Authors Aloud

Hey folks

2009-05-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

Trevor Cole here. I'm just checking in to let you know that I'm working hard on rebooting AuthorsAloud. It's taken me longer than I expected — writing a novel tends to interfere with life to a great degree, and with finicky html work to an even greater degree — but it's coming. There'll be a redesign, and some new authors on board for starters. And I do have plans.

When will it all happen? I hesitate to set a deadline. But I'm hopeful that the weather will still be warm when AuthorsAloud dawns anew.

Cheers!

Kind words

2008-10-22T14:02:00.001-07:00

AuthorsAloud received a nice reminder today that it serves a valuable purpose. Terri Ryan, a teacher at Caledonia High School in Terrace, BC, wrote to say this:

"Your website has become a routine part of my English 11 programme. Once a week I click on the website, send it through the projector and turn up the volume to hear not just the readings but the insights from each of you. One hundred and twenty students love your website! We order books, we share them, and we critic them. We can fit three readings in one hour and students love to hear your voices. As songwriters are to their songs, so the author is to the story.

Love your Website!"

It's great to hear, and a spur to keep working toward the relaunch of AuthorsAloud, which will bring more authors, and more features. So stay tuned.

TC

Why we've been silent

2008-03-17T12:35:00.001-07:00

If you're a frequent or even occasional visitor to AuthorsAloud, you'll have noticed that nothing much has changed for the last month or so. That's because some weeks ago the hard drive containing all of the page files for AuthorsAloud decided to flee this mortal coil and enacted a quiet but, in its implications, a rather Shakespearean death scene.

In other words the damn hard drive failed, and the AuthorsAloud files, constituting hundreds of hours of work, went poof.

Because I, your servant, had been thinking seriously about backing up all those files, but had not yet put thought into action, it means that AuthorsAloud in its entirety has to be rebuilt from scratch. Thanks to the magic of the internet, the site still exists on line, as you can plainly see. However, until the files with which it is made are reconstituted, the site can't be expanded with more readings. I can add to the blog, but that's it.

But don't worry. Work has begun. It may take a while, but AuthorsAloud will start growing again. I'll update you on the progress as it... progresses.

TC

The saddest news

2008-02-18T13:25:00.001-08:00

Today in the Globe and Mail I learned of the death of Val Ross, an author and frequent writer on Canada's literary scene.

Beyond the personal shock of this news is the realization of what an enormous loss this is for Canada, and Canadian writers. I worked with Val some years ago when I was an editor at the Globe's Toronto magazine. She was inarguably the smartest and the kindest person I've ever worked with. She was generous with her time and her attention. She treated everyone she met with remarkable grace and humour — the dimples in her cheeks were always springing into action with her ready and rather devilish smile. And she knew her stuff.

She was a tremendous friend to Canadian literature. Intensely knowledgeable, she wrote about the people and the struggles of the book industry with enormous depth and awareness. We are, as a community, poorer without her. She was also a personal friend, one I didn't get to see enough, but one I feel lucky to have known at all. I'm stunned and saddened by her loss.

Trevor Cole

2008 begins with murder

2008-01-14T18:29:00.000-08:00

I'm not one to take that sort of thing lightly, and neither is Sally Cooper. The first new reading of the new year brings us the novelist and short-story writer turning her eye to the morbid. In her insight, Cooper tells us that years ago she was fascinated with murder, and that her new novel from Dundurn Press, Tell Everything, springs (or seeps?) from that obsession. The reading Cooper gives us is lighter than you might expect, almost absurdist in tone. But it gives us a subtle sense of the darkness to come. Be sure to give her a listen.

TC

Insight at its best

2007-12-10T19:06:00.000-08:00

I'm really pleased by how authors are taking to the Insight concept here at AuthorsAloud. As you know, the "insight" is that second, more casual recording that most new contributors are doing now, in addition to their readings, which takes listeners behind the scenes and gives them a bit of inside knowledge as to the genesis of a particular piece of writing, or the process involved in creating it. The latest comes from author Mary Novik, recently long-listed for the Giller prize for her novel Conceit. Just back from her book tour in support of Conceit, Mary clearly put a good deal of thought and time into her Insight recording, which has just been added to her page. She gives a thorough account of how the idea of a book centred on Pegge Donne, daughter of the poet John Donne, came to her, and I recommend it as five minutes very well spent.

TC

The poet as performer

2007-10-21T20:48:00.000-07:00

We're all about reading the work to ready ears, and if there's a pro at it in Canada, it must be Harold Rhenisch. He's been doing it a long time. As the poet says in the Insight recording he has bestowed to AuthorsAloud, he's probably given over 300 public readings. You can tell that he's comfortable in front of a microphone; in his reading of three poems his voice lifts and falls with the stagecraft of someone used to getting a rise out of an audience.

I have to say that Insight is worth a listen too. Harold discusses the influences of translation and public readings on his work, and in the course of a few minutes he captures a lot of the magic that's conjured by giving voice to words. I encourage you to check it out.

And, just a reminder, don't forget to subscribe to the AuthorsAloud podcast on iTunes. Why? Because the more subscribers, the more likely that iTunes will feature the podcast, and that will bring more attention to the authors and poets featured on this site. The button is over there to your right. It's free. What are you waiting for? (Remember you'll need to have iTunes installed on your computer.)

TC

We're on iTunes !

2007-10-07T13:53:00.000-07:00

I'm proud to say the AuthorsAloud Podcast is on the air, and you can find it on iTunes. The podcast is one more way we're trying to help promote Canada's literary writers, and so every week, we'll be producing a new AuthorsAloud podcast episode featuring one of the fiction or poetry readings from the AuthorsAloud collection.

We want to open this opportunity up to as many authors as we can, so every reading recorded primarily for this site (as opposed to cuts from CDs or readings originally done for radio, etc) will be eligible for inclusion in the AuthorsAloud podcast. Beyond that basic eligibility, factors such as the audio quality of the recording will help determine which readings get featured. The podcast will try to keep a balance between fiction and poetry, as well as old and new. In other words, the earliest contributors to AuthorsAloud won't be forgotten. In fact, the first reading featured on the AuthorsAloud podcast was from one of the first contributors — Merilyn Simonds.

You can help make the AuthorsAloud Podcast a success by subscribing to it on iTunes. If you have iTunes installed (yes, it's available for Windows too), just click on the podcasting image above and that will take you to the AuthorsAloud podcast page on iTunes. (You can also find the podcast by searching for it within iTunes.) Click on "subscribe" and you'll receive each new episode as it becomes available, whenever you launch iTunes. Please do subscribe: Remember, it costs nothing, and the more subscriptions the podcast gets, the more likely iTunes will be to feature the podcast and bring more attention to the authors featured on this site and to Canadian literature in general.

If you don't have and aren't likely to get iTunes, you can still subscribe to the podcast at Podcast Alley. To do that, go to the AuthorsAloud page by clicking here.
And once you've had a listen to the podcast episodes, let us know what you think.

TC

Hill Climbs High

2007-09-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

The day the world found out that Lawrence Hill was on the long-list for the Giller Prize, he was sitting in my office, recording readings for AuthorsAloud. One thing didn't naturally lead to the other — the recording session had been planned for a while — but it's a good indication that this site strives to represent the best of Canadian literature, and to remain current always.

Hill grew up in the predominantly white suburb of Don Mills, Ontario, in the sixties, and in his writing he has been greatly influenced by his parents' work in the human rights movement. He's been dedicated to his art for a long time and it's nice (not only because I consider him a friend) to see him getting his due with his latest marvelous novel. Take the time to listen to Lawrence Hill's reading from The Book of Negroes, and to the insight he gives into the challenges of taking on what for him is a dramatically new style and voice, here.

The richness of language

2007-09-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

The latest addition to AuthorsAloud is a reading by accomplished poet Richard Harrison, who has given us something special. At the launch for TransLit 7, the most recent edition of the annual collection published by the Literary Translator's Society in Calgary, he read his moving poem "September 11, 2001, 6pm". Then, in the TransLit tradition, the poem was presented in two other languages — in Arabic by Antoine Sassine, and in French by Gilles Mossière.

AuthorsAloud has the pleasure of offering you, its visitors, all three readings. Each is a wonderful performance, and listening to all three, one after the other, creates the effect of drawing a bridge of shared appreciation and understanding between cultures. It's a very fine way to spend about 8 minutes and I encourage you to do so.

TC

Three Cheers

2007-08-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

There are lots of reasons to celebrate here at AuthorsAloud. The big news, of course, is that author Michael Redhill has been long-listed for the Man Booker Prize for his novel, Consolation. In the past, the Booker long-list has been, well, pretty long, up to 75 names. But this year it's a tight baker's dozen, which puts Redhill in very select company. It's a huge achievement, and we couldn't be happier for him. Go listen to Redhill's reading from Consolation here.

We'd also like to belatedly applaud Heather Birrell for winning the $10,000 Journey prize (the announcement came in the Spring) for her short story "BriannaSusannaAlana." Again, we couldn't be prouder of Heather and, again, we happen to have a reading from that prize winning story right here. (So, are we prescient ... or influential?) Go check it out!

Third, it's always worth a fist-pump when AuthorsAloud brings promising new authors to the attention of our loyal visitors, so take a moment to enjoy the offerings of poet Alex Boyd, who reads from his collection Making Bones Walk, and novelist B. Glen Rotchin, who reads from his debut novel, The Rent Collector, short listed for the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award. Both authors also provide Insights for your edification and enjoyment.

Lots to listen to, lots to celebrate. Go revel in the bounty.

TC

The otherworldly energy of Wendy Morton

2007-07-29T19:19:00.000-07:00

At first I didn't know what to make of Wendy Morton. The grandmotherly form really didn't jibe with the private eye alter ego, or the self-marketeer who seeks out corporate sponsorships for her poetry. Then I met her in person and realized Morton is equipped with a whole extra gear that most of us never engage, and it takes her places few would think to go. You might get a sense of that from the title of her memoir, Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast, or when you listen to the insight she recorded for AuthorsAloud, which dips into the dark and slightly X-rated world of her job as a private investigator. But it all comes down to the poetry, and what you'll take from her reading, I believe, is that she's a committed artist who deserves to be taken very seriously. Go listen.
TC

The hidden How and Why of Elvis

2007-07-14T12:02:00.000-07:00

This week Robert Priest, the poet and performer whose verse the Toronto Star called "passionate, cocky, alternately adoring and insulting" gives us a speculative elegy, a terrific prose poem about Elvis that he calls "The Presley Twins." For four lovely minutes Robert proves himself as adept at the mic as at the keyboard. Give it a listen.

I also want to draw your attention, in case you missed it, to a gorgeous ode to the power of literature penned by the wonderfully literate film reviewer Rick Groen and published July 14 in the Globe and Mail. That this eloquent defense of fiction is written by a movie guy doesn't make its truth more true, but it does make it more satisfying.

TC

Update (July 23): Robert Priest has added an Insight to his reading page, with thoughts on the importance of keeping busy as a writer, and on the genesis of "The Presley Twins." It's very much worth a listen. And for anyone who tried to listen to Robert's poem the first few days it was up and encountered an error message, that was due to a brain glitch on my part; it's fixed now.

Cheers.

Good news on the reading front

2007-07-10T07:09:00.001-07:00

Every once in a while I find myself worrying about the future of book reading. What seems so vital to you and me (feeding mind and soul with narratives from the printed page) often seems an afterthought or less for people caught like flies in the digital web.

For solace I look to my soon-to-be 14-year-old daughter, who cannot get enough thick novels to feed her appetite. If she's a sample of the developing readership out there, I think, we'll be okay.

And today the terrific British website The Literary Saloon brought my attention to a piece the BBC ran, which offers more good news. It seems the frantic, fragmented pace of our modern lives is actually good for reading.

Who'd have thought?

TC

More popular than ever

2007-07-04T08:06:00.001-07:00

I thought you might be interested to know that visits to AuthorsAloud have been increasing on an almost daily basis, as more and more people become aware of the existence of the site, and what it offers. Last month the number of visits was more than 50% higher than the month before. And recently total visits to AuthorsAloud surpassed the 30,000 mark.

Given that the site is not yet a year old, and that it offers a highly specialized form of content, which attracts a literary-oriented audience, I think that's remarkable.

TC

The colours of Garnett

2007-06-23T14:44:00.000-07:00

It was sunny and hot on the leafy grounds of Green College, arguably the prettiest spot on Vancouver's UBC campus, when Gale Zoë Garnett read for AuthorsAloud from her novella, Room Tone. Garnett's throaty voice is as rich as her prose, and she gives us two scenes from a work that director Sky Gilbert has called "a chocolate truffle with a heart of gold." Garnett also gives us a lovely Insight into the genesis of her novella. I promise you'll enjoy it. Go have a listen.

And speaking of insights, poet Zach Wells has added one to give us new perspective on his poetry of the far north in Unsettled. It's worth a revisit to Wells' page to hear how he approaches his work.

TC

Added Insight

2007-06-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

Today marks the launch of a new feature at AuthorsAloud: Insight. In addition to readings from their works of literary fiction and poetry, which is the mainstay of this site, many new contributors to AuthorsAloud will now offer a second recording, providing a moment of unscripted comment about their writing. So while the "reading" on each author's page will let you hear the prose or poetry that constitutes the writer's art, read the way the writer intended, in the "insight" recording, you'll also hear something of the thought or struggle that went into creating that work.

And these recorded insights aren't restricted to new contributors. Writers who have already provided AuthorsAloud with readings of their work will have the opportunity to add insights as well, giving readers a new reason to go back, listen to the work again and perhaps discover something new.

How will you know that an author has added an "insight"? That's easy. Just go to the At A Glance pages. Each of the authors who have contributed a recorded comment about their work will have their pictures marked with an identifying symbol, as in this example:

It's no coincidence that I've used Jennifer McCartney's image here. She's the first new author to contribute an insight recording, in which she talks about the genesis of her debut novel, Afloat. As more insights are added, I'll let you know.

TC

June 17 Update: Claire Cameron has contributed a Reading and a revealing Insight for her new novel The Line Painter. Go have a listen.

Windley, MacPherson and the AGM

2007-05-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

Two new submissions take AuthorsAloud to 60 readings, a significant milestone for a literary project that was merely an idea less than a year ago. In these latest arrivals, Andrea MacPherson offers a scene from her second novel, Beyond the Blue, set in First World War Scotland, and Carol Windley reads from her Giller Prize nominated story collection, Home Schooling. Thanks to writer (and friend of AuthorsAloud) Holley Rubinsky of Kootenay Coop Radio, for the recordings.

The first weekend in June I'll be attending the annual general meeting of the Writers' Union of Canada, being held this year in Vancouver. It's my plan to come back loaded with new readings, which you'll be able to enjoy in the coming weeks. And don't forget that, coming very soon, AuthorsAloud will be offering a new feature in its readings sections. More on that later.

TC

Beauchemin and Preston

2007-05-26T19:18:00.000-07:00

The two latest readings on AuthorsAloud come from very different writers, although they happen to focus on a similar subject: womanly passion.

Racheal Preston, a Hamilton writer (soon to be moving to the west coast, lucky Racheal) sat down in her dining room and served up a rather steamy passage from her second novel, The Wind Seller.

Quebec's hugely popular Yves Beauchemin, meanwhile, offers a reading from The Years of Fire that features a young woman in the throes of a more chaste kind of desire. (Thanks to Susan Johnston from CKCU for the recording.)

And stay tuned for more interesting developments from AuthorsAloud — a new feature I think you'll enjoy.

TC

Our recent additions

2007-05-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

In case you've missed the last stream of recordings into AuthorsAloud, this will catch you up:

Anne Stone gave us a rather eerie reading from her novel, Delible.

Kristen den Hartog read a delicate scene from her acclaimed novel, Origin of Haloes.

Dani Couture gave us poems from her debut, Good Meat, as well as a moving tribute to a recently passed friend.

Matthew Tierney read from his collection of poems, Full Speed Through the Morning Dark.

And most recently, Steve McOrmond offered up a reading of poems recorded during that favorite literary landmark of ours, the Winnipeg International Authors Festival.

Enjoy, and of course ... stay tuned for more.

Trouble reaching us?

2007-05-07T15:04:00.000-07:00

If you've recently sent a query to authorsaloud.com through the contact page and heard nothing back, there's a reason. Our contact page went kerpleewy, but failed to notify us of the fact. So, if you've been waiting and wondering what's up, my apologies.

I am told by the good people at Webserve, the Vancouver company that hosts this site, that the problem has been rectified. But in the immediate future I'm not going to take any chances with contact forms. Now, clicking on "contact us" in the menu will now take you to a page with an old-fashioned email link. You can use that to reach AuthorsAloud any time.

TC

Barbara Gowdy in the house

2007-04-11T22:14:00.000-07:00

Novelist Barbara Gowdy certainly isn't known for writing "domestic" dramas, but you can hear the kitchen sink in her reading for AuthorsAloud. Well, that's not entirely accurate. It's closer to say you can hear the kitchen tiles in their echo, and the dogs in the background, and, at a certain point, the hum of a nearby refrigerator. Barbara graciously invited us into her home a few days ago to record a reading for AuthorsAloud from her newest novel, Helpless. And she handled the various distractions and challenges of a home recording session with the élan and humor of a seasoned pro.

It's an exquisite reading, from a wonderful novel. Go to it now, hang out in Barbara's kitchen, and eat it up.
TC

A plethora of poetry

2007-04-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

If the written arts are sisters, poetry is the beautiful, mysterious and intimidating one standing at the window. Hard to know whether to approach her — she's damn sexy, but that could be a knife in her hand. Still, you want more of those mysterious sisters around; they make life far more interesting. So I'm happy to say that in the last couple of weeks, AuthorsAloud has increased its array of poetry substantially.

Whether they're brief or long, wry or wrenching, each of Ron Charach's poems seem rich with humanity, a caring for the human condition. And if you're a writer, you'll appreciate the final, sardonic poem among Ron's offering — "The Review that Kills." As well, one of the busiest and lowercasiest poets around, ron mclennan, has taken a moment away from running things in Ottawa to provide a reading of poems that embrace that city like few have before him. (Thanks to Susan Johnston CKCU-FM for the recording). And most recently, with a reading from his latest collection, Harry Thurston takes us to the Dakhleh oasis in the Western Desert with a voice that resonates with thousands of miles of hard and glorious travel.

There are readings by many more poets coming, and also a treat in a very few days, a reading by (speaking of beautiful and mysterious) ... Barbara Gowdy.
So keep coming back.
TC

All change, all the time

2007-03-23T17:53:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed, AuthorsAloud has a new look. Aside from what I hope you'll agree are aesthetic improvements — a cleaner, more modern design — the changes are intended to have three benefits:
1. Easier navigation.
There should never be confusion about where you are in AuthorsAloud, or how to find what you want. Every page now features the same sitemap-style navigation menu on the right, including the name of every author to be found in the site, so you can always find your way quickly to the reading or the section you're looking for.
2. Quick links to fiction and poetry.
The Welcome page's "at a glance" area offers three buttons that will give you fast access to groups of authors where you'll be able to see ... at a glance ... who is reading, and what work they're reading from, and then link directly to that reading.
3. More recognition for authors.
The featured readings area at the top of the page shows six faces. The top three will show the latest three readings to be added to AuthorsAloud. The bottom three will rotate through the AuthorsAloud library on a regular basis to remind visitors of readings they may have missed.

As always, if you have any thoughts or suggestions for AuthorsAloud, use the contact page to let us know. We're all in this together.
TC

First look

2007-03-19T08:25:00.000-07:00

One of the chief challenges of any website is finding a way to help visitors move through the site

to find the things they're looking for. With that in mind, here's an early peek at one of the elements of the new AuthorsAloud design, coming soon:

Stay tuned for more...

A poetic debut

2007-03-18T17:32:00.000-07:00

Listen to Micheline Maylor read and you can tell from the skill of her expression that she's a born poet who knows exactly what she's doing. Of course, the fact that Micheline has just published her debut, Full Depth: The Raymond Knister Poems, belies the fact that she's been a poetry fixture for some time. Her decision to devote her first collection to the life and tragic death of another poet suggests a dedication to the art that's as easy to admire as her talent.
TC

Good things coming

2007-03-16T08:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a heads-up to stay tuned to AuthorsAloud because in the coming weeks, we'll be introducing a new look with some new interface enhancements. How that's going to happen with all the other deadlines closing in at the home office, I'm not sure, but we'll manage it.

Meanwhile, when you've heard everything you want to hear for the time being on AuthorsAloud and you have some extra lit-listening time on your hands, be sure to head over to Bookninja to hear Donna Bailey Nurse's interview with Hamilton writer Lawrence Hill, brother of singer-songwriter Dan Hill, who has a new novel out, The Book of Negros. It's fascinating stuff.
TC

A few challenges

2007-03-14T13:55:00.000-07:00

The spam monster whacked AuthorsAloud today, so until a solution can be found we have shut down the contact page. With any luck we'll get it back up and working soon, but until then, life goes on and the readings keep coming. So if you're a writer or publisher who would like to have a reading featured on AuthorsAloud, please send an email to Trevor Cole

By the way, we're testing out a new presentation style for the readings pages. If you're curious, just click on the images for Trevor Cole or Catherine Bush below, or Mark Lavorato to your right, and see what pops up. There may be more refinements to this coming soon, but for now, use the comments link to let us know what you think.
TC

Achievements

2007-03-10T21:11:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to one of the AuthorsAloud family, Caroline Adderson, for winning the Marian Engel Award last week. It's an enormous achievement — Adderson joins an illustrious group of winners, including Barbara Gowdy, Carol Shields and Anita Rau Badami — and she's done the west coast proud.

And speaking of joining illustrious groups, Mark Lavorato adds his name to the AuthorsAloud ranks this week with a reading from his just-published novel, Veracity. It's a disturbing scene that Mark gives us, all the more so because — and here is the value of hearing an author read his own work — Mark presents it in a calm, matter-of-fact style that belies the horror of what's happening. If you're an animal lover, brace yourself.
TC

Associations

2007-03-04T16:03:00.000-08:00

History links us to places and people we rarely expect. I've never met David Elias except through email conversation, but he comes from Winkler, Manitoba, near the area he set his novel Sunday Afternoon, and for that reason I feel a connection to him than I wouldn't had he come from, say, Plum Coulee, 13 km east of there. Why? Because when I lived in Winnipeg for a time with my wife and daughter, we got our dog from a bison farm in Winkler. As my daughter and I drove down toward the U.S./Canada border, two recent émigrés from Toronto, we watched a field fire burning off stubble and filling the horizon with smoke, and wondered in our big-city innocence what kind of disaster had struck. Meeting our puppy pushed all that from our minds, of course, and now that he's five, all 70 fluffy black pounds of him act as our daily reminder of that place. Winkler, Manitoba. And now this writer, David Elias.
TC

Cobbler's children syndrome

2007-02-22T07:42:00.001-08:00

The proverb put it — in an early application of Alanis Morissette-school irony — that the children of cobblers had the worst shoes. Apply that truism to AuthorsAloud, and you get the fact that the author who lives closest to the site creator has to wait months, long after authors from thousands of kilometers away, to get a reading posted on the site.

Michael Helm lives just around the corner from me. I walk my dog past his house nearly every day. And yet it took me six months to walk through his front door with my meagre recording equipment to add his voice to the digital record.

But it was worth the wait. Helm has given us a lovely reading from his stellar novel In the Place of Last Things, including a very effective introduction to the section that stands as a model of how to lead listeners into the moment. I'm sure you'll enjoy the result.
TC

Publishers on my mind

2007-02-22T07:42:00.000-08:00

We're all about numbers these days it seems, but when they come in nice round forms, it's hard for a word guy to resist. So I'm happy to say that with our 41st reading — from Vancouver's Heather Burt — AuthorsAloud also welcomes its 20th publisher: The Dundurn Group.

Now, I have to admit I know little about the Dundurn Group, but it so happens that I live half a block from Dundurn Street. Around here the word "Dundurn" is cropping up in conversations all the time. I feel as though I should know something, something beyond the fact that the Dundurn Group is wise enough to publish Heather Burt. What I'd like to know is whether the Dundurn Group and Dundurn Street have a common antecedent. I have to assume they do, because the twin-spired Dundurn Group logo looks remarkably like twin-spired Dundurn Castle, just down the road a ways (which I assume is where Dundurn Street got its name, though nothing's certain.) But the fact is, "dundurn" also means "strong fort" in Gaelic, so the whole thing could be coincidence. There's no way of knowing anything for sure, because neither the Dundurn Group website, nor any of the sites dedicated to Dundurn Castle, give any real indication as to why they're called "Dundurn." There certainly was no "Lord Dundurn" — the castle (which is as much a castle as Hamilton Mountain is a mountain) was built for Sir Allan Napier MacNab. And it's equally clear that The Dundurn Group has nothing to do with Hamilton; they're located on Church Street in Toronto. So there's a whole lot of Dundurn going on, and precious little reasoning for it.

This is the sort of vexing issue that keeps me from my work.
TC

(PS. Stay tuned in the next few days for a terrific reading from Giller-nominated author Michael Helm)

Nearing another milestone

2007-02-09T07:19:00.000-08:00

Growth is usually a slow and steady thing, but there are times when you experience lulls and spurts. Things have been pretty calm here for a couple of weeks, but that's about to change with three new readings taking AuthorsAloud to a significant new level. Reading number 38 comes February 9th from Catherine Graham, a charming, talented and dedicated poet who teaches creative writing at several institutions, including the University of Toronto. Catherine spent a number of years in Northern Ireland, which I mention in passing because it seems an easy segue to reading number 39, which comes on Feb 11th from Peter Behrens, winner of the 2006 Governor General's Award for Fiction for his novel The Law of Dreams. Yes it was Peter whose book, set during the Irish Famine, beat mine for the GG, but he's a very nice guy, his book is great, and I hold no grudges. I particularly admire and appreciate the way Peter overcame his technology curse, while he was in Los Angeles, in order to record a reading for AuthorsAloud.

And taking us to number 40 — quadruple the amount we started with just six months ago — is a reading by Vincent Lam (actually two, but we'll count them as one), from his Giller Prize-winning story collection Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures. Vincent's reading was recorded by Susan Johnston, who does thoughtful interviews with authors for the show Special Blend on Ottawa's CKCU-FM. I met Susan during my own book tour last fall, and when Vincent recorded a reading for her, she thought AuthorsAloud listeners would enjoy hearing it. We gratefully agreed, and with Vincent's permission, we're adding it to the AuthorsAloud library on February 14.
TC

You never forget your first time

2007-01-14T20:12:00.000-08:00

AuthorsAloud will be featuring three talented first-timers from disparate parts of the map over the next couple of weeks. All of these writers have been widely published, but there's something about getting your first novel or short-story collection on the bookshelves that says, Yeah, I'm legit. First up is Montreal's Neil Smith, whose debut collection, Bang Crunch, has received wide praise and a couple of international publishing deals. In his AuthorsAloud reading, he takes on the persona of a severed right foot. You won't forget it.

Next is Betty Jane Hegerat, a mother of three and a social worker from Calgary. She describes her first novel, Running Toward Home, as a love story featuring the unusual triangle of two women and a twelve-year-old boy.

Last of these is Megan K. Williams, a Pulitzer-fellowship winner based in Rome who contributes frequently to magazines as well as broadcasting outlets o'er the world, including the CBC, NPR and the BBC. You can tell by Megan's reading not only that she is used to being in front of a microphone, but that she's used to taking care of herself in foreign locales.
TC

Learning Humility

2007-01-07T06:59:00.000-08:00

Maybe it comes from being the son of an actor, but I truly enjoy getting up in front of an audience and reading from my work. I frequently encounter some very good readers at these events, but there was one time, while sitting and waiting for my turn, when I found myself, as they say, gob-smacked at another author's performing talent. That was at Toronto's Harbourfront Reading Series, when Adam Lewis Schroeder got up and read from Empress of Asia. Not only is the book terrific, but Adam truly brought it to life. He was every bit the actor up on stage, and the audience ate him up. I was, I don't mind admitting, pretty envious of his ease on stage.

So it's a pleasure to be able to include a short reading by Adam, recorded by Holley Rubinsky, in AuthorsAloud. Enjoy.
TC

The West Coast Storm

2006-12-14T19:50:00.000-08:00

Holley Rubinsky is doing admirable work out there in BC. (I say "out there" because I'm here, snug in Southern Ontario. Were I in BC, I assure you, I'd be using entirely different phraseology.) She not only produces and hosts a half-hour program called The Writers' Show for

Kootenay Coop Radio

but she's lately made a point of asking her guests to contribute a reading for AuthorsAloud.

We're very grateful, and more than happy to welcome as many wet and wind-blown BC writers into our midst as we can find under the fallen branches. First up is the multi-talented and much-acclaimed Caroline Adderson. In the coming days, look for readings from George K. Ilsley, Steve Guppy, and Adam Lewis Schroeder.

Closing in on 30

2006-11-29T10:39:00.000-08:00

Since launching just last August, AuthorsAloud has steadily grown, and we're now within a breath of 30 readings. That's triple the number we began with, and testament to the enthusiasm of Canada's literary community. Watch for more big names to appear in the days and weeks ahead.

Quarrington steps to the mic

2006-11-18T08:43:00.000-08:00

Half a lifetime ago, back when I was a Toronto magazine editor yearning to write, I sidled up to Paul Quarrington at a party. I didn't know the man, but I'd read and loved Whale Music, and had seen and loved Perfectly Normal, and I'd thought, 'Damn, he's doing exactly what I want to do; his career defines my ambition.' So when I saw him in the crowd, I felt I should share this with him, as a compliment. When I reached him in the crush of shoulders, I told him, without introducing myself, "I want to have your career."

As I recall, he blinked, grinned, and said something suitably sardonic like, "Well I'm using it right now."

Roughly fifteen years later, when I'd finally written my first novel, I asked my editor to see if Paul would read it, in the hope that he would give me a quote. He did, and the quote he gave me was essentially my first good review.

I'm sharing all this with you so that you understand how pleased I am to be able to include a Paul Quarrington reading in AuthorsAloud. Paul did the reading in a recording studio, where he was laying down tracks for a CD with his band, Porkbelly Futures, and I love the rock'n'roll texture the studio mic gives his voice. Be sure to give it a listen.

I also want to alert you, in case you haven't noticed, to the number of other new readings we've added recently. The poetry selection is really starting to flesh out, with recent contributions from Heather Haley and Tracy Hamon; and GG nominee Kathy Page, who has led one of the most interesting lives a writer could, is in the fold as well with a reading from her novel, Alphabet. So click around, there's lots to hear.
—TC

How Catherine did it

2006-10-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

There are writers out there who would love to be part of AuthorsAloud — and declare their every intention to contribute — who somehow feel daunted by the technological part of the task. Catherine Bush was one of those I think. She was one of the writers I invited early on to be part of what we're doing here, and she was always very supportive of the idea. But somehow things got in the way of the act of sitting down and recording a reading. Part of what was getting in the way, along with living a very busy life, was Catherine's assumption that the task would be more time-consuming and complicated than it was.

But then along came the ever-encouraging Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer to show her what buttons to push, and presto, we have one of the loveliest readings yet on AuthorsAloud, an evocative passage from Catherine's Trillium-nominated third novel, Claire's Head.

"Once Kathryn showed me how," writes Ms Bush, "it was astoundingly easy." Catherine used the built-in mic and GarageBand software included with her Macintosh, and getting a recording took all of five minutes. "It's so easy," she says, "that I feel like I've got to figure out something else to do with GarageBand, the software I thought I'd never use ... maybe I'll be singing in the privacy of my study before we know it."

I asked for Catherine's permission to share her experience because I think it illustrates how easy it is to get over the initial technology concerns many writers have about doing readings for AuthorsAloud. Certainly being a Macintosh owner made things particularly breezy for Catherine, but the process is really not much different for a Windows user. It just takes a willingness to dive in ... and maybe a knowledgeable friend standing by just in case.

With a Bullet

2006-10-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

Just a few days after being indexed by Google, AuthorsAloud is already the number one listing when users search for "Canadian author audio readings." Meanwhile, it's the highest ranked independent site for "Canadian fiction audio readings" (only two primary Amazon listings for audio books rank higher). Thanks to everyone in the vibrant, supportive literary community we call our own for linking to this site, cheering its existence, and helping both readers and writers find their way.

Indexed!

2006-10-21T08:08:00.000-07:00

Hallelujah. Not atypically it took more than two months, but Google has finally found and indexed AuthorsAloud. That means soon even more people will be coming to this site to hear the voices of Canada's literary talent. The fun has just begun.

Lots of news

2006-10-19T17:04:00.000-07:00

It's been a bit hectic around here lately. ("Here" being the home office). And as a result, I've been negligent in a few of my AuthorsAloud duties. But that's all changed. You may have noticed that novelist, poet and Brick Magazine magician Michael Redhill recently contributed a reading from his stellar new novel Consolation. We're happy to have Michael aboard. And to the right, you'll notice the friendly face of Kimmy Beach, who brings us a reading from her collection fake Paul, a series of poems investigating the mania of Beatles fandom.

From the standpoint of AuthorsAloud, Kimmy's contribution is significant, because it's our 20th reading — that means in roughly two months we've doubled the number of readings we offered on the day of our launch. Don't worry, that's only the beginning. Interest in AuthorsAloud keeps growing, and there are many more readings in the works.

Now, with all the hubbub at the home office, the number of people coming to take a look at AuthorsAloud has jumped appreciably in recent days. And you know how it is when you've got a lot of people coming over? Suddenly the furniture seems a little drab, you feel the need of a snazzy new throw rug or two.

So you may notice, if you've been here before, that a few things about the look of AuthorsAloud have changed. For starters, there's a series of navigation buttons across the top now, rather than on the side. We've done that to accommodate a new page structure for the readings section, where you'll find the names of our authors incorporated into the menu along the left hand side. You'll also notice a gateway page (click on "Readings" above), which will allow you the opportunity to choose what kind of reading you want to hear first. At the moment, the choices show two pages for fiction, and one for poetry. As AuthorsAloud grows, you'll see the choices grow too. And for the first time, you can now get to individual author readings directly from the picture links shown on this page (for those occasions when you know exactly who you want to hear). It's all about choice, and making it easier to find what you seek.

So have a look around, and use the contact page to let us know what you think. Cheers!

Yet more readings!

2006-09-26T11:20:00.000-07:00

Must be the pulse-quickening crispness in the air, but the action has been furious here lately. Since last we spoke, AuthorsAloud has added four new voices, from literary talents both new and experienced. First of the four was young Zach Wells, a poet who brings us pungent impressions of working life in Canada's north. The vivacious short-story writer Heather Birrell gives us a taste of her mysterious new work, the Journey Prize-nominated "BriannaSusanaAlana", a snippet that definitely leaves us wanting more. A true friend of AuthorsAloud, the seriously talented Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, shares an evocative and melancholy passage from her powerful novel, The Nettle Spinner. And the veteran poet and multifaceted literary force George Murray, lays on us a taste of the word-rush from his new, untitled collection, coming this spring.

Climbing the search ladder

2006-09-21T17:56:00.000-07:00

Search engine indexing takes time, we're told. This is why Google has been so slow in adding AuthorsAloud to its search results. But other search engines aren't so plodding. In fact, when the keywords "Canadian authors audio readings" were entered into MSN Search on Sept. 22, AuthorsAloud came up No. 1 out of 53,197 results. That deserves an exclamation mark I think — ! ... After widening the search to simply "Canadian authors readings," AuthorsAloud was still a top-five result, out of nearly 169,000 listings.

Over at Yahoo, where a search for "Canadian authors audio readings" produced 199,000 results, AuthorsAloud was at No. 6. (Again — ! ) Widen the search to "Canadian authors readings," and the results balloon to almost one million — and AuthorsAloud is in the top 20! And, in the case of both searches, AuthorsAloud is the only top-rated site dedicated to recorded readings by Canadian authors.

Results may vary from day to day, but this should be very encouraging for anyone who has already contributed a reading to AuthorsAloud or intends to. It's clear that after less than two months, two important search engines already recognize AuthorsAloud as the place to go to hear Canadian authors reading from their work.

We'll let you know when Google joins the party.

Come on in, right through here!

2006-09-20T12:38:00.000-07:00

The growth of AuthorsAloud has necessitated some structural changes to the readings section of the site. That means if you've bookmarked the readings page and try to enter the site that way, you'll find the page missing.

So come in through the front door — the main url of AuthorsAloud. You're always welcome, and we've made it worth your while by making sure there's more to see here than before!

The Spotlight's Glare

2006-08-24T17:34:00.000-07:00

The world has begun to notice AuthorsAloud. First there was the Quill & Quire write-up. Then esteemed [places for writers] took notice: "Listen to Canadian greatness" it said. Thanks very much. While that was going on, Edmonton's SEE magazine gave us a nod:

Hamilton-based writer Trevor Cole is demonstrating that appreciation of pleasures literary need not have anything to do with paper at all. His website, www.authorsaloud.com, features audio files of Canadian authors contributing readings of their books to the website, which Cole organizes and archives for present and future listening.... Cole hopes to expand the number of readings rapidly.

You're right, See, and thanks. Back in the virtual world, over at online lit-journal Good Reports, Alex Good was good enough to link up to us (cheers, Alex) and that brought us to the attention of heavy-hitter BookNinja, where Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer wrote of AuthorsAloud:

We like. Trevor Cole has started a new Canlit web venture that showcases readings by all our very own pretty people, including Steven Heighton, Madeleine Thien, as well as, soon-to-be-Ninja-contributor John Terpstra reading a wonderful poem called “I Moved To Burlington In My Sleep” (writing down this title has produced a gut pain so profound, I have to rest now).

Kathryn has some history with Burlington, methinks. Anyway, we're very grateful for the attention. And it's not over yet. Something tells me the CBC's online lit portal Words at Large may be working up to something...

All this attention, of course, has alerted quick-thinking publishers and writers to the possibilities of AuthorsAloud, and the email traffic has been thickening daily with forays and plans for contributions. So look for the ranks of AuthorsAloud to swell before too long.

AuthorsAloud makes Quill & Quire

2006-08-14T08:31:00.000-07:00

First we launched, and then we became real. On August 11, Canada's book trade magazine Quill & Quire ran an online news piece by Briony Smith that announced the presence of AuthorsAloud to the world. With the help of my friends at McClelland & Stewart, Briony tracked me down in the middle of Quincy Market in Boston, where I was travelling with my daughter. Even though I was bone tired from a day of whale watching aboard a New England Aquarium catamaran, Briony managed to make sense of what I was saying and produced a very nice piece.

In deference to Quill's copyright I won't reprint the entire article here, but I'll quote from it:

"The site’s current roster is an impressive start. Cole enlisted Merilyn Simonds to do a reading for the site, and her enthusiasm for the project spread the word quickly. The site now boasts readings by 10 authors, including Steven Heighton, Katrina Onstad, and Madeleine Thien. More authors’ voices, including Margaret Atwood’s, will be online soon. ... 'Readings let listeners hear the personality in the words that you might not get to see if you just pick up a book and read it. It gives you more of an insight into the author and the literature,' says Cole.

If you have access to Quill's website, you can read the entire article here.

So we're real, and we're growing. Thanks for listening, I'll let you know more soon.

Fussing over the cover

2006-08-02T06:53:00.000-07:00

My editor, Jennifer Lambert, knows only too well how much I agonize over the covers of my books. Well it seems the same is true with web splash pages. In this case, there was reason for the agony. Early visitors to the site may know (I say "may" for a reason) that I had a lovely slideshow featuring the faces of our featured authors rotating over an audio mix of the music by Tiny Bill Cody and short clips from the author readings featured inside. Well the audio is still there, but the slideshow is scrapped, because while it worked well for browsers such as Safari and Firefox, it disappeared when visitors using Internet Explorer came by.

Since most visitors use Internet Explorer, most visitors were seeing a blank page. Nobody wants to see a blank page, so out went the slideshow. Sometimes, in the world of fiction and poetry, you have to be ruthless. You cut what doesn't work and move on.

At any rate, if you clicked through the opening without your speakers turned up, why not go back and have a listen? See if you can catch Tiny Bill Cody's old-radio-style introduction. I chose that specifically because I thought it made a nice comment on the nature of this site. It's all very clever.

By the way, if you happen to see something else on the site that doesn't look quite right, let me know through the comments or the contact form. Thanks.

We're Born!

2006-07-30T13:09:00.000-07:00

It's been months of work, but AuthorsAloud is up and running with ten fine readings from some of Canada's finest writers. Now that we've gone public, the first job is to thank the people who helped get the project this far. Applause and appreciation first to Tor Lukasik-Foss, who created the AuthorsAloud logo. You can also hear a snippet of Tor's song "The Coming Changes" when you arrive at the opening page of this site (Tor performs around southern Ontario as Tiny Bill Cody, backed by a group of musicians known as The Liquormen, offering up the most literate, ironic pop it's been our pleasure to hear).

Merilyn Simonds was a big supporter of the AuthorsAloud idea early on and led us to a number of exciting young writers. Thanks Merilyn! (More fruit of Merilyn's influence may yet be heard in the coming weeks.) I want to thank Jennifer Lambert and Ashley Dunn of McClelland & Stewart for their encouragement and help. And of course, I want to thank the authors who contributed their voices to a project in its infancy. It takes courage to set your foot in a boat before it's even in the water, but they did without hesitation.

Now, if you're reading this, it's because you care about Canadian literature. So I encourage you to spread the word about AuthorsAloud. Help other writers and readers find their way here so the tent gets big and smoky and rippling with voices. And check back here from time to time for new developments.