Windsor, Ontario, Canada, October 4, 2022 – Palimpsest Press is pleased to announce the publication of King of Hope, Kim Conklin’s debut novel set in the fictional town of Port D’Espere, Ontario, located on the north shore of Lake Erie. The small town faces big environmental questions and nuclear waste contamination concerns that stretch back to the era of the Manhattan Project.

The publication of King of Hope coincides with current concerns about the aging fleet of nuclear power plants in the Great Lakes region. A recent report by the Great Lakes Water Quality Board, Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Facilities in the Great Lakes Basin, addresses the challenges of decommissioning facilities on waterways that supply drinking water to 40 million people in Canada and the United States. “The waste issue is a concern for people living near the lakes,” says Conklin, a Michigan native and Ontario resident. “With climate change impacting global water resources, protecting the Great Lakes is critical.”

Early readers have commented on the book. “Kim Conklin has written an important story for our times with repercussions and relevance reaching far beyond the town of Port D’Espere, Ontario,” said Terry Fallis, two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. “First rate storytelling keeps the pages turning. Bravo.” Heidi LM Jacobs, also a winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humor, said: “Kim Conklin has created a memorable cast of characters who try to make sense of their lives in their own quirky way.” The novel was also recently included on the CBC Books Fall Preview list. It is available for pre-order on the Palimpsest Press website and on Amazon and Amazon Canada. It will be released on October 15, 2022, and available at all major retail and independent bookstores in Canada and the U.S.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
Author Kim Conklin is a writer, filmmaker, and podcaster. Conklin’s stories, poems and films have appeared in journals, anthologies, and film festivals. Her journalism has appeared in broadcast and print, and her communications work has received more than 15 awards, including a Clio, a Telly, and a NY International Film Festival Award. Conklin will appear at BookFest Windsor on October 14, 2022.

About Palimpsest Press
Palimpsest Press is a Canadian literary press based in Windsor, Ontario. The 20-year-old press is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Ontario Media Development Corporation. The press publishes beautiful poetry and fresh, innovative fiction and non-fiction. Recent award wins for Palimpsest Press include the 2021 Governor General’s Literary Awards for Poetry and Non-fiction (The Junta of Happenstance, Tolu Oloruntoba; alfabet/alphabet, Sadiqa de Meijer) and the 2022 Griffin Poetry Prize (The Junta of Happenstance, Tolu Oloruntoba).