Crabapple Mews Collective is an author collective made up of volunteer writers and editors. We draw on our backgrounds as writers, teachers, editors, booksellers, designers, academics, publishers and producers of kick-ass literary events to help bring new stories to readers.
Our story starts here.


New works by Calgary writers

Join emcee E. D. Morin for an evening of readings and refreshments followed by a literary Q&A. Rob Bose, Susan Calder, Joan Crate, Taylor Lambert and Sarah L. Johnson. Music by the Central Memorial Stringlets!

Writing-in-the-Works-2016

Kudos to Kisscut

Last fall the wonderfully gifted Natalie Olsen packed up her books and moved to Vancouver to follow her book designing dreams. Although relocated across the Rockies, Natalie continues to work Kisscut Designs magic for her existing publishing clients, including Crabapple Mews. Her artisanal approach and exquisite aesthetic are evident in Pelee Island StoriesWhen the Wheels Fall Off and A Root Beer Season.

Congratulations are due to Natalie for her recent wins for the Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada. Her designs were awarded a third place and two honourable mentions in the national competition for best-looking books of 2015.

We Crabapple members are pining for a 2016 edition of her Short Story Advent Calendar. Wishing Natalie many happy bookish adventures!

An evening with Inanna authors

Jane_Cawthorne

So fun to see everyone at Thursday’s reading. I can’t tell you how much it makes me miss the Calgary community. Thank you to everyone who came out. And thanks to Cecelia Frey and Inanna and Owl’s Nest Books and Sarah Johnson for making it feel like a fun party in someone’s lovely living room.

Spring book harvest brings relief to the prairies

Date: Thurs, March 24th, 7 pm
Location: Owl’s Nest Books, 815A 49th Ave SW, Calgary

When spring hits Alberta, we hang on to the promise of bulbs and new growth while sweeping away the last blasts of winter from our doorsteps. Or, we escape to Vancouver Island or Nevada for the weekend to kneel down and kiss the warm ground.

But hope is on the way – it’s time to celebrate a crop of new books! Join us for an evening of readings from four Inanna Publications authors. An independent feminist literary press based out of York University, Inanna will publish Writing Menopause in spring 2017. This anthology of writings by over 50 authors from across North America was conceived and edited by E.D. Morin and Jane Cawthorne. The collection includes poetry, fiction, non-fiction, flash and monologue, with entries by, among others, Crabappple members E.D. Morin, Jane Cawthorne and Lou Morin.

On Thursday, you’ll hear readings by:
Mary Murphy, The Hungry Grass
Barbara Janusz, Mirrored in the Caves
Cecelia Frey, Moments of Joy
Jane Cawthorne, Writing Menopause (forthcoming)

Tanya’s awkward book launch speech

The CMC members would have loved to attend last Sunday’s Florida launch of Pelee Island Stories, for reasons other than the recent snow dump in Alberta. But we were there in spirit as Tanya and a host of distinguished literati gave her exquisite book the send-off it so deserved. As she recounts:

So, I’m happy and humbled to announce that my book launch was a resounding success, in the being-surrounded-by-lovely people sense. It’s a privilege to be among so many friends and writers whose work I admire. To those who could make it, thanks so much for being there. I wish I’d had more time to spend with each of you. To those who could not make it, happy thanksgiving, my dears! I’ll be seeing you soon.

 

We’d planned to video this speech, because I really wanted to thank people who were instrumental in the creation of Pelee Island Stories, but were unable to be there. Unfortunately, someone forgot to hit record. So I’ve included the text of my speech below.

Read her (not so awkward) speech here.

Our new website is full of stories

It’s been an industrious fall for the collective. We launched first one new CMC book, then another. Now we’re launching a digital storybook—our new website—featuring such futuristic technologies as responsive templates, share buttons… and quotes! Most of all, we’re excited at the opportunity to more easily share news and stories with our readers. So grab your pocket computer, pull up a comfy chair, and flip through the pages of our site. We hope you enjoy its twists and turns.

Pelee Island in Florida

On Sunday, November 22 at 4 pm, Pelee Island Stories will receive a proper Florida launch at Craftsman House Gallery. Tanya will read from her short fiction collection. Joining her to celebrate her book are three friends and mentors:

  • Eric Deggans – NPR’s first full-time TV critic
  • Thomas Hallock – Associate Professor of English at USF St. Petersburg, Florida
  • Lee Irby – a novelist and historian, Irby has written extensively on Florida culture, and might be the world’s foremost expert on trailer trash

Learn more about the event.

Launching a collective labour of love

Read by E. D. Morin to those assembled at the When the Wheels Fall Off Calgary launch:

 

Tonight, I want to introduce a book project our collective recently helped to put out into the world. The Crabapples, I should mention, are a group of like-minded writers and editors, and we include as our members Inge Trueman, Annie Wesko, Jane Cawthorne and Lou Morin.

Our recent book project is called Pelee Island Stories and it’s a short fiction collection by Tanya Coovadia. The gorgeous book layout and cover is by Natalie Olsen of Kisscut Design who also designed both of Inge’s novels.

We found Tanya Coovadia through Jane Cawthorne. And Jane and Tanya found each other while studying Creative Writing at Pine Manor College just outside Boston, Massachusetts. Pulling Tanya Coovadia’s stories together and turning them into a book was a labour of love for the Crabapple Collective. In June, Tanya was diagnosed with an incurable cancer and given perhaps a year to live, if she is lucky. As Tanya puts it: “This is, possibly, the only way I’ll actually get a book of my work made within my natural lifetime.”

Tanya Coovadia is an accomplished and gifted writer. She makes her home in Florida, grew up in small-town Ontario, and spent many of her formative years on Pelee Island. Pelee, as Coovadia writes in the collection’s final story “Coming Back Alone,” is a “nine by four-mile oblong in the middle of the west corner of Lake Erie with two finger-like projections, one that points north, toward Canada, and another that points south toward the US.” Each of the five stories in the collection are set on Pelee Island, and span about two decades.

From author Sandra Scofield: “Tanya Coovadia is in the midst of it. Life. And life on the islands is hardscrabble. The problems are familiar, sure. Who to love, how to make it, how to stay out of the way of what’s coming next. But they are particular, too. Coovadia creates a universe all her own, and her characters announce themselves as survivors. They give and take, and somewhere in the tension you find yourself remembering to catch your breath.”

Pelee Island Stories was birthed as a limited print run at the University of Toronto. I am lucky to be holding a copy, which I just received yesterday! The book will be widely available on Amazon, but we don’t have an exact publication date yet. I encourage you to check the Crabapple Mews Collective website (the address is on our bookmark!) for news about the book’s release.

E. D. Morin