"Books never really end. They stay with you, good or bad, and can float into your mind quite without warning. Years later, the faint embers of a line drift across your conscience or a place you have visited only in print flickers by. The name of a character whirls around the brain like that of a primary school classmate. Books take root. A book alters you, only in a minor way and sometimes fleetingly, but you're never completely the same when you've finished as you were on page one."
Daniel Gray in Scribbles in the Margins 50 Eternal Delights of Books
Join us on Tuesday, November 19th at 7 PM in the Admiral Ballroom at The Lord Nelson Hotel to celebrate Bookmark II's 30th anniversary. In addition to being in good book company, enjoying some good food and refreshments, the evening's highlights will include -
The inaugural Bookmark Readerity Reading Series Reading.
A panel of some of our region’s most celebrated authors moderated by former host of CBC’s Information Morning, Don Connolly, on the importance of independent bookstores, literacy and the printed word, and favourite books.
A presentation on Bookmark’s #1 best-selling book over 30 years of book selling.
The UK based band, The Bookshop Band performing a surpise new song commissioned by Bookmark.
And more!
This is our way of thanking Halifax for 30 great years. Itis certain to be a fun and inspiring event. This is a free event and everyone is welcome.
The Bookshop Band LIVE in Halifax
Wednesday November 20 | 7:00PM - 9:00PM
One of our signature anniversary events celebrating 30 years of book love with Halifax, we are very pleased to present an evening with the UK based musical duo, The Bookshop Band. Bookmark commissioned the group to compose a song inspired by Margaret Atwood’s, The Testaments, and a video performance of the song was part of the Margaret Atwood event on PEI in early October. We are very pleased to give Halifax booklovers an opportunity to see this group perform live.
The event will take place on Wednesday, November 20th at 7 PM at the Olde Triangle Irish ALehouse, 5136 Prince Street, Halifax. This is a free event and everyone is welcome.
“Not just good but achingly good” The New York Times
“Really fabulous new music... just delightful.” Bob Harris, BBC Radio 2
“A Guardian Books’ favourite... astonishingly prolific” The Guardian
"The Bookshop Band are wonderful. If I had a bookshop I'd stock all of their albums." Margaret Atwood
The Bookshop Band are the musical offspring of an artistic love-affair between a group of award winning folk songwriters and an independent bookshop in the UK, Mr. B’s Emporium of Reading Delights. The songs are the musical outpouring of the band’s own response to books they have read.
The Bookshop Band formed in September 2010, releasing their first album in December that year. They have since released 13 albums each exploring a different theme in their responses to over 100 author’s books. They have toured extensively around the UK and abroad, from bookshops to festival main-stages, and have been commissioned by BBC Radio 3, The V&A Museum, The National Portrait Gallery and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, most recently writing two songs for the launch of Philip Pullman’s The Book Of Dust and working with The V&A Museum on a musical series of previously banned books. The Bookshop Band began working with Pete Townshend in April 2019 to record the band's next studio album, due out later in 2020. He is producing the band and will be a guest musician on it.
The Bookshop Band represent a fascinating and contemporary take on the English folk tradition. Beth Porter and Ben Please bring the books to the stage along with a multitude of instruments, including cello, harmonium, glockenspiel, guitars and ukuleles which, along with their distinct voices, create a cinematic sound that draws the audience right in to a highly intimate performance, at once touching and mesmerizing, heart wrenching and funny.
Bookmark celebrates 30 years in Halifax
After establishing a thriving bookstore in Charlottetown in 1972, the founding owner of Bookmark, Rodney Jones, decided to find a location for a bookstore in Halifax. Knowing the importance of location to retail success, Rodney secured a retail space near the busy and beautiful South Park and Spring Garden intersection, where the grand Lord Nelson Hotel overlooks the stunning Halifax Public Gardens.
In such a central part of the city’s downtown, it’s no surprise that Bookmark II quickly became and continues to be a cultural hub and commercial success. Since December 1989, the Spring Garden landscape has changed tremendously but one constant has remained: the well-stocked shelves and vibrant atmosphere in this physically small, yet outward looking bookstore.
In the ensuing decades, Bookmark’s reputation grew as it broadened its selection, hosted an increasing number of local, national and international author events and expanded customer service including sourcing special orders through smaller North American publishers, walking phone purchases to neighbourhood addresses and supporting the local literary community. As a result of these and other efforts, Bookmark Halifax was awarded the Libris Award for Best Bookseller in Canada in 2010. Another significant highlight occurred when one of Canada’s most eloquent literary champions, the late Stuart McLean, chose the store as one of his three favourite independent bookstores in the country.
Store renovations in September 2016 under current owners Dan and Marlene MacDonald gave the store a fresh, more vibrant look. The renovations, combined with the introduction of a new point of sale and inventory program, positioned Bookmark II for continued success with its team of dedicated, knowledgeable booksellers and their love of the old-fashioned personal recommendation.
The challenges to independent bookstores over this time have been significant, including the rise of online shopping, digitization, the blurring of channels, big box retailers and more. These realities in 21st century bookselling have strengthened our resolve to continue doing what we do best, to cherish the amazing books that we carry and share that passion with those who visit us. In recent years we have seen a hopeful resurgence in independent bookselling enabled by a renewed interest in the esthetics of the physical book, buying local and imaginative and solid business practices.
Thank you Halifax readers for choosing to shop local!
“A place is not really a place without a bookstore.” Gabrielle Zevin, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Author's Stage: Scotty - A Hockey Life Like No Other by Ken Dryden
Monday November 25 | 6:30PM - 8:30PM
Join us as bestselling author and Hall of Fame player Ken Dryden shares the unparalleled life story of the greatest coach in hockey history, Scotty Bowman, as he discusses his latest book 'Scotty - A Hockey Life Like No Other'
Ken will be in conversation with bestselling author and Chronicle Herald columnist John DeMont.
Books will be available for purchase.
Location: Halifax Central Library - Paul O'regan Hall
Author's Stage: Beyond the Trees: A Journey Alone Across Canada’s Arctic by Adam Shoalts
Monday November 18 | 7:00PM - 8:30PM
A thrilling odyssey through an unforgiving landscape, from "Canada's greatest living explorer."
In the spring of 2017, Adam Shoalts, bestselling author and adventurer, set off on an unprecedented solo journey across North America's greatest wilderness.
Heart-stopping, wonder-filled, and attentive to the majesty of the natural world, 'Beyond The Trees' captures the ache for adventure that afflicts us all.
Books will be available for purchase.
Location: Room 301 Halifax Central Library
Award Winners and Nominees 2019
Bestsellers This Month (November 2019)See more
New Hardcover Fiction
New Hardcover Nonfiction
Recent BiographiesSee more
Book Covers That We LoveSee more
New Books in TranslationSee more
New in Mystery and ThrillersSee more
Our Favourite Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic FictionSee more
