YOUR FEBRUARY READING ROADMAP

It's been a snowy, wintery February at our Duckworth Street store, but inside we are cozy and excited about some hot new releases! We're celebrating our second launch of the season, gearing up for a busy March and an even busier Spring, and hoping the mountains of snow around town get smaller as the days get longer.

In this issue:

New Releases & Upcoming Events (what's out now and where to catch us!)
Big News (exciting updates!)
Breakwater Buzz (reviews, interviews, and more!)
Have You Heard? (the latest on Breakwater in our community!)
Coming Soon (our next Winter releases about to hit shelves!)
Featured Titles
From the Vault
Photo Album (catch up on the latest happenings!)
Keep Connected (follow us on social media!)

Looking to get out of the cold? Come visit us! During the Winter, we are open Monday to Friday from 10:00AM to 5:00PM, on Saturdays from 10:00AM to 6:00PM, and on Sundays from 12:00PM to 5:00PM.

NEW RELEASES & UPCOMING EVENTS

We're so excited to be welcoming our first fiction title of 2026 at the end of February: the debut novel from Diedre J. Halbot, Little Spoons. A non-status Mik'maq from Western Newfoundland, Diedre has a passion for sharing stories of her French-Indigenous heritage. In this highly-anticipated novel, rumours of the supernatural and a sudden death unearth family secrets amidst the unique landscape and history of French Newfoundland.

After the unexpected death of her grandmother, Mary inherits her property and returns home to western Newfoundland with her young son. Discovering stories of witchcraft and rumours of the supernatural, she attempts to piece together her family’s story, and begins to unravel the secrets surrounding a string of suspicious disappearances and deaths in the community—deaths that always seem to involve women.  When someone else goes missing, Mary must act quickly to untangle the strings of fact and fiction, or risk drowning in the same rumours that haunted those before her.  

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

SAVE THE DATE

March 7th, 10:00AM-6:00PM: In honour of International Women's Day, we are partnering with LV Imagery for an event offering professional headshots for a special rate benefitting Iris Kirby House, hosted at our Duckworth Street store! We'll also be contributing all proceeds from the sale of women-authored books over the weekend (March 7th & 8th) to the donation for Iris Kirby House. Book your appointment here: https://www.lvimagery.ca/iwd
March 8th, 11:00AM-12:00PM: Breakwater Books will be a stop during the Women's Work Festival's 2026 International Women's Day Performance Walk, which begins at the LSPU Hall and concludes at the Anna Templeton Centre, where they will host their Hot Chocolate Social and Women's Work Fair.
March 14th, 1:00-5:00PM and March 15th, 12:30-4:30PM: Coles in the Avalon Mall will be hosting another weekend of local authors! Stay tuned to find out which of your favourite Breakwater authors will be in attendance.
April 11th, 1:00-3:00PM: Attention BC Friends! Glenna Turnbull will be signing copies of The Art of Getting Lost and Found at her neighbourhood independent bookstore, Mosiac Books in Kelowna, BC!
April 18th, 11:00AM-4:00PM: Another one for our BC followers! Glenna will also be signing at Indigo Kelowna. Drop in to meet her and say hi!
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. More details to come, but for now, mark it in you calendars!

BIG NEWS

Breakwater Books is a Place to Go!

We were so excited to be joined at our store this month by NTV's Sharon Snow to film Places to Go for the NTV Evening News! It was a great opportunity to showcase our store and to highlight the other incredible local publishers whose books you can find under our roof.

If you missed it, check out the feature here!

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:

49th Shelf released their list of most-anticipated fiction for Spring 2026, which includes both Little Spoons and The Art of Getting Lost and Found — plus a sneak peek at one of our upcoming Spring titles, A Temporary Grace by Maggie Burton!

In a recent issue of The Seaboard Review, Robin McGrath recalled the humour of Andy Jones in his recent book Actor Needs Restraint! while reflecting on the review of his work published in the Literary Review of Canada. Read her piece called "How to Tell a Joist from a Girder" here.

"There is much in The Crane for a reader to sink their teeth into." Check out Jonathan Greenbaum's review of Monica Kidd's The Crane in Freefall Magazine here.

"I’m trying to write about the marvellous world we live in, which means that I write about natural phenomena, often through the explanatory lens of science." Book blogger Rob McLennan interviews Paul Moorehead, author of Green!

"The ending chapters hit me hard, leaving me shocked, amazed and moved by the result of the main characters’ journeys." If this advance review of Glenna Turnbull's The Art of Getting Lost and Found by Carrington Dong in The Manitoban doesn't convince you to pre-order the novel, we don't know what will!

Check out this review of the Cara Kansala's Seamus and the Shiny Things in The Seaboard Review! Melanie Jackson calls Kansala's latest children's book a  "shinily illustrated, winningly told story."

HAVE YOU HEARD?

From Scribble to Story: Writing a Children's Book

We partnered with The Rooms and Running the Goat, Books and Broadsides to host a panel on writing children's books! Featuring local authors and illustrators Lori Doody and Veselina Tomova, the event was a great success with a lively and informative discussion.

Both Lori's and Veselina's books from Running the Goat are available at our Duckworth Street store!

Yvonne Rumbolt-Jones Launches Just Around the Corner in Ottawa!

In celebration of her 2025 memoir Just Around the Corner, Yvonne Rumbolt-Jones held a launch party at Metropolitain Brasserie & Restaurant in Ottawa, featuring a special fireside chat with Minister Mélanie Joly. The event was a partnership between Breakwater Books and The Pearson Centre, sponsored by RioTino IOC. And it was a smashing success! Thank you to Perfect Books in Ottawa for providing book sales for the launch.

WritersNL Announces Call for Submissions to the NLCU Fresh Fish Award for Emerging Writers

Submissions to the NLCU Fresh Fish Award for Emerging Writers are now open! One of the country's most lucrative awards for unpublished writers, the winner of the Fresh Fish Award will receive a cash prize of $5200; $1000 towards professional editing services for the winning manuscript. Runners-up will each receive $1200. The award is generously sponsored by Newfoundland & Labrador Credit Union.

Offered since 2006, previous winners include many now-established writers... including Breakwater authors Susie Taylor and Craig Francis Power!

Connect with us at The London Book Fair 2026!

Our publisher and president Rebecca Rose will be attending The London Book Fair from March 10-12, 2026! To schedule a meeting, reach out to adminteam@breakwaterbooks.com.

COMING SOON!

Our Winter season is well underway, and we're looking forward to two exciting releases in March!

The Art of Getting Lost and Found is a debut novel from Glenna Turnbull following two women, one hundred and thirty years apart, on their parallel struggles in the same small community. Available for pre-order on our website now, it will hit shelves on March 10th (but you might even see it popping up in some local bookstores even earlier!).

Home in Three Plays by Darren Ivany is a triad of tragicomedies exploring the darkly funny underbelly of St. John's and its unlikely anti-heroes. Just in time for World Theatre Day on March 27th, it will hit shelves on March 24th! Pre-order your copy on our website now!

... And don't forget to check out our website to see what else might be coming up this season!

FEATURED TITLES

Black History Month

February is Black History Month! In Canada, Black History Month is observed to recognize the vast achievements and rich history of Black Canadians and their communities.

Throughout February, Breakwater has highlighted titles from our BIPOC Lit collection pertaining to Black authors, Black writing, and Black history in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Us, Now and Hard Ticket collect tales, yarns, and stories from a variety of diverse writers who call Newfoundland and Labrador home. Land of Many Shores showcases essays on faith, race, gender, sexuality, and disability from often-neglected perspectives. Another non-fiction title, Life Lines tells the story of Lanier Phillips and his encounters in Newfoundland, a story which every Canadian should know. And finally, Black Girl in the Ring is an upcoming poetry collection from Dr. Delores V. Mullings on resistance, feminism, and institutionalized racism; it will be releasing later this year, and is available for pre-order today!

Valentine's Day

If you're looking to bring a little love into your reading list, look no further than our featured Valentine’s Day titles!

For those who love a short story collection, we recommend the classic The Topography of Love and the heartwarming The Love Olympics. And if you like a true(ish) tale, take a chance on Love, Life and Ship Moms!

FROM THE VAULT!

Backlist and Archive

In 2014, Breakwater Books published Life Lines, the story of Lanier Phillips: an African-American serviceman who was rescued from a sinking warship off the coast of Newfoundland in 1942 – a turn of events that transformed his life and ignited a lasting passion for civil rights. 

From the prolific writer Jack Fitzgerald, take a look back to his 1986 collection of short stories all about the weird, wonderful, and unexplained tales and legends from across the island! Amazing Newfoundland Stories is one of the older titles still available from our back catalogue, but this and other Jack Fitzgerald titles are just as popular as ever. 

Check out these titles and more on our website or in-store at 263 Duckworth Street!

PHOTO ALBUM

Contract signing alert! Susan Chalker Browne stopped by to sign her contract for an upcoming 2027 book! Stay tuned for more details...

Check out some of our new in-store displays, designed to help you find the perfect February read!

NLOWE recently released promo videos for their upcoming 2026 conference, and Breakwater Books was spotted at our booth from last year's gathering! Check out the full video here.

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!