NL Reads

They say Dorthea’s family is cursed. The house built by Great-Great-Grandfather on the Southside Road has never been at peace. Old people say it lies on a fairy path—a gateway to the world of the Little Strangers. 

All Newfoundland is enthralled when Marconi arrives with a wireless telegraphy team. Dor takes on a new identity as newspaper errand boy Jack, and joins the famous experimenter on Signal Hill. Becoming Jack is a profound personal awakening. But Jack also discovers that Marconi has a secret mission: receiving the first wireless transatlantic radio signal. And this new technology is wreaking havoc on the Little Strangers. 

Then Dor’s mother disappears. Has she been kidnapped in revenge? Will Jack be forced to sabotage Marconi’s experiments to save her? 

Dancing between the hidden realm of fairylore and the dynamic world of early 20th-century scientific innovation, Urchin is an exuberant story of self-discovery.

*Governor General’s Literary Award for Young People’s Literature finalist, 2022*

(Source: Running the Goat)

Kate Story is a writer and theatre artist originally from Newfoundland, now living and working in Nogojiwanong/Peterborough, Ontario. She has had five novels published, winning the Sunburst Award’s Honourable Mention. Her short fiction has appeared in World Fantasy and Aurora Award-winning collections, been shortlisted for the CBC Literary Award, and appeared in Imaginarium 4: Best Canadian Speculative Writing. Upcoming, Running the Goat Books and Broadsides is publishing Kate’s newest YA fantasy novel Urchin, and Exile Editions is bringing out a collection of her short fiction Ferry Back the Gifts.

Kate creates performance works – both solo and cross-discipline collaborations with other artists – and writes plays. Nearly 30 performance works have been presented in Peterborough, Toronto, and St. John’s, including 8 plays and several writing/performance collaborations. She is currently workshopping her new scripts with actors, including “Adjust Your Mind.” Kate is a recipient of the Ontario Arts Foundation’s K.M. Hunter Artist Award for Theatre.

(Source: Author Website)