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You are invited!To the Book Launch for Lisa Martin’s spectacular debut A Story Can Be Told About Pain
Hosted by NeWest’s own, the award-winning Jennifer Bowering Delisle, we are thrilled to celebrate the launch of this breathtaking debut (part of our Nunatak First Fiction series) at the brand new Edmonton bookstore Porch Light Books.
Join us May 6th at 7:00pm for readings, discussions, and snacks!
About the Book:
When an accident upends their lives, fourteen-year-old Shiloh and her mother Ruth must leave their idyllic home to make a new life in the city. They find housing — through an evangelical church operating out of a strip mall — that backs onto the grounds of the abandoned Pacific Hospital for the Mind. Their lives begin to intersect with their new neighbours — Raymond, a handyman whose painful past is coming to a head; Dave, the disillusioned pastor looking for a new wife; and Madeleine, a 90-year-old former nurse who continues to make pilgrimages to the graves of the patients she once cared for. As Shiloh becomes involved with an undercurrent of teenagers who frequent the grounds of the ruined asylum, her rebellion and grief push her towards choices she can never take back. With evocative, lyrical prose reminiscent of Emily Ruskovich and Marilynne Robinson, A Story Can Be Told About Pain is a profound meditation on loss and survival, a novel that reminds us why we tell each other stories—to revel in the beauty of language, to find solace, and to boldly confront the truth in order to heal.
About the Author:
Lisa Martin is the author of two full-length collections of poetry, One Crow Sorrow (Brindle & Glass, 2008) and Believing is Not the Same as Being Saved (UAP, 2017). Her work has won a National Magazine Award for Personal Journalism and the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry, and she was a finalist for the Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize in 2018. Her latest book is Creative Writing in Post-Secondary Education: Practice, Pedagogy, and Research (Bloomsbury, 2025). She is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at MacEwan University.
NeWest Press wishes to acknowledge that the land on which we operate is Treaty 6 territory and a traditional meeting ground and home for many Indigenous Peoples, including Cree, Saulteaux, Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), Métis, and Nakota Sioux.
NeWest Press acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Status of Women of the Alberta Government, and the Edmonton Arts Council for support of our publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities.
Many thanks to our friends at Porch Light Books for working with us for this event.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
9867 89 Ave NW, Edmonton, AB T6E, Canada
