Marc Edge’s The Postmedia Effect  has been making waves in the media as of late, check below for all the buzz. But first, an event announcement!

Join us for an informative and fascinating discussion at SFU’s Harbour Centre campus on Thursday July 27, as Edge leads a panel discussion on topics surrounding Postmedia and its fall from grace, Canadian media, and democratic media policies and what they mean for the future.

Thursday July 27th, 7:00pm
Teck Gallery Lounge Room 1400 (Updated)– SFU Harbour Centre
555 W Hastings St, Vancouver

Stay tuned for an announcement on the panelists!

In this opinion piece for The Globe and Mail, Edge writes “The hedge funds have unfortunately followed the “harvesting” strategy of cutting costs and selling off assets on the assumption that newspapers are dying. Publications which have instead invested in quality content and developed a loyal base of online subscribers, however, have found that there is still a solid business model for newspapers, even in print. Time will soon grind further upon Postmedia, and it should be allowed to decline. Federal subsidies work only to keep payments flowing to hedge funds, with debatable returns for taxpayers.

Marc has also been interviewed for Canada Talks by Arlene Bynon on SiriusXM. He discusses the future of Canadian media in view of the recent Bell layoffs, Postmedia financial troubles, calls to defund the CBC, and the many traditional Canadian media outlets that are struggling right now.

Marc appears as a guest on the Law Bytes podcast with Michael Geist. He helps make sense of Bill C-18 that led Meta to confirm that it will be blocking news sharing on its Facebook and Instagram platforms given the economic costs and uncertainty with the law. Marc discusses this bill as a continuum of lobbying for government support that has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars, as examined in The Postmedia Effect. Listen to the podcast episode here.

You can also follow along with Marc as he takes over a guest spot on Terry Glavin’s substack, The Real Story for a three part series. The first instalment, The News, Past Tense is up now. Delving into the shaky foundations on which today’s hollowed-out newsrooms are now balanced.

The Postmedia Effect has also ruffled a few feathers over at the Postmedia-owned Financial Post. It seems Terence Corcoran is not-too-chuffed with Edge’s ‘ideological smear job’, give it a read…

Join us in Vancouver to celebrate the launch of Patrik Sampler’s latest book, Naked Defiance. Described by author Angie Abdou as ‘wickedly smart and disarmingly funny’, Naked Defiance is the story of a turn-of-the-century radical art group and its charismatic leader. It is written by one of the group’s members, Florian Moore (probably a pseudonym), and lands on the desk of novelist / editor Patrik Sampler, who is tasked with preparing Moore’s manuscript for publication.

WHEN: Saturday May 20
7:00pm

WHERE: People’s Co-Op Bookstore 1391, Commercial Drive Vancouver 

This event will include a reading and a discussion/Q&A session, followed by snacks and drinks.

RSVP on Facebook

The Postmedia Effect is available today!

Detailing the past two generations of gutted newsrooms, dwindling reporting staff, and funds funnelled to profit margins, Marc Edge takes Canada’s dominant newspaper chain, Postmedia, as a case study laying bare the changes in news economics that have devastated Canadian newspapers. Described by Alexandra Kitty in the foreword as ‘sobering, devastating, shocking, surreal, and maddening’ The Postmedia Effect is a must-read.

Praise for The Postmedia Effect:

‘The mainstream media has been dismantled in recent years. One reason is that it’s been bought up by ‘vulture’ investment funds with no interest in journalism. Marc Edge’s book The Postmedia Effect is a devastating account of what happened to Canada’s largest newspaper chain when such funds got hold of it. It’s a sobering read, especially if one is alarmed about the state of a free and diverse media.’
– Bruce Livesey, author of Thieves of Bay Street

‘Like the Murder on the Orient Express, there were so many perpetrators involved in the murder of our newspapers. Now that Edge has given such a clear explanation, we might have a chance to revive the corpse.’
– Mark Bourrie, author of Big Men Fear Me

‘The Postmedia Effect is one of Marc Edge’s best writing efforts to date. The story is compelling, informative, and maddening. The narrative he crafts has elements of Greek or Shakespearean tragedy, filled with hubris, self-delusion, deception, power-hungry schemers, and, if you’re Canadian, a feast of tragedy.’
– Marshall Soules, author of Media, Persuasion and Propaganda

Click here to Shop Local and find a copy of The Postmedia Effect at your favourite independent bookstore!

Or online at:
Chapters
Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
Ebooks available on:
Kindle
Kobo

MARC EDGE, a business journalist who worked for dailies in Vancouver and Calgary before completing a PhD in media economics, has been documenting the political–economic transformation of the news business from its mid–century concentration (Pacific Press, 2001), through “convergence” (Asper Nation, 2007), and now, in his new book, the dire effects of the financialization of the news business. His work has also appeared in The News We Deserve (2011) and Red Line, Blue Line, Bottom Line (2004). He lives in Ladysmith, BC.

Naked Defiance by Patrik Sampler is available today!

Following a turn-of-the-century radical art group, this compelling novel unfolds as a report on the mysterious death of the group’s leader while in police custody, as written by one of its members, Florian Moore (probably a pseudonym). Tensions mount as the group, and their public performances, are threatened by increasingly disturbing disruptions.

Laced with paranoia and dark social commentary, Naked Defiance “comes as a welcome and necessary challenge to the miserable logic of capitalism” according to Angie Abdou.

Click here to Shop Local and find a copy of Naked Defiance at your favourite independent bookstore!

Or online at:
Chapters
Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
Ebooks available on:
Kindle
Kobo

PATRIK SAMPLER‘s writing has appeared in a variety of publications including The Guardian, The Millions, and The Scofield. He has been a contributing editor for the surrealist journal Peculiar Mormyrid, and devoted much of a postgraduate degree to the late-career work of Abe Kobo. Sampler’s first novel, The Ocean Container, was published in 2017 by Ninebark Press. He lives near Vancouver.

Join us round the (metaphorical) campfire for songs and celebrations as we launch Rika Ruebsaat’s My Paddle’s Keen and Bright!

Camp veterans of all ages and backgrounds reflect on their memories of summers spent away at camp; of passionate friendships forged in the course of days; of crushes on counsellors; the campfires and songs; the skinned knees and overcome fears; and the indelible lifelong impressions these experiences have left on them.

Monday February 27
7:00pm
St James Community Square – Mel Lehan Hall
3214 W 10th Ave, Vancouver

RSVP on Facebook

Rika Ruebsaat is the past president of the Princeton & District Museum & Archives, and has been a professional singer and, for most of her working life, a teacher. With Jon Bartlett she’s released seven albums, mostly of traditional Canadian songs; and one book, a collection of vernacular verses from the pages of the local presses in the Similkameen valley. A resident of Princeton, BC, she attended Camp Galilee in the West Kootenays in the late 1950s and then Camp Artaban on Gambier Island in the early 1960s.

The countdown to camp is on! Rika Ruebsaat’s My Paddle’s Keen and Bright is set to hit the shelves February 9.

Every facet of camp experience is described, from the bus or boat that takes you away from the familiars into a new world of strangers, to the bittersweet partings and memories lasting a lifetime. Campers describe the terror, and exhilaration, of learning about new people and different lives outside of their own families; the food, strange rituals, and exciting new adventures involving boats, or horses, or hikes, chores, even practical jokes.

Grown–ups from all social classes and outloooks established summer camps. The storytellers reflect on their experiences in the more traditional summer camps organized by Boy Scouts or Girl Guides; the camps organized by religious organizations or around political viewpoints. The differences – and, more often, the continuities – provide a fascinating and unique perspective into a world that continues to leave an indelible mark on society, even as the world of summer camp slips into history.

Find the book at your local independent bookstore, including:
Biblioasis :: Misty River Books :: Booklore :: McNally Robinson :: The Book Keeper :: The New Octopus :: Book City :: Another Story :: Yellowknife Book Cellar :: Laughing Oyster Books :: Books on Beechwood :: Blue Heron Books :: Black Bond Books

You can also pick up a copy of Paddle online at:
Amazon.ca
Amazon.com
Indigo

Or the ebook is available on:
Kobo
Kindle

Keen to get around the campfire and share a few songs and stories? Here’s a quick sneak peek at some upcoming events across BC, watch this space or subscribe to our newsletter for updates!
February 17 – Nanaimo Folk Connection
February 27 – St James Community Hall
March 16 – Princeton Library
March 17 – Keremeos Library
April 4 – Penticton Museum

Join us at the historic Leir House in Penticton next month for the launch of Don Gayton’s latest book, The Sky and the Patio hosted by former CBC broadcaster, Bob Nicholson.

Ecologist Don Gayton holds a frame up to his own backyard Okanagan Valley, revealing that there’s more to be told by a tree’s rings than just its age, more to be learned from the sockeye than a suitable wine pairing (though Gayton also offers his expertise there). From the wonders of composting to the finicky particulars of at-home-viticulture and cannabis growing, these 25 essays draw together lessons learned over a career of ecological research guided by both an attentive, scientific eye and a careful, reverent pen.

WHEN: Friday December 9 – 7PM PST
WHERE: The Leir House
220 Manor Park Avenue, Penticton

There will be books, wine, and plenty of wisdom to be shared! RSVP and check the event page here on Facebook for updates.

Watch this space for announcements about future BC launches for The Sky and the Patio.

We’re thrilled to announce that George Bowering‘s latest collection of poetry, Could Be, has been longlisted for the 9th annual Fred Cogswell Award For Excellence In Poetry. 

Presented by the Royal City Literary Arts Society and judged this year by poet and novelist Evelyn Lau, the award honours poetic excellence in the same way Fred Cogswell did through his iconic press, Fiddlehead Poetry Books, and the still-running literary magazine that he founded, The Fiddlehead.

Could Be is a collection gathering work since his close call five years ago, Bowering shows off a wiser, though not necessarily mellower, aspect alongside the wit and unerring ear readers have come to expect from one of our greats. These are poems that look out into the world with fresh eyes, curious as any young poet’s. Only now the shadow of mortality finally takes its proper place alongside life’s many other sources of magic and wonder. Sunlight and warmth suffuse these poems, formally spanning short lyric verse, “found” stuff, and a long poem (“Sitting in Jalisco”). Rewarding attention as always, with Could Be George Bowering adds to a substantial body of work.

The winners will be announced at a virtual awards ceremony on Saturday December 4.

The Department of English & Creative Writing at the University of Windsor is hosting a Poetry-Party Triple-Launch extravaganza, presented with the fine folks at Talonbooks, Juniper Books, and us here at New Star.

Gustave Morin (Gongo Dodan), Danielle LaFrance (#postdildo), and Anahite Jamali Rad (still) will be reading at Chapter Two Brewing Company in Windsor on November 25. Treats and drinks provided, along with a poetry display from Juniper Books.

WHEN: Friday November 25 7:00PM
WHERE: Chapter Two Brewing Company
2345 Edna St, Windsor ON

GUSTAVE MORIN has spent a life carving out his bold and courageous body of work by mounting a singular investigation into the countless idiosyncrasies through which the poetic impulse may be made manifest. This work has found purchase in a host of diverse titles which, taken as a whole, make him one of the more accomplished literary innovators in recent memory, committed to the opposite of whatever the official culture would presume to endorse.

Following the would-be poetics mapped in JUST LIKE I LIKE IT (Talonbooks, 2019) DANIELLE LAFRANCE arrives at thinking and acting from a position where illusions are just that, illusions, and can be destroyed. She authors Friendly + Fire (Talonbooks, 2016) and species branding (Capilano University Editions, 2010). Their fourth poetry project #postdildo thinks and writes through the limitlessness and limitations of sexuality, communication, and desire. They try to live and hate to rent and work on the stolen lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ peoples.

ANAHITA JAMALI RAD is a text-forward artist currently living, working, and making on the traditional territory of the Anishnaabeg people of the Three Fires Confederacy (Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odama). Jamali Rad’s work is founded on techno-materialist histories of dominant ideologies, class struggle, desire, place, displacement, silence, negation, and the void. They run House House Press with David Bradford and their most recent collections of poetry are still (Talonbooks, 2021) and for love and autonomy (Talonbooks, 2016). For more see anahitajamalirad.com.

The weather is finally changing and our fall books have arrived! Check below for where to find them!

GUILTY OF EVERYTHING – JOHN ARMSTRONG

John Armstrong, Buck Cherry of The Modernettes, had an unexcelled view of Vancouver’s punk music scene from its discordant late 1970s birth in the city’s suburbs through its glorious peak and heroin-addled decline. A natural story teller armed with with a sharp eye and a caustic keyboard, Armstrong brings the scene to life in this classic account, now digitally remastered from the original recording, and restores some never-before-seen scenes in Guilty of Everything.

Find Guilty of Everything at your local bookstore:
:: Massy Books – Vancouver, BC
:: Black Bond Books – Vancouver, BC
:: 32 Books – North Vancouver, BC
:: Volume One Bookstore – Duncan, BC
:: Another Story – Toronto, ON
:: Type Books – Toronto, ON
:: Book City – Toronto, ON (Queen St E, Danforth Ave, Bloor St W, & Yonge St)
:: Novel Idea – Kingston, ON
:: The Book Shelf – Guelph, ON
:: McNally Robinson – Winnipeg, MB & Saskatoon, SK
Online at:
:: Chapters Indigo
:: Amazon.ca
:: Amazon.com
:: Rakuten Kobo
:: Amazon Kindle

978155201914 :: $18.00 :: 136pp :: 5.5 x 8.5

THE SKY AND THE PATIO – DON GAYTON

The Sky and the Patio, a collection of 25 essays blending the personal with the ecological, reveals that there’s more to be told by a tree’s rings than just its age, more to be learned from the sockeye than a suitable wine pairing (though author and ecologist Don Gayton also offers his expertise there).

From ponderosa to cheatgrass, forest fires to turtle basking, and the intricacies of backyard viticulture, Gayton takes the lessons learned over a long career and sets them to paper with both a keen scientific eye and a careful, reverent pen.

The Sky and the Patio is available at:
:: Massy Books – Vancouver, BC
:: Munro’s Books – Victoria, BC
:: Mosaic Books – Kelowna, BC
:: Otter Books – Nelson, BC
:: Pages on Kensington – Calgary, AB
Online at:
:: Chapters Indigo
:: Amazon.ca
:: Amazon.com
:: Rakuten Kobo
:: Amazon Kindle

9781554201945 :: $18.00 :: 216 pages :: 5.5 x 8.5