Did you ever wonder where we come up with the names for our student publications? Where the deeper meaning behind naming something lies?
Today, we're going to let you in on a secret: in this instance, there is no deeper meaning. None. Only a language game of our own devising ...
After some deliberation, The Armadillo was chosen by the program as the title of our very first publication because it was rare and exotic, and also because we found a really cool image to attach to the cover design. From there it was further decided that we would name each new publication after a different 4-syllable animal, and ascend alphabetically from A-Z. Pretty clever, right? So we get: The Armadillo, The Barracuda, The Capybara, The Dromedary the E... well, we’ve admittedly hit at big of a snag at 'E' ... though we still have a few years to solve that!
Have you been looking for your very own copy of the 2010 S.W.A.T. student writing anthology, The Barracuda? Well, now you can just head on over to your nearest book or magazine store and pick one up. Yep, you read that right — The Barracuda is now available in stores!
We're sad to say that this week marks the end of the winter 2010 edition of NOW HEAR THIS!'s superfantastic Students, Writers and Teachers program. We've had twelve amazing Writers-in-Residence working their brains out at twelve different TCDSB schools across Toronto to help high school students tap into their creative sides.
As you may already know, NOW HEAR THIS! was proud to launch our fantastic anthology, The Barracuda, into the world last Wednesday. The Barracuda is full of writing by participants from the 2009 S.W.A.T. Program — and it's a pretty gorgeous book, too (if we do say so ourselves!).
Now that The Barracuda has made its illustrious debut, we at NOW HEAR THIS! are looking forward to bringing another exotic critter, The Capybara, into the wonderful world of literary anthologies in the spring of 2011. We know that a year may seem like a long time, but we’re already busy reading through submissions from students in the 2010 S.W.A.T. program and will soon go about selecting the best pieces for publication in The Capybara anthology. .jpg)
This Wednesday night you have a chance to see a battery of barracudas at The Gardiner Museum in Toronto — well beyond their natural habitat.
Here at the NOW HEAR THIS! office, we’ve been busily preparing for the highly anticipated launch of The Barracuda, our newest anthology of student writing. The launch is NHT!’s major event of the year and celebrates the creativity and hard work of all the students in the S.W.A.T. program, but especially those published in The Barracuda. The anthology itself boasts the best work from 2009’s series of S.W.A.T. workshops—including poetry, short stories, dialogues and personal essays—and features reflections from our 
Yesterday, Toronto had its first snowfall of the season after a delightfully warm and dry November. But now that we have to bundle up in scarves, toques and mittens, we’re starting to look forward to the upcoming holiday break (my favourite part of having a break from school or work is that it means there's a lot more time to go tobogganing in the snow and drink hot chocolate). Unfortunately, though, the beginning of winter also means our special fall session of S.W.A.T. at Loretto College is coming to an end next week.
We are thrilled to offer this preview of the amazing cover of our forthcoming 2009 Student Anthology, The Barracuda. Following 2008's The Armadillo and our naming tradition of fantastically cool 4-syllable animals, The Barracuda promises amazing writing from many of our amazing students and wonderful insights from some of our fantastic S.W.A.T. Writers-in-Residence.