5 Books to take Pride in

Cormorant is proud to support Canadian LGBT literature, and even prouder to have published fantastic books by queer authors. Here's a list of some of our favourite LGBT-themed titles:

1) Still Life With June by Darren Greer - Funny, scathing, poignant, pretty much perfect.

2) Bottle Rocket Hearts by Zoe Whittall - Catcher in the Rye for a more inclusive era. A must-read.

3) Other Men's Sons by Michael Rowe - A collection of powerful essays by a wonderful writer, journalist, and HuffPo blogger.

4) Death in Key West by Jeffrey Round - Fun, fascinating, and fulfilling. What more do you want from a murder-mystery? Now with 150% more opera.

5) And Beauty Answers by Elspeth Cameron - A profile of two of Toronto's most influential, colourful, and underappreciated artists from the first half of the 20th century.

The 2008 Toronto Book Awards Shortlist

This morning we attended the 2008 Toronto Book Awards shortlist announcement that took place at the Toronto Reference Library.

The event was hosted by Mayor David Miller, who kicked things off by making an impassioned plea for more arts funding.

The intrepid Mayor David Miller

We're proud to announce that one of the five books shortlisted for the award is a Cormorant Books title: Elspeth Cameron's And Beauty Answers.

Hurrah!

From left to right: Elyse Friedman, Mayor David Miller, Elspeth Cameron, David Chariandy

The finalists will all be reading at Word On The Street on Sunday, September 28, and the winner will be announced on Friday, October 17, at a gala taking place at the Toronto Reference Library.

For more information on the awards and the finalists, visit the 2008 Toronto Book Awards site.

Congratulations, Elspeth! My souvenir and I salute you.

More Photos

The Eden Mills Writers' Festival

The intrepid Elspeth Cameron, reading from And Beauty Answers


Writing Outside the Margins

The humble Cormorant table.


The intrepid Jeffrey Round, reading from The P-Town Murders


The intrepid Zoe Whittall, author of Bottle Rocket Hearts

The 2008 Eden Mills Writers' Festival

On Sunday September 7th, the Cormorant Books crew went out to the village of Eden Mills to take part in the 20th annual Eden Mills Writers' Festival.

First, let's put the spotlight on Eden Mills:

"Eden Mills is an Ontario village nestled in the Eramosa River valley housing around 350 people. It is very close to the university city of Guelph and only a little over an hour’s drive to downtown Toronto with the wind behind your back and the highway traffic calm." - http://www.goingcarbonneutral.ca/EdenMillsStory.shtml

An authentic scarecrow.

Aside from being home to the Writers' Festival, Eden Mills is also important in its ambition to become the very first carbon neutral community in North America.

Heroes.

The village is in the backyard of the University of Guelph, about an hour's drive west from Toronto. What the place lacks in facilities (such as a public phone), it more than makes up for in personality. Behold:

All hail pantaloons.

Above are the Town Crier and the Town Piper. In spite of the rain, the two of them together opened the day in grand fashion.

Ah yes, the rain. Quite a few people managed to turn out for the proceedings even though the sun didn't begin to shine until mid-afternoon. It was great to see that spirits were not dampened. Unlike everything else.

The butter chicken was fabulous.

Cormorant Books was represented wonderfully by Patricia Claxton, translator of Operation Rimbaud, and Elspeth Cameron, author of And Beauty Answers. They read to the troopers who braved the wet and the cold, and by all accounts they didn't disappoint.

The intrepid Patricia Claxton.

We thank everyone - authors, publishers, booksellers, volunteers, and festival-goers alike - for coming out and braving the elements for what turned out to be a great day of books and literature!

Stay tuned for more photos from Eden Mills, as well as shots from Writing Outside the Margins which took place on August 24th.