AS THE SEASONS CHANGE...

...we're looking ahead to our Spring line up of books, starting with releases in early May! But before we get there, we're celebrating some recent and upcoming titles at our seasonal launch. April was also National Poetry Month with Canadian Independent Bookstore Day happening on the 25th; with so many events to celebrate and look forward to, let's dive right in!


NEW RELEASES & UPCOMING EVENTS

Rounding out our Winter 2026 season, just in time for National Poetry Month, is BLACK GIRL IN THE RING, a debut work of poetry from Delores V. Mullings, PhD. This work handles institutionalized racism, feminist empowerment, and the impressive resilience of black women everywhere. 


 

Juxtaposing experiences of discrimination with love and resilience, this debut poetry collection is a critique of intimate and institutional violence and hostility, entwined with a celebration of beauty and fierceness. This collection of free verse, haiku, and narrative poetry takes the reader by the hand and walks them through these experiences from a personal perspective. 


Available now on our website and at our Duckworth Street store!

 

SAVE THE DATE

May 1st, 7:00PM: Save the date for our 2026 Spring Launch! We'll be celebrating several of our first authors from 2026 during a fabulous evening at The Rooms. Join Diedre J. Halbot, Glenna Turnbull, Delores V. Mullings, and Maggie Burton to celebrate their new releases! Tickets are free but limited: reserve your seat here.
May 2nd, 12:00PM: Jen Winsor is making the rounds with Ship Moms just ahead of mother's day! Find her at Coles Avalon Mall at 12PM on May 2nd.
May 2nd-3rd: Glenna Turnbull, author of The Art of Getting Lost and Found, is visiting St. John's for our seasonal launch! If you can't make it to the launch on May 1st, Glenna will be signing books at the local Indigo stores all weekend. Find her at Chapters at 12pm on May 2nd, Coles Avalon Mall at 4pm on May 2nd, and Coles Village Mall at 1pm on May 3rd.
May 9th, 10:00AM: Poet Delores Mullings will be visiting Chapters with copies of her new book Black Girl in the Ring. Stop by to get your signed copy!
May 9th, 12:00PM: Jen Winsor will be signing copies of Ship Moms at Coles Avalon Mall. Head down to say ahoy!
May 16th: Three of our authors will be set up at Chapters to sign books! Darren Ivany will be there with his collection of plays at 10:00AM, Debbie McGee with Cautiously Pessimistic at 12:00PM, and Jen Winsor at 4:00PM!
May 23rd, 12:00PM: Recent winner of the BMO Winterset Award Angela Antle will be signing copies of The Saltbox Olive at Chapters!
May 30th, 4:00PM: Rounding out our signings for the month, Jen Winsor will be at Chapters with copies of Ship Moms!

 

BIG NEWS

The Saltbox Olive wins the BMO Winterset Award!

Not only is it highly regarded by some of the best literary minds in the country, but THE SALTBOX OLIVE by Angela Antle was recently named the winner of the 2025 BMO Winterset Award! The award was presented during a ceremony at Government House on April 9th.

The Winterset Award celebrates and supports excellence in Newfoundland & Labrador writing. As a debut work of historical fiction, THE SALTBOX OLIVE captures a unique story of our province's history with a strong narrative perspective.

Breakwater extends a huge congratulations to Angela Antle for all her hard work and accomplishments!

A big congratulations goes to Breakwater author Debbie McGee as well, who was a finalist for Cautiously Pessimistic!

Read the full press release from ArtsNL here: RELEASE: Angela Antle named 2025 BMO Winterset Award recipient.

BREAKWATER BUZZ

Want to know more about our books, our authors, and what we're up to? We have new features and new content to dig deeper into the story behind your favourite recent reads:


HAVE YOU HEARD?

Atlantic Books Awards 2026 Finalists Announced!

We are delighted to have three books nominated for this year's Atlantic Book Awards! Just Around the Corner by Yvonne Rumbolt-Jones and Openly Karl by Karl Wells are both finalists for the Best Atlantic-Published Book Award, and Here by Heidi Wicks is a finalist for the Alistair MacLeod Award for Short Fiction. Congratulations all around!

Winners will be announced at an Awards Gala on June 4th at Halifax Central Library.

 

NLPL's Love Our Local Authors Celebration is Back!

The Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries have relaunched NL Reads: Must Read NL Book of the Year and Love Our Local Authors (LOLA) Month! Information about both programs can be found here.

We were very excited to see four Breakwater books in the Top 10 for NL Reads: The Crane by Monica Kidd, The Weather Diviner by Elizabeth Murphy, Openly Karl by Karl Wells, and Just Around the Corner by Yvonne Rumbolt-Jones. And, Openly Karl advanced to the Top 3!

 

Celebrating Canadian Independent Bookstore Day with the BOOKWORTH QUEST!

On April 25th, we celebrated CIBD 2025 in partnership with our friends at Downtown Comics, Elaine's Books, and Collected Pulp with the BOOKWORTH QUEST. Those who visited and made purchases at all four locations during the month of April could enter to win a book prize pack, which culminated with a "Book"worth Street reading tour with local authors at all four stores on Saturday.

We were thrilled to have Debbie McGee reading from Cautiously Pessimistic at our store, and Ray Critch read from The Beltane Massacre at our neighbours, Collected Pulp!


COMING SOON!

Spring is coming out swinging! Check out two of our upcoming releases from two returning artists!

Starting strong to kick off our Spring 2026 season is A TEMPORARY GRACE from Maggie Burton. Maggie's debut book of poetry, Chores, won the Griffin Poetry Prize Canadian First Book Award and was recently longlisted for the 2026 NLBA E.J. Pratt Family Poetry Prize. Maggie's newest work is a collection of interconnected short stories about love, desire, control, and power. 

Our second release in May is another long-awaited follow up of a very different kind! Renowned landscape and wildlife photographer Michael Winsor is returning with LOST IN NEWFOUNDLAND: VOLUME 2, a companion to the wildly successful photography book LOST IN NEWFOUNDLAND. We cannot wait to share this pocket-sized window to the wonderous world of Newfoundland!

Both of these titles are available for pre-orders on our website!

 

 

FEATURED TITLES

National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month! Breakwater has published many fantastic works of poetry over the years, so here's a list of the most recent releases to get your collection up-to-date!

Black Girl in the Ring from Delores Mullings is our newest poetry release, dealing with themes of misogynoir, feminist empowerment, and women's resilience. Another title for those interested in feminist poetry is Chores from Maggie Burton, whose upcoming short fiction collection will be published in May!

Agnes Walsh is a beloved Newfoundland artist, and in 2024 Breakwater published her collection of poetry, The Wind Has Robbed the Legs Off a Madwoman. This work blends myth, folklore, and local history with the unique dialect of Irish Newfoundland. 

And for those looking for something a little different, check out Total Party Kill from Craig Francis Power (a Dungeons & Dragon themed narrative about addiction and recovery) and Green by Paul Moorehead (a take on everything green, from comic books to nature). 

Check out our extensive backlist of poetry titles on our website!

 

PHOTO ALBUM

Check out some more of our April adventures below!

SPARKS Literary Festival took place at MUN in April! Breakwater authors Elizabeth Murphy (The Weather Diviner), Angela Antle (The Saltbox Olive), Heidi Wicks (Here), Jen Winsor (Ship Moms), and D.D. Sheppard (Drew's Secret Talent) were guests this year. What an exciting weekend!

We were so excited to participate in NLOWE's Annual Conference this month, and to showcase our women-authored books in their marketplace. Thank you to Willow Kean, Jen Winsor, and Diedre Halbot for joining us to sign books!

Johnny Ruth hosted two authors for signings at their downtown store! Here's Diedre Halbot with Little Spoons and Darren Ivany with Home in Three Plays!

Glenna Turnbull's The Art of Getting Lost and Found was spotted in the wild at the BC Ferries gift shop! Thanks to Shelley Wood for the photo!

Ahead of our Spring Launch coming up on May 1st, Rebecca Rose and Rebecca Roberts appeared on CBC's The Signal with Adam Walsh accompanied by Delores Mullings, author of Black Girl in the Ring! Diedre Halbot and Glenna Turnbull also called in from afar!