March 5, 2010. Congratulations to Randall Maggs and Brick Books for winning the 3rd Kobzar Literary Award for Night Work: The Terry Sawchuk Poems. The award was presented at a gala ceremony in Toronto on March 4th.

Night Work is comprised of compact, conversational poems that build into a narrative long poem, following the tragic trajectory of the life and work of Terry Sawchuk, dark driven genius of a goalie who survived twenty tough seasons in an era of inadequate upper-body equipment and no player representation. 

March 4, 2010. Yesterday the 2010 nominees for the 11 Atlantic Books Awards were announced by the Atlantic Books Awards Society.

We offer our congratulations to several of our publishers and authors who have had their books nominated for an award:

Trudy J Morgan-Cole & Breakwater Books Ltd - By the Rivers of Brooklyn - for the APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award

Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaassen & Gaspereau Press - Lean-To - for the Atlantic Poetry Prize

Zachariah Wells & Biblioasis - Track & Trace - for the Atlantic Poetry Prize

George Elliot Clarke & Goose Lane Editions - / & / - for the Dartmouth Book Award (Fiction)

March 2, 2010. Congratulations to both Myrna Kostash and Michael Davie for their nominations for the inaugural Alberta Readers' Choice Award!

The Frog Lake Reader by Myrna Kostash, from Edmonton, gives a masterful account of the 1885 Cree uprising known as the Frog Lake Massacre.

Calgary's Michael Davie penned Fishing for Bacon, his first novel about hapless teen Bacon Sobelowski in this funny coming-of-age romp.

February 22, 2010. Congratulations to David Matas and David Kilgour, authors of Bloody Harvest: The killing of Falun Gong for their organs, published by Seraphim Editions on their nomination for a 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.

Matas, a Winnipeg laywer, and Kilgour, a former federal Alberta MP, have been investigating this issue since 2006. They have reported their findings in a few different reports, and now this book, as well as travelling to countries all over the world to help bring awareness to this situation.

The Falun Gong are a members of a spiritual movement that began in the early 90s in China before being labelled a cult by the government in 1999. Followers of the movement were then jailed, tortured, and executed, their organs being sold for organ transplants.

February 18, 2010. We're so excited to congratulate both Carla Gunn and Michael Tregebov on their nominations for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best First Book Award, Canada and the Caribbean. The shortlists for all the regional awards were announced earlier today.

February 16, 2010. Congratulations to David Nickle and ChiZine Publications on the Black Quill Award for Monstrous Affections. The collection of creepy short stories won the Readers Choice Award for Best Dark Genre Fiction Collection. I'm sure the captivating cover helped the readers make their decisions!

Here's what people are saying about Monstrous Affections:

February 10, 2010. Yesterday, the Afterword, the National Post's book blog announced the finalists for the first Canada Also Reads competition, a shadow competition of the popular CBC Canada Reads showdown that takes place every year. The LPG is very excited that one of our members, Invisible Publishing, has a title competiting -- Zoe Whittall will champion Fear of Fighting by Stacey May Fowles, with pictures by Marlena Zuber.

Essays defending each title will be posted on the Afterword, beginning March 1st. The contest concludes with a public poll so make sure to vote for Fear of Fighting!

For more information on the competition, go here.

February 8, 2010. The Literary Press Group will be at the 34th annual literary convention, Reading for the love of it, this week in Toronto. This two day event brings together local, national, and international speakers in the field of literarcy to lead thought provoking and inspirational discussions for teachers so that they can better and more creatively pass on the love of reading. The LPG will be there spreading the word about the fantastic books and authors we represent on behalf of our member publishers. For more information on the conference visit their website.

January 19, 2010. Renowned Canadian poet P.K. Page passed away at her home in Victoria on January 14th. We offer condolences to her family and celebrate the body of work she has left behind as her legacy to us all.

From the Globe and Mail, by Sandra Martin on January 17th:

A sharp-eyed observer of the world and of her own species, she wrote more than 35 books, including two as recently as last November – a long poem called Cullen and a trilogy of fables for children called The Sky Tree . She won the Governor-General's Award for The Metal and the Flower , back in 1954 and was short-listed for the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2003 for Planet Earth: Poems Selected and New .

January 14, 2010. With the end of a year and the beginning of a new one, there have inevitably been many "Best of" as well as "Most Anticipated" lists from various book news sources. Our publishers have had a banner year and the momentum seems to be continuing!

Some highlights from the past year include:

Amphibian by Carla Gunn (Coach House Books). Quill and Quire named it one of their top five overlooked books of the year and the Globe and Mail named it one of their top five debut novels of the year.