LOVE (OF READING) IS IN THE AIR...

February is the month of love, and there is no better time to celebrate our passion for all things literary!

While we battle through the winter months, our calendar is heating up as we celebrate our second release date of the year (with more just around the corner!).
 
In this issue:

New Releases & Upcoming Events (what’s out now and where to catch us!)
Breakwater Buzz (reviews, interviews, and bonus content!)
Have You Heard? (the latest on Breakwater in our community!)
Coming Soon (spring is getting closer!)
From The Vault (not-to-be-forgotten backlist features!)
Photo Album (catch up on the latest happenings!)
Keep Connected (follow us on social media!)

NEW RELEASES & UPCOMING EVENTS

Have you heard? The Crane has landed! This new novel from celebrated writer and journalist Monica Kidd released on February 18th and is available now.

Monica will be making appearances at launches, readings, and signings in her hometown of Calgary throughout March, and later this year she'll be appearing right here in Newfoundland — stay tuned for details on these exciting events!

SAVE THE DATE

March 8th: Dr. Mike Wahl and Braeden King give a talk and answer your questions at the A.C Hunter Library!
March 8th: Catch Ashleigh Matthews at the Village Mall for a special International Women's Day signing event!
March 9th: Breakwater Books will be set up at the St. John's Farmer's Market for their Women-Owned Business market. Come get your books!
March 15th and 22nd: Several Breakwater authors (and other local writers) will be at the Avalon Mall all afternoon signing books  — come out and support local literature!
March 20th: Monica Kidd's official launch of The Crane, held at The Plaza in Calgary!
March 29th: Adam Karlin and his book Luna and the Heart of the Forest will be featured on Family Day at the New Orleans Book Festival!
March 29th: Monica will be signing copies of The Crane at Owl's Nest Books in Calgary!

BREAKWATER BUZZ

Want to know more about our books, our authors, and what to read next? We have new reviews, new interviews, and some bonus content from one of our most recent authors:

49th Shelf has published their Spring preview, and several upcoming Breakwater books made the cut! How many can you spot on the list here?

CBC Books recently released their spring preview with "71 Canadian Fiction Books to Read in Spring 2025." Check it out for a sneak peek of Angela Antle's novel The Saltbox Olive, coming from Breakwater Books in May 2025!

A new review of The Weather Diviner by Elizabeth Murphy was recently published in The Seaboard Review. Click here to find out why Selena Mercuri thinks this book "is more than just a compelling work of historical fiction."

Keith Cadieux called J.R. McConvey's False Bodies "a fun, horror-tinged adventure." Read more here in The Winnipeg Free Press! Plus, click here to hear from J.R. himself, talking False Bodies with Jamie Tennant on the Get Lit podcast!

Check out a thoughtful review of Rod Moody Corbett's Hides from Socrates on the Beach here!

In celebration of The Crane's release, our most recent author Monica Kidd recently appeared on CBC's On The Go with Krissy Holmes! Listen to her interview here. And, for some extra reading material, check out this piece Monica wrote for the All Lit Up blog with some fascinating background on how The Crane came to be (and what the title was originally!).

HAVE YOU HEARD?

Get Out Your Dictionary...

Breakwater Books is proud to be a sponsor of the 2025 Elks Avalon Spelling Bee, happening on April 12th at the Paul L. Pope Centre for TV and Film on Strawberry Marsh Road. Participants from 25 schools will be competing for the chance to go to the Canada Super Spelling Bee National Finals in Ottawa.

G-O-O-D L-U-C-K !

Here's to 100 Years!

Did you know that April 3rd, 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote in Newfoundland and Labrador? 

Stay tuned to this community for ways to commemorate this monumental anniversary!

Upcoming Breakwater author Yvonne Jones is the longest serving female politician from Newfoundland and Labrador — both provincially and federally. And her new memoir detailing her life in politics and beyond is just around the corner...

Taking to the stage!

Breakwater author Bernardine Stapleton (This is the Cat, Love, life) returns to the stage in her latest one-woman show Antidote for Life: Memory, Madness, and Beagles at the LSPU Hall this weekend! For Riddle Fence, Terry Doyle calls Antidote for Life "a show you won't soon forget", about "stories remembered and forgotten." Though this show completes a trilogy of plays, it can be enjoyed by anyone and everyone, including the few people who are somehow unfamiliar with Berni's past work! Get your tickets here, and watch Berni's Red Seats interview here!

And while you're at the LSPU Hall seeing Antidote for Life, you can pick up copies of Berni's previous books from Breakwater, plus some of our other drama titles, all in one spot thanks to the Resource Centre for the Arts!

There is no better time to buy and shop local to support our arts community!

Berni is also the current playwright in residence with Resource Centre for the Arts! She is using the residency to explore her newest project, Senior Moments: Don't Wait Until We're Dead. She is looking for submissions from folks to provide experiences/concerns/radical outbursts/solutions on the death of an artistic career and actual death. To contribute, reach out at stapletonb@bellaliant.net.

Celebrating Black History Month

The end of February may bring the end of Black History Month, but here at Breakwater we encourage you to continue to discover books from Black authors all year long! Check out a curated collection of BIPOC-authored books from Breakwater here.

COMING SOON!

We have two exciting releases coming up in March! First, releasing on International Women's Day, we have Just Around the Corner, a memoir from Yvonne Rumbolt-Jones: the story of a woman from a northern community who broke free of her geographic and political isolation to embrace opportunity. 

And next, just in time for World Theatre Day comes Stolen Sisters from Leahdawn Helena, an award-winning, first-of-its-kind play that gives voice to the lives and legacies of three Beothuk women and girls whose names have survived in historical record. 

All titles from our Winter 2025 season are available now for pre-order! Be sure to check out our socials for upcoming events to get your copy and meet the authors!

And stay tuned: our Spring 2025 titles will be hitting our website before you know it!

FROM THE VAULT

ARCHIVE AND BACKLIST HIGHLIGHTS

Round out the new releases on your reading list with these exciting backlist titles from Breakwater!

Cold Pastoral is the re-release of the 1939 novel from Margaret Duley, the first internationally published novelist from Newfoundland. After reading Cold Pastoral, check out the new biography of Margaret Duley written by her niece, Margot: Extraordinary Passages, published by Memorial University Press.

And, don't miss adding Still No Word to your poetry collection as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of its release!

From the archive: Cold Pastoral

From the recent backlist: Still No Word

PHOTO ALBUM

We were so excited to host our second sold-out event in a row at The Rooms on February 12th! Mike Wahl and Braeden King launched Health Explored to a packed room (despite the freezing February temperatures).

Back in December, we were delighted to make a donation to Her Majesty's Penitentiary. Chaplain Gerry visited our office to accept 250 books as Christmas gifts for inmates at HMP. We're told that recipients are treasuring their gifts, and we're grateful to have provided this joy at the holidays!

John Bodner of Grenfell Campus, Memorial University recently presented the Breakwater Books award to this year's recipient, Erica Foy. Congratulations, Erica!