OPEN SKIES!

Flowers are blooming, skies are opening, the first breezes of summer are wafting through the air.... Well, maybe if you're on the mainland. Out here, it's still fog and drizzle. But that's just a reason to stay in and read. It's National Short Story Month, and Breakwater has you covered for all your fiction needs. 

WHAT'S NEWS? 

Bridget Canning shortlisted for the Alistair McLeod Short Story Prize 

Congratulations to Bridget Canning whose incredible book of short fiction No One Knows About Us is shortlisted for the Atlantic Book Awards!

 
         
      Our Authors in the News

         

                

        The Team Grows

        Three new faces have been walking the hallowed halls of Breakwater HQ this year: new Canadians Wafa, Bashir, and Ali have been working on special projects throughout our publishing program, including digital data management, design, and editorial. Through work placement partnerships with amazing organizations like the YWCA and the Association of New Canadians, we've been lucky enough to have these three talented folk on board!  

         

            

        Poetry in Motion

        The Breakwater Poetry Bash was held on April 30 at Eastern Edge Gallery in downtown St. John's. Like the drama bash last month, this poetry reading featured authors from the first books Breakwater ever published 50 years ago to contemporary poets working and launching today. Included in the lineup were: Al Pittman (a founder of Breakwater, read by Mark Callanan), Tom Dawe (another founder), Mary Dalton (many titles, including 2022 Pratt Lecture on poetry), Michelle Porter (debut poetry, Inquiries, in 2019, and Maggie Burton (who was launching her debut book of poems, Chores. 

         

                   

        UPCOMING EVENTS

        - June 22, 7pm
          SAVE THE DATE: Summer Launch Party
          Featuring: Mike Heffernan, Willow Kean, Larry Matthews, Beth Ryan, Maggie
          Burton, and more

        - July 7 - 9
          SAVE THE DATE: OchreFest
          Featuring: Breakwater Authors and many others

         

          ON THE NOSE: BOOKS PERFECT FOR APRIL

          The flowers are in full bloom and so are our spring and summer books! Let's look into the lists, both front and back, for some books that are great for May to celebrate Short Story Month. 


          The Gull Workshop, Larry Matthews
          Coming this month, a new collection of short fiction from beloved master and teacher of the form, Larry Matthews. You can't go wrong with this one. 


          No One Knows About Us, Bridget Canning
          Just shortlisted for the Alistair McLeod Prize for Short Fiction, this was last Fall's big hit in the short story universe. Canning's characters are razor sharp and full of wit. 


          Send More Tourists, the Last Ones Were Delicious, Tracey Waddleton
          With the return of the sun and the receding of the road glaciers comes not only the return of the birds, but the return of the icebergs, whales, and tourists. Dark and hilarious for a bright and springy month. 


          Hard Ticket, Lisa Moore ed. 
          Featuring a diverse and exciting cast of new and established writers that showcases the changing faces of fiction in our province, Hard Ticket is not your Nan's short story anthology. 


          The Breakwater Book of Contemporary Newfoundland Short Fiction, Larry Matthews ed.
          It's National Short Story month in May and we've got you covered with this blast of short, sharp goodness from 2015.

           

          DROPPING SOON: MAY AND JUNE

          Shield those eyes from the sun and peer into the middle distance. What's that you see? More exciting books coming from Breakwater, just in time for your hectic summer reading schedule. 


          The Gull Workshop
          Larry Mathews
          (Coming this May)

          The Gull Workshop is a collection of stories that features a unique combination of thematic seriousness and comic style.

          The characters in The Gull Workshop are often in search of something—call it authenticity, a basis for living a meaningful life, or leave it unnamed. However it’s defined, these characters are unlikely to find it. This is a book about the comically fruitless quest for meaning and authenticity; the thirteen stories are set in locations across Canada.  


          Eyes in Front When Running
          Willow Kean
          (Coming this June)

          This defiant and unapologetically sardonic debut novel explores the collision between fear and longing.

          When Cleo Best moves back in with her parents after the collapse of her relationship, a series of bad decisions turn her life upside down, but somehow set it right at the same time.

          Eyes in Front When Running is a quick-witted family drama that uses humour to tackle heavy topics; the crumbling of a relationship, miscarriage, abortion, infertility, postpartum depression.


          Let It All Fall: Underground Music and the Culture of Rebellion in Newfoundland, 1977 - 95
          Mike Heffernan
          (Coming this June)

          Incorporating elements of creative non-fiction and oral history, Let It All Fall: Underground Music and the Culture of Rebellion in Newfoundland, 1977-95 is a collection of interview-based first-person monologues that describe the experiences of a generation of independent musi... 

          Beginning in the late 1970s, a new raw sound began to emerge from the basements and garages of St. John’s which, by the mid-90s, had grown into a vibrant community. With few resources, dozens of bands produced a staggering amount of music. As an important part of our recent cultural history, they would lay the foundation for what is now an expansive industry. Let It All Fall offers considerable insight into the largely undocumented underground social and cultural life of St. John’s.