SUMMER SLIPPED AWAY...

In the blink of an eye, August is behind us, it's time for back-to-school, and we are looking ahead to the Fall!

It's been a busy and exciting summer at Breakwater, and we're so happy to have seen so many people pass through our new retail space. We've been delighted to welcome locals, tourists, and even some visiting authors! We're still operating on our summer hours, but stay tuned to our social media channels for updates going forward.

We have a very busy September ahead of us with several launches, readings, and celebrations. Check out our calendar of events below and save the dates! Plus, get all the latest news on our Fall releases!

In this issue:

Upcoming Events (where to catch us this Fall!)
Big News (exciting updates!)
Breakwater Buzz (reviews, interviews, and more!)
Have You Heard? (the latest on Breakwater in our community!)
Coming Soon (our first Fall titles to hit the shelves this September!)
From The Vault (not-to-be-forgotten backlist features!)
Photo Album (catch up on the latest happenings!)

UPCOMING EVENTS

SAVE THE DATE

September 6th: Kevin Tobin is a featured guest at the St. John's Comics Arts Fest held at Memorial University! He'll be signing copies of Fly on the Wall throughout the day, and his spotlight panel will be held at 1PM! Find more information about other festival programming here.
September 17th: Join us at The Rooms for a conversation between powerhouse female authors, featuring Angela Antle, Heidi Wicks, and more! This is a free event, but you must reserve your space: tickets are available here.
September 20th: Celebrate the launch of Fly on the Wall with Kevin Tobin at The Newfoundland Embassy from 2-4PM!
September 22nd: We're teaming up with New Brunswick publisher Bouton d'or Acadie to celebrate the launch of Mon Indien, their French translation of Breakwater's bestselling My Indian by Saqamaw Mi'sel Joe and Sheila O'Neill. Stay tuned to our social media for details!
September 24th: Yvonne Rumbolt-Jones will be a guest at Politics and the Pen, hosted by the Writer's Trust of Canada, at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier Hotel in Ottawa!
September 28th: Join Jen Winsor at the Theatre Hill Bar & Cafe at 2PM to celebrate the launch of Ship Moms, hosted by Stephanie O'Brien!
October 22nd: Join us at The Rooms for a thrilling crime and mystery panel, featuring Kevin Major (Six for Saint-Pierre), Ray Critch (The Beltane Massacre), and Nick Wilkshire (The Hunt)! Stay tuned for a link to book your tickets!

 

BIG NEWS


Breakwater Books recognized at the Digitally Lit Youth Choice Book Awards!

We were delighted to be invited to attend the virtual awards ceremony for the Digitally Lit Youth Choice Book Awards on August 29th! Two of Breakwater's backlist titles were recognized and awarded in the Reader's Choice and Reader's Reaction categories: Muinji'j Becomes a Man by Saqamaw Mi'sel Joe and No Turning Back: Surviving the Linehan Family Tragedy by Ida Linehan Young.

Digitally Lit is a not-for-profit society dedicated to empowering youth to imagine, co-create and champion bright futures together through storytelling. They develop and deliver innovative digitally-driven youth initiatives aimed at amplifying local books, stories, art and media; promoting digital and traditional literacy; celebrating diversity; building community and a sense of belonging; fostering connection through creativity; and encouraging critical thinking. Find out more about this fantastic program on their website!

It is so exciting to see these backlist titles celebrated and given new attention in the social media age by these incredible and hard working youth ambassadors!

BREAKWATER BUZZ

Want to know more about our books, our authors, and what to read next? We have new reviews and new interviews to dig deeper into the story behind your favourite recent reads:

“That’s what Here captures so effectively: how homes outlast the people who live in them, quietly absorbing the joys and heartaches of our lives.” Check out this review of Heidi Wicks' Here by Shannon MacLoed for The Seaboard Review!

"This quiet and thoughtful novel is enormously resonant at a moment when the destruction and violence of war is devastating lives around the globe." Monica Kidd's The Crane was featured in a recent "On Our Radar" post from 49th Shelf!

Check out this 20 Questions Interview with Kevin Tobin in The Telegram! "After all these years, Tobin said what keeps him inspired to keep drawing cartoons is the chance to make people pause, think, and sometimes laugh, using cartoons that reflect the world around Newfoundlanders in a way that feels relevant and meaningful."

Naomi Mackinnon reviewed J.R. McConvey's False Bodies for The Seaboard Review! Check it out here.

Check out this interview with Angela Antle by Rob McLennan where she answers twenty questions about The Saltbox Olive and about writing in general!

"The Saltbox Olive is a story about stories, how we tell them, why we tell them, how we uncover them, and the power behind them." Read Caleb J. Browne's review of The Saltbox Olive for Riddle Fence here.

Debbie McGee is featured in All Lit Up's article about where (and what!) Canadian authors are reading this summer! And she's reading a familiar Breakwater title by Heidi Wicks in her photo!

 

HAVE YOU HEARD?

Writers at Woody Point!

Writers at Woody Point hosted another outstanding festival this year, and we were delighted to see these images of Breakwater authors Bridget Canning and Angela Antle. Bridget offered mulitple exciting readings, and Angela was in conversation with Shelagh Rogers about her debut novel The Saltbox Olive.

We're so excited that this fantastic festival continues to celebrate literature and art in our province!

COMING SOON!

As the weather cools down, our new releases are heating up! We have two exciting reads coming in September. Ship Moms sets sail on September 16th, and is a collection of real-life, behind-the-scenes stories from cruise ship crew members by Jen Winsor that pulls back the curtain on the luxury and leisure of cruise ships. Then, on September 30th, get ready for The Hunt, a face-paced thriller set in the vast and rugged Yukon wilderness. This latest novel from Nick Wilkshire follows an unlikely duo on an exhilarating journey as they battle the terrain and race against the clock to solve a murder—before they become victims themselves. 

About Ship Moms: The lives of cruise ship crew members don’t stop when they are below deck. Ship Moms is a collection of behind-the-scenes stories about the relationships that bloom between crew members and all the wonderful mixed-nationality babies being brought into the world as a result, representing nearly forty countries and ten cruise lines. Here are the stories of these ship moms — stories of their strength, their endurance, and their tenacity in making it work against all odds. Beautiful and complicated, heartwarming and heart-wrenching, this collection spills the dirt on the ship life experience, telling real-life stories about connections that result in real-life babies.

About The Hunt: Ben Matthews is less than thrilled when he is posted to Canada from Washington, but he doesn't have time to sit in his disappointment. His diplomatic credentials are still fresh when he is drawn into an urgent assignment: locating an American VIP who vanished on a Yukon hunting trip. Seeking help from the local Mounties, he finds himself paired with Lee Sawchuk, an RCMP sergeant at ease in the challenging terrain of the Yukon environment. Battling nature and their considerable differences, the impromptu team's search takes them to Kluane National Park and beyond — but the missing person is no ordinary VIP, and this is no ordinary search. Faced with a cryptic warning found in the remote Yukon mountains, all Matthews and Sawchuk know for sure is that the clock is ticking — and they only have four days left.

Both of these titles are available for preorder on our website now! Head over there to shop new releases and pre-order our entire Fall catalogue.

 

FROM THE VAULT

ARCHIVE AND BACKLIST HIGHLIGHTS

The Time of Icicles is a collection of lyric pieces from celebrated poet and educator Mary Dalton. An underlying preoccupation of the volume is with states of struggle-of people, cultures, vegetation, of language itself. Considered a staple in the canon of Newfoundland poetry, this work belongs in every book lover's collection! This, as well as other poetry titles from our archives, is available on our website and in-store at 263 Duckworth Street!

In The Other Side of Midnight: Taxicab Stories, the voices of forty St. John's taxicab drivers and dispatchers describe a life on the road. Comical, absurd and often dramatic, their memories are a mosaic witnessing the best and worst in all of us. Dive into these stories to see for yourself!

From the archive: The Time of Icicles

From the recent backlist: The Other Side of Midnight

PHOTO ALBUM

Check out more of our adventures from August below!

We were delighted when Karl Wells was invited to Lanes Retirement Community to read from Openly Karl to residents and their loved ones! It was such a wholesome evening with lots of reminiscing!

Maggie Burton read from Chores at the first iteration of the Stories and Songs series at the Theatre Hill Bar and Cafe in August!

Check out Angela Antle at her first local reading of The Saltbox Olive, also as a part of Theatre Hill's Stories and Songs series!

Kevin Tobin found copies of Fly on the Wall at Coles in the Avalon Mall and posed for a picture!

 

KEEP CONNECTED

We know you love to find us in your inbox, but don't forget to keep up with us on social media too! Follow all our channels to make sure you don't miss out on any crucial book news. Be the first to get event and book announcements, author appearance schedules, reels and videos, and more!