National Network for Equitable Library Service

Laced with humour and revelation, Anne Wheeler's creative non-fiction stories tell of her serendipitous journey in the seventies, when she broke with tradition and found her own way to becoming a filmmaker and raconteur.

The first English-language biography of one of the most renowned Italian climbers, Emilio Comici, who bagged over 200 first ascents in the Eastern Alps prior to his death at 39 years of age in 1940. Between 1925 and his death in 1940, Emilio Comici was the pre-eminent climber in the Eastern Alps, the hotbed of global rock climbing at that time.

A residential school survivor’s complicated path toward healing and love. Genocidal Love delves into the long-term effects of childhood trauma on those who attended residential school and demonstrates the power of story to help in recovery and healing. Presenting herself as 'Myrtle,' Bevann Fox recounts her early childhood filled with love and warmth on the First Nation reservation with her grandparents.

Ross Mackay, The Saga of a Brilliant Criminal Lawyer is great fit for people who love Perry Mason's courtroom drama and Better Call Saul's criminal subculture. Two murder trials were held in Toronto in the spring of 1962, only nineteen days apart. The accused man in each trial, one a pimp accused of stabbing a fellow pimp to death, the other a thief who killed a policeman in a shootout, were the last two men to be hanged in Canada. Toronto criminal lawyer Ross Mackay was the counsel for the accused in both trials, a mere thirty years old when he lost them both to the gallows.

Cheryl Foggo came of age during the 1960s in Calgary, a time when a Black family walking down the street still drew stares from everyone they passed. During her childhood, a community of extended family and friends, with roots in the Black migration of 1910 across the western provinces, worked together to provide intervals of respite from racism. But as an adolescent, Cheryl struggled to understand the negative attitudes towards Blackness she and her family encountered, and how she was made to feel an outsider in the only place she ever knew as home.

Celebrates the achievements of 100 remarkable Indigenous Albertans in the fields of art, literature, business, politics, sports, education, human rights and more. From world-renowned architect Douglas Cardinal, whose iconic designs are seen from Edmonton to Washington, DC, to Nellie Carlson, a tireless activist whose work has advanced the rights of Indigenous women, the contributions of Indigenous Peoples have greatly enriched the social, cultural and economic fabric of Alberta.

In The Other Madisons, Bettye Kearse'a descendant of an enslaved cookand, according to oral tradition, President James Madison'shares her family story and explores the issues of legacy, race, and the powerful consequences oftelling the whole truth. For thousands of years, West African griots (men) and griottes (women) have recited the stories of their people. Without this tradition Bettye Kearse would not have known that she is a descendant of President James Madison and his slave, and half-sister, Coreen. In 1990, Kearse became the eighth-generation griotte for herfamily.

When Sean Mallen finally landed his dream job, it fell on him like a ton of bricks. Not unlike the plaster in his crappy, overpriced London flat. The veteran journalist was ecstatic when he unexpectedly got the chance he'd always craved: to be a London-based foreign correspondent. It meant living in a great city and covering great events, starting with the Royal Wedding of William and Kate. Except: his tearful wife and six-year-old daughter hated the idea of uprooting their lives and moving to another country.

Bertha Wilson and Claire L'Heureux-Dubé were the first women judges on the Supreme Court of Canada. Their 1980s judicial appointments delighted feminists and shocked the legal establishment. Polar opposites in background and temperament, the two faced many identical challenges. Constance Backhouse's compelling narrative explores the sexist roadblocks both women faced in education, law practice, and in the courts. She profiles their different ways of coping, their landmark decisions for women's rights, and their less stellar records on race.

Since Joel tackles what happens when the unimaginable loss of a child becomes reality. Julie Schwartz introduces readers to her son Joel David Schwartz, who lived with Autism Spectrum Disorder and died by accidental overdose at age 25. Joel's unique cognition created situations where he baffled yet informed; infuriated yet endeared; lost and yet won. His mother describes how Joel was a "charming nerd", inviting us to get to know him in all his complicated detail.