Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 10h

Today we invite Shani Mootoo to the Book*hug blog to share the decades-long origin story behind her latest novel, Starry Starry Night!

bookhugpress.ca/behind-the-b...

Behind the Book with Shani Mootoo | Book*hug Press

Today, we invite Shani Mootoo to the Book*hug blog to share the decades-long origin story behind her latest novel Starry Starry Night! Read on for insights into Shani's earliest forays into writing, a...

bookhugpress.ca

1

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 1d

Marianne Apostolides will be is taking her new book, Go/No-Go, on the road this fall with tour stops in Victoria, Calgary, Chicago, and a launch in Toronto on November 13 in partnership with Toronto Lit Up. Stay tuned for more details.

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you to Miranda Newman and Robert Steiner for their generous endorsements of Go/No-Go by Marianne Apostolides, which is out now.

1

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 1d

Happy Publication Day to Go/No-Go, the newest book by Marianne Apostolides. Combining scientific investigation with empathy, humour, and artistic curiosity, Go/No-Go is a groundbreaking addition to an urgent dialogue about mental health.
bookhugpress.ca/shop/author/...

1 1

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 1d

Book*hug Press is proud to be part of the Certified Canadian Publisher program, newly launched by @cdnpublishers.bsky.social. 🍁📖
Look for the seal when you buy books and you'll:

📖Support Canadian jobs
🏆Champion Canadian talent
🏘Strengthen communities
💰Boost our economy
🍁Preserve Canadian stories

1 4

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 1d

“This was a beautiful novel. I loved what Mootoo did here: the writing is so true to childhood and excellently executed. Starry Starry Night was a fantastic story.”
Thank you to Alison Manley for this lovely review of Starry Starry Night for The Miramichi Reader.
miramichireader.ca/2025/09/star...

Starry Starry Night by Shani Mootoo

I think one of the hardest things to write is from the viewpoint of a child.

miramichireader.ca

1

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 1d

Book*hug presents The Life of a Showgirl Book Playlist, featuring:

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 1d

The Life of a Showgirl came out last Friday. Our co-publisher (and resident Swiftie), Hazel, has listened to the album about a million times since its release. Naturally she spent the day ignoring her inbox and instead curated a #tloas themed book playlist, pairing each track with a Book*hug title.

1 1

Reposted by @bookhugpress

Hollay Ghadery @hollay.bsky.social · 2d

I was honoured to be asked to blurb Tamara Jong’s memoir, Wordly Girls, which was released by @bookhugpress.bsky.social.

I’m also delighted that Tamara let me host an excerpt of her beautiful memoir on my website.

Visit my website to read the full piece.

www.hollayghadery.ca/blog/2d45l2d...

2 3

Reposted by @bookhugpress

indiebookstores.ca @indiebookstores.ca · 2d

Guess who recently popped into Books and Company Picton? Shani Mootoo, author of Starry Starry Night, a Booksellers’ List selection for the Fall season, stopped by her local bookstore for her book launch last week. 🤩 @bookhugpress.bsky.social

[Pictured: Shani Mootoo, left, and owner David Sweet]

1 6

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 2d

As a poet, Leth consistently employed unostentatious language and exhibits strong filmic qualities, often in the form of notes & stage directions. Poems and films: two sides of his extensive ouevre, intricately interwoven. Trivial Everyday Things is a collection of his poems spanning some 40 years.

1

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 2d

Last week, we were saddened to learn of the passing of Jørgen Leth, one of Denmark’s foremost modern poets and a leading international filmmaker. We're honoured to have published the poetry collection, Trivial Everyday Things, selected and translated by Martin Aitken, in 2011. tinyurl.com/yc33kuu6

1 1

Reposted by @bookhugpress

All Lit Up @alllitupcanada.bsky.social · 2d

Cartoonist Joana Mosi (THE MONGOOSE, @powpowpress.bsky.social) & novelist Miranda Schreiber (IRIS AND THE DEAD, @bookhugpress.bsky.social) interview each other about their books & talk grief and writing in today's #aluwomenaskingwomen.

alllitup.ca/women-asking-women-joana-mosi-miranda-schreiber/

A graphic for All Lit Up’s Women Asking Women series. On the top left, a colour photo shows Joana Mosi standing by a wooden railing overlooking a rocky beach at sunset, wearing a dark jacket and smiling slightly. On the bottom right, a black-and-white photo shows Miranda Schreiber with long hair, seated against a plain wall. Text on the graphic reads: “Women Asking Women (Writers Asking Writers). Joana Mosi & Miranda Schreiber. Women’s History Month on ALU."

2 2

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 2d

Book*hug Press presents the Toronto launch of A Fast Horse Never Brings Good News by Cary Fagan. With special guest Gary Clement.

Wednesday, October 15, 2025
The West End Phoenix, 3 Bartlett Avenue, Toronto, ON
7:00 pm-9:00 pm
Free!

www.eventbrite.com/e/toronto-bo...

Toronto Book Launch for A Fast Horse Never Brings Good News by Cary Fagan

Book*hug Press presents the Toronto launch of A Fast Horse Never Brings Good News by Cary Fagan. With special guest Gary Clement.

www.eventbrite.com

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 5d

In Wordly Girls, @bokchoygurltjong.bsky.social "unpacks her indoctrination and subsequent disillusionment with the religion that formed so much of her identity...with remarkable vulnerability.” Jan Zoratti on Jong's "striking debut memoir-in-essays" for Winnipeg Free Press: tinyurl.com/bdhejkmn

Clutches of religious indoctrination leads to fraught mother-daughter relationship in Tamara Jong’s Worldly Girls

For much of her life, Tamara Jong was a Jehovah’s Witness. Its strictness and structure gave the Montreal-born writer a sense of belonging, meaning and, perhaps most powerfully, stability — things her...

tinyurl.com

2 2

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 5d

We are proud to be part of the Certified Canadian Publisher program, newly launched by the @cdnpublishers.bsky.social 🇨🇦

As you browse specific books or publishers, keep an eye out for the Certified Canadian Publisher seal—publishers bearing the seal can be found in communities across our country.

Association of Canadian Publishers @cdnpublishers.bsky.social · 6d

ACP is excited to launch the Certified Canadian Publisher program! 🍁📚

Look for the seal when you buy books and you'll:

📖Support Canadian jobs
🏆Champion Canadian talent
🏘 Strengthen communities
💰Boost our economy
🍁 Preserve Canadian stories

www.certifiedcanadianpublisher.com

5

Reposted by @bookhugpress

lpgcanada.bsky.social @lpgcanada.bsky.social · 5d

With the help of BookNet Canada's #librarydata, here're the 50 books from indie lit publishers Canadians borrowed most in Sept 2025. Feat. a top 10 from: @cormorantbooks.bsky.social, @coachhousebooks.bsky.social, @arsenalpulp.bsky.social, @ecwpress.bsky.social & @nightwoodeditions.bsky.social.

A poster reading "What indie books did Canadians borrow in September 2025?" Featuring the covers of the top 10 most-borrowed books: The Sleeping Car Porter, The Marrow Thieves, Dandelion, Moon of the Crusted Snow, What I Know About You, Jonny Appleseed, Retirement Income for Life, Indigenous Rights in One Minute, Scarborough, Denison Avenue.

1 3 9

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 6d

Worldly Girls by @bokchoygurltjong.bsky.social touches on deep subjects like grief, suicide, and the loss of faith. Tamara talks with Craig Norris, host of The Morning Edition - K-W on CBC Radio about how writing her memoir has helped her move on.
Listen here: www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

www.cbc.ca

1

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 6d

"I am alone in the bed when I awake. I hear Ma and Polly and Barlow talking but not their words...I call for Ma, but she doesn’t come. I call as loudly as I can. Still, no one answers."

Read an exclusive excerpt from Shani Mootoo's Starry Starry Night in The Miramichi Reader: tinyurl.com/ye8crt5z

Excerpt: Starry Starry Night by Shani Mootoo

Excerpted with permission from Book*hug Press

miramichireader.ca

1 1

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 7d

“My first fight with Ma was over a boy—a baby boy. It was 1969, I was two, and my bratty little brother, Tommy, was on his way. I already didn’t like him much.”

Read an excerpt from the memoir Worldly Girls by @bokchoygurltjong.bsky.social on @49thshelf.bsky.social.
49thshelf.com/Blog/2025/09...

"My first fight with Ma was over a boy..." · Blog Post · 49th Shelf

An excerpt from Worldly Girls (Book Hug Press). 

49thshelf.com

2 1

Reposted by @bookhugpress

49th Shelf @49thshelf.bsky.social · 9d

Poetry: a Self-ish List of Threads and Connections by Fenn Stewart, author of women and roosters @bookhugpress.bsky.social 49thshelf.com/Blog/2025/09... #CanLit #Poetry

Poetry: a Self-ish List of Threads and Connections · Blog Post · 49th Shelf

49thshelf.com

2 9

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 7d

❤️❤️❤️

2

Reposted by @bookhugpress

Goose Lane Editions @gooselane.bsky.social · 7d

The Booksellers’ List is Canada’s newest way to discover must-read books, chosen by the people who know them best—independent booksellers. The independent presses featured on the List this season are excited to team up and present you with ✨your favourite indie’s favourite indies✨

1 4 12

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 9d

"I am fascinated by and cherish the benign workings of the earth making, unmaking and remaking itself..." Check out an interview with Shani Mootoo author of Starry Starry Night, in @themockler.bsky.social's newsletter Send My Love to Anyone:
sendmylovetoanyone.substack.com/p/i-can-see-...

1 3

@bookhugpress @bookhugpress.bsky.social · 9d

The Wax Child by @olgaravn.bsky.social, tr. by Martin Aitken, reimagines the story of seventeenth-century Danish noblewoman Christenze Kruckow, accused of witchcraft with other women in her community. Read an excerpt from the book on @alllitupcanada.bsky.social:
alllitup.ca/excerpted-the-wax-child/

2