Book of Life Podcast About The Apprentice's Masterpiece

We're pleased to announce that Melanie Little's award-winning verse novel The Apprentice's Masterpiece is now available in paperback!

At Book Expo America in 2008, Heidi Estrin of The Book of Life podcast interviewed our associate publisher, Colleen MacMillan, about the book, which had just been released in hardcover. Click below to hear more about what it was like to develop a book for young adults set during the Spanish Inquisition! (This clip is part of a longer podcast of interviews about Jewish books for kids and teens; click here for the original podcast in its entirety.)

Annick Press Recruits Melanie Little for New Series!

Annick Press is extremely pleased to announce that acclaimed writer and fiction editor Melanie Little has signed on as editor-at-large for a ground-breaking teen fiction series entitled Single Voice. Delivered through the authentic voice of a teen narrator, these stories resonate with emotional honesty. The series will be launched in the spring of 2010, when three titles will be released. It has generated rave reviews in France, where it originated with publishing house Actes Sud:

“There’s an urgency to the stories—they read in one go. Like a punch in the stomach. In your head. In your heart.”

—Le Vif / L’Express

“… a shocking series that provides young adults with an original approach to literature that places voice into the heart of reading.”

—Site de topolivres

“Short stories … that feature emotion … rage, and chaos.”

—Voix du Luxembourg

Under Little’s guiding hand, Annick will be originating titles to further build the series. Actes Sud holds the option to publish Annick-originated titles in the French language.

As well, Little will be responsible for acquiring and editing essays for a forthcoming young adult anthology.

Melanie Little is an award-winning author and editor of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry for adults and children. She studied at McGill University, Oxford University, the University of Toronto, and the University of British Columbia, graduating with both a Master of Arts in English and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. Of her debut collection of stories, Confidence, the Globe and Mail wrote, “… she might very well become the Alice Munro of our generation.” Confidence was shortlisted for the Danuta Gleed Award and selected as a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book.

Her 2008 novel-in-verse for young adults, The Apprentice’s Masterpiece, was a Canadian Library Association Honour Book, a gold medalist at the Independent Publisher Book Awards, and a White Raven selection for the International Youth Library in Munich. A paperback edition will be published this fall.

Little recently spent several years in Calgary, Alberta, where she was the Markin-Flanagan Canadian Writer in Residence at the University of Calgary and the founding editor of the nationally acclaimed literary imprint Freehand Books. Under her direction, Freehand was lauded as Publisher of the Year by the Book Publishers’ Association of Alberta and was a finalist for Small Press Publisher of the Year at the Canadian Booksellers’ Association Libris Awards. She was also awarded the BPAA Lois Hole Award for Editorial Excellence for her work on Marina Endicott’s novel Good to a Fault—a finalist for the Giller Prize and winner of the Canada-Caribbean Commonwealth Award.

Little and her husband, writer Peter Norman, recently moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she will be teaching creative writing at Dalhousie University and completing a novel.

Any inquiries should be directed to Colleen MacMillan, Associate Publisher of Annick Press (604-718-1888 / colleenm[at]annickpress[dot]com) or Melanie Little (mjclittle[at]gmail[dot]com).

TD Canadian Children's Book Week 2009!

My first "spring has almost arrived in Toronto!" post was on March 20, and I quickly learned I'd been a bit premature. (I plead ignorance: I only moved to Toronto last September, after all!) But today really felt like spring: the temperature went up to 20C and I was able to go outside in short sleeves. Hooray!

Things have been busy at Annick: books are heading off to the printer, new books are in the works, and we're gearing up for some neat stuff for fall (more about our fall list later!). Meanwhile, our books continue to win awards: Mattland (written by Hazel Hutchins and illustrated by Dusan Petricic) has won the Canadian Library Association's Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award, and Melanie Little's The Apprentice's Masterpiece is the CLA's Young Adult Canadian Honour Book. I also selected the winners for our My Parents Are Sex Maniacs contest, and will be posting their stories, along with a Q&A with author Robyn Harding, next week!

More good news: three of our authors have been invited to this year's TD Canadian Children's Book Week! From November 14-21, Kristin Butcher (Pharaohs and Foot Soldiers), Claire Eamer (Super Crocs and Monster Wings), and Charis Cotter (A World Full of Ghosts) will be giving readings at schools, community centres, and libraries. (More information on tour schedules to follow!) In celebration of Vancouver's 2010 Olympics, this year's Book Week theme is "sports."

Wherever you are, I hope you're enjoying spring so far!

Podcasts on Open Book Toronto

Over the next few months Open Book Toronto will be featuring the Annick podcast series.

Listen to interviews with key authors as they discuss their latest books. And if you want to find out more about our authors and their books, visit our website.

Catch the first story about Melanie Little, author of The Apprentice's Masterpiece, here.

Annick Goes to BEC

Melanie Little, author of The Apprentice's Masterpiece

The number of exhibitors was noticeably down from previous years, and there were fewer independent booksellers than everyone had hoped for, but even so, Book Expo Canada 2008 was a successful show for Annick. Thanks to the presence of a number of teachers and librarians, the booth was busy with people stopping to ask about our upcoming books. The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara and Susan McClelland drew a lot of attention as did The Apprentice's Masterpiece by Melanie Little. Long line-ups awaited all our authors who signed books: Loris Lesynski, Melanie Little, Elizabeth MacLeod, Ruth Ohi, Charis Cotter, and Kathy Stinson.

Loris Lesynski, author of Shoe Shakes

Most of the publishers, association representatives and some booksellers attended a meeting on Monday to discuss the future of BEC. While everyone agreed that something had to be done to increase attendance, there was no consensus as to what that should be. There seems to be a movement afoot to move the show from June to September. As a publisher of children's books, we would be concerned that teachers and librarians who now attend BEC will not come to a fall show.

Elizabeth MacLeod, author of Royal Murder

The idea of opening BEC up to the public is a good one, but not unless a way can be found of allowing them to purchase books. Why else would they want to spend money to get in? For those who want to see and hear big name authors, there is the International Festival of Authors held later in the fall, and for those wanting bargains, there's The Word On The Street. Perhaps the appeal to the public would be being able to purchase the new Fall titles before they actually hit the stores. As for The Word On The Street, those publishers interested in selling could partner with an independent bookseller of their choice. Whatever the case, it looks as if BEC as it stands now is not viable for either its owners, Reed Exhibits, or for the publishers who attend. It'll be interesting to see what happens next.

Love that new book smell!

With the holidays fading into a distant memory, all of us at Annick are hard at work preparing for an exciting new season. Although it may look like winter outside, inside the Annick front office Kathy and Lisa are busy unpacking our beautiful new SPRING books!

The front office is Annick’s Grand Central Station—books arriving and departing, being sent all over the world. Kathy and Lisa are always working hard submitting books for awards, sending out review copies, preparing for fairs, and welcoming visiting authors.

Earlier this week The Apprentice’s Masterpiece by Melanie Little arrived (hot off the press!) at the office and all of us have been oohing and ahhing over how beautiful it looks. One of our favorite things about working at Annick is seeing the end result of everyone’s hard work—a beautiful new book—and holding it in your hands for the first time.