Chapters and The Atlantic Book Festival

June 10, 2007

Heather Reisman
CEO

Indigo Books & Music Inc.,
468 King Street West, Suite 500
Toronto, ON M5V 1L8

Dear Ms. Reisman:

I confess to being a fiction junkie. I buy novels by the armful. That being the case, I spend a lot of time in your stores. In short, I am the kind of consumer that you should love.

Imagine my dismay upon entering a Chapters book store today, mere weeks after the Atlantic Book Festival, to find that the winners of said Festival all but ignored. Perhaps this would have been merely a sad statement on the book business if I lived in Toronto or Vancouver, but I live in Halifax -- arguably the center of the Atlantic universe.

Was it naive of me to expect more from a company that claims to want to "create a true book lovers' haven -- a place to discover books, music and more that might, in the rush of life, have gone undiscovered. A place that reflects the best of a small proprietor-run shop bundled with the selection of a true emporium?"

I think not.

Let me paint you a picture of the ignoble way your company has treated these wonderful authors.

As I walked in the front doors, I was greeted by King for a Day, a display of books for dad. Well, fair enough. It is almost Father's Day, after all. To the left was a display called Outdoor Living. To the right was Oprah's pick, Middlesex, and Kaled Hosseini's newest release, A Thousand Splendid Suns.

Maybe the display behind that, I thought. But no. That was for New and Hot Fiction, which, apparently, the books that won the Atlantic Awards are not. Next were books on magic in the Waiting for Harry section. Then Heather's Pick's, sadly the winning or shortlisted books weren't there either. Halfway down the centre aisle was a display of Former Best Sellers, then Current Events. Located to the right of these were the Books with Buzz. There, I thought. That's were I'll find them. I was wrong again.

Behind the Books with Buzz was a section named Local Interest. Hmmm, I thought, that's usually local history, geography that sort of thing but I'll look. I scanned the front shelves, walked around to the back, scanning, scanning. And there, on the middle set of shelves at the bottom were 29 adult titles written by Atlantic authors. A few were even from the Festival Short List although one would have to be psychic to have known this as nothing, not a sign, not a sticker indicated which these were.

Still, I grabbed two and as I was on my way to the checkout, I passed a small table sandwiched between the tiny books -- you know the two-by-two-inch books that you might use as a stocking stuffer or in lieu of a card -- and a rack of magazines. The table held 14 titles from the Festival. The brochure from the Festival was in a basket on the floor underneath, such was the amount of space given to our local authors.

This, Ms. Reisman, is unacceptable.

It is a shame that Chapters hasn't done more to promote local writers by creating an eye-catching, and predominant display of all short-listed books.

I hope you will rectify this immediately.

Sincerely,

Colleen

For blog readers... here's a list of the winning books. (I assume Heather already has a list.)

Winners of the 2007 Atlantic Book Awards
Click HERE for details of the Awards Ceremony

Atlantic Poetry Prize - Steve McOrmond, Primer on the Hereafter (Wolsak & Wynn)

Best Atlantic Published Book - Bruno Bobak: The Full Palette, edited by Bernard Riordon, Goose Lane Editions

Booksellers’ Choice Award - Ami McKay, The Birth House (Knopf)

Ann Connor Brimer Children’s Literature Prize - Budge Wilson, Friendships (Penguin)

Dartmouth Book Award - Fiction - Linda Little, Scotch River (Penguin)

Dartmouth Book Award - Non-fiction - Keith McLaren, A Race for Real Sailors (Douglas & McIntyre)

Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize - Linda Little, Scotch River (Penguin)

Evelyn Richardson Prize for Non-fiction - Linden MacIntyre, Causeway: A Passage from Innocence (HarperCollins)

Margaret and John Savage First Book Award - John G. Langley, Steam Lion: A Biography of Samuel Cunard (Nimbus)

Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Illustration - Brenda Jones, Skunks for Breakfast, Nimbus (Lesley Choyce, author)

Mayor's Award for Excellence in Book Illustration* - Jeffrey C. Domm, Formac's Pocketguide to Fossils

Mayor's Award for Cultural Achievement in Literature - Sandra McIntyre, Managing Editor - Nimbus Publishing