BOOK NEWS
Incite: Our free, bi-weekly reading series continues!
Join us on Wednesday, March 13 for an evening for poetry lovers, with John Barton, Nicole Brossard, and Catherine Owen. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite. Register here: http://incitevpl2013spring.eventbrite.ca/.
Interviewing Nicole Brossard, Ian McGillis learns that "We translate all the time". "Even when two people are speaking the same language, each person is always wondering what the other person meant."
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Nicole+Brossard+forges+common+language/8019019/story.html#ixzz2MWLGGOU1
Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library. Incite is sponsored by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and supported by the R.J. Nelson Family Foundation.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Sally Armstrong in conversation with Kathryn Gretsinger
An empowering evening with Sally Armstrong, "the war correspondent for the world's women." As editor-in-chief of Homemaker Magazine, Armstrong's unflinching editorial accounts of the atrocities experienced by women from around the world mobilized her readers to become involved in global issues. In her new book, Ascent of Women, the award-winning journalist, author, and human rights activist comments on recent studies by economists and social scientists that claim women hold the key to economic justice and the end to violence in developing countries. Click here to get your tickets today, https://secure.artsclub.com/tickets/reserve.aspx?type=rentals&performanceNumber=8146
Listen to Sally Armstrong's inspiring interview on CBC Radio's The Current, http://vancouverwritersfest.cmail1.com/t/y-i-juldlkt-l-yd/.
The Vancouver Writers Fest presents its first special event of 2013, an evening with award-winning Canadian author, journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong. Armstrong is the author of three previous books, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. Her new book is Ascent of Women. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/sallyarmstrong
Monday, March 25 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Burrard at Nelson
Sayed Kashua in conversation with Marsha Lederman
Our friends at the Jewish Book Festival present hugely popular, award-winning Arab Israeli writer, Sayed Kashua, who brings us a fresh voice and perspective from Israel. Using humour and satire, Kashua tackles the often conflicting, interconnecting worlds of Arabs and Jews living in Israel. Details: http://www.jccgv.com/content/jewish-book-fest
Saturday, March 9 at 8:00pm (note new date!)
Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre
A DRAM COME TRUE
Tickets are on sale now for our popular single malt tasting A Dram Come True. Join us at Hycroft, the elegant Shaughnessy mansion, for an evening of great fun and good spirits. Enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts, a premium silent auction, Cuban cigars and great company. A Dram Comes True is a fundraiser for the Writers Fest. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.
AWARDS & LISTS
Three Canadian book designers—Elizabeth Beaudoin, (Montreal); George Walker, (Toronto); and Leigh-Anne Mullock (Vancouver)—are among the 2013 award-winners selected by The Stiftung Buchkunst in an international competition in February. The awards will be presented at the Leipzig Book Fair in March.
http://www.alcuinsociety.com
Miss Lora, from the 2012 collection This Is How You Lose Her, by Junot Diaz, is on the short list for the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank short story award, along with Sarah Hall, Toby Litt, Ali Smith, Mark Haddon, and Cynan Jones. The lucrative British prize has yet to be bestowed upon a Briton.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-junot-diaz-lands-on-shortlist-for-45000-british-short-story-prize-20130225,0,7972901.story
The finalists for the 33rd L.A. Times Book Prizes include Margaret Atwood and Kevin Starr who will receive special recognition. For her efforts to push narrative form, Atwood will receive the Times' Innovator's Award. Starr will receive the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-la-times-book-prize-finalists-announced-20130220,0,2764278.story
Ontario-born historian Andrew Preston has captured the $25,000 Charles Taylor Prize for his book Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith: Religion in American War and Diplomacy. This year's other finalists were: Carol Bishop-Gwyn, Tim Cook, Sandra Djwa, and Ross King.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/andrew-preston-wins-charles-taylor-prize-for-book-on-us-diplomacy/article9265075/
The short listed titles for the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award have been announced. This award recognizes an illustrator of a noteworthy Canadian book that appeals to children up to the age of 12 years.
http://www.bookcentre.ca/news/shortlists_announced_2013_cla_book_awards
Shalom Auslander accepted his first literary prize with his trademark ambivalence. The Guardian muses on the ways in which authors accept awards, or not.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/mar/01/author-reject-acceptance-speech-cliche?INTCMP=SRCH
YOUNG READERS
Seven intense story lines stretch from the near future to the distant past, together forming a story of love, sacrifice and blood in Marcus Sedgwick's Midwinterblood. Ages 13 to 18.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/books/review/midwinterblood-by-marcus-sedgwick.html?nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130208&_r=1&
Angry Birds, the Book includes both trivia and stunning photographs: e.g., the hummingbird has to eat almost constantly or it will die; the northern fulmar kills by means of "deadly barf." Boys will embrace this book with enthusiasm, writes Bernie Goedhart. Ages 8 to 12.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Kids+Angry+Birds+book/8037414/story.html#ixzz2McSAZbJA
A lab assistant to a scientist; a sidekick of an Indian magician; and a samurai-trained Japanese refugee meet when they encounter a decapitated body on a foggy street. Anyone longing for a refreshing, inspiring cast of female heroes will find them in The Friday Society, writes Laura Godfrey. Age 12 and up.
http://www.quillandquire.com/books_young/review.cfm?review_id=7817
NEWS & FEATURES
Apple has rejected a book of vintage gay erotic drawings. Ironically, Vancouver's Arsenal Pulp Press received the news during Freedom to Read Week. Robert Ballantyne said this is the first time they have experienced this and that Lust Unearthed—the book under discussion--is currently listed as available in digital or print versions from Chapters, Indigo and Amazon.
http://www.straight.com/life/358371/apple-rejects-vancouver-publishers-vintage-gay-graphics-book
Canada has fallen to 20th place on Reporters' Without Borders' international Press Freedom Index. In a country where government scientists are prohibited from speaking about climate change, democracy is something we musn't take for granted, says Elizabeth Warkentin, who plans to read East of Eden, while enjoying her right to read freely. Freedom to Read Week began March 2.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/28/freedom_to_read_week_reminds_us_to_fight_for_our_rights.html
Chekhov's love life was complicated and very busy; he had no wish to settle down. William Boyd believes one short story reveals much about the Russian's sexual liaisons, and wrote the play Longing based on it, leaving us with as full a sense of his amorous life as can be realistically quantified.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/mar/01/anton-chekhov-lifetime-lovers-play
Headlining this week's pick of Guardian readers are Life of Pi and Ian McEwan's Enduring Love.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/mar/01/reader-reviews-roundup
An epic story of men, gods, lost tribes, battles and kingdoms, loaded with ancient and modern religious philosophy, has won its author a million-dollar advance from an Indian publisher. The work is a trilogy that Amish Tripathi, a former banker turned bestselling novelist, will write when the marketing campaign for his most recent work, Oath of the Vayaputras, is over.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/04/indian-writer-record-advance-trilogy
Nobel prize (literature) winner Mo Yan has taken on critics who have dismissed him for being too close to the Chinese government, saying they envy him the award and are distorting the meaning of his work. The author, whose pen name means "don't speak", has spoken out on a number of issues.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/28/mo-yan-dismisses-nobel-critics
7.7 out of 10 readers agree that Philip Roth is the greatest living American novelist. A "panel of 30 literati"–the likes of Salman Rushdie, Nell Freudenberger, and Gary Shteyngart–were asked by New York magazine's Vulture site "to assess [Roth's] oeuvre" ahead of his 80th birthday next month.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/feb/27/philip-roth-greatest-us-writer?INTCMP=SRCH
When the respected scholar, author and critic Sandra Djwa embarked on Journey With No Maps: A Life of P.K. Page more than a decade ago, she had no inkling of how challenging or far-flung the expedition would be. The St. John's, Nfld. native calls it "the most difficult book I've ever written."
http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/02/15/breaking-conventions-2/
BOOKS & WRITERS
People interested in the cultural dynamics at play in Israel today would be wise to read Second Person Singular, a novel by Sayed Kashua, a Palestinian-Israel writer, writes Tracy Sherlock.
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/compelling+storylines+intersect+with+complex+nuances/8027984/story.html
Rian Malan's tales in The Lion Sleeps Tonight and Other Stories of Africa create a grimly realistic picture of a nation clinging desperately to hope. It would be hard to find a writer more heroically committed to that particular archetype than Malan, writes Tim Adams.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/mar/03/the-lion-sleeps-tonight-review
Maurice Sendak's My Brother's Book is both beautiful and a devastating tribute to his brother, writes Helen Zaltzman. Like Sendak's works for children, My Brother's Book has a primal feeling of terror.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/mar/02/my-brothers-book-maurice-sendak-review
It has always seemed to me that graphic literature features a higher proportion of coming-of-age stories than any other literary form, writes Ian McGillis. Geneviève Castrée's Susceptible, a graphic novel about a girl growing up with a single mother in the Quebec of the 1980s and '90s, is an exemplary new case of this tendency, says McGillis.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Graphic+novel+captures+hard+grow/7959084/story.html
Sunila Deraniyagala was holidaying with her family on the coast of Sri Lanka in 2004, when the Indian Ocean tsunami came ashore. Her husband, two sons and her parents all died in the wave. Deraniyagala's book is all epilogue, a meditation through grief and on grief, writes Sunila Galappatti. It is courageous, truthful and above all, generous, says Galappatti.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/how-to-survive-the-loss-of-your-children-your-parents-and-your-husband-all-at-once/article9211776/
Jodi Picoult's new novel, The Storyteller raises questions of guilt and forgiveness. The novel centers on the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor who befriends an elderly man. After revealing that he served as a Nazi officer, the man requests that she help him die—and to forgive him, too.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/jodi-picoult-wrestles-with-questions-of-guilt-forgiveness-in-the-storyteller/2013/02/26/9f3b4776-7955
Emily Bazelon's Sticks and Stones charts the experiences of three bullied children, and scholarship on how to contain or prevent such harm. She focuses primarily on an African-American girl; a gay boy; and an Irish girl. Bazelon includes chapters on anti-bullying measures, and examines both the virtues and the pitfalls of treating bullying as a crime.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/books/review/sticks-and-stones-emily-bazelons-book-on-bullying.html?nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130301&_r=0
It's always been hard to keep up with George Bowering, writes Tom Sandborn. He's published more than 60 books and his latest Words, Words, Words: Essays and Memoirs delivers a feast of pleasures, says Sandborn.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Bowering+words+sure+please+readers/8040384/story.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
HAIKU INVITATIONAL 2013
Vancouver loves its flowering cherry trees-all 40,000 of them! While they bloom from March through May, the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival invites you to celebrate their beauty with your haiku. Now accepting submissions. Complete contest details here: www.vcbf.ca.
POETS AND THE SOCIAL SELF
Join Wayde Compton, Joanne Arnott, and Michael Turner with Renee Sarojini Saklikar as they discuss and read from their work. Thursday, March 7 at 7:00pm, free. Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre, SFU's Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W Hasting St. More information at sfuwoodwards.ca.
INHABITING WOMEN'S SPACE
Four women writers explore how women inhabit space, metaphorically. Join Kate Braid, Marilyn Bowering, Sandra Djwa and Kathy Mezei as they present their recent work. Friday, March 8 at 7:00pm, free. Lower level, Alice MacKay room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
NATIONAL INDIGENOUS WRITERS CONFERENCE
A day-long, participant-driven panel on the representation and recognition of Aboriginal writers in Canada. Cost: $30/$15. Saturday, March 9 from 9am to 5pm. SFU Vancouver, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
E. PAULINE JOHNSON/TEKAHIONWAKE
Mark your March 2013 calendars for two special upcoming events honouring the life, work, birth date and 100th Anniversary of the death of E. Pauline Johnson/Tekahionwake with The City of Victoria's Poet Laureate Janet Rogers. The Inspiration of E. Pauline Johnson, Rhizome Cafe, Saturday March 9, 7:00pm and Poetry in the Park for Pauline: Poetry Offerings, Stanley Park, at Johnson's Memorial, Sunday March 10, 1:00pm (Johnson's birthday). For complete details, visit http://www.herstorycafe.ca/.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Next reading features Rob Taylor, Bren Simmers, Susan MacRae and Aislin Hunter. Sunday, March 10 at 3:00pm. Entry by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia. More information at www.deadpoetslive.com.
SEVEN THE SERIES
Four accomplished writers, Eric Walters, Ted Staunton, Richard Scrimger and Sigmund Brouwer, present their books. Monday, March 11 at 7:00pm. West Point Grey United Church Sanctuary, 4595 8th Ave. W. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Bren Simmers and Timothy Shay with open mic and Cascadia Review guest/s. Wednesday, March 13, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Andrew Kaufman, Camille Martin, and Barry Webster. Thursday, March 14 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, visit http://www.rrs-mar2013.eventbrite.ca.
MEG TILLY
Meet the author and actor as she presents her newest book A Taste of Heaven. Thursday, March 14 at 7:00pm. Kidsbooks on Broadway. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
DAPHNE MARLATT
Author reads from her new book of poems, Liquidities: Vancouver Poems Then and Now. Saturday, March 16 at 8:00pm. The Western Front, 303 8th Ave. E., Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
JOEL DICKER
La Verite sur l'Affaire Harry Quebert is finally coming to Vancouver. Joel Dicker, a 27-year-old Geneva-born author, will present his second novel. The discussion will be in French. Monday, March 18 at 6:15pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
BOOK LAUNCH
Features Prince George poet Al Rempel (This Isn't the Apocalypse We Hoped For, Caitlin Press, 2013), Adrienne Fitzpatrick (The Earth RemembersEverything, Caitlin Press), and Daniela Elza (the weight of dew and new work). March 18, 7:30 pm, at People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. Phone: 604.253.6442. Refreshments will be served.
Upcoming
LUNCH POEMS @ SFU VANCOUVER
Readings by Stephen Collis and Rachel Rose. Wednesday, March 20 at 12:00 noon, free. Teck Gallery, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings Street. More information at www.sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.
PLAY CHTHONICS
Readings by poets Jan Zwicky and Robert Bringhurst. Wednesday, March 20. Piano lounge, Green College, UBC. More information at www.greencollege.ubc.ca.
GLIMPSES OF AFRICA: PHOTOGRAPHY, POETRY AND MUSIC
An evening featuring music by singer/songwriter, Nancy Newman and poetry inspired by photographs by Claudine Pommier in her Glimpses of Africa exhibit. March 21, 7-9 pm, at Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery, Jewish Community Centre, 950 West 41st Ave, Vancouver. Free admission.
ROBERT R. REID AWARD
The Alcuin Society presents Will Rueter (Aliquando Press) in an illustrated interview by Rollin Milroy (Heavenly Monkey). The 6th Robert R. Reid Award and Medal for Lifetime Achievement in the Book Arts will be presented to Rueter. Thursday, March 21 at 7:30 pm, free. Fletcher Challenge Room, Harbour Centre, SFU Downtown Campus, 2300-515 West Hastings St., Vancouver. More information at http://blog.alcuinsociety.com.
WRITERS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK CANADA
2nd annual literary festival featuring Dennis E. Bolen, Bonnie Nish, Jai Birdi, Lila Shahani and many others. Hosted by Lilija Valis, Bernice Lever and Charlene Sayo. Saturday, March 23 from 10am to 4pm. Richmond Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond. More information at 604-327-6040.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
A night of socially engaged writing of peace provocation and witness with the launch of Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Anthology. Featuring Cristine Leclerc with special guests Susan McCaslin, Stephen Collis, Renee Saklikar, Elena E. Johnson and Juliane Okot Bitek. Thursday, March 28, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street.
Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
ROBERT J. SAWYER
Author reads from his latest book, Red Planet Blues, a noir mystery set on a lawless Mars in a future where everything is cheap, and life is even cheaper. Wednesday, April 3 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
HULLABALOO SPOKEN WORD FESTIVAL
A youth poetry festival featuring 2009 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion, Amy Everhart and Ted-X featured poet Truth Is. April 3-6, 2013. Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews. Complete details at youthslam.ca.
TALONBOOKS SPRING POETRY LAUNCH
Talonbooks is launching its Spring poetry collection. Featuring readings by Dina Del Bucchia, Wanda John-Kehewin, Mariner Janes, Stephen Collis and Daphne Marlatt. Wednesday, April 10 at 8:00pm. Anza Club, 3 W. 8th Ave. More information at talonbooks.com.
FORCE FIELD
Force Field - 77 Women Poets of British Columbia. The first of its kind in thirty-four years, this anthology strongly celebrates women poets, from the emerging, mid-career to the established. Saturday, April 13 at 3:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
EVENT's 2013 NON-FICTION CONTEST
Writers are invited to submit manuscripts exploring the creative non-fiction form. $1500 in prizes available, plus publication. Contest judge Russell Wangersky. Maximum entry length is 5000 words. $34.95 entry fee. April 15, 2013, deadline. Entrants will receive a one-year subscription to EVENT (or extension). Complete contest guidelines can be found at eventmags.com.
NORTH SHORE WRITERS FESTIVAL
A celebration of Canadian writers featuring Helen Humphreys, Terry Fallis, Evelyn Lau, Sean Cranbury and others. April 19-20, 2013. Lynn Valley branch, North Vancouver District Public Library, 1277 Lynn Valley Road, North Vancouver. Complete details at northshorewritersfestival.com.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Book News Vol. 8 No. 3
BOOK NEWS
Incite: Our free, bi-weekly reading series continues!
Join us on Wednesday, March 13 for an evening for poetry lovers, with John Barton, Nicole Brossard, and Catherine Owen. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite. Register here: http://incitevpl2013spring.eventbrite.ca/.
Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library. Incite is sponsored by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and supported by the R.J. Nelson Family Foundation.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Sally Armstrong in conversation with Kathryn Gretsinger
The Vancouver Writers Fest presents its first special event of 2013, an evening with award-winning Canadian author, journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong. Armstrong is the author of three previous books, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. Her new book is Ascent of Women. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/sallyarmstrong
Monday, March 25 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Sayed Kashua in conversation with Marsha Lederman
Our friends at the Jewish Book Festival present hugely popular, award-winning Arab Israeli writer, Sayed Kashua, who brings us a fresh voice and perspective from Israel. Using humour and satire, Kashua tackles the often conflicting, interconnecting worlds of Arabs and Jews living in Israel. Details: http://www.jccgv.com/content/jewish-book-fest
Saturday, March 9 at 8:00pm (note new date!)
Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre
A DRAM COME TRUE
Tickets are on sale now for our popular single malt tasting A Dram Come True. Join us at Hycroft, the elegant Shaughnessy mansion, for an evening of great fun and good spirits. Enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts, a premium silent auction, Cuban cigars and great company. A Dram Comes True is a fundraiser for the Writers Fest. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.
AWARDS & LISTS
Kim Thúy, Marjorie Celona are among the finalists for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/02/27/kim-thuy-marjorie-celona-among-finalists-for-amazon-ca-first-novel-award/
Sir Quentin Blake, one of Britain's most loved children's illustrators, was knighted by the Prince of Wales last week, after a career spanning 64 years. The artist's distinctive drawings and paintings have been published in books by such authors as Roald Dahl, Joan Aiken and Dr Seuss.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/20/quentin-blake-knighted
"Five books offering fresh perspectives from the past and a deeper understanding of current global issues" are the way jury chair William Thorsell described the contenders short listed for this year's $15,000 Lionel Gelber Prize.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/19/lionel_gelber_prize_shortlist_highlights_nonfiction_on_foreign_affairs.html
Robert Caro will add yet another item to his literary trophy cabinet in April when he collects the New-York Historical Society's American History Book Prize for "Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power." The award comes with a $50,000 prize, an engraved medal and the title "American Historian Laureate."
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/another-prize-for-robert-caro/?ref=booksupdate&nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130222
Michael Edwards, 74, a poet, critic and literature professor has become the first British-born writer to be voted into the Académie française in the exclusive group known as "The Immortals." He will now take a seat among up to 40 members in their gold-braided uniforms, charged with defending the purity of the French language.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/22/academie-francaise-elect-first-british-member
The Wives of Bath became an international bestseller when it appeared almost 20 years ago. Now Susan Swan returns to the character of Mouse Bradford in her new novel, The Western Light. The Western Light is a finalist for the 2013 OLA Forest of Reading Evergreen Award.
http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=7755
YOUNG READERS
Laura Amy Schlitz's Splendors and Glooms is a Gothic, Victorian fantasy with drama, melodrama, and a crumbling mansion in northern England, including a confrontation with a bitter, power-worn old witch. Ages 9 to 13.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/books/review/the-peculiar-and-splendors-and-glooms.html?_r=1&
Catherine Reef's The Brontë Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne offers a wealth of information about the period, all the while vividly conveying the country ways and vibrant, energetic imaginations of the three writers. Ages 12 to 16.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/catherine-reef/bronte-sisters/
James M. Deem's Faces from the Past: Forgotten People of North America take an interest in the dead, showing how artists and archaeologists can use a skull to estimate the appearance of long forgotten faces. Ages 11 to teen.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/01/small_print_mini_reviews_of The Man from the Land of Fandango
NEWS & FEATURES
Three former Douglas & McIntyre employees launch new company, Figure 1 Publishing.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/02/26/former-douglas-mcintyre-employees-launch-new-company/
The most recent issue of The Tyee includes "To This Day", a video of BC slam poet Shane Koyczan's just released anti-bullying poem.
http://thetyee.ca/Video/2013/02/22/ShaneKoyczan/?utm_source=mondayheadlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=250213
A scholar has unearthed 50 unpublished works by Rudyard Kipling, the poet voted Britain's favourite.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/25/rudyard-kipling-poems-discovered
The Harry Potter books are getting a new look with new covers for the trade paperback editions. The new edition of Sorcerer's Stone is scheduled for release in September, the 15th anniversary of the publication of the first Harry Potter book in the United States.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/harry-potter-books-get-paperback-makeover/2013/02/21/7156f48a-76b8-11e2-95e4-6148e45d7adb_story.html
Hilary Mantel's recent speech about royal wives and the Duchess of Cambridge is the latest in a long line of literary misinterpretations, writes Sam Leith. The root of Mantel's clobbering is that Mantel's lecture about Kate was full of irony, inhabiting more than one position at once. Almost exactly the same thing happened some years ago to Anne Enright, says Leith.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/feb/19/hilary-mantel-duchess-of-cambridge-controversy
In the March 2013 issue of Walrus Magazine, Charles Foran writes: "These are dog days in the book business, and some are pronouncing them end days as well. The "dream," as headlines would have it, of a vigorous independent publishing industry has died, felled by a cabal of assassins." Still, all of this industry bloodletting and anxiety has not affected the consumers of books.
http://thewalrus.ca/end-of-story/
"My name is Piscine Molitor Patel," says Yann Martel's hero, "known to all as Pi Patel." Delighted at the news that Life of Pi has just sold its 3,141,593rd copy, the narrator chooses his mathematical nickname to avoid being known as "Pissing". Given that pi is an irrational number, Life of Pi has not sold exactly pi copies.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/21/life-pi-catapulted-bestseller-list
The New York Times touts the Internet's role in reviving interest in short fiction. Too bad it's not true, writes Laura Miller. While 2013 does promise a fine crop of story collections, it is not any finer than last year's or the year before that or any other year for the past three decades, says Miller.
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/21/sorry_the_short_story_boom_is_bogus/
The world has been focusing on the Malian city of Timbuktu and the fate of its ancient shrines and manuscripts, unaware that the city of Djenné, 220 miles to the south-west, has traditionally been regarded as the "twin sister" of Timbuktu. For some Malians, Djenné occupies a unique position, arguably the oldest known city of West Africa.
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Safeguard+the+manuscripts+of+Djenn%C3%A9/28655
On January 28, 2013, literature fans celebrated the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's beloved novel, Pride and Prejudice. The celebration has apparently spilled into February now that the Royal Mail has announced the release of a stamp collection commemorating Jane Austen's six novels.
http://www.openculture.com/2013/02/new_stamp_collection_celebrates_the_six_novels_by_jane_austen.html
Sam Sacks makes a compelling argument in The New Yorker for the return to illustrated books.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/02/bring-back-the-illustrated-book.html
Kevin Kelly has created a model for paying readers to read books.
http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2013/01/ill_pay_you_to.php
Independents in New York and South Carolina are suing Amazon and six big publishers over digital rights management rights.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/21/4010504/amazon-publishers-face-class-action-antitrust-suit-from-inDie
Cory Doctorow writes that the wording of the DRM suit confuses different technologies.
http://boingboing.net/2013/02/20/indie-booksellers-sue-amazon-a.html
The deadline for the 9th Annual Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest has been extended to March 1, 2013, 11:59pm PST! For your chance at literary fame and fortune, information on how the contest works and contest details is here:
http://www.geist.com/articles/postcard-contest/
BOOKS & WRITERS
This true story of a writer hounded online for over seven years is strange...and riveting, writes Mark O'Connell. James Lasdun's memoir Give Me Everything You Have: On Being Stalked is his attempt to make sense of the consequences of his leading a writers workshop. The internet's capacity to disseminate hatred is unsettling, says O'Connell.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/16/give-me-everything-stalked-lasdun-review
Naoki Higashida's The Reason I Jump, a "revelatory" window onto life as an autistic teenager, is being translated into English by author David Mitchell and his wife, Keiko Yoshida. 'It felt as if, for the first time, our own son was talking to us about what was happening inside his head,' says Mitchell. "I would love it to outsell anything I'd written."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/26/cloud-atlas-translates-austistic-teenager-memoir
Shortly after her mother's death, Quebec comedian Lise Dion discovered a series of notebooks in her mother's trunk, containing a series of stunning revelations: her mother a nun in France, arrested by Nazis, sent to a German concentration camp. The book is painfully frank and absorbing, and difficult to put down, writes Donna Bailey Nurse.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/a-mothers-hidden-past-unearthed/article8964444/
Ann Ireland's The Blue Guitar is a compelling novel set in an international guitar competition. A foreign landscape seems familiar, offering a starkly poignant finish, writes Robert J. Wiersema. The last few pages reveal a fundamental truth: while there can only be one winner, everyone loses in their own way.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Blue+Guitar+musical+novel+transports+reader/8002902/story.html#ixzz2Lkn6Xa5K
Aleksandar Hemon's The Book of My Lives is an effort to restore the fragile memories of Sarajevo, and follow the threads that link his Bosnian past to his American present. While many Sarajevans lost their entire family, Hemon's parents and sister got out the day before the siege began-and wound up in Canada.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/23/aleksandar-hemon
Vera Gran was the stage name for a beautiful singer whose voice captivated audiences throughout Europe, writes Anna Porter. Survival is a key word in Agata Tuszynska's Vera Gran: The Accused and the reader is left to decipher the truths of what really happened. Vera Gran: The Accused is a book to read slowly and think about, says Porter.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/the-story-of-vera-gran-and-the-high-price-of-survival/article8964280/
John Wood founded Room to Read—a non-profit global organization focused on literacy and gender equality in education, writes Tracy Sherlock. He emulated Andrew Carnegie but opened six times as many libraries as Carnegie did. His goal: to reach 10 million children worldwide.
http://www.vancouversun.com/literacy/raiseareader/change+possible+author/8007077/story.html
Yann Martel feels the Oscar love after Life of Pi wins more awards than any other film this year.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/awards-and-festivals/film-awards/article9038817.ece
COMMUNITY EVENTS
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Susan Steudel and Chelsea Comeau plus Open Mic. Thursday, February 28, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
VANCOUVER NOIR
Authors Diane Purvey and John Belshaw discuss Vancouver's gritty underbelly in the 1930s-1960s. Tuesday, March 5 at 7:00pm, free. Lower level, Alice MacKay room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
AL HUNTER
Poetry reading by Anishinaabe writer Al Hunter. Wednesday, March 6 at 6:30pm, free. First Nations Longhouse, UBC. Admission is free and books will be available for purchase and signing. For more information and to register, visit http://rrs-march2013.eventbrite.ca/.
EILEEN COOK
Author reads from her latest release, The Almost Truth, a smart, romantic novel about a teenage con artist who might be in over her head. Thursday, March 7 at 10:00am, free. Britannia branch, 1661 Napier Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
POETS AND THE SOCIAL SELF
Join Wayde Compton, Joanne Arnott, and Michael Turner with Renee Sarojini Saklikar as they discuss and read from their work. Thursday, March 7 at 7:00pm, free. Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre, SFU's Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W Hasting St. More information at sfuwoodwards.ca.
INHABITING WOMEN'S SPACE
Four women writers explore how women inhabit space, metaphorically. Join Kate Braid, Marilyn Bowering, Sandra Djwa and Kathy Mezei as they present their recent work. Friday, March 8 at 7:00pm, free. Lower level, Alice MacKay room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
NATIONAL INDIGENOUS WRITERS CONFERENCE
A day-long, participant-driven panel on the representation and recognition of Aboriginal writers in Canada. Cost: $30/$15. Saturday, March 9 from 9am to 5pm. SFU Vancouver, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
E. PAULINE JOHNSON/TEKAHIONWAKE
Mark your March 2013 calendars for two special upcoming events honouring the life, work, birth date and 100th Anniversary of the death of E. Pauline Johnson/Tekahionwake with The City of Victoria's Poet Laureate Janet Rogers. The Inspiration of E. Pauline Johnson, Rhizome Cafe, Saturday March 9, 7:00pm and Poetry in the Park for Pauline: Poetry Offerings, Stanley Park, at Johnson's Memorial, Sunday March 10, 1:00pm (Johnson's birthday). For complete details, visit http://www.herstorycafe.ca/.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Next reading features Rob Taylor, Bren Simmers, Susan MacRae and Aislin Hunter. Sunday, March 10 at 3:00pm. Entry by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia. More information at www.deadpoetslive.com.
SEVEN THE SERIES
Four accomplished writers, Eric Walters, Ted Staunton, Richard Scrimger and Sigmund Brouwer, present their books. Monday, March 11 at 7:00pm. West Point Grey United Church Sanctuary, 4595 8th Ave. W. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
Upcoming
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Andrew Kaufman, Camille Martin, and Barry Webster. Thursday, March 14 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, visit http://www.rrs-mar2013.eventbrite.ca.
MEG TILLY
Meet the author and actor as she presents her newest book A Taste of Heaven. Thursday, March 14 at 7:00pm. Kidsbooks on Broadway. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
JOEL DICKER
La Verite sur l'Affaire Harry Quebert is finally coming to Vancouver. Joel Dicker, a 27-year-old Geneva-born author, will present his second novel. The discussion will be in French. Monday, March 18 at 6:15pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
PLAY CHTHONICS
Readings by poets Jan Zwicky and Robert Bringhurst. Wednesday, March 20. Piano lounge, Green College, UBC. More information at www.greencollege.ubc.ca.
ROBERT R. REID AWARD
The Alcuin Society presents Will Rueter (Aliquando Press) in an illustrated interview by Rollin Milroy (Heavenly Monkey). The 6th Robert R. Reid Award and Medal for Lifetime Achievement in the Book Arts will be presented to Rueter. Thursday, March 21 at 7:30 pm, free. Fletcher Challenge Room, Harbour Centre, SFU Downtown Campus, 2300-515 West Hastings St., Vancouver. More information at http://blog.alcuinsociety.com.
WRITERS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK CANADA
2nd annual literary festival featuring Dennis E. Bolen, Bonnie Nish, Jai Birdi, Lila Shahani and many others. Hosted by Lilija Valis, Bernice Lever and Charlene Sayo. Saturday, March 23 from 10am to 4pm. Richmond Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond. More information at 604-327-6040.
HULLABALOO SPOKEN WORD FESTIVAL
A youth poetry festival featuring 2009 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion, Amy Everhart and Ted-X featured poet Truth Is. April 3-6, 2013. Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews. Complete details at youthslam.ca.
EVENT's 2013 NON-FICTION CONTEST
Writers are invited to submit manuscripts exploring the creative non-fiction form. $1500 in prizes available, plus publication. Contest judge Russell Wangersky. Maximum entry length is 5000 words. $34.95 entry fee. April 15, 2013, deadline. Entrants will receive a one-year subscription to EVENT (or extension). Complete contest guidelines can be found at eventmags.com.
Incite: Our free, bi-weekly reading series continues!
Join us on Wednesday, March 13 for an evening for poetry lovers, with John Barton, Nicole Brossard, and Catherine Owen. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite. Register here: http://incitevpl2013spring.eventbrite.ca/.
Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library. Incite is sponsored by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and supported by the R.J. Nelson Family Foundation.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Sally Armstrong in conversation with Kathryn Gretsinger
The Vancouver Writers Fest presents its first special event of 2013, an evening with award-winning Canadian author, journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong. Armstrong is the author of three previous books, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. Her new book is Ascent of Women. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/sallyarmstrong
Monday, March 25 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Sayed Kashua in conversation with Marsha Lederman
Our friends at the Jewish Book Festival present hugely popular, award-winning Arab Israeli writer, Sayed Kashua, who brings us a fresh voice and perspective from Israel. Using humour and satire, Kashua tackles the often conflicting, interconnecting worlds of Arabs and Jews living in Israel. Details: http://www.jccgv.com/content/jewish-book-fest
Saturday, March 9 at 8:00pm (note new date!)
Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre
A DRAM COME TRUE
Tickets are on sale now for our popular single malt tasting A Dram Come True. Join us at Hycroft, the elegant Shaughnessy mansion, for an evening of great fun and good spirits. Enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts, a premium silent auction, Cuban cigars and great company. A Dram Comes True is a fundraiser for the Writers Fest. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.
AWARDS & LISTS
Kim Thúy, Marjorie Celona are among the finalists for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/02/27/kim-thuy-marjorie-celona-among-finalists-for-amazon-ca-first-novel-award/
Sir Quentin Blake, one of Britain's most loved children's illustrators, was knighted by the Prince of Wales last week, after a career spanning 64 years. The artist's distinctive drawings and paintings have been published in books by such authors as Roald Dahl, Joan Aiken and Dr Seuss.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/20/quentin-blake-knighted
"Five books offering fresh perspectives from the past and a deeper understanding of current global issues" are the way jury chair William Thorsell described the contenders short listed for this year's $15,000 Lionel Gelber Prize.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/19/lionel_gelber_prize_shortlist_highlights_nonfiction_on_foreign_affairs.html
Robert Caro will add yet another item to his literary trophy cabinet in April when he collects the New-York Historical Society's American History Book Prize for "Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power." The award comes with a $50,000 prize, an engraved medal and the title "American Historian Laureate."
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/another-prize-for-robert-caro/?ref=booksupdate&nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130222
Michael Edwards, 74, a poet, critic and literature professor has become the first British-born writer to be voted into the Académie française in the exclusive group known as "The Immortals." He will now take a seat among up to 40 members in their gold-braided uniforms, charged with defending the purity of the French language.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/22/academie-francaise-elect-first-british-member
The Wives of Bath became an international bestseller when it appeared almost 20 years ago. Now Susan Swan returns to the character of Mouse Bradford in her new novel, The Western Light. The Western Light is a finalist for the 2013 OLA Forest of Reading Evergreen Award.
http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=7755
YOUNG READERS
Laura Amy Schlitz's Splendors and Glooms is a Gothic, Victorian fantasy with drama, melodrama, and a crumbling mansion in northern England, including a confrontation with a bitter, power-worn old witch. Ages 9 to 13.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/books/review/the-peculiar-and-splendors-and-glooms.html?_r=1&
Catherine Reef's The Brontë Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne offers a wealth of information about the period, all the while vividly conveying the country ways and vibrant, energetic imaginations of the three writers. Ages 12 to 16.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/catherine-reef/bronte-sisters/
James M. Deem's Faces from the Past: Forgotten People of North America take an interest in the dead, showing how artists and archaeologists can use a skull to estimate the appearance of long forgotten faces. Ages 11 to teen.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/01/small_print_mini_reviews_of The Man from the Land of Fandango
NEWS & FEATURES
Three former Douglas & McIntyre employees launch new company, Figure 1 Publishing.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/02/26/former-douglas-mcintyre-employees-launch-new-company/
The most recent issue of The Tyee includes "To This Day", a video of BC slam poet Shane Koyczan's just released anti-bullying poem.
http://thetyee.ca/Video/2013/02/22/ShaneKoyczan/?utm_source=mondayheadlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=250213
A scholar has unearthed 50 unpublished works by Rudyard Kipling, the poet voted Britain's favourite.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/25/rudyard-kipling-poems-discovered
The Harry Potter books are getting a new look with new covers for the trade paperback editions. The new edition of Sorcerer's Stone is scheduled for release in September, the 15th anniversary of the publication of the first Harry Potter book in the United States.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/harry-potter-books-get-paperback-makeover/2013/02/21/7156f48a-76b8-11e2-95e4-6148e45d7adb_story.html
Hilary Mantel's recent speech about royal wives and the Duchess of Cambridge is the latest in a long line of literary misinterpretations, writes Sam Leith. The root of Mantel's clobbering is that Mantel's lecture about Kate was full of irony, inhabiting more than one position at once. Almost exactly the same thing happened some years ago to Anne Enright, says Leith.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/feb/19/hilary-mantel-duchess-of-cambridge-controversy
In the March 2013 issue of Walrus Magazine, Charles Foran writes: "These are dog days in the book business, and some are pronouncing them end days as well. The "dream," as headlines would have it, of a vigorous independent publishing industry has died, felled by a cabal of assassins." Still, all of this industry bloodletting and anxiety has not affected the consumers of books.
http://thewalrus.ca/end-of-story/
"My name is Piscine Molitor Patel," says Yann Martel's hero, "known to all as Pi Patel." Delighted at the news that Life of Pi has just sold its 3,141,593rd copy, the narrator chooses his mathematical nickname to avoid being known as "Pissing". Given that pi is an irrational number, Life of Pi has not sold exactly pi copies.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/21/life-pi-catapulted-bestseller-list
The New York Times touts the Internet's role in reviving interest in short fiction. Too bad it's not true, writes Laura Miller. While 2013 does promise a fine crop of story collections, it is not any finer than last year's or the year before that or any other year for the past three decades, says Miller.
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/21/sorry_the_short_story_boom_is_bogus/
The world has been focusing on the Malian city of Timbuktu and the fate of its ancient shrines and manuscripts, unaware that the city of Djenné, 220 miles to the south-west, has traditionally been regarded as the "twin sister" of Timbuktu. For some Malians, Djenné occupies a unique position, arguably the oldest known city of West Africa.
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Safeguard+the+manuscripts+of+Djenn%C3%A9/28655
On January 28, 2013, literature fans celebrated the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's beloved novel, Pride and Prejudice. The celebration has apparently spilled into February now that the Royal Mail has announced the release of a stamp collection commemorating Jane Austen's six novels.
http://www.openculture.com/2013/02/new_stamp_collection_celebrates_the_six_novels_by_jane_austen.html
Sam Sacks makes a compelling argument in The New Yorker for the return to illustrated books.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/02/bring-back-the-illustrated-book.html
Kevin Kelly has created a model for paying readers to read books.
http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2013/01/ill_pay_you_to.php
Independents in New York and South Carolina are suing Amazon and six big publishers over digital rights management rights.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/21/4010504/amazon-publishers-face-class-action-antitrust-suit-from-inDie
Cory Doctorow writes that the wording of the DRM suit confuses different technologies.
http://boingboing.net/2013/02/20/indie-booksellers-sue-amazon-a.html
The deadline for the 9th Annual Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest has been extended to March 1, 2013, 11:59pm PST! For your chance at literary fame and fortune, information on how the contest works and contest details is here:
http://www.geist.com/articles/postcard-contest/
BOOKS & WRITERS
This true story of a writer hounded online for over seven years is strange...and riveting, writes Mark O'Connell. James Lasdun's memoir Give Me Everything You Have: On Being Stalked is his attempt to make sense of the consequences of his leading a writers workshop. The internet's capacity to disseminate hatred is unsettling, says O'Connell.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/16/give-me-everything-stalked-lasdun-review
Naoki Higashida's The Reason I Jump, a "revelatory" window onto life as an autistic teenager, is being translated into English by author David Mitchell and his wife, Keiko Yoshida. 'It felt as if, for the first time, our own son was talking to us about what was happening inside his head,' says Mitchell. "I would love it to outsell anything I'd written."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/26/cloud-atlas-translates-austistic-teenager-memoir
Shortly after her mother's death, Quebec comedian Lise Dion discovered a series of notebooks in her mother's trunk, containing a series of stunning revelations: her mother a nun in France, arrested by Nazis, sent to a German concentration camp. The book is painfully frank and absorbing, and difficult to put down, writes Donna Bailey Nurse.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/a-mothers-hidden-past-unearthed/article8964444/
Ann Ireland's The Blue Guitar is a compelling novel set in an international guitar competition. A foreign landscape seems familiar, offering a starkly poignant finish, writes Robert J. Wiersema. The last few pages reveal a fundamental truth: while there can only be one winner, everyone loses in their own way.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Blue+Guitar+musical+novel+transports+reader/8002902/story.html#ixzz2Lkn6Xa5K
Aleksandar Hemon's The Book of My Lives is an effort to restore the fragile memories of Sarajevo, and follow the threads that link his Bosnian past to his American present. While many Sarajevans lost their entire family, Hemon's parents and sister got out the day before the siege began-and wound up in Canada.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/23/aleksandar-hemon
Vera Gran was the stage name for a beautiful singer whose voice captivated audiences throughout Europe, writes Anna Porter. Survival is a key word in Agata Tuszynska's Vera Gran: The Accused and the reader is left to decipher the truths of what really happened. Vera Gran: The Accused is a book to read slowly and think about, says Porter.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/the-story-of-vera-gran-and-the-high-price-of-survival/article8964280/
John Wood founded Room to Read—a non-profit global organization focused on literacy and gender equality in education, writes Tracy Sherlock. He emulated Andrew Carnegie but opened six times as many libraries as Carnegie did. His goal: to reach 10 million children worldwide.
http://www.vancouversun.com/literacy/raiseareader/change+possible+author/8007077/story.html
Yann Martel feels the Oscar love after Life of Pi wins more awards than any other film this year.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/awards-and-festivals/film-awards/article9038817.ece
COMMUNITY EVENTS
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Susan Steudel and Chelsea Comeau plus Open Mic. Thursday, February 28, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
VANCOUVER NOIR
Authors Diane Purvey and John Belshaw discuss Vancouver's gritty underbelly in the 1930s-1960s. Tuesday, March 5 at 7:00pm, free. Lower level, Alice MacKay room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
AL HUNTER
Poetry reading by Anishinaabe writer Al Hunter. Wednesday, March 6 at 6:30pm, free. First Nations Longhouse, UBC. Admission is free and books will be available for purchase and signing. For more information and to register, visit http://rrs-march2013.eventbrite.ca/.
EILEEN COOK
Author reads from her latest release, The Almost Truth, a smart, romantic novel about a teenage con artist who might be in over her head. Thursday, March 7 at 10:00am, free. Britannia branch, 1661 Napier Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
POETS AND THE SOCIAL SELF
Join Wayde Compton, Joanne Arnott, and Michael Turner with Renee Sarojini Saklikar as they discuss and read from their work. Thursday, March 7 at 7:00pm, free. Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre, SFU's Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W Hasting St. More information at sfuwoodwards.ca.
INHABITING WOMEN'S SPACE
Four women writers explore how women inhabit space, metaphorically. Join Kate Braid, Marilyn Bowering, Sandra Djwa and Kathy Mezei as they present their recent work. Friday, March 8 at 7:00pm, free. Lower level, Alice MacKay room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
NATIONAL INDIGENOUS WRITERS CONFERENCE
A day-long, participant-driven panel on the representation and recognition of Aboriginal writers in Canada. Cost: $30/$15. Saturday, March 9 from 9am to 5pm. SFU Vancouver, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
E. PAULINE JOHNSON/TEKAHIONWAKE
Mark your March 2013 calendars for two special upcoming events honouring the life, work, birth date and 100th Anniversary of the death of E. Pauline Johnson/Tekahionwake with The City of Victoria's Poet Laureate Janet Rogers. The Inspiration of E. Pauline Johnson, Rhizome Cafe, Saturday March 9, 7:00pm and Poetry in the Park for Pauline: Poetry Offerings, Stanley Park, at Johnson's Memorial, Sunday March 10, 1:00pm (Johnson's birthday). For complete details, visit http://www.herstorycafe.ca/.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Next reading features Rob Taylor, Bren Simmers, Susan MacRae and Aislin Hunter. Sunday, March 10 at 3:00pm. Entry by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia. More information at www.deadpoetslive.com.
SEVEN THE SERIES
Four accomplished writers, Eric Walters, Ted Staunton, Richard Scrimger and Sigmund Brouwer, present their books. Monday, March 11 at 7:00pm. West Point Grey United Church Sanctuary, 4595 8th Ave. W. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
Upcoming
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Andrew Kaufman, Camille Martin, and Barry Webster. Thursday, March 14 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, visit http://www.rrs-mar2013.eventbrite.ca.
MEG TILLY
Meet the author and actor as she presents her newest book A Taste of Heaven. Thursday, March 14 at 7:00pm. Kidsbooks on Broadway. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
JOEL DICKER
La Verite sur l'Affaire Harry Quebert is finally coming to Vancouver. Joel Dicker, a 27-year-old Geneva-born author, will present his second novel. The discussion will be in French. Monday, March 18 at 6:15pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
PLAY CHTHONICS
Readings by poets Jan Zwicky and Robert Bringhurst. Wednesday, March 20. Piano lounge, Green College, UBC. More information at www.greencollege.ubc.ca.
ROBERT R. REID AWARD
The Alcuin Society presents Will Rueter (Aliquando Press) in an illustrated interview by Rollin Milroy (Heavenly Monkey). The 6th Robert R. Reid Award and Medal for Lifetime Achievement in the Book Arts will be presented to Rueter. Thursday, March 21 at 7:30 pm, free. Fletcher Challenge Room, Harbour Centre, SFU Downtown Campus, 2300-515 West Hastings St., Vancouver. More information at http://blog.alcuinsociety.com.
WRITERS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK CANADA
2nd annual literary festival featuring Dennis E. Bolen, Bonnie Nish, Jai Birdi, Lila Shahani and many others. Hosted by Lilija Valis, Bernice Lever and Charlene Sayo. Saturday, March 23 from 10am to 4pm. Richmond Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond. More information at 604-327-6040.
HULLABALOO SPOKEN WORD FESTIVAL
A youth poetry festival featuring 2009 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion, Amy Everhart and Ted-X featured poet Truth Is. April 3-6, 2013. Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews. Complete details at youthslam.ca.
EVENT's 2013 NON-FICTION CONTEST
Writers are invited to submit manuscripts exploring the creative non-fiction form. $1500 in prizes available, plus publication. Contest judge Russell Wangersky. Maximum entry length is 5000 words. $34.95 entry fee. April 15, 2013, deadline. Entrants will receive a one-year subscription to EVENT (or extension). Complete contest guidelines can be found at eventmags.com.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Book News Vol. 8 No. 2
BOOK NEWS
Incite: Our free, bi-weekly reading series continues!
Join us on Wednesday, February 27 for an evening of fun and laughter with Canadian humourist Arthur Black and award-winning actor Jackson Davies. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite. Register here: http://incitevpl2013spring.eventbrite.ca/.
Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library. Incite is sponsored by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and supported by the R.J. Nelson Family Foundation.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Sally Armstrong in conversation with Kathryn Gretsinger
The Vancouver Writers Fest presents its first special event of 2013, an evening with award-winning Canadian author, journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong. Armstrong is the author of three previous books, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. Her new book is Ascent of Women. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/sallyarmstrong
Monday, March 25 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Sayed Kashua in conversation with Marsha Lederman
Our friends at the Jewish Book Festival present hugely popular, award-winning Arab Israeli writer, Sayed Kashua, who brings us a fresh voice and perspective from Israel. Using humour and satire, Kashua tackles the often conflicting, interconnecting worlds of Arabs and Jews living in Israel. Details: http://www.jccgv.com/content/jewish-book-fest
Saturday, March 9 at 8:00pm (note new date!)
Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre
A DRAM COME TRUE
Tickets are on sale now for our popular single malt tasting A Dram Come True. Join us at Hycroft, the elegant Shaughnessy mansion, for an evening of great fun and good spirits. Enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts, a premium silent auction, Cuban cigars and great company. A Dram Comes True is a fundraiser for the Writers Fest. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.
AWARDS & LISTS
Jack Rabinovitch, founder of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, has announced the award-winning three-member jury panel for the 2013 prize. They are: Canadian authors Margaret Atwood and Esi Edugyan, and American writer Jonathan Lethem.
http://www.scotiabank.com/gillerprize/0,,5813,00.html
Leon Wieseltier, longtime literary editor of The New Republic, is among this year's winners of the prestigious Dan David Prize, given annually to honor "contributions to humanity" and carries a $1 million dollar award. Mr. Wieseltier has stated he will share the $1 million purse with the French philosopher Michel Serres, his fellow winner in the prize's "Present" category.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/new-republic-literary-editor-to-split-1-million-prize/?ref=booksupdate&nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130215
Poet Robert Bly is to be awarded the Frost Medal for a "distinguished lifetime achievement in poetry" by the Poetry Society of America. The American poet is also known for the book Iron John, which helped inspire 'the expressive men's movement', and his translations.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/14/robert-bly-poetry-frost-medal
Five authors are shortlisted for The 2013 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction: Carol Bishop-Gwyn, Tim Cook, Sandra Djwa, Ross King, and Andrew Preston. The award will go to the author whose book best combines a superb command of the English language, an elegance of style, and a subtlety of thought and perception.
http://www.thecharlestaylorprize.ca/2013/finalists_13.asp
Claremont Graduate University has named three finalists for its Kingsley Tufts Award: Marianne Boruch, Edward Haworth Hoeppner, and Paisley Rekdal. The prize is designed to reward a single book by a mid-career poet. In addition, three finalists for the Kate Tufts Discovery Award were announced.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-claremont-kingsley-tufts-poetry-award-20130131,0,7872837.story
The annual Judging Books By Their Covers competition reveals surprising differences between jacket designs on each side of the Atlantic, writes Lucy Manga. You could argue forever about which of the two renderings of the same idea for Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette has the edge over the other.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/shortcuts/2013/feb/17/best-book-covers-uk-us
YOUNG READERS
David Walliams's Ratburger is the story of Zoe, who makes friends with a rat called Armitage, and gets into a terrible adventure. This book is so fantastic it makes you never to want to stop reading it, says cupcakekate. David Walliams is a comedian so his books always have funny bits. For ages 7 and under.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2013/feb/15/review-ratburger-david-walliams
Tales of Flavia's adventures can't come quickly enough, writes Anne Sutherland, admitting that Flavia de Luce is her favourite heroine. She's precocious, inventive, resourceful, loyal and totally fearless. And she's 11 years old, about to turn 12. Ages 10 to 13.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Tales+Flavia+adventures+come+quickly+enough/7909034/story.html
Marcus Sedgwick's title Midwinterblood evocatively hints at what's to come. A labyrinthine story of love, sacrifice and blood. A cast of vampires, Vikings and high priests encounter one another in various forms—with dire consequences for both their past and future incarnations. Young adult and ages 13 to 18.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/books/review/midwinterblood-by-marcus-sedgwick.html?nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130208
NEWS & FEATURES
A restored version of Ted Kotcheff's film of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz starring Richard Dreyfuss, will be unveiled in Toronto March 2.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2013/02/16/the_apprenticeship_of_duddy_kravitz_gets_new_life.html
The 19th-century Scottish poet William Topaz McGonagall, whose works were so detested he was pelted with rotten fish, has the last laugh. A rare poem by the 'world's worst poet' is expected to fetch £3,000 at auction.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/18/rare-poem-worst-poet-auction
A former war hero has been unmasked as the author of a series of romance novels. Bill Spence has written 22 novels, under the pseudonym Jessica Blair. The 89-year-old bomb aimer during the Second World War, was told by his publishers that he would need to write under a female name in order for the books to sell.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9870523/Former-Second-World-War-hero-unmasked-as-romance-writer.html
Story collections are experiencing a resurgence, driven by a proliferation of digital options that offer new creative opportunities and exposure and revenue as well. These include George Saunders's Tenth of December, Karen Russell's Vampires in the Lemon Grove, and Jess Walter's We Live in Water.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/books/a-good-fit-for-small-screens-short-stories-are-selling.html
In a piece for the Smithsonian, Patricia T. O'Conner and Stewart Kellarman have riled grammarphiles, stating that "Most of What You Think You Know About Grammar is Wrong".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/feb/08/grammar-lovers-split-infitives-wrong
The U.S. Justice Department has cleared the proposed merger of Random House and Penguin, which would create the biggest book publisher in the world.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/random_house_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org
Paul Collicut's The Murder Mile is like Chariots of Fire as rewritten by Raymond Chandler, a beautifully illustrated detective story that unfolds alongside the race to break the four-minute mile, writes Rachel Cooke. The Murder Mile's climactic scene takes place at the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/18/murder-mile-paul-collicutt-review?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2
There is a reason the character of the Boy in my first picture books wears a red and white stripey jumper, writes Oliver Jeffers: Maurice Sendak. Like many others, I developed a personal relationship with his picture book because it is excellent. Since I began making picture books I call them just that. Picture books. Not children's books. I don't believe they are just for children.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/feb/14/oliver-jeffers-maurice-sendak-wild-things
What happens if our faith in novels falters, if we find ourselves unable to suspend disbelief? Am I really a believer? Was I ever? asks Ian McEwan. I have moments when my faith in fiction falters and then comes to the edge of collapse. I've been on panels with fellow believers as we intone the liturgy, that humans are fabulators, we "cannot live" without stories. (Oh yes, we can.)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/16/ian-mcewan-faith-fiction-falters
Two decades after Donna Tartt soared to literary stardom with The Secret History, the reclusive author is set to release her third novel in October. The Goldfinch, which follows The Little Friend, published in 2002, explores a young boy's descent into 'the art underworld'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/13/donna-tartt-first-novel-11-years
The Bare It All for Books Campaign for PEN aims to create a 2014 calendar to raise money for its programs. Twelve Canadian writers who have agreed to pose for the calendar are: Angie Abdou, Trevor Cole, Farzana Doctor, Dave Bidini, Miranda Hill, Daniel MacIvor, Yasuko Thanh, Terry Fallis, Sachiko Murakami, Vincent Lam, Saleema Nawaz and Yann Martel. In the great tradition of writing, much is left to the imagination.
http://bareitforbooks.ca
THE deadline for the 9th Annual Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest has been extended to March 1, 2013, 11:59pm PST! For your chance at literary fame and fortune, information on how the contest works and contest details is here:
http://www.geist.com/articles/postcard-contest/
BOOKS & WRITERS
In an interview with Allison Flood, Anglo-American novelist Lucy Ellman speaks of her new heroine—and writing her from a man's point of view, specifically the point of view of Harrison, a plastic surgeon. Harrison has a romance with the titular Mimi, who becomes angry about the treatment of women.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/09/lucy-ellmann-interview-mimi
Slammerkin, Emma Donoghue's coming-of-age story of a teenage girl fending for herself in the 1760s, exerts a considerable grip, writes Natasha Tripney. Like Donoghue's more recent child's-eye novel, Room, Slammerkin is a story of survival and liberty.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/17/slammerkin-emma-donoghue-review
Christa Wolf's City of Angels, or, The Overcoat of Dr. Freud, is a work about betrayal, the inability to know oneself. and a public act of self-reflection, writes David L. Ulin. At its center, writer Christa Wolf was among the most prominent writers to come out of communist East Germany. In the end, forgetting offers her the starkest sort of freedom.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-christa-wolf-20130203,0,2945753.story
André Brink's Philida is a result of his discovering that a collateral ancestor of his owned a slave named Philida in the early 1800s. The real Philida tells the Slave Protector that François, her owner's son, reneged on his promise of freedom and was planning to sell her. Brink uses this historical record as a launching pad for his imagined version of Philida's life.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/books/review/philida-by-andre-brink.html?nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130215&_r=0
In The Daughters of Mars, Thomas Keneally shows us the horror of war from the perspective of nurses whose own battlegrounds are to save lives, not take them. Keneally is no jingoist; The Daughters of Mars is unabashedly anti-war, a stance that is buttressed by the novel's perspective, writes Stephen Finucan.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/15/the_daughters_of_mars_by_thomas_keneally_review
COMMUNITY EVENTS
W.P. KINSELLA
Canadian author will read from, and chat about, his latest book, Butterfly Winter. Thursday, February 21 at 10:30am, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Walid Bitar, Basma Kavanagh, and Missy Marston. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, visit http://rrs-feb2013.eventbrite.ca/.
CATHY OSTLERE
Cathy Ostlere discusses her memoir Lost. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00 PM. Christianne's Lyceum. 3696 W. 8th Ave. $20 (includes refreshments). To reserve your space call 604.733.1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com. More information at www.christiannehayward.com.
FROM TALKING STICK TO MICROPHONE
Zaccheus Jackson and a selection of this country's best independent musicians and slam poets go head to head! Friday, February 22 at 8:00pm, pay what you can. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at www.fullcircle.ca.
GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL
Fourth annual festival featuring John Belshaw, Kevin Chong, Pauline Holdstock, Nancy Richler and many others. February 22-24, 2013. Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, Galiano Island. For complete details, visit galianoliteraryfestival.com.
FIVE ELEMENTS
A night of poetry and music raising funds for SFU's Indigenous Poetry and Poetics class. Featuring Joanne Arnott, Alex Jacobs, Larissa Lai and many more. Saturday, February 23 at 7:00pm, admission by donation. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway. More information at talonbooks.com.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth poetry slam featuring Scruffmouth. Monday, February 25 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $6/$4. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
GATHER @ ZAWA
Spoken word and music, featuring Victoria's Poet Laureate, Janet Rogers and Alex Jacobs from New Mexico alongside the sounds of Kristi Lane Sinclair. Monday, February 25 at 9:30pm. Zawa Restaurant, 920 Commercial Drive. For complete information, visit www.fullcircle.ca.
THE WORD AND RESISTANCE
Alex Jacobs and Janet Rogers talk about creative ways to resist and affect change. They will present a literary array of politically inspired poetry from many movements throughout their careers. Tuesday, February 26 at 3:30pm. First Nations House of Learning @ UBC, 1985 West Mall. Complete details at www.fullcircle.ca.
OUR FRIEND JOE
Vancouver author Lisa Anne Smith tells untold stories of Joe Fortes, the West Indian sailor who became a local legend. Tuesday, February 26 at 7:00pm, free. Lower level, Alice MacKay room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
COLIN BROWNE
Part of the Feedback Series talks, poet and author of The Properties will lead an inquiry into the idea of 'documentary' in relationship to the gallery works on display. Tuesday, February 26 at 7:00pm. More information at www.contemporaryartgallery.ca.
PLAY CHTHONICS
Readings by Jen Currin and Ken Babstock. Wednesday, February 27 at 6:30pm. Piano lounge, Green College, UBC. More information at www.greencollege.ubc.ca.
WORLD POETRY NIGHT OUT
Celebrates Black History month with hosts Ariadne Sawyer and Mickey Bickerstaff. Wednesday, February 27 at 6:30pm, free. New Westminster Public Library, 716 6th Ave., New Westminster. More information at poeticjustice.ca.
AB-ORIGINAL SPOKENWORD-SCAPES
Join Spoken Word artists and musicians as they riff and jam and spark together. Features Janet Rogers, Alex Jacobs, Dave Larocque, Joseph 'Pepe' Danza, Cris Derksen and more. Wednesday, February 27 at 8:00pm. Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews. For tickets, visit www.ticketstonight.ca. More information at www.fullcircle.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Susan Steudel and Chelsea Comeau plus Open Mic. Thursday, February 28, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
Upcoming
VANCOUVER NOIR
Authors Diane Purvey and John Belshaw discuss Vancouver's gritty underbelly in the 1930s-1960s. Tuesday, March 5 at 7:00pm, free. Lower level, Alice MacKay room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
AL HUNTER
Poetry reading by Anishinaabe writer Al Hunter. Wednesday, March 6 at 6:30pm, free. First Nations Longhouse, UBC. Admission is free and books will be available for purchase and signing. For more information and to register, visit http://rrs-march2013.eventbrite.ca/.
EILEEN COOK
Author reads from her latest release, The Almost Truth, a smart, romantic novel about a teenage con artist who might be in over her head. Thursday, March 7 at 10:00am, free. Britannia branch, 1661 Napier Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
POETS AND THE SOCIAL SELF
Join Wayde Compton, Joanne Arnott, and Michael Turner with Renee Sarojini Saklikar as they discuss and read from their work. Thursday, March 7 at 7:00pm, free. Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre, SFU's Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W Hasting St. More information at sfuwoodwards.ca.
INHABITING WOMEN'S SPACE
Four women writers explore how women inhabit space, metaphorically. Join Kate Braid, Marilyn Bowering, Sandra Djwa and Kathy Mezei as they present their recent work. Friday, March 8 at 7:00pm, free. Lower level, Alice MacKay room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
NATIONAL INDIGENOUS WRITERS CONFERENCE
A day-long, participant-driven panel on the representation and recognition of Aboriginal writers in Canada. Cost: $30/$15. Saturday, March 9 from 9am to 5pm. SFU Vancouver, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
SEVEN THE SERIES
Four accomplished writers, Eric Walters, Ted Staunton, Richard Scrimger and Sigmund Brouwer, present their books. Monday, March 11 at 7:00pm. West Point Grey United Church Sanctuary, 4595 8th Ave. W. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Andrew Kaufman, Camille Martin, and Barry Webster. Thursday, March 14 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, visit http://www.rrs-mar2013.eventbrite.ca.
MEG TILLY
Meet author and actor as she presents her newest book A Taste of Heaven. Thursday, March 14 at 7:00pm. Kidsbooks on Broadway. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
JOEL DICKER
La Verite sur l'Affaire Harry Quebert is finally coming to Vancouver. Joel Dicker, a 27-year-old Geneva-born author, will present his second novel. The discussion will be in French. Monday, March 18 at 6:15pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
PLAY CHTHONICS
Readings by poets Jan Zwicky and Robert Bringhurst. Wednesday, March 20. Piano lounge, Green College, UBC. More information at www.greencollege.ubc.ca.
WRITERS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK CANADA
2nd annual literary festival featuring Dennis E. Bolen, Bonnie Nish, Jai Birdi, Lila Shahani and many others. Hosted by Lilija Valis, Bernice Lever and Charlene Sayo. Saturday, March 23 from 10am to 4pm. Richmond Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond. More information at 604-327-6040.
Incite: Our free, bi-weekly reading series continues!
Join us on Wednesday, February 27 for an evening of fun and laughter with Canadian humourist Arthur Black and award-winning actor Jackson Davies. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite. Register here: http://incitevpl2013spring.eventbrite.ca/.
Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library. Incite is sponsored by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and supported by the R.J. Nelson Family Foundation.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Sally Armstrong in conversation with Kathryn Gretsinger
The Vancouver Writers Fest presents its first special event of 2013, an evening with award-winning Canadian author, journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong. Armstrong is the author of three previous books, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. Her new book is Ascent of Women. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/sallyarmstrong
Monday, March 25 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Sayed Kashua in conversation with Marsha Lederman
Our friends at the Jewish Book Festival present hugely popular, award-winning Arab Israeli writer, Sayed Kashua, who brings us a fresh voice and perspective from Israel. Using humour and satire, Kashua tackles the often conflicting, interconnecting worlds of Arabs and Jews living in Israel. Details: http://www.jccgv.com/content/jewish-book-fest
Saturday, March 9 at 8:00pm (note new date!)
Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre
A DRAM COME TRUE
Tickets are on sale now for our popular single malt tasting A Dram Come True. Join us at Hycroft, the elegant Shaughnessy mansion, for an evening of great fun and good spirits. Enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts, a premium silent auction, Cuban cigars and great company. A Dram Comes True is a fundraiser for the Writers Fest. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.
AWARDS & LISTS
Jack Rabinovitch, founder of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, has announced the award-winning three-member jury panel for the 2013 prize. They are: Canadian authors Margaret Atwood and Esi Edugyan, and American writer Jonathan Lethem.
http://www.scotiabank.com/gillerprize/0,,5813,00.html
Leon Wieseltier, longtime literary editor of The New Republic, is among this year's winners of the prestigious Dan David Prize, given annually to honor "contributions to humanity" and carries a $1 million dollar award. Mr. Wieseltier has stated he will share the $1 million purse with the French philosopher Michel Serres, his fellow winner in the prize's "Present" category.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/new-republic-literary-editor-to-split-1-million-prize/?ref=booksupdate&nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130215
Poet Robert Bly is to be awarded the Frost Medal for a "distinguished lifetime achievement in poetry" by the Poetry Society of America. The American poet is also known for the book Iron John, which helped inspire 'the expressive men's movement', and his translations.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/14/robert-bly-poetry-frost-medal
Five authors are shortlisted for The 2013 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction: Carol Bishop-Gwyn, Tim Cook, Sandra Djwa, Ross King, and Andrew Preston. The award will go to the author whose book best combines a superb command of the English language, an elegance of style, and a subtlety of thought and perception.
http://www.thecharlestaylorprize.ca/2013/finalists_13.asp
Claremont Graduate University has named three finalists for its Kingsley Tufts Award: Marianne Boruch, Edward Haworth Hoeppner, and Paisley Rekdal. The prize is designed to reward a single book by a mid-career poet. In addition, three finalists for the Kate Tufts Discovery Award were announced.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-claremont-kingsley-tufts-poetry-award-20130131,0,7872837.story
The annual Judging Books By Their Covers competition reveals surprising differences between jacket designs on each side of the Atlantic, writes Lucy Manga. You could argue forever about which of the two renderings of the same idea for Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette has the edge over the other.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/shortcuts/2013/feb/17/best-book-covers-uk-us
YOUNG READERS
David Walliams's Ratburger is the story of Zoe, who makes friends with a rat called Armitage, and gets into a terrible adventure. This book is so fantastic it makes you never to want to stop reading it, says cupcakekate. David Walliams is a comedian so his books always have funny bits. For ages 7 and under.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2013/feb/15/review-ratburger-david-walliams
Tales of Flavia's adventures can't come quickly enough, writes Anne Sutherland, admitting that Flavia de Luce is her favourite heroine. She's precocious, inventive, resourceful, loyal and totally fearless. And she's 11 years old, about to turn 12. Ages 10 to 13.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Tales+Flavia+adventures+come+quickly+enough/7909034/story.html
Marcus Sedgwick's title Midwinterblood evocatively hints at what's to come. A labyrinthine story of love, sacrifice and blood. A cast of vampires, Vikings and high priests encounter one another in various forms—with dire consequences for both their past and future incarnations. Young adult and ages 13 to 18.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/books/review/midwinterblood-by-marcus-sedgwick.html?nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130208
NEWS & FEATURES
A restored version of Ted Kotcheff's film of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz starring Richard Dreyfuss, will be unveiled in Toronto March 2.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2013/02/16/the_apprenticeship_of_duddy_kravitz_gets_new_life.html
The 19th-century Scottish poet William Topaz McGonagall, whose works were so detested he was pelted with rotten fish, has the last laugh. A rare poem by the 'world's worst poet' is expected to fetch £3,000 at auction.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/18/rare-poem-worst-poet-auction
A former war hero has been unmasked as the author of a series of romance novels. Bill Spence has written 22 novels, under the pseudonym Jessica Blair. The 89-year-old bomb aimer during the Second World War, was told by his publishers that he would need to write under a female name in order for the books to sell.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9870523/Former-Second-World-War-hero-unmasked-as-romance-writer.html
Story collections are experiencing a resurgence, driven by a proliferation of digital options that offer new creative opportunities and exposure and revenue as well. These include George Saunders's Tenth of December, Karen Russell's Vampires in the Lemon Grove, and Jess Walter's We Live in Water.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/books/a-good-fit-for-small-screens-short-stories-are-selling.html
In a piece for the Smithsonian, Patricia T. O'Conner and Stewart Kellarman have riled grammarphiles, stating that "Most of What You Think You Know About Grammar is Wrong".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/feb/08/grammar-lovers-split-infitives-wrong
The U.S. Justice Department has cleared the proposed merger of Random House and Penguin, which would create the biggest book publisher in the world.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/random_house_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org
Paul Collicut's The Murder Mile is like Chariots of Fire as rewritten by Raymond Chandler, a beautifully illustrated detective story that unfolds alongside the race to break the four-minute mile, writes Rachel Cooke. The Murder Mile's climactic scene takes place at the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/18/murder-mile-paul-collicutt-review?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2
There is a reason the character of the Boy in my first picture books wears a red and white stripey jumper, writes Oliver Jeffers: Maurice Sendak. Like many others, I developed a personal relationship with his picture book because it is excellent. Since I began making picture books I call them just that. Picture books. Not children's books. I don't believe they are just for children.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/feb/14/oliver-jeffers-maurice-sendak-wild-things
What happens if our faith in novels falters, if we find ourselves unable to suspend disbelief? Am I really a believer? Was I ever? asks Ian McEwan. I have moments when my faith in fiction falters and then comes to the edge of collapse. I've been on panels with fellow believers as we intone the liturgy, that humans are fabulators, we "cannot live" without stories. (Oh yes, we can.)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/16/ian-mcewan-faith-fiction-falters
Two decades after Donna Tartt soared to literary stardom with The Secret History, the reclusive author is set to release her third novel in October. The Goldfinch, which follows The Little Friend, published in 2002, explores a young boy's descent into 'the art underworld'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/13/donna-tartt-first-novel-11-years
The Bare It All for Books Campaign for PEN aims to create a 2014 calendar to raise money for its programs. Twelve Canadian writers who have agreed to pose for the calendar are: Angie Abdou, Trevor Cole, Farzana Doctor, Dave Bidini, Miranda Hill, Daniel MacIvor, Yasuko Thanh, Terry Fallis, Sachiko Murakami, Vincent Lam, Saleema Nawaz and Yann Martel. In the great tradition of writing, much is left to the imagination.
http://bareitforbooks.ca
THE deadline for the 9th Annual Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest has been extended to March 1, 2013, 11:59pm PST! For your chance at literary fame and fortune, information on how the contest works and contest details is here:
http://www.geist.com/articles/postcard-contest/
BOOKS & WRITERS
In an interview with Allison Flood, Anglo-American novelist Lucy Ellman speaks of her new heroine—and writing her from a man's point of view, specifically the point of view of Harrison, a plastic surgeon. Harrison has a romance with the titular Mimi, who becomes angry about the treatment of women.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/09/lucy-ellmann-interview-mimi
Slammerkin, Emma Donoghue's coming-of-age story of a teenage girl fending for herself in the 1760s, exerts a considerable grip, writes Natasha Tripney. Like Donoghue's more recent child's-eye novel, Room, Slammerkin is a story of survival and liberty.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/17/slammerkin-emma-donoghue-review
Christa Wolf's City of Angels, or, The Overcoat of Dr. Freud, is a work about betrayal, the inability to know oneself. and a public act of self-reflection, writes David L. Ulin. At its center, writer Christa Wolf was among the most prominent writers to come out of communist East Germany. In the end, forgetting offers her the starkest sort of freedom.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-christa-wolf-20130203,0,2945753.story
André Brink's Philida is a result of his discovering that a collateral ancestor of his owned a slave named Philida in the early 1800s. The real Philida tells the Slave Protector that François, her owner's son, reneged on his promise of freedom and was planning to sell her. Brink uses this historical record as a launching pad for his imagined version of Philida's life.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/books/review/philida-by-andre-brink.html?nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130215&_r=0
In The Daughters of Mars, Thomas Keneally shows us the horror of war from the perspective of nurses whose own battlegrounds are to save lives, not take them. Keneally is no jingoist; The Daughters of Mars is unabashedly anti-war, a stance that is buttressed by the novel's perspective, writes Stephen Finucan.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/15/the_daughters_of_mars_by_thomas_keneally_review
COMMUNITY EVENTS
W.P. KINSELLA
Canadian author will read from, and chat about, his latest book, Butterfly Winter. Thursday, February 21 at 10:30am, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Walid Bitar, Basma Kavanagh, and Missy Marston. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, visit http://rrs-feb2013.eventbrite.ca/.
CATHY OSTLERE
Cathy Ostlere discusses her memoir Lost. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00 PM. Christianne's Lyceum. 3696 W. 8th Ave. $20 (includes refreshments). To reserve your space call 604.733.1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com. More information at www.christiannehayward.com.
FROM TALKING STICK TO MICROPHONE
Zaccheus Jackson and a selection of this country's best independent musicians and slam poets go head to head! Friday, February 22 at 8:00pm, pay what you can. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at www.fullcircle.ca.
GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL
Fourth annual festival featuring John Belshaw, Kevin Chong, Pauline Holdstock, Nancy Richler and many others. February 22-24, 2013. Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, Galiano Island. For complete details, visit galianoliteraryfestival.com.
FIVE ELEMENTS
A night of poetry and music raising funds for SFU's Indigenous Poetry and Poetics class. Featuring Joanne Arnott, Alex Jacobs, Larissa Lai and many more. Saturday, February 23 at 7:00pm, admission by donation. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway. More information at talonbooks.com.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth poetry slam featuring Scruffmouth. Monday, February 25 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $6/$4. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
GATHER @ ZAWA
Spoken word and music, featuring Victoria's Poet Laureate, Janet Rogers and Alex Jacobs from New Mexico alongside the sounds of Kristi Lane Sinclair. Monday, February 25 at 9:30pm. Zawa Restaurant, 920 Commercial Drive. For complete information, visit www.fullcircle.ca.
THE WORD AND RESISTANCE
Alex Jacobs and Janet Rogers talk about creative ways to resist and affect change. They will present a literary array of politically inspired poetry from many movements throughout their careers. Tuesday, February 26 at 3:30pm. First Nations House of Learning @ UBC, 1985 West Mall. Complete details at www.fullcircle.ca.
OUR FRIEND JOE
Vancouver author Lisa Anne Smith tells untold stories of Joe Fortes, the West Indian sailor who became a local legend. Tuesday, February 26 at 7:00pm, free. Lower level, Alice MacKay room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
COLIN BROWNE
Part of the Feedback Series talks, poet and author of The Properties will lead an inquiry into the idea of 'documentary' in relationship to the gallery works on display. Tuesday, February 26 at 7:00pm. More information at www.contemporaryartgallery.ca.
PLAY CHTHONICS
Readings by Jen Currin and Ken Babstock. Wednesday, February 27 at 6:30pm. Piano lounge, Green College, UBC. More information at www.greencollege.ubc.ca.
WORLD POETRY NIGHT OUT
Celebrates Black History month with hosts Ariadne Sawyer and Mickey Bickerstaff. Wednesday, February 27 at 6:30pm, free. New Westminster Public Library, 716 6th Ave., New Westminster. More information at poeticjustice.ca.
AB-ORIGINAL SPOKENWORD-SCAPES
Join Spoken Word artists and musicians as they riff and jam and spark together. Features Janet Rogers, Alex Jacobs, Dave Larocque, Joseph 'Pepe' Danza, Cris Derksen and more. Wednesday, February 27 at 8:00pm. Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews. For tickets, visit www.ticketstonight.ca. More information at www.fullcircle.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Susan Steudel and Chelsea Comeau plus Open Mic. Thursday, February 28, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
Upcoming
VANCOUVER NOIR
Authors Diane Purvey and John Belshaw discuss Vancouver's gritty underbelly in the 1930s-1960s. Tuesday, March 5 at 7:00pm, free. Lower level, Alice MacKay room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
AL HUNTER
Poetry reading by Anishinaabe writer Al Hunter. Wednesday, March 6 at 6:30pm, free. First Nations Longhouse, UBC. Admission is free and books will be available for purchase and signing. For more information and to register, visit http://rrs-march2013.eventbrite.ca/.
EILEEN COOK
Author reads from her latest release, The Almost Truth, a smart, romantic novel about a teenage con artist who might be in over her head. Thursday, March 7 at 10:00am, free. Britannia branch, 1661 Napier Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
POETS AND THE SOCIAL SELF
Join Wayde Compton, Joanne Arnott, and Michael Turner with Renee Sarojini Saklikar as they discuss and read from their work. Thursday, March 7 at 7:00pm, free. Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre, SFU's Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W Hasting St. More information at sfuwoodwards.ca.
INHABITING WOMEN'S SPACE
Four women writers explore how women inhabit space, metaphorically. Join Kate Braid, Marilyn Bowering, Sandra Djwa and Kathy Mezei as they present their recent work. Friday, March 8 at 7:00pm, free. Lower level, Alice MacKay room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
NATIONAL INDIGENOUS WRITERS CONFERENCE
A day-long, participant-driven panel on the representation and recognition of Aboriginal writers in Canada. Cost: $30/$15. Saturday, March 9 from 9am to 5pm. SFU Vancouver, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
SEVEN THE SERIES
Four accomplished writers, Eric Walters, Ted Staunton, Richard Scrimger and Sigmund Brouwer, present their books. Monday, March 11 at 7:00pm. West Point Grey United Church Sanctuary, 4595 8th Ave. W. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Andrew Kaufman, Camille Martin, and Barry Webster. Thursday, March 14 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, visit http://www.rrs-mar2013.eventbrite.ca.
MEG TILLY
Meet author and actor as she presents her newest book A Taste of Heaven. Thursday, March 14 at 7:00pm. Kidsbooks on Broadway. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
JOEL DICKER
La Verite sur l'Affaire Harry Quebert is finally coming to Vancouver. Joel Dicker, a 27-year-old Geneva-born author, will present his second novel. The discussion will be in French. Monday, March 18 at 6:15pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
PLAY CHTHONICS
Readings by poets Jan Zwicky and Robert Bringhurst. Wednesday, March 20. Piano lounge, Green College, UBC. More information at www.greencollege.ubc.ca.
WRITERS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK CANADA
2nd annual literary festival featuring Dennis E. Bolen, Bonnie Nish, Jai Birdi, Lila Shahani and many others. Hosted by Lilija Valis, Bernice Lever and Charlene Sayo. Saturday, March 23 from 10am to 4pm. Richmond Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond. More information at 604-327-6040.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Book News Vol. 8 No. 1
BOOK NEWS
Incite: Mind-altering, metamorphic, twice-monthly!
Join us on Wednesday, February 27 for an evening of fun and laughter with Canadian humourist Arthur Black and award-winning actor Jackson Davies. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite. Register here: http://incitevpl2013spring.eventbrite.ca/.
Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library. Incite is sponsored by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and supported by the R.J. Nelson Family Foundation.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Sally Armstrong in conversation with Kathryn Gretsinger
The Vancouver Writers Fest presents its first special event of 2013, an evening with award-winning Canadian author, journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong. Armstrong is the author of three previous books, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. Her new book is Ascent of Women. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/sallyarmstrong
Monday, March 25 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Sayed Kashua in conversation with Marsha Lederman
Our friends at the Jewish Book Festival present hugely popular, award-winning Arab Israeli writer, Sayed Kashua, who brings us a fresh voice and perspective from Israel. Using humor and satire, Kashua tackles the often conflicting, interconnecting worlds of Arabs and Jews living in Israel. Details: http://www.jccgv.com/content/jewish-book-fest
Saturday, March 9 at 8:00pm (note new date!)
Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre
A DRAM COME TRUE
Tickets are on sale now for our popular single malt tasting A Dram Come True. Join us at Hycroft, the elegant Shaughnessy mansion, for an evening of great fun and good spirits. Enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts, a premium silent auction, Cuban cigars and great company. A Dram Comes True is a fundraiser for the Writers Fest. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.
AWARDS & LISTS
Spanish writer Antonio Munoz Molina says he will accept a prestigious Israeli award given to authors, despite calls from pro-Palestinian activists to boycott the Jewish state. The Jerusalem Prize is an award given every two years to authors who write about human freedom in society.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10652667
Hilary Mantel and Will Self will battle it out for another literary prize six months after Mantel beat Self to the Man Booker Prize. The pair are short listed in the literature category at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards, along with Kerry Hudson's debut novel Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma. The winner will be announced March 12.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/hilary-mantel-and-will-self-fight-it-out-for-another-literary-prize-8483558.html
The Crime Writers' Association is to award Lee Child its Diamond Dagger with the lifetime achievement honour this summer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/12/lee-child-award-diamond-dagger
After four days of deliberations, the Canada Reads panel has decided that February by Lisa Moore is the Canada Reads 2013 champion!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/02/14/canada-reads-turf-wars-final.html
For a recap of the final day of deliberations, go here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/2013/02/day-four-recap.html
YOUNG READERS
"The man from the land of Fandango is coming to pay you a call," begins Margaret Mahy's The Man from the Land of Fandango. With impeccable invention and rhythm, we hear of a jingling, jongling, jangling party person who "only appears every five hundred years". Ages 2 to 6.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/01/small_print_mini_reviews_of_books_for_tots_and_teens.html
Melodrama, a crumbling mansion in northern England, a puppeteer, a witch, and Clara first disappearing from her home, then reappearing as a miniature of herself are key to Laura Amy Schlitz‘s Splendors and Glooms: a lengthy, involved winter's tale. Ages 9 to 13.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/01/small_print_mini_reviews_of_books_for_tots_and_teens.html
In The Brontë Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, Catherine Reef's biography of the Brontë sisters strikes an intelligent, honest note. Reef describes the imaginative games of the Brontë sisters' childhood, their stern education, limited travels and passionate literary works, offering a wealth of information about the period. Ages 11 to teen.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/01/small_print_mini_reviews_of_books_for_tots_and_teens.html
NEWS & FEATURES
Love poems range from the schlocky to the sublime. "At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet," wrote Plato. Love makes us burst with emotion — as if we have a heart "like a singing bird," wrote Christina Rossetti. To vote for your favourite love story from 10 contenders, go here:
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books.html
The New York Review of Books, noted for its rigorous writing and its personal ads, celebrates its 50th anniversary this month. Catherine Tice doesn't know what prompted the decision to run personals, but she has the very first personal ad, from the July 11, 1968, issue. The ads reflect an intellectually engaged and curious readership, says Tice.
http://www.npr.org/2013/02/09/171416212/literary-types-find-love-in-the-new-york-review-of-books?ft=1&f=1008
Chinese writer and award-winning satirist Yan Lianke admits he self-censored while writing Dream of Ding Village, which deals with an HIV scandal. He adds that Chinese intellectuals avoid key issues amid censorship fears. Yan Lianke had two books banned in the past decade but his bleakly humorous novel Lenin's Kisses was published in Britain this week.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/06/chinese-writers-failing-censorship-concerns
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's upcoming book on the history of professional hockey will be published in the United States rather than Canada because of prohibitions embedded in the government's cultural policy. Simon & Schuster, chosen to publish the English-language edition of the Prime Minister's book, is banned from publishing books in Canada under the Investment Canada Act.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/government-policy-shuts-out-harpers-hockey-book-from-canadian-printers/article8372182/
The Bell Jar was published less than a month before Sylvia Plath killed herself on 11 February 1963. To mark the 50th anniversary of her death, a dozen writers and poets—including Sharon Olds, Jennifer Egan, Jeanette Winterson and Margaret Drabble—reflect on what Plath's work means to them.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/08/sylvia-plath-reflections-on-her-legacy
The latest book cover of Anne of Green Gables features a buxom young woman with flaxen locks, a far cry from the skinny, pigtailed, redhead of L.M. Montgomery's famous series of books. The makeover has generated lots of buzz online, ranging from outrage, confusion and amusement.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/07/anne_of_green_gables_fans_blast_new_blond_version.html
Roald Dahl taught a generation how to fight back against the monstrous world of grown-ups with marvellous medicine, magic fingers and a healthy dose of naughtiness. Now the old rebel of children's literature, loved by millions for his dark humour and the surreal, is more popular with adults than with children, according to a new survey of children's literary tastes.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/the-tale-of-the-unexpected-decline-of-roald-dahl-8486008.html
Alberto Manguel commemorates Yehuda Elberg, whose work is among the most important contributions to the literature of the Holocaust, Ekberg died in 2003 and is forgotten by almost all.
http://www.geist.com/articles/yehuda-elberg/
The body of Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda is to be exhumed for an autopsy seeking clues to the cause of his death. Neruda died days after the 1973 military coup that ended the life of President Salvador Allende. The Pablo Neruda Foundation announced Friday that it supports Judge Mario Carroza's investigation.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/02/08/arts-neruda-exhumation.html
"Which book changed your life?" is a question it's tempting to answer with a shrug. But in 1970, before he was a household name, Oliver Sacks wrote a book called Migraine. More modest and more technical than his big hits, the book is still remarkable in its shrewd perceptions. It changed my life, says Hilary Mantel.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/08/my-hero-oliver-sacks-mantel
Teenager Timothy Parker Russel has edited and produced Dark World, a book of fourteen terrifying ghost stories, short stories from award-winning writers around the world. The project began after a school trip to the Amala Children's Home in India. Now, funds are donated to help orphans living in the Children's Home who would otherwise be living on the streets.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2013/feb/07/teen-edits-book-ghost-stories
Azerbaijan's troubled efforts to portray itself as a progressive and Western-oriented country took a beating this week with the announcement by a pro-government political party that it will pay $12,700 to anyone who cuts off the ear of a 75-year-old novelist.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/azerbaijan-turns-on-one-of-its-own/2013/02/12/977d2c8a-752b-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story.html
The deadline for the 9th Annual Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest has been extended to March 1, 2013, 11:59pm PST! For your chance at literary fame and fortune, information on how the contest works and contest details is here:
http://www.geist.com/articles/postcard-contest/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Since fictional love matches are often troubled, Globe Books asked writers to imagine characters from literature who might be perfect together. Eleanor Wachtel sends Emma Bovary on a date with The English Patient. Andrew Pyper pairs Frankenstein's Monster and Anne Shirley. Alissa York chooses star-crossed lovers White Fang and Black Beauty.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/valentines-day/frankenstein-anne-shirley-4eva-authors-play-cupid-for-their-favourite-literary-characters/article8385661/?cmpid=rss1
If you're tired of going to bed with flabby, self-important books that rarely deliver on their promises, treat yourself this Valentine's Day to a box of Godiva chocolates and Simon Rich's hysterical new story collection, The Last Girlfriend on Earth. It just might be the best one-night stand you'll ever have, writes John Wilwol.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/the-last-girlfriend-on-earth-by-simon-rich/2013/02/05/0e0bd5c6-6cb8-11e2-8740-9b58f43c191a_story.html - license-0e0bd5c6-6cb8-11e2-8740-9b58f43
Evelyn Lau's A Grain of Rice honours both family and the past. A passionate suite of poems pays tribute to John Updike's life and work (he is the writer who has most influenced her writing career). The book is a meditation on loss, says Candace Fertile.
http://www.vancouversun.com/mobile/entertainment/books/voice+grows+more+sorrowful/7938672/story.html
One hundred years after Bram Stoker's death, his greatest creation is more alive than ever, writes Michael Dirda, immortality being one of the many side benefits. According to Thirty Years A-Going: A History of the Bram Stoker Society, teenage boys have regularly written to the organization, asking how they might become vampires.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/the-forgotten-writings-of-bram-stoker-reviewed-by-michael-dirda/2013/02/06/38fd8158-6c9f-11e2-ada0-5ca5fa7ebe79_story.html
In an interview with Allison Flood, Anglo-American novelist Lucy Ellman speaks of her new heroine—and writing her from a man's point of view, specifically the point of view of Harrison, a plastic surgeon. Harrison has a romance with the titular Mimi, who becomes angry about the treatment of women.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/09/lucy-ellmann-interview-mimi
Maurice Sendak's posthumous work was inspired by his older brother and by William Blake's visionary Songs of Innocence and Experience. To see the world through Blake's eyes made Sendak very happy, despite his embittered grief. My Brother's Book is a song of innocence and experience combined.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/search/?q=wild+things
Ayana Mathis's The Twelve Tribes of Hattie tells of Hattie Shepherd and her family, soon after they flee the Jim Crow laws of the U.S. South for a better life in Philadelphia. Many sad things happen, but this is not a sad book. Rather, it glistens with a quiet, hopeful beauty, writes Monique Polak.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/01/25/book-review-the-twelve-tribes-of-hattie-by-ayana-mathis/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
SHAKESPEAREAN SWORDPLAY
Hear Greg Mele and author C.C. Humphreys discourse on what happens when England plays Italy—but not on the soccer field—with honour as the prize. Saturday, February 16 at 10:00am. Part of Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium. For complete information, visit www.vancouverswordplay.com.
WRITING WESTERN MARTIAL ARTS IN FICTION
Join Neal Stephenson and Joseph Brassey, two of the authors behind the Mongoliad, as they talk about the steps taken to create a literary martial arts epic. Saturday, February 16 at 3:00pm. Part of Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium. For complete information, visit www.vancouverswordplay.com.
PEN AND SWORD
Lecture by Dr. Noelle Phillips will explore the representation and literary description of medieval weaponry–swords in particular–in a variety of medieval manuscripts. Sunday, February 17 at 3:30pm. Part of Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium. For complete information, visit www.vancouverswordplay.com.
UBC ALUMNI BOOK CLUB
Choose between Timothy Taylor's Stanley Park and Lynn Coady's Mean Boy at this book club in which you can meet the facilitator and fellow alumni, and learn about the book before you read it. Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10. Cecil Green Park Coach House, 6323 Cecil Green Park Rd., UBC.
W.P. KINSELLA
Canadian author will read from, and chat about, his latest book, Butterfly Winter. Thursday, February 21 at 10:30am, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Walid Bitar, Basma Kavanagh, and Missy Marston. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, visit http://rrs-feb2013.eventbrite.ca/.
CATHY OSTLERE
Cathy Ostlere discusses her memoir Lost. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00 PM. Christianne's Lyceum. 3696 W. 8th Ave. $20 (includes refreshments). To reserve your space call 604.733.1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com. More information at www.christiannehayward.com.
FROM TALKING STICK TO MICROPHONE
Zaccheus Jackson and a selection of this country's best independent musicians and slam poets go head to head! Friday, February 22 at 8:00pm, pay what you can. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at www.fullcircle.ca.
GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL
Fourth annual festival featuring John Belshaw, Kevin Chong, Pauline Holdstock, Nancy Richler and many others. February 22-24, 2013. Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, Galiano Island. For complete details, visit galianoliteraryfestival.com.
FIVE ELEMENTS
A night of poetry and music raising funds for SFU's Indigenous Poetry and Poetics class. Featuring Joanne Arnott, Alex Jacobs, Larissa Lai and many more. Saturday, February 23 at 7:00pm, admission by donation. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway. More information at talonbooks.com.
OLIVER JEFFERS
Oliver Jeffers, author/illustrator of This Moose Belongs to Me, to speak at the Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable's annual Author/Illustrator Breakfast February 23 at the University Golf Club. A limited number of seats remain. For registration and information, go to www.vclr.ca.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth poetry slam featuring Scruffmouth. Monday, February 25 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $6/$4. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
GATHER @ ZAWA
Spoken word and music, featuring Victoria's Poet Laureate, Janet Rogers and Alex Jacobs from New Mexico alongside the sounds of Kristi Lane Sinclair. Monday, February 25 at 9:30pm. Zawa Restaurant, 920 Commercial Drive. For complete information, visit www.fullcircle.ca.
THE WORD AND RESISTANCE
Alex Jacobs and Janet Rogers talk about creative ways to resist and affect change. They will present a literary array of politically inspired poetry from many movements throughout their careers. Tuesday, February 26 at 3:30pm. First Nations House of Learning @ UBC, 1985 West Mall. Complete details at www.fullcircle.ca.
OUR FRIEND JOE
Vancouver author Lisa Anne Smith shares an untold story (or two!) of the West Indian sailor who became a local legend. Tuesday, February 26 at 7:00pm, free. Lower level, Alice MacKay room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
COLIN BROWNE
Part of the Feedback Series talks, poet and author of The Properties will lead an inquiry into the idea of 'documentary' in relationship to the gallery works on display. Tuesday, February 26 at 7:00pm. More information at www.contemporaryartgallery.ca.
Upcoming
PLAY CHTHONICS
Readings by Jen Currin and Ken Babstock. Wednesday, February 27 at 6:30pm. Piano lounge, Green College, UBC. More information at www.greencollege.ubc.ca.
AB-ORIGINAL SPOKENWORD-SCAPES
Join Spoken Word artists and musicians as they riff and jam and spark together. Features Janet Rogers, Alex Jacobs, Dave Larocque, Joseph 'Pepe' Danza, Cris Derksen and more. Wednesday, February 28 at 8:00pm. Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews. For tickets, visit www.ticketstonight.ca. More information at www.fullcircle.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Susan Steudel and Chelsea Comeau plus Open Mic. Thursday, February 28, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
VANCOUVER NOIR
Authors Diane Purvey and John Belshaw discuss Vancouver's gritty underbelly in the 1930s-1960s. Tuesday, March 5 at 7:00pm, free. Lower level, Alice MacKay room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
AL HUNTER
Poetry reading by Anishinaabe writer Al Hunter. Wednesday, March 6 at 6:30pm, free. First Nations Longhouse, UBC. Admission is free and books will be available for purchase and signing. For more information and to register, visit http://rrs-march2013.eventbrite.ca/.
EILEEN COOK
Author reads from her latest release, The Almost Truth, a smart, romantic novel about a teenage con artist who might be in over her head. Thursday, March 7 at 10:00am, free. Britannia branch, 1661 Napier Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
POETS AND THE SOCIAL SELF
Join Wayde Compton, Joanne Arnott, and Michael Turner with Renee Sarojini Saklikar as they discuss and read from their work. Thursday, March 7 at 7:00pm, free. Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre,SFU's Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W Hasting St. More information at sfuwoodwards.ca.
INHABITING WOMEN'S SPACE
Four women writers explore how women inhabit space, metaphorically. Join Kate Braid, Marilyn Bowering, Sandra Djwa and Kathy Mezei as they present their recent work. Friday, March 8 at 7:00pm, free. Lower level, Alice MacKay room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
NATIONAL INDIGENOUS WRITERS CONFERENCE
A day-long, participant-driven panel on the representation and recognition of Aboriginal writers in Canada. Cost: $30/$15. Saturday, March 9 from 9am to 5pm. SFU Vancouver, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Andrew Kaufman, Camille Martin, and Barry Webster. Thursday, March 14 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, visit http://www.rrs-mar2013.eventbrite.ca.
JOEL DICKER
La Verite sur l'Affaire Harry Quebert is finally coming to Vancouver. Joel Dicker, a 27-year-old Geneva-born author, will present his second novel. The discussion will be in French. Monday, March 18 at 6:15pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
PLAY CHTHONICS
Readings by poets Jan Zwicky and Robert Bringhurst. Wednesday, March 20. Piano lounge, Green College, UBC. More information at www.greencollege.ubc.ca.
Incite: Mind-altering, metamorphic, twice-monthly!
Join us on Wednesday, February 27 for an evening of fun and laughter with Canadian humourist Arthur Black and award-winning actor Jackson Davies. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite. Register here: http://incitevpl2013spring.eventbrite.ca/.
Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library. Incite is sponsored by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and supported by the R.J. Nelson Family Foundation.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Sally Armstrong in conversation with Kathryn Gretsinger
The Vancouver Writers Fest presents its first special event of 2013, an evening with award-winning Canadian author, journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong. Armstrong is the author of three previous books, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. Her new book is Ascent of Women. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/sallyarmstrong
Monday, March 25 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Sayed Kashua in conversation with Marsha Lederman
Our friends at the Jewish Book Festival present hugely popular, award-winning Arab Israeli writer, Sayed Kashua, who brings us a fresh voice and perspective from Israel. Using humor and satire, Kashua tackles the often conflicting, interconnecting worlds of Arabs and Jews living in Israel. Details: http://www.jccgv.com/content/jewish-book-fest
Saturday, March 9 at 8:00pm (note new date!)
Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre
A DRAM COME TRUE
Tickets are on sale now for our popular single malt tasting A Dram Come True. Join us at Hycroft, the elegant Shaughnessy mansion, for an evening of great fun and good spirits. Enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts, a premium silent auction, Cuban cigars and great company. A Dram Comes True is a fundraiser for the Writers Fest. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.
AWARDS & LISTS
Spanish writer Antonio Munoz Molina says he will accept a prestigious Israeli award given to authors, despite calls from pro-Palestinian activists to boycott the Jewish state. The Jerusalem Prize is an award given every two years to authors who write about human freedom in society.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10652667
Hilary Mantel and Will Self will battle it out for another literary prize six months after Mantel beat Self to the Man Booker Prize. The pair are short listed in the literature category at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards, along with Kerry Hudson's debut novel Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma. The winner will be announced March 12.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/hilary-mantel-and-will-self-fight-it-out-for-another-literary-prize-8483558.html
The Crime Writers' Association is to award Lee Child its Diamond Dagger with the lifetime achievement honour this summer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/12/lee-child-award-diamond-dagger
After four days of deliberations, the Canada Reads panel has decided that February by Lisa Moore is the Canada Reads 2013 champion!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/02/14/canada-reads-turf-wars-final.html
For a recap of the final day of deliberations, go here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/2013/02/day-four-recap.html
YOUNG READERS
"The man from the land of Fandango is coming to pay you a call," begins Margaret Mahy's The Man from the Land of Fandango. With impeccable invention and rhythm, we hear of a jingling, jongling, jangling party person who "only appears every five hundred years". Ages 2 to 6.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/01/small_print_mini_reviews_of_books_for_tots_and_teens.html
Melodrama, a crumbling mansion in northern England, a puppeteer, a witch, and Clara first disappearing from her home, then reappearing as a miniature of herself are key to Laura Amy Schlitz‘s Splendors and Glooms: a lengthy, involved winter's tale. Ages 9 to 13.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/01/small_print_mini_reviews_of_books_for_tots_and_teens.html
In The Brontë Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, Catherine Reef's biography of the Brontë sisters strikes an intelligent, honest note. Reef describes the imaginative games of the Brontë sisters' childhood, their stern education, limited travels and passionate literary works, offering a wealth of information about the period. Ages 11 to teen.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/01/small_print_mini_reviews_of_books_for_tots_and_teens.html
NEWS & FEATURES
Love poems range from the schlocky to the sublime. "At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet," wrote Plato. Love makes us burst with emotion — as if we have a heart "like a singing bird," wrote Christina Rossetti. To vote for your favourite love story from 10 contenders, go here:
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books.html
The New York Review of Books, noted for its rigorous writing and its personal ads, celebrates its 50th anniversary this month. Catherine Tice doesn't know what prompted the decision to run personals, but she has the very first personal ad, from the July 11, 1968, issue. The ads reflect an intellectually engaged and curious readership, says Tice.
http://www.npr.org/2013/02/09/171416212/literary-types-find-love-in-the-new-york-review-of-books?ft=1&f=1008
Chinese writer and award-winning satirist Yan Lianke admits he self-censored while writing Dream of Ding Village, which deals with an HIV scandal. He adds that Chinese intellectuals avoid key issues amid censorship fears. Yan Lianke had two books banned in the past decade but his bleakly humorous novel Lenin's Kisses was published in Britain this week.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/06/chinese-writers-failing-censorship-concerns
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's upcoming book on the history of professional hockey will be published in the United States rather than Canada because of prohibitions embedded in the government's cultural policy. Simon & Schuster, chosen to publish the English-language edition of the Prime Minister's book, is banned from publishing books in Canada under the Investment Canada Act.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/government-policy-shuts-out-harpers-hockey-book-from-canadian-printers/article8372182/
The Bell Jar was published less than a month before Sylvia Plath killed herself on 11 February 1963. To mark the 50th anniversary of her death, a dozen writers and poets—including Sharon Olds, Jennifer Egan, Jeanette Winterson and Margaret Drabble—reflect on what Plath's work means to them.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/08/sylvia-plath-reflections-on-her-legacy
The latest book cover of Anne of Green Gables features a buxom young woman with flaxen locks, a far cry from the skinny, pigtailed, redhead of L.M. Montgomery's famous series of books. The makeover has generated lots of buzz online, ranging from outrage, confusion and amusement.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/07/anne_of_green_gables_fans_blast_new_blond_version.html
Roald Dahl taught a generation how to fight back against the monstrous world of grown-ups with marvellous medicine, magic fingers and a healthy dose of naughtiness. Now the old rebel of children's literature, loved by millions for his dark humour and the surreal, is more popular with adults than with children, according to a new survey of children's literary tastes.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/the-tale-of-the-unexpected-decline-of-roald-dahl-8486008.html
Alberto Manguel commemorates Yehuda Elberg, whose work is among the most important contributions to the literature of the Holocaust, Ekberg died in 2003 and is forgotten by almost all.
http://www.geist.com/articles/yehuda-elberg/
The body of Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda is to be exhumed for an autopsy seeking clues to the cause of his death. Neruda died days after the 1973 military coup that ended the life of President Salvador Allende. The Pablo Neruda Foundation announced Friday that it supports Judge Mario Carroza's investigation.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/02/08/arts-neruda-exhumation.html
"Which book changed your life?" is a question it's tempting to answer with a shrug. But in 1970, before he was a household name, Oliver Sacks wrote a book called Migraine. More modest and more technical than his big hits, the book is still remarkable in its shrewd perceptions. It changed my life, says Hilary Mantel.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/08/my-hero-oliver-sacks-mantel
Teenager Timothy Parker Russel has edited and produced Dark World, a book of fourteen terrifying ghost stories, short stories from award-winning writers around the world. The project began after a school trip to the Amala Children's Home in India. Now, funds are donated to help orphans living in the Children's Home who would otherwise be living on the streets.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2013/feb/07/teen-edits-book-ghost-stories
Azerbaijan's troubled efforts to portray itself as a progressive and Western-oriented country took a beating this week with the announcement by a pro-government political party that it will pay $12,700 to anyone who cuts off the ear of a 75-year-old novelist.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/azerbaijan-turns-on-one-of-its-own/2013/02/12/977d2c8a-752b-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story.html
The deadline for the 9th Annual Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest has been extended to March 1, 2013, 11:59pm PST! For your chance at literary fame and fortune, information on how the contest works and contest details is here:
http://www.geist.com/articles/postcard-contest/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Since fictional love matches are often troubled, Globe Books asked writers to imagine characters from literature who might be perfect together. Eleanor Wachtel sends Emma Bovary on a date with The English Patient. Andrew Pyper pairs Frankenstein's Monster and Anne Shirley. Alissa York chooses star-crossed lovers White Fang and Black Beauty.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/valentines-day/frankenstein-anne-shirley-4eva-authors-play-cupid-for-their-favourite-literary-characters/article8385661/?cmpid=rss1
If you're tired of going to bed with flabby, self-important books that rarely deliver on their promises, treat yourself this Valentine's Day to a box of Godiva chocolates and Simon Rich's hysterical new story collection, The Last Girlfriend on Earth. It just might be the best one-night stand you'll ever have, writes John Wilwol.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/the-last-girlfriend-on-earth-by-simon-rich/2013/02/05/0e0bd5c6-6cb8-11e2-8740-9b58f43c191a_story.html - license-0e0bd5c6-6cb8-11e2-8740-9b58f43
Evelyn Lau's A Grain of Rice honours both family and the past. A passionate suite of poems pays tribute to John Updike's life and work (he is the writer who has most influenced her writing career). The book is a meditation on loss, says Candace Fertile.
http://www.vancouversun.com/mobile/entertainment/books/voice+grows+more+sorrowful/7938672/story.html
One hundred years after Bram Stoker's death, his greatest creation is more alive than ever, writes Michael Dirda, immortality being one of the many side benefits. According to Thirty Years A-Going: A History of the Bram Stoker Society, teenage boys have regularly written to the organization, asking how they might become vampires.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/the-forgotten-writings-of-bram-stoker-reviewed-by-michael-dirda/2013/02/06/38fd8158-6c9f-11e2-ada0-5ca5fa7ebe79_story.html
In an interview with Allison Flood, Anglo-American novelist Lucy Ellman speaks of her new heroine—and writing her from a man's point of view, specifically the point of view of Harrison, a plastic surgeon. Harrison has a romance with the titular Mimi, who becomes angry about the treatment of women.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/09/lucy-ellmann-interview-mimi
Maurice Sendak's posthumous work was inspired by his older brother and by William Blake's visionary Songs of Innocence and Experience. To see the world through Blake's eyes made Sendak very happy, despite his embittered grief. My Brother's Book is a song of innocence and experience combined.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/search/?q=wild+things
Ayana Mathis's The Twelve Tribes of Hattie tells of Hattie Shepherd and her family, soon after they flee the Jim Crow laws of the U.S. South for a better life in Philadelphia. Many sad things happen, but this is not a sad book. Rather, it glistens with a quiet, hopeful beauty, writes Monique Polak.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/01/25/book-review-the-twelve-tribes-of-hattie-by-ayana-mathis/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
SHAKESPEAREAN SWORDPLAY
Hear Greg Mele and author C.C. Humphreys discourse on what happens when England plays Italy—but not on the soccer field—with honour as the prize. Saturday, February 16 at 10:00am. Part of Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium. For complete information, visit www.vancouverswordplay.com.
WRITING WESTERN MARTIAL ARTS IN FICTION
Join Neal Stephenson and Joseph Brassey, two of the authors behind the Mongoliad, as they talk about the steps taken to create a literary martial arts epic. Saturday, February 16 at 3:00pm. Part of Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium. For complete information, visit www.vancouverswordplay.com.
PEN AND SWORD
Lecture by Dr. Noelle Phillips will explore the representation and literary description of medieval weaponry–swords in particular–in a variety of medieval manuscripts. Sunday, February 17 at 3:30pm. Part of Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium. For complete information, visit www.vancouverswordplay.com.
UBC ALUMNI BOOK CLUB
Choose between Timothy Taylor's Stanley Park and Lynn Coady's Mean Boy at this book club in which you can meet the facilitator and fellow alumni, and learn about the book before you read it. Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10. Cecil Green Park Coach House, 6323 Cecil Green Park Rd., UBC.
W.P. KINSELLA
Canadian author will read from, and chat about, his latest book, Butterfly Winter. Thursday, February 21 at 10:30am, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Walid Bitar, Basma Kavanagh, and Missy Marston. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, visit http://rrs-feb2013.eventbrite.ca/.
CATHY OSTLERE
Cathy Ostlere discusses her memoir Lost. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00 PM. Christianne's Lyceum. 3696 W. 8th Ave. $20 (includes refreshments). To reserve your space call 604.733.1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com. More information at www.christiannehayward.com.
FROM TALKING STICK TO MICROPHONE
Zaccheus Jackson and a selection of this country's best independent musicians and slam poets go head to head! Friday, February 22 at 8:00pm, pay what you can. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at www.fullcircle.ca.
GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL
Fourth annual festival featuring John Belshaw, Kevin Chong, Pauline Holdstock, Nancy Richler and many others. February 22-24, 2013. Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, Galiano Island. For complete details, visit galianoliteraryfestival.com.
FIVE ELEMENTS
A night of poetry and music raising funds for SFU's Indigenous Poetry and Poetics class. Featuring Joanne Arnott, Alex Jacobs, Larissa Lai and many more. Saturday, February 23 at 7:00pm, admission by donation. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway. More information at talonbooks.com.
OLIVER JEFFERS
Oliver Jeffers, author/illustrator of This Moose Belongs to Me, to speak at the Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable's annual Author/Illustrator Breakfast February 23 at the University Golf Club. A limited number of seats remain. For registration and information, go to www.vclr.ca.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth poetry slam featuring Scruffmouth. Monday, February 25 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $6/$4. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
GATHER @ ZAWA
Spoken word and music, featuring Victoria's Poet Laureate, Janet Rogers and Alex Jacobs from New Mexico alongside the sounds of Kristi Lane Sinclair. Monday, February 25 at 9:30pm. Zawa Restaurant, 920 Commercial Drive. For complete information, visit www.fullcircle.ca.
THE WORD AND RESISTANCE
Alex Jacobs and Janet Rogers talk about creative ways to resist and affect change. They will present a literary array of politically inspired poetry from many movements throughout their careers. Tuesday, February 26 at 3:30pm. First Nations House of Learning @ UBC, 1985 West Mall. Complete details at www.fullcircle.ca.
OUR FRIEND JOE
Vancouver author Lisa Anne Smith shares an untold story (or two!) of the West Indian sailor who became a local legend. Tuesday, February 26 at 7:00pm, free. Lower level, Alice MacKay room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
COLIN BROWNE
Part of the Feedback Series talks, poet and author of The Properties will lead an inquiry into the idea of 'documentary' in relationship to the gallery works on display. Tuesday, February 26 at 7:00pm. More information at www.contemporaryartgallery.ca.
Upcoming
PLAY CHTHONICS
Readings by Jen Currin and Ken Babstock. Wednesday, February 27 at 6:30pm. Piano lounge, Green College, UBC. More information at www.greencollege.ubc.ca.
AB-ORIGINAL SPOKENWORD-SCAPES
Join Spoken Word artists and musicians as they riff and jam and spark together. Features Janet Rogers, Alex Jacobs, Dave Larocque, Joseph 'Pepe' Danza, Cris Derksen and more. Wednesday, February 28 at 8:00pm. Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews. For tickets, visit www.ticketstonight.ca. More information at www.fullcircle.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Susan Steudel and Chelsea Comeau plus Open Mic. Thursday, February 28, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
VANCOUVER NOIR
Authors Diane Purvey and John Belshaw discuss Vancouver's gritty underbelly in the 1930s-1960s. Tuesday, March 5 at 7:00pm, free. Lower level, Alice MacKay room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
AL HUNTER
Poetry reading by Anishinaabe writer Al Hunter. Wednesday, March 6 at 6:30pm, free. First Nations Longhouse, UBC. Admission is free and books will be available for purchase and signing. For more information and to register, visit http://rrs-march2013.eventbrite.ca/.
EILEEN COOK
Author reads from her latest release, The Almost Truth, a smart, romantic novel about a teenage con artist who might be in over her head. Thursday, March 7 at 10:00am, free. Britannia branch, 1661 Napier Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
POETS AND THE SOCIAL SELF
Join Wayde Compton, Joanne Arnott, and Michael Turner with Renee Sarojini Saklikar as they discuss and read from their work. Thursday, March 7 at 7:00pm, free. Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre,SFU's Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W Hasting St. More information at sfuwoodwards.ca.
INHABITING WOMEN'S SPACE
Four women writers explore how women inhabit space, metaphorically. Join Kate Braid, Marilyn Bowering, Sandra Djwa and Kathy Mezei as they present their recent work. Friday, March 8 at 7:00pm, free. Lower level, Alice MacKay room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
NATIONAL INDIGENOUS WRITERS CONFERENCE
A day-long, participant-driven panel on the representation and recognition of Aboriginal writers in Canada. Cost: $30/$15. Saturday, March 9 from 9am to 5pm. SFU Vancouver, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Andrew Kaufman, Camille Martin, and Barry Webster. Thursday, March 14 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, visit http://www.rrs-mar2013.eventbrite.ca.
JOEL DICKER
La Verite sur l'Affaire Harry Quebert is finally coming to Vancouver. Joel Dicker, a 27-year-old Geneva-born author, will present his second novel. The discussion will be in French. Monday, March 18 at 6:15pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
PLAY CHTHONICS
Readings by poets Jan Zwicky and Robert Bringhurst. Wednesday, March 20. Piano lounge, Green College, UBC. More information at www.greencollege.ubc.ca.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Book News Vol. 7 No. 52
BOOK NEWS
Incite: Mind-altering, metamorphic, twice-monthly!
Join us on Wednesday, February 13 for an evening filled with non-fiction, featuring Globe and Mail journalist Sandra Martin and Zac Unger. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite. Register here: http://incitevpl2013spring.eventbrite.ca/.
Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library. Incite is sponsored by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and supported by the R.J. Nelson Family Foundation.
SPECIAL EVENT
Sally Armstrong in conversation with Kathryn Gretsinger
The Vancouver Writers Fest presents its first special event of 2013, an evening with award-winning Canadian author, journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong. Armstrong is the author of three previous books, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. Her new book is Ascent of Women.
7:30 pm, Monday, March 25
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Burrard at Nelson
A DRAM COME TRUE
Tickets are on sale now for our popular single malt tasting A Dram Come True. Join us at Hycroft, the elegant Shaughnessy mansion, for an evening of great fun and good spirits. Enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts, a premium silent auction, Cuban cigars and great company. A Dram Comes True is a fundraiser for the Writers Fest. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.
AWARDS & LISTS
The BC Achievement Foundation has awarded historian Modris Eksteins the $40,000 BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction for his book Solar Dance: Genius, Forgery and the Crisis of Truth in the Modern Age.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Historian+nets+fiction+prize/7917106/story.html
Three short story collections are shortlisted for The Story Prize: Dan Chaon's Stay Awake, Junot Diaz's This Is How You Lose Her and Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins. The winner will be announced March 13, and will receive a prize of $20,000.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-congrats-story-prize-finalists-20130116,0,6963746.story
The Canada Reads 2013 contenders are listed here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/2012/11/meet-the-canada-reads-2013-contenders.html
YOUNG READERS
An Irish lass came to North America more than 150 years ago in search of a better life. A necklace of crystal beads makes its way into the hands of young girls. Sharon Dennis Wyeth's The Granddaughter Necklace, is less a story of history than a story of family. Ages 4 to 8.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Books+kids+Stories+that+just+imagine/7910493/story.html#ixzz2Joa6J8IY
"What would you do if you had a chance to help a person find freedom?" That's the question on the back cover of Henry Cole's Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad, an otherwise wordless picture book. Ages 6 to 9.
http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Books-for-young-readers-4224639.php#ixzz2Joeo3QXp
In Ayun Halliday's Peanut, Sadie Wildhack, new to her school, decides a deadly peanut allergy will give her just the right dose of offbeat cachet. It will surely pique interest from her new classmates. For ages 12 to 18.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/books/peanut-by-ayun-halliday.html
NEWS & FEATURES
The news that the entire content of the libraries in Timbuktu have been destroyed by fire is incorrect. Jean-Michel Djian, a French writer and author of The Manuscripts of Timbuktu, has confirmed that parts of the various collections were safe. "The majority of the manuscripts are housed in the thirty-two family libraries of the 'City of 333 Saints,'" said Djian.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/01/the-libraries-of-timbuktu.html
A German father wrote to one of Germany's oldest children's publishers urging it to revise the text of Die Kleine Hexe (The Little Witch) to expunge racist sentiment from the children's book. He was delighted by the publisher's response, despite the angry backlash and hate mail it has generated.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/29/germany-race
Eleanor Watchtel recently interviewed Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgaard about his six-volume, 3600-page memoir, My Struggle, a literary sensation at home, and now, around the world. The interview can be found here:
http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/ID/ID/2331214085/
As the New York Review of Books celebrates its 50th anniversary, editor Bob Silvers explains why a world without long, serious reviews is 'unthinkable'. The NYRB celebrated its 50th anniversary with an event featuring Joan Didion, Michael Chabon and other contributors, on February 5.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/091ba1b6-6576-11e2-a3db-00144feab49a.html#ixzz2JZ5GA05q
Dany Laferrière's The Enigma of the Return, published this month by MacLehose Press, is the penultimate volume of more than 20 so far. A meditation on exile, loss and "navigating through two worlds", it won the 2009 Prix Médicis in France and the Grand Prix du Livre in Montreal.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/01/dany-laferriere-life-in-books
Threats, letter bombs, cover-ups, Basharat Peer, author of the Curfewed Night describes Kashmir's culture of intimidation in his keynote speech at the Edinburgh World Writers' Conference in Jaipur.http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/01/censorship-kashmir-basharat-peer-speech
Italy fears for 'vanishing' heritage after arrests over the sacking of historic libraries. Estimates of how many books were stolen vary because a large proportion of volumes in the collection were not catalogued, but investigators have spoken of a total that could exceed 4,000.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/30/italy-fears-vanifhing-heritage-sacking-historic-library
Librarian Barbara Fister reports that her students conducted a survey, finding that fellow students are less inclined to read ebooks than older adults are. Their contemporaries enjoy an escape from screens, and like to pass on stories from hand to hand.
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/library-babel-fish/still-bookish-after-all-these-years#ixzz2JzPz1mI5Inside Higher Ed
After spending eight years translating the first third of James Joyce's famously opaque novel Finnegans Wake into Chinese, Dai Congrong, professor at Shanghai's Fudan University was incredulous when the translation of "Fennigen de Shouling Ye" sold out its first run of 8,000 copies and reached number two on a bestseller list.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/05/finnegans-wake-china-james-joyce-hit
The three-day Irrawaddy literary festival brought together writers, poets and former political prisoners from Burma and abroad, with sessions held in Burmese and English. The festival's most popular talks invariably involved the opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi—who acted as patron of the festival.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/03/burma-literary-festival
D&M Publishers has sold the Greystone Books imprint to Heritage House Publishing.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Publishers+sells+Greystone+Books+imprint/7910173/story.html#ixzz2Jm3ZpLGn
Less than one week after the assets of Greystone Books were acquired by Heritage House Publishing, Douglas & McIntyre has been purchased by fellow British Columbia indie Harbour Publishing.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/02/06/harbour-publishing-acquires-douglas-mcintyre/
Poet Patricia Young weighs the relative merits of self-publishing and publishing houses. Even if the taboos re self-publishing have fallen away, it's hard for the average writer to get an overall sense of what's going on in publishing. "The best I can do," says Young, "is compare publishing to language itself: messy, unpredictable, changeable, alive."
http://www.winnipegreview.com/wp/2013/02/a-poets-perspective-on-self-publishing/
Research from Virginia Tech, published in the journal Body Image, conclude that "scholars and health officials should be concerned about the effect chick lit novels might have on women's body image". Bridget Jones and weight-obsessed young heroines have a lot to answer for.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/05/chick-lit-body-image
Little is certain about any of Shakespeare's relationships but scholarship has now illuminated the Dark Lady, Shakespeare's hitherto frustratingly shadowy muse, writes Stephen Bayley. Dr. Aubrey Burl announced last month that he now believes she can be revealed as Aline Florio, the wife of an Italian translator.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/unmasking+Dark+Lady+other+artists+muses/7910177/story.html
THE deadline for the 9th Annual Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest has been extended to March 1, 2013, 11:59pm PST! For your chance at literary fame and fortune, information on how the contest works and contest details is here:
http://www.geist.com/articles/postcard-contest/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Ali Smith's Artful is built upon four lectures first delivered at the University of Oxford in 2012. Around these lectures, which appear "pretty much as they were delivered", Smith has constructed a fiction that serves as the embodiment of the essay's themes in story, writes Dimitri Nasrallah.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/01/artful_by_ali_smith_review.html
Manil Suri has written what's sure to be the best sex comedy of the year about nuclear war between India and Pakistan, writes Ron Charles. The City of Devi completes a loose trilogy about the Hindu trinity. Suri's work stands apart, mingling comedy and death, eroticism and politics, godhood and Bollywood like no one else, says Charles.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/manil-suris-the-city-of-devi-reviewed-by-ron-charles/2013/01/29/54a94280-6735-11e2-93e1-475791032daf_story.html
The question of "why" ripples powerfully throughout Marjorie Celona's visceral, vivid novel Y, in which a baby is abandoned on the steps of a Canadian YMCA and raised in foster care, writes Anita Sethi. In the novel's cleverly constructed Y-shaped structure, the narrative arc inches the baby Shannon's story closer towards her mother Yula.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/03/debut-author-marjorie-celona-interview
In See Now Then: Truth from the inside, Jamaica Kincaid exploits tension between the imagined ideal and the compromised real life being lived, writes Ian McGillis. Viewed from a certain angle, the Sweets of Bennington, Vt., could be living a version of the American Dream. In fact, all is far from well.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Then+Truth+from+inside/7910540/story.html#ixzz2JsELnbEi
In the moody German mystery Snow White Must Die, an unlucky backhoe operator scoops up a rusted fuel tank, filled with bones and a human skull. And the plot thickens. Published in Germany in 2010, Snow White Must Die has been a bestseller in Europe. It's easy to see why, says Maureen Corrigan.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/snow-white-must-die-by-nele-neuhaus/2013/01/27/e7ef2978-6498-11e2-b84d-21c7b65985ee_story.html
In winter 1941-42, the German army besieged Leningrad. The city near collapse, officials decided that a live broadcast of Shostakovich's Leningrad symphony (not yet complete) would lift spirits. Sarah Quigley's evocation of these years in The Conductor bounces back and forth between Shostakovich and Karl Eliasberg, the only conductor left after other artists had been taken to safety.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2012/12/28/the_conductor_by_sarah_quigley_review.html
A novel satirising Adolf Hitler and the personality cult that once surrounded him has topped the bestselling lists in Germany. The cover of Timur Vermes's He's Back (Er Ist Wieder Da) squeezes the title into the shape of Hitler's trademark square moustache, while the €19.33 price tag refers to the year the Nazi party leader came to power in Germany.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/05/adolf-hitler-novel-german-bestseller
A February 3 editorial in the Globe and Mail notes that it is strange to be nominated for an international literary award when almost no one in your home country has heard of you. But that is what happened to Josip Novakovich, who is wickedly funny, deeply harrowing and Canadian.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/editorials/josip-novakovich-is-wickedly-funny-deeply-harrowing-and-canadian/article8123128/?utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_source=The%20Globe%20and%20Mail&utm_type=text&utm_content=TheGlobeandMail&utm_campaign=101086017
COMMUNITY EVENTS
SAY WHA?
Performers, Sara Bynoe, Eric Fell, Ken Hegan, & Lauren McGibbon, put their comedic spin on some of the most cringe-worthy, embarrassing and painfully earnest writing in print. Thursday, February 7 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $15. River Market Food Hall, 810 Quayside Drive, New Westminster. More information at rivermarket.ca.
ERIC LITWIN
Part of the Children's Arts Festival, author shares his best-selling book Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes and other musical stories. Monday, February 11 at various times. Tickets: $10. Richmond Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond. More information at childrensartsfestival.ca.
BRANDON SANDERSON
Meet Brandon Sanderson as he signs the final book in Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light. Thursday, February 14 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
UNIQUE LIVES & EXPERIENCES
A lecture series featuring four outstanding women. First lecture will feature Valerie Plame Wilson, a former CIA spy and author of a bestselling autobiography, My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal By the White House, on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30pm. Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street. For complete season details and ticket information, visit www.uniquelives.com.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Kim Clark (Nanaimo) and Kempton Dexter plus Open Mic. Wednesday, February 13, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
SHAKESPEAREAN SWORDPLAY
Hear Greg Mele and author C.C. Humphreys discourse on what happens when England plays Italy—but not on the soccer field—with honour as the prize. Saturday, February 16 at 10:00am. Part of Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium. For complete information, visit www.vancouverswordplay.com.
WRITING WESTERN MARTIAL ARTS IN FICTION
Join Neal Stephenson and Joseph Brassey, two of the authors behind the Mongoliad, as they talk about the steps taken to create a literary martial arts epic. Saturday, February 16 at 3:00pm. Part of Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium. For complete information, visit www.vancouverswordplay.com.
PEN AND SWORD
Lecture by Dr. Noelle Phillips will explore the representation and literary description of medieval weaponry–swords in particular–in a variety of medieval manuscripts. Sunday, February 17 at 3:30pm. Part of Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium. For complete information, visit www.vancouverswordplay.com.
UBC ALUMNI BOOK CLUB
Choose between Timothy Taylor's Stanley Park and Lynn Coady's Mean Boy at this book club in which you can meet the facilitator and fellow alumni, and learn about the book before you read it. Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10. Cecil Green Park Coach House, 6323 Cecil Green Park Rd., UBC.
Upcoming
W.P. KINSELLA
Canadian author will read from, and chat about, his latest book, Butterfly Winter. Thursday, February 21 at 10:30am, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Walid Bitar, Basma Kavanagh, and Missy Marston. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, visit http://rrs-feb2013.eventbrite.ca/.
CATHY OSTLERE
Cathy Ostlere discusses her memoir Lost. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00 PM. Christianne's Lyceum. 3696 W. 8th Ave. $20 (includes refreshments). To reserve your space call 604.733.1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com. More information at www.christiannehayward.com.
FROM TALKING STICK TO MICROPHONE
Zaccheus Jackson and a selection of this country's best independent musicians and slam poets go head to head! Friday, February 22 at 8:00pm, pay what you can. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at www.fullcircle.ca.
GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL
Fourth annual festival featuring John Belshaw, Kevin Chong, Pauline Holdstock, Nancy Richler and many others. February 22-24, 2013. Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, Galiano Island. For complete details, visit galianoliteraryfestival.com.
OLIVER JEFFERS
Oliver Jeffers, author/illustrator of This Moose Belongs to Me, to speak at the Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable's annual Author/Illustrator Breakfast February 23 at the University Golf Club. A limited number of seats remain. For registration and information, go to www.vclr.ca.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth poetry slam featuring Scruffmouth. Monday, February 25 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $6/$4. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
GATHER @ ZAWA
Spoken word and music, featuring Victoria's Poet Laureate of Victoria, Janet Rogers and Alex Jacobs from New Mexico alongside the sounds of Kristi Lane Sinclair. Monday, February 25 at 9:30pm. Zawa Restaurant, 920 Commercial Drive. For complete information, visit www.fullcircle.ca.
THE WORD AND RESISTANCE
Alex Jacobs and Janet Rogers talk about creative ways to resist and affect change. They will present a literary array of politically inspired poetry from many movements throughout their careers. Tuesday, February 26 at 3:30pm. First Nations House of Learning @ UBC, 1985 West Mall. Complete details at www.fullcircle.ca.
AB-ORIGINAL SPOKENWORD-SCAPES
Join Spoken Word artists and musicians as they riff and jam and spark together. Features Janet Rogers, Alex Jacobs, Dave Larocque, Joseph 'Pepe' Danza, Cris Derksen and more. Wednesday, February 28 at 8:00pm. Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews. For tickets, visit www.ticketstonight.ca. More information at www.fullcircle.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Susan Steudel and Chelsea Comeau plus Open Mic. Thursday, February 28, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
AL HUNTER
Poetry reading by Anishinaabe writer Al Hunter. Wednesday, March 6 at 6:30pm, free. First Nations Longhouse, UBC. Admission is free and books will be available for purchase and signing. For more information and to register, visit http://rrs-march2013.eventbrite.ca/.
POETS AND THE SOCIAL SELF
Join Wayde Compton, Joanne Arnott, and Michael Turner with Renee Sarojini Saklikar as they discuss and read from their work. Thursday, March 7 at 7:00pm, free. Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre,SFU's Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W Hasting St. More information at sfuwoodwards.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Andrew Kaufman, Camille Martin, and Barry Webster. Thursday, March 6 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, visit http://www.rrs-mar2013.eventbrite.ca.
Incite: Mind-altering, metamorphic, twice-monthly!
Join us on Wednesday, February 13 for an evening filled with non-fiction, featuring Globe and Mail journalist Sandra Martin and Zac Unger. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite. Register here: http://incitevpl2013spring.eventbrite.ca/.
Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library. Incite is sponsored by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and supported by the R.J. Nelson Family Foundation.
SPECIAL EVENT
Sally Armstrong in conversation with Kathryn Gretsinger
The Vancouver Writers Fest presents its first special event of 2013, an evening with award-winning Canadian author, journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong. Armstrong is the author of three previous books, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. Her new book is Ascent of Women.
7:30 pm, Monday, March 25
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Burrard at Nelson
A DRAM COME TRUE
Tickets are on sale now for our popular single malt tasting A Dram Come True. Join us at Hycroft, the elegant Shaughnessy mansion, for an evening of great fun and good spirits. Enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts, a premium silent auction, Cuban cigars and great company. A Dram Comes True is a fundraiser for the Writers Fest. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.
AWARDS & LISTS
The BC Achievement Foundation has awarded historian Modris Eksteins the $40,000 BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction for his book Solar Dance: Genius, Forgery and the Crisis of Truth in the Modern Age.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Historian+nets+fiction+prize/7917106/story.html
Three short story collections are shortlisted for The Story Prize: Dan Chaon's Stay Awake, Junot Diaz's This Is How You Lose Her and Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins. The winner will be announced March 13, and will receive a prize of $20,000.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-congrats-story-prize-finalists-20130116,0,6963746.story
The Canada Reads 2013 contenders are listed here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/2012/11/meet-the-canada-reads-2013-contenders.html
YOUNG READERS
An Irish lass came to North America more than 150 years ago in search of a better life. A necklace of crystal beads makes its way into the hands of young girls. Sharon Dennis Wyeth's The Granddaughter Necklace, is less a story of history than a story of family. Ages 4 to 8.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Books+kids+Stories+that+just+imagine/7910493/story.html#ixzz2Joa6J8IY
"What would you do if you had a chance to help a person find freedom?" That's the question on the back cover of Henry Cole's Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad, an otherwise wordless picture book. Ages 6 to 9.
http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Books-for-young-readers-4224639.php#ixzz2Joeo3QXp
In Ayun Halliday's Peanut, Sadie Wildhack, new to her school, decides a deadly peanut allergy will give her just the right dose of offbeat cachet. It will surely pique interest from her new classmates. For ages 12 to 18.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/books/peanut-by-ayun-halliday.html
NEWS & FEATURES
The news that the entire content of the libraries in Timbuktu have been destroyed by fire is incorrect. Jean-Michel Djian, a French writer and author of The Manuscripts of Timbuktu, has confirmed that parts of the various collections were safe. "The majority of the manuscripts are housed in the thirty-two family libraries of the 'City of 333 Saints,'" said Djian.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/01/the-libraries-of-timbuktu.html
A German father wrote to one of Germany's oldest children's publishers urging it to revise the text of Die Kleine Hexe (The Little Witch) to expunge racist sentiment from the children's book. He was delighted by the publisher's response, despite the angry backlash and hate mail it has generated.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/29/germany-race
Eleanor Watchtel recently interviewed Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgaard about his six-volume, 3600-page memoir, My Struggle, a literary sensation at home, and now, around the world. The interview can be found here:
http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/ID/ID/2331214085/
As the New York Review of Books celebrates its 50th anniversary, editor Bob Silvers explains why a world without long, serious reviews is 'unthinkable'. The NYRB celebrated its 50th anniversary with an event featuring Joan Didion, Michael Chabon and other contributors, on February 5.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/091ba1b6-6576-11e2-a3db-00144feab49a.html#ixzz2JZ5GA05q
Dany Laferrière's The Enigma of the Return, published this month by MacLehose Press, is the penultimate volume of more than 20 so far. A meditation on exile, loss and "navigating through two worlds", it won the 2009 Prix Médicis in France and the Grand Prix du Livre in Montreal.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/01/dany-laferriere-life-in-books
Threats, letter bombs, cover-ups, Basharat Peer, author of the Curfewed Night describes Kashmir's culture of intimidation in his keynote speech at the Edinburgh World Writers' Conference in Jaipur.http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/01/censorship-kashmir-basharat-peer-speech
Italy fears for 'vanishing' heritage after arrests over the sacking of historic libraries. Estimates of how many books were stolen vary because a large proportion of volumes in the collection were not catalogued, but investigators have spoken of a total that could exceed 4,000.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/30/italy-fears-vanifhing-heritage-sacking-historic-library
Librarian Barbara Fister reports that her students conducted a survey, finding that fellow students are less inclined to read ebooks than older adults are. Their contemporaries enjoy an escape from screens, and like to pass on stories from hand to hand.
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/library-babel-fish/still-bookish-after-all-these-years#ixzz2JzPz1mI5Inside Higher Ed
After spending eight years translating the first third of James Joyce's famously opaque novel Finnegans Wake into Chinese, Dai Congrong, professor at Shanghai's Fudan University was incredulous when the translation of "Fennigen de Shouling Ye" sold out its first run of 8,000 copies and reached number two on a bestseller list.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/05/finnegans-wake-china-james-joyce-hit
The three-day Irrawaddy literary festival brought together writers, poets and former political prisoners from Burma and abroad, with sessions held in Burmese and English. The festival's most popular talks invariably involved the opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi—who acted as patron of the festival.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/03/burma-literary-festival
D&M Publishers has sold the Greystone Books imprint to Heritage House Publishing.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Publishers+sells+Greystone+Books+imprint/7910173/story.html#ixzz2Jm3ZpLGn
Less than one week after the assets of Greystone Books were acquired by Heritage House Publishing, Douglas & McIntyre has been purchased by fellow British Columbia indie Harbour Publishing.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/02/06/harbour-publishing-acquires-douglas-mcintyre/
Poet Patricia Young weighs the relative merits of self-publishing and publishing houses. Even if the taboos re self-publishing have fallen away, it's hard for the average writer to get an overall sense of what's going on in publishing. "The best I can do," says Young, "is compare publishing to language itself: messy, unpredictable, changeable, alive."
http://www.winnipegreview.com/wp/2013/02/a-poets-perspective-on-self-publishing/
Research from Virginia Tech, published in the journal Body Image, conclude that "scholars and health officials should be concerned about the effect chick lit novels might have on women's body image". Bridget Jones and weight-obsessed young heroines have a lot to answer for.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/05/chick-lit-body-image
Little is certain about any of Shakespeare's relationships but scholarship has now illuminated the Dark Lady, Shakespeare's hitherto frustratingly shadowy muse, writes Stephen Bayley. Dr. Aubrey Burl announced last month that he now believes she can be revealed as Aline Florio, the wife of an Italian translator.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/unmasking+Dark+Lady+other+artists+muses/7910177/story.html
THE deadline for the 9th Annual Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest has been extended to March 1, 2013, 11:59pm PST! For your chance at literary fame and fortune, information on how the contest works and contest details is here:
http://www.geist.com/articles/postcard-contest/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Ali Smith's Artful is built upon four lectures first delivered at the University of Oxford in 2012. Around these lectures, which appear "pretty much as they were delivered", Smith has constructed a fiction that serves as the embodiment of the essay's themes in story, writes Dimitri Nasrallah.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/01/artful_by_ali_smith_review.html
Manil Suri has written what's sure to be the best sex comedy of the year about nuclear war between India and Pakistan, writes Ron Charles. The City of Devi completes a loose trilogy about the Hindu trinity. Suri's work stands apart, mingling comedy and death, eroticism and politics, godhood and Bollywood like no one else, says Charles.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/manil-suris-the-city-of-devi-reviewed-by-ron-charles/2013/01/29/54a94280-6735-11e2-93e1-475791032daf_story.html
The question of "why" ripples powerfully throughout Marjorie Celona's visceral, vivid novel Y, in which a baby is abandoned on the steps of a Canadian YMCA and raised in foster care, writes Anita Sethi. In the novel's cleverly constructed Y-shaped structure, the narrative arc inches the baby Shannon's story closer towards her mother Yula.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/03/debut-author-marjorie-celona-interview
In See Now Then: Truth from the inside, Jamaica Kincaid exploits tension between the imagined ideal and the compromised real life being lived, writes Ian McGillis. Viewed from a certain angle, the Sweets of Bennington, Vt., could be living a version of the American Dream. In fact, all is far from well.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Then+Truth+from+inside/7910540/story.html#ixzz2JsELnbEi
In the moody German mystery Snow White Must Die, an unlucky backhoe operator scoops up a rusted fuel tank, filled with bones and a human skull. And the plot thickens. Published in Germany in 2010, Snow White Must Die has been a bestseller in Europe. It's easy to see why, says Maureen Corrigan.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/snow-white-must-die-by-nele-neuhaus/2013/01/27/e7ef2978-6498-11e2-b84d-21c7b65985ee_story.html
In winter 1941-42, the German army besieged Leningrad. The city near collapse, officials decided that a live broadcast of Shostakovich's Leningrad symphony (not yet complete) would lift spirits. Sarah Quigley's evocation of these years in The Conductor bounces back and forth between Shostakovich and Karl Eliasberg, the only conductor left after other artists had been taken to safety.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2012/12/28/the_conductor_by_sarah_quigley_review.html
A novel satirising Adolf Hitler and the personality cult that once surrounded him has topped the bestselling lists in Germany. The cover of Timur Vermes's He's Back (Er Ist Wieder Da) squeezes the title into the shape of Hitler's trademark square moustache, while the €19.33 price tag refers to the year the Nazi party leader came to power in Germany.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/05/adolf-hitler-novel-german-bestseller
A February 3 editorial in the Globe and Mail notes that it is strange to be nominated for an international literary award when almost no one in your home country has heard of you. But that is what happened to Josip Novakovich, who is wickedly funny, deeply harrowing and Canadian.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/editorials/josip-novakovich-is-wickedly-funny-deeply-harrowing-and-canadian/article8123128/?utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_source=The%20Globe%20and%20Mail&utm_type=text&utm_content=TheGlobeandMail&utm_campaign=101086017
COMMUNITY EVENTS
SAY WHA?
Performers, Sara Bynoe, Eric Fell, Ken Hegan, & Lauren McGibbon, put their comedic spin on some of the most cringe-worthy, embarrassing and painfully earnest writing in print. Thursday, February 7 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $15. River Market Food Hall, 810 Quayside Drive, New Westminster. More information at rivermarket.ca.
ERIC LITWIN
Part of the Children's Arts Festival, author shares his best-selling book Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes and other musical stories. Monday, February 11 at various times. Tickets: $10. Richmond Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond. More information at childrensartsfestival.ca.
BRANDON SANDERSON
Meet Brandon Sanderson as he signs the final book in Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light. Thursday, February 14 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
UNIQUE LIVES & EXPERIENCES
A lecture series featuring four outstanding women. First lecture will feature Valerie Plame Wilson, a former CIA spy and author of a bestselling autobiography, My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal By the White House, on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30pm. Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street. For complete season details and ticket information, visit www.uniquelives.com.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Kim Clark (Nanaimo) and Kempton Dexter plus Open Mic. Wednesday, February 13, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
SHAKESPEAREAN SWORDPLAY
Hear Greg Mele and author C.C. Humphreys discourse on what happens when England plays Italy—but not on the soccer field—with honour as the prize. Saturday, February 16 at 10:00am. Part of Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium. For complete information, visit www.vancouverswordplay.com.
WRITING WESTERN MARTIAL ARTS IN FICTION
Join Neal Stephenson and Joseph Brassey, two of the authors behind the Mongoliad, as they talk about the steps taken to create a literary martial arts epic. Saturday, February 16 at 3:00pm. Part of Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium. For complete information, visit www.vancouverswordplay.com.
PEN AND SWORD
Lecture by Dr. Noelle Phillips will explore the representation and literary description of medieval weaponry–swords in particular–in a variety of medieval manuscripts. Sunday, February 17 at 3:30pm. Part of Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium. For complete information, visit www.vancouverswordplay.com.
UBC ALUMNI BOOK CLUB
Choose between Timothy Taylor's Stanley Park and Lynn Coady's Mean Boy at this book club in which you can meet the facilitator and fellow alumni, and learn about the book before you read it. Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10. Cecil Green Park Coach House, 6323 Cecil Green Park Rd., UBC.
Upcoming
W.P. KINSELLA
Canadian author will read from, and chat about, his latest book, Butterfly Winter. Thursday, February 21 at 10:30am, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Walid Bitar, Basma Kavanagh, and Missy Marston. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, visit http://rrs-feb2013.eventbrite.ca/.
CATHY OSTLERE
Cathy Ostlere discusses her memoir Lost. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00 PM. Christianne's Lyceum. 3696 W. 8th Ave. $20 (includes refreshments). To reserve your space call 604.733.1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com. More information at www.christiannehayward.com.
FROM TALKING STICK TO MICROPHONE
Zaccheus Jackson and a selection of this country's best independent musicians and slam poets go head to head! Friday, February 22 at 8:00pm, pay what you can. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at www.fullcircle.ca.
GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL
Fourth annual festival featuring John Belshaw, Kevin Chong, Pauline Holdstock, Nancy Richler and many others. February 22-24, 2013. Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, Galiano Island. For complete details, visit galianoliteraryfestival.com.
OLIVER JEFFERS
Oliver Jeffers, author/illustrator of This Moose Belongs to Me, to speak at the Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable's annual Author/Illustrator Breakfast February 23 at the University Golf Club. A limited number of seats remain. For registration and information, go to www.vclr.ca.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth poetry slam featuring Scruffmouth. Monday, February 25 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $6/$4. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
GATHER @ ZAWA
Spoken word and music, featuring Victoria's Poet Laureate of Victoria, Janet Rogers and Alex Jacobs from New Mexico alongside the sounds of Kristi Lane Sinclair. Monday, February 25 at 9:30pm. Zawa Restaurant, 920 Commercial Drive. For complete information, visit www.fullcircle.ca.
THE WORD AND RESISTANCE
Alex Jacobs and Janet Rogers talk about creative ways to resist and affect change. They will present a literary array of politically inspired poetry from many movements throughout their careers. Tuesday, February 26 at 3:30pm. First Nations House of Learning @ UBC, 1985 West Mall. Complete details at www.fullcircle.ca.
AB-ORIGINAL SPOKENWORD-SCAPES
Join Spoken Word artists and musicians as they riff and jam and spark together. Features Janet Rogers, Alex Jacobs, Dave Larocque, Joseph 'Pepe' Danza, Cris Derksen and more. Wednesday, February 28 at 8:00pm. Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews. For tickets, visit www.ticketstonight.ca. More information at www.fullcircle.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Susan Steudel and Chelsea Comeau plus Open Mic. Thursday, February 28, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
AL HUNTER
Poetry reading by Anishinaabe writer Al Hunter. Wednesday, March 6 at 6:30pm, free. First Nations Longhouse, UBC. Admission is free and books will be available for purchase and signing. For more information and to register, visit http://rrs-march2013.eventbrite.ca/.
POETS AND THE SOCIAL SELF
Join Wayde Compton, Joanne Arnott, and Michael Turner with Renee Sarojini Saklikar as they discuss and read from their work. Thursday, March 7 at 7:00pm, free. Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre,SFU's Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W Hasting St. More information at sfuwoodwards.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Andrew Kaufman, Camille Martin, and Barry Webster. Thursday, March 6 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, visit http://www.rrs-mar2013.eventbrite.ca.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Book News Vol. 7 No. 51
BOOK NEWS
Incite: Mind-altering, metamorphic, twice-monthly!
Join us on Wednesday, February 13 for an evening filled with non-fiction, featuring Globe and Mail journalist Sandra Martin and Zac Unger. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite.
Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library, sponsored by the Vancouver Public Library Foundation and the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association.
SPECIAL EVENT
Sally Armstrong in conversation with Kathryn Gretsinger
The Vancouver Writers Fest presents its first special event of 2013, an evening with award-winning Canadian author, journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong. Armstrong is the author of three previous books, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. Her new book is Ascent of Women.
7:30 pm, Monday, March 25
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Burrard at Nelson
A DRAM COME TRUE
This year our popular single malt tasting A Dram Come True moves to a new venue! Join us at Hycroft, the elegant Shaughnessy mansion, for an evening of great fun and good spirits. Enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts, a premium silent auction, Cuban cigars and great company. A Dram Comes True is a fundraiser for the Writers Fest. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.
FESTIVALS
PuSh Festival January 15–February 3
Contemporary Legend Theater's acclaimed production of King Lear fuses traditional Peking Opera with Shakespeare's classic tale of great power and cruel deception.
http://pushfestival.ca/shows/king-lear/
PuSh is offering a special discount for Book News subscribers-use the code "Bard" to receive $5 off Tickets. Tickets at Tickets Tonight, http://www.ticketstonight.ca/.
AWARDS & LISTS
Margaret Atwood has received the CBA Lifetime Achievement Award. Her acceptance speech is here:
http://www.booklounge.ca/blogs/2012/06/margaret-atwoods-lifetime-achievement-award-acceptance-speech/
Ten authors, nine countries, seven different languages: Marilynne Robinson and Montreal-based Josip Novakovich are two of the ten authors shortlisted for the Man Booker International prize 2013. The list includes books in French, German, Hebrew and Kannada.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/24/man-booker-international-prize-2013-shortlist
Jeet Thayil is the first Indian winner of the DSC prize for South Asian literature ($50,000 (£32,000)), for his debut novel, Narcopolis.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/25/jeet-thayil-south-asian-literature-prize
Hilary Mantel has won the Costa Book of the Year award for Bring Up the Bodies, which comes with a cheque for £30,000 ($47,250).
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-29/mantel-s-bodies-wins-47-000-costa-prize-after-taking-booker.html
Goldsmiths College, in association with the New Statesman, has just launched a new £10,000 prize. The new fiction prize will go to a book that celebrates the spirit of invention and characterizes the genre at its most surprising. There can never be too many literary prizes, writes Blake Morrison.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/jan/25/books-prize-that-rewards-innovation
Howard Curtis has won the Marsh award for children's literature in translation for Fabio Geda's In the Sea There Are Crocodiles, a true story of an Afghan child asylum-seeker.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/26/sea-crocodiles-fabio-geda-review
Canadian writer Jon Klassen's This Is Not My Hat received the Randolph Caldecott Medal for outstanding illustration. Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan won the John Newbery Medal for the outstanding children's book of 2012. The Newbery and Caldecott awards are the top honours for American children's literature.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/01/28/newbery-caldecott.html
The Canada Reads 2013 contenders are listed here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/2012/11/meet-the-canada-reads-2013-contenders.html
YOUNG READERS
In Judith Viorst's Lulu Walks the Dogs, Lulu is ornery. When she tells her parents that she desperately, absolutely must have this super special thing that costs a lot of money, her parents tell her they can't afford it; she'll just have to earn the money herself. Lulu learns that teamwork sometimes works out well for all concerned. For ages 7 to 9.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Kids+Lulu+back+quite+rude+just+ornery/7839725/story.html
Shelley Tanaka's Nobody Knows focuses on the lives of 12-year-old Akira and his three siblings, whom Akira must care for after their mother abandons them. Although Akira is the focus of the novel, Tanaka depicts each of the children as distinct individuals. The story emphasizes the challenges of living in impoverished circumstances and the difficulty in escaping from them. Grades 5 and up. Ages 10 and up.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol19/no3/nobodyknows.html
The chapters in The Taming by Eric Walters and Teresa Toten alternate between two young narrators: Katie, raised by a single mother in a low-income environment, and Evan, a recent transfer who has been kicked out of private school for unspecified reasons. Instead of spiralling into a one-track drama, The Taming takes a more relatable approach to serious issues. For ages 14+.
http://www.quillandquire.com/books_young/review.cfm?review_id=7554
NEWS & FEATURES
Monday marked the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Though the work was not famous during her lifetime, there have been so many novels, films and adaptations, it's impossible to count them, writes Sheila Heti.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/lifes-lessons-unlearned-sheila-heti-on-pride-and-prejudice/article7857699/
A rare letter from Jane Austen about Pride and Prejudice has gone on display. The letter to Austen's sister Cassandra speaks of Austen's excitement at receiving her copy of the three-volume book from her publisher on 27 January. "I want to tell you I have got my own darling child from London."
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/rare-jane-austen-my-own-darling-child-letter-about-pride-and-prejudice-goes-on-show-8470440.html
Two new biographies of Sylvia Plath resurrect the debate of culpability, accompanying the dual 50th anniversaries of the publication of The Bell Jar and Plath's death: American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath by Carl Rollyson and Mad Girl's Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted by Andrew Wilson.
http://www.salon.com/2013/01/27/out_of_the_ash_sylvia_plaths_legend_rises_anew/
Charles Foran writes that "these are dog days in the book business, some pronouncing them end days as well. The problem is not that there are no good stories to tell about CanLit. Rather, there are too many." All of this industry bloodletting has not affected the consumers of books. The current upheaval disguises something essential, and more hopeful," adds Foran.
http://thewalrus.ca/end-of-story/
The Royal Shakespeare Company has won the rights to stage Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell novels. Mantel, author of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, explains how the characters in her historical novels were 'fighting to be off the page' and into three dimensions since she began writing about them.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/video/2013/jan/23/hilary-mantel-cromwell-novels-rsc-video
Shakespeare's sonnets, Martin Luther King's 1963 speech "I have a dream", Francis Crick and James Watson's research paper describing the double helical nature of DNA, have all been spelled out in DNA by Cambridge scientists to demonstrate the vast potential of genetic storage.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/jan/23/shakespeare-sonnets-encoded-dna
Stephen King has entranced millions with tales of dread, but his latest work makes an unexpected charge into the national debate on gun violence. Guns, King's passionate 25-page essay, was published last week on Amazon's online Kindle store, price 99 cents, with proceeds to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/25/stephen-king-gun-control-essay-amazon-nra
The Iowa Supreme Court has given protections against libel lawsuits to Internet publishers but not to average citizens. The ruling extends free-speech protections enjoyed by newspapers and broadcasters, but the court declined to extend those rights to individual social media users.
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-01-21/business/36473350_1_protections-author-solutions-media
A new J.D. Salinger film and biography offer an unprecedented look into Salinger's mysterious life. The Private War of J.D. Salinger, an oral biography by author David Shields and filmmaker-screenwriter Shane Salerno will draw upon interviews with Salinger's friends and colleagues and investigate "the cost" of war and of art. Salinger was reportedly deeply scarred by his service during World War II. Salinger died in 2010, age 91.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1321380--j-d-salinger-biography-and-film-to-delve-into-history-of-catcher-in-the-rye-author
The deadline for the 9th Annual Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest has been extended to March 1, 2013, 11:59pm PST! For your chance at literary fame and fortune, information on how the contest works and contest details is here:
http://www.geist.com/articles/postcard-contest/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child is based on a Russian fairy tale. Alaskan darkness is sometimes reversed in this tale of enchantment, so entwined with the appearance of the child, writes Keren Levy. In the last moments of the novel, light and darkness combine in a moment of hope.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/dec/27/darkness-the-snow-child-eowyn-ivey
Elizabeth Day interviews novelist and publisher Dave Eggers on writing, politics, the state of the States, and his latest novel, A Hologram for a King, situated in Saudi Arabia. "We tend to look everywhere but the mirror," says Eggers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/26/dave-eggers-hologram-king-interview
Louse Erdrich's National Book Award-winning The Round House is both a morality tale and a compelling suspense story, writes Tracy Sherlock. The story weaves in native legends, history and harsh reality, suspense, a violent crime, as well as the challenges and intricacy of the native justice system.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Legends+reality+woven+into+mystery/7876910/story.html
Tom Cox writes that Sherman Alexie's Blasphemy: New and Selected Stories are quietly addictive, mordantly witty and sometimes heartbreaking. His short stories are no more "Native American" than, say, Daniel Woodrell's are "hillbilly" novels, says Cox. They're just his way in to write about life, death and growing up in a unique voice as mordantly witty as it is downtrodden.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/26/sherman-alexie-blasphemy-stories-review
Diana Athill finds William Dalrymple''s Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan a perceptive account of the arrogance and folly of the first British invasion of Afghanistan. This book would be compulsive reading even if it were not a uniquely valuable history, which it is, writes Athill, because Dalrymple has uncovered sources never used before.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/23/dalrymple-return-king-athill-review
Tracy Chevalier's The Last Runaway is set in pre-Civil War Ohio. Honor Bright, a modest Quaker woman who emigrates from Britain to the United States, finds her in-laws are abolitionists who refuse to break the law to help anyone on the run. Honor, however, becomes involved in the Underground Railroad. A fast-paced, satisfying read, says Heather Leighton.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/the-last-runaway-tracks-life-in-the-underground-railway/article7853692/
Ron Charles writes about Lynn Coady's exploration of the cross-currents of male friendship in The Antagonist. How ill-fitting those intimacies feel years later, says Charles. Continuing Coady's epistolary structure, Charles writes "What particularly held me and made me parcel out the last few pages is the vein of spiritual angst that runs through your whole novel."
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-01-22/entertainment/36482075_1_debut-author-book-review-new-book
COMMUNITY EVENTS
DONATO MANCINI
Mancini will talk about his new book on poetry reviews in Canada called You Must Work Harder. Thursday, January 31 at 7:00pm, free. Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre,SFU's Goldcorp Centre for the
Arts, 149 W Hasting St. More information at sfuwoodwards.ca.
FIRESIDE CHAT
Harrison author Diane Wild will read from and chat about her debut novel, Forsaken Trust. Wednesday, February 6 at 7:00pm, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ERIC LITWIN
Part of the Children's Arts Festival, author shares his best-selling book Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes and other musical stories. Monday, February 11 at various times. Tickets: $10. Richmond Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond. More information at childrensartsfestival.ca.
BRANDON SANDERSON
Meet Brandon Sanderson as he signs the final book in Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light. Thursday, February 14 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
UNIQUE LIVES & EXPERIENCES
A lecture series featuring four outstanding women. First lecture will feature Valerie Plame Wilson, a former CIA spy and author of a bestselling autobiography, My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal By the White House, on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30pm. Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street. For complete season details and ticket information, visit www.uniquelives.com.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Kim Clark (Nanaimo) and Kempton Dexter plus Open Mic. Wednesday, February 13, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
Upcoming
UBC ALUMNI BOOK CLUB
Choose between Timothy Taylor's Stanley Park and Lynn Coady's Mean Boy at this book club in which you can meet the facilitator and fellow alumni, and learn about the book before you read it. Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10. Cecil Green Park Coach House, 6323 Cecil Green Park Rd., UBC.
W.P. KINSELLA
Canadian author will read from, and chat about, his latest book, Butterfly Winter. Thursday, February 21 at 10:30am, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Walid Bitar and Missy Marston. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more informatin and to register, visit http://rrs-feb2013.eventbrite.ca/.
GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL
Fourth annual festival featuring John Belshaw, Kevin Chong, Pauline Holdstock, Nancy Richler and many others. February 22-24, 2013. Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, Galiano Island. For complete details, visit galianoliteraryfestival.com.
OLIVER JEFFERS
Oliver Jeffers, author/illustrator of This Moose Belongs to Me, to speak at the Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable's annual Author/Illustrator Breakfast February 23 at the University Golf Club. Early bird rates end January 31. For registration and information, go to www.vclr.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Susan Steudel and Chelsea Comeau plus Open Mic. Thursday, February 28, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
POETS AND THE SOCIAL SELF
Join Wayde Compton, Joanne Arnott, and Michael Turner with Renee Sarojini Saklikar as they discuss and read from their work. Thursday, March 7 at 7:00pm, free. Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre,SFU's Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W Hasting St. More information at sfuwoodwards.ca.
Incite: Mind-altering, metamorphic, twice-monthly!
Join us on Wednesday, February 13 for an evening filled with non-fiction, featuring Globe and Mail journalist Sandra Martin and Zac Unger. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite.
Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library, sponsored by the Vancouver Public Library Foundation and the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association.
SPECIAL EVENT
Sally Armstrong in conversation with Kathryn Gretsinger
The Vancouver Writers Fest presents its first special event of 2013, an evening with award-winning Canadian author, journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong. Armstrong is the author of three previous books, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. Her new book is Ascent of Women.
7:30 pm, Monday, March 25
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Burrard at Nelson
A DRAM COME TRUE
This year our popular single malt tasting A Dram Come True moves to a new venue! Join us at Hycroft, the elegant Shaughnessy mansion, for an evening of great fun and good spirits. Enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts, a premium silent auction, Cuban cigars and great company. A Dram Comes True is a fundraiser for the Writers Fest. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.
FESTIVALS
PuSh Festival January 15–February 3
Contemporary Legend Theater's acclaimed production of King Lear fuses traditional Peking Opera with Shakespeare's classic tale of great power and cruel deception.
http://pushfestival.ca/shows/king-lear/
PuSh is offering a special discount for Book News subscribers-use the code "Bard" to receive $5 off Tickets. Tickets at Tickets Tonight, http://www.ticketstonight.ca/.
AWARDS & LISTS
Margaret Atwood has received the CBA Lifetime Achievement Award. Her acceptance speech is here:
http://www.booklounge.ca/blogs/2012/06/margaret-atwoods-lifetime-achievement-award-acceptance-speech/
Ten authors, nine countries, seven different languages: Marilynne Robinson and Montreal-based Josip Novakovich are two of the ten authors shortlisted for the Man Booker International prize 2013. The list includes books in French, German, Hebrew and Kannada.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/24/man-booker-international-prize-2013-shortlist
Jeet Thayil is the first Indian winner of the DSC prize for South Asian literature ($50,000 (£32,000)), for his debut novel, Narcopolis.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/25/jeet-thayil-south-asian-literature-prize
Hilary Mantel has won the Costa Book of the Year award for Bring Up the Bodies, which comes with a cheque for £30,000 ($47,250).
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-29/mantel-s-bodies-wins-47-000-costa-prize-after-taking-booker.html
Goldsmiths College, in association with the New Statesman, has just launched a new £10,000 prize. The new fiction prize will go to a book that celebrates the spirit of invention and characterizes the genre at its most surprising. There can never be too many literary prizes, writes Blake Morrison.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/jan/25/books-prize-that-rewards-innovation
Howard Curtis has won the Marsh award for children's literature in translation for Fabio Geda's In the Sea There Are Crocodiles, a true story of an Afghan child asylum-seeker.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/26/sea-crocodiles-fabio-geda-review
Canadian writer Jon Klassen's This Is Not My Hat received the Randolph Caldecott Medal for outstanding illustration. Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan won the John Newbery Medal for the outstanding children's book of 2012. The Newbery and Caldecott awards are the top honours for American children's literature.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/01/28/newbery-caldecott.html
The Canada Reads 2013 contenders are listed here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/2012/11/meet-the-canada-reads-2013-contenders.html
YOUNG READERS
In Judith Viorst's Lulu Walks the Dogs, Lulu is ornery. When she tells her parents that she desperately, absolutely must have this super special thing that costs a lot of money, her parents tell her they can't afford it; she'll just have to earn the money herself. Lulu learns that teamwork sometimes works out well for all concerned. For ages 7 to 9.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Kids+Lulu+back+quite+rude+just+ornery/7839725/story.html
Shelley Tanaka's Nobody Knows focuses on the lives of 12-year-old Akira and his three siblings, whom Akira must care for after their mother abandons them. Although Akira is the focus of the novel, Tanaka depicts each of the children as distinct individuals. The story emphasizes the challenges of living in impoverished circumstances and the difficulty in escaping from them. Grades 5 and up. Ages 10 and up.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol19/no3/nobodyknows.html
The chapters in The Taming by Eric Walters and Teresa Toten alternate between two young narrators: Katie, raised by a single mother in a low-income environment, and Evan, a recent transfer who has been kicked out of private school for unspecified reasons. Instead of spiralling into a one-track drama, The Taming takes a more relatable approach to serious issues. For ages 14+.
http://www.quillandquire.com/books_young/review.cfm?review_id=7554
NEWS & FEATURES
Monday marked the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Though the work was not famous during her lifetime, there have been so many novels, films and adaptations, it's impossible to count them, writes Sheila Heti.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/lifes-lessons-unlearned-sheila-heti-on-pride-and-prejudice/article7857699/
A rare letter from Jane Austen about Pride and Prejudice has gone on display. The letter to Austen's sister Cassandra speaks of Austen's excitement at receiving her copy of the three-volume book from her publisher on 27 January. "I want to tell you I have got my own darling child from London."
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/rare-jane-austen-my-own-darling-child-letter-about-pride-and-prejudice-goes-on-show-8470440.html
Two new biographies of Sylvia Plath resurrect the debate of culpability, accompanying the dual 50th anniversaries of the publication of The Bell Jar and Plath's death: American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath by Carl Rollyson and Mad Girl's Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted by Andrew Wilson.
http://www.salon.com/2013/01/27/out_of_the_ash_sylvia_plaths_legend_rises_anew/
Charles Foran writes that "these are dog days in the book business, some pronouncing them end days as well. The problem is not that there are no good stories to tell about CanLit. Rather, there are too many." All of this industry bloodletting has not affected the consumers of books. The current upheaval disguises something essential, and more hopeful," adds Foran.
http://thewalrus.ca/end-of-story/
The Royal Shakespeare Company has won the rights to stage Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell novels. Mantel, author of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, explains how the characters in her historical novels were 'fighting to be off the page' and into three dimensions since she began writing about them.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/video/2013/jan/23/hilary-mantel-cromwell-novels-rsc-video
Shakespeare's sonnets, Martin Luther King's 1963 speech "I have a dream", Francis Crick and James Watson's research paper describing the double helical nature of DNA, have all been spelled out in DNA by Cambridge scientists to demonstrate the vast potential of genetic storage.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/jan/23/shakespeare-sonnets-encoded-dna
Stephen King has entranced millions with tales of dread, but his latest work makes an unexpected charge into the national debate on gun violence. Guns, King's passionate 25-page essay, was published last week on Amazon's online Kindle store, price 99 cents, with proceeds to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/25/stephen-king-gun-control-essay-amazon-nra
The Iowa Supreme Court has given protections against libel lawsuits to Internet publishers but not to average citizens. The ruling extends free-speech protections enjoyed by newspapers and broadcasters, but the court declined to extend those rights to individual social media users.
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-01-21/business/36473350_1_protections-author-solutions-media
A new J.D. Salinger film and biography offer an unprecedented look into Salinger's mysterious life. The Private War of J.D. Salinger, an oral biography by author David Shields and filmmaker-screenwriter Shane Salerno will draw upon interviews with Salinger's friends and colleagues and investigate "the cost" of war and of art. Salinger was reportedly deeply scarred by his service during World War II. Salinger died in 2010, age 91.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1321380--j-d-salinger-biography-and-film-to-delve-into-history-of-catcher-in-the-rye-author
The deadline for the 9th Annual Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest has been extended to March 1, 2013, 11:59pm PST! For your chance at literary fame and fortune, information on how the contest works and contest details is here:
http://www.geist.com/articles/postcard-contest/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child is based on a Russian fairy tale. Alaskan darkness is sometimes reversed in this tale of enchantment, so entwined with the appearance of the child, writes Keren Levy. In the last moments of the novel, light and darkness combine in a moment of hope.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/dec/27/darkness-the-snow-child-eowyn-ivey
Elizabeth Day interviews novelist and publisher Dave Eggers on writing, politics, the state of the States, and his latest novel, A Hologram for a King, situated in Saudi Arabia. "We tend to look everywhere but the mirror," says Eggers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/26/dave-eggers-hologram-king-interview
Louse Erdrich's National Book Award-winning The Round House is both a morality tale and a compelling suspense story, writes Tracy Sherlock. The story weaves in native legends, history and harsh reality, suspense, a violent crime, as well as the challenges and intricacy of the native justice system.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Legends+reality+woven+into+mystery/7876910/story.html
Tom Cox writes that Sherman Alexie's Blasphemy: New and Selected Stories are quietly addictive, mordantly witty and sometimes heartbreaking. His short stories are no more "Native American" than, say, Daniel Woodrell's are "hillbilly" novels, says Cox. They're just his way in to write about life, death and growing up in a unique voice as mordantly witty as it is downtrodden.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/26/sherman-alexie-blasphemy-stories-review
Diana Athill finds William Dalrymple''s Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan a perceptive account of the arrogance and folly of the first British invasion of Afghanistan. This book would be compulsive reading even if it were not a uniquely valuable history, which it is, writes Athill, because Dalrymple has uncovered sources never used before.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/23/dalrymple-return-king-athill-review
Tracy Chevalier's The Last Runaway is set in pre-Civil War Ohio. Honor Bright, a modest Quaker woman who emigrates from Britain to the United States, finds her in-laws are abolitionists who refuse to break the law to help anyone on the run. Honor, however, becomes involved in the Underground Railroad. A fast-paced, satisfying read, says Heather Leighton.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/the-last-runaway-tracks-life-in-the-underground-railway/article7853692/
Ron Charles writes about Lynn Coady's exploration of the cross-currents of male friendship in The Antagonist. How ill-fitting those intimacies feel years later, says Charles. Continuing Coady's epistolary structure, Charles writes "What particularly held me and made me parcel out the last few pages is the vein of spiritual angst that runs through your whole novel."
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-01-22/entertainment/36482075_1_debut-author-book-review-new-book
COMMUNITY EVENTS
DONATO MANCINI
Mancini will talk about his new book on poetry reviews in Canada called You Must Work Harder. Thursday, January 31 at 7:00pm, free. Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre,SFU's Goldcorp Centre for the
Arts, 149 W Hasting St. More information at sfuwoodwards.ca.
FIRESIDE CHAT
Harrison author Diane Wild will read from and chat about her debut novel, Forsaken Trust. Wednesday, February 6 at 7:00pm, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ERIC LITWIN
Part of the Children's Arts Festival, author shares his best-selling book Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes and other musical stories. Monday, February 11 at various times. Tickets: $10. Richmond Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond. More information at childrensartsfestival.ca.
BRANDON SANDERSON
Meet Brandon Sanderson as he signs the final book in Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light. Thursday, February 14 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
UNIQUE LIVES & EXPERIENCES
A lecture series featuring four outstanding women. First lecture will feature Valerie Plame Wilson, a former CIA spy and author of a bestselling autobiography, My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal By the White House, on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30pm. Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street. For complete season details and ticket information, visit www.uniquelives.com.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Kim Clark (Nanaimo) and Kempton Dexter plus Open Mic. Wednesday, February 13, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
Upcoming
UBC ALUMNI BOOK CLUB
Choose between Timothy Taylor's Stanley Park and Lynn Coady's Mean Boy at this book club in which you can meet the facilitator and fellow alumni, and learn about the book before you read it. Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10. Cecil Green Park Coach House, 6323 Cecil Green Park Rd., UBC.
W.P. KINSELLA
Canadian author will read from, and chat about, his latest book, Butterfly Winter. Thursday, February 21 at 10:30am, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Walid Bitar and Missy Marston. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more informatin and to register, visit http://rrs-feb2013.eventbrite.ca/.
GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL
Fourth annual festival featuring John Belshaw, Kevin Chong, Pauline Holdstock, Nancy Richler and many others. February 22-24, 2013. Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, Galiano Island. For complete details, visit galianoliteraryfestival.com.
OLIVER JEFFERS
Oliver Jeffers, author/illustrator of This Moose Belongs to Me, to speak at the Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable's annual Author/Illustrator Breakfast February 23 at the University Golf Club. Early bird rates end January 31. For registration and information, go to www.vclr.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Susan Steudel and Chelsea Comeau plus Open Mic. Thursday, February 28, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
POETS AND THE SOCIAL SELF
Join Wayde Compton, Joanne Arnott, and Michael Turner with Renee Sarojini Saklikar as they discuss and read from their work. Thursday, March 7 at 7:00pm, free. Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre,SFU's Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W Hasting St. More information at sfuwoodwards.ca.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
