Pajama Press

Pajama Press is excited to announce that four of our authors and author/illustrators will be touring as part of TD Canadian Children’s Book Week 2016.

Rebecca Bender, author and illustrator of the Giraffe and Bird books and illustrator of Peach Girl by Raymond Nakamura

Wallace Edwards, author and illustrator of the forthcoming Once Upon a Line

Sarah Ellis, author of A+ for Big Ben and Ben Says Goodbye

Margriet Ruurs, co-author of A Brush Full of Colour: The World of Ted Harrison

TD Canadian Children’s Book Week is an annual festival that celebrates Canadian children’s books and the importance of reading. This year 30 authors, illustrators, and storytellers will travel to events in every province and territory, presenting to over 28,000 participants.

Visit the Canadian Children’s Book Centre and the  TD Book Week website to learn more.

During her TD Canadian Children’s Book Week tour of Manitoba, Sylvia Gunnery (Emily For Real, 2012) had the opportunity to talk with Jordan Wasilka of the Westman Journal. The interview made the front page.

Here’s a sneak peek:

“‘The publishing industry is in a lot of trouble’ asserts the author, ‘but people still have faith in it. I think of Gail Winskill of Pajama Press – this company is three years old and she’s got terrific books on her list… there are people with big hearts and huge commitment and they’re doing it. They’re working so hard.'”

We regret that this link is no longer available.

Alma Fullerton

Two Pajama Press authors begin their TD Canadian Children’s Book Week tours today: Alma Fullerton in Alberta and Sylvia Gunnery in Manitoba. The Canadian Children’s Book Centre interviewed both of these wonderful authors before they left.

Click here to find out why Alma struggled to read as a child

Click here to find out what famous writer’s hometown Sylvia is excited to visit.

And then click here to learn more about the TD Canadian Children’s Book Week!

Sylvia Gunnery

Alma Fullerton is the author of two Pajama Press books: A Good Trade (2012) and the upcoming Community Soup (June 1, 2013). Her novels Libertad, Burn, Walking on Glass and In the Garage have earned her many awards.

Sylvia Gunnery is the author of Emily For Real (Pajama Press, 2012) and more than fifteen other novels for young people. A recipient of the Prime Minister’s Minister’s Teaching Award, she regularly gives presentations and writing workshops young people, inspiring them to write just as they have inspired her.

Award-winning East Coast author Jill MacLean is taking her first official trip west this week. The lucky residents of Calgary, Alberta will be able to meet the author of Nix Minus One, Home Truths, The Present Tense of Prinny Murphy, and The Nine Lives of Travis Keating at a number of different events. These include:

Monday, April 22 6:00 pm–8:30 pm
The Calgary Children’s Literature Round Table
Headspace
1817 10 Ave. SW Calgary
Tickets only

Tuesday, April 23 12:00 pm–1:00 pm
Author Meet-and-Greet
Pixie Hollow Bookshop 4
17 1 St SW  High River

Tuesday, April 23 7:00 pm
Bookstore Signing
Monkeyshines Children’s Books
2215 33 Ave SW  Calgary

Jill will also be presenting to elementary school students at two different library-hosted readings. We look forward to hearing wonderful stories about this trip!

The Canadian Children’s Book Centre has announced the 30 authors who will be touring for TD Canadian Children’s Book Week 2013 and we couldn’t be more thrilled: two Pajama Press authors, Sylvia Gunnery (Emily For Real, Spring 2012) and Alma Fullerton (A Good Trade, Fall 2012), have been selected to take part. You can see the full list of participating authors here.

The TD Canadian Children’s Book Week is an annual event during which Canadian authors give presentations in schools, libraries, bookstores, and community centres across every Canadian province and territory. Over 25,000 kids, teens, and adults take part in this celebration of reading and Canadian literature. Further information and applications to host an author will be available on the TD Canadian Children’s Book Week website.

The tours will take place from May 4 to May 11, 2013.

On virtual tour, that is.

August 1, 2012 is the American publication date for Emily For Real, and Sylvia is going to spend the month of August talking about it on blogs throughout Canada and the United States.

The celebration kicks off tomorrow at Pajama Press’ own Pajama Party blog with Sylvia’s Top Ten Tips for YA Writers. You can also catch her guest posts, interviews, excerpts and giveaways at the following “locations” throughout the month:

Open Book Toronto
YA Booklover Blog
Pub(lishing) Crawl
Midnight Bloom Reads
Book Labyrinth
Musings of a YA Reader
Books in the Spotlight
The Yakety Yaks

For updates of the appearances as they happen, follow our blog at www.pajamapartybooks.com, or Like us on Facebook.

Congratulations, Sylvia! We can’t wait to see what you have in store!

Rob Laidlaw has been reading, speaking, and signing his way across Western Canada this spring, promoting his book No Shelter Here: Making the World a Kinder Place for Dogs.

“It’s always a highlight to find people who are so interested in dogs and other animals,” Rob said on his return to Toronto. “What’s really encouraging is not only that they’re interested, but they also want to do their part to help.”

The trip included a range of events from a keynote speech at the Critteraid I Heart Animals Banquet in Penticton, BC to elementary school and library talks in Surrey and Sidney BC to a book launch in Winnipeg’s McNally Robinson bookstore.

“I try to vary my talks to keep them fresh, interesting and current,” Rob said. Fortunately, this series of very diverse events allowed him plenty of variety. One stop that earned him a fair amount of media attention was Winnipeg, where the Winnipeg Humane Society borrowed a term from No Shelter Here and awarded the first Dog Champion of the Year award to eight-year-old Christina Sudoma at Rob’s McNally-Robinson launch. Later, Rob was one of five speakers at “An Evening of Compassion, Advocating for Animals” in Winnipeg’s Park Theatre.

“It was a great event and an ethusiastic crowd,” Rob said. “I think the evening entertained, stimulated and empowered a lot of people and, for me, that’s what it’s all about.”

Now that he is home again, Rob is back at work at Zoocheck, the animal protection agency he founded. He plans to go on tour again in the fall when the paperback edition of No Shelter Here is released.