Canterbury Book Store - Doors closed, but deliveries open!

We'll bring the books to you

Although our doors are closed, we are still going to try and do our best to get books into your hands. We can still take orders over the phone (906-786-0751), by email, or via our inquiry form on our website.

We're still working on updating our inventory, but you can browse the latest version of our inventory spreadsheet (some errors probable!) by visiting this page on our website. You're also welcome, as always, to just call or email and ask if we have something in.

For payment, we can accept credit and debit card payment over the phone.

For delivery, a couple of options:

• For books we already have in stock, or for books that we order for you normally (we send out a bulk order roughly every Saturday, and it arrives at our store roughly the following Thursday), we can deliver them directly to your doorstep if you live in the greater Escanaba-Gladstone-Rapid River-Bark River area. We're happy to offer this type of delivery for free, if it gives you one less excuse to leave your house

• For those outside the area, or simply for those who might want their book a little quicker, for a $3 shipping fee, we can have a book you ordered shipped directly to you via the US Postal Service.

Maybe a broadcast of the Canterbury reading passages from our favorite books in the near future?

Certainly, the internet is already full of amusements for everyone, but if I get stir-crazy while doing inventory by myself in an empty store, I might break out the old microphone and start reading passages from some of our favorite books, as much for my own amusement as any else's. For those interested in tuning in, we'll give everyone at least an hour's notice via email and Facebook. And we'll probably just broadcast audio and no video, to go gentle on our overworked internet tubes. But during these unusual times, it seems like another good way of bringing books into people's lives.

Much love to you all, stay safe and healthy, and we look forward to seeing you in person soon!

Reminder that we can ship direct to your door most any in-print book

A good time for a reminder about a service we've always been able to offer: we can process your payment over the phone and ship books straight to your door ($3 shipping fee). Whether you can't leave the house, don't want to, or just love receiving packages, we're here for you.

But our store will also remain open normally until further notice, as there are never more than 5 people in here at a time anyway 😅

Happy St. Urho Day!

Learning--Now available in take-out from Canterbury Bookstore!
Also, Bergy Bread Fans, Mike will be suspending bread making for three weeks.

Will keep you posted.
Have a Happy St. Urho's Day and enjoy your handwashing!

Signed copy of Erdrich's 'The Night Watchman' available at the store!

We brought back a little gift from Minneapolis: a signed coy of Erdrich's latest book, 'The Night Watchman'! As you might expect, we have a limited number (i.e., one) on a first come, first serve basis, so if you're a fan of Erdrich like us, don't wait!

Pretty Canterbury Picture

Cindy Bender works wonders with a camera!

New titles just released at at the store!

Looking for something to grip your heart besides the Corona virus and politics? Happy New Release Tuesday to the rescue!! Take one of these new titles out for a spin.

Berg Bread at the Canterbury Wednesdays and Thursdays!

We’ve partnered with local baker Eric Berg to offer a selection of his fresh-baked breads at the Canterbury Book Store! Stop by Wednesday and Thursday (and early Friday) every week to check out the baked goods - he has a slightly different selection every week.

And I can personally attest that it is some of the best bread I’ve had!

Gerry Nelson book signing on Sat. Dec 21st!

Come join us at the Canterbury on Saturday, Dec. 21st from 11am-1pm as we host local author and poet Gerry Nelson! He’ll be signing copies of his latest collection of poems The Contemplations of a Minnesota Farm Boy, as well as having some of his previous works on him as well.

So come on by, stop in for a chat with Gerry, and check out his latest writings!

Holiday Hours and closings schedule

With Christmas and New Year’s Day approaching, we’ll be modifying the days we’ll be open and closed to navigate around them.

Tues, Dec 24th: We’ll be open our normal hours Christmas Eve!

Wed, Dec. 25th: We will be closed Christmas Day

Thur, Dec. 26th: We’ll be closed the Day after Christmas

Tues, Dec 31st: We’ll be closed New Year’s Eve

Wed., Jan 1st: We’ll be closed New Year’s Day

Otherwise, we’ll be keeping to our normal hours of Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm, and Saturday 11am-4pm.

Merry Christmas!

Bergy Bread at Canterbury Book Store on Wednesdays

Man cannot live on bread alone... but we sure do live better with it!

Canterbury Book Store will be offering some space for local baker Eric Berg’s “Bergy Bread” products. We will be a drop-off and pick-up location for freshly baked Bergy Bread each Wednesday starting at noon, from this week until the Farmer’s Market starts up again in the spring.

Baguettes are $3, sourdough batards, swirled rye, and rye boules are $5.  Bread purchases are by a “cigar box honor system.”  Please bring correct change – checks up to $20 are accepted.  Enjoy these long winter evenings with a new book, a cup of tea or coffee, and a slice of buttered Bergy Bread!

Author Martha Bloomfield speaking at the Escanaba Public Library Oct. 30 at 6:30pm

Please join us at the Escanaba Public Library on Wednesday, Oct. 30th starting at 6:30pm for a talk by visiting scholar and author Martha Bloomfield! We are lucky to have such a distinguished researcher stopping by Escanaba, and the talk will be one you don’t want to miss.

Bloomfield has a long history of scholarship on cultural and sociological topics: she is a retired curator from the Michigan Historical Museum, has taught journalism at MSU, organized international symposiums, and written several books on immigrants and migrants, including her latest title, Romanies in Michigan, which she will have copies of for sale after the talk.

For further information, please see the below biography that Bloomfield has kindly provided us:

’As an award-winning author, oral historian, independent scholar and photographer, I have published several books about immigrants, migrants and the formerly homeless. In an effort to help dissipate prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination and foster civic engagement, social responsibility and justice, I share peoples’ stories through their own voices, family historical documents, photographs and artifacts in the greater social/historical context for others to learn.

            ‘My newest book, Romanies in Michigan just came out this July 2019 (Michigan State University Press), is groundbreaking as it is the first book in the United States and specifically in Michigan to include oral histories of Romanies. http://msupress.org/books/book/?id=50-1D0-459A My first book, The Sweetness of Freedom, Stories of Immigrants (co-author, Steve Ostrander) won a national IPPY Award, an Independent Publisher Book Award, Silver Medal for Multicultural Adult Non-Fiction and a Michigan Notable Book Award, 2011. My Eyes Feel They Need to Cry, Stories from the Formerly Homeless is also based on oral histories as well as Hmong Americans in Michigan, a first book about Hmong people in Michigan. I have given talks at Schuler Books in East Lansing and Grand Rapids.

      ‘In 2010, I retired from the Michigan Historical Museum (Michigan’s state museum) to devote my time to writing. While there, I conducted oral histories of immigrants and migrants. I also taught classes and workshops to school groups and marginalized people including homeless children, formerly homeless adults and adjudicated teenagers, on how to discover their individual and family histories and stories and those of others. I curated an exhibit on Michigan’s immigrants, developed virtual gallery tours, wrote national and state grants, developed educational materials for print and web media, created public history programs, co-developed and implemented a Professional Museum Internship Program for university students, and painted and designed pictures for posters and notecards.      

      ‘Over the years, I have presented papers at the Michigan Oral History Association meetings, the Oral History Association (national) meetings and the International Oral History Association meeting in Prague, the Czech Republic (2010). I organized a symposium on homelessness with Czech colleagues sponsored by American Embassy in Prague and also organized a symposium with Bulgarian colleagues on “Civic Engagement, Social Responsibility and Justice,” in 2013, sponsored by the American Embassy in Sofia. I conducted oral histories of elderly Jews who survived the Holocaust in Bulgaria.

‘I was an adjunct writing instructor in the School or Journalism, Michigan State University
(1983-86) and in the English Department, University of Pittsburgh (1982-83).

     ‘I have traveled extensively in Ethiopia, Israel, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Bosnia, Croatia and Western Europe. I have a master’s degree in Journalism from Michigan State University (1976). My master’s thesis was on Three French Clandestine Newspapers from World War II. I did my undergraduate studies at Bennington College Vermont (1969‑72) and the Haile Selassie I University in Addis Ababa Ethiopia (now the Addis Ababa University) (1972‑74) with a major in English and a minor in French. My bachelor’s thesis was on L. S. Senghor’s Imagery: An Expression of His Negritude, which was published in Hommage A Leopold Sedar Senghor, homme de culture, by Presence Africaine (Paris, 1972) (under my former name: Martha Climo)

      ‘Please see the Michigan State University Press website to learn more about my books: http://msupress.org/books/contributor/?id=Martha+Aladjem+Bloomfield  As part of my book presentations, I invite my interviewees to participate.  

‘I am a member of the Michigan Humanities Council Touring Directory. https://touring.michiganhumanities.org/project/martha-bloomfield-author-stories-of-immigrants/ ‘

Escanaba Public Library promotion at the Canterbury!

The ever-lovely Escanaba Public Library is encouraging people to sign up for a credit card this month, and we are one of the local businesses lined up to support them!

For rest of the month, if you present your library card at checkout, we’ll give you 10% off your purchase! We’re all for all thing literary, so this is a natural partner for us. We are so fortunate to have such an excellent library in town.

Also checkout the similar promotions that the Daily Press and For the Love of Cupcakes are running; they are some class acts, they are.

So get out there, sign up for a card, checkout some books, and then come to our store and buy some more books!

Aug. 17 at 11am: Book-signing with "A Lumberman's Daughter Comes of Age" author Patricia McMartin

Come join us at the Canterbury on Saturday, Aug. 17th from 11am-2pm as we host Patricia Schaut McMartin for a book-signing of her memoir: A Lumberman’s Daughter Comes of Age in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. McMartin recounts her time growing up in Delta County in the 1930s and 40s, and this memoir is perfect for anyone with an interest in hearing a first-hand account of what the area was like eight decades ago. This book-signing is an excellent opportunity to hear more from McMartin about her life and the history of the area.

From McMartin’s press release about her book:

A Lumberman’s Daughter Comes of Age in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula: A Memoir by Patricia Schaut McMartin is a firsthand account of growing up during the depression years as the eldest child in a family of fourteen children. The author’s description of everyday routines at her grandparents’ farm home in Labranche, and of her early childhood “back in the woods” of Northland, Michigan, transport the reader back to a time when the lumbering industry was past its heyday, and survival depended on resourcefulness, persistence, and constant hard work. McMartin describes her love of learning and her experiences transitioning from homeschooling to a one-room schoolhouse, and to public and parochial schools in Escanaba. The author’s heartfelt vignettes bring the characters in her narrative to life. Her descriptions of college and early married life provide glimpses of a time when Detroit still had streetcars; when answering a telephone call meant rushing up several flights of stairs; and when professional women were expected to stop working once they were “showing”. This memoir is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the history of Detroit, and the role of women in the history and culture of America.

About the Author: Patricia Schaut McMartin was born in Escanaba, Michigan, in 1930, and grew up in logging camps and rural small towns near Escanaba. After graduating from Wayne State College of Pharmacy in 1951, she began her career in retail pharmacy in Detroit. Pat and her husband, Chuck McMartin, founded the Essexville-Hampton Observer, a weekly newspaper that was printed in Sebewaing, Michigan, and distributed out of their Essexville home between 1965 and 1971. They also ran a photography school for several summers on the Stonington Peninsula, on Little Bay de Noc in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Local Author Day - Aug 3, from 11am-2pm - 13 authors and counting!

Come one, come all! Saturday, August 3rd from 11am-2pm at the Canterbury Book Store, we’ll be hosting a humongous local author day! We have 13 authors signed up from the Central UP, together covering a wide array of topics and genres. Whatever your tastes, there is sure to be something one of our local authors have written that would interest you.

The current list of authors attending include:
Dianne M Connor
Larry Farley
John King
Nino Green
Mollie Larson
Jane Mudrovich Kidder
Richard P. Smith - richardpsmith.com
Gretchen Preston - prestonhillpress.com
Deborah Frontiera - www.authorsden.com/deborahkfrontiera
Mike Classen - www.mikelclassen.com
John C. Hager - jchager.com
Joan Rust Paulette Nobel - http://PauletteNoble.kadythe.com
Ann Dallman

If the weather goes well, expect to see us all outside on the sidewalk! And if it rains, well, we’ll be running an experiment to see how many people we can cram on the first floor of the store!

So on your way to the Arts and Crafts Fair in Ludington Park on Aug. 3rd, stop on by the Canterbury first to look at some locally crafted books!

(And if you are a local author who would like to participate, while all the inside spaces are already reserved, we should still have plenty of outside space to set up a table {provided it doesn’t rain}. Get in touch with us through the “Contact” tab at the top of our website.)

Presentation and book signing with author Trilby Plants, July 10, 4-6pm

Come join us at the Canterbury on Wednesday, July 10 starting at 4pm to meet author Trilby Plants and hear her speak on the process of writing. Plants has written children’s books, speculative fiction, and, with her latest work, suspense. Stop on in, say hi, and buy a signed book! See more information below in her press release:

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Trilby Plants and Nancy Tucker are co-authors of Double Danger, a romantic suspense set in the Escanaba, Michigan, area. Plants will present a talk at Canterbury Book Store, 908 Ludington St, Escanaba, MI, Wednesday, July 10, from 4PM to 6PM.

During her talk titled “Secret Doors” she will share insights into how she finds ideas and transforms them into story.

She will sign copies of Double Danger and her other books which are available at the bookstore.  

“One of those books you do not want to start late at night. Your choice then becomes a sleepless night finishing the book or thinking and dreaming about it until you can get to it the next night.”  — 5 Star Review for Double Danger

About the Authors

Trilby Plants writes for children and adults. Her children’s book, Meena Mouse’s Perfect Raspberry is based on an incident in the life of an ancestor in the UP during the 1870s. Her creepy novel Gatekeeper has Magic, a deliciously evil villain, and giant spiders. Recent publications include Flash Fiction Magazine (flashfictionmagazine.com), and The Petigru Review, the literary anthology of the South Carolina Writers Association. Her short story “Retirement” was nominated for a Pushcart by TPR. A Michigan ex-pat, she now lives in Murrells Inlet, SC, where she writes, knits and creates video book trailers and animated covers for authors.

Nancy Tucker splits her time between Grand Blanc and Traverse City with her husband and two dogs. She writes fiction, nonfiction and dabbles in poetry. Her favorite color is purple, or sometimes red.

For more information, please visit Double-Danger.com or TrilbyPlants.com

Shortcut to Mushrooms

After some delay, it looks like mushroom season is in full swing here in Escanaba! Come get a mushroom guide book so you can tell your amanitas from your morels, and live to collect another day!

Independent Book Store Day, April 27th (and all year long)

Everyone has special days of the year they treasure, and for many independent, locally owned book stores around the country, that day is April 27th. The small “indie” book store community is very closely knit, having weathered the storms of the internet era, the rise and fall of “big box” stores, the 2008 recession, and the numerous and various obstacles that every small business faces.

On a day like today, indies celebrate the unique relationship we have with local authors, local schools, and a global community of writers and readers of all stripes. We take pride in the unique flavor we absorb from our customers and the personal energy we invest in relationships built on careful words and beautiful art.

Is Canterbury Book Store good at celebrating holidays? Not really, but we have coffee cake from across the street, fresh coffee from down the road, and the soft sounds of our local National Public Radio filling the air. For us, it is just another great day to be in Escanaba.

"So, You Want to Be a Writer" presentation for young audiences, May 4th at the Canterbury!

Join us here at the Canterbury for a local author Meet & Greet on Saturday, May 4th at 1:00pm. We will be closing out Children’s Book Week and kicking-off Reading Month with U.P. author Gretchen Preston. Her hour-long presentation” So, You Want to Be a Writer” is suitable for wanna-be writers of all ages. If you have a story idea, half written book in a drawer, song in your heart or fashion yourself the next poet laureate, join Gretchen for her inspiring presentation. An accidental author herself, Preston was inspired by her love of our U.P. backyard as the setting for her popular Valley Cat series of children’s chapter books. Her hard cover books are beautifully illustrated by Karin Neumann.

Gretchen, being visually impaired since age eleven, composes her stories on a talking computer. When the stories are complete, Gretchen and Karin design the illustrations and horizon book covers.  The Valley Cat books are not just for kids. Adults will enjoy the humor, life lessons and fun-filled adventures of the neighborhood cats.

Not just for cat lovers! Gretchen is always escorted by her seven-year old black lab named Floyd. He is a working Leader Dog for the Blind. Floyd has been socialized to accept petting when he is not actively guiding Gretchen. Together they volunteer for local Lions clubs, give presentations about Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester Hills, Michigan and promote local literature by sharing her Valley Cat books. Her books are available at the Canterbury Book Store and she will be happy to personalize your purchased books at the event.

Preston golfing while her Leader dog Floyd enjoys a rest.

Gretchen’s presentation style is interactive. Attendees will have the opportunity to type on her talking computer, pet Floyd and hear a tale about her Valley Cats. She is sure to get your creative juices flowing and to inspire you to start writing as soon as you get home. You will leave with the tricks of the trade, the tools to keep you writing and the inspiration to complete your work.

Don’t miss this high-spirited presentation the first Saturday in May at the Canterbury Book Store at 1:00pm. Share our love of cats, dogs and the creative process. Fun is guaranteed for the entire family!

I am way too proud of this

Major props to our friend Stephanie for giving us this old stamp set she found in the backroom of her office.

New Releases in Store!

Come down to the store and check out these two extremely new releases about teens and for teens. It doesn’t get any fresher than this!