May 14, 2008

Double Lives nets excellent reviews

"Doubles Lives is a provocative collection … The majority [of the essays] are so well written that they undermine at least part of the book's premise … However difficult it may have been, especially for the young mothers, to find the personal space, the musing time or simply a brain to write with, they did it and did it well.
There are as many types of domestic situations depicted here as there are writing styles … Reading these very personal and moving essays, I realize that it is the lucky ones who have merely double lives."
--Dede Crane, The Globe and Mail.

"Writer-mothers whose children are grown and who read this book will recall those long-ago days when we struggled to meet our own need for self-expression as well as the needs of our children. But this collection should especially be read by new mothers -- and fathers -- hoping to continue or begin writing professionally."
--Monique Polak, Montreal Gazette.

"Double Lives is full of tales of mothers trying to eke out a writing career while raising, sometimes alone and on welfare, small children.
Some of the stories are gruelling, the way birth stories tend to be -- difficult to read, but equally difficult to put down. There are tales of snatches of poetry written in the middle of the night between a baby's bouts of squalling, of writers who were young and single mothers but still managed to find time and space to write during the in-between hours, and plenty of stories of mothers wracked by guilt that they are not doing either job well."
-- Elizabeth Payne, The Ottawa Citizen.

"Double Lives … sets up on camp directly on the teeming anthill that is writing with children … [The anthology] reaches further [than other similar anthologies] in attempting to create a community for writers through writing, which is the best way to reach bookish girls anyways."
--Ariel Gordon, Winnipeg Free Press.

Vancouver launch a riproaring success!

The Vancouver launch of Double Lives took place on a wet and chilly Saturday evening, the night before Mother’s Day, at funky, welcoming Little Nest café just off Vancouver’s Commercial Drive, and the event was a riproaring success!
Upwards of 50 people, including parents, grandparents and kids, packed into the high-ceilinged space and listened with rapt attention to local contributors Jane Silcott, Cori Howard, Luanne Armstrong, Deirdre Maultsaid, Fiona Tinwei Lam, Catherine Kirkness and Rachel Rose reading from their essays before tucking into delicious dips and sumptuous cake and lining up to get their anthologies signed. Local bookseller Blackberry Books sold over 40 copies and all three editors were thrilled by the book’s reception, going to bed only to wake to the news of yet more media coverage, following our excellent reviews in Saturday’s Globe and Mail.
In fact, Mother’s Day weekend saw great coverage of the anthology nationwide, including reviews and features in the Victoria Times-Colonist, Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Winnipeg Free Press and Vancouver Sun. So thanks to all our wonderful contributors and the team at MQUP for all your hard work--it has paid off. Double Lives has officially arrived.

May 7, 2008

Double Lives Triply Celebrated

The lives of various Double Lives contributors, editors and fans were doubly busy this past weekend as our anthology launched in three Canadian cities, Toronto, Kingston and Montreal.

On Saturday May 3 in Toronto’s Another Story bookstore, our preface writer and mothering/writing role model Marni Jackson read alongside editor/contributor Fiona Tinwei Lam and contributors Janice Kulyk Keefer, Susan Olding and Noreen Shanahan to an appreciative crowd.
This event was swiftly followed by a similarly successful launch on Sunday evening in Kingston’s Novel Idea, and a warm and intimate evening of readings in McGill-Queen’s University Press hometown of Montreal on Monday night.

Thanks to all those involved in the organizing of these events.

Here on the West Coast we are getting giddy about our Vancouver launch on Saturday May 10, 7-9 pm at Little Nest Café, 1716 Charles Street at Commercial Drive. What a great way to celebrate Mother’s Day, the arrival of which is also rumoured to be bringing us some great press coverage. We will be keeping our eyes peeled for that weekend’s editions of The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and the Ottawa Citizen.

Happy Mother’s Day, everyone.