March is Read Local Month

Public libraries across Nova Scotia are providing greater access than ever to Atlantic Canadian eBooks through the Read Local initiative, a project in partnership with Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association that puts hundreds of Atlantic Canadian authored and published eBooks onto Nova Scotia library users’ devices. All you need is your free public library card.

This March, we’re celebrating the rich collection of Atlantic Canadian eBooks all month long. During Read Local Month, one book from the collection will be featured each week, and library users get instant access to the eBook: no wait list!

Access to the collection is specific to  where you have your library card, and accessible formats for readers with print disabilities are available from your local library. If you are a Halifax Public Libraries user, you can visit the Read Local collection at halifax.overdrive.com, and if you use another Nova Scotia Public Library, head to novascotia.overdrive.com (see below for information on how to download library eBooks onto your devices). The featured book will be highlighted at the top of the page all week for both library systems.

Week One (March 4-10)

Doug Knockwood, Mi’kmaw Elder by Doug Knockwood and Friends (Roseway Publishing). Halifax | Nova Scotia

Freeman Douglas Knockwood was a highly respected Elder in Mi’kmaw Territory and one of Canada’s premier addictions recovery counsellors. The story of his life is one of unimaginable colonial trauma, recovery and hope. At age 6, Knockwood was placed in the Shubenacadie Residential School, where he remained for a year and a half. Like hundreds of other Mi’kmaw and Maliseet children, he suffered horrible abuse. By the time he reached his twenties, he was an alcoholic. He contracted tuberculosis in the 1940s, had one lung and several ribs removed. Knockwood gained sobriety in his thirties through Alcoholics Anonymous. He went on to become a much sought after drug and alcohol rehabilitation counsellor in Canada. Many of Doug’s initiatives have been implemented across Canada and used by thousands of people. This book is an in-depth look at Doug Knockwood’s life that also casts a wide and critical glance at the forces that worked to undermine his existence. Find out more about the book and author here.

Week Two (March 11-17)

The Greatest Hits of Wanda Jaynes, by Bridget Canning (Breakwater Books). Halifax | Nova Scotia

Wanda Jaynes is about to lose her job amidst a mountain of bills and suspects her musician boyfriend might be romantically interested in her friend, Trish. But Wanda’s life changes radically on a routine trip to the grocery store when a gunman enters the supermarket and opens fire. When she comes face to face with the shooter, she instinctively hurls a can of coconut milk at his head, knocking him unconscious. In the ensuing media storm, she’s hailed a hero and miracle worker. But in the aftermath of so much attention, she receives strange emails and believes she’s being followed. As her fear and paranoia grow, both her private and professional lives hang in the balance. It takes another act of bravery before she’ll learn who she really is.

Winner of a Bronze IPPY Award for Fiction; finalist for the BMO Winterset Award, the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, the NL Book Award for Fiction; longlisted for the International DUBLIN Literary Award. Rights optioned for film. Find out more about the book and author here.

Week Three (March 18-24)

Louisbourg or Bust, by RC Shaw (Pottersfield Press). Halifax | Nova Scotia

No cellphone. No spandex. Way too many hills. Louisbourg or Bust is a surf pilgrim’s tale fuelled by remote waves, Hungry Man Stew, and blind optimism.

With a Nova Scotia road map in one hand and a fat copy of Don Quixote in the other, RC Shaw hatches a plan. He builds The Rig, a Frankenstein-inspired bicycle-plus-trailer to haul his camp gear and surfboard. Then, for no logical reason, he circles the Fortress of Louisbourg with a black marker and vows to lay siege to it. On a clear June morning, he kisses his family goodbye and creaks off down the road in search of adventure for adventure’s sake. No gadgets, no safety net. Just the restless pulse of the Atlantic Ocean as it rips and tears at the clay headlands of the Eastern Shore.

As the lark gets real, Shaw is forever changed by the gnarly soul of Nova Scotia’s fogbound, fading coastline. Find out more about the book and author here.

Week Four (March 25-31)

Policing Black Lives by Robyn Maynard (Fernwood Publishing). Halifax | Nova Scotia

Delving behind Canada’s veneer of multiculturalism and tolerance, Policing Black Lives traces the violent realities of anti-blackness from the slave ships to prisons, classrooms and beyond. Robyn Maynard provides readers with the first comprehensive account of nearly four hundred years of state-sanctioned surveillance, criminalization and punishment of Black lives in Canada. While highlighting the ubiquity of Black resistance, Policing Black Lives traces the still-living legacy of slavery across multiple institutions, shedding light on the state’s role in perpetuating contemporary Black poverty and unemployment, racial profiling, law enforcement violence, incarceration, immigration detention, deportation, exploitative migrant labour practices, disproportionate child removal and low graduation rates. Find out more about the book and author here.

Read along with us this March and join the conversation: #IReadLocal #AtlanticCanadianeBooks

New to downloading eBooks from the library? Here’s how to get started:

• Find your library card (or get one from your local library)
• To download library ebooks to your e-reader, smart phone, tablet, or device, get set up with the OverDrive or Libby library app. You can also borrow from the library on Kindle and Kobo devices.
• Browse the Read Local collections on the apps or at halifax.overdrive.com or novascotia.overdrive.com.

 

                 

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