PSA: Bibliophoria is an insidious disease! Side effects may include obsessive acquisitiveness of books and literary paraphernalia, inability to sleep without finishing just ONE more chapter, and coveting thy neighbour’s books. Seek help for reading habits that require you to remortgage your house and/or sell a kidney.

bibliophoria /bib-lee-oh-FOHR-ee-uh/ noun that feeling of joy or intense excitement derived from reading books and/or experiencing the pleasures of the written word. Common causes include but are not limited to:

1) trading book recommendations with a fellow reader with similar tastes (as I did yesterday on my plane home from Baltimore);

2) discovering that the book recommended by a friend is exactly as good as they said it would be (as I recently discovered reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society);

3) contributing to the camaraderie and general bookish love pumped into the atmosphere by literary festivals large and small (as I experienced this September at the Kerrytown Book Festival, Word on the Street Toronto and the Baltimore Book Fest);

4) witnessing the awe-inspiring history of print through the beautiful machinery that made it possible (as did Tim, Elke and Chantel at the inaugural Howard Iron Works Print Expo and Book Fair); and

5) arriving home after an exhausting month filled of travel to discover that it is the perfect weather to snuggle up with a blanket and a good book (which I fully intend to do this weekend).

[Originated c. Oct. 2018. Attributed (probably) to the book-obsessed mind of Porcupette Steph]

What’s happening this month…

At PQL.

See What I’m Saying?, Jim Westergard’s fabulous collection of wood engravings illustrating the peculiarities of the English language, is finally in print, which means we’re chugging along with our Fall 2018 list. This month, we’ll be focusing our efforts on Overtime, Karl Kessler and Sunshine Chen’s look at the interesting everyday people who ply disappearing trades and cultural practices in the Waterloo Region of Ontario. It’s an eye-opening book, really, because it gives us so much insight into the ways that mechanization and “progress” have changed not only the way we build things, but also the way we do business and the way we participate in local social and cultural traditions.

In Toronto.

Richard Teleky, author of Ordinary Paradise, will be in Toronto this month to take part in a “Literary Table” event at the beautiful Arts and Letters Club of Toronto on October 16. Don’t miss this lunchtime event in an inspiring setting!

In Hamilton.

Fluke Print author Jeffery Donaldson will be participating in a panel discussion regarding dis/ability as part of CCENA’s Long Table Series. He will read from his work and talk about the participation of non-neurotypical artists in artistic communities. He will be joined by Ally Fleming, Shane Neilson as well as visual artist Fiona Kinsella and musical guests Dusty Micale and the ArtPop Ensemble. The event takes place on October 18 at the McMaster Centre for Continuing Education.

In Burlington.

Mark Frutkin will be in Burlington on October 26 to read from his hilarious and thought-provoking novel The Rising Tide. He’ll be joined at A Different Drummer Books by fellow author Gabriella Goliger.

In the world.

October 2 is Name Your Car Day. (My car’s name is Babycakes, just so you know.)

October 6 is World Card Making Day, which actually sounds really fun … and something you should totally do using all of the free vintage images available over at the Devil’s Artisan’s “Dingbats” resource page.

And, as you’ve no doubt guessed due to the beginning of this post, October 16 is Dictionary Day. Fun Fact: Did you know that I used to sit and page through the dictionary for fun. True story. I did that. Major book nerd alert!

From the porcupette’s corner…

Hello everyone! I feel like I’ve been neglecting you Quill fans of late. With so much time spent away from my desk this September, it has been hard to know whether I’m coming or going.

Truth be told, it’s a bit of a relief to get back to the routine and really put my nose to the grindstone when it comes to all those new projects we’ve been busy organizing. What does that mean for you? Well, I’m glad you asked! It means we’ll be revealing our all-new Spring 2019 line-up, so you can get a sense of what is coming up next from your friends here at PQL.

We’ll also be looking ahead to the future and examining at all of the wonderful submissions the writers among you have sent in for consideration. I can already tell there are some exciting manuscripts on my to-read list, and I’m looking forward to finding some talented new authors to add to our roster.

Thanks for clicking over, Quill fans! I hope I’ve given you a little insight into what we’ve been up to as well as what’s coming your way in the next few weeks. Be sure to check back here for updates on our progress.

Cheers, and happy reading,