Wednesday, October 2, 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Vancouver, BC—Greystone Kids, the new imprint from adult non-fiction publisher Greystone Books, is delighted to announce that Birdsong by award-winning Cree-Métis author, Julie Flett, has been chosen as a Finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Awards, Young People’s Literature—Illustrated Books.
The honour comes at a time when Birdsong has already received high praise from literary outlets across North America including School Library Journal, who championed the book as “simple and profound … a reminder that finding a new friend can make a new place feel like home” in their starred review. In three more starred reviews, Kirkus praised Birdsong as “emotionally stunning”; Quill & Quire said the book is “about embracing the many natural cycles that run through our lives,” and Publisher’s Weekly said: “Flett’s subtle, sensitive story delicately traces filaments of growth and loss through intergenerational friendship, art making, and changing moons and seasons.”
The book also received a prestigious Junior Library Guild Selection and positive reviews and mentions in Booklist, Horn Book, Book Riot, Baby Librarians, CBC Books, and more.
Birdsong is both authored and illustrated by Flett, and follows the story of a young girl named Katherena as she moves to a new home in the countryside, where she feels lonely and out-of-place. Soon, she meets an elderly neighbour, a ceramics artist named Agnes, and the pair form a friendship over shared passions: they create art together, spend time in nature, and Katherena shares Cree words with Agnes (the book includes a Cree glossary). Poetic, uplifting, and brimming with quiet wisdom, Birdsong offers a moving portrait of intergenerational friendship and is destined to become a Canadian classic.
About the Governor General’s Literary Awards
The Canada Council for the Arts is responsible for administering and promoting the Governor General’s Literary Awards, which recognize Canada’s best English and French books in 7 categories: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Drama, Young People’s Literature—Text, Young People’s Literature—Illustrated Books and Translation (from French to English and vice-versa). For more information, visit: ggbooks.ca/
About Julie Flett
Julie Flett, a Cree-Métis author, illustrator, and artist, has received numerous awards for her books, including a Governor General’s Award and the American Indian Library Association Award. Flett lives in Vancouver, Canada.
About Greystone Books
Greystone Books is a trade book publisher that focuses on high-quality non-fiction books about nature and the environment, science, and health, travel and adventure, sports, and social issues, as well as books that are exceptional literary expressions of personal passions. Greystone Books launched Greystone Kids, a dedicated children’s imprint, in fall of 2019.
For more information about Birdsong and Greystone Kids, visit: greystonekids.ca
For media inquiries, please contact: publicity@greystonebooks.com
