Book News Vol. 8 No. 26

BOOK NEWS

While we're reveling in the glorious summer weather of the last few weeks, we can't help looking to the fall with great anticipation. The Writers Fest office is abuzz with excitement-books by Festival authors are arriving
daily and we're putting the final touches on the 26th Vancouver Writers Fest program guide. The guide will be on the street and online by the end of August. Stay tuned for details! In the meantime, pencil in the Festival
dates: October 22-27.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Just announced! - J.B. MacKinnon
The independent journalist and award-winning author of The 100-Mile Diet talks about his new book, The Once and Future World, providing an eye-opening account of nature as it was, as it is and as it could be. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jbmackinnon.

Thursday, October 3 at 7:30pm
Frederic Wood Theatre
6354 Crescent Road, UBC

David Sedaris
The renowned NPR humorist comes to Vancouver's Chan Centre for an evening of cutting wit, social satire, riveting conversation and post-event book signing with his recent New York Times' bestseller release Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/davidsedaris.

EXCLUSIVE ACCESS: GET THE BEST SEATS!
As a friend of the Writers Fest, use the code "WRITE" to buy tickets before the general public. Code valid July 31 to August 8. Click here for tickets, http://www.ticketmaster.ca/event/11004AFE9BCF69B1.

Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30pm
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
6265 Crescent Road, UBC

AWARDS & LISTS

A "playful and surreal" collection of poems has won a place on the Guardian first book award longlist after being nominated by readers, making it the second year running that their recommendations have propelled a debut poetry book onto the list.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/jul/31/guardian-first-book-award-nominations-longlist

Claire Trévien's The Shipwrecked House has been longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2013. Anchors, shipwrecks, whales and islands abound in this first collection by the Anglo-Breton poet.
http://www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk/index.php/2013/02/the-shipwrecked-house/

John Green's The Fault in Our Stars is one of the brilliant books in the running for the 2013 Guardian children's fiction prize.
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/aug/01/childrens-fiction-prize-book-club-fault-in-our-stars

Here is a long, longlist of seventy-four books eligible for the Not the Booker, including Neil Gaiman's latest. Readers can vote for the shortlist next Wednesday.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/aug/05/not-the-booker-prize-longlist-shortlist

YOUNG READERS

Not everyone loves summer—especially when temperatures feel like 40-plus. It helps if you cool off before heading to bed. During a recent heat wave, cooling off involved immersing myself in a tub of cold water and a series of novels about hockey, writes Bernie Goedhart. The newest title, Face Off at the Alamo, is the first of five new books Roy MacGregor is adding to the series. For 8 to 12.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Books+Kids+Screech+Owls+return+with+Face+Alamo/8742225/story.html

Clementine Beauvais' Sleuth on Skates is a very good adventurous book, writes Lady Sparkle. "It's full of mysteries to solve." One day a student called Jenna Jenkins goes missing and it's Sesame's job to solve the mystery. "I heartily recommend this book," says Lady Sparkle. For up to 7 years.
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/aug/02/review-sleuth-on-skates-clementine-beauvais

John Green's The Fault in Our Stars is an inspirational tale of two star-crossed lovers. When Hazel, just 17 but already a terminal cancer patient, meets Augustus at a support group, both their lives are about to change. She persuades him to read her favourite book, 'An Imperial Affliction', and together they set out to find the reclusive author. For teenagers. There are several teenage reviewers here:
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/aug/01/childrens-fiction-prize-book-club-fault-in-our-stars

NEWS & FEATURES

Craig Taylor is a Canadian writer living in London. This summer, he is rediscovering his homeland through the Canadiana collection of the Abbey Bookshop in Paris's Latin Quarter. This is the fifth instalment.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/in-letters-and-in-love-its-the-message-that-always-counts/article13575958/

There Was a Country, Chinua Achebe's lament for his native Biafra and the decline of Nigeria, is powerful and moving, writes Justin Cartwright. Chinua Achebe, who died in March, was a giant of African literature. His 1958 Anthills of the Savannah is undoubtedly one of the finest novels to come out of Africa, says Cartwright.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/04/there-was-country-chinua-achebe-review

Drew Gilpin Faust found her favorite childhood book in a rare-book store, after decades of searching. Terry Eicher reports that the best part of sixth grade at Houston's Grady Elementary School was after lunch when Mrs. Wise stood at the front of the classroom and read aloud a few pages of Giles of the Star. Mrs. Wise always stopped reading at the height of excitement: the best story I had ever heard, says Eicher.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/books/review/one-book-in.html?_r=0

The ugly controversy that has sprung up around the Jane Austen bank note tells us more about the Internet and current cultural habits than the author herself, says Katie Roiphe. After the Bank of England settled on Austen to replace Darwin as the face of the £10 note, critiques, angry blog posts, and bomb threats have unsettled the summer calm.
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/roiphe/2013/08/the_anger_over_jane_austen_on_a_10_pound_note_proves_people_can_rage_over.html

Random House has announced it will publish an expanded version of George Saunders' speech to graduates at Syracuse University. The book, Congratulations, by the Way, will be released in 2014. You can read the speech here:
http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/george-saunderss-advice-to-graduates/

The 3rd Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest is now underway! Information re: entries can be found here:
http://www.geist.com/contests/erasure/erasure/

There's only one month left to enter the Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition, which offers both existing and aspiring writers the chance to showcase their work to a wider, international audience. For more information, visit www.aestheticamagazine.com/creativewriting.

BOOKS & WRITERS

Jane Gardam's Lost Friends tells the story of an awkward, decades-long marriage told from the point of view of Betty Feathers who, as the novel opens, is dead. Martin Levin closes his review with a word of advice: by far the richest and most rewarding path is to begin with Old Filth and read the trilogy in order. It seems to me a surprisingly luminous literary achievement and deserves to be experienced as it was written, says Levin.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/filth-and-lucre-jane-gardams-masterful-trilogy-draws-to-a-close/article13575209/

Charles Glass, an ABC news correspondent and author of half a dozen books, exploits the little-known history of desertion during the Second World War. The Deserters probes the dark underbelly of the Allied war effort, eschewing the nostalgia surrounding what many have called The Good War. By war's end, about 150,000 American and British soldiers were known to have deserted from their units.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/the-ones-who-walked-away-from-the-greatest-generation/article13575481/

In a lot of good recent historical fiction, the male characters come across as far less compelling than their female counterparts, even when they are seemingly more important to the plot, writes J.C. Sutcliffe. Perhaps Sarah Dunant pondered this curious phenomenon while writing her latest novel, Blood and Beauty.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/sarah-dunant-puts-her-focus-on-powerful-men-in-saga-of-the-borgias/article13454676/

Written by the creator of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo when he was 17, a previously unseen Stieg Larsson short story to be published next year.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/07/stieg-larsson-short-story-published-2014

Only eight books remain in the third round of the search for Canada's most iconic book cover! Who will win? That's up to you.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2013/07/the-search-for-canadas-most-iconic-book-cover-round-three.html

COMMUNITY EVENTS

VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Poetry slam featuring Isaac Bond from Saskatchewan. Monday, August 12 at 8:00pm. Cost: $6-$10 sliding scale. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.

GOING PLACES
A writerly perspective on travel featuring short story writer Marina Sonkina in conversation. Wednesday, August 14 at 7:00pm, free but reservations required. SFU Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/continuing-studies.

VINCENT LAM
Award-winning Canadian writer and medical doctor Vincent Lam will read from his newest novel, The Headmaster's Wager. Wednesday, August 14 at 7:30pm. City Centre Library, Surrey Public Library, 10350 University Drive, Surrey. More information at 604-598-7420.

JULIE EMERSON
Vancouver Island painter and author will be reading from her latest novel A Hundred Days: a Botanical Novel. Wednesday, August 21 at 12:00 noon. Chilcotin room (rm 256), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, UBC. More information at ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca.

PERSONAL TALES
How a country boy became a poet featuring George Bowering in conversation with Wayde Compton. Wednesday, August 21 at 7:00pm, free but reservations required. SFU Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/continuing-studies.

PANDORA'S LITERARY AWARDS
Sean Cranbury hosts an awards gala with a musical performance by M'Girl and harpist Amanda Hartley, as well as award presenters Wayde Compton, Evelyn Lau, Steven R. Duncan, Dennis E. Bolen, and Jillian Christmas. This event also serves as a kickoff party for the 10th annual Summer Dreams Literary Arts Festival. Friday, August 23 at 7:30pm, free. CBC Studio 700, 700 Hamilton Street, Vancouver.

KELLEY ARMSTRONG
Author launches a new adult series set in Cainsville with the first book in the series, Omens. Followed by a talk, Q&A and book signing. Monday, August 26 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. Complete information at 604-431-0463.

VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth poetry slam featuring Cathy Petch from Toronto. Monday, August 26 at 8:00pm. Cost: $4/$6. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.

F.G. BRESSANI LITERARY PRIZE
IL CENTRO Italian Cultural Centre is thrilled to announce the publication of the Rules & Regulations for the 2014 Edition of the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize. The literary prize honours and promotes the work of Canadian writers of Italian origin or Italian descent. Deadline: April 2, 2014. Complete details can be found here: http://italianculturalcentre.ca/blog/bressani-literary-prize/.