"Books", the biweekly newsletter of the Book Publishers Association of Alberta

Starting next week Friday, December 6, we will be releasing a weekly Alberta Bestseller List using data provided by BookNet Canada's SalesData program. The broadened scope of a provincial list will provide a comprehensive view of what Albertans are reading, reflecting the diversity of our province. Lists will be released on the BPAA Facebook and Twitter each week, as well as within select distribution outlets.

Also next week, we’re expanding the Edmonton Bestseller List to include sales data from Glass Bookshop, as well as a dedicated section for the top 10 bestselling poetry books.

The holidays are approaching, and we’d like to invite you to join us and your fellow members in celebrating. We’ve organized two BPAA member holiday gatherings, one in Edmonton on December 3 (ticket deadline: November 29), and one in Calgary on December 10 (ticket deadline: December 6). Please follow the attached links to the Eventbrite pages for further details and to reserve your ticket.

Full BPAA Members are able to apply for the 2019-20 subsidy program. Updated forms and further details are available on our website.

The Indigenous Mentorship Program has re-opened for ongoing applications, with an open deadline. See our website for the full details and application instructions.

Ampersand Inc. is seeking sponsors for National/Regional Book Fairs that will begin in February 2020. There are a wide range of potential sponsorships available and they go a long way in supporting Canadian bookstores. A spreadsheet with the opportunities and sponsorship details/contacts can be found here.

News from the University of Alberta Press:

I am pleased to announce that University of Alberta Press has hired Michelle Lobkowicz as Acquisitions Editor, Humanities and Literature. Currently Sales Manager at University of Toronto Press, Michelle will be responsible for continuing our steady growth in scholarly acquisitions in History, Literary Studies, and Cinema and Media Studies, while maintaining our very successful lists in Literary Nonfiction, Poetry, and Short Fiction. Michelle was born and raised in Edmonton. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Alberta and her Master of Arts in English from the University of Guelph. She will be returning to Edmonton from Guelph, Ontario. We have posted the news to our blog here. Her first day will be January 13. Welcome (home), Michelle!
- Doug Hildebrand

The Canada Council for the Arts has released new and simplified guidelines for their German translation program. More information is available here.

The Shevchenko Foundation is currently holding a short prose competition for emerging writers. The competition awards a $1,500 prize to a Canadian writer for the best piece of unpublished prose of up to 1,500 words in the English language on a topic with a tangible connection to the Ukrainian Canadian experience. $1,000 will also be provided toward publication of the winning entry in a Canadian newspaper, magazine, or recognized digital distributor. Submissions are currently being accepted through December 2, 2019, and more information is available here.

Livres Canada Books is holding a webinar on December 11, 2019, on Global Social Media Strategies for Canadian publishers. The webinar, hosted by marketing expert, Monique Sherret, provides insights into developing and carrying out social media strategies for a global audience.

The Writers’ Guild of Alberta (WGA) is now accepting submissions for the 2020 Alberta Literary Awards. Writers from across Alberta and their publishers are invited to check out and submit to this year’s award categories. The deadline for submissions is December 31, 2019, and full submission guidelines and instructions are available here.

Tech Forum 2020 registration is now open, and the event will take place from March 23-25, 2020, in Toronto, Ontario.

PubWest 501 is currently running an educational series, offering a choice of two courses covering Distribution and the Title Profit & Loss Statement. See here for more information and registration details.

Canadian arts and culture organizations will soon be required to commit in writing to providing a workplace free of harassment and sexual misconduct in order to receive federal funding. Respectful Workplaces in the Arts is the gateway to CHRC’s national anti-harassment initiatives and resources such as “Workplace Harassment and Violence” and the CHRC’s comprehensive HR Management Toolkit.

The Cultural Human Resources Council (CHRC) and The Conference Board of Canada (CBoC) are pleased to announce the launch of a national survey of the Canadian cultural sector labour force - the first of its kind since 2010 and the only current national research on the sector’s employers and workers. Click here for more information and to fill out the survey.

The BPAA, along with 43 other Canadian organizations, have come together to create a call to action for Canada's political parties in response to the findings of the Shifting Paradigms report. The call encourages each political party to "use this report and its recommendations as the underlying structure for your approach to the cultural sector." PDF copies of the full document are available in both English and French.

Access Copyright has released a letter template for rights holders in response to the unauthorized posting of copyrighted works on websites like ebook.bike. The letter was adapted for Canadian authors and publishers by the Writers' Union of Canada (WUC), from a template originally written by the US Author's Guild.

In the most recent video from Access Copyright's I Value Canadian Stories campaign, Sylvia McNicoll outlines the ways that the Copyright Modernization Act has impacted the livelihoods of authors and other creators, calling for action from the ministers in charge of the Statutory Review. Other videos in the series feature Christine Fischer Guy, Diana Stevan, Susan Stromberg-Stein, Sky Gilbert, David Chariandy, David Robertson, Jennifer Mook-Sang, Bill Horne, Scott White, Amy Stuart, and Andrew Pyper.

Upcoming sessions to be announced.

December 3: BPAA Edmonton Holiday Gathering
December 10: BPAA Calgary Holiday Gathering
December 11: Global Social Media Strategies Webinar
February 18-20, 2020: Alberta Regional Book Fair
February 20-22, 2020: PubWest 2020 (Oregon)
March 23-25, 2020: Tech Forum (Toronto)
May 30 - June 5: Congress 2020 - Bridging Divides (London, ON)
June 24-25, 2020 (TBC): Alberta Regional Book Fair
October 14-18, 2020: Frankfurt Book Fair (Germany)

The BPAA, Edmonton Arts Council, and Calgary Arts Development all maintain calendars of upcoming arts and culture events. To submit events please email eacweekly@edmontonarts.ca, or use the submission forms for Calgary Arts Development and the BPAA.

The Canada Council for the Arts has updated the guidelines for its initiative Frankfurt 2020: Incentive for Purchasing Translation Rights and for Publishing in German. The changes now make it possible to apply for translation and promotion costs for all books, and to apply for books that have a scheduled Canadian publication date before the start of the 2020 Frankfurt Book Fair (in addition to books already published in Canada). More information and application instructions can be found here (and through the link above).

As the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Canada will be organizing literary programming in partnership with the Literary Programming Committee (LPC). Canada FBM2020 is now accepting submissions from publishers and literary agents to participate. The official call for submissions and eligibility criteria can be found here (FR).

Major renovations are taking place at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Publishing Perspectives has outlined what to expect for the upcoming years.

With FBM2020 approaching, a professional development day was held in Toronto on March 21^st: Roadmap 2020: Building Your Rights Business. This day-long event aimed to guide publishers through the process of selling foreign rights for their titles. Videos presentations from the event have been made available online.

CanadaFMB2020 invites you to save the date for upcoming events and activities at FBM 2019 this fall:
October 16, 5:00 pm: Livres Canada Books Stand - Networking Reception
October 17, 11:00 am: Preview Press Conference - Canada FBM2020
October 17, 5:00 pm: Québec Édition Stand - Networking Reception
October 20, 3:30 pm: Handover Ceremony

The literary programming sub-committee members for CanadaFBM2020 have been announced. Heather Kanabe, Claudia Larochelle and Hal Wake will be tasked with coordinating Canada's literary programming in Germany and Frankfurt for the 2020 book fair.

In advance of Canada’s presence as the Guest of Honour at the 2020 Frankfurt Book Fair, Canada FBM2020 is looking for input to help FBM2020 and its German counterparts better understand the rich Canadian publishing landscape, its marketplace, influencers, creators, producers and readers.

CanadExport podcasts connect Canadian companies to business leaders and industry experts, as well as the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service. These podcasts explore hot topics as well as pan-sectoral exporting and investment opportunities, and science and technology partnerships.

Canada FBM2020’s Online Rights Catalogue enables Canadian publishers and literary agents to promote titles that have been selected especially for the German market. New titles from Canadian publishers can be listed in the Canada FBM2020 Rights Catalogue for free and with no registration deadline, which means that you can submit new titles at any time and add information of modify details about your selections at your convenience.

Canada FBM2020, the entity responsible for managing the Canadian book publishing industry's involvement in the Canada as Guest of Honour initiative, is tracking German rights deals from October 2016 to 2020 for reporting purposes and to help on further activities surrounding the Guest of Honour project. If you have sold a German rights deal for one of your titles, please complete the following Google form, inform FBM2020 by email, or visit their website.

FICTION

The 2019 Short Story Advent Calendar - Hinston & Olsen +
Under the Maidenhair - Billie Milholland *
The Testaments - Margaret Atwood
Bad Dog - Mike Boldt *
Reproduction - Ian Williams
The Cockroach - Ian McEwan
The Difference - Marina Endicott *
Immigrant City - David Bezmozgis
The Dutch House - Ann Patchett
A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles

NON-FICTION

tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine - Shane M. Chartrand *
and Jennifer Cockrall-King *
Duchess at Home: Sweet & Savoury Recipes from My Home to Yours
- Giselle Courteau *
Finding Meaning & Beauty in an Idiotic World - Wei-Ching Chang *
A Warning - Anonymous
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know - Malcolm Gladwell
Enduring Art, Active Faith: 3 Generations Create!
- Robert, Norma & Annora Proudfoot *
Power Play: Professional Hockey and the Politics of Urban Development - Jay Scherer,* David Mills, * Linda Sloan McCulloch * +
Truth Be Told: My Journey Through Life and the Law - Beverley McLachlin
The Victim Cult: How the Culture of Blame Hurts Everyone and Wrecks Civilizations - Mark Milke *
The Body: A Guide for Occupants - Bill Bryson

* Alberta Author + Alberta Publisher

Thank you to Audreys Books for providing sales data, and to Alberta Politics and the Taproot Edmonton Arts Roundup who distribute the list each week

“I have never felt that any author should feel grateful to us for publishing a book. We don’t publish as a favour. We publish as a business, and we consider it a privilege to publish the work of an author whose writing we believe in.”