First, as you may have noticed already by browsing around our front page and The Buzz section, we’ve decided to kick our podcasts back into gear. The first two discussions with our fall frontlist authors, Ken Cameron and Rosella Leslie, can already be found on the site, with more to come from Myrna Dey, Tanna Patterson-Z and Roy Innes. In the near future we’ll also be breathing new life into our iTunes feed, so stay tuned for that!

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Launches, Readings, and Other Fantastic NeWest Events

Ken Cameron’s book Harvest and Other Plays has been out for several weeks now, but the promotional gravy train is just getting started.

As previously noted, Harvest is a collection of three of Ken’s plays: My One and Only, which details a young man’s tryst with Marilyn Monroe as she comes to the Rockies to work on the 1955 film River of No Return; My Morocco, a monologue performed by Ken and detailing the emotional upheaval he experienced when his estranged sister died while he was on vacation in Morocco; and the titular piece, Harvest, a comedy based on a real-life incident involving Ken’s parents and the marijuana grow-op that sprouted (see what I did there?) on their property when they decided to rent out their farm to a seemingly upstanding pilot.

Starting at 7:30 pm on September 23rd, Ken will hold the first of three launch events for Harvest at Pages on Kensington, in Calgary. Following at 7 pm on the 29th will be the Edmonton launch at Greenwoods Bookshoppe, and a launch at the Persephone Theatre in Saskatoon on October 20th, as Harvest begins its run at the theatre!

What, you may ask, is so special about these launches? Well aside from a plethora of delicious wines and cheeses, actors April Banigan, Coralie Cairns, Glenn Nelson, Barbara Gates Wilson, and Peter Strand Rumpel will be reprising their roles in My One and Only and Harvest. So not only do you get a book launch, but dinner and fine entertainment as well. I believe we can mark this down as “NeWest FTW.”

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To dive back into the spring 2010 frontlist for a moment, R.W. Gray will be taking Crisp on the road beginning this week.

On Friday, September 24, R.W. will be reading from Crisp at Ottawa’s Collected Works at 7:30 pm. Then on Saturday, October 30 from 12-1:30 pm, he will be appearing at the Bayers Lake Chapters in Halifax. Stop in, get your copy of Crisp signed by the author, and make a day of it!

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Lastly, fall frontlist authors Tanna Patterson-Z and Myrna Dey, joined by fellow NeWest author Gayleen Froese (whose next title with us, Grayling Cross, is set to be released in spring 2011) will be on hand at the end of this month for the 2010 edition of Fictionistas—where great literature is always in fashion.

Myrna will be appearing at the Regina Fictionistas event on September 28th at The Crave alongside Yasmin Ladha, Kathleen Wall, and Brenda Niskala.

On September 29th, Tanna will be representing NeWest at the Calgary event at The Auburn Saloon, with Yasmin Ladha, Patti Grayson, and Rachel Wyatt also in attendance.

Gayleen will be bringing it home for the Edmonton event on September 30th at The ARTery, sharing the stage with Yasmin Ladha (who will be doing quite a bit of travelling for these three events), Patti Grayson, and Byrna Barclay.

All events begin at 7 pm. Admission is free. In addition, interested parties can contact the other publishers involved—Freehand Books, Turnstone Press, and Coteau Books—for information on their authors or to set up any interviews or press in advance of the events.

The Crave
1925 Victoria Ave
Regina, SK
S4P 0R3
(306) 525. 8777

The Auburn Saloon
115 9 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
T2G 0P5
(403) 266. 6628

The ARTery
9535 Jasper Ave
Edmonton, AB
T5H 3V2
(780) 441. 6966