The Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal is a commemorative medal in honour of the 70th anniversary of Her late Majesty’s accession to the Throne as Queen of Canada. The medal is being awarded to 7,000 Albertans throughout 2022 in recognition of significant contributions to the province.
Freehand Books, the Calgary trade publisher that spun off from the academic press Broadview Books in 2007, has been sold. Glenn Rollans, a publishing veteran in Alberta and owner of the Edmonton higher-ed publisher Brush Education, bought Freehand from co-founder and former owner JoAnn McCaig.
JoAnn McCaig, owner of Calgary’s Shelf Life Books, would love readers to describe her store as whimsical and serendipitous. And indeed, the store should be bursting with Christmas whimsy right now. Customers would normally be enjoying cider and cookies, browsing the shelves for the perfect gifts. But instead, people are waiting outside to be among the few customers allowed in the store at once.
The owner of Freehand Books is selling the acclaimed Calgary-based independent publisher after purchasing Saskatoon-based Thistledown Press.
JoAnn McCaig said she has found a buyer for Freehand, which she created as a literary imprint of Broadview Press in 2007 before purchasing it outright in 2016. She did not name the buyer but said the deal should go through before the end of 2020 and that Freehand Books will continue much as it has.
By Li Robbins | Write. When I was a kid, my parents, avid readers, talked about opening up a bookstore in a small prairie town. The town was best known for car shows, power tobogganing, and a failing newspaper — possibly not the ideal marketplace. But many book lovers will relate. To be surrounded by books, talk books, make a living from books? The dream.
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JoAnn McCaig sells Calgary-based Freehand Books, purchases Saskatoon’s Thistledown Press
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