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On Wednesday April 24 at 10pm ET the CELA website will be unavailable for about 15 minutes for planned maintenance.
Showing 1 - 12 of 12 items
By Alexandra Popoff. 2010
As Leo Tolstoy's wife, Sophia Tolstoy experienced both glory and condemnation during their forty-eight-year marriage. Drawing on newly available archival…
material, including Sophia's unpublished memoir, Alexandra Popoff presents a dramatically different and accurate portrait of the woman and the marriage. Some descriptions of sex. c2010.By Alan D McMillan. 1988
A comprehensive overview of all the native groups of Canada -- Indian, Metis and Inuit. Describes their traditional ways of…
life from prehistoric times to the present issues of land claims and self-government. 1988.By Helen Forrester. 1979
The Forrester family are slowly winning their fight for survival, but for 14 year old Helen, the battle is with…
her parents: to be allowed to lead her own life, after the years of neglect and inadequate schooling while she cared for her six younger siblings. She struggles against illness, caused by severe malnutrition and dirt, and the selfish demands of her parents, with amazing courage and perseverance. Sequel to "By the waters of Liverpool" (DC29720), followed by "Lime Street at two" (DC29719). 1979. (Autobiography ; 3)By Lee Maracle. 1990
The majority of this book, originally published in the 1970s, is an account of the author's early years as a…
native woman in Vancouver, California and Toronto. Filled with anger, pain and apathy, she found the strength to turn her life around.By Louise de Kiriline Lawrence. 1987
Louise de Kiriline Lawrence describes her aristocratic Swedish childhood during the 1890s, her gruelling experiences as a Red Cross nurse,…
her passionate marriage to a Russian army officer, and her heartbreak during the Russian Revolution. 1987.By Margaret Wente. 2004
Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente traces her true-life coming-of-age as an expatriate American in suburban Toronto. She also comments,…
often comically, on such topics as Google, day spas, obesity, building your own home, and so-called Canadian royalty, chiefly Adrienne Clarkson and John Ralston Saul and Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel. 2004.By Cynthia J Faryon. 2004
Gwendolyn Cramer was one of 48,000 war brides transported to Canada between 1942 and 1947. Many of them were escorted…
across the ocean and handed over to their husbands with nothing more than a handshake and a cookbook. Following her heart to rural Saskatchewan, Gwen felt like a fish out of water, unable to milk a cow or cook on a wood stove, and then she had her in-laws to contend with. Some descriptions of violence. 2004.By M. G Vassanji. 2008
Author M. G. Vassanji was born in Africa, where his Indian grandparents had settled, and his relationship to India had…
been complex and contradictory. Vassanji describes his many visits to India, encompassing bustling cities, quiet landscapes, fantastic stories and fascinating characters, in this his part travelogue and description, part history and meditation, and above all a quest for a lost homeland. Some descriptions of violence. Winner of the 2009 Governor General's Literary Award for non-fiction. Canada Reads 2012. 2008.By Catherine Gildiner. 1999
A coming of age memoir about growing up in Lewiston, New York, in the 1950's. Though told with humour, the…
author underscores the dark side of what at first seems a Norman Rockwell existence. Her reminiscences include stories about her mother - with her intellectual preoccupations and aversion to housework and visiting neighbours, she is an emblem of prefeminist frustration, and Hollywood - Gildiner delivered sleeping pills to Marilyn Monroe on the set of Niagara. Strong language. Canada Reads 2012. 1999.By Lise Weil. 2018
When Lise Weil came out in 1976, lesbian desire was the pulsing center of an entire way of life, a…
culture, a movement. The air throbbed with possibility. But after fifteen years of torrid but ultimately failed relationships, Weil had to admit that desire was also a conduit for childhood wounds--and it tended to trump love, over and over again. When a friend invited her to attend a Zen retreat in the mid-'80s, she was desperate enough to say yes. Her first day of sitting zazen was mostly hell--but, smitten with the (female) roshi, she stuck with it. Ultimately, the dive into Zen practice became a turning point in her quest for love. 2018.By Holling Clancy Holling. 1980
A First Nations boy sets a foot-long canoe afloat on Ontario's Lake Nipigon. As the little dugout drifts through the…
Great Lakes to the ocean, strangers honor the message carved in the wood: "Please put me back in water. I am Paddle-to-the-Sea." For grades 3-6. Caldecott Honor Book. 1941By Sunshine Quem Tenasco. 2023
A magical mirror helps a young girl understand her true beauty in this new picture book from the creators of…
Nibi’s Water Song.When Challa comes home in tears after being teased about her smile, her mom gives her a special gift. It’s a magic mirror — shiny, beaded and beautiful — passed on from her mom, and from her djo djo before her.Challa’s mom tells her that when anyone looks into the mirror, they will see their true self. There’s just one rule: Everyone has to say what they see in the reflection.At first the mirror seems to work for everyone but her. Challa keeps looking and looking. The more beauty she sees in herself, the happier she feels, and the longer she looks into the mirror, the more beauty she sees, until finally Challa sees so much beauty, she can't contain her smile!This special story, from award-winning activist Sunshine Quem Tenasco and artist Chief Lady Bird, introduces readers to concepts of self-acceptance, self-empowerment, and recognition of the unique beauty that comes from within.