition in either of our stores.

A couple of Canadian Comedy Classics

Colin Mochrie, a man known worldwide for working without a script, has penned a collection of stories destined to make its own mark in the literary community. In his new book, Not Quite the Classics, Mochrie borrows from a well-known improv game and takes the first and last lines from familiar classics and reimagines everything in between. Imagine A Tale of Two Cities in which Wile E. Coyote gets his revenge on the Road Runner, Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat with zombies, or The Night Before Christmas with a time travelling twist.

As part of the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, Colin Mochrie will be in town on October 29th for an evening of comedy and conversation. Tickets are still available at our Winnipeg store. Prices are $30 for one admission, and $40 for a pair. Each ticket price includes a single copy of Not Quite the Classics!

Red Green is celebrated as one of the handiest men in North America. As well as being a purveyor of practical advice, for example making a jetpack from two propane tanks, he is also noted for his insights into that most difficult of assembly jobs: human relationships.

In Red Green's Beginner's Guide to Women, the man who has already shared such morsels as "If you can't be handsome, be handy" now shares with other confused males a testosterone owner's manual to every aspect of finding a mate and then learning to deal with her growing disappointment in you.

The Tenth Anniversary of Chester Brown's LOUIS RIEL

A limited-edition reprint of Chester Brown's celebrated biography in comic book form, Louis Riel tells the story of the charismatic, and perhaps mad, nineteenth-century Métis leader whose struggle to win rights for his people led to violent rebellion on the nation's western frontier. Brown's carefully researched, exquisitely illustrated, and much-lauded biography goes deep into the myths and the facts about this man, whose place in Canadian history is troubled. His involvement in the Red River Rebellion and the subsequent North-West Rebellion are laid out in a finely etched style, as are the Canadian government's responses to the Métis people's demands.

When the collected book appeared in 2003, Brown won widespread acclaim for Louis Riel, including two Harvey Awards and inclusion on countless best-of lists. Beyond that, it single-handedly revitalized the biography genre of comics, paving the way for a new generation of artists. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Louis Riel's publication, Drawn and Quarterly is reissuing the book as a deluxe paperback, with a new introduction contextualizing the work's importance and the original pamphlet covers collected and reproduced in full colour.

Chester Brown will be in our Grant Park store at 7:00PM on October 22nd for the launch of the tenth anniversary edition of Louis Riel. There will be a discussion about the book followed by a signing. All are invited to attend!

Prairie fiction is alive and well

Prairie writing is more fascinating and prolific than ever. Just look at these new and upcoming releases:

Chadwick Ginther
After beating back the might of Surtr in Ginther's 2012 debut, Thunder Road (winner of the 2013 Mary Scorer Award and nominated for the 2013 Aurora Award), Ted Callan is getting used to his immortal powers. He's going to need them. In Tombstone Blues, Thor is back and coming for his hammer. If he gets it, it might just be the beginning of hell on earth.

Join us on Tuesday, October 15th, for the launch of Tombstone Blues in our Winnipeg store! That's happening at 7:00 pm in our Atrium. Show up early to get a good spot! In the meantime, contact us to put in a pre-order for the novel.

Sarah Klassen
In The Wittenbergs, the first novel by the award-winning poet and fiction writer, a family is assailed on all sides by endless troubles. Only the oldest Wittenberg, the matriarch who holds the key to the family's Mennonite past, can lead them along the Dnieper River and toward a better tomorrow.

David Arnason
An award-winning ­novelist and editor, David Arnason is also one of the most prolific short story authors on the prairies. Over a lifetime of writing, he has crafted some of the most memorable short stories in the Canadian literary canon. Now for the first time the very best of Arnason's stories have been compiled into a single volume: Selected for You: The Stories of David Arnason.

Selected for You: The Stories of David Arnason will be released on November 1st. For now, we're happy to take pre-orders for the collection. Simply contact your nearest McNally Robinson bookstore.

This article was taken from our September/October issue of The Bookseller, our newsletter. Pick up your own copy of The Bookseller in-store for free, or read an interactive version online.