New year, new reads: titles from upcoming Festival of Words guests to read before July

Excellent news for individuals who determined to learn extra books as their new 12 months’s decision this 12 months: the Saskatchewan Pageant of Phrases has already began a must-read e-book record by sharing the upcoming lineup of celebrated authors confirmed for the 2021 literary occasion. 

Organizers introduced a formidable record of Canadian authors coming to the Pageant of Phrases this July, sharing numerous award-winning names throughout the conclusion of the 2020 occasion.

For these wanting ahead to the favored literary pageant arising this July, there’s nonetheless loads of time to dive into among the revealed works from this 12 months’s visitor authors, to organize for the Pageant’s panels, readings, workshops and writer Q&As.

This 12 months’s lineup options loads of Saskatchewan expertise — together with award-winning novelists Man Vanderhaeghe and Sharon Butala, former Moose Javian Angie Abdou and different notable names within the Canadian literary world. 

As traditional, the Pageant of Phrases has chosen company from a spread of genres and backgrounds, highlighting the whole lot from dystopian fiction to memoirs to gardening suggestions.

With the brand new 12 months underway, there’s no higher time than to dive headfirst into a brand new pile of must-reads — or to maintain a watch out for these contemporary releases set to hit the cabinets this spring. 

Right here’s an inventory of titles from Pageant of Phrases company which are price including to your studying record:

Harold Johnson, Saskatchewan writer:

Corvus (2016): Set within the metropolis of La Ronge sooner or later, Corvus follows two legal professionals who discover themselves uncovered to new views in very alternative ways: Lenore Hansen befriends a political dissenter and conflict veteran, whereas George Taylor crashes his digital reality-powered automobile close to an remoted First Nations group within the mountains. The experiences trigger each males to confront the previous to avoid wasting their future, in a narrative instructed via the lens of a dystopian society that exposes the phantasm of safety attributable to know-how and critiques a world hung up on local weather change denial and conflict. The novel was shortlisted for the Sask E-book Award for Aboriginal Peoples’ Writing.

Cry Wolf (2020): Launched earlier this 12 months, Cry Wolf is a nonfiction e-book described as “half story, half forensic evaluation” analyzing the 2005 wolf assault on a younger man in Factors North Touchdown, a piece camp in northern Saskatchewan, alongside different reported wolf assaults. Johnson considers these situations to debate how individuals are failing to take wolves as predators significantly and what the results of our actions shall be, if people proceed on this mindset.

Jael Richardson, Ontario writer, speaker and activist:

The Stone Thrower: A Daughter’s Classes, a Father’s Life (2012): Richardson’s debut novel is a memoir exploring the story of her father, former CFL quarterback Chuck Ealey, an African-American athlete born in Ohio however denied a profession in American soccer because of causes Richardson solely realizes after attending her father’s fortieth highschool reunion. The Stone Thrower approaches the matters of race and future from the attitude of a daughter her family’s historical past, as she discovers what it means to be black in Canada. The memoir has additionally been tailored right into a youngsters’s storybook.

Gutter Youngster (2021): Richardson’s second novel is ready in a dystopian world, the place individuals are divided into privileged and weak, and essentially the most weak should “purchase their freedom by working off their debt to society.” The novel follows a teenage lady who finds herself precariously balanced between the 2 worlds because of a government-operated social experiment, leaving her to navigate a brand new lifetime of servitude and a world of disadvantages. Set to launch on Jan. 26, Gutter Youngster is at the moment accessible for pre-order.

Lyndon Penner, Saskatchewan horticulturist and radio persona:

The Manner of the Gardener ( 2021): As a Saskatchewan environmentalist and plant professional, Penner took a visit to the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain, the place he centered his consideration on the native ecology of northern area of the nation and the way it tells the historical past of the folks and the land — all detailed in his newest armchair novel, which underscores the connection between the human situation and nature itself. This non-fiction title shall be launched on March 27 of this 12 months.

Penner has additionally revealed a number of titles about gardening within the Canadian prairie zone, together with Native Crops for the Brief Season Yard and Backyard Design for the Brief Season Yard.

Sharon Butala, Saskatchewan novelist:

Season of Fury and Marvel (2019): Butala’s newest work is a brief story assortment centered on sharing the lives of up to date ladies — significantly older ladies, with every story providing insights into the reality about rising older. This title has been chosen for the upcoming Pageant of Phrases e-book membership on Jan. 28.

Zara’s Useless (2018): Shortlisted for Sask E-book Awards Publishing Class, Butala’s fiction thriller novel follows important character Fiona, who even in her seventies continues to be offended concerning the unsolved homicide of a younger lady she as soon as knew named Zara. With many questions left about what occurred, Fiona seeks to search out out who precisely did the crime and when she finds out, her personal life is eternally modified.

The place I Stay Now (2017): Butala’s most up-to-date memoir explores her expertise dwelling on the land in southwest Saskatchewan for greater than 30 years, in addition to adapting to a brand new life within the metropolis following the passing of her husband.

Will Ferguson, Albertan journey author:

419 (2012): This Giller Prize-winning novel from Ferguson takes readers on an journey with important protagonist Laura, a completely common Canadian whose father fell for an web rip-off that price him his life — prompting her to go away her common life to journey to Nigeria in quest of justice from her father’s killer.

Magnificence Ideas from Moose Jaw (2004): Plenty of Ferguson’s revealed works showcase his in depth journey historical past, none extra so than this nonfiction e-book detailing the observations he collected whereas on a visit crisscrossing Canada — together with a cease within the Pleasant Metropolis, which was so memorable it is proper there within the title.

Sylvia Legris, Saskatoon poet:

Legris has revealed a number of poetry collections price visiting earlier than her look on the Pageant, together with Griffin award-winning Nerve Squall from 2005, which incorporates climate, ghosts and mind issues, and her most up-to-date work The Hideous Hidden (2016), which explores the “poetic potential of human and animal anatomy.”

Linda Spalding, Ontario novelist:

The Buy (2012): Spalding’s novel The Buy, winner of the Governor Basic’s Literary Award, follows the story of a younger Quaker father and widower in 1798, as he travels from Pennsylvania together with his household in quest of a future homestead after being solid out of his group for re-marrying a girl not of his religion. In constructing a brand new life, his story turns into a wrestle of conscience that entails two murders and an encounter with a runaway slave.

A Reckoning (2017): Spalding’s subsequent revealed novel is a sequel to The Buy and, set in 1855, a continuation of the Dickenson farm’s story — with some particulars impressed by Spalding’s family historical past, in line with an interview with Spalding herself.

Man Vanderhaeghe, Saskatchewan writer:

The Englishmen’s Boy (1966): Identified greatest for his historic and western fiction, Vanderhaeghe’s hottest work is the 1966 novel The Englishmen’s Boy, which tells the story of the nineteenth century Cypress Hills Bloodbath from the lips of the final dwelling survivor, sharing his expertise with a screenwriter 50 years later within the Nineteen Twenties. The novel is definitely the start of a trilogy, fortunately for individuals who take pleasure in it, and the story continues with The Final Crossing and A Good Man.

Daddy Lenin and Different Tales (2016): For one thing newer, Vanderhaeghe’s 2016 brief story assortment is one other worthwhile endeavour. Together with 9 fictional tales, Daddy Lenin explores the lives of many various sorts of characters, from rebellious youngsters in too deep to the budding relationship between a father and his daughter who’s handicapped from polio, and extra.

Farzana Physician, Ontario novelist and social employee:

Seven (2020): Not too long ago launched within the fall of 2020, Seven follows important character Sharifa on a marriage-saving journey to India along with her husband, the place she learns extra about her great-great-grandfather and his 4 wives — who’re mysteriously lacking from her household’s lore — and encounters divide amongst her cousins over an previous ritual involving feminine genital-cutting that some insist is ceremonial and others condemn.

Six Metres of Pavement (2011): Physician’s second revealed novel, which gained the 2012 Lambda Literary Award, is about important character Ismail, who’s tormented by a mistake 20 years in the past that left his toddler daughter lifeless and his life in shambles. The results of his tragic actions nonetheless hang-out him as he continues to maneuver ahead and develops a more-than-friendship relationship with a divorced neighbour and a fatherly friendship with a neighborhood school pupil.

Angie Abdou, writer from British Columbia:

This One Wild Life (2021): As nearly a companion to her mother-son novel Dwelling Ice: Reflections of a Reluctant Hockey Mother, Abdou’s new memoir shares the story of the summer season mountain climbing objective she undertook along with her concerningly shy daughter Katie, to attract her out of her shell and reconnect the mother-daughter duo — whereas additionally exploring the concepts of self-confidence, teen ladies and the consequences of web time. This One Wild Life shall be launched this April.

In Case I Go (2017): Abdou’s fiction novel In Case I Go tells the story of Eli, a younger boy whose household returns to the small city the place his late great-great-grandfather as soon as lived, bringing the preteen head to head with the ghost of his great-great-grandfather and his previous. Along with his ancestor’s recollections threatening to take over Eli completely, he struggles with the historical past of the little city and its ongoing relationship with the Indigenous members of the group.