Fiction. LGBT Studies. Rowan Friesen has made a career of drug-dealing and small-time thievery on the outer edges of Saskatoon. Shiftless and seemingly friendless, he is, at first glance, an unlikely protagonist. But as STOLEN unfolds, we learn the details of Rowan's life: his well meaning but self-absorbed mother, his mentally ill father, and a high-school friendship both lustful and incendiary. This intriguing back-story runs alongside a present-day murder mystery, complete with road trips, arson, alchohol and drugs, tech nerds and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Rowan Friesen may not be the world's most likable character, but the complexity and honesty of his story is thrilling. STOLEN's lean, tight narrative tells a tale of theft, love, and madness on the Canadian prairie, and moves along like a half-ton pickup bouncing over dirt roads.

Author City: WINNIPEG, MB CAN

Annette Lapointe was born in Saskatoon on the coldest day of 1978 to hippy-type people who made their own granola and organic baby food. The family's pursuit of pastoral bliss led Annette to be schooled mostly in a small, scary town outside the city, for which her parents have since apologized. She received her MA at Memorial University of Newfoundland and the University of Saskatchewan. After achieving Masterhood, she taught ESL in South Korea and Women's Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. Recently, she wandered back to South Korea and thence to Winnipeg, to pursue doctoral studies in English. She currently divides her time between Saskatoon and Winnipeg, with the result that most of her time is actually spent on the road. She is the author of STOLEN (Anvil Press, 2006).