McGilligan Books

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2007-01-17T13:36:00.000-08:00

Oni, the Haitian Sensation on the cover of the Ottawa Xpress

2006-12-18T08:11:00.000-08:00

Click here to see Oni the Haitian Sensation on the cover of the Ottawa Xpress!

From the article:

"Ghettostocracy is the essence of Oni. It's sexy, fierce and angrily witty. Whether taking on "politricks" (politics), "the ghettostocracy" (ghetto nobility) or the men that owe her child support, Oni pulls no punches and apologizes to no one."

The December 15th launch was a huge success.

A special message from Oni:

Hello everyone!

Thank you for making my first Ottawa
My first Ottawa Ghettostocracy book launch
a huge success!
Thank you to Adrian Harewood and to the CBC
for doing an amazing job!
Thank you to Ewart Walters and to the Spectrum
Ghettostocracy filled every seat in the house!
Get a copy of Ghettostocracy,and of the Bedside Booty Book
if you have not done so already!

The Ottawa Xpress wrote an amazing article on Ghettostocracy
Please check it out, add to the blog and show me some luv!
You can get your friends to do it too!
Right here: http://www.ottawaxpress.ca/
The link is to the right, the review is on the bottom left!

I need help booking a tour and getting Ghettostocracy into the universe!
Can anyone out there help me? I'm mobile ,an experienced workshop facilitator
I travel light, and I have TONS of good jokes to share with you!
HEEEELP!
Much love,
Happy Holidays!
Oni the Haitian Sensation
mesooni@yahoo.com

For more information: www.mesooni.com or www.mcgilliganbooks.com

McGilligan Books publishes Shirley Bear's Virgin Bones

2006-11-22T10:59:00.000-08:00

For Immediate Release November 22, 2006

McGilligan Books publishes Shirley Bear’s Virgin Bones

McGilligan Books announces the release of Virgin Bones, a life-spanning book of politics, poetry, art and cultural criticism by First Nation Elder and nationally-recognized visual artist, Shirley Bear.

Wise and stunning, Virgin Bones extends over a life, a generation and a nation, documenting Bear’s artistic, political and critical development from the sit-ins of the sixties to the stand-off at Oka. Creator of the much-coveted Shirley Bear Bear, she played a crucial role in First Nation women’s, art and cultural communities. Bear marched in the Tobique women’s trek to Ottawa that played a decisive role in passing Bill C-52, which returned status to a generation of First Nation women married to non-Aboriginal men. In 1989, she curated Changers: A Spiritual Renaissance, a national show of work by Aboriginal women artists, which toured all major galleries across Canada. Her art is now in collections across the country.

The 2002 recipient of the New Brunswick Arts Board’s Excellence in the Arts Award, Shirley Bear studied art in New Brunswick, New Hampshire, Boston, and Vancouver. She has worked extensively as a lecturer, performer, activist and curator including serving as Cultural Advisor to the British Columbia Institute of Technology, First Nations Education Advisor at Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design, and Resident Elder for First Nations House of Learning at UBC. Born in the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, she is an original member of the Wabnaki language group. After a decade in Vancouver, Shirley Bear recently returned to live at Tobique.

What’s the buzz about Virgin Bones?
“Resonant, meditative, tough, playful, passionate, entrancing, and wise, Bear’s voice gives generously without giving it all away. We have needed such a voice for a long time.” - Roy Miki

“Shirley Bear paints with language and speaks in the hot colours of conviction. Romantic and plain-spoken, argumentative and compassionate, a witness and protagonist, Bear delivers unflinching candour with disarming generosity and an invitation to join the dance and the revolution.” - Susan Crean

For review copies or to request an interview, contact Zoe Whittall, publicist, at zoe.whittall@gmail.com or Ann Decter at mcgilliganbooks@sympatico.ca.
To order, contact University of Toronto press distribution 1-800-565-9523.

First Nations/Art/Poetry 152pp Trade Paper $22.95
ISBN: 1-894692-16-0 Colour reproductions

McGilligan Books Launches Emergency Contact by Tara-Michelle Ziniuk

2006-11-20T17:34:00.000-08:00

For Immediate Release
November 20, 2006

McGilligan Books is pleased to announce the release of Emergency Contact, a sharply wrought collection of razor-edged poetry by performer and activist Tara-Michelle Ziniuk. With gritty potency, Ziniuk pens her poetic landscape through emotionally volatile territories of the heart. Reckoning with familial dysfunction, mental illness, poverty, addiction, gender and sexual politics, Ziniuk carves space out of unforgiving places. From truck stops to punk shows, hospital rooms to jail cells, Ziniuk traverses loss and pain, desire and possibility.

What people are saying:

"This is the kind of poetry I am grateful for…My heart is pressed up to the page reading
this." --Golda Fried, author of Nellcott is My Darling

"These are renegade missives punctuated with urgency and tension, brokenness and letting go, magic in the shadows of the streetlights." – Mattilda a.k.a. Matt Bernstein Sycamore, editor, Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity

Tara-Michelle Ziniuk is a Toronto writer, performer and activist, whose
publishing credits include Geeks, Misfits and Outlaws and the Lambda-Award winning Best Lesbian Erotica. Her work has appeared in THIS Magazine, Broken Pencil, Clamor, NOW Magazine, HOUR, $pread, and Herizons. She has staged her work across Ontario and Montreal, including Mayworks Festival of Working People in the Arts, Montreal's Festival of Anarchy and Ladyfest Toronto and Ottawa and has long been involved with CKLN Radio.

We would love to see you on Thursday November 30th at 7:00 pm at the Toronto Women's Bookstore * 73 Harbord Street * Free admission. Partially wheelchair accessible.

For review copies or to request an interview, please contact McGilligan Books, mcgilliganbooks@sympatico.ca

Ottawa Sensation Launches Ghettostocracy

2006-11-20T17:26:00.000-08:00

For Immediate Release
November 21, 2006

Canada’s Poetry Diva
Oni the Haitian Sensation launches
Ghettostocracy
Friday, December 15, 7:30 pm
NATIONAL LIBRARY & ARCHIVES
395 Wellington Street
Admission $7

“Poetry is the tool that set me free”
Oni the Haitian Sensation, Ghettostocracy

Ottawa, Canada - On December 15th, 2006, Ottawa spoken word sensation, ONI, launches her first book of poetry, Ghettostocracy, at the National Library. Collecting poems performed across Canada, the United States and in Europe, Ghettostocracy burns with lyrical brilliance and political integrity. Whether she’s taking down popular cultural icons, taking on womanhood or taking a fist to racism, Oni’s poetry delivers mind-blowing, poetic voyages from Ottawa to Haiti to South Central LA, debunking nationalistic clichés and “cultural wannabees” and firmly asserting her Canadianness.
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“Ghettostocracy is an unforgettable book by an inimitable, drop-dead gorgeous artiste. Look out! These poems will make your nostrils flare, your pulse quicken, and your brain smarter….”
- George Elliot Clarke, Governor-General’s Award Winner

“For close to two decades Oni has been liberating audiences with her firespitting lyrics. Now with Ghettostocracy she hits you like a tropical hurricane raining wind and fury. Read this collection and come face to face with your own naked, vulnerable, but powerful self.”
- Afua Cooper, 2006 Governor-General’s Award Nominee

About the author - Oni the Haitian Sensation has performed for audiences in Europe, Australia, Canada and the U.S. The first Canadian woman to tour the European Slam Poetry Circuit, she directed Canada's first National Poetry Slam and the Canadian Spoken Wordlympics, and curated the Ottawa International Writers Festival.

Media inquiries: Oni, the Haitian Sensation, mesooni@yahoo.com
Review copies: McGilligan Books, mcgilliganbooks@sympatico.ca