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The City Speaks in Drums (pb)
Artist: Susan TookePublisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95Available for the first time in paperback, the award-winning The City Speaks in Drums follows two boys from North End Halifax as they explore their neighbourhood and the city beyond, finding music everywhere. At the skate park, by the Public Gardens, down Spring Garden Road, and on the boardwalk, drums and saxophones and dancers and basketballs create the jumbled, joyful, pulsing rhythm of Halifax. Shauntay Grant’s playful spoken word-style poem and Susan Tooke’s vivid illustrations create a wildly energetic and appealing journey through the big, bright city.
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Apples and Butterflies
Artist: Tamara Thiébaux-HeikaloPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95From patchwork-quilt farmland to the winding red roads, from sandy beaches to the endless stars at night, Apples and Butterflies shows Prince Edward Island shining in the bright blue and gold light of fall. Shauntay Grant’s award-winning poetry and Tamara Thiébaux Heikalo’s rich and wild illustrations pull the reader towards the wide-open space of the island. New softcover edition.
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Blacks
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$14.00This book documents the experience of the Blacks in the Maritimes, the difficulties they encountered and the institutions that sustained them. It profiles a selection of prominent individuals who overcame the prejudice and discrimination of a dominant culture to become outstanding in their careers while contributing to the greater good of society.
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Unspoken Truth Unmuted and Unfiltered
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$19.95With strength and resilience, Africans have persevered through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and were able to rebuild a life after slavery while enduring the inhumane conditions of the civil rights Jim Crow era forced upon them by the African diaspora. The lack of acknowledgement of the generational trauma these events have had on their descendants continues to create further injury. Even today, barriers prevent their healing and transition from survival to a thriving existence.
Unspoken Truth is a bold collection of poetry highlighting the generational pain of Africans living in the diaspora. Through her poems, Bowden creates a panoramic view of the terrible conditions they endured for centuries. Deliberately, with dignity, she brings the trauma stories of African Nova Scotians told around kitchen tables for decades to the homes of readers while restoring the balance of humanity and royalty from which the African journey began. Despite all odds, they were able to preserve their lineage and lean on the resilience buried deep in their souls while passing this pride, culture, and strength on to future generations so they may one day fulfill the hopes and the dreams of the former slaves.
This collection seeks to spark the necessary conversations the larger society needs to engage in around the perseverance of systemic racism, a society now grappling to make the connections between historical trauma and current-day conditions of inequality. It summons the conscience of every reader to acknowledge the truth and reconcile it with their own dissonance. The poems pay homage to the ancestors, honour the elders, and provide inspiration for the youth so they can heal from this historical inheritance and build upon their own narratives.
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The Hermit of Africville The Life of Eddie Carvery
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$21.95As Black Lives Matter protests swept the world, one of Canada’s greatest anti-racism fighters returned to reclaim the Black space and Black history to which he’s dedicated his life.
Eddie Carvery’s Africville protest reached its 50th year in 2020. He was just 23 when the City of Halifax bulldozed Africville, an African Nova Scotian village on the shores of the Bedford Basin. Under the disguise of “urban renewal” and using lies of a “home for a home,” the city destroyed every house and business before finally smashing the church in the middle of the night.
In the city, he found drugs, violence, and ultimately prison. His life was engulfed in tragedy and he hurt those he loved most. But in Africville, the land of his ancestors, he developed a great strength. His mind cleared and he saw the purpose of his life was to stand for Africville.
On a fine summer day in 1970, Eddie walked out to Africville, looked in sorrow at the ruins of his world, and decided to fight back. He pitched a tent and vowed to stay until everyone saw what he saw: that it was racist and wrong to destroy Africville, and that Halifax ought to give it back to its people.
Standing alone in Africville, he endured as racists set fire to his home, shot bullets at him, and tried again and again to drive him off the land.
This updated edition of The Hermit of Africville includes an introduction from Eddie himself reflecting on 50 years of fighting racism and his vision for a Canada that embraces all its peoples.
100% of the royalties from The Hermit of Africville go to Eddie Carvery and his Africville protest.
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Afraid of the Dark
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$19.95Through prose and poetry, Guyleigh Johnson tells the story of sixteen-year-old Kahlua Thomas. With a hard life at home, on the streets, and in school she finds an escape during her grade ten history class through writing poetry. Hiding in the back of the class, she writes, passionately expressing and releasing emotions about identity, home, community, culture, and forgiveness. All Kahlua wants is freedom, whatever that really means.
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Righting the Wrongs Gus Wedderburn’s Quest for Social Justice in Nova Scotia
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$17.95Mary Riley was born and brought up in Nova Scotia. After graduating from Mount Saint Vincent and Carleton universities she worked as a journalist for the Calgary Herald and for the Canadian Press in Ottawa. In 1970 she went to West Africa with CUSO where she taught at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, and the University of Ghana. Following graduate work at Simon Fraser University, she taught in the public relations program at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax until her retirement in 2008.
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Hermit of Africville
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$19.95Jon Tattrie is a journalist and writer. After a decade in Europe, he took a job on the Halifax Daily News in 2006. When the paper closed in 2008, he became a full-time freelancer, writing for Metro Canada, Transcontinental Media, the Chronicle-Herald, Halifax and Progress magazines, and other publications. He’s sweated in a Mi’kmaq lodge, sailed a tall ship, explored a nuclear bunker and spent Christmas at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport. Black Snow, his first novel, is a love story set during the Halifax Explosion. He lives with his fiancée in Halifax.
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Lush Dreams, Blue Exile
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$9.95These poems range from a personal evocation of Black Nova Scotian history to an intense, intimate response to world events in the last thirty years. All are “fugitive poems” evolving from 1979 to 1991.
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Save the World for Me
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$8.95Maxine Tynes is a poet who has lived all her life in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. She is the author of ‘Borrowed Beauty’ and ‘Woman Talking Woman’. In 1988, Maxine was named the Milton Acorn People’s Poet of Canada for her lively and intense writing. She teaches English at Cole Harbour High School.
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Woman Talking Woman
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$9.95Maxine Tynes is a poet who has lived all her life in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Her heritage goes back to the time of Black Loyalists in that province and Maxine has drawn heavily on that rich cultural past. Her writing is intense, personal, evocative and accessible in nature which earned her the titles of Milton Acorn People’s Poet of Canada for 1988. When her first book, Borrowed Beauty, was published by Pottersfield Press in 1987, it received rave reviews and sold out in a few months. Now in its third printing, Borrowed Beauty has provne to be a bestselling Canadian title, reaching far beyond the usual audience for poetry.
Woman Talking Woman is a new and varied collection of poetry and fiction by this vibrant voice from Atlantic Canada.”Maxine Tynes is a woman/teacher/poet whose life is shaped by the pride and passion of her own strongly held beliefs and an absolute commitment to her personal politics.” Sharon Fraser, Atlantic Insight
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My Hair is Beautiful
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$9.95Celebrate natural hair with Governor General’s Award-nominated author Shauntay Grant in this joyful board book. With accessible text and vibrant photos of toddlers sporting afros, cornrows and everything in between, My Hair is Beautiful brings a powerful message of self-love.
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It’s Our Time Honouring the African Nova Scotian Communities of East Preston, North Preston, Lake Loon/Cherry Brook
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95The Black Loyalists were the first large group of people of African ancestry to settle in Halifax, in 1782. In 1796 the Jamaican Maroons arrived. Then in 1813, Black refugees fleeing the United States came. These Loyalists, Maroons, and refugees settled in the Preston area, and although some subsequently left for Sierra Leone, many stayed and established the largest community of African Nova Scotians in the province. Since then, the Preston township—comprising North Preston, East Preston, and Lake Loon/Cherry Brook—has become a web of vibrant neighbourhoods with a rich and complex history.
With care and precision, award-winning writer Wanda Lauren Taylor delves into the history and development of this area, the organizations and churches that helped bolster the population, and the struggles, successes, and personal stories of several Preston-area residents. Through interviews and archival documents, Taylor shows how a resilient group of marginalized people built a thriving community that generations of African Nova Scotians can be proud of. Contains seventy-five images, both contemporary and archival, of the people and places around Preston.
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Ultimate African Heritage Quiz 10th Anniversary edition
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$16.95The Ultimate African Heritage Quiz Book will test your knowledge of the many notable people, places, and events that have shaped African culture in the Maritimes. Based on the immensely popular African Heritage Youth Quiz contest held at Halifax North Memorial Public Library every year, The Ultimate African Heritage Quiz Book is a great way to bring the fun and excitement of the game home.
Packed with over three hundred questions about black literary figures, civil rights leaders, sports stars, historical events, and a wide variety of other topics, The Ultimate African Heritage Quiz Book is sure to challenge and entertain trivia fans of all ages and ethnicities.
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Amazing Black Atlantic Canadians Inspiring Stories of Courage and Achievement
Artist: James BentleyPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Featuring over 50 historical and contemporary profiles, this fascinating book takes a look at the lives of Black Atlantic Canadians that saved lives, set records, and enacted great change.
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A Change of Heart
Artist: Erin Bennett BanksPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95Finally, the remarkable story of honourary Newfoundlander Lanier Phillips is available for young children in this heartwarming picture book.
A young African American and the son of sharecroppers, Lanier Phillips escapes the violence, racism, and segregation of his Georgia home by joining the navy during the Second World War. But tragedy strikes the USS Truxtun one February night off the southeastern coast of Newfoundland, and Lanier is the lone Black survivor of the terrible shipwreck. Covered in oil when he arrives onshore, the community’s kindness and humanity brings him back to health and changes his outlook on life. He would go on to march for Black rights with Martin Luther King, and remained forever grateful to the small town of St. Lawrence, Newfoundland.
With vibrant illustrations by celebrated artist Erin Banks, A Change of Heart vividly depicts Lanier’s life-changing experiences in Newfoundland that fateful February.
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Mayann prend le train
Artist: Tamara Thiebaux HeikaloPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95Nine-year-old Mayann Francis and her family are travelling from their home in Cape Breton to New York City by train. Everything is exciting to young Mayann, from the beds that fold down to the stop in Montreal to visit friends. Most exciting of all is the chance to show off her brand new purse.
When the Francis family arrives in big, bustling New York City, Mayann visits with relatives, goes to the zoo, and rides the subway. She even receives a beautiful black doll, something she has never seen before. But one subway ride, she loses her beautiful purse. At first she’s heartbroken, but she just might learn a lesson that makes the whole trip worthwhile.
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The Walking Bathroom
Artist: Erin Bennett BanksPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95It’s Halloween and Amayah doesn’t have a costume to wear to school. She dressed as a ghost for the last three years in a row, witches are overdone, and fairies are not her style. She wants to be something different, something creative, something no one else in the world has ever been in the history of Halloween.
A sweet story of standing out and fitting in, The Walking Bathroom is the newest book from award-winning author and spoken-word poet Shauntay Grant (Up Home). With fun, vibrant artwork from Erin Bennett Banks (Change of Heart), this imaginative tale is bound to inspire some unique costumes and become a Halloween favourite!
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Portia White A Portrait in Words
Artist: Lara MartinaPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95George Elliott Clarke brings his lyrical brilliance to this personal story, an ode to his great-aunt, the internationally celebrated opera contralto Portia White. From her early years in Halifax to her performance before Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1964, the trailblazing, music-filled life of White is celebrated in this stirring tribute, with illustrations from artist Lara Martina.
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Mayann’s Train Ride
Artist: Tamara Thiébaux-HeikaloPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95Nine-year-old Mayann Francis and her family are travelling from their home in Cape Breton to New York City by train. Everything is exciting to young Mayann, from the beds that fold down to the stop in Montreal to visit friends. Most exciting of all is the chance to show off her brand new purse.
When the Francis family arrives in big, bustling New York City, Mayann visits with relatives, goes to the zoo, and rides the subway. She even receives a beautiful black doll, something she has never seen before. But one subway ride, she loses her beautiful purse. At first she’s heartbroken, but she just might learn a lesson that makes the whole trip worthwhile.
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Birchtown and the Black Loyalists
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95“Although diminished in numbers, Birchtown remains a proud symbol of the struggle by Blacks in the Maritimes and elsewhere for justice and dignity.” So says the plaque at Black Loyalist Heritage Park in Birchtown, commemorating the former Black slaves who fought with the British in the American Revolutionary War to gain their freedom in the form of a small plot of land near Shelburne, Nova Scotia.
In Birchtown and the Black Loyalists, Wanda Taylor recounts the incredible story of the Black Loyalists of Birchtown for young readers. With educational and accessible language, readers are introduced to the journey of Black American soldiers taken from Africa as slaves, their quest for freedom, the settlement and struggle of Black Loyalists on Nova Scotian soil, and the enduring spirit of their descendants in spite of a history marked by hardship and loss. Includes informative sidebars, highlighted glossary terms, recommended reading, historic timeline, an index, and dozens of historical and contemporary images.
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Black Loyalists Southern Settlers of Nova Scotia’s First Free Black Communities
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95During the American Revolution (1775-1783), the British government offered freedom to slaves who would desert their rebel masters as a way of ruining the American economy. Many Black men and women escaped to the British fleet patrolling the East Coast, or to the British armies invading the colonies from Maine to Georgia.
After the final surrender of the British to the Americans, New York City was evacuated by the British Army throughout the summer and fall of 1783. Carried away with them were a vast number of White Loyalists and their families, and over 3,000 Black Loyalists: free, indentured, apprenticed, or still enslaved. More than 2,700 Blacks came to Nova Scotia with the fleet from New York City.
Black Loyalists is an attempt to present hard data about the lives of Nova Scotia Black Loyalists before they escaped slavery in early South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, and after they settled in Nova Scotia to bring back into our awareness the context for some very brave and enterprising men and women who survived the chaos of the American Revolution, people who found a way to pass through the heart, ironically, of a War for Liberty, to liberty and human dignity.
Includes an insert of 20 historical images and documents.
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Up Home
Artist: Susan TookePublisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95Happy memories sparkle in this journey through poet Shauntay Grant’s childhood visits to North Preston, Nova Scotia. Her words bring to life the sights, sounds, rhythms, and people of a joyful place, while Susan Tooke’s vibrant illustrations capture the warmth of one of Canada’s most important black communities. Up Home celebrates the magic of growing up, and the power in remembering our roots now in a new softcover edition.
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Nova Scotia Black Experience Through the Centuries
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95The Nova Scotia Black Experience Through the Centuries is a comprehensive account of the African Nova Scotian struggle to build a vital community in the face of racial discrimination.
Originally published in two volumes as Beneath the Clouds of the Promised Land, this illustrated edition has been extensively updated and includes a new chapter tracing the experiences of Nova Scotia’s black community into the twenty-first century. Author Bridglal Pachai profiles the individuals and organizations that fought for equality in education, business, politics, religion, and the arts, and carved a path for tomorrow’s leaders.
Covering more than four hundred years of a people’s history, heritage, and culture, The Nova Scotia Black Experience Through the Centuries is a powerful record, indispensable to any study of the province’s history.
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Pearleen Oliver Canada’s Black Crusader for Civil Rights
Editor: Ronald CaplanPublisher: Breton Books$18.00In a winning new book, Pearleen Oliver: Canada’s Black Crusader for Civil Rights brings to life a compassionate and passionate African Nova Scotian, the story of her growth and activism—a book that shows how one woman’s voice changed the course of Nova Scotia’s history.
