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All Lit Up Turns 10!
All Lit Up is ten! In internet years, we’re basically 100.
For our first double-digit year, we look back on some memorable All Lit Up moments over the past decade.
And, as a thank-you to all our readers, we’re taking 10% off books all weekend long with promo code alu10.
Read on for ten highlights from the past ten years.
1.
When we kicked off All Lit Up in 2014 with a big, fun launch party at The Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. Peek our Facebook album of our party highlights like it’s 2014 again.
Who doesn’t love a branded birthday cupcake?
2.
When Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith wrote this powerful essay in 2014, titled “Indigenous Literature: Diversity and Importance” on the influence and value of Indigenous literature and storytelling traditions for First Nations peoples. Christine’s essay highlights the work of other Indigenous writers, noting that “Indigenous literature can also be about empowerment because it reflects back an image of us.”
Read the full essay here.
3.
When multidisciplinary powerhouse Vivek Shraya detailed thirteen positive recommendations to publishers looking to diversify their presses in the wake of #OscarsSoWhite, titled”#PublishingSoWhite: 13 Ways to Diversify Your Press.” Many of these recommendations are in practice today, but a good reminder ten years later.
Check out the essay here.
4.
When we stealthily (and by stealthily we mean with a lot of oversight) put a book vending machine into Billy Bishop Airport in 2018, stacked with literary books. As the only vendor selling books in the airport at the time, CarryonBooks was a pit stop providing good reads to travellers—no one went bookless on our watch. CarryonBooks is gone now, but forever in our bookish hearts.
5.
When the brilliant Kai Cheng Thom wrote a piece, titled ” They Call Me Literary Fascism: Reflections of a Sensitivity Reader” on the essential work of sensitivity readers. Thom writes “Most important to me in my work as a sensitivity reader is that the process not become prescriptive or reactive, a quick fix to moral panic that tells the author what they can or cannot do in the name of political correctness.”
Read Kai’s essay here.
6.
When culture writer Peter Counter wrote the essay “Waiting for the Red Giant” which was later reworked into his second book How to Restore a Timeline. About all sorts of apocalyptic issues from COVID to climate crisis, to Jungi Ito, we loved this piece with the fire of a thousand suns. You can listen to Peter read the essay here, or read it for yourself here.
7.
When we launched ebooks for everyone, thanks to Canada Book Fund’s Accessible Digital Books Initiative. We successfully converted a whopping 600+ existing and new epub files from 23 Canadian literary presses into accessible formats for print-disabled readers in 2022, and continued to add to the collection in 2023.
Browse the collection here.
8.
When we celebrated over 40 authors in their hometowns with Homegrown: Locally Produced Reads in 2023, a roll call of exciting books from 40 Canadian indie publishers. Over six weeks, we highlighted authors with their new books in some of their favourite local spots. Starting September 19, Homegrown is back on All Lit Up with a fresh crop of new fall books from over 30 authors!
9.
When poetry reigned in April 2024 with “There’s a poem for that,” a series dedicated to put words to our feels. We shared interviews and poems from 22 poets with poems for “resisting redemption arcs,” “the diaspora,” “queering Catholicism,” and more. Find them all here.
10.
When we closed out 2022 and 2023 with Cozy Fest, the coziest virtual festival where pjs and hot drinks were encouraged to take in author readings from the comfort of your own home. Passages spoke to kindness, resilience, and hope—a warm and fuzzy way to close out the year. Stay tuned in December for another Cozy Fest!
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Whether you’ve been with us from day one or just discovered us, thank you for your readership and patronage—we couldn’t do it without you. Here’s to another decade of celebrating books from independent Canadian publishers!
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