We’ve just published three new audiobooks for our authors to give them another way to reach readers. Each one is a big project: For one thing, you have to find the right voice, suitable for the topic and the tone of the book. So far, we’re used professional voice actors – or four of them in the case of The Collective Wisdom of High-Performing Women. But it doesn’t have to be that way. One of our authors, Douglas Cole, will be going into the studio later this spring to read his upcoming book, The Sales MBA. I’ll interview him after [...]

In his book, Lessons Learned on Bay Street, Johnson wrote a powerful chapter on philanthropy. Now he's followed up with a historic donation to the Donald K. Johnson Eye Institute at Toronto Western Hospital—$50 million! That's truly a game changer, and both the hospital and Johnson are very happy about it: “It's way more fun to give away money than to make it," says Johnson. Read more in his book that Barlow Books published earlier this year. It's now on sale at Amazon and Indigo.

OCT 15, 2021 When I was a journalist at The Montreal Gazette, Norman Webster was the editor, and in 1990, just after I came home to Montreal from three years in Quebec City, he kindly gave me the opportunity to work in Europe for five months. This was a historic time after the Berlin Wall was torn down. I will always be grateful to Norman for that incredible journalistic experience, and in the fall of 2020, it was a real pleasure for me to publish his book.

January 20, 2021 We were still in the middle of the pandemic, and most of us missed our friends, the restaurants, and the gym, not to mention to chance to fly south for a few days of sun. So we published this book, The New Woman's Guide to Healthy Aging, to give us all a little inspiration.

February 21, 2021 A final toast to Barlow author, Fredrik Stefan Eaton: Philanthropist, businessman, outdoorsman.

JUNE 2, 2021 Big congrats to Barlow author Norman Bacal. His mystery novel, Ophelia, is a finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards. It's the second in the series that began with Odell's Fall. These mysteries are based on memorable Shakespeare characters and storylines. Great summer reading!

As a lawyer and a managing partner at a top law firm, Norman Bacal dealt in facts. He stuck to the facts after the law firm collapsed when he wrote his bestseller, Breakdown: The Rise and Fall of Heenan Blaikie. Then he switched to fiction and wrote his first murder mystery, Odell’s Fall. That was quite a leap for the sharp legal mind. What did he learn while writing his first novel? They say fact is stranger than fiction  In an early version of Odell’s Fall, Norm wrote a scene that replayed an incident from his legal career. The editor [...]

Ted Rogers, the late founder of the Rogers communications empire, and Phil Lind, his right hand man, have a few things in common in the book department. Both men wrote memoirs. Both were finalists in the National Business Book Award competition. (Right Hand Man, published by Barlow Books, has been nominated for the prestigious award this year.) And both wrote their memoirs “with” Robert Brehl. The “with” means Bob worked very closely with the two telecom executives to write their memoirs. To succeed, as he did both times, he had many deep conversations with both men. I wondered what it [...]

I'm so pleased to share the news that Right Hand Man, by Phil Lind with Robert Brehl, is a finalist for the prestigious National Business Book Award. As long-time second-in-command to Canadian entrepreneur Ted Rogers, Lind shares his account of the events and people that shaped Rogers' cable and telecom company – and an entire sector. He brings a uniquely personal perspective to the Rogers story. Lind paints a vibrant portrait of a driven visionary with an appetite for risk and aggressive deal-making, who was adept at navigating and framing the regulatory and cultural policy environment in which the company had [...]

Are you good at what you do? Of course you are, but that’s not enough to be successful. You need to think deeply about your brand, how you show up in the world. Everything you do, from the way you answer the phone to how you dress for meetings and handle complaints, should reflect you and your business. It sounds obvious, but all too often business people, especially those of us running small businesses, forget the branding mantra. Laura Beauparlant, a branding expert and author of a new book, Brand Chemistry, tells us what the five top mistakes are, and [...]

Why do so many organizations waste money on design thinking? Yes, it’s a popular topic in the business world, but many millions are squandered on cool new ideas that don’t fit the business. How can this happen? This week, at the Rotman School of Management in Toronto, I interviewed Heather Fraser, an innovator, strategist, and educator in business design. She has a new Design Works book out, and everyone in the packed room was eager to hear the latest from one of the big thinkers in this field. Heather’s point: You’ve got to put business discipline back into design. If [...]

What’s it like to be the power behind the throne, especially when the occupant of the throne is a creative genius? You might wonder in today’s wild political world, when U.S. President Donald Trump routinely surprises and even shocks his closest advisors when they wake up every morning to read his latest tweets. It’s a big issue in the artistic world. Think about how George Martin guided the genius of the Beatles, or how Francis Ford Coppola captured the brilliance of Brando in his epic movie, Apocalypse Now. The right hand man is hugely important in the business world. Who [...]

At a time when the world is increasingly divided, it was a true honour to meet Izzeldin Abuelaish, the doctor from Gaza who lost three daughters when his apartment was shelled a decade ago by Israeli forces. Even then he still refused to hate. Instead he continued to advocate for peace, and his book, I Shall Not Hate, became an international bestseller. Abuelaish was at the launch of Garment of Destiny, a new book by Dr. Abdallah Daar, a Tanzanian surgeon who launched his career in global health after he lost his sister to malaria, an entirely preventable death. The [...]

A couple of years ago, I got a call from a former senior banking executive and adviser, Patricia Meredith. She had some deep and startling thoughts about the state of Canadian banks, and she needed an editor to help her write for the general business reader. I partnered her with Bernard Simon, a veteran editor who has worked at the Financial Times, The New York Times, The Economist, and U.S. News & World Report. He helped Patricia turn her book Stumbling Giants into a winner. Earlier this year, Patricia and her co-writer James L. Darroch won the $50,000.00 Donner prize for best Canadian book about public [...]

Do you live on one of Toronto’s lost golf courses? If you live in Toronto, you might be residing on a golf course that was long ago paved over to make way for residential development. It turns out that Toronto was physically shaped by golf courses that were formed back in the 19th century. The creators of the golf courses were the city’s movers and shakers who used the game of golf to lure people from downtown out to the green pastures that were molded into golf courses. They got there by rail, the only quick mode of land transport at [...]

I’m delighted to announce that The Greenbelt has won a silver medal at an important American publishing competition. Our Benjamin Franklin Award was handed out last weekend at the annual Independent Book Publishers Association conference in Austin, Texas. Congratulations to author Burkhard Mausberg, the former CEO of Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, which has been working very effectively to protect vital farmland and natural systems at risk of being paved over for suburban sprawl. Kudos to the amazing design and production team who turned Burkhard’s thoughtful manuscript into a splendid coffee table book about Ontario’s huge Greenbelt, which is an [...]

Great news! The Greenbelt is a finalist in a big U.S. competition held by the IBPA — the Independent Book Publishers Association. Our book made it to the final circle of 3 in a competition that typically attracts 100 entries for each category. The winner of the IBPA Ben Franklin Award will be announced on April 6, 2018.

Barlow Books had a stellar year for bestselling books in 2017. Our books made it onto several bestselling lists, from amazon to the prestigious Globe and Mail bestseller list. Breakdown: The Inside Story of the Rise and Fall of Heenan Blaikie was a big winner in 2017. Author Norman Bacal made it onto the Globe and Mail bestseller list, and his book has been a long-term resident on the amazon bestseller list in his categories. At one point, it was one of the top 20 books sold in Canada on amazon. A Woman’s Guide to Healthy Aging, by Dr. Vivien [...]

For the last few years, I’ve been walking the Bruce Trail with my sister Martha, my partner David, and all kinds of friends. We started in Queenston, ON, at the beginning of the 885-kilometre trail and hope to reach Tobermory at some point in our lifetimes. Walking through the hidden beauty of Ontario is a beautiful thing to do, especially in the spring. Already a fan of the Greenbelt, I was delighted when Burkhard Mausberg, CEO of Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, approached Barlow with his idea. He had written a book: the story of the Greenbelt, which includes the [...]

Norman Bacal's new book, Breakdown: The Rise and Fall of Heenan Blaikie, has hit The Globe and Mail's bestseller list! Congratulations to Norm for writing a compelling book about the sudden collapse of the law firm he led until a year before its collapse. It's a cautionary tale for anyone in business who neglects the importance of vision and culture to bind people together. Bacal's book has been a winner from the day it was released at the end of February. It's been a bestseller on amazon, and at Ben McNally's much-loved bookstore in downtown Toronto. Breakdown has also sold [...]

It’s a great time to be on a mission. Take Eric Termuende, the 24-year-old hotshot on the speaker’s circuit. In his new book, Rethink Work, Eric is on a mission to redefine what work is so that people can find happiness in their lives and their work. For all those who worry about talented young people heading for the door after they’ve inhaled some valuable training at company expense, Eric’s advice about how to hire—and retain—the best employees should be mandatory reading. It doesn’t matter what you do, he says. It matters why you do it, who you do it [...]

For many writers, getting the opportunity to speak in front of hundreds or thousands of people is the ultimate opportunity to sell books, promote the mission, and potentially earn some money. Yet most people find that getting that speaking gig is not easy. So how does a Grade 12 student get two massive speaking engagements in a single day? Barlow Books author Clare Morneau did just that. On Nov. 9, she’ll be speaking to thousands of young people at the WE Day event in Ottawa. The huge talkfest, designed to inspire people to change the world and transform themselves, is [...]

​Heather’s Pick: It’s the book world’s version of a home run. So it is with great delight that I can share the news that Barlow Books author Clare Morneau’s new book, Kakuma Girls, has been chosen as a Heather’s Pick, just in time for the holidays. Heather of course is Heather Reisman, CEO of Indigo, Canada’s dominant bookseller. Every year, Reisman chooses a handful of books to promote in her stores. As she told Toronto Star: “I get asked all the time, do you really pick your Heather’s Picks?” she says. “And it makes me smile because I am so [...]

​​At our first Barlow Young Writers Night, we heard some fantastic stories from a dozen Toronto writers under 30. They shared a full range of inspiring book ideas, from a devastating story of recovery from childhood abuse to the stories of family in Bosnia, to an idea for a cookbook in Ontario’s cottage country—and more. ​An all-star cast turned out to coach them, including The Walrus editor Jon Kay, Kate Lunau, Motherboard editor at Vice Media, the Munk School’s Bernard Simon, editor Jonathan Schmidt and marketing marvels Debbie Gaudet and Debby de Groot. ​​They spent the evening sharpening up their [...]

When it’s steaming hot in Toronto, it’s heartening to know that less than an hour away there is a huge stretch of land where you can walk in the shade past spectacular waterfalls and streams, or check out the berries and the latest greens that the farmers are cultivating on the land. All this is only a short drive from a major metropolis. It’s called The Greenbelt. I’ve spent plenty of Sundays walking on the Bruce Trail, but like most people, I didn’t know that Ontario has the largest Greenbelt in the world. The light turned on when Burkhard Mausberg, [...]

At a time when Donald Trump and the Brexiters are turning their backs on people fleeing from terror, it’s heartening to see that Canadians are still reaching out to the world. Let me introduce you to our latest author, 17-year-old Clare Morneau. This fall, Barlow Books is publishing her beautiful book that vividly portrays what it’s like to be a teenage girl in a refugee camp in Kenya. The girls attend a high school that was built by Morneau Shepell, Canada’s largest human resources services firm. When the school opened in 2014, Clare’s father, Finance Minister Bill Morneau, was the [...]