Cathy Crowe, DYING FOR A HOME "Heart wrenching & inspiring" - Sarah Polley

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www.BookShorts.com - Cathy Crowe always wanted to be a nurse, but she never planned to be a Street Nursea title she uses to evoke the horror of homelessness in a rich country like Canada. This first-hand experience with the disgrace of homelessness turned her into a housing advocate and introduced her to the ten contributors to her new book Dying For A Home.


The contents of Crowe's nursing bag reveal the hard truth of her specialty - her vitamins will not prevent the white plague of tuberculosis from taking another life; the duct tape to fix a cardboard shelter or the bus ticket to get an elderly man to a hot air grate will not ensure a peaceful night of safety and sleep. Crowe's experience has taught her that the only thing homeless people have in common is being de-housed and forced to live in conditions of poverty.


At the Toronto launch event attended by more than 80 people and press, Cathy graciously shared the stage with many of the book's contributors, including Kerre Briggs, who captured in just a few minutes the reality, wry humour, and determined hope of those who like him, Cathy, and their supporters -- The Atkinson Foundation, Sherbourne Health Centre, and publisher Between the Lines - ensure that the issue of homelessness remains front and centre on the countrys political agenda.


Dying for a Home: Homeless Activists Speak Out, is now available in bookstores; more about Cathy and her work is available at Toronto Disaster Relief Committee website.


Authored by Cathy Crowe with contributors Nancy Baker, Brian Boyd, Bonnie and Kerre Briggs, Kevin Clarke, The Colonel, Dri, James Kagoshima, Marty Lang, and Melvin Tipping.

Additional Video for this report was provided by David Rubinoff.

Globe and Mail "Critic's Choice" for BookShorts Moving Stories on Rogers TV

I love it when an excuse presents itself to say -- thanks again! -- to our talented authors, filmmakers, and publishers who support BookShorts, this time in conjunction with the Globe and Mail "Critic's Choice" clip by Henrietta Walmark in the weekly TV Guide section today. Let's make writers on screen the next TV craze, eh!



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BookExpo America Debuts BookShorts 2006

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www.BookShorts.com -- Innovative programmers at BookExpo America 2006 hosted BookShorts' US debut, marking the first on-site screening ever undertaken at the book fair - the largest and most important exhibition for the publishing industry. Ten huge television screens were mounted in the Autographing Area to broadcast a recurring editorial broadcast loop of original book-to-film productions.

For the thousands of book industry professionals lining up for autographs, the BookShorts screening demonstrated the possibilities for a retail or event environment, and also exactly how effective screen media is in introducing new titles to new audiences.

Authors premieres included a teaser for Douglas Coupland's JPOD, the complete inpsirational film CONFESSIONS OF A PILGRIM by Sue Kenney, ICE: BEAUTY DANGER HISTORY by Pauline Couture in both French and English, and many more.

The Program was supported by Canadian Heritage, The Association for the Export of Canadian Books, Movieola-The Short Fil Channel, and BookShorts Literacy Program.

For more info:  www.bookshorts.com or judith@bookshorts.com 

“Harry Potter” publisher plans ‘MySpace for books’

Bloomsbury, the publisher behind the hit book series 'Harry Potter', has announced that it has plans to create the MySpace of the book world. With the final 'Potter' coming out later this year, and amidst falling profits, the company sees entering the social media space as a way of filling the void.

They want to create a literary alternative to online communities such as YouTube, Bebo. Seems to me that a better use of resources would be to use tech like BlipTV, Revver already available -- one then needs only content, focus on brand, and a spend on marketing = more book buyers. A service organization could just as easily set this up -- publisher agnostic, paying back proportional ad revs to the participating publishers. Don't waste resources on re-creating what already exists Mr. Nigel Newton - leverage leverage leverage! Anyone need a business plan? (lol)





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I've Got a Home in Gloryland, the Politics of Slavery: BookShorts Video

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www.BookShorts.com - I've Got a Home in Glory Land by author Karolyn Smardz-Frost is the epic story and first entirely original biography of a fugitive slave couple since the 19th century.

BookShorts attended the event celebrating its publication at St. Lawrence Hall in Toronto. Author / Teacher / Activist AUSTIN CLARKE provided clear insight for the significant contribution Smardz Frost has made to history.

The book is the fascinating and absorbing story of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn, two fugitive slaves from Kentucky who made a daring daylight escape from slavery in 1831. It is both a devastating portrait of the conditions and the politics of slavery and an inspiring account of two intrepid fugitive slaves whose flight to freedom changed US and Canadian history.

(c) BookShorts Moving Stories.TV; Book Published by Thomas Allen Publishers and available now at ChaptersIndigo.ca