There’s a great Arthur Interview about the new Hidden Brook Press anthology, They Have To Take You In, with its gorgeous cover painting by Christiane Pflug. Here’s an excerpt:
On Friday, Sept. 12 The Theatre On King Street hosted a full house for the launch party of They Have To Take You In, a new anthology of short fiction on the theme of family released by Hidden Brook Press and raising money for the Dana Fund (a charity to “promote and support mental health recovery and wellness by working with individuals, families and community partners” according to their account on charity crowdfunding site canadahelps.
On hand was the anthology’s editor, Norwood-based author and editor Ursula Pflug.
Pflug has been writing for decades and her latest novel, Motion Sickness (illustrated by former Peterborough illustrator SK Dyment) was released by Toronto publisher Inanna.
Her previous books include the novelsGreen Music and The Alphabet Stones as well as collections After The Fires andHarvesting The Moon and she has also written non-fiction about books and arts and worked as an editor for The Peterborough Review, Takeout, The Link and a number of other clients.
When asked how she came to the project she replies “A couple of years ago Kingston poet Bruce Kauffmann edited an anthology for HBP entitled That Not Forgotten. It was a fundraiser for the renovations on the Purdy House in Prince Edward County with the goal of turning it into a writers’ residency. I met publisher Tai Grove at the launch and he asked me if I had any ideas for projects.
“As to the fundraiser aspect, I spoke to a few potential partners, but Gordon Langill is an old friend and he has a literary background so that gave him specific insight from the outset.
“The fact that Dana Tkachenko was a remarkable writer was very exciting. I’m really pleased that we were given permission to publish her work. By the way, the donation link to the Dana Fund can be found via the CMHA home page here.
They Have To Take You In, which gets its title from the Robert Frost poem, “The Death of the Hired Man” features selections from a wide variety of authors, says Pflug: “Our better known authors include Michelle Berry and Leanne Simpson from Peterborough, Linda Rogers and Silvia Moreno-Garcia from BC and Jan Thornhill from Havelock.
“Joe Davies, also from Peterborough, is widely published in the short story form. P.J. Thomas is author of several books including her remarkable novel about mental illness, Almost Up and Down.
“It was important to me to include writers who are just starting out as well as those who are established, so I’ve also included work by talented newcomers Georgia Fisher and Tapanga Koe among others.”
Read more here.