Urchin

I am thrilled to announce that my new book Urchin is out.

And we are holding two launches: one virtual, and one in-person at The Theatre on King in Peterborough/Nogojiwanong, Ontario.

5pm virtual launch: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf_fTvRmfB91Wtm8tiKHr5g

More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/298626542116605/?ref=newsfeed

7pm in person: Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/…/urchin-book-launch-tickets…

More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/411541853963539/?ref=newsfeed

Urchin has been listed in the Globe and Mail’s Children’s Book Gift Guide, and what wonderful company I am in!

“A breathtaking mix of Newfoundland fairy lore and history as readers follow non-binary Dor – spy, adventurer, gender questioner – out into the snowy streets of St. John’s in December, 1901, when Marconi has arrived in Newfoundland to receive the first wireless trans-Atlantic radio signal and Dor’s been hired to find out what Marconi is really up to. But things go awry when the Little Strangers, the fairies, kidnap Dor’s mother and history and magic get all tangled up in this compelling novel.”

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/…/article-books-are-a…/

CBC ranks it in 22 Canadian YA books to watch out for

https://www.cbc.ca/books/22-canadian-ya-books-to-watch-for-in-fall-2021-1.6152958

Kirkus Reviews calls it “a sprawling, lyrical historical fantasy”

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kate-story/urchin/

Writing titan Lisa Moore calls it

“…electric with magic, glittering language, and high-wire tension. Story’s protagonist, non-binary Dor, is a brave spy and adventurer who soars off the page, out the window, through the gloom to the wonderfully terrifying kingdom of the fairies, on a wild quest to save her mother who has been led astray by the little people. This masterful coming-of-age tale is alive with energy and insight, charged with passion and wit. Here’s a queer, ultra-modern, historic St. John’s, where scientific advancement smacks up against potent magic and ancient lore. Sparks fly. Prepare to be zapped with high voltage suspense and megawatts of fun. Prepare to be spellbound.”

And Caighlan Smith, author of the wonderful Children of Icarus, says:

“Witty, tender, and heartrending, Urchin is the compelling coming of age story of Dor, who must grapple with curses, sabotage, and their very own identity. Urchin beautifully blends history and fantasy, bringing both early 20th century Newfoundland and its rich fairy lore vividly to life. Protagonist Dor is perhaps the greatest treat of all; a clever, endearing underdog who you root for from start to finish. Kate Story handles Dor’s struggles with gender and sexuality with honesty and grace. A truly valuable novel and a must-read!”

Can’t make it to the in-person launch? Order Urchin through the publisher, Running the Goat Books and Broadsides https://runningthegoat.com/urchin/

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Canadian Review of Materials gives Urchin a holler!

Many thanks to Chris Laurie, outreach librarian at Winnipeg Public Library in Winnipeg, Manitoba, for this lovely review!

https://www.cmreviews.ca/node/3315

URCHIN a GG Finalist!

I never thought I’d see the day when a book featuring a misfit genderqueer kid from the Southside Road would be a finalist for a big award. So many people got this book to where it is, especially Marnie Parsons of the heroic Running the Goat Books and Broadsides. My heart overflows.

https://ggbooks.ca/#finalists

And thank you to regional journalists kawarthaNOW for this thoughtful article! (Which also plugs my upcoming one-person show “Anxiety,” about Beowulf, the English language, growing up the daughter of a Newfoundland lexicographer, and the rise of white supremacy. But it’s cheerful. In scattered places. And I am excited to perform it.) Independent artists are always doing the next thing. It’s how we roll.

But in the meantime, I am taking deep breaths of gratitude for the recognition Urchin has garnered, and for all those who have read it.

https://kawarthanow.com/2022/10/16/peterborough-writer-kate-storys-book-urchin-a-finalist-for-the-2022-governor-generals-literary-awards/

Anxiety

“Animate” goes to Germany!

A few years ago, editor and award-winning prolific poet and educator Bruce Meyer saw something in a short story of mine. He published “Animate” in CliFi: Canadian Tales of Climate Change (Exile Editions). A couple of years later, out of the blue, a person named Chris Salter contacted me:

“My name is Chris Salter. I work on large scale technology-based installations involving the senses and have training in theater directing/dramatic criticism and computer music.I discovered your wonderful short story Animate this past weekend (I especially like the Tarkovsky-esque quality of it) and would be interested to know if you might be interested in turning it into a theatrical script. The reason is that I’m working with the Kunstfest in Weimar Germany. This would be a rather unusual theater performance – it would be done using mixed reality (MR) techniques. I would like to commission you to write a short, paired down script adapted from Animate that we could then record with actors (in both English and German) and then use like a radio play for the live performance. The audience, two at a time, would move from one space to the next, simulating the journey that the two characters of Daniel and Laurie undertake. These technologies are all extremely new but we have development partners who are working on AR in Germany and Montreal and have the experience to do something with these new devices.”

Friends, it’s happening! In a few days I go to Germany to experience this short story as a radio play in three languages (and more to come, apparently); and as an ambitious immersive mixed-reality performance. I am beyond excited. The process of adaptation has been fascinating. I am very grateful to have a theatre background! Huge thank yous to director Ryan Kerr, theatre workshop actors Daniel Smith, Lindsay Unterlander, and Joe Davies, to my brother Simon Story and Mark O’Neill for capturing footage of the stunning landscape of Newfoundland’s Tablelands in Gros Morne Park, and of course, to Chris and the Animate team.

See you in Germany at the Kiunstfest Weimar! https://www.kunstfest-weimar.de/en/program?full=0&tx_jokunstfest_pi5%5Bcontroller%5D=Elements&tx_jokunstfest_pi5%5BjoDetailUid%5D=653&tx_jokunstfest_pi5%5BjoDetailView%5D=1&tx_jokunstfest_pi5%5BjoModeOverride%5D=1&cHash=048aa9694510295fbdfafd36eb338eba

Review of Urchin: The Children’s Bookroom

“…an original, interwoven story, present yet historic, realist yet fantastic, which feels so fractured and whole that its resonance with this fractured yet whole Covid-19 day and age will not disappear. This is not a book which will have only a year’s relevance. It feels so rooted in history and present in the soul that I think it has staying power. And I feel so grateful to have read it at a moment like this, when I needed someone to echo my own feelings: “What is this world? Where are we? Is my house talking around my ears?””

https://childrensbookroom.wordpress.com/2022/02/07/urchin/

Top Grade for Urchin

I am thrilled! Top Grade: CanLit for the Classroom has chosen Urchin as one of their 2022 selections! This is a great program, coordinated by the Association of Canadian Publishers’ Children’s Committee. Educators, please share with your colleagues! Let’s get Urchin into classrooms and school libraries! Look at the Young Adult section for a charming video describing the selections.

Big congratulations to Running the Goat, which has two titles featured: Urchin and Susan Flanagan’s wonderful The Degrees of Barley Lick!

https://kids.49thshelf.com/Top-Grade

Latest Urchin review!

Joan Sullivan reviews Urchin for Saltwire

Many thanks to the wonderful Joan Sullivan for this marvelous review! https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/lifestyles/joan-sullivan-kate-story-deftly-blends-historical-fiction-with-a-dash-of-the-fantastical-in-urchin-100672102/#.Yc8sCi0Y1zc.mailto

Order at Running the Goat Books and Broadsides https://runningthegoat.com/urchin-ebook/ And wishing a happy and healthy new year to all!

Atlantic Books Today reviews Urchin

I am so pleased by Lisa Doucet’s review of Urchin. Many thanks to her, and to Atlantic Books!

Evocative and atmospheric, this unique blend of history and fairy lore is utterly compelling. The prose is vivid and poetic…  The author adroitly weaves elements of local history and folklore into the tale in a way that is fresh and fascinating. Dor believes herself to be an abomination, and her struggle to accept herself is sensitively depicted and deeply resonant today.  

https://atlanticbooks.ca/stories/lisa-doucet-reviews-kate-storys-urchin/

Interview with CBC

So honoured by this wonderful article about Urchin. Read the interview with Lynette Adams here!

In Kate Story’s new novel Urchin, science can be magic, and a girl can be a boy

New YA novel mixes H.G. Wells and Guglielmo Marconi on the south side of St. John’s

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/urchin-kate-story-1.6264462

Urchin reading in St. John’s

How do you launch a children’s book? In a brewery, of course!

Urchin is now in the world!

Many thanks to Marnie Parsons, Running the Goat Books and Broadsides, and Susan Flanagan for her wonderful reading from her new book The Degrees of Barley Lick.