Archive for category: Latest News

There has been a fair bit of coverage for Biblioasis translation series author Mia Couto this week. First, over at the wonderful online magazine Ozy, Tobias Carroll profiles the Mozambican novelist.

Couto is an inventive writer with a habit of rebelliously creating his own syntaxes, blending Portuguese with a “rural African, animist outlook” (as his publisher says) and conjuring up magical realist frameworks — often to explain the political upheaval his country has lived through. And of course Couto himself lived through those times: A journalist during the wartime era, he paused med school to agitate for independence — as a propagandist for the rebels and a journalist editing the party newspaper. It was 1985, in the heat of the 15-year civil war, when Couto’s first book of poems was published. As the revolution advanced, he recalls, it “became something else,” and he lost his belief, he recounts matter-of-factly.

For the complete profile, please go here.

Two reviews of Biblioasis’s latest Couto title, Pensativities: Selected Essays, have also hit this week. Over at Numero Cinq, Benjamin Woodward has, in part, this to say:

Expertly translated from the Portuguese by David Brookshaw, these writings span roughly a decade of Couto’s nonfiction work, and are plucked from three previously published books: Pensatempos: Textos de opinião, E se Obama fosse africano? e outras interinvenções, and Pensagerio frequente. If there is an overarching drive that threads the collection together, it’s Couto’s commitment to recognize history’s numerous flaws, and to use this history to embrace a diverse future, full of “hybridities” of both self and cultural environs.

Over at Words Without Borders, Kristine Rabberman concurs:

Couto’s life and his oeuvre speak to the power of a widened understanding of the world, one that revels in connections between modes of thought and states of being, one that illustrates the power of a life lived across boundaries. He’s a biologist and conservationist who publishes widely across genres, including journalism and lectures, children’s literature and short stories, award-winning novels and scientific reports. Since winning the 2014 Neustadt Prize and being named a finalist for the 2015 Man Booker International Prize, Couto’s international exposure has aided his goal to build bridges between communities through literature. For English-speaking readers new to Couto’s work, 2015 provides new opportunities to explore his vision of a multicultural world, most recently in Biblioasis’ recent publication of Pensativities: Essays and Provocations, translated from the Portuguese by David Brookshaw, Couto’s longtime translator.

Read more: http://wordswithoutborders.org/book-review/mia-coutos-pensativities-essays-and-provocations#ixzz3m6ggAlbs

Biblioasis needs a few good volunteers! Our press office handles nearly every step a manuscript takes on its path to becoming a widely-read book, including acquisition, editing, typesetting, cover design, stock management, publicity, and bookstore sales. Literary titles published by Biblioasis have been reviewed recently in The New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, The Globe & Mail, The Toronto Star, and other major outlets. Volunteering here offers an opportunity to work and learn at one of Canada’s leading independent presses. Students interested in the publishing industry are strongly encouraged to apply.

Responsibilities:

• Assisting with author event coordination, including travel arrangements.
• Bibliodata and stock level monitoring.
• Logging reviews, press, and other media hits.
• Updating and maintaining the press website.
• Assisting with local, national, and international market research.
• Assisting with catalog and advanced review copy mailings.
• Assisting with miscellaneous administrative tasks.

Requirements:

• Excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to work independently on a range of short-, medium- and long-term tasks with minimal supervision.
• Good verbal and written communications skills.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Proficiency with social media.

What We Can Offer:

• Travel and lunch stipend.
• Employee discount on all books in the bookstore.

What We’d Ask of You:

• A commitment of at least four hours each week.

Access to a car is preferred but not required.

To apply for the position, please email your cover letter and resume to gmunroe@biblioasis.com. Deadline: August 21, 2015.

We are pleased to announce that David Constantine’s In Another Country received a starred review in Publishers Weekly
this week. Here’s an excerpt:

“A brilliant selection [of stories] … The diverse characters [in this collection] include ex-monks, shamed canons, prostitutes, squatters, successful businessmen, and university professors, but a common thread of silent suffering and dignity ties them all together. The tragic and the beautiful in each of their experiences is heightened by the author’s impeccable eloquence and poetic imagery.”

Constantine’s collection is also receiving praise from booksellers across North America. Laurie Greer from Politics and Prose says that Constantine’s stories “pulse with the sounds and rhythms of water, rhythms that draw characters and readers alike into uncommon and exceptionally profound emotional depths,” while Stephanie Crowe of Page and Palette writes “This is an absolutely marvelous collection of stories that go to the heart of the human experience. Beautifully written, Constantine’s ability to paint his literary picture is unmatched. This collection is a real winner and not to be missed!”

Be sure to check out Constantine’s North American debut with In Another Country which will be available on June 9th in Canada, and July 14th in the U.S.

We are pleased to announce that Kathy Page’s Paradise & Elsewhere,, Catherine Chandler’s Glad and Sorry Seasons, and Cynthia Flood’s Red Girl Rat Boy have all been reviewed in Canadian Literature!

“The genius of [Page’s] book is the way magic seeps into the stories. It seems so inevitable. Somewhere deep in the ancient part of our brains, there must still be a grasp of the connectedness of all things, of the endless flux of creation and destruction.” —Amanda Leslie-Spinks, Canadian Literature

“Chandler boasts a strong collection of poetry that presents an argument for a return to older poetic forms to further explore the experiences of women and women writers in the present.” —Philip Miletic, Canadian Literature

“Linguistic dexterity is Flood’s primary strength.” —Sam Knowles, Canadian Literature