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Canadian Independent Bookstore Day 2022

Canadian Independent Bookstore Day is taking place on Saturday, April 30!

This year we're celebrating with contests. Two of them to be specific:

In our own McNally Robinson contest, every purchase made with us on April 30th will be eligible to enter a draw to win a prize pack filled with an assortment of books (look after the jump below to see photos of some of the prizes). Customers who purchase items in-store will be given a ballot to fill out, and customers who purchase on our website will be entered automatically. The winners will be determined the week following and contacted directly about their prizes.

The second contest is put on by our friends at the Canadian Independent Booksellers Association (CIBA) and gives you a chance to win one of three gift cards — $250, $500, or $1000! — to the Canadian independent bookstore of your choice. In this contest, each book purchased at a Canadian indie bookseller (including McNally Robinson!) is worth one entry, so the more books you buy the more entries you can submit. Better yet, books written/illustrated by a Canadian are worth double. Books can be purchased online, by phone, or in-store. Once you've got your receipt (or in the case of online orders, your confirmation email), you will visit CIBA's website to submit your entries. You may visit their website now to read all of the details about the CIBA contest.

These contests are open at all of our bookstores and on our website, but only on April 30th. Our bookstores are open 10 AM to 9 PM that day, and online purchases made between 12:00 AM and 11:59 PM are eligible. So we'll see you then for Canadian Independent Bookstore Day!

Thank you to everyone for continuining to support Canadian independent bookselling. We've been Canada's largest indie bookseller for over 40 years, and that's all thanks to readers like you!

Thanks also to the Canadian Independent Booksellers Association for their support all these years, and to the publishers who have helped us put together our contest prizes (not to mention all the resources they provide to help get books into the hands of our readers!).

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Ted's Run For Literacy Kit Pick Up

Ted's Run for Literacy, the litte race that could, takes place this Sunday in Kildonan Park, and McNally Robinson Booksellers is happy to host their kit pick up this Saturday, September 28th between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

Kit pick up will take place in the travel alcove of our Grant Park location, the southwest corner of the store near the mall entrance. There will be limited kit pick up on race day, so please stop by the store if you have the chance, but if you do require a race-day kit pick up, please expect lineups of 10 to 15 minutes.

By the way, if you haven't already, there's still time to register for all three events — the 2km Fun Run/Walk, and the 5km and 10km Runs. 

Ted's Run for Literacy aims to stop the revolving door of childhood poverty by building confidence in children living in under resourced Winnipeg neighbourhoods. All money raised through registration is used to support Can U and Learn and Play; two non-profit organizations who hold similar values.

Scotiabank Giller Prize 2016 Longlist

The longlist for the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize was announced this past week, comprising 12 Canadian writers all vying to win the $100,000 award. The list was selected by a panel of five judges, who will pare their selections down to a six-book shortlist to be announced on Monday Setpember 26th.

The 2016 Giller longlist is:

• Mona Awad for 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl (Penguin Canada)
• Gary Barwin for Yiddish for Pirates (Random House Canada)
• Andrew Battershill for Pillow (Coach House Books)
• David Bergen for Stranger (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd)
• Emma Donoghue for The Wonder (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd)
• Catherine Leroux for The Party Wall (Biblioasis, translated by Lazer Lederhendler)
• Kathy Page for The Two of Us (Biblioasis)
• Susan Perly for Death Valley (Wolsak and Wynn Publishers)
• Kerry Lee Powell for Willem De Kooning’s Paintbrush  (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd)
• Steven Price for By Gaslight (McClelland & Stewart)
• Madeleine Thien for Do Not Say We Have Nothing (Alfred A. Knopf Canada)
• Zoe Whittall for The Best Kind of People (House of Anansi Press Inc.)

We had the pleasure of launching David Bergen's Stranger in front of a packed house on Tuesday September 6. Catherine Leroux will be reading from The Party Wall at Thin Air 2016: The Winnipeg International Writers Festival. You can also join us here at the store for an evening with Zoe Whittall on Saturday November 26.

You can see the official announcement here, and don't forget to join us for our Giller Light Bash on November 7!

Harry Potter Parties 2016

On July 30th, 2016, McNally Robinson hosted midnight release parties for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two in both Winnipeg and Saskatoon. The parties were held to celebrate not only the release of Cursed Child but the fun and magic of the Harry Potter series as a whole. Many of our booksellers are fans of the series, and from past experiences we know there are many Potterheads in the Prairies — and at this year's parties, those fans came out in force.

Our Winnipeg celebration took place at the Lyric Theatre field in Assiniboine Park, and it's a good thing we had all of that open space. Based on previous parties and the response we had on social media, we anticipated around ten thousand guests at this year's party — but ended up with closer to 15,000. With so many Potterheads, many of whom were dressed up in their finest witch and wizard garb, the park was abuzz as guests took in the live entertainment and perused the activities and tents around the party grounds. Among the attractions were Quidditch lessons and scrimmages, a Tri-Wizard tournament, live animals in the Care of Magical Creatures station, a Diagon Alley shop tent, snacks and drinks from The Three Broomsticks, plus much more. All the while there were live performances by JP Hoe and The Mariachi Ghost from the Lyric Theatre stage. To see some photos of the party, explore #PotterPartyWPG on Twitter and Instagram.

Meanwhile, our Saskatoon location hosted a party at the bookstore and surrounding parking lot, which drew in a crowd of over 2000 fans of all ages. The event kept attendees on their toes with everything from high-spirited games of Quidditch to Dementors handing out demerits. A handful of furry (and not so furry) guests made an appearance, including live rats, snakes, and cats. Fans enjoyed frothy mugs of Butterbeer and sweet nibbles of Pumpkin Pasties in Prairie Ink, which was done up in Great Hall chic for the occasion with stars and Hogwarts letters strung from the ceiling. The more daring of the attendees tried their hand at competing in tasks such as the Tri-Wizard Tournament, complete with a series of nail-biting trivia questions. All guests were also invited to sit beneath the Sorting Hat and tremble in anticipation as it deliberated over which House they would be sorted into.

And of course at the stroke of midnight we began handing out copies of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Line-ups at both parties, as well as at our Grant Park bookstore, were filled with hundreds of eager fans, most of whom were beaming and some of whom were teary-eyed with joy, and all were on their way home with their new book in record time.

We thank all of the volunteers and organizations who helped us put our parties together, and a big thank you to all of the Potterheads who joined us for the evening. We had record turnouts at both parties, and — if we're fortunate enough to get another Harry Potter book someday — we hope to see you all at the next celebration.