WHO ARE THE EMOTIRATTS?

They are five Canadian books produced by Canadian authors and Canadian publishers. The books “Emotionally Rattle You.” They are:

Abundance of the Infinite, by Christopher Canniff, Quattro Books Inc., 2012

Bridge in the Rain, by Bianca Lakoseljac, Guernica Editions Inc., 2012

Broad Winged Hawk, by Albert Dumont, Turtle Moons Press, 2007

The Alphabet Stones, by Ursula Pflug, Blue Denim Press, 2013 (Note that the book launch is at he Rivoli pub on Sunday September 29th 2013 at 3pm — more details to follow.)

They Never Told Me — And Other Stories, by Austin Clarke, Exile Editions Co, 2013 (forthcoming, with the book launch in November — more details to follow.)

WHAT WILL WE BE DOING WITH THE EMOTIRATTS?

We will read them, talk about them, research related content – “play” with these books that twist and delight our emotions.

This is a two year span project that requires cooperation among students, faculty, authors/editors and publishers. The first piece is to search the web for relevant materials, and scan our courses. Then, we will create a web site for each book, and contests for York and Seneca students to submit digital work.

Finally, for each book we will be preparing multimedia web sites so that we can think about each book and continue to have fun with it — listen to, play with and look at other work by our students that are about the book.

The York University Book Store will sell the books, and copies will also be available at the York University library. The Book Store has agreed to work with us to host student competitions and publish and sell digital work produced that is approved by the copyright holders of the books so that our students’ work can be showcased and potentially sold.

As part of the project, we will prepare articles and an Emotiratts Guide so that educators, authors, students and others can share our experiences and replicate or use our experiences as a base to move forward from. We will also share our web site code (public portions).

WHY BOTHER?

There are many potential benefits to this project:

• It is fun to read, think, question, laugh, cry and shudder with books or artwork
• Students learn skills they can use on-the-job or for their own business
• Students and educators work with and learn about Canadian authors and publishers
• We showcase the work of our students and encourage collaboration among students, faculty and others.
• The idea is to earn money for our students, authors, publishers, and the University, by increasing the visibility of the books and new, related, digital products.

LET’S CREATE SOMETHING NEW TOGETHER and have fun while doing it.