Shelf Life Books

EVENTS

*VIRTUAL* Single Onion #176

Thursday June 17, 2021 | 7:00PM - 8:30PM

IMPORTANT: You will need to register for the event.

WHAT: The Single Onion presents a special Water Series event. Poets on water with: Yvonne Blomer, Cynthia Woodman, Anushka Azadi and Joanna Lilley.

WHEN: Thursday, June 17th, 7:00 pm (MST)

WHERE: Register for the Zoom link here: https://us02web.zoom.us/.../tZIkdOmgrjoqGNI00Vysyv2lYggYq...

About the readers:
Yvonne Blomer: Writing, critic, teacher and poet, Yvonne Blomer is the author of the critically acclaimed travel memoir Sugar Ride: Cycling from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur, and three books of poetry, most recently As if a Raven. She works as an editor, teacher and mentor in poetry and memoir. She served as the city of Victoria poet laureate from 2015–2018. In 2017 Yvonne edited the anthology Refugium: Poems for the Pacific and in 2020, Sweet Water: Poems for the Watersheds, both with Caitlin Press. Her book In Ruins is also forthcoming with Caitlin Press in 2022.

Cynthia Woodman Kerkham was born in Toronto and raised in Hong Kong and Vancouver. She has a degree in Asian Studies and English literature and has worked as an au pair (in France), a potter, a journalist, and a teacher. Cynthia’s poems have appeared in many literary journals; in 2009, she won the Federation of BC Writers Literary Writes Competition and, in 2011, the Malahat Review's Open Season Award for poetry. Good Holding Ground, her debut collection of poems, was published in 2011 by Palimpsest Press. When not sailing the west coast, Cynthia lives with her family in Victoria in a constant state of renovation.

Anushka Azadi is a queer Ismaili Muslim, frontline defender, legal advocate, broadcast journalist, writer, performer, community organizer and all around bad bitch.

Joanna Lilley's fifth book and third poetry collection, Endlings, is all about extinction and was published by Turnstone Press in 2020. She's also the author of a novel, Worry Stones (Ronsdale Press), which was longlisted for the Caledonia Novel Award, and a short story collection, The Birthday Books (Hagios Press). Joanna's other poetry collections are If There Were Roads (Turnstone Press), and The Fleece Era (Brick Books) which was nominated for the Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry. Joanna is on the board of the new Yukon Words society which is committed to supporting the territory’s word arts. From the UK, Joanna now lives in Whitehorse, Yukon, where she's grateful to reside on the Traditional Territories of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Ta'an Kwäch'än Council.

The Single Onion takes place the third Thursday of the month, nine times a year. Our event schedule can always be found at:
www.singleonion.com.

For the most up-to-date Single Onion news, check us out on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/singleonion

We gratefully acknowledge the support of The Canada Council for the Arts, The League of Canadian Poets, and the Calgary Arts Development.

*VIRTUAL* Samantha Garner - The Quiet is Loud

Tuesday June 22, 2021 | 7:00PM - 8:30PM

To celebrate Filipino Heritage Month with Shelf Life Books (Calgary) and Glass Bookshop (Edmonton), join Samantha Garner, author of The Quiet is Loud, in discussion with Bryan Ibeas, Fiction Editor at Invisible Publishing and editor of The Quiet is Loud. Garner and Ibeas will discuss how their working relationship, both as Filipino Canadians, impacted how Garner presented the story of her main protagonist, Freya Tanangco. They’ll also open the chat to questions from writers and publishing peers.

This event will take place on Zoom. You can register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEkdOCvqjMpGNBdgyThFosfxKFM3l-acQPp

When Freya Tanangco was ten, she dreamed of her mother's death ten days before it happened. That’s when she realized she was a veker, someone with enhanced mental abilities and who is scorned as a result. Freya's adult life has been spent in hiding: from the troubled literary legacy created by her author father, and from the scrutiny of a society in which vekers often meet with violence.

When her prophetic dreams take a dangerous turn, Freya finds herself increasingly forced to sacrifice her own anonymity—and the fragile safety that comes with it—in order to protect those around her.
Interwoven with themes of Filipino Canadian and mixed-race identity, fantastical elements from Norse and Filipino mythology, and tarot card symbolism, THE QUIET IS LOUD is an intergenerational tale of familial love and betrayal, and what happens when we refuse to let others tell our stories for us.

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Samantha Garner‘s short fiction and poetry have appeared in Broken Pencil, Sundog Lit, Kiss Machine, The Fiddlehead, Storychord, WhiskeyPaper and The Quarantine Review. She lives in Mississauga, and is proud to have built her early writing career in Calgary, where she lived for nine years.

Bryan Ibeas is a Fiction Editor for Invisible Publishing.

*VIRTUAL* Amy LeBlanc - Unlocking, hosted by Aritha van Herk

Wednesday June 23, 2021 | 7:00PM - 8:30PM

Join us for the virtual launch of Amy Leblanc's new novel Unlocking. The evening will be hosted by Aritha Van Herk.

This event will take place on Zoom. Register here: https://zoom.us/.../tJIufumqrzgvGtQH7Lzn1RShfRnM4qaQh8fW

In Snowton, Alberta, secrets flourish like the crocuses in spring. When Louise Till lets herself into a neighbor’s home using a surreptitiously copied key, she discovers more than she ever wanted to know about her small town and herself.

Louise Till, mother of two, has inherited her father’s hardware store after her parents’ unexpected deaths. She begins to cut copies of her customers’ keys for herself, each one a talisman against grief and the terrible guilt she feels at not having realized that her parents were desperately unhappy.

Louise could use the keys, but she doesn’t. Not until her life is overturned, again, when her marriage falls apart. Lou gives in to temptation, letting herself into Euphemia Rosenbaum’s home. What follows is a tale of blackmail, break-ins, an unsolved mystery, and more secrets than Lou ever wanted to know.

Lou must confront not only the lives of her neighbors, but the unspoken truths of her family and the doors within herself for which there are no keys. Told over the course of one long winter, Unlocking is a poignant and penetrating exploration of grief, community, family, and the secrets we keep, even from ourselves.

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Amy LeBlanc is a writer and editor based in Calgary, Alberta. She is a recipient of the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award and author of the poetry collection I know something you don’t know.

Aritha van Herk is a cultural commentator as well as an award-winning Canadian novelist whose work has been acclaimed throughout North America and Europe. Her novels include The Tent Peg; No Fixed Address: An Amorous Journey; Places Far From Ellesmere; Restlessness. In Visible Ink; and A Frozen Tongue collect her essays and ficto-criticism.