We are Beautiful Words

To recognize the I read Canadian day of national literary celebration, this week we will be showcasing some of our recent or favourite Canadian reads. If you post a Canadian book or author use #ireadcanadian and tag us. We would love to give you a shout out on our story! * * * * * Canada’s poetry darling, Souvankham Thammavonga’s foray into prose in How to Pronounce Knife, is fierce! In fact, her debut collection of short stories won her the Giller Prize 2020! ... I love when poets venture into the world of fiction! There is a certain command of language and rhythm that the poet breathes into the story. Each word chosen wisely; each sentence crafted with care. In How to Pronounce Knife, Thammavongsa deftly renders intimate portraits of the everyday immigrant experience zooming in on singular moments of joy, love, sadness, and resilience in stories that flow effortlessly from one to the next. The title story, How to Pronounce Knife, grabbed me from the first few lines and is one of my favourites. It is based on a childhood experience of Thammavongsa, the Lao girl who struggled to pronounce ‘knife’ in school after her father tells her it is ‘k-nife.’ -hard ‘k. When corrected by her classmates and teacher, the girl, Joy, argues, refuses to believe them, and is promptly sent to the principal’s office. ...that single letter, out there alone, and in the front, was why she was in the office in the first place. Thammavongsa's collection of short stories tackles themes of immigration, alienation, displacement, assimilation, family, loss, love, aging, beauty, shame, classism, power and privilege. There is a lot of wisdom and acute observations on life packed into every story. If you are in a reading slump, this powerful collection is just the thing to grab your attention. The book is short, charming, doesn’t waste words, and leaves you yearning for more. I devoured this book in a couple of days. For those of you who don’t typically read short stories, I suggest giving this wonderful collection a try. QOTD: What short story collections have you read? Which ones did you love? - D #beautifulwords #bookbanter

February 17th is I READ CANADIAN DAY. This is a day dedicated to ‘reading Canadian’ and is recognized by schools, libraries and organizations to celebrate Canadian authors. Specifically on this day people are asked to read Canadian for 15 minutes and share their experience to celebrate Canadian literature and showcase its diversity and richness. We at Beautiful Words are more than happy to comply. Talk about books? Read for 15 minutes? We’ve got this! ... And to recognize this national day of literary celebration, for the rest of the week we will be showcasing some of our recent or favourite Canadian reads. If you post a Canadian book or author this week use #ireadcanadian and tag us. We would love to give you a shout out on our story! To start us off Beth is featuring the indomitable Margaret Atwood If I had an "autobuy genre it would be Canadian female authors. And Margaret Atwood is one of my all-time favourites. I used to think she was a bit of a snob (Sorry Peggy!!!) but since attending a few of her readings and meeting her on a train heading to the maritimes and again on a ferry to Pelee Island (I promise, I am not stalking her), I have learned that not only is she a genius but she is funny as hell too. It’s better that way, and I am a great proponent of better. In the absence of best. - The Testaments by Margaret Atwood If you haven’t read Margaret Atwood, I highly recommend you consider picking up one of her books. Her novels include such a range of genres - from apocalyptic to literary fiction and everything in between - there is sure to be something for everyone and I haven’t even mentioned her nonfiction or works of poetry! - B QOTD: Who is your autobuy author? Or who have you met? Swipe to see Beth meeting Margaret Atwood in 2003!

We are asleep until we fall in Love! - Leo Tolstoy Theme: Love We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do a Beautiful Words themed post using quotes that inspire and encourage us to reflect on the ways we love. After all, we are all a little more inclined to stop and think about the people we hold dear to our hearts on Valentine’s Day. ... The quotes featured are from the wonderful novels: Magic Lessons, The Book of Longings, A Man Called Ove, and a collection of poems appropriately named, Love Poems. QOTD: Which quote about love do you find most inspiring? #beautifulwords #bookbanter

Happy Galentine’s Day bookstagrammers! February 13th, in case you haven’t watched Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation, is a day to celebrate the joys of female friendship! Hopefully, you will be able to connect, either virtually or socially-distanced, with some of your female friends! We saw the #heartstackchallenge and thought it would be a good way to recognize Galentine’s Day as it is a post that is full of heart! We know there is not much time to get... a heart stack posted for Valentine’s Day, but of course heart images can be posted at any time. We’ve tagged some of our gal friends, but as always, if you are reading this consider yourself tagged! We hope that your day is full of love and friendship. QOTD: If you could, what would be an ideal way to celebrate Galentine’s Day? #beautifulwords #bookbanter

We are excited to announce our very first Beautiful Words REP SEARCH!! THIS IS MORE THAN JUST A BOOKMARK! We are looking for passionate, creative & enthusiastic bookstagrammers who are as excited about reading & talking about books as we are! ... We are interested in having a range of brand reps (3-5) including solo, book club, buddy, parent bookstagram accounts who will work with us for March & April 2021! Our goal is to have reps share how the BW bookmarks have changed or improved: how you think about a book/reading your book club/buddy read discussions how your children engage with & discuss books etc What you will receive: one of each of our 11 bookmarks a 10% follower discount code and a 20% personal discount code first access to new bookmark releases, patterns & new BW products If you are chosen, you will: Post at least 4 fab photos & 1 story/ month about our bookmarks, as well as share any of our sales news or announcements Tag us in each post using @wearebeautifulwords & #BWbookmarks & include your discount code in the post Indicate that you are a rep & include your discount code in your profile. Agree that we can use your photos & comments for marketing, our social media pages, and our website. We will always credit your photos. Here's how you can enter: Follow @wearebeautifulwords Like and save this post Post a collage of 3-5 recent pics from your IG page that represent your style and include this rep search pic as one of the images Tell us about yourself and why you love discussing books or the benefits of buddy reads/book clubs. Remember to tag us! Tag some book besties! Please enter by Feb 19th. Our new Reps will get a direct message. We cannot wait to work with you!! Best of luck!!