The Stacks
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Canadians reading Canada
For our second post in celebration of Canadian Children’s Book Week 2021, I’ve picked three books written by Canadian Women that are set in Canada. Because sometimes, when I read Canadian, I actually want to read about Canada and Canadian people in Canadian places.
Canada includes the World
For our first post in celebration of Canadian Children’s Book Week 2021, I’ve picked three books (and an accompanying CD!) from my shelves, all by local authors with a global perspective. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from reading Canadian, it’s that reading Canadian is reading the world.
May the Fourth be with you!
Okay, so we couldn’t let the first Star Wars Day for the Butterflies & Aliens Library to pass by unacknowledged! Please enjoy this gallery of images from two Star Wars pop-up books in our collection, both by the amazing and prolific Matthew Reinhart!
Canadian Children’s Book Week 2021
This week is Canadian Children’s Book Week, celebrating Canadian children’s authors, illustrators, and storytellers! A program of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC), Canadian Children’s Book Week 2021 features virtual readings and other events all across Canada.
Shuttle: The World’s First Spaceship
I’ve had people critique my love of print books as “just nostalgia.” Setting aside for the moment all the archival, psychological, and other reasons why print still holds a prime place in literary culture, what exactly is wrong with nostalgia as a reason for keeping books around.
To wit, my copy of Shuttle: The World’s First Spaceship by Robert M. Powers, published in May 1980 by Warner Books, eleven months before the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia, on Mission STS-1, on April 12, 1981.
Small Press Saturday: Thistledown Press
This Saturday I am thrilled to share Thistledown Press with you. This small press has been around since 1975, originally focusing on poetry. Based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, this Western Canadian press has had success over the years under different owners and leadership, and has broadened their publishing scope to include novels, short story collections, creative non-fiction, poetry, and a rare YA novel.
Canadian Independent Bookstore Day 2021
We interrupt our regularly scheduled Small Press Saturday series this weekend to gush about Canadian Independent Bookstore Day! Initiated by the Canadian Independent Booksellers Association, Canadian Independent Bookstore Day is an annual celebration to promote independent bookstores.
Happy Birthday to the Bard of Avon!
It’s been a busy few weeks here at the Butterflies & Aliens Library and, yeah, we haven’t managed to post as much as we would have liked, but what’s done is done. Though we’ve seen better days, we definitely couldn’t let this day go by without at least a tip of the virtual quill to the Sweet Swan of Avon, the National Poet of England, the Immortal Bard… William Shakespeare!
Small Press Saturday: Freehand Books
This weekend I am taking things more literary and local (to me) – I am happy to introduce you to Calgary-based Freehand Books.
Freehand Books started out in 2007 as the literary imprint of academic publisher Broadview Press.
Since Freehand was established, they have released 65 titles. They only publish Canadian authors of fiction, poetry, literary graphic novels, and creative non-fiction, with significant representation of authors from marginalized communities
Small Press Saturday: Second Story Press
So yes this week’s Small Press Saturday post is technically coming at you on Sunday for a variety of reasons and will once again be a shorter post, but the press is a presence in the Canadian publishing scene and deserves recognition for what they do. I am happy to introduce you to Second Story Press.
Small Press Saturday: Dundurn Press
Happy Long Weekend and Happy Small Press Saturday!
Because it is a long weekend, I am keeping the text in this post to a minimum, but am happy to introduce you to Dundurn Press, named after Hamilton’s Dundurn Castle...
Is Big Brother watching?
Content Warning: The following post describes and shows a book being physically altered.
In one of my earlier contributions to the Butterflies & Aliens Library, I shared the process of creating my first altered book project, Spark Unnecessary, using Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 as the source work. Since completing that project back in 2017, I’d been pondering other altered books projects based around themes of dystopia and censorship, slowly gathering up materials and ideas.
