The Authors Book Club

Tag: literature

• We welcomed 40 authors!

  Posted at 12:55 pm by TheAuthorsBookClub

  Feb 1st

  When our website launched on January 1, 2020, we set 15 authors as a goal (including the two of us!) for the month. We ended with 40! Forty amazing authors from across Canada.

  As Canadian authors and readers ourselves, we wanted to support Canadian book publishers and authors who worked and lived in Canada. We wanted to create a community that was welcoming and inclusive with authors from big and small publishing houses, and authors at different stages of their professional writing careers.

  We thank all the authors who have joined The Authors’ Book Club. We could not have done this without you! A special thanks to Uzma Jalauddin, Laurie Petrou, Marissa Stapley, Blair Hurley, and Farzana Doctor who were among the first authors to support this initiative. Thank you for leading the way! We also want to thank Deborah Dundas from the Toronto Star and Sue Carter from Quill & Quire for helping to generate awareness of what we are doing.

  As we continue to welcome authors, we will now focus on increasing our visibility amongst private book clubs. We remain committed to creating a vibrant online community for author and reader engagement.

  Posted in General | Tagged ann y.k. choi, authors, Blair Hurley, book clubs, canadian authors, Canadian books, Canadian publishing, david albertyn, Farzana Doctor, Fiona Ross, Laurie Petrou, literature, Marissa Stapley, The Authors' Book Club, Uzma Jalaluddin

• I’m a book club addict

  Posted at 9:08 pm by TheAuthorsBookClub

  Jan 3rd

  Hello, my name is Fiona, and I am a book club addict.

  I am currently the member of two book clubs, but I have also been part of book clubs at work and review committees for work and book magazines.  I started reading novels at age 6 (Enid Blyton) and have never stopped since. Full disclosure, I am an English teacher, drama junkie, teacher librarian and a member of the planning committee for a wonderful literary festival called the FOLD (Festival of Literary Diversity).  I adore the printed word.

  

  One of my greatest joys as a book club member and organizer has been actually meeting Canadian authors.  Hearing in person the behind the scenes stories makes everything more vivid and alive. 

  The wonderful Ann Y.K. Choi was the first author to attend our book club, it was advice she received early in her career from fellow author, Terry Fallis.  So, thanks to Ann, my book club met her in the spring of 2016 and Terry in the fall to discuss Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety and One Brother Shy respectively.

  This past fall we also hosted Uzma Jalaluddin to talk about her romantic reworking of Pride and Prejudice called Ayesha At Last.  It was yet another very successful meeting with fantastic conversations and insights.  When organizing with an author I have reached out via Twitter for a contact email and have found authors surprisingly forthcoming.  Our book club has met with authors at a restaurant and we cover their meal as a thank you for their visit, although Terry chose to meet us at one of our homes.

  

  Canadian authors have so much to offer us.  They can entertain and instruct while using art to hold up the proverbial mirror and let us see our strengths, weaknesses and follies.  They deserve to be supported and promoted and book clubs, those gatherings of voracious readers and purchasers of books, are an ideal place to combine both of those passions.  Please read and buy Canadian, and if an author is available to speak with your book club, take them up on it. I promise, you won’t be disappointed. 

  Follow Fiona on Twitter.

  Posted in General | Tagged ann y.k. choi, book clubs, canadian authors, Canadian books, Canadian novels, fiction, literature, Terry Fallis, The Authors' Book Club, Uzma Jalaluddin

• Hey, it’s David

  Posted at 4:29 pm by TheAuthorsBookClub

  Jan 1st

  It was the day before Christmas of 2019, and Ann Y.K. Choi and I were having lunch, reminiscing on an eventful year for each of us. Ann had worked hard on her new novel, and was still in the midst of relentless edits; she had completed a children’s book, to be released the following year; and there was all her other regular work: mentoring young writers, working full-time as a teacher, and speaking about her first novel, Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety. I had released my first novel, Undercard, that February, and had spent the year adapting to being a published author, a thrilling, rewarding, and often overwhelming experience.

  Ann is the first person I met at my first literary event as a published author. It was at the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) 2018, just a few months before my book would be released, and entering the building my publicist bumped into Ann, whom she had worked with previously. Ann was immediately personable, encouraging, and friendly, and I thought, wow, people in the literary community really are nice (they are, although Ann is at another level). Since then Ann has been a supportive friend, and a wise counsel for a new author.

  During lunch she asked me if I was speaking at many book clubs. While I have spoken at some, I found it difficult to connect with them. I would gladly speak to many more, but there’s no repository I know of where book clubs are listed, or where I can list my name as available to book clubs. Ann said, someone should do that. And it was only moments later that we both agreed we should do that. And so began the concept of The Authors’ Book Club.

  Welcome to our online community!

  Posted in General | Tagged ann y.k. choi, book clubs, canadian authors, canadian book clubs, canadian writers, david albertyn, literature, readers and writers, Undercard

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  • Plots & Pandemic: Virtual Meet & Greet with Lee Gowan
  • Catching up with David Albertyn
  • An Interview With Ami Sands Brodoff
  • An Interview With Cathrin Bradbury
  • An Interview With Samantha M Bailey