PRE-2008 PROJECTS

Dominic Ali · Todd Babiak · Alex Brett · Tanya Chapman · Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout · Estate of Sonia Craddock · Dede Crane · Wilfred Cude · Kelli Deeth · Norma Dixon · Pam Freir · Steven Galloway · Bill Gaston · Katherine Gibson · Leona Gom · Andrew Gray · Paul & Audrey Grescoe · Taras Grescoe · Mike Harcourt · Ann Ireland · Barbara Lambert · Olive Skene Johnson · Helen McLean · Maria Coletta McLean · Teresa McWhirter · James McWilliams & R. James Steel · Marg Meikle · Noreen Olson · Brett Alexander Savory · Stanley Semrau · Barry Shell · Richard Van Camp · Patricia Van Tighem

Click here for 2008 and future projects

Dominic Ali www.domali.com frequently writes about pop culture for U.S. and Canadian media. He has worked for TIME magazine's Canadian edition, and the CBC Radio programs As it Happens and Definitely Not the Opera. Dom's radio documentaries have been broadcast on Outfront, The Sunday Edition, and Studio 360. He is currently writing a memoir about his first newspaper job in the Caribbean. He lives in Vancouver, Canada.

MEDIA MADNESS: An insider's Guide to Media illustrated by Michael Cho

Rights sold: Canada, KidsCan Press, 2005

Todd Babiak is an entertainment writer and columnist for the Edmonton Journal. He graduated from Montreal's Concordia University MFA program in creative writing in 1999.

CHOKE HOLD (237 pp) is a coming-of-age first novel which explores the relationship between masculinity and ritualized violence. It was nominated for the Rogers Writers' Trust Prize for Fiction and was the winner of the Alberta Best First Novel Award.

Rights sold: Canada, Turnstone Press, 2000; Optioned for film by Velocity Films and Jump Communications

Alex Brett alexbrett.ca is a science writer who did field work in fisheries and lab work prior to spending a decade at the National Research Council. Her first two Morgan O'Brien Castle Street Mysteries are published in Canada by the Dundurn Group.

DEAD WATER CREEK (360 pp) Morgan is sent west to look into misappropriation of fisheries, research funds, and uncovers an illicit plan to manipulate the lucrative sockeye salmon run.

Canada, Dundurn Group - A Castle Street Mystery, 2003

COLD DARK MATTER a Canadian astronomer is found hanging from the secondary mirror of one of the world's most prestigious international telescopes, on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. This book will accurately reflect the tight relationship between academic astronomy and the military, particularly with respect to France and the US.

Canada, Dundurn Group - A Castle Street Mystery, 2005

Tanya Chapman is a graduate of the UBC creative writing program. Her short story, "Spring the Chick," won This Magazine's Great Canadian Literary Hunt. She has had two short films produced and her new manuscript, The Welcoming Place, has been supported by the Ontario Arts Council. Tanya has a history of being a bit of a rock chick but continues to fail miserably at karaoke.

KING is a coming of age story about recreating your life—one small and honest piece at a time. There's only one thing to do with a picture perfect existence in the suburbs and that's to exchange it for a trailer park, a collection of lawn sprinklers, a liquid eyeliner addiction, and a whole lot of burn baby burn passion.

Rights sold: Coach House Books, Canada, fall 2006. All other rights available.

Yvonne Collins (speech writer) & Sandy Rideout (film industry technician) www.collinsrideout.com have been friends since they were teen-agers.

TOTALLY ME: The Teenage Girls Survival Guide (230 pp) is a lively and witty discussion of friendships, boyfriends, hormones, gossip, dating, lying, parents, stepparents, school, drugs and alcohol.

Rights sold: USA, Adams Media, 2000; Spain, Amat, 2001

 

 

estate of Sonia Craddock (1941-1997)

Sonia was a vibrant and prolific author of children's literature and a dynamic activist for literacy. She earned a doctorate in education while raising three children. Sonia's published books include: THE SECRET OF THE CARDS, YOU CAN'T TAKE MICKY, THE TREASURE HUNT, and TV WARS AND ME.

HAL, THE THIRD CLASS HERO is a very funny novel about a hero trainee who can't quite make the grade. HarperCollins Canada sold 5,000 copies.

Rights have reverted.

ROSEMARY FOR REMEMBRANCE (132 pp) When Rosy's grandmother keeps vanishing she enlists the help of her unusual family members to solve the puzzle in this funny and off-beat mystery. This middle-grade novel is a popular resource guide for Alzheimer's families.

Rights sold: Canada, James Lorimer & Company, 1996, Republished Streetlights, 2008

SLEEPING BOY, a picture book, illustrated by Leonid Gore (32 pp) A remarkable modern, allegorical re-telling of the Sleeping Beauty tale, set against the backdrop of the Berlin Wall.

Rights sold: USA, Atheneum, a division of Simon & Schuster, 1999

Dede Crane is a former ballerina who has recently turned to writing. Several of her short stories have been accepted for publication in literary magazines.

SYMPATHY a literary novel framed within Dr. Michael Myatt's sympathy-based therapy. The book makes us reconsider the relationship between mind and body and just how permeable the boundaries between self and other are as we follow a cast of broken characters on their poignant, often humorous journeys inside and outside the the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder wing of Rosewood Clinic. As Michael works to uncover the startling cause of patient and former ballet dancer, Kerry Taylor's catatonia, he will discover his own vulnerability and a family secret long repressed. This sympathy he shares with Kerry ultimately serves to put more than just his job at risk.

Rights sold: Canada, Raincoast, 2006

THE 25 PAINS OF KENNEDY BAINES is a teen novel, in which a Jane Austen-loving high school girl and her friends experience a summer of firsts in which everything seems to be changing, including a Mom who smokes dope to cope while Dad is away. A modern day Pride and Prejudice.

Rights sold: Canada, Polestar Books, 2006
Rights to both books will revert in 2008 due to discontinuation of Raincoast's publishing program.

Wilfred Cude www.phdtrap.com wrote a monograph in 1987, recounting the problems which he and many others endured in their quest to complete graduate studies. The paper expanded and became something of an underground success. Now he has written a fully revised and updated book

THE PH.D. TRAP REVISITED (333 pp) is a fascinating expose of university graduate schools' savage exploitation and obstacles to intellectual inquiry and careers.

Rights sold: Canada, Dundurn Group, 2001

Kelli Deeth is a 1998 graduate of UBC's MFA program in creative writing where she received a fellowship and an award for her one-act play. Her short fiction has been published in Dalhousie Review and The Antigonish Review.

THE GIRL WITHOUT ANYONE (166 pp) is a dazzling debut collection of linked stories about Leah, the girl without anyone, full of funny and poignant insecurities, struggling to grow up in the suburbs.

Right sold: Canada, HarperCollins, 2001; Denmark, Gylndenal, 2002

Norma Dixon has been writing for children for many years, with articles in such publications as Ranger Rick and books, including WALTER THE PIGEON and JUST RIGHT FOR CATS.

THE LOWDOWN ON EARTHWORMS (2004), FLIES (2005), SEASHELL SECRETS (2004)

Rights sold: Canada, Fitzhenry & Whiteside

Pam Freir has been writing a weekly food column, Pleasures of the Table, for seven years.

LAUGHING WITH MY MOUTH FULL: Tales from a Gulf Islands Kitchen, a gently comic narrative of the author's adventures eating and preparing food at her gulf island home and while travelling.

Rights sold: HarperCollins Canada, 2005

Winner: Best Special Interest Food and Beverage Book, Canadian Culinary Book Awards

Steven Galloway www.stevengalloway.com is a young rising star. A 1999 graduate of UBC's MFA program, he has studied radio drama and screenwriting. He is a sessional instructor in creative writing.

ASCENSION (279 pp) a dazzling international novel about the world of a Romany high wire walker.

Rights sold: Canada, Alfred A. Knopf, 2003; Radio, serialization, CBC; Greece, Livanis; US, Carroll & Graf (reverted); Poland, Bertelsman Swiat; Denmark, Cicero (reverted); Italy, Edizionieo; Australia, Text Media; Turkey, Kariyer Yayinlari, world Spanish rights to El Aleneo (Argentina); UK, Atlantic; Munhakdongne Publishing, South Korea; Editora Rocco, Brazil.

 

Bill Gaston is a former hockey player and graduate of UBC's MFA program. He teaches writing at the University of Victoria. Bill is a past winner of numerous awards, including the 2003 inaugural Timothy Findley Lifetime Achievement Award. His short stories have been widely published in literary journals, including Granta. Bill's published works of fiction include: TALL LIVES, a novel; DEEP COVE STORIES, a collection, as well as BELLA COMBE JOURNAL and NORTH OF JESUS BEANS. His backlist has recently been acquired by Raincoast Books.

MIDNIGHT HOCKEY, a satiric look at beer-league hockey

Rights sold: Canada, Doubleday Canada, fall 2006

THE GOOD BODY an aging hockey player who failed to make the major leagues goes home in a futile and funny attempt to reconnect with the son he left behind.

Rights sold: Canada, Stoddart/Cormorant 2000, Raincoast Books 2004; US, Regan Books 2001

SEX IS RED an award winning collection, one of which won the $10,000 CBC Prize for Fiction.

Rights Sold: Canada, Cormorant 1998

MT. APPETITE a collection OF 12 stories (221 pp) linked by the common theme of yearning and seeking in "unpredictable and addictive fiction by a writer of wit, skill and power." MT. APPETITE was short-listed for the 2002 Giller Prize.

Rights sold: Canada, Raincoast Books, 2002; French language, Les Editions de la Pleine Lune, 2003

THE CAMERAMAN (356 pp), is a new edition of a novel first published in 1994, as one of the last books of fiction from Macmillan. The plot revolves around the on-camera death of an actress. This has implications for her friends -- a director and a cameraman.

Rights sold: Canada, Raincoast Books, 2003; French language, Les Editions de la Pleine Lune, 2003; Poland, Wydawniczy

SOINTULA is a quest novel in which a middle-aged woman leaves her husband, who is a former Mormon missionary and the mayor of their Ontario town. She paddles up the west coast in a stolen kayak, looking for her son.

Rights sold: Canada, Raincoast Books, 2004. Optioned for film by Gumboot Productions.

Rights for all Raincoast titles will revert 2008.

Katherine Gibson's www.katherinegibson.com articles have appeared in Reader's Digest (U.S., Canada, and Australia), Homemaker's Magazine, Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, Northwest Palate, Seattle Times, Airlines, Via, and Victoria Times Colonist. She has also ghostwritten two privately commissioned books. Formerly the owner of a public relations business, Katherine is an experienced publicist, public speaker, and seminar presenter.

UNCLUTTER YOUR LIFE: Transforming Your Physical, Mental and Emotional Space. UNCLUTTER YOUR LIFE exposes the clutter we see -- a messy desk, junk under the bed, stuff in closets or jammed in the attic -- while expanding the notion of clutter to include unseen obstacles that pack the mental and emotional in-basket of life. The author reveals how a calm, beautiful, or spiritually-enhancing environment fosters a productive and joyful life.

Rights sold: Beyond Words, Inc. US, 2004. Rights have also been sold for Korea, Japan, Germany, India, French Canada, Turkey and Indonesia.

PAUSE: Putting the Brakes on a Runaway Life
puts the hurried life on notice. Rather than analyze the chaos that churns within our complex society, Pause provides gentle suggestions to inject moments of fun, adventure, self-care and serenity into each day. Pause will convince you that life dramatically improves when we replace meaningless activities, back-to-back commitments, and unfulfilling obligations with all that gives life zest.

Through sparkling anecdotes and solid research, Katherine Gibson calms our physical, emotional and spiritual angst with practical and inspirational down-home wisdom.

Rights sold: Insomniac Press, Canada, fall 2006

Leona Gom is the award-winning author of eleven published books of poetry and fiction, including ZERO AVENUE, HOUSEBROKEN, THE Y CHROMOSONE and three Vikki Bauer mysteries. Leona won the CAA Award and was shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award. Her novel HOUSEBROKEN was awarded the Ethel Wilson Prize for Fiction. She has also had two full-length radio plays, produced by CBC.

HATING GLADYS (272 pp) is a darkly funny literary novel set in a remote Yukon Lodge in the early 1960s, where two teenage girls work all summer to earn their university tuition. The ill-treatment the girls receive at the hands of evil Gladys and her husband are recalled when they're re-united in the city 35 years later.

Rights sold: Canada, Sumach Press, 2002

Andrew Gray is a 1996 UBC MFA grad, with an impressive list of awards and poetry and fiction publication credits. A web site designer and arts program coordinator, he is at work on a novel involving art and WW II.

SMALL ACCIDENTS a collection of 12 stories (198 pp) brought favourable reviews from The Globe and Mail, Publishers' Weekly, and the New York Times Book Review. SMALL ACCIDENTS was nominated for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and the IPPY Award for short fiction.

Rights sold: Canada Raincoast Books, 2001. Rights have reverted.

Taras Grescoe is a young travel writer of extraordinary talent who has contributed to National Geographic Travelle, enRoute, New York Times and many others.

SACRE BLUES: an Unsentimental Journey Through Quebec (304 pp) won fans and favourable reviews, as well as the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-fiction and the Quebec Writers' Federation awards of the Mavis Gallant Prize for non-fiction, and Best First Book Prize.

Rights sold: Canada (English) Macfarlane, Walter & Ross, 2000; French VLB editeur, 2002

THE END OF ELSEWHERE: Travels Among the Tourists (309 pp) is an on-the-road odyssey and a brilliant history of tourism. It has been short-listed for the Mavis Gallant Prize for non-fiction.

Rights sold: Canada, Macfarlane Walter & Ross (now McClelland & Stewart) 2003, UK & US rights to Serpent's Tail, French Language rights to VLB.

Paul Grescoe & Audrey Grescoe are veteran editors, journalists and authors of books on business, trees, and cruise ship travel.

THE BOOK OF LETTERS: 150 Years of Private Canadian Correspondence (330 pp), has won rave reviews and is a popular gift book.

Macfarlane, Walter & Ross (now McClelland & Stewart) 2002

THE BOOK OF WAR LETTERS: a Century of Private Canadian Correspondence (McClelland & Stewart, 2003);

THE BOOK OF LOVE LETTERS: Canadian Kinship, Friendship and Romance (McClelland & Stewart, February 2005)

FLIGHT PATH: How Westjet is Flying High by Paul Grescoe (Canada, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2004)

NORTHERN TIGERS: Building Ethical Canadian Corporate Champions, A Memoir and a Manifesto by Dick Haskyne With Paul Grescoe (Canada, Key Porter, 2007)

Mike Harcourt served as British Columbia's Premier from 1991 to 1996, and as Mayor of Vancouver, three terms from 1980 to 1986. Mr. Harcourt is Chair of the International Centre for Sustainable Cities, Senior Associate of the Liu Centre (UBC) for the Studies of Global Issues. He works at the Rick Hansen Man in Motion Foundation on International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (I-CORD) and chairs the Spinal Cord Injury Quality of Life Advisory Group. He speaks and advises internationally on sustainability solutions. In November 1996 he was appointed by the Prime Minister to the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy where he serves on the Executive Committee and Chairs the Urban Sustainability Program. In May of 2003, he was appointed Federal Commissioner on The B.C. Treaty Commission. December 2003, he was appointed by Prime Minister Paul Martin to Chair an advisory committee on cities.

He is the author, with John Lekich, of MIKE HARCOURT'S PLAN B: ONE MAN'S JOURNEY FROM TRAGEDY TO TRIUMPH

Rights sold: North American, John Wiley & Son, Ltd. Fall 2004

Ann Ireland is a widely traveled writing instructor and past president of Pen Canada.

EXILE (298 pp) is a smart and sly novel in which Carlos, a Latin American dissident poet is "rescued" by a group of Canadian idealists. For Carlos, a spoiled Latino, his refugee status is a new kind of imprisonment. Shortlisted for the Governor-General's Award for Fiction and the Writers' Trust Prize for Fiction.

Rights sold: Canada, The Dundurn Group, 2002

THE INSTRUCTOR (208 pp) probes the nature of power shifts between man and woman, teacher and student, when a young woman goes to Mexico with her art instructor. Short-listed for for the Trillium Book Award. Published: Canada, Doubleday, 1996; US, Ecco Press, 1997.

Rights sold: Canada, Dundurn Group, 2004

A CERTAIN MR. TAKAHASHI (206 pp) When pianist Yoshi Takahshi moves next door to adolescent sisters, Jean and Colette, infatuation and sexual tensions threaten the balance of their lives. Winner of the 1985 Seal/Bantam First Novel Award. The 1991 feature film The Pianist, directed by Claude Gagnon, was based on this novel. Published: Canada, McClelland & Stewart; US, Vanguard; UK, Bantam.

Rights sold: Canada, Dundurn Group, 2005

Olive Skene Johnson, PhD. is a neuro-psychologist. She has contributed articles on sexuality to Canadian and American periodicals.

THE SEXUAL SPECTRUM: Exploring Human Diversity (253 pp) is a fascinating and highly accessible look at the myriad factors that shape human sexuality. The author draws on scientific findings, psychological quizzes, anecdotes, clinical and personal experiences.

Rights sold: UK, Aus/NZ (Fusion, Vision paperbacks 2003) Canada, Raincoast Books, 2004, Revised edition 2007

Barbara Lambert is a textile artist and orchardist. She is at work on a new novel set in Tuscany.

THE ALLEGRA SERIES (200 pp) is a charming contemporary first novel which brilliantly recasts the traditional love triangle, in which three artists find their way in the heart of genius and darkness. Like her mythological predecessors, Philomela, Ariadne, and Athena, Allegra encircles lovers and entraps enemies.

Rights sold: Canada, Beach Holme, 1999

A MESSAGE FOR MR. LAZARUS (214 pp) short stories and a novella, which won The Malahat Review Novella Prize. The book won the Danuta Gleed Prize for Best First Fiction Collection and was shortlisted for the Ethel Wilson Prize.

Rights sold: Canada, Cormorant Books, 2000

Helen McLean is an acclaimed artist and memoirist.

SIGNIFICANT THINGS (260 pp) is a richly-textured literary novel in which Edward lives an intimate and impoverished childhood with his feckless mother in Toronto, until her marriage to a rich manufacturer takes them to London, where his life of loneliness begins. Unable to distinguish between loving and owning, he fills the void with art and antiquities. Short-listed for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book (Canada/Caribbean region).

Rights sold: Canada, Simon & Pierre, 2003

Maria Coletta McLean www.mariacoletta.com is a Canadian-born writer of Italian ancestory. She collected and contributed to MAMA MIA! Good Italian Girls Talk Back (ECW, 2004).

MY FATHER CAME FROM ITALY (176 pp) is a daughter's loving account of reclaiming her aged father's dignity by returning to his home village of Supino.

Rights sold: Canada, Raincoast Books, 2000. Rights have reverted.

Teresa McWhirter www.teresamcwhirter.com has a BA in creative writing from the University of Victoria. Her gritty, articles and short fictions have been published in Geist, Smoking Lung, Bust, The Nerve, sub-Terrain, Sassy, Filling Station and Vice.

SOME GIRLS DO (196 pp) is a rare kind of novel: a "genuinely revelatory portrait of a generation and an alternative community rarely described in fiction. In sharp and ragged prose, Teresa, unlocks the sub-culture of the young and poor, almost-adults in a chaotic urban setting.

Rights sold: Canada, Polestar Books, 2002. Rights will revert in 2008 due to discontinuation of Raincoast's publishing program.

DIRTBAGS is a coming-of-age novel about Spider, a girl with a messy life on the fringe, who likes to shoplift expensive cheese. McWhirter creates a cast of eccentric and compelling characters and produces a fresh, vibrant voice with a unique take on the world.

Rights sold: Canada, Anvil Press, 2007

James McWilliams & R. James Steel (pictured at right, top) have both written military histories as well as co-authoring THE SUICIDE BATTALION (WW I).

AMIENS: THE DAWN OF VICTORY (250 pp, 30 illustrations) is the first study of this historic and decisive battle of WW I, in France. Long ago, the authors interviewed survivors and their families and acquired first-hand accounts of the event.

Rights sold: Canada, Dundurn, 2001; UK, Tempus, 2003

GAS! THE BATTLES FOR YPRES, 1915 ( 243 pp). Published by in Canada by Vanwell in 1985, rights have now reverted.

Marg Meikle www.dearanswerlady.com is the Queen of Trivia and a West Coast author of six books for adults. She has written several Question & Answer books for kids.

FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK (Scholastic Books, 1998)

YOU ASKED FOR IT! (Scholastic Books, 2000)

ASK ME ANYTHING! (Scholastic Books, 2004)

Rights for various titles have been sold to the U.S., Croatia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania and Korea

Noreen Olson is a popular Alberta farmer, marriage commissioner and public speaker. Her six books of essays have been best-sellers for many years.

THE SCHOOL BUS DOESN'T STOP HERE ANYMORE: Essays of Family, Community and Transitions with introduction by Will Ferguson

Rights sold: Canada, Douglas & McIntyre, 2004

Brett Alexander Savory www.brettsavory.com is the Bram Stoker Award-winning Editor-in-Chief of ChiZine: Treatments of Light and Shade in Words, is a Developmental Editor at Scholastic Canada and writes for Rue Morgue Magazine. His horror-comedy novel THE DISTANCE TRAVELLED was published by Necro Publications. He is at work on three novels: The Soul Projectionists, Running Beneath the Skin, and Bottom Drawer.

IN AND DOWN ( inanddown.com)is the story of brothers Michael and Stephen. When their mother leaves the family their father teaches them that women do not truly exist. One of the brothers descends into himself looking for answers about what happened to his mother and when he emerges from this inner journey, he is forced to confront a secret that’s been buried deep inside for over 30 years.

Rights Sold: Brindle and Glass, Canada, 2007.

Dr. Stanley Semrau is a forensic psychiatrist who has treated and testified about his assessments of the mad and the bad on trial.

MURDEROUS MINDS ON TRIAL: Terrible Tales From A Forensic Psychiatrist's Casebook (323 pp), with co-author Judy Gale.

Rights sold: Canada, Dundurn, 2003

BARRY SHELL www.science.ca has made a career of making science comprehensible to the layperson. His first book, GREAT CANADIAN SCIENTISTS, was published by Polestar Books in 1997.

SENSATIONAL SCIENTISTS profiles dozens of scientists and their work. What does it mean to be a scientist? Where and how do scientists work? What outstanding contributions have they made. Barry has interviewed all of the scientists profiled. Raincoast Books (fall 2005, Canada and the US). Rights have reverted.

Richard Van Camp www.richardvancamp.org is an aboriginal writer from the North. He has an MFA in creative writing from UBC. His stories have been widely anthologized. In 1996 he won the Air Canada/Canadian Authors Association for Most Promising Young Author under 30. He has had two picture books, illustrated by George Littlechild, published by Children's Book Press (US), A MAN CALLED RAVEN, and WHAT'S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING YOU KNOW ABOUT HORSES? Stories selected from ANGEL WING SPLASH PATTERN (Kegedonce, 2002), was published in 2004 by Aufbau Taschenbuch Verlag of Berlin.

THE LESSER BLESSED (119 pp), a bravura first novel, is a hyperkinetic look at the harsh realities of teen life is a small northern town. It won the prestigious German Jugendlitteraturpreis, 2001.

Rights sold: Canada, Douglas & McIntyre, 1996, 2004; Germany, Ravensburger, 2000, re-publication 2008; France, Gaia, 2003; 10/18 French language pocketbook rights; optioned by First Generation Films

Patricia Van Tighem was a newly married young nurse when she and her husband were attacked by a grizzly bear. Patricia died December 14, 2005.

THE BEAR'S EMBRACE (256 pp) is the true story of not only surviving the attack, but of how she and her husband survived the transformation from being beautiful and strong, to being disfigured, wracked with pain, enduring years of multiple surgeries. In a culture which values beauty and good looks, this memoir offers insight, courage and hope. It was nominated for several major awards, and earned the editor, Barbara Pulling, the Tom Fairley award.

Rights sold: Canada, Greystone Books, 2000, 2001; USA, Anchor/Pantheon, 2001, 2002; Germany, btb Verlag, 2003

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