Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 13h

Good news! @ryanfitzpublic.bsky.social is hitting the ole dusty trail and bringing No Depression in Heaven to a bookstore near you! Get your local dose of the Grand Ole Opry at @shelflifebooks.bsky.social, @mcnallyrobinson.com, and more!

⁠📖No Depression in Heaven is available now! 📖

The background is a faded version of the cover of No Depression in Heaven focused on the cowboy silhouette with the guitar slung to their back. Inside the silhouette are a series of clouds in dark grey to apocalyptic orange-brown rising up from the belly to just below the shoulders.

The text reads:

Calgary, AB || October 21
Shelf Life Books | Doors at 7:00 p.m. with Conor Kerr, Jason Purcell

Vancouver, BC || October 24
Martha Lou Henley Rehearsal Hall | Doors at 8:00 p.m.
with Rahat Kurd, bill bissett, Scott Jackshaw, Drew McEwan

Winnipeg, MB || November 5, 2025
with Cam Scott

Toronto, ON || November 13
Flying Books | Doors at 6:30 p.m.
with A Jamali Rad, Hajer Mirwali

Hamilton, ON || November 14
The City & The City Books | Doors at 7:00 p.m.
with A Jamali Rad, Steacy Easton, Zane Koss

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 1d

Halifax! Don't miss Hajer Mirwali and Nanci Lee at Venus Envy! These two phenomenal artists aren't to be missed.

For more information and to register, check out this link: venusenvy.ca/collections/...

An orange-red background of a poster. It reads: Halifax Poetry Launch: Revolutions. Making and unmaking shame and pleasure. Friday October 10, 7:00 p.m. at Venus Envy in Halifax. There are photos of artists Hajer Mirwali and Nanci Lee.

Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 3d

We are thrilled to share that Oana Avasilichioaei has won the Bernard Heidsieck Centre Pompidou International Literature Prize in the annual prize category for 2025! This prestigious award honours artists whose work lifts literature off the page and brings it into other spaces. Congratulations Oana!

A seafoam green top and bottom banner frame the image. The top in bold, blocky sans-serif font reads: Bernard Heidsieck centre Pompidou International Literature Prize" the bottom reads "Annual Prize Category WINNER."

In the middle, the background is a page of sheet music. To the left in a vertical column are Avasilichioaei's books "Chambersonic" and "Eight Track". To the right it reads "Oana Avasilichioaei" and beneath her name, there is a phot of her against a black board.

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 5d

So nice to see Stigmata by @scottjackshaw.bsky.social, th book uv lost passwords 1 by bill bissett, and tours, variously by @drewmcew.bsky.social on CBC's list of fall poetry titles to look forward to! Check out their entire list:⁠

www.cbc.ca/books/34-wor...

Light blue CBC Books graphic entitled "34 works of Canadian poetry we're excited about this fall." In the top left, bottom left, and bottom right corner is a clip art graphic of three books surrounded by an orange oak leaf, a yellow maple leaf, and a brown acorn.

In this spread of six books is Stigmata by Scott Jackshaw, We're Somewhere Else Now by Robyn Sarah, NMLCT by Paul Vermeersch, An Orange Syllable by Gillian Sze, Something for the Dark by Randy Lundy, and crohnic by Jason Purcell.

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 6d

The Nelon Star writes about Fred Wah's recent Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence win:

www.nelsonstar.com/local-news/p...

Poet, author Fred Wah receives Lieutenant Governor’s Award

The West Kootenay-raised writer was honoured at the B.C. and Yukon Book Prizes

www.nelsonstar.com

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 7d

Vancouver! Head to Pale Fire Gallery on October 8 to enjoy an evening of #literature with three stellar authors!

@mdnardone.bsky.social

A dark turquoise backdrop. Three names are listed at the top in sans serif, cream-coloured font: Cecily Nicholson, Jeff Derksen, and Michael Nardone. In orange font: 8 October 2025. Under this, in cream font, doors at 6:30 p.m., readings at 7:00 p.m. Below this in orange, Pale Fire, in cream, 870 East Broadway Vancouver.

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Reposted by Talonbooks

canadiancookbook.bsky.social @canadiancookbook.bsky.social · 7d

Win the thought-provoking play script by Jovanni Sy that serves up a delectable blend of history, culture, and culinary intrigue by following us and liking the post at www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=... Ends Sun Oct 5/25. @talonbooks.bsky.social

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Reposted by Talonbooks

All Lit Up @alllitupcanada.bsky.social · 9d

On the eve of Truth and Reconciliation Day in Canada, we recommend five books to read and reflect on from @arsenalpulp.bsky.social, @ecwpress.bsky.social, @gooselane.bsky.social, @talonbooks.bsky.social, and @nightwoodeditions.bsky.social. Browse our full list here: alllitup.ca/book-list/re...

A collage graphic with the text "Reads for Truth and Reconciliation Day, September 30. + 50 more essential reads on All Lit Up.ca." The graphic features the covers of Beaver Hills Forever, Reconciling, Bad Indians Book Club, White Noise, and I Would Like to Say Thank You.

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 10d

Today is #WorldRiversDay! Celebrate with some fluvial #poetry: Conversations with the Kagawong River by @sophieanneedwards.bsky.social and beholden: a poem as long as the river by rita wong & fred wah are wonderful collections with which to mark the occasion.

#booksky💙📚

"Poetry for World Rivers Day". Two book covers, Conversations with the Kagawong River by sophie anne edward and beholden: a poem as long as the river by Rita Wong & Fred Wah are in the foreground. Backgrounded is a river bank wit the river reflecting a blue, cloudy sky.

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 12d

We are thrilled to announce that #poetry collection cop city swagger by Mercedes Eng has been named a finalist for the 2025 City of Vancouver Book Award 💙📚! Congratulations, Mercedes!

Check out this year's winner and all of the finalists here: vancouver.ca/news-calenda...

A polaroid-esque image. The background of the photo is a faded view of Science World in Olympic village. On jaunty diagonal in the foreground is the cover of cop city swagger by Mercedes Eng. The Book cover is cream with an illustration of a black lucky cat with its right paw up, aflame. Its left paw holds a Chinese lantern. There are small peeks of red fire behind the cat's left shoulder and both haunches. In red font, the authors name is beneath in a font that gives the impression of having been rendered by an official stamp. The title, "cop city swagger" is above the cat in red and black. Over the image of the book in a gentle arc it reads "2025 Finalist" and in the white part of the polaroid border it reads "City of Vancouver Book Award."

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 13d

Calgary! Head to @shelflifebooks.bsky.social on October 21 to celebrate the launch of No Depression in Heaven by @ryanfitzpublic.bsky.social, Beaver Hills Forever by Conor Kerr, and crohnic by Jason Purcell. Can't wait to see you there!

A beige background with a centred, large typewriter. In the foreground, across the top, reads "Triple Book Launch, Shelf Life Books, Tuesday, October 21, 2025 7 p.m. MDT" in the top left corner are the logos for Shelf Life Books, Arsenal Pulp Press, and Talonbooks. In the centre in round frames are author photos of ryan fitzpatrick, Conor Kerr, and Jason Purcell. Underneath are the book covers for No Depression in Heaven (navy, western font, the silhouette of a cowboy with a guitar on his back with a dust cloud rising up inside the silhouette), Beaver Hills Forever (black and white cover, white on top, a beaver swimming with a lit match in black water. The orange of the fire and the author's name is the only colour in the cover), and crohnic (the cover isn't, but looks like, a cyanotype of tall navy trees and grass. There's an interplay of light and shadow).

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Reposted by Talonbooks

The Association of Book Publishers of BC @booksbc.bsky.social · 15d

(2/5) 🏆 Vancouver poet Fred Wah is recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence. Fred Wah has a long publishing history with @talonbooks.bsky.social.

🏆 Talonbooks' Leanne Dunic has also won an award - the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize for “wet”

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 15d

We are delighted that Leanne Dunic and Fred Wah both took home awards at the 2025 BC & Yukon Book Awards Gala! ⁠

Wet by Leanne Dunic won the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize and literary icon Fred Wah received the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence!

Congratulations, Leanne and Fred!

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 19d

On October 3, join @mdnardone.bsky.social, author of Convivialities: Dialogues on Poetics and Re’al Christian, a co-editor of As for Protocols for a joint launch in Toronto!

www.veralistcenter.org/events/as-fo...

The book covers of "As for Protocols" and "Convivialities: Dialogues on Poetics" side by side. As for Protocols is light blue with a grey undertone. The title is in large serif font on the bottom. Convivialities is a gradiated turquoise. The title is at the top in orange sans serif font. There is an orange spot of light nearly half way down the page on the right side where the subtitle and author name occur. The interviewed contributors are named along the bottom.

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 20d

The new #poetry collection The Book of Z by @rahat.bsky.social is here! Kurd writes from the imagined voice of Zulaykha, “the wife of Aziz”/“wife of Potiphar" as she reflects on what consolations human desire and divine longing might offer our shared present tense. 💙📚

talonbooks.com/books/the-bo...

The Book of Z by Rahat Kurd (cover description: black background, giant gold sparkly Z spanning the majority of the cover with the title and author name above and below the Z respectively in turquoise serif font) sits between two mossy, thick tree branches as the sun beams down, illuminating it. In the background, moss-covered stones and a river.

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 21d

Catch author, activist, director, and former Chief and Councillor of the Xat’sull (Soda Creek) First Nation Bev Sellars at the British Columbia Institute of Technology! For more details and to register to attend, click here: www.bcit.ca/event/reflec....

Reflecting Together: Stories with Bev Sellars -They Called Me Number One - BCIT

Following the video feature, gather in circle for a guided discussion of Bev Sellars’ memoir They Called Me Number One, where she shares her lived experience as a residential school survivor.

www.bcit.ca

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 22d

It's here! tours, variously by @drewmcew.bsky.social has landed and is ready for its place on your bookshelf. These poems guide the reader through an interrogation of the ways we tour the spaces of language, stepping between the sayable and the unsaid. ⁠

talonbooks.com/books/tours-...

A copy of tours, variously by Drew McEwan is held up against the backdrop of an ivy-covered white exterior wall. The book cover is a painting of a blue corner of a room, the interplay of light and shadow is emphasized. The brush strokes are intentionally visible. The title is all lower case in a serif font in the to left corner, the author's name in a darker version of the same font in the bottom right.

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 26d

Help us celebrate the release of

📚 The Book of Z by @rahat.bsky.social
📚 th book uv lost passwords 1 by bill bissett
📚 No Depression in Heaven by @ryanfitzpublic.bsky.social
📚 Stigmata by @scottjackshaw.bsky.social and
📚 tours, variously by @drewmcew.bsky.social!

See you there! 💙📚

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 26d

You're invited to the Talonbooks Fall 2025 Launch on October 24! Join us at the Martha Lou Henley Rehearsal Hall to celebrate the release of five fantastic poetry collections. Attendance is free!

Get all the details here: talonbooks.com/events/talon...

A lightly gradiated seafoam green at the edges to light turquoise in the centre background. The text reads "Talonbooks Fall 2025 Launch, Oct. 24, Vancouver, BC, Martha Lou Henley Rehearsal Hall, 1955 McLean Drive, Venue is wheelchair and scooter accessible." Followed by the five launching book covers with author headshots in circles above. From left to right, Rahat Kurd and The Book of Z, bill bissett and th book uv lost passwords 1, ryan fitzpatrick and No Depression in Heaven, Scott Jackshaw (attending virtually) and Stigmata, and Drew McEwan and tours, variously.

The text underneath reads "Light refreshments will be served. A live stream will be available on the Talonbooks YouTube channel. Doors open at 7 p.m., readings begin at 7:30 p.m. Hosted by Danielle LaFrance."

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 27d

Polish your spurs, because No Depression in Heaven by @ryanfitzpublic.bsky.social is available now at a bookstore near you! Written during country music’s most recent ascent in popularity, this poetry “LP” features ten “tracks” that each tip language out of key.

talonbooks.com/books/no-dep...

A copy of "No Depression in Heaven" by ryan fitzpatrick is perched on a thick, moss-covered tree branch. IN the background, a higher-up branch, sand, and the blue of a river behind. The cover of the book is navy. The title is in a classic cowboy font. A Silhouette of someone in a cowboy hat with a guitar slung on his back is in the middle, an orange dust cloud is contained in the torso of the silhouette.

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Reposted by Talonbooks

Consortium Book Sales & Distribution @consortiumbooks.bsky.social · Sep 5

We’re celebrating Consortium’s 40th anniversary this year, and to mark the milestone, we're talking with staff about their favorite titles and memorable moments. 📚🎉

Kicking off the series is Julie Schaper, VP and president of Consortium. Read the interview: www.cbsd.com/blog/2025/09...

CC'ing Julie Schaper - Consortium Book Sales & Distribution

Welcome to Consortium Corner, a Q&A series with staff and reps to celebrate Consortium's 40 years of independent book distribution. To kick off the

www.cbsd.com

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · 29d

On Sept 17, head to the Britannia Branch of the Vancouver Public Library to enjoy poetry from @rahat.bsky.social, Evelyn Lau, and @danielaelza.bsky.social! The event begins at 6. Don't miss it!

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Reposted by Talonbooks

Rahat Kurd @rahat.bsky.social · Sep 5

The Book of Z is a persona poem, written in the imagined voice of a contemporary Zulaykha.

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · Sep 5

We are thrilled to announce that a poem from Junie Désil’s allostatic load has been selected for @booksbc.bsky.social’s 2025/2026 Poetry in Transit program! 💙📚 We’re so excited for our daily commute. Congratulations, Junie! Check out the entire lineup here:

www.readlocalbc.ca/resources/po....

A lavender background. In the centre of the graphic, POETRY in TRANSIT. Surrounding this are the book covers of the 10 BC-authored books that have had poems chosen to be a part of the Poetry in Transit program. These books are, from top left clockwise: This Here Paradise, allostatic load, Berberitzen, Devotional Forensics, Future Tense, Trinity Street, Out of the Ordinary, Elegy for Opportunity, Hazard, Home, and Boundary Territory.

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Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social · Sep 3

Beverly Cramp interviews Junie Désil in BC BookWorld! Désil talks about her latest collection allostatic load, coining the term "carewashing", and where she finds joy and relief among a plethora of systemic stressors. Check out their conversation on p. 28.

abcbookworld.com/wp-content/u...

The cover of the poetry collection "allostatic load" by Junie Désil. The top 3/4 of the cover is taken up by a painting. The effect is an abstract, almost spray painted look of a train hurtling past a city. There is the impression of faces, powerlines, windows, and houses. The bottom is the title and the author name in sans-serif font on a navy background.

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