Geek Assassin to Premiere at the 2013 Nickel Film Festival

GEEK ASSASSIN will premiere at the 2013 Nickel Independent Film Festival in June. The film has been chosen as an official selection. Congratulations to the wonderful and astonishingly talented cast and crew.

Help Fund Post-Production, The Slattery Street Crockers, TV Pilot

Episode 1 of The Slattery Street Crockers has been shot and is in the can. The footage looks beautiful and the acting is remarkable.

Now, we need to raise a little more money for post-production (editing, sound mix, music, promotion, etc). Please help fund The Slattery Street Crockers and receive an online code to view sneak preview scenes or attend the world premiere (click the link below to help out).

Episode 1-- The Slattery Street Crockers

Principal Photography for The Slattery Street Crockers is complete. Editing got underway on April 2nd. The TV pilot should be completed by late summer.

Norm Hiscock (Parks & Recreation, King of the Hill, Saturday Night Live) is on board as consulting producer. He will also be a guest director when the series is picked up.

Documentary Film on Beaumont Hamel

Award-winning Filmmaker and Newfoundland Opera Company Join Ranks to Produce Documentary Film on Beaumont Hamel

"WAR & OPERA"

Kenneth J. Harvey and Island Horse Productions are pleased to announce that they have been contracted by Opera on the Avalon to document the development of the two act opera, Out of a Clear Sky, commissioned to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Beaumont Hamel.

The one-hour documentary, WAR & OPERA, will follow artistic director, Cheryl Hickman, and Opera on the Avalon as they work toward producing this bold dramatic endeavour and living memorial to the tragic, near annihilation of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment in the Battle of Beaumont Hamel.

The score for Out of a Clear Sky will be written by award winning composer John Estacio with libretto by John Murrell.

Out of a Clear Sky will focus on the history of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, culminating in the battle of Beaumont Hamel in 1916. The production will feature some of the best and brightest operatic stars from the province, as well as artists from Opera on the Avalon.

Kenneth J. Harvey will write and direct the documentary.

Cover, East Coast Living

Delighted to report that my photograph made the cover of the latest issue of East Coast Living. I did the interior shots, as well.  

TV Pilot Up and Running

Ecstatic to report that Norm Hiscock (Parks & Recreation, King of the Hill, Saturday Night Live) has signed on as consulting producer of my TV pilot, The Slattery Street Crockers. Another big announcement coming within days. Stayed tuned.

TIFF's Top Ten Shorts

IT'S A GIRL, the Super 8 film by Kenneth J. Harvey, has been invited to take part in the Toronto International Film Festival's-- Canada's Top Ten shorts. 100 short films from across Canada will compete for the Top Ten places.

 

Canada's Top Ten was established in 2001 by TIFF to honor excellence in short and feature length contemporary Canadian cinema.

 

The Top Ten will be chosen by a panel of filmmakers and industry professionals from across Canada and announced on December 4th.

'Winter' in Globe & Mail

'Winter,' a new short story by Kenneth J. Harvey in the Globe & Mail
click HERE to read the story

 

The Harvey Retaliation: A New Consumer Revenge Series

PREMIERES JUNE 19th

The Harvey Retaliation

Episode 1: Scotiabank Steals From Children

Click HERE to watch Episode 1

Save Canada

GEEK ASSASSIN, a new film by Kenneth J. Harvey

COMING SOON:

REMAINS, the new short film by Kenneth J. Harvey

View the film, by clicking these words

'box' a new short film by kenneth j. harvey

‎'box,' a new short film by kenneth j. harvey, is currently making the film festival circuit.

please check back for updates.

Thank you, Bob Rae, for Stealing My Plane Seat

Latest piece by Kenneth J. Harvey in the Globe & Mail

Click Here to Read

IT'S A GIRL, a new film by Kenneth J. Harvey

(photo by Roger Maunder)

'I'm 14 and I Hate the World' Wins at Atlantic Film Festival

Newfoundland author-turned-filmmaker Kenneth J. Harvey was one of the big winners at the 2011 Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, Canada, this past weekend.

Harvey's first short film, "I'm 14 and I Hate the World" won the Best Atlantic Short award sponsored by Kodak. The award came with a prize of $3,000 in film stock.

Over thirty short films were in the running for the award.

To date, "I'm 14 and I Hate the World" has been selected for ten film festivals around the world (Italy, Russia, India, South America, US and Canada) and has been nominated for two US-based Maverick Movie Awards for Best Screenplay and Best Performance (Song)

Reinventing the Rose in The National Post

To read the first two chapters of REINVENTING THE ROSE, please click here

"Profoundly Entertaining." - The National Post 

A gynecologist sues his artist girlfriend to terminate her pregnancy as "return of property."

Kenneth J. Harvey's new novel, Reinventing the Rose, has just been released and is already going into second printing. 

Order the novel by clicking on the cover below:

"Particularly Beautiful... Marvellous" -- The Chronicle Herald

Reinventing the Rose is "Particularly beautiful... Marvellous" - The Halifax Chronicle Herald. 


To read the first two chapters, click here 

"I'm 14 and I Hate the World" is Going to Russia

"I'm 14 and I Hate the World" is going to Russia. The film has been selected for the competition program by the programmers at the Deboshir Film Festival in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. This is the fourth film festival to accept the film.

Official Selection, Nickel Film Festival (Opening Night)

"I'm 14 and I Hate the World" has been chosen as an Official Selection of the 2011 Nickel Film Festival. The film will premiere opening night of the festival on June 21st.

  

This is Kenneth J. Harvey's first short film.

Coming Soon: A New Short Film by Kenneth J. Harvey

Reinventing the Rose in Canada

Kenneth J. Harvey's new novel, Reinventing the Rose has been bought by Dundurn Press, Canada's largest independent publisher. It will be released in Canada, June 2011.

To read the first two chapters, click here

Order the novel by clicking on the link below:

TOWN in 6th US paperback printing

* Now in its 6th Printing

U.S. Paperback Edition
The Town That Forgot How To Breathe

Picador USA


Order here: 

Reinventing the Rose, Bestseller in Russia

Kenneth J. Harvey's new novel, Reinventing the Rose, is a bestseller in Russia.

The novel concerns a pregnant artist whose gynecologist boyfriend takes her to court with the intention of forcing her to abort her fetus.

Running side by side with the main conflict is the minutely detailed, day by day, development of the embryo.  

The book has been the publisher's (Centrepolygraph) number two bestselling book for the past three months. Click here to view publisher's website

This marks the first time that a Canadian author's novel has been published in Russia before any other country.

This is Harvey's fifth novel to be published in Russian translation.

Blackstrap Hawco Wins 2010 Atlantic Canada Reads

Blackstrap Hawco has won the 2010 Atlantic Canada Reads competition.

"One of the quintessential CanLit texts." -Steven W. Beattie, That Shakespearean Rag

The other nominated books were:

February, Lisa Moore
Annabel, Kathleen Winter
The Republic of Nothing, Lesley Choyce
The Push & the Pull, Darryl Whetter
George & Rue, George Elliot Clarke

A Best Book of the Decade, 2000-2009

Blackstrap Hawco by Kenneth J. Harvey has been selected by Amazon.ca as one of the 50 Best Books of the Decade. 

A selection of other titles included on the list: 

* The Book of Negroes, Lawrence Hill 
* The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen 
* Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling  
* Life of Pi, Yann Martel
* Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
* The Road, Cormac McCarthy
* The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion
* Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky

A Best Book of the Decade

The Town that Forgot How to Breathe

has been named a
Best Book of the Decade

by The National Post, along with:

* Island: The Collected Stories by Alistair MacLeod:

* Life of Pi by Yann Martel

* Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje

* River of the Brokenhearted by David Adams Richards

* The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy.

Blackstrap Hawco Nominated for IMPAC

Blackstrap Hawco has been nominated
for the $160,000 International IMPAC
Dublin Literary Award

"Canadian original Kenneth J Harvey
should impress the judges with Blackstrap Hawco,
a daring extravaganza of voices about a
Newfoundland family."

-The Irish Times

Booklist Does Blackstrap, First US Review

-Booklist, November, 2009

Blackstrap Hawco.
Harvey, Kenneth J. (Author)
Nov 2009. 840 p. IPG/Harvill Seeker,
hardcover, $24.95. (9781846551543).

Harvey’s searing narrative encapsulates the brutal,
majestic history of Newfoundland by outlining the
events and experiences that shaped the characteristically
dismal history of the extended Hawco family.

Stretching back and forth through time as Blackstrap
details the often painful exploits and ordeals suffered
by the Hawco clan during the twentieth century, the
hapless narrator serves as both a pitiable victim of his
hardscrabble working-class circumstances and as a
noble symbol of endurance and tenacity.

Starkly elegant, the author’s prose mirrors the
desolate magnificence of the island itself. After years
of being overshadowed by its culturally overpowering
neighbor to the south, Canadian literature is finally coming
into its own and savvy readers are sitting up and taking
notice of writers like Harvey who mine uniquely
Canadian experiences to tremendous effect.

Two Kenneth J. Harvey Books in 100 Greatest

Inside
and

The Town That Forgot

How to Breathe

have been selected
for inclusion in

Atlantic Canada's
100 Greatest Books

THE TOWN in China

The Town That Forgot How to Breathe

has been released in China
by Beijing Hongwenguan

STALKERS Released in Russia

Centrepolygraph has released STALKERS in Russia

Shortlisted for Commonwealth Writers' Prize

BLACKSTRAP HAWCO by Newfoundland author Kenneth J. Harvey has been nominated for the international Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Best Book, Canada and Caribbean region).

The two regional winners (for Best Book and Best First Book) from Canada and the Caribbean will be announced on 11 March 2009.

The two overall winners, chosen by an international panel of six judges coming together in New Zealand, will be announced on 16 May at the Auckland Writers' and Readers Festival (AWRF).

The overall winner receives £10,000, and will take part in various international events, including a week-long celebration in New Zealand, and an audience with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace.

#1 Best Book Out of Canada, 2008

amazon.com (US) has selected
BLACKSTRAP HAWCO as the
#1 Best Book Out of Canada for 2008.


5 Best Books Out of Canada
This Year

01. Blackstrap Hawco, Kenneth J. Harvey
02. The Origin of Species, Nino Ricci
03. Cockroach, Rawi Hage
04. Through Black Spruce, Joseph Boyden
05. Dark Days, Kerry Pither

Published by:

First Sale in China for Harvey

The Town That Forgot How To Breathe

(originally published in Canada by Raincoast Books)

has sold in China.

The sale to Chinese publisher Beijing Hongwenguan was
negotiated by Harvey's Chinese agent Gray Tan
of The Grayhawk Agency.

The Town That Forgot How To Breathe has already been
published in over a dozen countries.

A Best Book of the Year-- The Globe & Mail

Blackstrap Hawco has been been selected as a Globe & Mail Top 100 Best Book of 2008

A Best Book of the Year-- Quill & Quire

Blackstrap Hawco has been named a Best Book of the Year by Quill & Quire Magazine.

Quill & Quire, Canada's book publishing magazine, selected 15 titles that "mattered most in 2008."

The announcement will be featured in the December, 2008 issue.

"An Instant Classic"- Ottawa XPress

"Easily the best book of the year and an instant classic, Kenneth J. Harvey's Blackstrap Hawco is a ferocious 800-plus-page beast that traces the history of the Hawco family, and with it Newfoundland's rough and tumble legacy. "

-Ottawa XPress
October 23, 2008

"Thrilling" - Edmonton Journal

"A great writer... One of the most successfully ambitious Canadian novels in recent memory... Dirt-under-the-fingernails details rest alongside grandly conceived allegory, and the result is often thrilling."

-The Edmonton Journal

_________________

BLACKSTRAP HAWCO

October 12, 2008

"Harvey does for Newfoundland what Faulkner did for the South -- he's turned it into a place of myth and mystery, if not a place you're likely to see in a tourist brochure."

"Of course, Newfoundland is already a place of myth and mystery to Canadians. Most of us have never been to The Rock, and our understanding of the place doesn't go much beyond the twin stereotypes of the jolly drunk and the unemployed fisherman. Harvey's novel may help to remedy that, and not just because it's almost entirely devoid of jollity. Fifteen years in the making, it's also one of the most successfully ambitious Canadian novels in recent memory."