Ben McNally survives G20 intact

Toronto’s Ben McNally Books, located near the intersection of Bay and Richmond streets, was caught up in the thick of the G20 mayhem over the weekend, with protesters and police camped out directly in front of the shop on several occasions. In anticipation of the violence, proprietor Ben McNally closed the store for the weekend and placed a hand-written sign in the window reading, “Have a peaceful weekend everybody.”

Though windows were smashed in a nearby Starbucks, a 7-11, and the Bay, McNally’s store managed to make it through unscathed. Maybe there were some dedicated book lovers among the rioters?

Ben McNally rejects CBA on parallel importation reform

As Q&Q reported on Friday, the Canadian Booksellers Association has asked the federal government to loosen the laws that limit imports of foreign books. However, not all independent booksellers agree that repealing the current restrictions on parallel importation would be a good thing. In a letter to Q&Q, veteran Toronto bookseller Ben McNally (of Ben McNally Books) expresses his opposition to such a move. The letter in its entirety appears below.

Dear Friends.

While there certainly is much precedent for the Canadian Booksellers Association to act in a short-sighted and self-defeating fashion, the news that the association has asked the Government of Canada to allow it to bypass Canadian agents and buy directly from the United States really has taken matters too far.

The Canadian book business is small and fragile. The only way it can hope to survive is for all the parties in it to recognize that we are in a partnership, not an antagonistic relationship. Anyone who thinks that the health of the publishing community is not the health of the bookselling community is seriously deluded.

When the dollar unexpectedly strengthened the last time we missed a glorious opportunity to stand together as an industry and explain to the people of Canada what a vital part of its culture we are, and that if we we’re to hope to maintain a publishing industry in this country, higher book prices are not only inevitable but desirable.

This time there is no excuse. If we turn our backs on our partners at this difficult time we will only have ourselves to blame if the Canadian publishing business withers on the vine.

In my opinion this is disgraceful behaviour. This is a selfish and short-sighted attempt to have the cake and eat it, and I am appalled that it has happened without consultation with the publishers, on whom we depend for all facets of our business.

The Canadian Booksellers Association does not speak for me. I have no wish to be a part of this organization.

ben mcnally

Ben McNally and wife safe after being rescued in Galapagos Islands

Bookstore owner Ben McNally and his wife Lynn were among the 16 Canadians who had to be rescued from a yacht in the Galapagos Islands on Wednesday night. According to the CBC, the boat hit a reef and ran aground. All of the passengers and crew were rescued and no injuries were reported.

Q&Q contacted McNally’s son Rupert, who works at Ben McNally Books on Bay Street in Toronto. “I spoke to him last night and he was laughing about the whole thing,” said Rupert. His stepmother Lynn was one of the Canadians who lost their passports during the rescue. They are waiting for faxed documents to come through so that they can fly home as soon as possible. They were originally scheduled to return from their vacation next Sunday, but cut the trip short due to the ordeal.

According to Rupert McNally, the alleged cause of the crash was a faulty lighthouse.

Event photos: Jon Turk (ka)yaks about his new book for Ben McNally’s The Fine Print

On Feb. 4, Ben McNally hosted author, adventurer, and semi-pro kayaker Jon Turk at the Dora Keogh in Toronto’s Danforth neighbourhood as part of his series The Fine Print. Turk was there to talk about his new book, The Raven’s Gift (St. Martin’s Press/H.B. Fenn and Company).

Turk regales the audience with tales of foiling a rifle-toting local with only a snowmobile, a cigarette, and a steely gaze. (All photos courtesy of The Fine Print/Ben McNally Books)

H.B. Fenn’s Tom Best, The Fine Print’s Holly Kent, Rupert McNally of Ben McNally Books, and Turk do an impromptu impression of Jean Chrétien’s famous “kitchen cabinet.” (I think Rupert’s playing Roy Romanow…)

Charles Taylor Prize nominees in the 11th hour

To kick off the event, Ben McNally introduced prize trustee Noreen Taylor, who established the prize to honour her late husband. “I’m going to try not to get really teary-eyed here, but this prize means a lot to me,” McNally said during the event. “When I split from my former employer – who will remain nameless – the Taylor Prize stood by me, and that really means a lot. The relationship I have with the trustees, and most specifically Noreen Taylor, are relationships that I cherish deeply. Charles Taylor himself was a customer of mine and I can think of no more fitting memorial to his extraordinary life than this prize and all that it stands for.” (Photos by Laura Godfrey)

Daniel O’Thunder to kick off National Post’s online book club

Earlier today, the folks at the National Post‘s books blog unveiled the inaugural selection for their newly launched virtual book club, known as The Afterword Reading Society. The chosen work is first-time B.C. novelist Ian Weir’s Daniel O’Thunder (Douglas & McIntyre), an off-kilter historical novel set in Victorian London about an evangelical boxer who challenges the devil to a round of bare-knuckle boxing (see Q&Q‘s review of Daniel O’Thunder).

Beginning on Feb. 2, a panel comprising Post staffers, as well as novelist Craig Davidson (author of the boxing novel The Fighter) and books blogger Erin Balser, will host weekly online discussions and live chats with the author. These virtual discussions will culminate on March 9 with a Q&A session with Weir at Ben McNally books in Toronto.