New Releases by Graeme Gibson

NATIONAL BESTSELLER In this stunning assemblage of words and images, novelist and avid birdwatcher Graeme Gibson offers an extraordinary tribute to the venerable relationship between humans and birds. From the Aztec plumed serpent to the Christian dove to Plato''s vision of the human soul growing wings, religion and philosophy use birds to represent our aspirational selves. Winged creatures appear in mythology and folk tales, and in literature by writers as diverse as Ovid, Thoreau, and T. S. Eliot. They''ve been omens, allegories, and guides; they''ve been worshipped, eaten, and feared. Birds figure tellingly in the work of such nature writers as Gilbert White and Peter Matthiessen, and are synonymous with the science of Darwin. Gibson spent years collecting this gorgeously illustrated celebration of centuries of human response to the delights of the feathered tribes. The Bedside Book of Birds is for everyone who is intrigued by the artistic forms that humanity creates to represent its soul.

In Music and Autism: Speaking for Ourselves, renowned ethnomusicologist Michael Bakan engages in deep conversations-some spanning the course of years-with ten unique and fascinating individuals who share two basic things in common: an autism spectrum diagnosis and a life in which music is central. The result is a profound yet accessible exploration of how people make and experience music, and of why it matters to them that they do, one whose rich tapestry of words, images, and musical sounds speaks to both the extraordinary diversity of autistic experience and the common humanity we all share.

Together in a single volume, two beloved works by the inimitable Graeme Gibson. Gentleman Death Novelist Robert Fraser comes face-to-face with creativity, his mortality, and the deaths of his father and brother. Set mainly in Toronto, the novel also takes us to London, Scotland, Germany, and New York as we follow the escapades of two of Fraser''s fictional characters. There is Simpson, called into service as an anonymous sperm donor, and Dunbar, an enigmatic tourist in Berlin just before the Chernobyl disaster, where he meets the captivating Lena, with whom he begins to sense an almost forgotten freedom and elation. But at the centre of Gentleman Death is Robert Fraser''s own compelling story. Gibson juxtaposes reality and fiction in this compassionate, sometimes outrageous, often very funny exploration of the absurdities and alarms of aging, the nature of fiction itself, and the maturity that grows from reconciliation. Perpetual Motion First published in 1982, Perpetual Motion is Graeme Gibson''s superb evocation of a time when faith in material progress is still challenged by superstition and a lingering belief in magic. It is an ironic yet compassionate examination of the painful consequences of human folly. Set in southern Ontario in the late nineteenth century when the machine age was coming into its own, Perpetual Motion chronicles the fortunes of settler Robert Fraser, a man obsessed with power and control. Driven by the idea of inventing a perpetual motion machine which will utilize natural energy, he neglects and destroys not only the nature around him but his own family too, as his overbearing rationality becomes a kind of tragic lunacy.

The musical talents and affinities of autistic people are widely recognized, but few have thought to ask autistic people themselves about how they make and experience music, and why it matters them that they do. Speaking for Ourselves does just that, bringing autistic voices to the center of the conversation.

Originally published in 1970, Eleven Canadian Novelists Interviewed by Graeme Gibson is a collection of candid and wide-ranging interviews with Canadian writers, including Alice Munro, Mordecai Richler, Margaret Laurence, and more. With the intuition of an insider, Gibson asks the important questions: In what way is writing important to you? Do writers know something special? Does he or she have any responsibility to society? The result is a fascinating and immensely readable series of conversations with famed writers at the beginning of their careers. The A List edition will feature a new introduction by Graeme Gibson and interviews with the following authors: Margaret Atwood Austin Clarke Matt Cohen Marian Engel Timothy Findley Dave Godfrey Margaret Laurence Jack Ludwig Alice Munro Mordecai Richler Scott Symons

In honour of Alice Munro''s Nobel Prize for Literature, Anansi Digital is re-releasing a candid interview with Munro by Canadian novelist Graeme Gibson. Taken from Eleven Canadian Novelists, which was originally published in 1973 by House of Anansi Press, the interview is a revealing and wide-ranging dialogue between two writers, and a rare view of Munro and her work. With the intuition of an insider, Gibson asks the important questions: In what way is writing important to you? Do writers know something special? Does he or she have any responsibility to society? The result is a fascinating and immensely readable conversation with the famed short story writer at the beginning of her career.

First published by Anansi in 1969, Five Legs was a breakthrough for Canadian experimental fiction, selling 1,000 copies in its first week. At the time Scott Symons wrote that "Five Legs has more potent writing in it, page for page, than any other young Canadian novel that I can think of." Or indeed any young American novel — including Pynchon and Farina. Five Legs is the subversive tale of two guilt-ridden young men, Lucan Crackell and Felix Oswald — one a professor, the other his student — caught in the grip of the North American Protestant ethic, with its emotional web-spinning and sexual torments. Gibson captures both their mortifications and their spirited resistance to all things WASP, themselves included, in stream-of-consciousness prose that is at once fluid, disjointed, and hilarious. Essential reading for any Canlit junkie, and quite a trip. This edition features a new introduction by Sean Kane.

This is a story of local politics and community activism. It''s a true story, as objective as I can make it from my personal point of view, and I do have a point of view on the state of local democracy and the role of citizens in the decisions that affect them. More than just the local council, it''s about a community and conflict fostered within a ruling mentality of divide and conquer. The story is one of disillusionment, disregard for fairness and civility, and the struggle for change. The story is specific to a location but it is universal. It is of a certain time-frame but it is timeless. Without doubt the events described - the absurd, the comic and the tragic - take place to a greater or lesser extent within the 560 Councils around the country. Self-interest, deal making and Machiavellian scheming are the high dramas of small town everyday life. A positive case for change in the way we do local democracy is presented, with community and council working together in partnership. A practical foundation for that change is outlined. No place like home sets the context and location of the story, before observations on local government in Unlovely and unloved. Although, ironically, the level of government closest to the people, few people understand the role of local government or the impact it has on their daily lives. Few would be able to name their elected Councillors, let alone make a judgement about their ability to manage a job far more complex and demanding than is commonly understood. The following chapter, The local storm in a teacup, unpacks complex relationships in a small town with a lot at stake. As a new group struggles for legitimacy and influence, in an age where people are less likely to participate in society, existing power brokers exert pressure. Punishment, vilification and deception are the defining characteristics of the ensuing rancorous conflict. A deliberate will to ignorance - the avoidance of inconvenient truths - is at play, well supported by a local government approach to community relations based on divide and conquer. Building and then Peaking are the following chapters outlining the successes of the community response to council''s development plans. That planning takes place within a political environment is made clear. The sale of public land through confidential processes where scrutiny is avoided, then ignored, is highlighted. Tokenistic, cynical approaches to community consultation are made explicit. This is followed by Falling, an outline of the decline of the community effort, as the fait-accompli response sets in and council is rewarded for persistence. In the meantime a new politically motivated group forms with the aim of changing the council. And we mean to go on and on and on and on relates Councillors crude and careless manipulation of information and people, disregard for professional opinion and egotistical self-confidence. This characterised the dominant group of elected Councillors as they swatted away at annoyances and impediments. But it all starts to unravel, It all ends in tears, as time and again master plans come unstuck and appalling behaviour is regularly highlighted in the media. The enormity of building a public case for change in a community long dominated by powerful interests is laid out. Making it up as you go along, based on chaos theory or the Nike approach - just do it - aptly describes the approach. And so to the campaign looks at the lies and the fears, the despair and the hope in an intensely fought local battle. The dominant group of Councillors suffer mishap after mishap as the contract of trust with the community is broken. Love and respect re-positions this story of local politics within a broader view of our system of representative democracy, suffering through widespread ignorance and apathy. These responses - effectively the mass turning of a blind eye - support personal and political ambitions at the expense of

Set in southern Ontario in the late nineteenth century, at a time when the machine age was coming into its own, Perpetual Motion chronicles the fortunes of settler Robert Fraser, a man obsessed with power and control. Driven by the idea of inventing a perpetual motion machine which will utilize natural energy, he neglects and destroys not only the nature around him but his own family too, as his overbearing rationality becomes a kind of tragic lunacy. First published in 1982, Perpetual Motion is Graeme Gibson’s superb evocation of a time when faith in material progress is still challenged by superstition and a lingering belief in magic. It is an ironic yet compassionate examination of the painful consequences of human folly.

A lavishly illustrated companion to The Bedside Book of Birds explores the relationships between predators and prey, drawing on mythology, nature writings, and other sources to provide coverage of both real and fictional creatures.

In which a stellar group of writers from Canada and beyond discuss the impact of Matt Cohen’s legacy -- with respect and affection, and always in the spirit of the festschrift. The more-than-thirty contributions to this volume range from accounts of significant moments spent with Matt Cohen to thoughtful commentary on his writing, and include pieces by Margaret Atwood, George Bowering, Stan Dragland, Greg Hollingshead, John Irving, Janet Lunn, Don McKay, Alice Munro, and Monique Proulx. Matt Cohen’s thoughtful reserve combined with charm and a dazzling, absurdist sense of humour made him a rather paradoxical personality. That he felt both sun and shade in his career as a writer was apparent. He told Monique Proulx that “When a novel starts to come into my mind, it’s like music...and my purpose in entering into writing it -- which will be years, it’s always years -- is to hear it more perfectly.” Yet he also told her how he sees his place in Canadian literature: “There’s a room in which people are handing each other out the parts they could play, but I’m not even in the room.” While he often felt he stood outside Canadian literary fashion, Cohen spent his life creating works of a classic but deeply personal quality -- from the depth of feeling in the Salem novels through the multi-century Jewish triptych that followed, to the high achievement of his last two novels, Last Seen and Elizabeth and After, and his candid, posthumous memoir, Typing: A Life in Twenty-Six Keys. He also made an extraordinary contribution to children’s literature under the closely guarded pseudonym Teddy Jam. And as a translator he was a powerful force bringing the French and English writers of Canada into a better understanding of their common ground.

And, not coincidentally, to New York City, where, at a glitzy fundrai sing event, Fraser has an unexpected, intensely personal encounter. Gibson juxtaposes reality and fiction to reveal not only the legacies one generation bequeaths to the next, but also the responsibilities that we, the living, have to our own dead.