Grass Sky Song

Published to wide acclaim, this beautiful meditation on the fate of grassland birds has been praised for its profound wisdom and lyrical grace. Herriot, in a narrative that is at once intimate and informative, argues for the essential nature of these tiny creatures. He invites us into the unique world of dedicated scientists, passionate naturalists and such historical figures as 19th-century botanist John Macoun, the last naturalist to see the Great Plains in its pre-settlement grandeur. Grass, Sky, Song is a blending of personal experience, history, philosophy and scientific research. Filled with evocative “sidebar” descriptions of threatened birds, from the sharp-tailed grouse to the chestnutcollared longspur, this graceful book demonstrates why Trevor Herriot is regarded as one of Canada’s finest non-fiction writers.

Progressions presents another batch of erudite and entertainingessays on a variety of topics covering Saskatchewan’s literarydevelopment, as well as tributes to some of the major con-tributors to that history, and a pictorial glimpse into the past.Writers stopped using typewriters, and even moved beyond theKaypro computer box for their compositions. The SaskatchewanSchool of the Arts was shut down, ending the Fort San writingexperience. But the Sage Hill Writing Experience quickly rose toreplace it. Saskatchewan literary presses really found their feet andpublished important and lasting books. A wave of new writersjoined the founders of the province’s literary tradition. Respondingto this growth in the community, the Saskatchewan Book Awards,and the Saskatchewan Festival of Words in Moose Jaw came intobeing. The Saskatchewan writing community stormed out of the20th Century in a frenzy of creativity and accomplishment.Essay contributors to Volume 2 include Dave Margoshes, JeanetteLynes, Aritha Van Herk, Alison Calder and seven more. The elevenessays include such topics as “To House or House Not: The NewSaskatchewan Women Poets”, “Contemporary Nature Writing inSaskatchewan”, “Fort San/Sage Hill” and “Brave and FoolishNonconformists”. In addition, literary tributes are offered for:Caroline Heath, Pat Krause, Martha Blum and Max Braithwaite.

Western Canada’s natural environment faces intensifying threats from industrialization in agriculture and resource development, social and cultural complicity in these destructive practices, and most recently the negative effects of global climate change. The complex nature of the problems being addressed calls for productive interdisciplinary solutions. In this book, arts and humanities scholars and literary and visual artists tackle these pressing environmental issues in provocative and transformative ways. Their commitment to environmental causes emerges through the fields of environmental history, environmental and ecocriticism, ecofeminism, ecoart, ecopoetry, and environmental journalism. This indispensable and timely resource constitutes a sustained cross-pollinating conversation across the environmental humanities about forms of representation and activism that enable ecological knowledge and ethical action on behalf of Western Canadian environments, yet have global reach. Among the developments in the contributors’ construction of environmental knowledge are a focus on the power of sentiment in linking people to the fate of nature, and the need to decolonize social and environmental relations and assumptions in the West.

A luminous picture-book tribute to house and home gently evokes the passage of time, the solace of memory, and the joys of preservation and renewal. Every house has a story. This house—an old one hunkered in the deep grass below a wide country sky—is a waiting house. Once it was full of laughter and song. The sounds of life rang within its walls. Now it stands quiet and still. The house has sheltered many families over the years and remembers them fondly, especially the children. New families arrive to look, but none stay. Perhaps the house, too, now belongs to the Long Ago and Used to Be? Or will the “right” family move in to honor its past and build new memories? Wistful and nostalgic, Mary Lyn Ray’s poetic text, combined with glowing, pastoral illustrations by E. B. Goodale that capture the lonely house’s unique character, create a quietly affecting hymn to hope and surprise that will enchant readers of all ages.

Provocative, passionate and populist, RMB Manifestos are short and concise non-fiction books of literary, critical, and cultural studies. First Nations are facing some of the worst water crises in Canada and throughout North America. Their widespread lack of access to safe drinking water receives ongoing national media attention, and yet progress addressing the causes of the problem is painfully slow. First Nations have had little say in how their waters are, or are not, protected. They have been excluded from many important decisions, as provinces operate under the view that they own the water resources within provincial boundaries, and the federal government takes a hands-off approach. The demands for access to waters that First Nations depend upon are intense and growing. Oil and gas, mining, ranching, farming and hydro-development all require enormous quantities of water, and each brings its own set of negative impacts to the rivers, lakes and groundwater sources that are critical to First Nations. Climate change threatens to make matters even worse. Over the last 30 years, the courts have clarified that First Nations have numerous rights to land and resources, including the right to be involved in decision-making. This book is a call to respect the water rights of First Nations, and through this create a new water ethic in Canada and beyond.