2006 – A great year in photos
All of our three children’s books had an exciting year in 2006!
Each of them – When the Spirits Dance, As Long as the Rivers Flow, The Gathering Tree – had a beautiful life of their own.
Highlights:
When the Spirits Dance (Theytus Books) – our new book; launched at Library and Archives Canada Nov 19; toured with TD Canadian Children’s Book Week (Ottawa and Thunder Bay area) in mid-November, 2006
Library and Archives Canada Book Launch
Larry and Constance with student author and principal in
Thunder Bay, Ontario
As Long as the Rivers Flow (Groundwood Books) – named 2006 Honour Book, First Nation Communities Read (Ontario, Saskatchewan, BC); launched British Columbia’s first year in the program
Visiting the Hazelton, BC, library with the First Nation
Communities Read award tour in October 2006
The Gathering Tree (Theytus Books) – We were invited to Anchorage Alaska to attend an AIDS conference with an indigenous focus. The book was also a featured literary presentation at the huge AIDS 2006 conference in Toronto.
Larry and Constance also signed books at the www.GoodMinds.com bookstore at the annual Aboriginal Festival in Toronto November 26. Our books can be ordered from www.GoodMinds.com.
More details:
The Gathering Tree (Theytus Books) was featured as one of eleven literary works at the AIDS 2006 international conference in Toronto in August. More than 30,0000 delegates attended. Much attention was paid to our book. We gave two readings and sat on an indigenous panel reflecting programs to promote HIV awareness in First Nations communities. The Gathering Tree was featured in the conference’s daily newspaper. The conference’s universal energy of care and compassion infused us with renewed dedication to The Gathering Tree with its message of HIV awareness and prevention. The book also received an Our Choice designation by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre.
We toured all of October in British Columbia due to As Long as the Rivers Flow (Groundwood Books) being chosen the 2006 Honour Book Selection of the First Nation Communities Read program. This was a huge honour as the book was chosen from many submitted including books by authors such as Thomas King and Drew Hayden-Taylor.
The First Nations librarians who selected our book have recommended it as a must-have indigenous title for all libraries. Our tour in BC launched the province’s participation in the program. It was a fabulous month with 22 presentations organized by BC librarians. We spoke before audiences across the province, from Prince Rupert in the north to Vancouver and Vancouver Island in the south. The communities were friendly and inviting, the weather sunny, and the fall leaves spectacular. We couldn’t ask for more.
Then we toured our new book When the Spirits Dance, set during the Second World War. This tour was part of the TD Canadian Children’s Book Week program, organized by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre. We first visited Ottawa, Canada’s capital city, where we gave readings at two of the Ottawa library system branches before launching the new book at the Library and Archives Canada (LAC). This latter event was a dream come true as we have done considerable research there. Deborah Pelletier of LAC is to be credited for making this launch possible. The event also launched LAC’s annual Read Up On It! program. We went on from here to Thunder Bay, Ontario, and two smaller communities of Upsala and Ignace as well. The school in Upsala has 37 students in three class groups. It was wonderful to visit small towns. They rarely get authors!
Larry is now working on a new book, working title Rabbit Hill, which will be the first in the Lawrence Series trilogy. Once finished, it will complete the trilogy which includes When the Spirits Dance and As Long as the Rivers Flow.
