Atlantic Books

Atlantic Books

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Shauntay Grant

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The best gifts are made at home. That may be truer this holiday season than ever before. In a year that has kept so many of us close to home, doing our part by staying apart, the most memorable gifts are the ones imagined, planned, and stitched together right here in Atlantic Canada. And believe me, our region’s authors, illustrators, and publishers have had an extremely busy year creating books that your loved ones will treasure long after the lights are put away. 
 
I’m talking about books for the art lover, the history buff, the kitchen wizard and the outdoor enthusiast. The doer, dreamer and eager to learn. And of course, anyone who just loves a great story beautifully told. Help your loved ones dive deep into the lives and work of Peter Powning and Maud Lewis; learn kitchen secrets from top local chef Craig Flinn; bite their nails and nervously turn the page with master of suspense Kevin Major; let Shauntay Grant grow young readers’ minds and take them back to life in Africville. 
 
When you give a local book, you give an escape, an experience, a world. And you give a piece of local culture that lasts a lifetime. 

Check out all of our holiday collections here:

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Diversions

Stompin’ Tom Connors – The myth and the man
Charlie Rhindress
Formac Publishing

This biography offers an in-depth look at the man behind “Stompin’ Tom.” It tells the story of an earnest, intelligent and complicated man who created a character that would be embraced by Canadians from coast to coast.

From Rum to Rhubarb – Modern Recipes for Newfoundland Fruits, Vegetables and Berries
Roger Pickavance
Boulder Books

The region’s fruits and vegetables—as well as the rum, raisins, and marmalade prevalent in cupboards and kitchens—are at the heart of recipes that shine a spotlight on specific ingredients for salads, soups, pastries, ice creams, gnocchi, and much more.

Junior Mints

My Hair is Beautiful
Shauntay Grant
Nimbus Publishing

A celebration of natural hair, from afros to cornrows and everything in between, My Hair is Beautiful is a joyful board book with a powerful message of self-love.

I Lost My Talk
Rita Joe, illustrated by Pauline Young
Nimbus Publishing

One of Rita Joe’s most influential poems, “I Lost My Talk” tells the revered Mi’kmaw Elder’s childhood story of losing her language while a resident of the residential school in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. 

I’m Finding My Talk
Rebecca Thomas, illustrated by Pauline Young
Nimbus Publishing

A response to Rita Joe’s iconic poem “I Lost My Talk,” Thomas, a second- generation residential school survivor, writes this response poem openly and honestly, reflecting on the process of working through the destructive effects of colonialism

Amazing Atlantic Canadian Kids
John Boileau, illustrated by James Bentley
Nimbus Publishing

This fascinating, full-colour, illustrated book features over 50 amazing and diverse young people from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador, sharing their incredible stories and accomplishments, past and present.

Atlantic Narratives

Lifeline – The Stories of Atlantic Ferries and Coastal Boats
Harry Bruce
Breton Books

The history and story of the roots of Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Cape Breton ferries and coastal boats, and the aquatic transportation of the incredible Atlantic waters.

Street Cars of St. John’s
Kenneth G. Pieroway 
Flanker Pres

A trip back in time and a visual journey through Newfoundland’s transportation history, from the days St. John’s boasted of having one of the most advanced street car systems of the times, on par with major North American cities. 

Stimulating Reads

Bygone Day – Folklore, Traditions & Toenails
Reginald “Dutch” Thompson
The Acorn Press

Dutch has been collecting informative, illuminating, poignant and hilarious stories from the minds and hearts of Maritimers born between 1895 and 1925. This is a long-awaited companion to the CBC Mainstreet column of the same name.

Before the Parade
Rebecca Rose
Nimbus Publishing

Journalist and activist Rebecca Rose brings her queer femme, feminist perspective to this compelling, and necessary, history of the gay, lesbian and bisexual community in Halifax, with over 40 black-and-white images and a colour insert.

Operation Vanished
Helen C. Escott
Flanker Press

A riveting, can’t-put-it down missing-person thriller; the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Operation, Wormwood; and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Operation Vanished, are the backdrop to Corporal Gail MacNaughton’s investigation in the Major Crime Unit.

Dirty Birds
Morgan Murray
Breakwater Book

A quest novel for the twenty-first century—a coming-of-age, rom-com, crime-farce thriller—where a hero’s greatest foe is his own crippling mediocrity as he seeks purpose in art, money, power, crime and sleeping in all day. (Available in 2020.)

Shut Away – When Down Syndrome was a Life Sentence
Catherine McKercher
Goose Lane Editions

Three of the McKercher children lived at home. The fourth and youngest brother, Bill, did not. Born with Down syndrome, his story is reconstructed as McKercher explores the clinical and public debates about institutionalization.

Eye Candy

Itee Pootoogook  – Hymns to the Silence
Nancy Campell
Goose Lane Editions

Featuring more than 100 images and essays by curators, art historians and contemporary artists, this book celebrates the creative spirit of an innovative artist that transformed the creative traditions of Inuit art. 

Slow Seconds – The Photography of George Thomas Taylor
Ronald Rees & Joshua Green
Goose Lane Editions

A curated selection of George Taylor’s photographs, together with an account of the beginnings of photography and Taylor’s life and work, offer a fascinating glimpse into nineteenth-century New Brunswick.

Poetry

Local Haunts
David White, Stan Dragland, editor
Pedlar Press

The growth of a poet’s mind through the darkness of remembered trauma into the light of creativity. It ends with “Sunrise On The Coldstream Road,” originally written almost 40 years ago

Soft Power
Stewart Cole
Goose Lane Editions

Lyrical yet shot through with experimental and political veins, Cole’s voice revels in questions of travel while resonating with the unheimlich “Canad-alienation” of his expatriate existence. 

Fixing Broken Things
Gregory M. Cook
Pottersfield Press

Cook offers contemplative glances and lingering views on everyday life, as if observed through a window on the weather, landscape and appearance or disappearance of things that matter. 

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Ten years ago, I had the strange privilege of co-authoring Atlantic Canada’s 100 Greatest Books. My co-author and I, with the enthusiasm of men who do not realize they’ve bitten off far more than easily chewed, surveyed CanLit insiders and fans. There were 716 responses, nominating 2,048 books. From that, we winnowed a top 100 list.

(No Great Mischief was number one, if you don’t have your copy handy).

Debate began as soon as our project rolled off the press. Why aren’t there more Newfoundland books? Why didn’t you include my book? What do you guys have against poetry? Anne of Green Gables is number two? Really? And so on.

I learned more than I ever thought possible about the wealth of Atlantic Canadian literature. After the book was published and the hubbub was behind me, I thought: “I don’t want to ever read another Atlantic Canadian book and I never want to do that again.”

But great Atlantic Canadian books just keep coming. So, 10 years later, I’m again pondering the East Coast’s best books.

There is no particular methodology behind this list. I polled a few librarians, teachers, authors and editors (not 716 of them), but these are my subjective, opinionated picks.

What strikes me is how a great writing culture has, despite relentless economic pressure and competition from around the globe, gotten greater, with a more diverse array of talents. There are more women and writers of colour in the mix than a decade ago. It’s exciting to see writers who weren’t on my radar (sometimes because they were still in high school) now topping the list.

What Boys Like
Amy Jones
Biblioasis

It wasn’t her first book, but with this collection of short stories, many first discovered Halifax’s Amy Jones as an inventive writer, both technically proficient and artful. Her characters are authentically flawed, real and knowable. The 15 worlds she creates feel lived in. One senses lives that were going on before the reader joined, continuing after the reader leaves.

 

Generations Re-Merging
shalan joudry

Gaspereau Press

Canada is enjoying an explosion of Indigenous arts unseen since the first European settlers arrived here. This list could have just as easily been about the 10 best Indigenous books of the last decade. Few books reflect that as well as joudry’s debut collection of poetry. Exploring Mi’kmaw heritage, culture and tradition, she offers deeply personal poems speaking to her own experiences and far broader, universal issues. “Healing to both author and reader, and an offering for many generations to come,” writes reviewer Shannon Webb-Campbell in Room. 

 

Light Lifting 
Alexander MacLeod

Biblioasis.   

Cape Breton’s Alistair MacLeod (quite legitimately) dominated this discussion a decade ago, so the part of me that likes historical symmetry is pleased to place his son on this list. Yet Alexander MacLeod would belong here even if his father’s name were John Smith. Shortlisted for the 2010 Giller Prize, this short-story collection reveals a writer whose talent exceeds his legacy, rising above the expectations his famous father inevitably created. Raw emotions and vivid personalities dominate.

 

Come, Thou Tortoise
Jessica Grant
Vintage Canada  

Debut books seem to keep coming up on this list. (Which is about the most hopeful thing I can imagine for Atlantic Canadian literature). With brisk, breathlessly paced writing, Jessica Grant crafts a quirky world where even the most briefly passing-through characters have something pithy and wise to contribute. In creative-writing programs all over the country, young talents are furrowing their brows, trying to figure out how to write with such creative economy.

 

Indian School Road 
Chris Benjamin
Nimbus Publishing

Canadians like to imagine themselves as compassionate and gentle, without the racial strife that periodically roils over our American neighbour. So Canada’s post-colonization history is tough to reconcile. Most feign ignorance (“Their lives are so much better now.”) put it in the past tense (“That’s ancient history.”) With this searing look at the legacy of the residential-school system and its still-resonating consequences, Chris Benjamin makes either escape impossible. Read this book and it’s impossible to deny what our ancestors did, or our obligation to make it right.

 

The Golden Boy
Grant Matheson
Acorn Press

Write personally and honestly and you can’t go far wrong, say writing coaches around the world. And with this ruthlessly honest recollection of his life as a drug-addicted doctor, PEI’s Grant Matheson shows the simple wisdom of that advice. He describes how he became hooked, his fall from grace when his addiction led to professional malpractice, his struggles to get clean. It could be the lurid stuff of any number of autobiographies, yet his simple honesty gives readers the chance to understand and see the realities of drug addiction, and how its horrors aren’t confined to certain neighbourhoods or economic classes. 

 

Hot, Wet and Shaking
Kaleigh Trace 
Invisible Publishing

Kaleigh Trace describes herself as a “disabled, queer, feminist sex educator,” which would seem to put her in a category all her own as a writer. Only she doesn’t accept that notion. Instead, she writes a powerful and personal story about her own sexuality, what she’s discovered about herself and other people. National Post reviewer Stacey May Fowles sums up: “It is accessible to anyone who has struggled and faced confusion on the path to pleasure… so basically, everyone.”

 

Folk 
Jacob McArthur Mooney 
McClelland & Stewart

As our civilization is ever more atomized from a collective to a gathering of self-interested individuals, it’s fascinating to see a poet of Jacob McArthur Mooney’s talent explore, with wry humour and tender insights, our evolving idea of community. Most captivating is “Folk 1,” about the crash of Swissair 111, bringing international tragedy to a rural Nova Scotian fishing village. Two decades later, its effects linger in intangible ways, better understood after reading this book. 

 

Africville
Shauntay Grant
Anansi/Groundwood

A decade ago when pondering Atlantic Canada’s greatest books, we gave books for kids little consideration. It wasn’t deliberate; there were few on our radar, perhaps because we hadn’t seen books like Africville. With warmth and tenderness that makes the heart ache, Grant writes a lyrical homage to a lost community. Aimed at younger readers but captivating to all, she makes readers yearn to visit the now razed community. Evoking nostalgia for what we destroyed, she makes it clear why the razing of Africvilles remains an open wound.

 

outskirts
Sue Goyette
Brick Books

While young and emerging writers dominate much of this list, one can’t overlook the ongoing work of long-established talents like Sue Goyette. For more than three decades, she’s been writing poetry and meditations tightly linked to the East Coast, and specifically Nova Scotia. There’s her deep connection to the natural world, and more than that: “Firmly rooted in Nova Scotia’s natural environment and culture, the poems in Outskirts feel quite at home in my urban prairie setting. As I feel in Gus’s Pub,” says a review in Prairie Fire. You’ll find those qualities in any Goyette collection, but if you’re only reading one, this is it. An accomplished artist at the top of her game, helping us discover ourselves and our place.

 

Trevor J Adams is editor of Halifax Magazine and senior editor with Metro Guide Publishing. He wrote Long Shots: The Curious Story of the Four Maritime Teams that Played for the Stanley Cup and coauthored Atlantic Canada’s 100 Greatest Books and Today’s Joe Howe.

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Africville
Shauntay Grant, illustrates by Eva Campbell
Groundwood Books
(Ages 4 to 7)

“Take me to the end of the ocean…”

So begins this paean to the once-thriving Nova Scotian community of Africville. Located along Halifax’s Bedford Basin, it was home to a close-knit Black community that, throughout its more than 150 year history, was consistently under-served, mistreated and ultimately razed.

This book recalls the spirit of Africville and its people: the colourful houses nestled along the water’s edge and the sun coming up over the water; children picking berries, playing football and rafting at Tibby’s Pond; catching codfish and gathering round a bonfire at the end of the day at Kildare’s Field.

As the protagonist attends a modern-day festival that honours Africville, she envisions it as its former residents remember it, and she savours her own personal connection to this place when she finds her great-grandmother’s name inscribed on a memorial sundial.

In her latest picture book, Haligonian Shauntay Grant once again captures a place and its people. A

fricville will touch the hearts of adults as surely as it will its intended audience. Grant’s perfectly-paced free verse poetry has a gentle, hypnotic quality that flows through the narrative and invites the reader to savour each word and the myriad images the words evoke. Eva Campbell’s illustrations are bold, bright and filled with energy and motion. In some cases, the faces are expressive and filled with emotion. On other pages they are blurred and indistinct, letting the bodies tell the story. Each page is richly textured and visually depicts the warmth, the intimacy of this community as well as the natural beauty of the landscape.

Together, the text and illustrations create a vivid portrait of what Africville once was. Young readers may be inspired to not only read the information included at the back of the book but to also check out the suggestions for further information.

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When Amayah’s mother suggests that she dress up as a ghost for the Halloween costume contest again this year, she knows she must think of something else if she wants to win a prize. Not a witch or a fairy or a princess but something unique, something “no one else in the world has ever been in the whole entire history of Halloween!”

But when she emerges dressed as a walking bathroom, her creativity is soon met with laughter and ridicule from her classmates. Just as Amayah begins to feel disheartened, her teacher offers a few words of encouragement. And then the judges announce the winners of the costume contest.

Celebrated poet Shauntay Grant has crafted a warm-hearted Halloween tale that focuses on one girl’s ingenuity and the courage it sometimes takes to dare to do something different. While Amayah’s originality is ultimately rewarded, she must persevere through the initial mockery of her peers, a purposeful reminder to young readers that it’s good to be different but it’s not always easy. The story is also a touching tale of sibling love and loyalty as Amayah generously shares her prize-winning costume idea with her little sister and the two of them head off to enjoy a night of trick-or-treating together.

The playful, cartoony illustrations perfectly complement the tone of the story. Brightly-coloured with bold outlines, interesting textures and facial expressions, they whimsically capture the energy and angst that Amayah generates. A delightful new offering for Halloween reading that is not at all scary, this book may serve as inspiration for young readers who have wrestled themselves with the question of what to be for Halloween.

The Walking Bathroom
Shauntay Grant, Illustrated by Erin Bennett Banks
Nimbus Publishing

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Shauntay Grant will launch her new children’s book The Walking Bathroom at the Fog Lit Festival in Saint John.

Hitting the books come September isn’t just about going back to school, there’s also a lot of literary action on the festival front as well.

Billing itself as the TIFF of CanLit, because it often serves as a jumping off point for many fall releases that go on to be nominated for literary awards, the Fog Lit Festival in Saint John, New Brunswick will be held from September 27 to October 1. Since its beginning in 2013, Fog Lit has brought more than 80 authors to the Saint John area to participate in readings, poetry slams, progressive dinner, story-time activities, school visits, teen coffee house, lunch & learn, panel discussions and a brunch featuring an open mic for emerging writers. The festival also provides author-run workshops for attendees that enable them to better their storytelling skills and expand their writing portfolio. This year’s festival includes a diverse lineup ranging from former Halifax Poet Laureate and children’s author Shauntay Grant to food travel memoirist Jan Wong.

Nino Ricci

The Lunenburg Literary Festival, running September 29 and 30, is only in its second year. But it’s already making big waves. Administered by the South Shore Public Libraries it blends up-and-coming local writers with bigger names from away. The festival includes a guided literary tour of Lunenburg, a free children’s story mob and readings Friday evening and Saturday afternoon and evening. This year’s writers include two time Leacock Medal winner Terry Fallis and two-time Governor General’s Award winner Nino Ricci.

Atlantic author Stephen Kimber leads the non-fiction panel. “You get to meet and chat with people who like to read! What could be better for any author? I immediately said ‘yes’ when they asked me to do a reading,” he says.

Tickets for individual sessions or for the entire festival are available from the participating libraries and online.

Katherena Vermette

The Cabot Trail Writers’ Festival, which bills itself as “distinctly unstuffy,” takes place at the foot of St Anne’s Bay on Cape Breton Island and runs from September 29 to October 1 at the Gaelic College. One of the things that makes this festival, now in its ninth year, special is the fact that all the writers give a short reading on the opening night and then, if possible, stick around for the entire weekend, giving attendees plenty of opportunities to chat, eat and have a drink with them. This year the lineup includes Wayne Johnston, Katherena Vermette and Sheree Fitch.

To cap off the event Douglas Gibson will be presenting his new stage performance, 150 Years of Great Canadian Storytellers. The show moves from decade to decade and features music and art of each ten-year period as well as one novelist or short-story writer in English and French.

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laptop with bookshelves

The end of the year is good for at least three things: 1) Reading new books, 2) celebrating the holidays (by reading) and 3) looking back at the year that was. I’d say looking back fondly but if you’ve seen the internet you know it was a year many can’t wait to see in the rearview.

At Atlantic Books Today it was a year of significant change as we reinvented ourselves and our major publications, while maintaining our usual volume of online output. This list of the ‘most popular’ posts (as evidenced by readers’ clicks) showcases the wide variety of content found here at AtlanticBooksToday.ca. So while you may have come across some of these articles, recipes, interviews and more, now is the time to catch up on any you’ve missed below before we charge into 2017.

Thank You, North Preston

Katie Ingram looks at the creation of Shauntay Grant’s first children’s book, Up Home, and the collaborative process with illustrator Susan Tooke.

Being An Artist

Lee Thompson’s Q&A with “overnight success” Kerry Lee Powell on her debut short story collection, Willem de Kooning’s Paintbrush.

Women in Publishing

Todd MacLean’s profile of Nimbus Publishing’s Heather Bryan and the influence of women in publishing.

Moncton Writer’s Trip and Just Jen

Chris Benjamin’s Q&As with Jason Murray, about his forthcoming book on indie rockers Eric’s Trip and Jen Powley, about her forthcoming memoir, were part of a series on King’s MFA grads with publishing deals.

An Ode to Indies

Jon Tattrie’s love letter to three of the many small, independent publishers behind the hundreds of books our region produces annually.

A Growing Concern

Todd MacLean’s Q&A with PEI author Jackie MacKay on her book Butterflies in My Belly and the rising prevalence of childhood anxiety.

National Aboriginal Day

A special list for National Aboriginal Day, June 21, listing some of the many great books by Indigenous writers in Atlantic Canada.

Antigonish Goes International

Journalist Heather Brimicombe looks at the Coady Institute in Nova Scotia, which was cited by author Augusta Dwyer in her book, The Anatomy of Giving, as a rare example of hands-on, bottom-up world aid work.

Broken Books

Denise Flint tells the story behind the St. John’s indie bookstore.

 

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DadsReadHappy Father’s Day! To celebrate Dads in our usual literary way, we asked a few local writer-dads what their favourite Atlantic Canadian books are. We got a great range of answers, some books to read to the kids and some that go great with that post-bedtime nightcap:

Steve Law, father of two girls, author of Tailings of Warren Peace and the forthcoming Colour of a Tattoo (2017), suggests two personal favourites:

Tinker and BlueTinker & Blue by Frank MacDonald. Steve says: “Not only do we finally get to meet the ‘other feller,’ but Tinker & Blue share their storytelling zeal as they travel in their Plymouth to Haight-Ashbury, form a band, find love, fight ‘the man’ and the big corp ‘Fucdepor’ while evading the FBI. What’s not to love in a 60’s road trip to San Fransisco with a couple of boys from Cape Breton Island?”

Up HOmeUp Home by Shauntay Grant with artwork by Susan Tooke. Steve says: “Because all fathers should read books to their kids. Beautifully illustrated, a memory of home that allows us to reminisce and our kids to dream. An Atlantic Canadian gem.”

Jamie Fitzpatrick, host and producer at CBC Radio in St. John’s and author of You Could Believe in Nothing, vividly recalls one of his favourite Atlantic Canadian novels and the impact it had on him:

“The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald isn’t MacDonald’s best known work, but it still Anne-Marie MacDonald The Way the Crow Fliesknocks around in my head many years after I put it down. I remember the first glimpse through the car window, the military houses, the empty spaces in town that the kids know intimately. New Year’s Eve and slumber parties. The sense that something’s wrong long before we find out that something is very, very wrong. The sex and the slumber party and the pineapple upside down cake. I have a post-it on my computer that says ‘pineapple upside down cake’ as a reminder of how a single, small detail can engage your imagination with a story.”Sara Tilley Duke

Jamie also loves Duke by Sara Tilley: “Probably my favourite novel of the last year or so. A man from Newfoundland heads west to seek his fortune, with the long shadow of his family hanging over every move. Sounds like a hundred other east coast tales you’ve heard? Well it is, and it very much isn’t.”

Justin Gregg, science writer, author of Are Dolphins Really Smart? and 22 Fantastical Facts About Dolphins and father to “a young bookworm who sleeps under a pile of Star Wars encyclopedias,” also provides two offerings. As a father who delights in mildly embarrassing his daughter at every opportunity, he focuses on the anti-hero:

Empire of DeceptionEmpire of Deception by Dean Jobb. Justin says: “Leo Koretz built his fortune by running an intricate Ponzi scheme in the 1920s, fleecing millions from Chicago’s rich and powerful. He even preyed upon his closest family members – convincing his own mother to invest in his non-existent Panamanian oil fields. Koretz is the forgotten forefather of investment fraud, and Jobb’s masterful account of his life (and sugary demise) makes for a compelling read.”

Aftershock by Janet Maybee. Just says: “Maybee revisits the life of Francis Mackey – the harbour pilot Aftershockwho guided the ill-fated Mont Blanc during the Halifax Explosion. Mackey has long been regarded as the man responsible for the worst maritime disaster in Nova Scotian history. But we learn that not only was Mackey wrongly blamed by the media (and history), but his diligence and skill as a pilot might well have saved lives that day.  Mackey went on to have a successful career, and raise a loving family that adored him.”

Michael De Adder, a proud father and also one of our region’s preeminent political cartoonists, author of several books of cartoons, most recently You Might be from Newfoundland and Labrador If..., suggests the very first Atlantic Canadian book he ever read, and the most recent:

 Each Man’s Son by Hugh MacLennan. Michael says: “I read it Hugh MacLennan Each Man's Sonwhen I was so young and it stuck with me. It was the first local book I ever read.” And it happens to have a nice Father’s Day-ish (with a twist) theme to it. MacLennan’s fourth novel features Dr. Daniel Ainslie, who yearns for a son but can’t have one and comes to love the son of a man who deserted his family to become a professional fighter.

alan doyle where i belongDe Adder also recommends his most recent local read, Where I Belong by Alan Doyle. “I just really enjoyed this one,” he says. “I read it just after I wrote You might Be From Newfoundland and Labrador If….” Seems like perfect timing. Our reviewer, Tara Thorne, called this book “the story of [Doyle’s] youth; of cod tongue-cutting and hockey; of mostly innocent little-boy neighbourhood antics; of school and religion; of family and music.”

And finally, David Fleming, a Halifax father, poet and short story writer, says that his favourite Atlantic writers appeal to him in fact because they deal with parenting complexities in their writing.

Light Lifting by Alexander MacLeod. David says, “Of all the great stories in this collection, ‘Wonder Alexander MacLeod Light LiftingAbout Parents’ is my favourite. It deftly follows a couple through the trials of lice infestation, a severely ill baby and long holiday road trips with an unforgettable style that should amuse, exhaust and awaken any dad of little kids.”

Sue Goyette’s The Brief Reincarnation of a Girl. David calls this work “a heartbreaking Sue Goyette The Brief Reincarnation of a Girlpoetic drama about a child who died in Massachusetts of over-medication. Goyette places the reanimated girl in a courtroom with her stuffed bear, as a cast of deeply broken people — her mother, father, doctor and lawyers — struggle to assign blame for the girl’s death. The toy bear ultimately rescues her to a place of peace and meaning. Few books of poetry have shaken me like this one.”

 

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Up Home 005Shauntay Grant and Susan Tooke recreate North Preston’s childhood magic

Shauntay Grant’s 2008 picture book, Up Home, is the Halifax-based writer’s thank you note to the community that helped her become who she is today.

Grant spent part of her childhood living in North Preston, a predominately African Nova Scotian community located in the Halifax Regional Municipality. She and her parents moved into Halifax when she was young, but Grant retains strong ties to the community through family and friends. It’s these connections she drew on upon in Up Home.

“Writing always starts from something you know or something you want to know,” says Grant. “I go to my memory and when I think of the times that brought me joy as a child, North Preston is there.”

Grant, who is also a spoken word artist and creative writing professor, says that without North Preston, she wouldn’t be the person she is today.

“The intention was just to write something to say thank you to the place that inspired me as a child to tell stories,” she says,” she says. “But for me, it ended up being a way to celebrate a community that had a huge part in shaping who I am as a person; my first recollection of music and art are from home.”

Initially, Grant wasn’t going to publish Up Home. She had written it as a teenager and was reciting the then poem at a Writers Federation of Nova Scotia event where it was heard by Sandra Macintyre. At the time, Macintyre was the managing editor for Nimbus Publishing.

“It really was Sandra hearing it and approaching me afterwards that led to the publication,” says Grant. “Things just sort of snowballed from there.”

As part of this snowball effect, Grant worked with artist Susan Tooke to help bring the stories and characters of Up Home to life. As part of their collaboration, Grant and Tooke visited North Preston to get a better sense of the people and places Grant referred to.

“I go about it in the same way you might do a movie; each illustration is a scene,” says Tooke. “You want to make sure you’ve got everything placed accurately, the right viewpoint, and you want to be able to get the proper landscape.”

Tooke isn’t from North Preston, so used this experience to better understand Grant’s connection to the community.

“It was important for me to get to know the community and the community to get to know me because it was Shauntay’s story, so I also wanted to see how she related to it,” says Tooke. “They were all very welcoming.”

Grant also found taking Tooke to North Preston was important for their partnership to be successful.

“I don’t think our relationship happens often, where the writer works with the illustrator,” she says. “The opportunity to take Susan to the community, showing her around and meeting my family was instrumental in making the book happen the way it did.”

Each time, Grant and Tooke would spend a few hours meeting and interacting with community members before they set to work. However, due to the time of year, they ran into seasonal issues when creating a few of the scenes, like one that involved blueberry picking.

“It was black fly season and it was very foggy, so it wasn’t exactly ideal,” says Tooke. “When you see the image in the book, you think it’s a beautiful, sunny, warm day but it was something quite different.”

Up Home 002Tooke sometimes had to incorporate different faces into a drawing, such as those featured in the picture of the church choir. She found it challenging because she wanted each person to be equally represented.

“I wanted to make sure that I included every choir member and that everyone had their own identity so they could recognize themselves,” she says. “That was quite a challenge, but I was happy to do it.”

After all, Up Home is not only about celebrating the people that inspire Grant, but a place she is proud to call home.

“I love being able to look back at the book and see the faces of my community documented,” says Grant. “It’s beautiful to see.”

Up Home was Grant’s first book and was published in 2008. It was also the 2009 winner of the Best Atlantic Published Book Award.