Captives of Minara by Eric E. Wright!!

“I’m delighted to be nominated then chosen as the featured book this year. The other nominees are all so worthy. I’m humbled to be in such fine company.”                        - Eric E. Wright

To read more about the winning novel and our special guest speaker for the fall conference, read the One Book/One Conference poster.

Each year a Canadian book written by a Christian is selected by a CLAO Committee headed by Alison McCullough, Past President of CLAO. This year five novels were on the short list:

What Rough Beast by Shawn J. Pollett.

Talking to the Dead by Bonnie Grove

Captives of Minara by Eric E. Wright

Dark Water by Linda Hall

His Banner over Me by Jean Little

For more information about One Book/One Conference read our latest press release

Be sure to tune in to find out who will be named the winning book for this Fall’s CLAO Conference! For more information on the conference, click here.

If you have read or are reading any of these titles, don’t forget to send a review to June for Library Lines or make a nomination for the One Book/One Conference event!

You can find a Word Download of the list of finalists here: http://www.thewordguild.com/media/

Click on ” TWG Awards Finalists 2010″

We need your nominations for the One Book / One Conference 2010 edition!!

We already have one nomination, which is excellent but we’re looking for a little more variety! You can check out our first nomination under the *2010 nominations* tab or go to our Facebook page. (Don’t forget to become a fan!)

So if anyone’s heading to a warmer climate in the next few months and are looking for some new reading material by great Christian Canadian authors, here’s a few links that will give you a few ideas! Keep in mind that we are still looking for nominations for the One Book / One Conference 2010 event at the Fall Conference!

The Reader’s Guide 2009/2010 – Titles by Canadian Christian authors

http://www.thewordguild.com/readus/TWG_RG_2009Web.pdf

The Word Guild Authors’ Books in Print

http://www.thewordguild.com/Books_In_Print/TWG_Books_in_Print.pdf

If you have any additional resources you’d like to share – please do!

Thanks also to all of you who read Canadian authors and provided novel nominations. We’re looking forward to next fall for our second annual One Book / One Conference event at the Fall Conference in October 2010!

And so, ladies and gentlemen, start your reading!!

The program itself actually began in 1998 and was initiated by Washington’s Center for the Book . The first One Book program was put into action by the Seattle Public Library in 1998. At that point, the program was dubbed “If All of Seattle Read the Same Book.” (I, for one, am happy that “One Book” has now replaced that somewhat arduous title!) The chosen novel was The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks and the program was an overall success. I find it sort of funny that a reporter from the Seattle Times defined the program in his article as a “Pie-in-the-sky idea” and yet here we are, eleven years later, beginning our own One Book program!

This type of program is not limited to North America. In fact, this idea to promote literacy and literary communities is being implemented in Australia and the UK as well!

In Canada, one of the longest running One Book programs, entitled “Canada Reads,” has been put on by CBC Radio since 2002. This year’s choice was The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill.  http://www.cbc.ca/canadareads/

Other long-standing Canadian One Book programs include:

One Book, One Vancouver – http://www.vpl.ca/obov/index.html

One Book, One Community (Waterloo, Ontario) – http://oboc.ca/

One Book, One Community (Medicine Hat, Alberta) – http://www.mhc.ab.ca/library/oboc/events-archives/2009/oboc2009.html

Many more public libraries have added their name to the list of participants in this program including:

Orangeville Public Library, Burlington Public Library, Hamilton Public Library, Brampton Public Library and many more!

Another initiative similar to the One Book program is The Big Read http://www.neabigread.org/. At present, this program only exists in the United States with a whopping 268 communities participating!

One Book programs are not limited to public libraries either. Various associations and conferences have also used the One Book program in order to bring people together and get them talking. The American Library Association and the Canadian Library Association were already using this idea for their combined conference way back in 2003! Check out this article for an overview.

Schools of all types and sizes have gotten in on the program too. Universities, high schools and elementary schools alike are using the One Book concept in order to give a sense of unity to their place of learning.

A few Canadian examples are:

Lethbridge College (Lethbridge, AB) – http://www.lethbridgecollege.ab.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1119&Itemid=964

Simon Fraser University (British Columbia) – http://www.fhs.sfu.ca/news/news/fhs-reads-1

Overall, you can see the amazing impact that this program has had on not only individual literary knowledge, but also each community as a whole. There have been countless numbers of participants and, most likely, an endless amount of insight into the novels read. And now we all get to be a part of that too!

(If you have any additional links for examples of One Book programs in Canada, please send them to me at mknibbe@yahoo.com and I’ll add them to the post!)

The conference this year will be featuring numerous workshops on various subjects including collection development for tweens, writing a policy and procedures manual for your church library and ResourceMate training.

And, of course, we will be having our One Book/One Conference Discussion workshop featuring the winning novel, Hot Apple Cider!!

For more information, check out the conference brochure http://www.churchlibraries.ca/files/fall09-conference-brochure.pdf

Remember to send in your RSVP by September 18! http://www.churchlibraries.ca/files/fall09-rsvp.pdf

Edited by N. J. Lindquist and Wendy Nelles

http://hotapplecider.ca/

Hot Apple Cider is the Canadian Christian equivalent of the Chicken Soup series of books. It has received national and international attention, being featured on Huntley Street and widely reviewed.

30 authors committed to the project, and bestselling Canadian author Janette Oke agreed to write the foreword. It is a mix of true stories, devotionals, and fiction stories.

Stay tuned on how Hot Apple Cider will play a role at our Fall Conference on October 3! (That’s only a month away folks!)

Check it out!

That’s Life! Communications – http://thatslifecommunications.com/2009/08/two-books-nominated/

Manziuk and Ryan Mysteries – http://manziukandryan.com/2009/08/20/shaded-light-nominated-for-clao-one-bookone-conference/

Blue Collar Writer – http://bluecollarwriter.com/books/claos-one-bookone-conference/