TD Canadian Children's Literature Awards

Last night's Canadian Children's Literature Awards celebration was an impressive affair. Held at The Carlu, the event attracted people from across the children's publishing industry--authors, illustrators, agents, editors, booksellers, publishers, librarians, members of literary organizations and committees.

After some time spent mingling while enjoying delicious hors d'oeuvres and cocktails, it was time for the presentations to begin. MC Garvia Bailey, from Radio One CBC, did a great job setting the tone and moving things along.

And the winners were:

• Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People: Vanishing Girl by Shane Peacock
• Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-Fiction: Adventures on the Ancient Silk Road by Priscilla Galloway with Dawn Hunter
• Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award: Timmerman Was Here by Colleen Sydor, illustrated by Nicolas Debon
• TD Canadian Children's Literature Award: The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade

We were very proud to have three of our authors nominated (Charis Cotter's book Born to Write was also a finalist for the Norma Fleck Award), and absolutely thrilled when Adventures on the Ancient Silk Road won. Priscilla Galloway gave a moving speech about persevering through some major health issues that delayed her book's publication, and how happy she was to finally see it not only published, but also recognized with such a prestigious award. She received a touching standing ovation after her speech.

(Above: Priscilla Galloway and Dawn Hunter accept the Norma Fleck Award for Non-Fiction)

Click here to check out the rest of our photos on Flickr!

Chicago, Chicago, That Wonderful Town!

What could be better than Chicago in the summertime? That’s what thousands of librarians and teachers must have asked themselves before setting out for the 2009 ALA Annual Conference. (Below: Katie sets up our booth.)

The Annick booth was a busy place as people stopped by to see what was new. It was great to hear so many say that they had a number of Annick books in their collections. We also heard many comment on how innovative our titles are, and how they look forward to getting our catalog. Our featured titles for the fall—Adventures on the Ancient Silk Road, The Kids @ the Crossroads series, and Camp Fossil Eyes—attracted a lot of attention. And the fortune cookies we gave away to promote The Chinese Thought of It were a big hit.

Backlist titles got a lot of attention, too—both the Little Black Book for Boys and the Little Black Book for Girlz drew enthusiastic responses and generated lots of discussion around the booth for their frank and honest approach to often controversial subject matter. But it wasn’t all work. We managed to take in an architectural tour of the fabulous Chicago skyline, explore the Magnificent Mile, and had some great meals. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone again in Boston for the Midwinter Meeting.

For more photos, check out our ALA 2009 album on Flickr.

Fall 2009 Titles Arriving!

One of the best things about working at a publishing house is watching manuscripts evolve into finished books. When the advance copies from the printers start to roll in, everyone gets pretty excited! I've got to say: our Fall 2009 books are looking good.

Allow me to introduce you to some of the new books on the block, available in September:

Shadow of the Leopard: Set in Mozambique, this is the sequel to Henning Mankell's award-winning Secrets in the Fire, and it's just as haunting and unforgettable. (Fans of crime fiction may know Mankell as the author of the bestselling Inspector Kurt Wallander series.)

Spiked Scorpions and Walking Whales: From Claire Eamer (@ceamer on Twitter!), author of Super Crocs and Monster Wings, comes a fascinating look at land animals that used to live in the sea. For example, did you know that our seas used to be inhabited by scorpions the size of crocodiles? Eek!

Chicken, Pig, Cow On the Move: The first book in this series, Chicken, Pig, Cow, just came out this spring, and author/illustrator Ruth Ohi is working on more for next season! Which is great, because I can't get enough of gutsy Chicken, easy-going Pig, and timid Cow. And who can forget drooly, snorty Dog? These picture books are destined to be classics.

The Chinese Thought of It: Most people know that the Chinese invented gunpowder. But did you know that playing cards and toilet paper are also Chinese inventions? In this latest addition to the We Thought of It series, Ting-xing Ye explores the fascinating origins of many everyday items. Other books in the series are A Native American Thought of It and The Inuit Thought of It.

Adventures on the Ancient Silk Road: This exciting tale by Priscilla Galloway and Dawn Hunter takes readers back in time on an action-packed trip along the legendary pathway that brought people, culture, and trade from Asia to the West. Follow Chinese Buddhist Xuanzang, Mongolian warrior Genghis Khan, and Italian merchant Marco Polo as their travels take them to places they had never imagined.

That's all for this week: but stay tuned, as I'll be blogging about more of our Fall 2009 list next week!