Great Plains Press’s Yellow Dog imprint seeks non-fiction, creative non-fiction, and historical fiction submissions for a new middle-grade series that features individuals who have contributed to the history of Canada’s prairie provinces.
Your backdrop may be (for example) the Battle of Batoche in 1885, the formation of the Order of Sleeping Car Porters in 1817— the first Black labour union in North America—or the first major Alberta oil strike in 1947. It may be something we would prefer to turn away from, such as residential schools, Japanese internment placement, the KKK in Saskatchewan. Our shame, and how we emerge from it, is as much a part of what makes us who we are as our successes.
Our interest for this series is in a significant individual; the one with the first whisper, a first step, a tentative finger raised to answer a need. Your hero may be known, but we are also fiercely interested in the stories of the under-recognized, forgotten, ignored, perhaps marginalized.
How you tell their stories is up to you. It may be a straight-up biography, a creative recreation, or something else entirely.
This series will not follow a standard format but will celebrate and encourage the artistry and style of the writer. The common thread is truth—history, and (most important) your subject. Sing their stories to life in that energetic/mysterious/humorous way you do to capture the interest of middle grade readers. Aim for between 45 and 75 pages.
We are eager to hear from both experienced and emerging writers. Your query letter should include: your subject and their contribution to a moment in Canadian Prairies history; how this historical moment has impacted our Prairie/Canadian identity; what draws you to this story, and why you are the best person to tell it. Include a word/page count and sample chapter.
Submissions may be sent to info@greatplainspress.ca ATTN Anita Daher. All will be acknowledged. Authors should be prepared to submit a full manuscript on request.
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Echoes From Our Past aims to put Canadian history in young readers’ hands
Attention middle grade writers!
Great Plains Press’ Yellow Dog imprint seeks non-fiction book submissions for a new middle-grade series that features individuals who have contributed to the history of Canada’s prairie provinces.
Your backdrop may be (for example) the Battle of Batoche in 1885, the formation of the Order of Sleeping Car Porters in 1817— the first Black labour union in North America—or the first major Alberta oil strike in 1947. It may be something we would prefer to turn away from, such as residential schools, Japanese internment placement, the KKK in Saskatchewan. Our shame, and how we emerge from it, is as much a part of what makes us who we are as our successes.
Our interest for this series is in a significant individual; the one with the first whisper, a first step, a tentative finger raised to answer a need. Your hero may be known, but we are also fiercely interested in the stories of the under-recognized, forgotten, ignored, perhaps marginalized.
How you tell their stories is up to you. It may be a straight-up biography, a creative recreation, or something else entirely. This series will not follow a standard format but will celebrate and encourage the artistry and style of the writer. The common thread is truth—history, and (most important) your subject. Sing their stories to life in that energetic/mysterious/humorous way you do to capture the interest of middle grade readers.
We are eager to hear from both experienced and emerging writers. Your cover letter should include: your subject and their contribution to a moment in Canadian Prairies history; how this historical moment has impacted our Prairie/Canadian identity; what draws you to this story, and why you are the best person to tell it. Give us your plan—how the story will unfold. Include a sample chapter.
Submissions may be sent to info@greatplainspress.ca ATTN Anita Daher. All will be acknowledged. Authors should be prepared to submit a full manuscript on request.
The Manitoba Day Award is presented by the Association of Manitoba Archives and honours books which have utilized archives to help contribute to understanding the province’s history. The 2025 Finalists were: Darren Bernhardt for Prairie Oddities: Punkinhead, Peculiar Gravities and other Lesser Known Histories; Patricia Bovey for Western Voices in Canadian Art; John Einarson for Words and Music: The Stories Behind the Books; Gerald Friesen for The Honourable John Norquay: Indigenous Premier, Canadian Statesman; Alison Gillmor, Serena Keshavjee and Susan Algie for Henry Kalen: Photographer; Kimberly Moore and Janis Thiessen for mmm…Manitoba, The Stories Behind the Foods We Eat; Kevin Nikkel for Establishing Shots, An Oral History of the Winnipeg Film Group; Michael Parke-Taylor for Bertram Brooker: When We Awake!; David Pentland with H.C Wolfart and Will Oxford for Proto-Algonquian Dictionary: A Historical and Comparative Dictionary of the Algonquian Language; James Urry for On Stony Ground, Russländer Mennonites and the Rebuilding of Community in Grunthal; and Anton Wagner for The Spiritualist Prime Minister: Vol. I Mackenzie King and the New Revelation; and Vol. II Mackenzie King and His Mediums.
In reflecting upon his nomination, Darren said:
The vast and varied archives in Manitoba and across Canada are an incredibly invaluable resource of our rich history, and without them I would never be able to put these stories onto the pages of a book.
Congratulations to all of the 2025 nominees, and thank you to the Association of Manitoba Archives for all of their work to ensure Manitoba has access to these collections for years to come.
An author interview with Michel Durand-Wood about his new book, You’ll Pay For This, and how he keeps municipal finance fun
Great Plains Press’ Angeline Javier sat down with author Michel Durand-Wood to talk about his book and why understanding your city’s budget is the first step to building a better city!
Angeline: Can you tell us about The City Project series?
Michel: The city project is a series of books that are all meant to be an introduction to a different aspect of building a sustainable, thriving city.
And so each of the books are about 100 pages and are meant to be read in an afternoon. My book You’ll Pay for This is on municipal finance, and I promise it’s way more fun than it sounds.
It’s also super important because it is the basis for everything else, right? We can’t talk about any of the other things of building a city without knowing how we’re going to pay for it. So, my book is about how we can make sure that we have a financially sustainable city, in a way that’s super readable for just the average person.
It’s easy to have talks about these different subjects that go into a lot of different jargon and become hard to understand for the layperson. It’s a good introduction so that we can all sort of have these discussions about how we want our city to look.
Angeline: Why was it important for you to implement a comedic tone to your writing?
Michel: I have a blog that I’ve been writing for seven years now called Dear Winnipeg, and it is a blog about infrastructure and municipal finance.
And when I first started it, I really put a lot of thought into it. I was actually pretty inspired by people like Jon Stewart and The Daily Show, Bill Nye the Science Guy and Alton Brown with Good Eats. They all had these shows where, you know, they were giving you a lot of useful information, but it was done in a really entertaining way.
And I thought that was pretty important, especially for something like municipal finance, which, you know, people’s eyes glaze over as soon as you say the words.
For me, it was important to make it accessible, fun and engaging, and humor was a good way to do that. That’s also kind of my own personality too. So, it just fits nicely that way.
“People are naturally disarmed when you make them laugh. It makes them more open to receiving what you’re trying to tell them.”
Angeline: You used Winnipeg as a case study, but what do you hope readers from other provinces, states and cities take away from your book?
Michel: Yeah, of course I’m writing about Winnipeg. It’s where I live, and it’s what I know, deeply. But, the reality is, the concepts that I talk about are applicable to basically every city in North America. We’ve been growing our cities, pretty much identically, using the same types of patterns, using the same types of rules.
For the past 70 or 80 years, we just sort of copied off of each other. And so what Winnipeg is facing is not unique at all. Every city in North America is at a different stage of the same financial illness.
I’ve had many people already tell me on my blog that they’re reading about Winnipeg, but it really feels like they’re reading about their own city. I’m hoping that’ll be the same with the book, that people will read it and really pull away the same lessons that are applicable to their own places.
Angeline: What do you hope for with the future of The City Project?
Michel: I’m really hoping to touch on all the different aspects of building a prosperous city. There’s a lot that goes into it. People can get involved in making their city a better place, but they’re interested in different things and have different skill levels.
Angeline: Do you have any writing tips that you’d like to share?
Michel: The biggest one for me is setting deadlines. If I don’t have a deadline, for myself, I just will not get to it a lot. A lot of the time. And the other thing is just when it’s time to sit down and write, and just let it all out. Otherwise, it’s too easy to get locked up on a particular part of it.
But I’m new to this professional writing business, so. So I would say, do what works for you. It’s probably the best.
Angeline: As a first time author, what would you say to your younger self about your career now?
I’ve never considered myself a writer or an author, but, I mean, it’s clear that I am. This is my first book, but obviously I’ve been writing on my blog for a long time. I’ve also had writing published on several other outlets.
I’ve never identified with being a writer. I think my goal has always just been to educate people. So maybe I’m an educator who writes. And so with that, if I had to give my past self some advice, I think, oftentimes you start off with some goals in life or something you’re trying to achieve. Whether that’s helping the people in your city understand certain topics, you may need to pick up some skills that you didn’t have before, in order to achieve that.
Biologist Michel Leboeuf is once again a finalist for the Hubert-Reeves Prize for popular science!
The nominees for the Quebec’s Hubert-Reeves prize have been announced and we are thrilled to see Les chants perdus de la nature by Michel Leboeuf has made the short-list. Great Plains Press will publish the English translation, Lost Songs of Nature, this June.
Below, find our media release for Lost Songs Of Nature and reach out to our marketing director, Angeline, to arrange any interviews at marketing@greatplainspress.ca
Media Release
Biologist Michel LeBoeuf Explores the Disconnect of Humans and Nature Through Our Senses
This is an invitation to listen, to discover and rediscover the planet’s ecosystems—its forests, marshes, swamps, bogs and shorelines.
February 25, 2025 –Lost Songs of Nature is a nonfiction book by biologist and writer Michel Leboeuf. As the Editor-in-chief of the journal Nature sauvage for ten years, Michel has published some fifteen works and has earned two Hubert-Reeves awards, which honour the best popular science book in Quebec. Great Plains Press acquired rights to bring you an English translation of Lost Songs of Nature as part of their Spring 2025 season.
Drowned out by airplanes, cars, construction and other sound polluters, we often forget what nature actually sounds like. The birds, bodies of water, even the rustling trees and their importance are looked over. Translated by Neil Macmillan, Lost Songs of Nature delves into how different organisms connect with the environment through their own symphony. Referring to a vast number of species from across eastern North America, Leboeuf demonstrates how these symphonies can be altered through human interaction.
“As birdwatchers and nature lovers already know, there is a profound relationship between humans and Mother Earth,” says Catharina de Bakker, editorial director. “We’re thrilled to present Michel Leboeuf’s work exploring this theme to English-language readers. A scientist and nature writer, Leboeuf has written a meticulously researched and powerfully lyric elegy to humanity’s increasing disconnect from nature.”
“We know our readers share this passion and will be drawn to Lost Songs Of Nature, a text that is both well-researched while remaining accessible to all. We hope that readers across North America share this call to save nature’s symphony,” says Mel Marginet, publisher.
By explaining acoustic ecology through descriptive imagery and sounds, readers will find this book fascinating and approachable. The French to English translation of Lost Songs of Nature will extend Michel’s research to a broader audience. As a result, bringing attention to the sounds we often ignore and more importantly, how we can preserve them.
Lost Songs of Nature is available for pre-order now across North America!
An author interview with Lee Kvern about her new political thriller, Catch You On The Flipside
Great Plains Press’ Angeline Javier sat down with author Lee Kvern to talk about her new novel and top advice for new writers.
Angeline: What inspired you to write Catch You On The Flipside?
Lee: Catch You on The Flipside comes from my experience working in the casinos in my early 20s, for about a decade and a half. I always wanted to write about the casino, but I couldn’t find a hook. Then I started to think about some of the various stories and characters that I worked with at the casino, and it’s just an absolute goldmine.
I started thinking about some of the people that we used to hang out with, and one of the people that came to mind was a friend that immigrated from the Philippines, and we took the same blackjack course together.
We worked together for about two years and were good friends, we all went out for drinks and food and stuff like that. Then one day, just out of the blue, the Attorney General’s office in charge of gaming came in and escorted my friend out ofthe casino.
I’ve never seen him since that day. And of course, we were all shocked. We didn’t know what was going on. And then over the course of time, we started to find out the details. I can’t talk about it too much without giving the book away. But while I was worrying about fighting with my boyfriend at the time who was going to clean the bathtub, my friend was involved in something much more crucial. I think I’ll leave it at that. Yeah. That’s kind of the impetus for the book.
A: The book was inspired by personal experience, but also by historical fact. What did the research for this story look like?
L: This is the first book that I had to do heavy, heavy research on. So it’s unlike all my other books, which are kind of literary fiction. This one is based on historical fact– the People’s Power Movement that happened in the Philippines in 1983 and onward, when the people overthrew the Marcos government.
I had a friend that I was staying with in Vancouver, and we were staying with her, and her parents were living in the Philippines during the Marcos regime.
I interviewed them and I interviewed another couple that were politically active during that time. So, they were just a wealth of information by giving me the sensibility and the fears of the control that Marcos had over the country. And really what a phenomenal movement that the [People’s Power] was.
They also gave me some really awesome books from that period, written from eyewitnesses that were crucial in helping to write this, because of course, I knew nothing.
So the book is a real hybrid of fiction and historical events that actually took place.
This was quite funny when I was staying with my girlfriend in Vancouver, she was going water walking with their parents.
They don’t have that here in Alberta, I haven’t seen it much. But in B.C. it’s big. It’s just a big oval pool, about waist deep and it’s warm. We were water walking with their parents every day. And so once I’d finished writing the book, I asked her parents, my friend and the other couple if they would look at the manuscript and tell me what resonated.
So they looked at the manuscript the night before, and then we were water walking the next day. It was hysterical because there’s me, walking around the Oval and there’s like five people around me telling me all different things about what is working in the book and what is not working. It’s the best critique and critical reading I’ve ever had on a book. It was just in such an unorthodox place, and they were so wonderful and so generous in sharing their experience with me. That for me was the highlight of the whole book.
A: Can you talk about how Catch You On The Flipside is such a timely story right now?
L: Yeah, that’s so bang on. I mean, essentially what happened in the 80s with the People’s Power and the Marcos regime was just the boiling frog syndrome that started off with the seemingly democratic government and then that government started to take control of everything until you have martial law and a dictatorship.
And I mean, that’s so what’s going on right now? Certainly south of us, in the U.S. It’s important to be aware that it’s happened in history. In the Philippines, Marcos’ regime lasted 20 years, and it devastated the country.
I think it’s something we have to pay attention to and something that we have to get loud about. We have to stand up for ourselves as democratic people, before the water starts to boil.
That’s one of the other things that I really enjoyed about writing the book, is the sort of intersectionality of having friends from other countries and other political systems. I mean, how would you ever know that stuff unless you were hanging around with people from outside your own bubble?
A: What would you say to your younger self about your career now?
L: I laughed when you sent me that question because the idea of a career always brings to mind that you get paid for it, right?
I’ve been in this writing game for a long time, for about 30 years. And I guess it’s a career. But what I would tell my younger self is, and it took me a long time to learn this, is to get a regular job, and don’t try and make your art pay for it.
“Don’t try and commodify your art because it’s just so difficult. I mean, you’re always subsidizing yourself.”
Certainly my stress was taken away once I learned that. And so then when I came to my writing, I wasn’t under that pressure to commodify it or to make money from it. I was actually doing it because I wanted to do it and I love to do it.
A: Do you have any tips for writers?
L: This is all from my own experience, and every writer is going to tell you something different. For me, the most important thing was learning my craft.
“I think it’s a mistaken idea that just because you can write a letter, you can write a story.”
I learned that the hard way. I wrote for about ten years, without learning any craft, and just kept getting rejected over and over and over. It wasn’t until I got serious about it and decided I was going to start doing mentorship programs and taking courses and getting together with other writers and workshopping, I started to develop my craft in order to tell a story, to put what was in my head down on a page.
That made all the difference in the world. That’s when I started to get acceptances and published stories. I think that’s one of the biggest tips I would say. It was the same as art college. I mean, for four years, that’s what we did: we learned the craft of art. Writing is no different.
Meet Lee Kvern at Calgary’s WordFest on May 8th. Get your tickets!
The City Project breaks down the many hands working to make Winnipeg a better place, and how all cities can improve their future.
January, 2025 – The City Project, edited by Michel and Emma Durand-Wood, explores the various puzzle pieces that make up a city. Tackling topics like transit, finance, housing, social justice, urban trees and beyond, each book will explore a key aspect of the city, its current state of affairs and how we can make changes so that, 50 years from now, Winnipeg is a stronger place. Great Plains Press launches The City Project as part of their Spring 2025 season.
Winnipeg is the case study for The City Project. But, as anyone working to make their city a better place can tell you, all cities across North America have followed a similar pattern of development over the last 75 years. While Winnipeg is the focus of The City Project, the lessons learned will be universal.
“In Winnipeg, like most cities, we are guilty of spending a lot of time and energy complaining about what we don’t like. As we come to the end of our 150th anniversary year, we want to cast our eyes forward to the Winnipeg of 2074. What are all of the puzzle pieces that we need to shift to ensure the next generation of Winnipeggers inherit a more sustainable, healthy and happy city?” asks publisher Mel Marginet. “Emma and Michel do so much in their neighbourhood of Elmwood, and across the city, to change the conversation. They are curating a stellar list of writers to help all Winnipeggers to better understand this place, and how much potential we have to build a truly fantastic city.”
As series editors Michel and Emma Durand-Wood share
“A city is never finished: it’s an ongoing project. And it’s said that the most successful places are those built by many hands. Guided by these principles, our goal with this series is to inform and inspire you. But more importantly, whether you’re in Winnipeg or elsewhere, we want it to spur you to action. We all have a role to play in shaping the city we want, and we hope these books will help you find yours.”
Books in The City Project are approximately 100 pages, meant to be “read in one afternoon”. These books can be enjoyed by academics, but are meant to welcome all people into the conversation about building a better place, whether you live in Winnipeg or any city across North America. The writers share their expertise in plain language. Those whose curiosity is piqued will be invited to learn more as each writer will share their favourite books, podcasts and channels to learn more about each subject.
The series kicks off with two titles for Spring 2025:
How we can afford a great city for everyone, forever
Michel Durand-Wood
Cities provide valuable quality of life amenities like parks, pools and libraries. They’re also responsible for providing critical life-sustaining services, things like sanitation, public safety and clean drinking water. Vitally, they need to be able to do it not only today, but for generations to come. So how do we know if our city can afford to do this forever? And if not, what needs to change?
Reclaiming meeting places through acts of resistance and resurgence
Sadie Lavoie
In Decolonizing Public Places, Sadie Lavoie explores the history of Indigenous resistance within Winnipeg since Idle No More in 2012, and how that protest played a pivotal role in the Indigenous cultural resurgence of reclaiming space within the city. Lavoie uses their experience to uncover how Indigenous people used places and spaces to revive their decolonial narratives from Indigenous ways of living, knowing and being. As public space in Winnipeg is reclaimed, Lavoie discovers how this newfound inclusion is shaping relationships within Indigenous communities, as well as how this movement connects Indigenous nations with their co-existing treaty partners.
Both titles in The City Project are available for pre-order now!
Great Plains Press titles are distributed in the USA by IPG, and in Canada by PGC/Raincoast.
Are you interested in booking Michel, Emma or Sadie for an interview? Please contact Great Plains Press to arrange:
Shoppers save the GST on book purchases until February 15th thanks to the GST Holiday. Starting on Monday, January 20th you will save 40% off a wide-range of titles on our website.
In Canada, I LOVE TO READ month begins on February 1st! Get ready to love Canadian titles by stocking up on these reads at a fantastic price.
Able to pick up your books in Winnipeg? You will also save the shipping cost!
She Won The Vote For Women sheds light on Lillian Beynon Thomas, the woman working behind the headlines to secure the franchise
January 7, 2025 – When most Canadians think about the suffrage movement, Nellie McClung will inevitably spring to mind as a key player. The contributions of Lillian Beynon Thomas have received precious little attention … until now!
Law professor and historian Robert E. Hawkins has uncovered the story of Beynon Thomas and shares his research in this compelling biography. In She Won The Vote For Women, Hawkins describes how Lillian used her work as a journalist, playwright, and activist to conduct a campaign that succeeded where all others had failed. By connecting with women across Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Beynon Thomas was able to develop a broad-based movement that stood in contrast to the traditional tools of backroom, partisan politics.
Robert Hawkins will be in Winnipeg to launch the biography at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location on January 23rd at 7PM. The event is free to attend and hosted by the Council of Women of Winnipeg.
“Robert E. Hawkins rescues an important woman from the obscurity of history” says Dr. Raymond Blake, professor of history at the University of Regina. “In his fascinating account, he demonstrates clearly that Canada was made by women like Lillian Beynon Thomas who accepted no limits to their place in the emerging nation. Engaging, lucid, and informative, this book is a must read for all interested in understanding how Canada became the nation it is today. We need others to follow Hawkins’ fine example of finding unique nation-builders.”
Robert Hawkins launches She Won The Vote For Women in Winnipeg on Thursday, February 23rd at McNally Robinson Booksellers!
This event is free to attend
The event will also be livestreamed on McNally’s YouTube channel
Talking about climate change is a challenge in a world of political polarization and increasing anxiety. Four authors discuss their approach to the question: How do we talk about climate change?
We hear about the growing threat of climate change regularly in our day-to-day lives, be it forest fires, flooding, or oddly warm winters. At the same time, our systems are slow to change, with political polarization adding tension to an already complicated topic. For many, the situation can seem hopeless.
Artists are using their craft and creativity to tackle this challenging topic. On Wednesday, June 5th, four notable writers of various backgrounds and styles met online to engage in a conversation with each other and their audience to answer today’s pressing question: How do we talk about climate change?
Talking Climate is a free event open to all. Audience members need to register to receive the webinar login details. A recording of the event will be posted following the event.
