BOOK NEWS
UPCOMING EVENTS
Michael Chabon
September 26, 2012 at 8:00pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Author of the New York Times bestselling novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, talks about his latest book, Telegraph Avenue. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/michaelchabon
Just announced!
Writing the Unthinkable: Public Workshop with Lynda Barry
September 30, 10am to 1pm
Studio 1989
Following the sell-out success of her 2010 Festival appearances, Lynda Barry is back with her extraordinary workshop for established and aspiring writers.
"Lynda Barry is inspirational, motivating and affirming"–R.L. 2010 Writers Fest Event Attendee
Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/lyndabarry
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the fourteenth installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear an exerpt from 2010's The Afternoon Tea featuring the wonderful Ali Smith reading a short story she thought would be her "Last". Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
AWARDS & LISTS
We would like to congratulate Clea Young, the Festival's Writer Services Co-ordinator, who has been shortlisted for the Litpop Award sponsored by Matrix magazine.
http://matrixmagazine.org/litpop/
Hilary Dean, a Toronto writer and filmmaker, has won the 2012 CBC Creative Nonfiction Prize for her story Holy Bald-Headed, a tale infused with melancholy memories and a shocking assault that jurors dubbed "equal parts tender and brutal."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2012/07/23/cbc-nonfiction-writing-prize-dean.html
Nichola Barker, André Brink, Tan Twan Eng, Michael Frayn, Hilary Mantel and Will Self, are among the twelve authors longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2012. The complete list is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/jul/25/booker-prize-longlist-2012-open-thread
YOUNG READERS
David Shelton's A Boy and a Bear in a Boat is a book to be savoured, writes Bernie Goedhart. A boy climbs aboard a dinghy to be rowed "to the other side" by a bear who hires out his services as an experienced captain. Beautifully illustrated by the author. For ages 8 to 88.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+book+savoured/6959207/story.html
Where My Wellies Take Me, by Clare and Michael Morpurgo, is a selection of poetry chosen by the former children's laureate Michael Morpurgo, with a new story woven into the poems and pictures. For ages 4 to 8. Illustrations can be found here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2012/jul/20/where-my-wellies-morpurgo-gallery
An extract from Michael Morpurgo's new book, Little Manfred, is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/interactive/2011/may/25/michael-morpurgo-little-manfred-extract
Rinsai Rosetti's The Girl With Borrowed Wings is an elegant, young-adult paranormal title. Frenenqer (the word means "restraint"), who is a perfectionist, rescues a cat that turns out to be a shape-shifter. Frenenger's domineering father is not happy about this turn of events. For ages 12 and up.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-rinsai-rossetti-20120722,0,4394502.story
"Glee" star Chris Colfer's The Land of Stories is a children's novel about twins Connor and Alex, who find themselves sucked into their favourite book of fairy tales, suddenly face-to-face with the characters they grew up reading about. For ages 4 to 9.
http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Glee-s-Chris-Colfer-writes-children-s-novel-3717994.php
NEWS & FEATURES
London's Mayor Boris Johnson has commissioned a poem in the style of Pindar to mark the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games, acknowledging Pindar‘s fame for his odes celebrating victories in fifth-century Greece's athletic competitions. Johnson will be reciting the poem in ancient Greek.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jul/23/boris-johnson-ancient-greek-ode
On the occasion of Winnie the Witch's 25th birthday, after Winnie first tripped over her cat, Wilbur, take a look back at some of her wackiest spells and wildest adventures in a gallery of images.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/gallery/2012/jul/20/winnie-witch-25-birthday-years
Daniel David interviews and profiles Thomas King, still not the Indian you had in mind. King's latest book, The Inconvenient Indian, which King describes as "non-fiction", "sort of" and "narrative history", will be published in November.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/thomas-king-still-not-the-indian-you-had-in-mind/article4426067/
Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey is to be reworked by crime author Val McDermid as a suspense-filled teen thriller, writes Alison Flood.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/19/jane-austen-northanger-abbey-val-mcdermid
There is safety in books. There is communion. There is order. These comfort Susanna Hislop, as she struggles to rate the attributes (and how important each attribute is to her) of the British Library Reading Room.
http://thejunket.org/2012/07/issue-four/book-keeping/
The Guardian launched a Great American Novelist tournament with the original list of nominees debated, dissected and reassembled several times over. The final list of 32 competitors for the title of Great American Novelist can be found here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/jul/23/great-american-novelist-tournament-final-32
Producer Ron Moore intends to bring Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series to television. An epic show about a time-travelling nurse who meets and falls in love with a Scottish hottie from 200 years earlier doesn't seem as crazy as it used to, says Malene Arpe.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/stargazing/article/1228088--ron-moore-wants-to-bring-diana-gabaldon-s-outlander-to-tv
A PhD student has discovered A Little Episode, a lost short story by Katherine Mansfield, in an archive. The story, along with three children's tales and a collection of aphorisms, give new insight into one of the most turbulent periods of Mansfield's short life.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/23/katherine-mansfield-lost-story-unearthed
Margaret Mahy, one of New Zealand's most acclaimed literary figures, has died aged 76. She won many major children's prizes, including the Hans Christian Andersen medal and the UK's Carnegie medal for The Haunting and The Changeover, both supernatural coming-of-age tales.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/23/margaret-mahy-dies-76
Each summer, Rare Book School brings together librarians, conservators, scholars, dealers, collectors and book-mad civilians for weeklong intensive courses. Bringing an understanding of the materiality of the book back into literary studies is something that Michael Suarez speaks of with an almost missionary zeal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/books/rare-book-school-at-the-university-of-virginia.html?_r=1&ref=books
Canadian publishers say recently passed copyright reform is stripping away some of their financial incentive to provide books to the country's universities and colleges.
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20120712105214396
A Book You Can Eat is Better Than an eBook: this article on UK children's bookstores show that there's still a healthy market in children book sales. "While 73 independent bookstores closed in 2011, not a single children's bookstore did."
http://www.care2.com/causes/uk-childrens-bookstores.html?page=1
The UK's Society of Authors is considering action against the government over copyright infringement on loaned books. Authors are not entitled to royalties for books borrowed from libraries run by "big society"-inspired volunteers attempting to save local libraries from closing due to spending cuts.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/22/authors-royalty-volunteer-libraries
Some predict the obsolescence of the library, while the library has become more popular than ever. Metropolis Magazine cites the work of architect Bing Thom, whose new public library in Surrey, British Columbia, was designed as a space of communal engagement.
http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20120720/still-here
Pearson, the owner of Penguin Books, has taken a big step into the fast-growing world of self-publishing by buying Author Solutions from Bertram Capital for $116m.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/9412013/Penguin-books-owner-Pearson-buys-self-publishing-company-Author-Solutions-for-116m.html
Amazon has recently made significant changes to the free ebooks listings on its site. ASINs (identification numbers) for public domain classics have been reassigned. making it much harder to find public domain classics, since Shopper preferences, reviews, comments, etc., were lost. It also means many links are now dead.
http://www.fonerbooks.com/selfpublishing/?p=1977
Due to an overwhelming demand from readers, the DEADLINE for the Erasure Poetry Contest has been EXTENDED! The new deadline for submissions is September 1, 2012, 11:59 pm PST.
http://www.geist.com
Enter the Search for the Great BC Novel contest offered by Mother Tongue Publishing Limited.
http://www.allianceforarts.com/files/enet/pdf/12/06/literary_0.pdf
BOOKS & WRITERS
Rajiv Chandrasekaran ‘s Little America: The War Within the War for Afghanistan is an account of Obama's efforts to cope with the blunders made before he took power. "We dwelled on the limitations of the Afghans," Chandrasekaran concludes. "We should have focused on ours."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/20/little-america-rajiv-chandrasekaran-review
The uncomfortable divide between the life Kamal Al-Solaylee leads in Toronto and the one he left behind in Yemen is the turbulent undercurrent in his new book, Intolerable, A Memoir of Extremes. The book is dedicated to Toronto; that's a deliberate choice.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/escape-from-intolerance-one-mans-journey-to-canada-from-yemen/article4419910/
John Irving's In One Person is a defiant response to the increasingly regressive and reactionary currents that persist on the U.S. political scene, writes Steven Hayward. This novel reaffirms the centrality of Irving as the voice of social justice and compassion, says Hayward.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/in-one-person-by-john-irving/article4106416/
Love is brewing on London's Exhibition Road in the last short story written by cult author Russell Hoban, who died last year. Hoban's Message in a (Klein) Bottle is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/19/short-story-message-bottle-russell-hoban
Linwood Barclay's story Michael's New Toy is perfect for summertime reading.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/michaels-new-toy---a-story-from-linwood-barclay/article4430936/
When the first volume of The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery was published, in 1985, readers world-wide were surprised by the narrative voice revealed in its pages—not the person they had imagined, writes Benjamin Lefebvre. This volume restores the full text of Montgomery's journals from 1889 to 1900.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/lucy-maud-of-macneill-farm/article4430873/
In August 1612, ten women were hanged in Lancashire for witchcraft. Now Jeanette Winterson, Carol Ann Duffy and Simon Armitage, all inspired by the notorious Pendle trials, join a long line of writers in thrall to witches, writes Blake Morrison. Morrison's most recent poetry can be found in A Discoverie of Witches.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/20/blake-morrison-under-the-witches-spell
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Steve Coll explores the financial and political muscle of America's biggest oil company in Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power. Self-serving conduct is hardly unorthodox, but ExxonMobil comes across as particularly cynical, writes Iain Morris.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/22/private-empire-exxon-mobil-review
In The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln, Stephen L. Carter gives the president's assassination a different outcome and recasts the tragedy as a thriller, with the living Lincoln on trial for his political life. John Wilkes Booth's actions remain the same; the results are changed.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-stephen-carter-20120715,0,884262.story
Christopher Coake's You Came Back isn't so much about ghosts as about the uncanny and unbalancing power of language, recollection and repetition. It's about the search for comfort in the darkest of places, writes Anna Trench.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/22/you-came-back-coake-review
Stuart Jeffries describes Michael Foley as an author who finds magic in the everyday. With Embracing the Ordinary, Foley may well have devised a new bestseller format: a how-to book offering a way of escape without leaving prison.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/18/embracing-the-ordinary-michael-foley-review
COMMUNITY EVENTS
SHARON HANNA
The author of The Book of Kale: The Easy-to-Grow Superfood, 80 Recipes will be bringing her extensive knowledge about the nutritious and delicious aspects of kale to the library. Friday, July 27 at 3:00pm, free. Kitsilano branch, VPL, 2425 Macdonald St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
SURREY MUSE
This month's meeting features author Joanne Arnott, poet Franci Louanne, and filmmaker Hari Alluri. Also, Timothy Shay, Gomathy Puri and hosted by Randeep Purewall. Friday, July 27 at 5:30pm. Room 418, Surrey Public Library - City Centre, 10350 University Drive.
FORT LANGLEY CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS
An Afternoon of Poetry and Music with poet Susan McCaslin and jazz musician Amanda Tosoff collaborate from their recent works. Saturday, July 28 at 2:30pm. Centennial Museum, 9135 King Street, Fort Langley.
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
QUEEROTICA
Readings by Ken Boesem, Kate Bornstein, Tony Correia, Amber Dawn, C.E. Gatchalian, Hiromi Goto, Elaine Miller, Micheal V Smith, and Charlie Spats. Tuesday, August 7 at 8:00pm. Admission by donation. Roundhouse Community Arts, 181 Roundhouse Mews. More information at queerartsfestival.com.
Upcoming
ANAKANA SCHOFIELD
The Vancouver Book Club will host Anakana Schofield in conversation about her novel Malarkey. Thursday, August 9 at 7:00pm, free. Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at vancouverisawesome.com/bookclub.
SUNSHINE COAST FESTIVAL OF THE WRITTEN ARTS
Canada's longest running summer gathering of Canadian writers and readers. Features Wayson Choy, Charlotte Gill, Patrick Lane, Ami McKay, Richard Wagamese and many others. Tickets on sale now! August 16-19, 2012. Sechelt, BC. Complete details at www.writersfestival.ca.
SUMMER DREAMS LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL
Annual family-friendly celebration of literary arts features two stages, a kids' area, a marketplace, and over 90 performers, including headliner Barbara Adler and Fang, a local spoken-word artist who combines poetry with music. Saturday, August 25, 2012, free. Trout Lake Park, 3350 Victoria. More information at www.summerdreamsfest.com.
A POETIC WALK THROUGH NATURE
Join Vancouver's 100,000 Poets for Change on an Earthwalk. Poets will read select poems calling for the preservation of our beautiful forests and shorelines. A guest speaker will also present a narrative tour of the cultural history and natural habit of Stanley Park. September 29 at 10:00am, free. For more information and to register, visit http://earthwalks11poets.eventbrite.com/.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Book News Vol. 7 No. 26
BOOK NEWS
UPCOMING EVENTS
Michael Chabon
September 26, 2012 at 8:00pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Author of the New York Times bestselling novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, talks about his latest book, Telegraph Avenue. Members - check Ink e-newsletter for your special discount code. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/michaelchabon
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the thirteenth installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "Comic Book Confidential" from the 2010 Festival, featuring Lynda Barry and Sarah Leavitt. Go beyond the 'typical' comic book and learn about graphic novels that explore everyday life and everyday relationships. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
Check out next week's Book News for an exciting Lynda Barry announcement!
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
AWARDS & LISTS
Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy has won the PEN/Pinter prize. The poet is the fourth recipient of the award, for her 'independent and sometimes awkward' responses to living in Britain today.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/13/carol-ann-duffy-wins-pen-pinter-prize
Jorie Graham and Geoffrey Hill join Beverley Bie Brahic, Barry Hill and Selima Hill on the shortlist for the Forward prize for poetry 2012, the UK's top poetry award worth £10,000.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/17/jorie-graham-geoffrey-hill-forward-prize
YOUNG READERS
Wumber by author Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrator Tom Lichtenheld, is a word "cre8ed with numbers!" Big brassy, shuddering tubas, for instance, clue us in on "learning a 2ne on the 2ba." This book reminds us that "sounding it out" can be a lifelong skill. For ages 6 to 9.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sc-ent-0711-books-kids-20120712,0,1084138.story
Two Phillip Pullman whodunits set in Victorian London, published in 1994/95, now appear as a single volume: Two Crafty Criminals! And How They Were Captured by the Daring Detectives of the New Cut Gang is set in 1890s London The young characters comprise the New Cut Gang that sets out to solve two mysteries. For ages 7 to 11.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Kids+Gang+kids+tackles+mysteries/6860375/story.html#ixzz20dO4VeiW
NEWS & FEATURES
Inspired by Rotten Tomatoes, the website that aggregates the work of professional movie reviewers around the world, Sarnia native Rahul Simha and his tech-savvy buddies, Canadian Vish Chapala and American Mohit Aggarwal, have built a website, idreambooks.com, that collects, aggregates and links the published works of professional book reviewers.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1226365--idreambooks-com-a-cool-tool-for-readers-in-need-of-credible-reviews
Somaliland's Hargeisa book festival fills the cultural void for youth in a country where 70% of the population is under 30. The event—now in its fifth year—celebrates not just literature but theatre, film and music, as well as showing off Somaliland's local products.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/16/somaliland-book-festival-fifth-year
Terry Deary's wildly successful Horrible Histories are adored by children and adults alike. When Jon Henley's 11-year-old's son said he loved the books "because you learn stuff, and you laugh at the same time", Deary responded "Tell your boy I'd like that for my epitaph".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jul/14/terry-deary-horrible-histories
Children's laureate (and author of The Gruffalo) Julia Donaldson, along with Jacqueline Wilson, Julia Donaldson, Michael Morpurgo and Charlie Higson, has launched the 2012 Summer Reading Challenge. Every child between four and 11 is challenged to read six library books during the summer holidays.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/13/gruffalo-summer-reading-challenge
Neil Gaiman has signed a five-book deal with HarperCollins, focusing on books for very young children. His first picture book for the very young is Chu's Day, the story of a little panda with a very big sneeze.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/12/neil-gaiman-five-childrens-books
On April 16, 2012, the Pulitzer Prize Board announced that it would award no Pulitzer for fiction in 2012. This was surprising and upsetting to many, including the three fiction jurors, who'd read over three hundred novels and short-story collections. Author Michael Cunningham, one of the jurors, writes about what really happened this year.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/07/letter-from-the-pulitzer-fiction-jury-what-really-happened-this-year.html#ixzz20Mt31o1c
Vikram Seth is a writer who loves music, so perhaps it was inevitable that some of his words would eventually be sung. His credits as librettist include a full-length opera and the four expansive concert works he will introduce in Ottawa at the Music and Beyond festival.
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/novelist-vikram-seth-puts-his-skills-as-a-librettist-on-full-display-in-ottawa/article4405860/?service=mobile
When Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced a licensing agreement with Amazon to publish and distribute all adult titles under the New Harvest imprint, independent bricks-and-mortar booksellers and America's two largest chains said that they wouldn't carry them in their stores, reports Judith Rosen.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/52918-citing-amazon-ties-booksellers-say-no-to-new-harvest.html
Wizard hero Richard Rahl smites wrongdoers with his Sword of Truth. His creator, bestselling fantasy author Terry Goodkind, turned to Facebook to name and shame a fan who pirated a digital version of The First Confessor. Goodkind's actions have divided digital opinion.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/11/book-pirate-named-terry-goodkind
El Libro que No Puede Esperar (The Book That Can't Wait) comes in a sealed package. As soon as you start to turn its pages, the ink begins to age—fading entirely within two months. It's hoped that the urgency of the text's disappearing will encourage people to read the book. Soon.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120711/12143819664/are-books-printed-with
Donald J. Sobol, author of the popular "Encyclopedia Brown" series of children's mysteries featuring amateur sleuth Leroy "Encyclopedia" Brown, has died. He was 87.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1227074--encyclopedia-brown-author-donald-sobol-dier
Every year The Tyee publishes its recommended summer book list. The list is based on information from across B.C.'s literary landscape, based on what B.C. readers are actually buying this summer.
http://thetyee.ca/Life/2012/07/14/Real-Summer-Reads/?utm_source=mondayheadlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=160712
The Erasure Poetry Contest is Closing Soon! Visit geist.com/erasure for more details and to read the excerpt. All entries must be postmarked no later than August 1, 2012. p.s. Dogs like erasure poetry, too.
http://www.geist.com/
Enter the Search for the Great BC Novel contest offered by Mother Tongue Publishing Limited.
http://www.allianceforarts.com/files/enet/pdf/12/06/literary_0.pdf
BOOKS & WRITERS
Are bankers the new magicians, pulling gilt-edged rabbits out of empty hats? asks John Lawrence Reynolds. John Lanchester's I.O.U. links the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill to the financial crisis and the book covers everything you need to know about that crisis.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/review-iou-by-john-lanchester/article1315508/
Belinda Jack's The Woman Reader is a history of women's reading, and those who opposed it; e.g., Edith Wharton's mother forbad her to read any novels until after she was married. Silencing women readers makes up a strong strand in the book, writes Hermione Lee.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/05/woman-reader-belinda-jack-review
Pulitzer prize-winning author Chris Hedges collaborated with award-winning cartoonist and journalist Joe Sacco to produce Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, a heartfelt, harrowing picture of post-capitalist America. Together they explore the country's 'sacrifice zones'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/data/book/politics/9781568586434/days-of-destruction-days-of-revolt
Three Strong Women, a tenuously linked tripartite novel that is more than the sum of its parts is a hard act to pull off, writes Maya Jaggi, but Marie NDiaye succeeds with elegance, grit and some painful comedy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/06/three-strong-women-ndiaye-review
Kim Todd's Sparrow is an exploration of sparrows, the scientific insights they inspire and how they influence human culture, writes GirrlScientist. As Ms. Todd unravels the story of house sparrows, we gain new insights into these cheeky little brown jobs—and ourselves.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist/2012/jul/16/1
Syrian novelist Samar Yazbek recognizes government thugs as soon as they get out of their car, says Francis Beckett. In A Woman in the Crossfire, Yazbek explains why thugs set fire to pharmacies: "So that people won't be able to treat the wounded."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/22/woman-in-crossfire-samar-yazbek-review
Early in Michael Frayn's Skios, Nikki Hook is contentedly surveying the idyllic grounds on the fictional Greek island. The story requires a reader's suspension of disbelief, writes Barbara Carey, adding that Frayn makes it well worthwhile.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1224338--skios-by-michael-frayn-review
Monica Ali's Untold Story imagines a Princess Diana-like character's post-fame life after faking her own death. It's an intriguing exercise in what-if? set in small-town America, writes Natasha Tripney, as Ali explores the idea of exile and starting one's life anew makes the novel additionally engaging.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/15/monica-ali-untold-story-review
In The Price of Inequality, Nobel economist Joseph E. Stiglitz describes how unrestrained power and rampant greed have written an epitaph for the American dream, shattered by the modern pleonetic (an overreaching desire for more than one's share) tyrants who make up the 1%, writes Yvonne Roberts.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/13/price-inequality-joseph-stiglitz-review
It's the most perfect post-crash setting for a slice of genuinely disturbing horror: an Irish housing estate, mostly empty and abandoned, half-finished. Evil stalks the pages of Irish author Tana French's Broken Harbour, "like a low cloud of sticky black dust spreading slowly".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/15/broken-harbour-tana-french-review
Road to Valour, by Aili and Andres McConnon is a true story about Gino Bartali, twice winner of the Tour de France, who couriered falsified identification papers during WWII, pretending the 110-mile trek was part of his training regimen. Bartali was a quiet hero, writes Enza Micheletti.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Gino+Bartali+quiet+hero/6929318/story.html
Mark Haddon's The Red House draws the reader into the tensions and apprehensions of one family who, like Tolstoy's famous summary, are unhappy in their own particular way. This novel is an impossible-to-stop read that plunges the reader into a completely convincing world, writes Aritha van Herk.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/the-red-house-by-mark-haddon/article4414860/
Yejide Kilanko's Daughters Who Walk This Path tells the story of Morayo, a Nigerian girl, whose life is altered early in the book. It is an elaborate interlace of story, African proverbs, traditional fables and contemporary works by African women, writes Donna Bailey Nurse.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/07/13/book-review-daughters-who-walk-this-path-by-yejide-kilanko/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
DENMAN ISLAND READERS & WRITERS FESTIVAL
Annual summer event featuring Tzeporah Berman, Steven Galloway, Loran Goodison, Timothy Taylor and many others. July 19-22, 2012. For complete details, visit www.denmanislandwritersfestival.com.
VAN CLAYTON POWEL
Reading by the author of You are NOT What You Eat. Monday, July 23 at 7:15pm. Bob Prittie Metrotown, 6100 Willingdon Ave., Burnaby. More information at www.bpl.bc.ca.
SHARON HANNA
The author of The Book of Kale: The Easy-to-Grow Superfood, 80 Recipes will be bringing her extensive knowledge about the nutritious and delicious aspects of kale to the library. Friday, July 27 at 3:00pm, free. Kitsilano branch, VPL, 2425 Macdonald St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
SURREY MUSE
This month's meeting features author Joanne Arnott, poet Franci Louanne, and filmmaker Hari Alluri. Also, Timothy Shay, Gomathy Puri and hosted by Randeep Purewall. Friday, July 27 at 5:30pm. Room 418, Surrey Public Library - City Centre, 10350 University Drive.
FORT LANGLEY CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS
An Afternoon of Poetry and Music with poet Susan McCaslin and jazz musician Amanda Tosoff collaborate from their recent works. Saturday, July 28 at 2:30pm. Centennial Museum, 9135 King Street, Fort Langley.
Upcoming
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
SUMMER DREAMS LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL
Annual family-friendly celebration of literary arts features two stages, a kids' area, a marketplace, and over 90 performers, including headliner Barbara Adler and Fang, a local spoken-word artist who combines poetry with music. Saturday, August 25, 2012, free. Trout Lake Park, 3350 Victoria. More information at www.summerdreamsfest.com.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Michael Chabon
September 26, 2012 at 8:00pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Author of the New York Times bestselling novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, talks about his latest book, Telegraph Avenue. Members - check Ink e-newsletter for your special discount code. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/michaelchabon
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the thirteenth installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "Comic Book Confidential" from the 2010 Festival, featuring Lynda Barry and Sarah Leavitt. Go beyond the 'typical' comic book and learn about graphic novels that explore everyday life and everyday relationships. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
Check out next week's Book News for an exciting Lynda Barry announcement!
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
AWARDS & LISTS
Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy has won the PEN/Pinter prize. The poet is the fourth recipient of the award, for her 'independent and sometimes awkward' responses to living in Britain today.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/13/carol-ann-duffy-wins-pen-pinter-prize
Jorie Graham and Geoffrey Hill join Beverley Bie Brahic, Barry Hill and Selima Hill on the shortlist for the Forward prize for poetry 2012, the UK's top poetry award worth £10,000.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/17/jorie-graham-geoffrey-hill-forward-prize
YOUNG READERS
Wumber by author Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrator Tom Lichtenheld, is a word "cre8ed with numbers!" Big brassy, shuddering tubas, for instance, clue us in on "learning a 2ne on the 2ba." This book reminds us that "sounding it out" can be a lifelong skill. For ages 6 to 9.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sc-ent-0711-books-kids-20120712,0,1084138.story
Two Phillip Pullman whodunits set in Victorian London, published in 1994/95, now appear as a single volume: Two Crafty Criminals! And How They Were Captured by the Daring Detectives of the New Cut Gang is set in 1890s London The young characters comprise the New Cut Gang that sets out to solve two mysteries. For ages 7 to 11.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Kids+Gang+kids+tackles+mysteries/6860375/story.html#ixzz20dO4VeiW
NEWS & FEATURES
Inspired by Rotten Tomatoes, the website that aggregates the work of professional movie reviewers around the world, Sarnia native Rahul Simha and his tech-savvy buddies, Canadian Vish Chapala and American Mohit Aggarwal, have built a website, idreambooks.com, that collects, aggregates and links the published works of professional book reviewers.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1226365--idreambooks-com-a-cool-tool-for-readers-in-need-of-credible-reviews
Somaliland's Hargeisa book festival fills the cultural void for youth in a country where 70% of the population is under 30. The event—now in its fifth year—celebrates not just literature but theatre, film and music, as well as showing off Somaliland's local products.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/16/somaliland-book-festival-fifth-year
Terry Deary's wildly successful Horrible Histories are adored by children and adults alike. When Jon Henley's 11-year-old's son said he loved the books "because you learn stuff, and you laugh at the same time", Deary responded "Tell your boy I'd like that for my epitaph".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jul/14/terry-deary-horrible-histories
Children's laureate (and author of The Gruffalo) Julia Donaldson, along with Jacqueline Wilson, Julia Donaldson, Michael Morpurgo and Charlie Higson, has launched the 2012 Summer Reading Challenge. Every child between four and 11 is challenged to read six library books during the summer holidays.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/13/gruffalo-summer-reading-challenge
Neil Gaiman has signed a five-book deal with HarperCollins, focusing on books for very young children. His first picture book for the very young is Chu's Day, the story of a little panda with a very big sneeze.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/12/neil-gaiman-five-childrens-books
On April 16, 2012, the Pulitzer Prize Board announced that it would award no Pulitzer for fiction in 2012. This was surprising and upsetting to many, including the three fiction jurors, who'd read over three hundred novels and short-story collections. Author Michael Cunningham, one of the jurors, writes about what really happened this year.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/07/letter-from-the-pulitzer-fiction-jury-what-really-happened-this-year.html#ixzz20Mt31o1c
Vikram Seth is a writer who loves music, so perhaps it was inevitable that some of his words would eventually be sung. His credits as librettist include a full-length opera and the four expansive concert works he will introduce in Ottawa at the Music and Beyond festival.
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/novelist-vikram-seth-puts-his-skills-as-a-librettist-on-full-display-in-ottawa/article4405860/?service=mobile
When Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced a licensing agreement with Amazon to publish and distribute all adult titles under the New Harvest imprint, independent bricks-and-mortar booksellers and America's two largest chains said that they wouldn't carry them in their stores, reports Judith Rosen.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/52918-citing-amazon-ties-booksellers-say-no-to-new-harvest.html
Wizard hero Richard Rahl smites wrongdoers with his Sword of Truth. His creator, bestselling fantasy author Terry Goodkind, turned to Facebook to name and shame a fan who pirated a digital version of The First Confessor. Goodkind's actions have divided digital opinion.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/11/book-pirate-named-terry-goodkind
El Libro que No Puede Esperar (The Book That Can't Wait) comes in a sealed package. As soon as you start to turn its pages, the ink begins to age—fading entirely within two months. It's hoped that the urgency of the text's disappearing will encourage people to read the book. Soon.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120711/12143819664/are-books-printed-with
Donald J. Sobol, author of the popular "Encyclopedia Brown" series of children's mysteries featuring amateur sleuth Leroy "Encyclopedia" Brown, has died. He was 87.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1227074--encyclopedia-brown-author-donald-sobol-dier
Every year The Tyee publishes its recommended summer book list. The list is based on information from across B.C.'s literary landscape, based on what B.C. readers are actually buying this summer.
http://thetyee.ca/Life/2012/07/14/Real-Summer-Reads/?utm_source=mondayheadlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=160712
The Erasure Poetry Contest is Closing Soon! Visit geist.com/erasure for more details and to read the excerpt. All entries must be postmarked no later than August 1, 2012. p.s. Dogs like erasure poetry, too.
http://www.geist.com/
Enter the Search for the Great BC Novel contest offered by Mother Tongue Publishing Limited.
http://www.allianceforarts.com/files/enet/pdf/12/06/literary_0.pdf
BOOKS & WRITERS
Are bankers the new magicians, pulling gilt-edged rabbits out of empty hats? asks John Lawrence Reynolds. John Lanchester's I.O.U. links the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill to the financial crisis and the book covers everything you need to know about that crisis.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/review-iou-by-john-lanchester/article1315508/
Belinda Jack's The Woman Reader is a history of women's reading, and those who opposed it; e.g., Edith Wharton's mother forbad her to read any novels until after she was married. Silencing women readers makes up a strong strand in the book, writes Hermione Lee.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/05/woman-reader-belinda-jack-review
Pulitzer prize-winning author Chris Hedges collaborated with award-winning cartoonist and journalist Joe Sacco to produce Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, a heartfelt, harrowing picture of post-capitalist America. Together they explore the country's 'sacrifice zones'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/data/book/politics/9781568586434/days-of-destruction-days-of-revolt
Three Strong Women, a tenuously linked tripartite novel that is more than the sum of its parts is a hard act to pull off, writes Maya Jaggi, but Marie NDiaye succeeds with elegance, grit and some painful comedy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/06/three-strong-women-ndiaye-review
Kim Todd's Sparrow is an exploration of sparrows, the scientific insights they inspire and how they influence human culture, writes GirrlScientist. As Ms. Todd unravels the story of house sparrows, we gain new insights into these cheeky little brown jobs—and ourselves.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist/2012/jul/16/1
Syrian novelist Samar Yazbek recognizes government thugs as soon as they get out of their car, says Francis Beckett. In A Woman in the Crossfire, Yazbek explains why thugs set fire to pharmacies: "So that people won't be able to treat the wounded."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/22/woman-in-crossfire-samar-yazbek-review
Early in Michael Frayn's Skios, Nikki Hook is contentedly surveying the idyllic grounds on the fictional Greek island. The story requires a reader's suspension of disbelief, writes Barbara Carey, adding that Frayn makes it well worthwhile.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1224338--skios-by-michael-frayn-review
Monica Ali's Untold Story imagines a Princess Diana-like character's post-fame life after faking her own death. It's an intriguing exercise in what-if? set in small-town America, writes Natasha Tripney, as Ali explores the idea of exile and starting one's life anew makes the novel additionally engaging.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/15/monica-ali-untold-story-review
In The Price of Inequality, Nobel economist Joseph E. Stiglitz describes how unrestrained power and rampant greed have written an epitaph for the American dream, shattered by the modern pleonetic (an overreaching desire for more than one's share) tyrants who make up the 1%, writes Yvonne Roberts.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/13/price-inequality-joseph-stiglitz-review
It's the most perfect post-crash setting for a slice of genuinely disturbing horror: an Irish housing estate, mostly empty and abandoned, half-finished. Evil stalks the pages of Irish author Tana French's Broken Harbour, "like a low cloud of sticky black dust spreading slowly".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/15/broken-harbour-tana-french-review
Road to Valour, by Aili and Andres McConnon is a true story about Gino Bartali, twice winner of the Tour de France, who couriered falsified identification papers during WWII, pretending the 110-mile trek was part of his training regimen. Bartali was a quiet hero, writes Enza Micheletti.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Gino+Bartali+quiet+hero/6929318/story.html
Mark Haddon's The Red House draws the reader into the tensions and apprehensions of one family who, like Tolstoy's famous summary, are unhappy in their own particular way. This novel is an impossible-to-stop read that plunges the reader into a completely convincing world, writes Aritha van Herk.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/the-red-house-by-mark-haddon/article4414860/
Yejide Kilanko's Daughters Who Walk This Path tells the story of Morayo, a Nigerian girl, whose life is altered early in the book. It is an elaborate interlace of story, African proverbs, traditional fables and contemporary works by African women, writes Donna Bailey Nurse.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/07/13/book-review-daughters-who-walk-this-path-by-yejide-kilanko/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
DENMAN ISLAND READERS & WRITERS FESTIVAL
Annual summer event featuring Tzeporah Berman, Steven Galloway, Loran Goodison, Timothy Taylor and many others. July 19-22, 2012. For complete details, visit www.denmanislandwritersfestival.com.
VAN CLAYTON POWEL
Reading by the author of You are NOT What You Eat. Monday, July 23 at 7:15pm. Bob Prittie Metrotown, 6100 Willingdon Ave., Burnaby. More information at www.bpl.bc.ca.
SHARON HANNA
The author of The Book of Kale: The Easy-to-Grow Superfood, 80 Recipes will be bringing her extensive knowledge about the nutritious and delicious aspects of kale to the library. Friday, July 27 at 3:00pm, free. Kitsilano branch, VPL, 2425 Macdonald St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
SURREY MUSE
This month's meeting features author Joanne Arnott, poet Franci Louanne, and filmmaker Hari Alluri. Also, Timothy Shay, Gomathy Puri and hosted by Randeep Purewall. Friday, July 27 at 5:30pm. Room 418, Surrey Public Library - City Centre, 10350 University Drive.
FORT LANGLEY CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS
An Afternoon of Poetry and Music with poet Susan McCaslin and jazz musician Amanda Tosoff collaborate from their recent works. Saturday, July 28 at 2:30pm. Centennial Museum, 9135 King Street, Fort Langley.
Upcoming
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
SUMMER DREAMS LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL
Annual family-friendly celebration of literary arts features two stages, a kids' area, a marketplace, and over 90 performers, including headliner Barbara Adler and Fang, a local spoken-word artist who combines poetry with music. Saturday, August 25, 2012, free. Trout Lake Park, 3350 Victoria. More information at www.summerdreamsfest.com.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Book News Vol. 7 No. 25
BOOK NEWS
UPCOMING EVENTS
Michael Chabon - Just Announced!
September 26, 2012 at 8:00pm
St. Andrew's Wesley United Church
Author of the New York Times bestselling novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, talks about his latest book, Telegraph Avenue. Members - check Ink e-newsletter for your special discount code. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/michaelchabon
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the twelfth installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "My Generation" from the 2011 Festival, featuring Dennis E. Bolen, Linda Grant and Cate Kennedy. There are consequences to living the 'ideal' life, no matter your generation. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
AROUND TOWN THIS MONTH
The Indian Summer Festival (http://indiansummerfestival.ca) continues this weekend events featuring with exciting authors from India, Canada and the UK, music, film and dance.
The Other Side of Silence (http://indiansummerfestival.ca/events/butalia/), with Urvashi Butalia. Renowned Indian writer, publisher, feminist and historian Urvashi Butalia talks with Charlie Smith, Editor of the Georgia Straight.
Multimedia Lit & Sound Cabaret (http://indiansummerfestival.ca/events/cabaret/). Led by an all-star cast of wordsmiths and language artists into a plethora of sound and delight, this first Indian Summer Lit and Sound Cabaret is a must-see event.
Ideas Series: Who Do You Think You Are? With Gurjinder Basran, David Chariandy & Anosh Irani (http://indiansummerfestival.ca/events/ideas/). Three of BC's most celebrated young writers talk with Hal Wake, Artistic Director of the Vancouver International Writers Festival.
AWARDS & LISTS
American author Nathan Englander has won the 2012 Frank O'Connor short story award (€25,000) for What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/09/nathan-englander-wins-frank-oconnor
During the week running up to the award's presentation in September, 500 short story collections will be left in public places around Cork City, free for members of the public to take home and read.
http://www.frankoconnor-shortstory-award.net/
Books by Aidon Chambers, Roddy Doyle, Jack Gantos, Russell Hoban, Anne Holt, Eva Ibbotson, Ally Kennan, and Frank Cottrell Royce are on the longlist of the Guardian children's fiction prize 2012.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/gallery/2012/jun/08/childrens-fiction-prize-longlist-gallery
The CBC has announced the five English-language finalists in the annual CBC Creative Nonfiction Prize.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1223604--finalists-announced-for-cbc-creative-nonfiction-prize
On 19 July, Colin Dexter will be honoured with the Theakstons Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction award for his creation of the unforgettable character Inspector Morse.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/06/colin-dexter-honoured-contribution-crime-writing
YOUNG READERS
Lauren St John's The One Dollar Horse follows teenager Casey Blue and how her life changes when she rescues a horse from a knackers yard, paying only a dollar. She brings her horse back to full health but things aren't going well. The young reviewer "HorseLover3000" says she really loved this book. For readers 12 and up.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/jul/05/one-dollar-horse-lauren-st-john-review
It’s summer vacation—just fun in the sun! But even during the holidays, one's brain needs exercising. Enter Edgar Allan Poe’s Pie. Texts are by J. Patrick Lewis, the American children’s poet laureate. Illustrations are by Michael Slack. For ages 8 to 88.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+Math+puzzles+wrapped+poetry/6893738/story.html
William Joyce's The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore tells of Mr. Lessmore's love of books. Wondering whether his own book can fly, Morris discovers it doesn't – that he needs a good story before his book will take wing. A film version won an Academy award. For ages 4 to 104.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+homage+printed+word/6824536/story.html
The average American teenager spends two hours watching TV each day and just seven minutes reading, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The Urban Flip Book is a lifeline for struggling teen readers. There are 10 titles in the Urban Flip Book series.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-urban-flip-book-20120617,0,5240646.story
NEWS & FEATURES
Arab diplomats in France have been sharply criticized for withdrawing prize money for a literary award because the winner had visited Israel. Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal was scheduled to receive the Prix du Roman Arabe for his book Rue Darwin, but in May, he spoke at a literary festival in Israel.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/world/europe/arab-envoys-rebuked-for-denying-prize-money-to-algerian-writer.html
To mark the 50th anniversary of his death, the Folio Society is printing Faulkner's 1929 novel, The Sound and the Fury, the way he intended, with different colours marking chronological shifts in the story. 1,480 copies will be published.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/04/william-faulkner-sound-fury-coloured-ink
Amelia Hill has discovered that abandonment, alienation and homelessness are increasingly the themes covered in modern literature for children. Children's books are now less likely to be along the lines of Alice in Wonderland, and instead reflect the harsh reality of modern childhood.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/06/childrens-books-reflect-harsh-reality
Following her review of Tim Kendall's The Art of Robert Frost, Kathryn Schulz concludes that Robert Frost is really a terrifying poet.
http://www.vulture.com/2012/05/the-art-of-robert-frost-tim-kendall.html
The author Douglas Brinkley and the actor Johnny Depp are teaming up to edit House of Earth, a previously unpublished novel by the folk singer Woody Guthrie that will be released next spring.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/09/with-johnny-depps-help-woody-guthrie-novel-to-arrive-in-2013/
The brother of Nobel prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez says side-effects of cancer treatment have accelerated his brother's decline from senile dementia and that he can no longer write.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/07/gabriel-garcia-marquez-career-dementia
Michael Chabon tries to figure out what to make of Finnegans Wake, The Dubliners and what he describes as "the unlovable" Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Rather than achieving a greater understanding of Finnegans Wake, Chabon appears to have learned more about himself.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jul/12/what-make-finnegans-wake/?pagination=false
A U.S. Supreme Court decision has left American libraries' book-lending rights under threat, since the right of a purchaser of a book to sell or lend that copy, applies only to copies manufactured in the United States. Three major library groups are requesting a reversal of the Second Circuit decision.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/copyright/article/52874-in-supreme-court-filing-libraries-say-decision-in-wiley-suit-threatens-lending-rights.html
The hottest controversy of the summer concerns the New York Public Library, and a plan to disembowel its main building and "replace books with people", writes Jason Farago. Writers and professors are enraged, staff demoralized, and the entire purpose of the system is called into question.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/07/what-lies-behind-battle-over-new-york-public-library
An exchange in defense of the New York Public Library is in the most recent issue of The New York Review of Books.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jul/12/defense-new-york-public-library-exchange/
The New York Times' Janet Maslin panned Patrick Somerville's book This Bright River. Then The Times had to correct the review to fix all their errors.
http://www.salon.com/2012/07/05/thank_you_for_killing_my_novel/
The novelist David Vann reveals that he can't even sign his name in longhand now that he's switched to typing and why he downloaded the Kindle app in desperation. His most recent novel is Dirt, set in 1985 New Age California.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/05/david-vann-my-desktop
After being arrested in 1974 by the Savak, the shah's secret police, the Iranian writer Mahmoud Dowlatabadi asked his interrogators what crime he had committed. "None," he recalled them responding, "but everyone we arrest seems to have copies of your novels, so that makes you provocative."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/books/the-colonel-by-the-iranian-writer-mahmoud-dowlatabadi.html
A recent issue of The New York Review of Books includes an excerpt of Bring Up the Bodies, the sequel to Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jun/21/bring-bodies/
The Erasure Poetry Contest is Closing Soon! Visit geist.com/erasure for more details and to read the excerpt. All entries must be postmarked no later than August 1, 2012.
http://www.geist.com/
Enter the Search for the Great BC Novel contest offered by Mother Tongue Publishing Limited.
http://www.allianceforarts.com/files/enet/pdf/12/06/literary_0.pdf
BOOKS & WRITERS
Julie Bosman writes that Ernest Hemingway wrote the ending to A Farewell to Arms 39 times before he was satisfied. A new edition of A Farewell to Arms, out next week, will include all the alternative endings.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/books/a-farewell-to-arms-with-hemingways-alternate-endings.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss
Patrick Senécal's Against God, barely 100 pages, is a chilling tale of an ordinary man's rancorous dance with disillusionment in the wake of insufferable loss. Senécal, known as "Quebec's Stephen King," is a prolific writer. This first English translation will introduce English Canada to his work.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/against-god-by-patrick-sencal/article4375124/
Dystopian fiction needs to strike a balance between strangeness and familiarity in order to transport us, writes Eric Boodman. "My job is just to reveal this magic to you, to illustrate what in your hearts you already know," says a character in Pasha Malla's People Park.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Pasha+Malla+People+Park+magic+show+reveals+disquieting+truths/6893756/story.html#ixzz1zzuYcu4b
A wedding, a car accident, a death, a story about redemption. In her review of Carol Anshaw's Carry the One, Deborah Dundee quotes Emma Donoghue: The book "will lift readers off their feet and bear them along on its eloquent tide."
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1221068--carry-the-one-by-carol-anshaw-review
Clive Stafford Smith's portrayal of the American judicial system in Injustice: Life and Death in the Courtrooms of America is shocking and illuminating, writes Ed Vuillamy. This is killing as a matter of procedure, the process of what America calls law, says Vuillamy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/08/injustice-life-death-stafford-smith-review
Most readers will already know what happened to George Mallory as he sets out for the summit of the world's highest peak, but the joy in reading Tanis Rideout's Above All Things is in the journey, says Claire Cameron.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/above-all-things-by-tanis-rideout/article4394393/
Billy Lynn's Longtime Walk, Ben Fountain's blinder of a first novel, has been a long time coming, writes Theo Tait. It's a fierce, exhilarating novel about the Iraq war which Vietnam veteran and novelist Karl Marlantes dubbed 'the Catch-22 of the Iraq war'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/06/billy-lynn-ben-fountain-review
Focusing attention this week on authors from independent presses, Brett Josef Grubisic identifies Mike Barnes' The Reasonable Ogre, Anne Fleming's Gay Dwarves of America, Heather Birrell's Mad Hope, as examples of small labels offering big stories.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Small+labels+offer+stories/6895161/story.html
Clover, over 50 and underappreciated, wakes up invisible one day. In Jeanne Ray's Calling Invisible Women, Clover bands together with other invisible women to fight back. Ray began to write at 60, and now has several titles. She credits daughter Ann Patchett's limited advice.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/books/sc-ent-0627-books-invisible-women-20120628,0,7073232.story
COMMUNITY EVENTS
TWS READING SERIES
Readings by Fiona Scott, Tara Wohlberg, Ben Nuttall-Smith, Danielle Patrick, Karen J. Lee, Carol Tulpar, Bernice Lever and guest author Nora Gold. Friday, July 13 at 7:00pm. Take 5 Cafe, 429 Granville St.
ALL ROADS LEAD TO WELLS
Launch for author Susan Safyan's book that tells the story of a group of idealistic young men and women who moved to the tiny B.C. town of Wells in the late 1960s and 1970s. Friday, July 13 at 7:00pm, free. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive. More information at admin@caitlin-press.com.
VAN SLAM: OPEN SECRET
Van Slam featuring Ikenna "OpenSecret" Onyegbula. Monday, July 16 at 8:00pm. Cost: $6-$10 sliding scale. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive.
TIM WARD
Author reads from Zombies on Kilimanjaro: A Father-Son Journey Above the Clouds. Tuesday, July 17 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
DENMAN ISLAND READERS & WRITERS FESTIVAL
Annual summer event featuring Tzeporah Berman, Steven Galloway, Loran Goodison, Timothy Taylor and many others. July 19-22, 2012. For complete details, visit www.denmanislandwritersfestival.com.
Upcoming
SURREY MUSE
This month's meeting features author Joanne Arnott, poet Franci Louanne, and filmmaker Hari Alluri. Also, Timothy Shay, Gomathy Puri and hosted by Randeep Purewall. Friday, July 27 at 5:30pm. Room 418, Surrey Public Library - City Centre, 10350 University Drive.
FORT LANGLEY CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS
An Afternoon of Poetry and Music with poet Susan McCaslin and jazz musician Amanda Tosoff collaborate from their recent works. Saturday, July 28 at 2:30pm. Centennial Museum, 9135 King Street, Fort Langley.
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
SUMMER DREAMS LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL
Annual family-friendly celebration of literary arts features two stages, a kids' area, a marketplace, and over 90 performers, including headliner Barbara Adler and Fang, a local spoken-word artist who combines poetry with music. Saturday, August 25, 2012, free. Trout Lake Park, 3350 Victoria. More information at www.summerdreamsfest.com.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Michael Chabon - Just Announced!
September 26, 2012 at 8:00pm
St. Andrew's Wesley United Church
Author of the New York Times bestselling novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, talks about his latest book, Telegraph Avenue. Members - check Ink e-newsletter for your special discount code. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/michaelchabon
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the twelfth installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "My Generation" from the 2011 Festival, featuring Dennis E. Bolen, Linda Grant and Cate Kennedy. There are consequences to living the 'ideal' life, no matter your generation. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
AROUND TOWN THIS MONTH
The Indian Summer Festival (http://indiansummerfestival.ca) continues this weekend events featuring with exciting authors from India, Canada and the UK, music, film and dance.
The Other Side of Silence (http://indiansummerfestival.ca/events/butalia/), with Urvashi Butalia. Renowned Indian writer, publisher, feminist and historian Urvashi Butalia talks with Charlie Smith, Editor of the Georgia Straight.
Multimedia Lit & Sound Cabaret (http://indiansummerfestival.ca/events/cabaret/). Led by an all-star cast of wordsmiths and language artists into a plethora of sound and delight, this first Indian Summer Lit and Sound Cabaret is a must-see event.
Ideas Series: Who Do You Think You Are? With Gurjinder Basran, David Chariandy & Anosh Irani (http://indiansummerfestival.ca/events/ideas/). Three of BC's most celebrated young writers talk with Hal Wake, Artistic Director of the Vancouver International Writers Festival.
AWARDS & LISTS
American author Nathan Englander has won the 2012 Frank O'Connor short story award (€25,000) for What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/09/nathan-englander-wins-frank-oconnor
During the week running up to the award's presentation in September, 500 short story collections will be left in public places around Cork City, free for members of the public to take home and read.
http://www.frankoconnor-shortstory-award.net/
Books by Aidon Chambers, Roddy Doyle, Jack Gantos, Russell Hoban, Anne Holt, Eva Ibbotson, Ally Kennan, and Frank Cottrell Royce are on the longlist of the Guardian children's fiction prize 2012.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/gallery/2012/jun/08/childrens-fiction-prize-longlist-gallery
The CBC has announced the five English-language finalists in the annual CBC Creative Nonfiction Prize.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1223604--finalists-announced-for-cbc-creative-nonfiction-prize
On 19 July, Colin Dexter will be honoured with the Theakstons Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction award for his creation of the unforgettable character Inspector Morse.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/06/colin-dexter-honoured-contribution-crime-writing
YOUNG READERS
Lauren St John's The One Dollar Horse follows teenager Casey Blue and how her life changes when she rescues a horse from a knackers yard, paying only a dollar. She brings her horse back to full health but things aren't going well. The young reviewer "HorseLover3000" says she really loved this book. For readers 12 and up.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/jul/05/one-dollar-horse-lauren-st-john-review
It’s summer vacation—just fun in the sun! But even during the holidays, one's brain needs exercising. Enter Edgar Allan Poe’s Pie. Texts are by J. Patrick Lewis, the American children’s poet laureate. Illustrations are by Michael Slack. For ages 8 to 88.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+Math+puzzles+wrapped+poetry/6893738/story.html
William Joyce's The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore tells of Mr. Lessmore's love of books. Wondering whether his own book can fly, Morris discovers it doesn't – that he needs a good story before his book will take wing. A film version won an Academy award. For ages 4 to 104.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+homage+printed+word/6824536/story.html
The average American teenager spends two hours watching TV each day and just seven minutes reading, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The Urban Flip Book is a lifeline for struggling teen readers. There are 10 titles in the Urban Flip Book series.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-urban-flip-book-20120617,0,5240646.story
NEWS & FEATURES
Arab diplomats in France have been sharply criticized for withdrawing prize money for a literary award because the winner had visited Israel. Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal was scheduled to receive the Prix du Roman Arabe for his book Rue Darwin, but in May, he spoke at a literary festival in Israel.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/world/europe/arab-envoys-rebuked-for-denying-prize-money-to-algerian-writer.html
To mark the 50th anniversary of his death, the Folio Society is printing Faulkner's 1929 novel, The Sound and the Fury, the way he intended, with different colours marking chronological shifts in the story. 1,480 copies will be published.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/04/william-faulkner-sound-fury-coloured-ink
Amelia Hill has discovered that abandonment, alienation and homelessness are increasingly the themes covered in modern literature for children. Children's books are now less likely to be along the lines of Alice in Wonderland, and instead reflect the harsh reality of modern childhood.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/06/childrens-books-reflect-harsh-reality
Following her review of Tim Kendall's The Art of Robert Frost, Kathryn Schulz concludes that Robert Frost is really a terrifying poet.
http://www.vulture.com/2012/05/the-art-of-robert-frost-tim-kendall.html
The author Douglas Brinkley and the actor Johnny Depp are teaming up to edit House of Earth, a previously unpublished novel by the folk singer Woody Guthrie that will be released next spring.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/09/with-johnny-depps-help-woody-guthrie-novel-to-arrive-in-2013/
The brother of Nobel prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez says side-effects of cancer treatment have accelerated his brother's decline from senile dementia and that he can no longer write.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/07/gabriel-garcia-marquez-career-dementia
Michael Chabon tries to figure out what to make of Finnegans Wake, The Dubliners and what he describes as "the unlovable" Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Rather than achieving a greater understanding of Finnegans Wake, Chabon appears to have learned more about himself.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jul/12/what-make-finnegans-wake/?pagination=false
A U.S. Supreme Court decision has left American libraries' book-lending rights under threat, since the right of a purchaser of a book to sell or lend that copy, applies only to copies manufactured in the United States. Three major library groups are requesting a reversal of the Second Circuit decision.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/copyright/article/52874-in-supreme-court-filing-libraries-say-decision-in-wiley-suit-threatens-lending-rights.html
The hottest controversy of the summer concerns the New York Public Library, and a plan to disembowel its main building and "replace books with people", writes Jason Farago. Writers and professors are enraged, staff demoralized, and the entire purpose of the system is called into question.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/07/what-lies-behind-battle-over-new-york-public-library
An exchange in defense of the New York Public Library is in the most recent issue of The New York Review of Books.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jul/12/defense-new-york-public-library-exchange/
The New York Times' Janet Maslin panned Patrick Somerville's book This Bright River. Then The Times had to correct the review to fix all their errors.
http://www.salon.com/2012/07/05/thank_you_for_killing_my_novel/
The novelist David Vann reveals that he can't even sign his name in longhand now that he's switched to typing and why he downloaded the Kindle app in desperation. His most recent novel is Dirt, set in 1985 New Age California.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/05/david-vann-my-desktop
After being arrested in 1974 by the Savak, the shah's secret police, the Iranian writer Mahmoud Dowlatabadi asked his interrogators what crime he had committed. "None," he recalled them responding, "but everyone we arrest seems to have copies of your novels, so that makes you provocative."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/books/the-colonel-by-the-iranian-writer-mahmoud-dowlatabadi.html
A recent issue of The New York Review of Books includes an excerpt of Bring Up the Bodies, the sequel to Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jun/21/bring-bodies/
The Erasure Poetry Contest is Closing Soon! Visit geist.com/erasure for more details and to read the excerpt. All entries must be postmarked no later than August 1, 2012.
http://www.geist.com/
Enter the Search for the Great BC Novel contest offered by Mother Tongue Publishing Limited.
http://www.allianceforarts.com/files/enet/pdf/12/06/literary_0.pdf
BOOKS & WRITERS
Julie Bosman writes that Ernest Hemingway wrote the ending to A Farewell to Arms 39 times before he was satisfied. A new edition of A Farewell to Arms, out next week, will include all the alternative endings.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/books/a-farewell-to-arms-with-hemingways-alternate-endings.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss
Patrick Senécal's Against God, barely 100 pages, is a chilling tale of an ordinary man's rancorous dance with disillusionment in the wake of insufferable loss. Senécal, known as "Quebec's Stephen King," is a prolific writer. This first English translation will introduce English Canada to his work.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/against-god-by-patrick-sencal/article4375124/
Dystopian fiction needs to strike a balance between strangeness and familiarity in order to transport us, writes Eric Boodman. "My job is just to reveal this magic to you, to illustrate what in your hearts you already know," says a character in Pasha Malla's People Park.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Pasha+Malla+People+Park+magic+show+reveals+disquieting+truths/6893756/story.html#ixzz1zzuYcu4b
A wedding, a car accident, a death, a story about redemption. In her review of Carol Anshaw's Carry the One, Deborah Dundee quotes Emma Donoghue: The book "will lift readers off their feet and bear them along on its eloquent tide."
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1221068--carry-the-one-by-carol-anshaw-review
Clive Stafford Smith's portrayal of the American judicial system in Injustice: Life and Death in the Courtrooms of America is shocking and illuminating, writes Ed Vuillamy. This is killing as a matter of procedure, the process of what America calls law, says Vuillamy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/08/injustice-life-death-stafford-smith-review
Most readers will already know what happened to George Mallory as he sets out for the summit of the world's highest peak, but the joy in reading Tanis Rideout's Above All Things is in the journey, says Claire Cameron.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/above-all-things-by-tanis-rideout/article4394393/
Billy Lynn's Longtime Walk, Ben Fountain's blinder of a first novel, has been a long time coming, writes Theo Tait. It's a fierce, exhilarating novel about the Iraq war which Vietnam veteran and novelist Karl Marlantes dubbed 'the Catch-22 of the Iraq war'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/06/billy-lynn-ben-fountain-review
Focusing attention this week on authors from independent presses, Brett Josef Grubisic identifies Mike Barnes' The Reasonable Ogre, Anne Fleming's Gay Dwarves of America, Heather Birrell's Mad Hope, as examples of small labels offering big stories.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Small+labels+offer+stories/6895161/story.html
Clover, over 50 and underappreciated, wakes up invisible one day. In Jeanne Ray's Calling Invisible Women, Clover bands together with other invisible women to fight back. Ray began to write at 60, and now has several titles. She credits daughter Ann Patchett's limited advice.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/books/sc-ent-0627-books-invisible-women-20120628,0,7073232.story
COMMUNITY EVENTS
TWS READING SERIES
Readings by Fiona Scott, Tara Wohlberg, Ben Nuttall-Smith, Danielle Patrick, Karen J. Lee, Carol Tulpar, Bernice Lever and guest author Nora Gold. Friday, July 13 at 7:00pm. Take 5 Cafe, 429 Granville St.
ALL ROADS LEAD TO WELLS
Launch for author Susan Safyan's book that tells the story of a group of idealistic young men and women who moved to the tiny B.C. town of Wells in the late 1960s and 1970s. Friday, July 13 at 7:00pm, free. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive. More information at admin@caitlin-press.com.
VAN SLAM: OPEN SECRET
Van Slam featuring Ikenna "OpenSecret" Onyegbula. Monday, July 16 at 8:00pm. Cost: $6-$10 sliding scale. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive.
TIM WARD
Author reads from Zombies on Kilimanjaro: A Father-Son Journey Above the Clouds. Tuesday, July 17 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
DENMAN ISLAND READERS & WRITERS FESTIVAL
Annual summer event featuring Tzeporah Berman, Steven Galloway, Loran Goodison, Timothy Taylor and many others. July 19-22, 2012. For complete details, visit www.denmanislandwritersfestival.com.
Upcoming
SURREY MUSE
This month's meeting features author Joanne Arnott, poet Franci Louanne, and filmmaker Hari Alluri. Also, Timothy Shay, Gomathy Puri and hosted by Randeep Purewall. Friday, July 27 at 5:30pm. Room 418, Surrey Public Library - City Centre, 10350 University Drive.
FORT LANGLEY CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS
An Afternoon of Poetry and Music with poet Susan McCaslin and jazz musician Amanda Tosoff collaborate from their recent works. Saturday, July 28 at 2:30pm. Centennial Museum, 9135 King Street, Fort Langley.
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
SUMMER DREAMS LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL
Annual family-friendly celebration of literary arts features two stages, a kids' area, a marketplace, and over 90 performers, including headliner Barbara Adler and Fang, a local spoken-word artist who combines poetry with music. Saturday, August 25, 2012, free. Trout Lake Park, 3350 Victoria. More information at www.summerdreamsfest.com.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Book News Vol. 7 No. 24
BOOK NEWS
UPCOMING EVENTS
Michael Chabon - Just Announced!
September 26, 2012 at 8:00pm
St. Andrew's Wesley United Church
Author of the New York Times bestselling novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, talks about his latest book, Telegraph Avenue. Members - check Ink e-newsletter for your special discount code. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/michaelchabon
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the eleventh installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "An Intimate Afternoon" from the 2010 Festival, featuring David Mitchell. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
AROUND TOWN THIS MONTH
Indian Summer Literature Series
http://indiansummerfestival.ca
The Indian Summer Festival presents top international talent from Canada and India across music, literature, dance, film, yoga and cuisine. The literature series features some of the most exciting authors and public intellectuals from India, Canada and the UK.
Events this year include:
The Other Side of Silence, With Urvashi Butalia (SATURDAY JULY 14 @ 7:30pm |$15 | Goldcorp Centre for the Arts) Renowned Indian writer, publisher, feminist and historian Urvashi Butalia talks with Charlie Smith, Editor of the Georgia Straight. Details: http://indiansummerfestival.ca/events/butalia/
Multimedia Lit & Sound Cabaret (SATURDAY JULY 14 @ 9pm | $10 | W2 Media Cafe) Led by an all-star cast of wordsmiths and language artists into a plethora of sound and delight, this first Indian Summer Lit. and Sound Cabaret is a
must-see event. Details: http://indiansummerfestival.ca/events/cabaret/
Ideas Series: Who Do You Think You Are? With Gurjinder Basran, David Chariandy & Anosh Irani (SUNDAY JULY 15 @ 7pm | $15 | Goldcorp Centre for the Arts) Three of BC's most celebrated young writers talk with Hal Wake, Artistic Director of the Vancouver International Writers Festival. Details: http://indiansummerfestival.ca/events/ideas/
AWARDS & LISTS
Fran Diamond, Kevin McDonough and Jim Ryder have won the Downtown Eastisde Jamboree Writing Contest. Their winning entries will appear in Geist's Fall issue.
http://www.geist.com/blogs/news/local-litamboree-writing-contest
George Fetherling's Man of a Hundred Thousand Books has won the Profile award at The Western Magazine Awards. Read it here:
http://www.geist.com/articles/man-hundred-thousand-books
Well-known names and first-time authors—including Dave Shelton's A Boy and a Bear in a Boat, Roddy Doyle's A Greyhound of a Girl and Jack Gantos's Dead End in Norvelt—are on the longlist for the Guardian children's fiction prize. The winner will be announced in November.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/gallery/2012/jun/08/childrens-fiction-prize-longlist-gallery
Grace McCleen has won the £10,000 Desmond Elliott prize for her first novel, The Land of Decoration, the story of a fringe religious group as seen through the eyes of a 10-year-old girl.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/29/grace-mccleen-desmond-elliott-prize
The "ambitious, darkly humorous" short story of a Nigerian soldier fighting in Burma during the second world war has won Nigeria's Rotimi Babatunde the £10,000 Caine prize for African writing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/03/rotimi-babatunde-wins-caine-prize
YOUNG READERS
Adam Rubin's Dragons Love Tacos, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri, is a heaping helping of silly as we learn just how much dragons love tacos but hate spicy salsa. Little kids will relate to the anti-spicy bias and to Salmieri's watercolor and gouache cartoon illustrations of boatloads of tacos and all sizes of dragons enjoying their favorite food. For ages 4 to 8.
http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Roundup-of-children-s-books-3656983.php
Two Philip Pullman whodunnits set in Victorian London now appear in a single volume as Two Crafty Criminals!, subtitled And How They Were Captured by the Daring Detectives of the New Cut Gang (consisting of both girl and boy detectives). For ages 7 to 11.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+Gang+kids+tackles+mysteries/6860375/story.htm
In Summer in the City, by Marie-Louise Gay and David Homel, Charlie's life is nothing but eventful, despite a "stay-cation" holiday. Whether he's walking dogs, backyard camping or just picking up his repaired baseball glove, adventure finds him. For buoyant, long-suffering Charlie, even benign activities are weird, wonderful or hair-raising. For ages 6 to 11.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1218293--great-escapes-for-kids-and-teens
Between the Lines, a collaboration between bestselling writer Jodi Picoult and her teen daughter, Samantha van Leer, asks: What if a fairy tale's characters lived entirely different lives after the book's cover was closed? What if happily ever after wasn't real but an act? For ages 12 and up.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-jodi-picoult-20120624,0,717519.story
NEWS & FEATURES
49th Shelf offers an online interactive map that enables individuals traveling across Canada to read books about the destination: fiction books set in Canadian locations and non-fiction books about Canadian locations.
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/tag/49th-shelf/
Kate Carraway and Victor Dwyer have identified five up-and-comers to watch: David Chariandy, Yejide Kilanko, Alexander MacLeod, Grace O'Connell, and Iain Reid, adding "the one thing they have in common: compelling words, artfully composed, that remind us why the future of books, however it takes shape, matters."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/the-fab-five-canlits-hottest-up-and-comers/article4380445/
To celebrate the 112th anniversary of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's birth, the Christian Science Monitor has gathered 10 quotes that are attributed to him.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2012/06/antoine-de-saint-exupery-little-prince-birthday.html
Salman Rushdie was the target of a notorious fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989. Now, the author of The Satanic Verses is the subject of an Iranian computer game aimed at spreading to the next generation the message about his "sin".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/26/salman-rushdie-fatwa-iranian-video-game
Mavis Gallant's private journals are to be published in Canada and in the United States. Gallant, who turns 90 in August, is most famous for her novellas and short stories. She has published more than 100 stories in The New Yorker, a record for a female contributor to that magazine.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/gallants-private-journals-to-be-published-in-canada-us/article4375337/?cmpid=rss1
Laura Miller attempts to understand what lies behind the boom in publication of dystopian fiction for young people. Are they new versions of adventure stories?, asks Miller.
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2010/06/14/100614crat_atlarge_miller
The award-winning Australian poet Rosemary Dobson has died, at 92. Her first book, In a Convex Mirror, was published in 1944; her new Collected poems came out only three months ago. Reviewing Collected, David Malouf described Dobson as "one of our most admired and enduring voices".
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/rosemary-dobson-enduring-voice-of-australia-dies-20120628-214ho.html
Julian Barnes writes that he has lived in books, for books, by and with books. Here he reflects on his lifelong bibliomania and explains why, despite e-readers and Amazon, he believes the physical book and bookshops will survive.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/29/my-life-as-bibliophile-julian-barnes
Jim Holt explores the question "is philosophy literature?" and responds with: "Do people read philosophy for pleasure? Of course it is, and of course they do", he writes. But what is literature? That in itself might appear to be a philosophical question.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/is-philosophy-literature/?src=recg
The Official Companion Cookbook offers recipes for dishes from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire novels. Waging battles requires lots of protein, and there's plenty of beef, pork and fowl to be found in many of the stories, says Nick Owchar.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-game-of-thrones-cookbook-20120624,0,3398686.story
In an essay, Kyle Carsten Wyatt reflects on Northrop Frye's comments on "the stranglehold of history and geography on Canadian culture" and the "condominium mentality".
http://walrusmagazine.com/articles/2012.05-essay-of-culture-and-condos/
The cover design of JK Rowling's first adult novel The Casual Vacancy: has been revealed, with the question: What clues do you think it holds? This prompted the comment: "That apparently we're still judging books by their cover despite several years of warning not to."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/jul/03/jk-rowling-casual-vacancy-cover
The Erasure Poetry Contest is Closing Soon! Visit geist.com/erasure for more details and to read the excerpt. All entries must be postmarked no later than August 1, 2012.
http://www.geist.com/
Enter the Search for the Great BC Novel contest offered by Mother Tongue Publishing Limited.
http://www.allianceforarts.com/files/enet/pdf/12/06/literary_0.pdf
BOOKS & WRITERS
Patrick Senécal's Against God, barely 100 pages, is a chilling tale of an ordinary man's rancorous dance with disillusionment in the wake of insufferable loss. Senécal, known as "Quebec's Stephen King," is a prolific writer. This first English translation will introduce English Canada to his work.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/against-god-by-patrick-sencal/article4375124/
Jim Lynch's Truth Like the Sun takes place around Seattle's Space Needle, between 1962 and 2001. Roger Morgan is the fictional mastermind of the fair: simultaneously an MC, ringmaster, power broker, cheerleader and director—and an optimist and a dreamer.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1216842--truth-like-the-sun-by-jim-lynch-review
Supported by translators, American author Katherine Boo creates in Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Slum an impressive view of the Mumbai slums, writes Amit Chaudhuri. Boo's intelligence keeps her tale from losing its grounding in reality, says Chaudhuri.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/29/behind-beautiful-forevers-katherine-boo-review
When the Spanish Civil War broke out, hundreds of women volunteered to work for the Republican side. In Come From Afar, Gayla Reid's nurse remarks: "Every experienced nurse is a practised deceiver. Smile for the patient; do not disclose." A war novel with a female perspective, writes
M.A.C. Farrant.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Come+from+Afar+Mythic+nurse+story/6861491/story.html
Carlos Ruiz Zafón's thriller The Shadow of the Wind was beautifully crafted and The Prisoner of Heaven equally compelling, writes Steven Poole. Luckily, the books can be read in any order. Quoting the imprisoned writer, Poole asks: "If you don't trust a novelist, who are you going to trust?"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/28/prisoner-heaven-carlos-ruiz-zafon-review
In his review of Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Being Human by Barbara Natterson Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers, Julian Baggini asks: Would it be healthier for humanity if doctors were more like vets?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/01/zoobiquity-natterson-horowitz-bowers-review
Midnight in Peking, by Shanghai-based analyst-cum-historian Paul French, uses archival materials to re-launch an investigation into the 75-year-old unsolved mystery of Pamela Warner's murder in Peking. With this book, French has possibly attained some form of justice for Werner, writes Jason Beerman.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1218540--midnight-in-peking-how-the-murder-of-a-young-englishwoman-haunted-the-last-days-of-old-china-by-paul-french-review
In The Age of Miracles, Karen Thompson Walker imagines a world in which the Earth's rotation slows and the days lengthen, as narrated by 11-year-old Julia. Touching, harrowing, and magical, The Age of Miracles is an impressive debut, writes Betsy Toyne.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/the-age-of-miracles-by-karen-thompson-walker/article4380190/
In the 1880s, Prime Minister Gladstone sent Britain's Camel Corps to rescue General Charles Gordon. Gillian Slovo's An Honourable Man alternates between the journeys of physician John Smith, the Camel Corps, the mad General Gordon, and Smith's wife. This would make a smashing mini-series, writes Gale Zoë Garnett.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/an-honourable-man-by-gillian-slovo/article4385051/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
JED LA LUMIERE
The author of Patience: A Gay Man's Virtue brings humour and insight to the launch for his book about being an invisible minority. Thursday, July 5 at 7:00pm, free. Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium, 1238 Davie Street.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by bill bissett and Susan Cormier. Thursday, July 5 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Readings by Kate Braid, George McWhirter, Daniela Elza, Ken Klonksy, and Hal Wake. Sunday, July 8 at 3:00pm. Entry by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street, Vancouver. Details and registration here, www.deadpoetslive.com.
RACHEL HARTMAN
Author launches her new book Seraphina. Tuesday, July 10 at 7:00pm. RSVP to pkells@randomhouse.com. Kidsbooks, 3083 West Broadway. More information at kidsbooks.ca.
TWS READING SERIES
Readings by Fiona Scott, Tara Wohlberg, Ben Nuttall-Smith, Danielle Patrick, Karen J. Lee, Carol Tulpar, Bernice Lever and guest author Nora Gold. Friday, July 13 at 7:00pm. Take 5 Cafe, 429 Granville St.
TIM WARD
Author reads from Zombies on Kilimanjaro: A Father-Son Journey Above the Clouds. Tuesday, July 17 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
Upcoming
DENMAN ISLAND READERS & WRITERS FESTIVAL
Annual summer event featuring Tzeporah Berman, Steven Galloway, Loran Goodison, Timothy Taylor and many others. July 19-22, 2012. For complete details, visit www.denmanislandwritersfestival.com.
FORT LANGLEY CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS
An Afternoon of Poetry and Music with poet Susan McCaslin and jazz musician Amanda Tosoff collaborate from their recent works. Saturday, July 28 at 2:30pm. Centennial Museum, 9135 King Street, Fort Langley.
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
SUMMER DREAMS LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL
Annual family-friendly celebration of literary arts features two stages, a kids' area, a marketplace, and over 90 performers, including headliner Barbara Adler and Fang, a local spoken-word artist who combines poetry with music. Saturday, August 25, 2012, free. Trout Lake Park, 3350 Victoria. More information at www.summerdreamsfest.com.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Michael Chabon - Just Announced!
September 26, 2012 at 8:00pm
St. Andrew's Wesley United Church
Author of the New York Times bestselling novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, talks about his latest book, Telegraph Avenue. Members - check Ink e-newsletter for your special discount code. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/michaelchabon
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the eleventh installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "An Intimate Afternoon" from the 2010 Festival, featuring David Mitchell. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
AROUND TOWN THIS MONTH
Indian Summer Literature Series
http://indiansummerfestival.ca
The Indian Summer Festival presents top international talent from Canada and India across music, literature, dance, film, yoga and cuisine. The literature series features some of the most exciting authors and public intellectuals from India, Canada and the UK.
Events this year include:
The Other Side of Silence, With Urvashi Butalia (SATURDAY JULY 14 @ 7:30pm |$15 | Goldcorp Centre for the Arts) Renowned Indian writer, publisher, feminist and historian Urvashi Butalia talks with Charlie Smith, Editor of the Georgia Straight. Details: http://indiansummerfestival.ca/events/butalia/
Multimedia Lit & Sound Cabaret (SATURDAY JULY 14 @ 9pm | $10 | W2 Media Cafe) Led by an all-star cast of wordsmiths and language artists into a plethora of sound and delight, this first Indian Summer Lit. and Sound Cabaret is a
must-see event. Details: http://indiansummerfestival.ca/events/cabaret/
Ideas Series: Who Do You Think You Are? With Gurjinder Basran, David Chariandy & Anosh Irani (SUNDAY JULY 15 @ 7pm | $15 | Goldcorp Centre for the Arts) Three of BC's most celebrated young writers talk with Hal Wake, Artistic Director of the Vancouver International Writers Festival. Details: http://indiansummerfestival.ca/events/ideas/
AWARDS & LISTS
Fran Diamond, Kevin McDonough and Jim Ryder have won the Downtown Eastisde Jamboree Writing Contest. Their winning entries will appear in Geist's Fall issue.
http://www.geist.com/blogs/news/local-litamboree-writing-contest
George Fetherling's Man of a Hundred Thousand Books has won the Profile award at The Western Magazine Awards. Read it here:
http://www.geist.com/articles/man-hundred-thousand-books
Well-known names and first-time authors—including Dave Shelton's A Boy and a Bear in a Boat, Roddy Doyle's A Greyhound of a Girl and Jack Gantos's Dead End in Norvelt—are on the longlist for the Guardian children's fiction prize. The winner will be announced in November.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/gallery/2012/jun/08/childrens-fiction-prize-longlist-gallery
Grace McCleen has won the £10,000 Desmond Elliott prize for her first novel, The Land of Decoration, the story of a fringe religious group as seen through the eyes of a 10-year-old girl.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/29/grace-mccleen-desmond-elliott-prize
The "ambitious, darkly humorous" short story of a Nigerian soldier fighting in Burma during the second world war has won Nigeria's Rotimi Babatunde the £10,000 Caine prize for African writing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/03/rotimi-babatunde-wins-caine-prize
YOUNG READERS
Adam Rubin's Dragons Love Tacos, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri, is a heaping helping of silly as we learn just how much dragons love tacos but hate spicy salsa. Little kids will relate to the anti-spicy bias and to Salmieri's watercolor and gouache cartoon illustrations of boatloads of tacos and all sizes of dragons enjoying their favorite food. For ages 4 to 8.
http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Roundup-of-children-s-books-3656983.php
Two Philip Pullman whodunnits set in Victorian London now appear in a single volume as Two Crafty Criminals!, subtitled And How They Were Captured by the Daring Detectives of the New Cut Gang (consisting of both girl and boy detectives). For ages 7 to 11.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+Gang+kids+tackles+mysteries/6860375/story.htm
In Summer in the City, by Marie-Louise Gay and David Homel, Charlie's life is nothing but eventful, despite a "stay-cation" holiday. Whether he's walking dogs, backyard camping or just picking up his repaired baseball glove, adventure finds him. For buoyant, long-suffering Charlie, even benign activities are weird, wonderful or hair-raising. For ages 6 to 11.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1218293--great-escapes-for-kids-and-teens
Between the Lines, a collaboration between bestselling writer Jodi Picoult and her teen daughter, Samantha van Leer, asks: What if a fairy tale's characters lived entirely different lives after the book's cover was closed? What if happily ever after wasn't real but an act? For ages 12 and up.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-jodi-picoult-20120624,0,717519.story
NEWS & FEATURES
49th Shelf offers an online interactive map that enables individuals traveling across Canada to read books about the destination: fiction books set in Canadian locations and non-fiction books about Canadian locations.
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/tag/49th-shelf/
Kate Carraway and Victor Dwyer have identified five up-and-comers to watch: David Chariandy, Yejide Kilanko, Alexander MacLeod, Grace O'Connell, and Iain Reid, adding "the one thing they have in common: compelling words, artfully composed, that remind us why the future of books, however it takes shape, matters."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/the-fab-five-canlits-hottest-up-and-comers/article4380445/
To celebrate the 112th anniversary of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's birth, the Christian Science Monitor has gathered 10 quotes that are attributed to him.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2012/06/antoine-de-saint-exupery-little-prince-birthday.html
Salman Rushdie was the target of a notorious fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989. Now, the author of The Satanic Verses is the subject of an Iranian computer game aimed at spreading to the next generation the message about his "sin".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/26/salman-rushdie-fatwa-iranian-video-game
Mavis Gallant's private journals are to be published in Canada and in the United States. Gallant, who turns 90 in August, is most famous for her novellas and short stories. She has published more than 100 stories in The New Yorker, a record for a female contributor to that magazine.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/gallants-private-journals-to-be-published-in-canada-us/article4375337/?cmpid=rss1
Laura Miller attempts to understand what lies behind the boom in publication of dystopian fiction for young people. Are they new versions of adventure stories?, asks Miller.
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2010/06/14/100614crat_atlarge_miller
The award-winning Australian poet Rosemary Dobson has died, at 92. Her first book, In a Convex Mirror, was published in 1944; her new Collected poems came out only three months ago. Reviewing Collected, David Malouf described Dobson as "one of our most admired and enduring voices".
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/rosemary-dobson-enduring-voice-of-australia-dies-20120628-214ho.html
Julian Barnes writes that he has lived in books, for books, by and with books. Here he reflects on his lifelong bibliomania and explains why, despite e-readers and Amazon, he believes the physical book and bookshops will survive.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/29/my-life-as-bibliophile-julian-barnes
Jim Holt explores the question "is philosophy literature?" and responds with: "Do people read philosophy for pleasure? Of course it is, and of course they do", he writes. But what is literature? That in itself might appear to be a philosophical question.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/is-philosophy-literature/?src=recg
The Official Companion Cookbook offers recipes for dishes from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire novels. Waging battles requires lots of protein, and there's plenty of beef, pork and fowl to be found in many of the stories, says Nick Owchar.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-game-of-thrones-cookbook-20120624,0,3398686.story
In an essay, Kyle Carsten Wyatt reflects on Northrop Frye's comments on "the stranglehold of history and geography on Canadian culture" and the "condominium mentality".
http://walrusmagazine.com/articles/2012.05-essay-of-culture-and-condos/
The cover design of JK Rowling's first adult novel The Casual Vacancy: has been revealed, with the question: What clues do you think it holds? This prompted the comment: "That apparently we're still judging books by their cover despite several years of warning not to."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/jul/03/jk-rowling-casual-vacancy-cover
The Erasure Poetry Contest is Closing Soon! Visit geist.com/erasure for more details and to read the excerpt. All entries must be postmarked no later than August 1, 2012.
http://www.geist.com/
Enter the Search for the Great BC Novel contest offered by Mother Tongue Publishing Limited.
http://www.allianceforarts.com/files/enet/pdf/12/06/literary_0.pdf
BOOKS & WRITERS
Patrick Senécal's Against God, barely 100 pages, is a chilling tale of an ordinary man's rancorous dance with disillusionment in the wake of insufferable loss. Senécal, known as "Quebec's Stephen King," is a prolific writer. This first English translation will introduce English Canada to his work.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/against-god-by-patrick-sencal/article4375124/
Jim Lynch's Truth Like the Sun takes place around Seattle's Space Needle, between 1962 and 2001. Roger Morgan is the fictional mastermind of the fair: simultaneously an MC, ringmaster, power broker, cheerleader and director—and an optimist and a dreamer.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1216842--truth-like-the-sun-by-jim-lynch-review
Supported by translators, American author Katherine Boo creates in Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Slum an impressive view of the Mumbai slums, writes Amit Chaudhuri. Boo's intelligence keeps her tale from losing its grounding in reality, says Chaudhuri.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/29/behind-beautiful-forevers-katherine-boo-review
When the Spanish Civil War broke out, hundreds of women volunteered to work for the Republican side. In Come From Afar, Gayla Reid's nurse remarks: "Every experienced nurse is a practised deceiver. Smile for the patient; do not disclose." A war novel with a female perspective, writes
M.A.C. Farrant.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Come+from+Afar+Mythic+nurse+story/6861491/story.html
Carlos Ruiz Zafón's thriller The Shadow of the Wind was beautifully crafted and The Prisoner of Heaven equally compelling, writes Steven Poole. Luckily, the books can be read in any order. Quoting the imprisoned writer, Poole asks: "If you don't trust a novelist, who are you going to trust?"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/28/prisoner-heaven-carlos-ruiz-zafon-review
In his review of Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Being Human by Barbara Natterson Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers, Julian Baggini asks: Would it be healthier for humanity if doctors were more like vets?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/01/zoobiquity-natterson-horowitz-bowers-review
Midnight in Peking, by Shanghai-based analyst-cum-historian Paul French, uses archival materials to re-launch an investigation into the 75-year-old unsolved mystery of Pamela Warner's murder in Peking. With this book, French has possibly attained some form of justice for Werner, writes Jason Beerman.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1218540--midnight-in-peking-how-the-murder-of-a-young-englishwoman-haunted-the-last-days-of-old-china-by-paul-french-review
In The Age of Miracles, Karen Thompson Walker imagines a world in which the Earth's rotation slows and the days lengthen, as narrated by 11-year-old Julia. Touching, harrowing, and magical, The Age of Miracles is an impressive debut, writes Betsy Toyne.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/the-age-of-miracles-by-karen-thompson-walker/article4380190/
In the 1880s, Prime Minister Gladstone sent Britain's Camel Corps to rescue General Charles Gordon. Gillian Slovo's An Honourable Man alternates between the journeys of physician John Smith, the Camel Corps, the mad General Gordon, and Smith's wife. This would make a smashing mini-series, writes Gale Zoë Garnett.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/an-honourable-man-by-gillian-slovo/article4385051/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
JED LA LUMIERE
The author of Patience: A Gay Man's Virtue brings humour and insight to the launch for his book about being an invisible minority. Thursday, July 5 at 7:00pm, free. Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium, 1238 Davie Street.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by bill bissett and Susan Cormier. Thursday, July 5 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Readings by Kate Braid, George McWhirter, Daniela Elza, Ken Klonksy, and Hal Wake. Sunday, July 8 at 3:00pm. Entry by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street, Vancouver. Details and registration here, www.deadpoetslive.com.
RACHEL HARTMAN
Author launches her new book Seraphina. Tuesday, July 10 at 7:00pm. RSVP to pkells@randomhouse.com. Kidsbooks, 3083 West Broadway. More information at kidsbooks.ca.
TWS READING SERIES
Readings by Fiona Scott, Tara Wohlberg, Ben Nuttall-Smith, Danielle Patrick, Karen J. Lee, Carol Tulpar, Bernice Lever and guest author Nora Gold. Friday, July 13 at 7:00pm. Take 5 Cafe, 429 Granville St.
TIM WARD
Author reads from Zombies on Kilimanjaro: A Father-Son Journey Above the Clouds. Tuesday, July 17 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
Upcoming
DENMAN ISLAND READERS & WRITERS FESTIVAL
Annual summer event featuring Tzeporah Berman, Steven Galloway, Loran Goodison, Timothy Taylor and many others. July 19-22, 2012. For complete details, visit www.denmanislandwritersfestival.com.
FORT LANGLEY CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS
An Afternoon of Poetry and Music with poet Susan McCaslin and jazz musician Amanda Tosoff collaborate from their recent works. Saturday, July 28 at 2:30pm. Centennial Museum, 9135 King Street, Fort Langley.
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
SUMMER DREAMS LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL
Annual family-friendly celebration of literary arts features two stages, a kids' area, a marketplace, and over 90 performers, including headliner Barbara Adler and Fang, a local spoken-word artist who combines poetry with music. Saturday, August 25, 2012, free. Trout Lake Park, 3350 Victoria. More information at www.summerdreamsfest.com.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Book News Vol. 7 No. 23
BOOK NEWS
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the tenth installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "Japanning" from the 2010 Festival, featuring Katherine Govier and David Mitchell. The genesis for a great book can develop from the most accidental of moments. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
cStories eBook Singles is a new program that offers short Canadian fiction in e-book format for download on a wide array of digital devices, desktop or mobile, to be read anytime, anywhere. The cStories "Get Into Our Shorts" contest runs until the end of June. Enter by midnight June 30 to win an
iPad3 chock full of ebook singles including the stories of Jessica Westhead, named by CBC Books as one of the "10 Canadian women writers you need to read now." Details at win.cstories.ca.
AROUND TOWN THIS MONTH
TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival
The 27th Annual TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival is on NOW until July 1 with a smokin' hot line up including: R&B/Soul sensation Janelle Monae, indie rockers Destroyer, Latin Legends Los Amigos Invisibles, pedal steel guitar god Robert Randolph, the venerable Terell Stafford, Canadian sweetheart Jill Barber and many more. If you missed the fabulous downtown jazz opening weekend, don't forget closing weekend at David Lam Park (June 30 & July 1), Granville Island Jazz, etc... Details here, vanjazzfest.ca.
Indian Summer Literature Series
http://indiansummerfestival.ca
The Indian Summer Festival presents top international talent from Canada and India across music, literature, dance, film, yoga and cuisine. The literature series features some of the most exciting authors and public intellectuals from India, Canada and the UK.
Events this year include:
Tinderbox: India & its Neighbours, with MJ Akbar (THURSDAY JULY 12 @ 7pm
$20 ($80 with reception)
Goldcorp Centre for the Arts) Indians and Pakistanis are of the same people: Why then have their nations moved on such different trajectories since freedom in 1947?
Ideas Series: Buddhist Revival, Sanchi and the Begum of Bhopal with Nayanjot Lahiri (FRIDAY JULY 13 @ 6pm
$15
Goldcorp Centre for the Arts) The Buddhist revival in Asia, beginning in India, and spanning Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, China and Japan is one of the most remarkable pan-Asian cultural phenomenons of modern times. While the Buddhist revival in Asia evokes images of various places, persons and phenomena, Muslim ruling houses rarely figure in narratives about it.
AWARDS & LISTS
Susan Hughes's Off to Class, a non-fiction title detailing the experiences of children seeking an education in countries like India, China and Uganda, is a double nominee for the Canadian Children's Book Awards. Shane Peacock's The Dragon Turn, part of the popular boy Sherlock Holmes series is also a double nominee. Other nominees are listed here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/20/childrens-book-awards-nominees.html
Wayne Arthurson, Susan McCaslin, and Peter Midgley are among the publishers, poets, novelists, and editors to have won 2012 Alberta Book Awards. The complete list is here:
http://holeinthebucket.wordpress.com/2012/06/11/alberta-book-awards-2012-edition/
Poets Phil Hall, Nick Thran, and Sonia Lamontagne, and novelist Michèle Vinet are winners of the 25th annual Trillium Award; Hall and Thran for work in English, Lamontagne and Vinet for work in French.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/poet-phil-hall-wins-english-language-trillium-book-award/article4356286/
The first-ever Andrew Carnegie Awards for Excellence in Literature were announced last week with awards given in fiction and nonfiction. Robert K. Massiec's biography Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman received the nonfiction prize; Anne Enright's The Forgotten Waltz won in fiction.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2012/06/first-ever-carnegie-awards-in-literature-go-to-enright-massie.html
Amber Dawn, a Vancouver writer, filmmaker, and performance artist has won the Dayne Ogilvie Prize from the Writers' Trust of Canada. The prize is given annually to an LGBT emerging writer who demonstrates great literary promise. Mariko Tomaki of Toronto received an honorable mention.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/26/dayne-ogilvie-award.html
YOUNG READERS
Geoff Rodkey's Deadweather and Sunrise has a hybrid plot including islands, buried treasure, real pirates, fake pirates, and leftover pirates, too maimed for sea work. At the center, there is Egbert (aka Egg). Egg's practical narrative tone keeps the profusion of plot elements in balance. For ages 10 to 13.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/chi-deadweather-and-sunrise-by-geoff-rodkey--20120614,0,4117902.story
Elisha Cooper's Homer, a large yellow lab, is a porch potato. When the other family dogs burst through the door inviting him to "chase and race around the yard," he simply answers, "No, thanks." All invitations are quietly rejected. Homer's take on life is clear: "I have everything I want," he says. "I have you." For ages 4 to 7.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/homer-by-elisha-cooper-a-picture-book-about-a-very-contented-dog/2012/06/19/gJQAn3BloV_story.html
A great wildlife series by Éditions Michel Quentin called Savais-tu?, is written by Alain M. Bergeron, illustrated by Sampar. Each book in the series looks at a weird and fascinating animal, fish, reptile, bird or insect, zeroing in on the kind of bizarre factoids kids love to learn and recite. The books are part cartoon, part fun facts, and the illustrations are simply brilliant. For ages 7 and over.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Superb+stories+fascinating+facts/6782889/story.html
NEWS & FEATURES
It has been proposed that a new status code to reflect Internet censorship be named after Ray Bradbury's most famous novel, Fahrenheit 451.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/22/ray-bradbury-internet-error-message-451
Jean Craighead George, a leading writer of novels about nature for young readers, including the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves, has died at 92.
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-jean-craighead-george-20120527,0,3813817.story
Nora Ephron has died of leukemia, at 71.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1217710--nora-ephron-gravely-ill-rep-says
Brazil will offer inmates in its federal penitentiary system the opportunity to shorten their sentences by four days for every book they read.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/26/prisoners-books-reduce-sentence
Claire Tomalin, who wrote a biography of the novelist Charles Dickens, wrote a letter to Dickens earlier this year, congratulating him on his 200th birthday, as she wonders what he would make of the 21st century.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/07/letter-charles-dickens-200th-birthday
Charles Dickens has been identified as the author of a previously unattributed article which attacks the middle classes for patronising the "working man".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/25/charles-dickens-identified-author-article?CMP=EMCNEWEML1355
Margaret Atwood has joined the story-sharing website Wattpad to share her writing with an online community of nine million other users. Atwood has posted two new poems on the website and is planning to share a piece of fiction this autumn.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/25/margaret-atwood-joins-wattpad
When it comes to reading books, the French are determinedly bucking the digital trend and sticking to paperbacks. Ebooks in France have been slow to catch on, as readers overwhelmingly prefer the printed page, writes Angelique Chrisafis.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/shortcuts/2012/jun/24/why-is-france-shunning-ebooks
When Eric Walters began writing almost 20 years ago, he told his students stories; they offered their feedback. More than 70 books later—kids remain an essential part of the editing process. They spent more than two months this year advising him on Hunter, out this fall.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1216086--author-eric-walters-lets-kids-be-his-editors
George Orwell had four motives for writing, says Maria Popova: (1) Sheer egoism. (2) Aesthetic enthusiasm. (3) Historical Impulse, and (4) Political purpose.
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/06/25/george-orwell-why-i-write/
A bronze sculpture of literary icon Northrop Frye, set to be unveiled in Moncton next month, has University of Toronto officials interested in getting a copy. The life-size statue, depicting Frye sitting on a park bench, reading a book, is being created by Darren Byers and Fred Harrison, in collaboration with Janet Fotheringham, and is intended to mark the 100th anniversary of the literary giant's birth.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/26/nb-frye-sculpture-moncton-toronto.html
The Erasure Poetry Contest invites you to create your own poetic masterpiece from an excerpt of How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti—erasing letters, words and sentences until your own genius emerges. Visit geist.com/erasure for more details and to read the excerpt. All entries must be postmarked no later than August 1, 2012.
http://www.geist.com/
Enter the Search for the Great BC Novel contest offered by Mother Tongue Publishing Limited.
http://www.allianceforarts.com/files/enet/pdf/12/06/literary_0.pdf
BOOKS & WRITERS
Denis Béchard's Cures for Hunger is a standard story of father and son, of the struggle for some sort of meaningful communication between the two, writes Brad Smith. But ultimately, the unknowable man remains just that, says Smith.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/cures-for-hunger-by-deni-y-bchard/article4324301/
In Enrique Vila-Matas's Dublinesque, Alberto Manguel visits a Dublin haunted by the ghosts of modern literature. There is a kind of literary fiction that feeds on itself, like an introverted cannibal. And the French excel in this, writes Manguel.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/15/dublinesque-enrique-vila-matas-review
Tanis Rideout's Above All Things fictionalizes George Mallory's historic third attempt to scale the top of Everest. It's a book about obsession, writes Jennifer Hunter, a man's consuming drive to be the first to reach the peak of Mount Everest.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1215843--above-all-things
Few people have been both great writers and great illustrators of children's books. Perhaps the most gifted of them all was Maurice Sendak, writes Alison Lurie. Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are shocked some adult readers at first; later it was recognized as a brilliant breakthrough.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jul/12/something-wonderful-out-almost-nothing/
Nadine Gordimer's No Time Like the Present concerns the political, social and emotional questions raised by the South Africa of today. This complex, probing novel is emboldened by its attachment of South African political development to the deepening years of one formerly illegal "mixed-race" marriage, writes Darryl Whetter.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/no-time-like-the-present-by-nadine-gordimer/article4363995/
Peter Dubé's protest fiction is well-timed, writes Anne Chudobiak. As "casseroling" becomes a gerund in Montreal English, it's time to read The City's Gates, an eerie, fanciful take on the kinds of issues that have dominated headlines since Quebec's student crisis began.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Peter+Dubé+protest+fiction+well+timed/6824569/story.html
When Victoria Sweet went to practice medicine at the last almshouse in America, she signed a two-month contract—and stayed for 20 years. God's Hotel describes the transformation from almshouse to modern health care facility, writes Joanne Latimer, changing forever Sweet's approach to patient care.
http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/06/22/review-gods-hotel-a-doctor-a-hospital-and-a-pilgrimage-to-the-heart-of-medicine/
Unless you're traveling alone, don't pack a copy of Mark Haddon's new novel this summer, writes Ron Charles. The Red House is too demanding, too absorbing and, finally, too knowing about the tensions and anxieties that attend vacations with extended family.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/mark-haddons-the-red-house-reviewed-by-ron-charles/2012/06/19/gJQAXOshoV_story.html
Cheryl Strayed's Wild is a dazzling and inspiring account of personal transformation wrapped within a hair-raising story of an exceptionally foolhardy hiking adventure, writes Brett Josef Grubisic. The inexperienced hiker trekked solo for miles. An exciting story, says Grubisic.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Cheryl+Strayed+Wild+reckless+journey+redemption/6825608/story.html
"Women take up smoking because it's empowering", says historian Sharon Anne Cook, author of Sex, Lies and Cigarettes. Women use cigarettes as social currency. And cigarettes allow women to express rebellion, presenting yourself as cool, leaving anti-smoking messages as not credible, says Joanne Laucius.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Women+tobacco+Smoke+mirrors/6835151/story.html
Ewan White describes Anne Carson's Antigone as riveting and humorous. In her updated rendition of the play, which she calls Antigonick, Carson fashions a protagonist with the headspace of a suicide bomber. Her Antigone is in love with the idea of martyrdom.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/antigonick-by-anne-carson/article4363942/
Jim Bartley suggests we may have to give Grace O'Connell the prize for aural evocation of a Toronto streetcar. In any case, Bartley finds O'Connell's Magnified World nice, funny and strong, adding that it connects with a wallop.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/magnified-world-by-grace-oconnell/article4363900/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
DAPHNE MARLATT
Presentation of the 19th Annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award to Daphne Marlatt for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia. Thursday, June 28 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at 604-331-3603.
OUR FRIEND JOE: THE JOE FORTES STORY
Authors Lisa Anne Smith and Barbara Rogers give a presentation on Vancouver humanitarian Joe Fortes. Saturday, June 30 at 1pm, free, refreshments provided. Door prizes include a $150 gift certificate to the Joe Fortes Restaurant! Roedde House Museum, 1415 Barclay Street.
MARGINS ZINE LAUNCH PARTY
Launch of the first issue with live entertainment provided by local poets, singers and storytellers. Saturday, June 30 at 7:00pm. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway.
THE RED SHOES
Based on Hans Christian Andersen's story and filmed in 1947, The Red Shoes, beautiful and talented Vicky is hired by the top impresario of the day, Lermontov, to dance in his company. Hosted by Alma Lee. Tuesday, July 3 at 7:30pm. Vancouver International Film Centre, 1181 Seymour Street. More information here, http://filmguide.viff.org/tixSYS/vifcguide/filmguide/films/2279.
JED LA LUMIERE
The author of Patience: A Gay Man's Virtue brings humour and insight to the launch for his book about being an invisible minority. Thursday, July 5 at 7:00pm, free. Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium, 1238 Davie Street.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by bill bissett and Susan Cormier. Thursday, July 5 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Readings by Kate Braid, George McWhirter, Daniela Elza, Ken Klonksy, and Hal Wake. Sunday, July 8 at 3:00pm. Entry by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street, Vancouver. Details and registration here, www.deadpoetslive.com.
RACHEL HARTMAN
Author launches her new book Seraphina. Tuesday, July 10 at 7:00pm. RSVP to pkells@randomhouse.com. Kidsbooks, 3083 West Broadway. More information at kidsbooks.ca.
Upcoming
TIM WARD
Author reads from Zombies on Kilimanjaro: A Father-Son Journey Above the Clouds. Thursday, July 17 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
DENMAN ISLAND READERS & WRITERS FESTIVAL
Annual summer event featuring Tseporah Berman, Steven Galloway, Loran Goodison, Timothy Taylor and many others. July 19-22, 2012. For complete details, visit www.denmanislandwritersfestival.com.
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
SUMMER DREAMS LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL
Annual family-friendly celebration of literary arts features two stages, a kids' area, a marketplace, and over 90 performers, including headliner Barbara Adler and Fang, a local spoken-word artist who combines poetry with music. Saturday, August 25, 2012, free. Trout Lake Park, 3350 Victoria. More information at www.summerdreamsfest.com.
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the tenth installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "Japanning" from the 2010 Festival, featuring Katherine Govier and David Mitchell. The genesis for a great book can develop from the most accidental of moments. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
cStories eBook Singles is a new program that offers short Canadian fiction in e-book format for download on a wide array of digital devices, desktop or mobile, to be read anytime, anywhere. The cStories "Get Into Our Shorts" contest runs until the end of June. Enter by midnight June 30 to win an
iPad3 chock full of ebook singles including the stories of Jessica Westhead, named by CBC Books as one of the "10 Canadian women writers you need to read now." Details at win.cstories.ca.
AROUND TOWN THIS MONTH
TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival
The 27th Annual TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival is on NOW until July 1 with a smokin' hot line up including: R&B/Soul sensation Janelle Monae, indie rockers Destroyer, Latin Legends Los Amigos Invisibles, pedal steel guitar god Robert Randolph, the venerable Terell Stafford, Canadian sweetheart Jill Barber and many more. If you missed the fabulous downtown jazz opening weekend, don't forget closing weekend at David Lam Park (June 30 & July 1), Granville Island Jazz, etc... Details here, vanjazzfest.ca.
Indian Summer Literature Series
http://indiansummerfestival.ca
The Indian Summer Festival presents top international talent from Canada and India across music, literature, dance, film, yoga and cuisine. The literature series features some of the most exciting authors and public intellectuals from India, Canada and the UK.
Events this year include:
Tinderbox: India & its Neighbours, with MJ Akbar (THURSDAY JULY 12 @ 7pm
$20 ($80 with reception)
Goldcorp Centre for the Arts) Indians and Pakistanis are of the same people: Why then have their nations moved on such different trajectories since freedom in 1947?
Ideas Series: Buddhist Revival, Sanchi and the Begum of Bhopal with Nayanjot Lahiri (FRIDAY JULY 13 @ 6pm
$15
Goldcorp Centre for the Arts) The Buddhist revival in Asia, beginning in India, and spanning Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, China and Japan is one of the most remarkable pan-Asian cultural phenomenons of modern times. While the Buddhist revival in Asia evokes images of various places, persons and phenomena, Muslim ruling houses rarely figure in narratives about it.
AWARDS & LISTS
Susan Hughes's Off to Class, a non-fiction title detailing the experiences of children seeking an education in countries like India, China and Uganda, is a double nominee for the Canadian Children's Book Awards. Shane Peacock's The Dragon Turn, part of the popular boy Sherlock Holmes series is also a double nominee. Other nominees are listed here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/20/childrens-book-awards-nominees.html
Wayne Arthurson, Susan McCaslin, and Peter Midgley are among the publishers, poets, novelists, and editors to have won 2012 Alberta Book Awards. The complete list is here:
http://holeinthebucket.wordpress.com/2012/06/11/alberta-book-awards-2012-edition/
Poets Phil Hall, Nick Thran, and Sonia Lamontagne, and novelist Michèle Vinet are winners of the 25th annual Trillium Award; Hall and Thran for work in English, Lamontagne and Vinet for work in French.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/poet-phil-hall-wins-english-language-trillium-book-award/article4356286/
The first-ever Andrew Carnegie Awards for Excellence in Literature were announced last week with awards given in fiction and nonfiction. Robert K. Massiec's biography Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman received the nonfiction prize; Anne Enright's The Forgotten Waltz won in fiction.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2012/06/first-ever-carnegie-awards-in-literature-go-to-enright-massie.html
Amber Dawn, a Vancouver writer, filmmaker, and performance artist has won the Dayne Ogilvie Prize from the Writers' Trust of Canada. The prize is given annually to an LGBT emerging writer who demonstrates great literary promise. Mariko Tomaki of Toronto received an honorable mention.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/26/dayne-ogilvie-award.html
YOUNG READERS
Geoff Rodkey's Deadweather and Sunrise has a hybrid plot including islands, buried treasure, real pirates, fake pirates, and leftover pirates, too maimed for sea work. At the center, there is Egbert (aka Egg). Egg's practical narrative tone keeps the profusion of plot elements in balance. For ages 10 to 13.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/chi-deadweather-and-sunrise-by-geoff-rodkey--20120614,0,4117902.story
Elisha Cooper's Homer, a large yellow lab, is a porch potato. When the other family dogs burst through the door inviting him to "chase and race around the yard," he simply answers, "No, thanks." All invitations are quietly rejected. Homer's take on life is clear: "I have everything I want," he says. "I have you." For ages 4 to 7.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/homer-by-elisha-cooper-a-picture-book-about-a-very-contented-dog/2012/06/19/gJQAn3BloV_story.html
A great wildlife series by Éditions Michel Quentin called Savais-tu?, is written by Alain M. Bergeron, illustrated by Sampar. Each book in the series looks at a weird and fascinating animal, fish, reptile, bird or insect, zeroing in on the kind of bizarre factoids kids love to learn and recite. The books are part cartoon, part fun facts, and the illustrations are simply brilliant. For ages 7 and over.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Superb+stories+fascinating+facts/6782889/story.html
NEWS & FEATURES
It has been proposed that a new status code to reflect Internet censorship be named after Ray Bradbury's most famous novel, Fahrenheit 451.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/22/ray-bradbury-internet-error-message-451
Jean Craighead George, a leading writer of novels about nature for young readers, including the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves, has died at 92.
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-jean-craighead-george-20120527,0,3813817.story
Nora Ephron has died of leukemia, at 71.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1217710--nora-ephron-gravely-ill-rep-says
Brazil will offer inmates in its federal penitentiary system the opportunity to shorten their sentences by four days for every book they read.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/26/prisoners-books-reduce-sentence
Claire Tomalin, who wrote a biography of the novelist Charles Dickens, wrote a letter to Dickens earlier this year, congratulating him on his 200th birthday, as she wonders what he would make of the 21st century.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/07/letter-charles-dickens-200th-birthday
Charles Dickens has been identified as the author of a previously unattributed article which attacks the middle classes for patronising the "working man".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/25/charles-dickens-identified-author-article?CMP=EMCNEWEML1355
Margaret Atwood has joined the story-sharing website Wattpad to share her writing with an online community of nine million other users. Atwood has posted two new poems on the website and is planning to share a piece of fiction this autumn.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/25/margaret-atwood-joins-wattpad
When it comes to reading books, the French are determinedly bucking the digital trend and sticking to paperbacks. Ebooks in France have been slow to catch on, as readers overwhelmingly prefer the printed page, writes Angelique Chrisafis.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/shortcuts/2012/jun/24/why-is-france-shunning-ebooks
When Eric Walters began writing almost 20 years ago, he told his students stories; they offered their feedback. More than 70 books later—kids remain an essential part of the editing process. They spent more than two months this year advising him on Hunter, out this fall.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1216086--author-eric-walters-lets-kids-be-his-editors
George Orwell had four motives for writing, says Maria Popova: (1) Sheer egoism. (2) Aesthetic enthusiasm. (3) Historical Impulse, and (4) Political purpose.
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/06/25/george-orwell-why-i-write/
A bronze sculpture of literary icon Northrop Frye, set to be unveiled in Moncton next month, has University of Toronto officials interested in getting a copy. The life-size statue, depicting Frye sitting on a park bench, reading a book, is being created by Darren Byers and Fred Harrison, in collaboration with Janet Fotheringham, and is intended to mark the 100th anniversary of the literary giant's birth.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/26/nb-frye-sculpture-moncton-toronto.html
The Erasure Poetry Contest invites you to create your own poetic masterpiece from an excerpt of How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti—erasing letters, words and sentences until your own genius emerges. Visit geist.com/erasure for more details and to read the excerpt. All entries must be postmarked no later than August 1, 2012.
http://www.geist.com/
Enter the Search for the Great BC Novel contest offered by Mother Tongue Publishing Limited.
http://www.allianceforarts.com/files/enet/pdf/12/06/literary_0.pdf
BOOKS & WRITERS
Denis Béchard's Cures for Hunger is a standard story of father and son, of the struggle for some sort of meaningful communication between the two, writes Brad Smith. But ultimately, the unknowable man remains just that, says Smith.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/cures-for-hunger-by-deni-y-bchard/article4324301/
In Enrique Vila-Matas's Dublinesque, Alberto Manguel visits a Dublin haunted by the ghosts of modern literature. There is a kind of literary fiction that feeds on itself, like an introverted cannibal. And the French excel in this, writes Manguel.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/15/dublinesque-enrique-vila-matas-review
Tanis Rideout's Above All Things fictionalizes George Mallory's historic third attempt to scale the top of Everest. It's a book about obsession, writes Jennifer Hunter, a man's consuming drive to be the first to reach the peak of Mount Everest.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1215843--above-all-things
Few people have been both great writers and great illustrators of children's books. Perhaps the most gifted of them all was Maurice Sendak, writes Alison Lurie. Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are shocked some adult readers at first; later it was recognized as a brilliant breakthrough.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jul/12/something-wonderful-out-almost-nothing/
Nadine Gordimer's No Time Like the Present concerns the political, social and emotional questions raised by the South Africa of today. This complex, probing novel is emboldened by its attachment of South African political development to the deepening years of one formerly illegal "mixed-race" marriage, writes Darryl Whetter.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/no-time-like-the-present-by-nadine-gordimer/article4363995/
Peter Dubé's protest fiction is well-timed, writes Anne Chudobiak. As "casseroling" becomes a gerund in Montreal English, it's time to read The City's Gates, an eerie, fanciful take on the kinds of issues that have dominated headlines since Quebec's student crisis began.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Peter+Dubé+protest+fiction+well+timed/6824569/story.html
When Victoria Sweet went to practice medicine at the last almshouse in America, she signed a two-month contract—and stayed for 20 years. God's Hotel describes the transformation from almshouse to modern health care facility, writes Joanne Latimer, changing forever Sweet's approach to patient care.
http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/06/22/review-gods-hotel-a-doctor-a-hospital-and-a-pilgrimage-to-the-heart-of-medicine/
Unless you're traveling alone, don't pack a copy of Mark Haddon's new novel this summer, writes Ron Charles. The Red House is too demanding, too absorbing and, finally, too knowing about the tensions and anxieties that attend vacations with extended family.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/mark-haddons-the-red-house-reviewed-by-ron-charles/2012/06/19/gJQAXOshoV_story.html
Cheryl Strayed's Wild is a dazzling and inspiring account of personal transformation wrapped within a hair-raising story of an exceptionally foolhardy hiking adventure, writes Brett Josef Grubisic. The inexperienced hiker trekked solo for miles. An exciting story, says Grubisic.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Cheryl+Strayed+Wild+reckless+journey+redemption/6825608/story.html
"Women take up smoking because it's empowering", says historian Sharon Anne Cook, author of Sex, Lies and Cigarettes. Women use cigarettes as social currency. And cigarettes allow women to express rebellion, presenting yourself as cool, leaving anti-smoking messages as not credible, says Joanne Laucius.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Women+tobacco+Smoke+mirrors/6835151/story.html
Ewan White describes Anne Carson's Antigone as riveting and humorous. In her updated rendition of the play, which she calls Antigonick, Carson fashions a protagonist with the headspace of a suicide bomber. Her Antigone is in love with the idea of martyrdom.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/antigonick-by-anne-carson/article4363942/
Jim Bartley suggests we may have to give Grace O'Connell the prize for aural evocation of a Toronto streetcar. In any case, Bartley finds O'Connell's Magnified World nice, funny and strong, adding that it connects with a wallop.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/magnified-world-by-grace-oconnell/article4363900/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
DAPHNE MARLATT
Presentation of the 19th Annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award to Daphne Marlatt for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia. Thursday, June 28 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at 604-331-3603.
OUR FRIEND JOE: THE JOE FORTES STORY
Authors Lisa Anne Smith and Barbara Rogers give a presentation on Vancouver humanitarian Joe Fortes. Saturday, June 30 at 1pm, free, refreshments provided. Door prizes include a $150 gift certificate to the Joe Fortes Restaurant! Roedde House Museum, 1415 Barclay Street.
MARGINS ZINE LAUNCH PARTY
Launch of the first issue with live entertainment provided by local poets, singers and storytellers. Saturday, June 30 at 7:00pm. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway.
THE RED SHOES
Based on Hans Christian Andersen's story and filmed in 1947, The Red Shoes, beautiful and talented Vicky is hired by the top impresario of the day, Lermontov, to dance in his company. Hosted by Alma Lee. Tuesday, July 3 at 7:30pm. Vancouver International Film Centre, 1181 Seymour Street. More information here, http://filmguide.viff.org/tixSYS/vifcguide/filmguide/films/2279.
JED LA LUMIERE
The author of Patience: A Gay Man's Virtue brings humour and insight to the launch for his book about being an invisible minority. Thursday, July 5 at 7:00pm, free. Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium, 1238 Davie Street.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by bill bissett and Susan Cormier. Thursday, July 5 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Readings by Kate Braid, George McWhirter, Daniela Elza, Ken Klonksy, and Hal Wake. Sunday, July 8 at 3:00pm. Entry by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street, Vancouver. Details and registration here, www.deadpoetslive.com.
RACHEL HARTMAN
Author launches her new book Seraphina. Tuesday, July 10 at 7:00pm. RSVP to pkells@randomhouse.com. Kidsbooks, 3083 West Broadway. More information at kidsbooks.ca.
Upcoming
TIM WARD
Author reads from Zombies on Kilimanjaro: A Father-Son Journey Above the Clouds. Thursday, July 17 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
DENMAN ISLAND READERS & WRITERS FESTIVAL
Annual summer event featuring Tseporah Berman, Steven Galloway, Loran Goodison, Timothy Taylor and many others. July 19-22, 2012. For complete details, visit www.denmanislandwritersfestival.com.
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
SUMMER DREAMS LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL
Annual family-friendly celebration of literary arts features two stages, a kids' area, a marketplace, and over 90 performers, including headliner Barbara Adler and Fang, a local spoken-word artist who combines poetry with music. Saturday, August 25, 2012, free. Trout Lake Park, 3350 Victoria. More information at www.summerdreamsfest.com.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Book News Vol. 7 No. 22
BOOK NEWS
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
cStories eBook Singles - currently running the "Get Into Our Shorts" contest at http://win.cstories.ca - will also offer Russell Wangersky's ebook "Bolt" to VWF members as part of the VWF membership drive; watch for the special offer in the INK Member eNewsletter. Not a member yet? Join us here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the ninth installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "Montreal Mystery and Music" from the 2011 Festival, featuring Trevor Ferguson, aka John Farrow. Experience the thrill of old Montreal, through flutes and whistles and a dramatic story of corruption and murder. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
AWARDS & LISTS
British writer Jon McGregor has won the €100,000 ($131,000 Cdn) 2012 International Impac Dublin Literary Award for his novel Even the Dogs. Winnipeg's David Bergen was the sole Canadian on the short list.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/13/impac-dublin-award.html
Jerry Kobalenkoc's Arctic Eden: Journeys through the Changing High Arctic has won the 2012 William Mills Prize for Nonfiction Polar Books.
http://www.cbabook.org/files/Arctic%20Eden%20wins%20the%20William%20Mills%20Prize%20for%20Nonfiction%20Polar%20Books.pdf
Irish author Sebastian Barry has won the £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for his novel On Canaan's Side.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-18472443
Max Hastings, a British historian, journalist and editor known for his writing about the Second World War, has won the $100,000 US Pritzker Military Library’s Literature Award. The award is given for lifetime achievement in military writing.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/19/pritzker-military-writing.html
Anna Funder has won the 2012 Miles Franklin Award for All That I Am.
http://www.milesfranklin.com.au/
YOUNG READERS
Cold Cereal, by Adam Rex is a roller-coaster ride of wit, wordplay, magic and mystery that requires a suspension of disbelief to some degree. The story involves 11-year-old Scott Doe, 13-year-old Emily Utz and her twin brother, Erno. Creatures from the fairy world, from mythology and from the world of magic are intertwined with contemporary issues. Black-and-white full-page drawings, smaller cartoon-like strips and occasional spot illustrations add visual appeal. For age 9 and older.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+quiet+moments+rainy+days/6782904/story.html
Kevin Sylvester's Neil Flambé and the Crusader’s Curse is the third of the Flambé Capers, a series about a hotshot teenage chef whose super-sensitive nose sniffs out mysteries and makes him a crime-solving sleuth as well as help when he’s cooking,. A 13th century curse against one of Neil’s ancestors explains why the young chef appears to have lost his golden touch with food. For ages 8 to 12.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+quiet+moments+rainy+days/6782904/story.html
Geoff Rodkey's Deadweather and Sunrise has a wonderful hybrid plot: islands, buried treasure, a lad avenging violence against his family, sea voyages, tourist cruises, real pirates, fake pirates for the tourist trade, and leftover pirates, too maimed for sea work.For ages 10 to 13.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/chi-deadweather-and-sunrise-by-geoff-rodkey--20120614,0,4117902.story
NEWS & FEATURES
Michael Chabon writes that he hates dreams, referring to them as the Sea Monkeys of consciousness: in the back pages of sleep, they promise us teeming submarine palaces but leave us, on waking, with a hermetic residue of freeze-dried dust.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/jun/15/why-i-hate-dreams
Researchers have unveiled new evidence suggesting that a long-disputed portrait depicts a thirteen-year-old Jane Austen. This unearthed picture reinforces the celebrity aura that has developed around Austen in recent years, writes Andrea DenHoed.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/06/new-jane-austen-portrait.html
Cory Doctorow writes of Andrew Hyde’s experience when he submitted the travel book he wrote and self-published. Amazon’s markup of digital delivery to indie authors is ~129,000%.
http://boingboing.net/2012/06/12/indie-author-gets-sticker-shoc.html
Asked if he intends to write a sequel to Go the F*** to Sleep, award-winning novelist Adam Mansbach says he would focus on one of two things: the insanely violent frenemy relationships three-year-olds form with one another, or playground etiquette.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/adam-mansbach-the-sequel-father-knows-sweet/article4266609/
Roxanne Gay, with the support of a graduate assistant, has learned that nearly 90% of the books reviewed by The New York Times are written by white writers, not reflective of the racial makeup of the U.S. According to the 2010 census, 72% of the population is white.
http://therumpus.net/2012/06/where-things-stand/
Stephen Colbert asked Maurice Sendak what makes a successful celebrity children's book. "You've started already by being an idiot," replied Sendak, and gave Colbert a tutorial on how to draw a pole. That improvised illustration inspired Colbert's I Am a Pole (And So Can You!)—NOT a children’s book.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-stephen-colbert-20120617,0,1917907.story
George Elliott Clarke, Roméo Dallaire, Charles Foran, and Marina Nemat among others have contributed articles, essay, poems to Omar Khadr, Oh Canada, edited by University of Alberta professor Janice Williamson. They differ on some issues, but share a common voice in their conviction that Khadr’s treatment has been shameful and unjust.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/wake+call+Omar+Khadr/6757431/story.html
In an interview with Tim Adams, Richard Ford talks about his novel Canada, the joys of growing old and the dangers of criticizing the US. "You are not allowed to complain. Or even have a dialogue," says Ford.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2012/jun/17/richard-ford-canada-interview
Louisa Lim and Jeffrey Wasserstrom write about the ways Chinese writers elude censors: many words cannot be written, many cannot be spoken. Among other things, the Arab Spring has made the Chinese leaders jittery.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/books/review/how-chinese-writers-elude-censors.html
In an interview with Stuart Jeffries, Mario Vargas Llosa says: "The Nobel prize is a fairytale for a week and a nightmare for a year. The first year was very difficult. I could barely write."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/jun/15/mario-vargas-llosa-life-in-writing
Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin is leaving San Francisco for a city with another kind of magic, he says. He’s heading for Santa Fe, where he plans to write a new 'Tales’ book, The Days of Anna Madrigal.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/19/DDCN1P4DG2.DTL&tsp=1
The Erasure Poetry Contest invites you to create your own poetic masterpiece from an excerpt of How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti—erasing letters, words and sentences until your own genius emerges. Visit geist.com/erasure for more details and to read the excerpt. All entries must be postmarked no later than August 1, 2012.
http://www.geist.com/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Chris Cleave’s Gold is set in the months leading up to the London Olympics. A rule change means only one British female track cyclist may compete. There is engrossing human drama as two women vie to get the single Olympics spot for track cycling.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1208353--chris-cleave-s-golda-gripping-story-about-two-female-champion-cyclists
James Laxer’s Tecumseh & Brock: The War of 1812 cleverly explains the war and the emergence of a Canadian identity through the lives of British Major General Sir Isaac Brock and Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh. Laxer proves Canadian history doesn’t have to be dull, writes Jennifer Hunter.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1210913--tecumseh-and-brock-the-war-of-1812-column
Stories in Elaine McCluskey’s collection Valery the Great are linked by their small-town Maritime settings as well as by a shared episodic structure, writes Rob Sternberg. Each story is told through a series of short scenes separated by page breaks.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/valery-the-great-by-elaine-mccluskey/article4242489/
Burying the Typewriter refers to the act carried out every night after Carmen Bugan’s father wrote pro-democracy pamphlets during the Ceausescu regime in Romania. Bugan writes from a child's perspective of a political system she barely understands.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jun/16/carmen-bugan-romanian-childhood
Jim Downs’s Sick From Freedom shows the reality of emancipation, brutally short of its positive image. About a quarter of the four million freed slaves either died or suffered from illness between 1862 and 1870, writes Downs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/16/slavery-starvation-civil-war
The focus of Gordon Bowkers’ James Joyce is almost strictly on Joyce the human being, writes Michael Dirda. In his personal life, the young Joyce is thoroughly disreputable. It’s not always a pretty picture, says Dirda, but it seems like a true one.http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/gordon-bowkers-james-joyce-portrait-of-the-author-as-a-man/2012/06/13/gJQAOhuraV_story.html
Alix Ohlin’s novel Inside and short-story collection Signs and Wonders reflect her knowledge of Ingmar Bergman and Woody Allen films, writes T.F. Rigelhof, but the readers discover a lot of smarts and a wry sense of humour.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/alix-ohlin-a-writer-who-should-be-famous/article4267001/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
TOM WAYMAN AND KATE BRAID
Award-winning authors present a dynamic evening of poetry. Wayman reads from Dirty Snow and Braid reads from several collections, including a new edition of To This Cedar Fountain. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room, level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
TRIPLE THREAT: CHICKS WHO SOLVE CRIME!
Three Canadian mystery authors - Deryn Collier, Hilary Davidson, and Robin Spano - team up for an evening of readings & discussion. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Free but register in advance at 604-299-8955. McGill branch, Burnaby Public Library, 4595 Albert Street, Burnaby.
CHRIS GUILLEBEAU AND DANIELLE LAPORTE
Appearances by the author of The Art of Non-Conformity (Guillebeau) and The $100 Startup (Laporte). Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Chapters Robson, 788 Robson St. More information at 604-682-4066.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by Jen Currin and Lisa McInnes. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
GORDON LONG
Book signing/meet the author for the comic fantasy A Sword Called...Kitten? Saturday, June 23 at 11am. Blackberry Books, 1666 Johnston Street.
RICHELLE MEAD
Signing by the author of the Bloodlines series. Saturday, June 23 at 2:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Nerd-themed youth poetry slam open to all poets 13-22 years of age, costumes encouraged. Also featuring Metis spoken word artist Moe Clark. Monday, June 25 at 8:00pm. Admission: $4 for 18 and under, $6 for 19 and up. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at www.vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
WORDS AND MUSIC
Four evenings of poetry, spontaneous song and improvised music events. Featuring Daniela Elza, James, Mark Weber and Kate Braid. June 25-28, 2012. Admission by donation. Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables St. More information at vancouverjazz.com.
DAPHNE MARLATT
Presentation of the 19th Annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award to Daphne Marlatt for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia. Thursday, June 28 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at 604-331-3603.
OUR FRIEND JOE: THE JOE FORTES STORY
Authors Lisa Anne Smith and Barbara Rogers give a presentation on Vancouver humanitarian Joe Fortes. Saturday, June 30 at 1pm, free, refreshments provided. Door prizes include a $150 gift certificate to the Joe Fortes Restaurant! Roedde House Museum, 1415 Barclay Street.
Upcoming
THE RED SHOES
Based on Hans Christian Andersen's story and filmed in 1947, The Red Shoes, beautiful and talented Vicky is hired by the top impresario of the day, Lermontov, to dance in his company. Hosted by Alma Lee. Tuesday, July 3 at 7:30pm. Vancouver International Film Centre, 1181 Seymour Street. More information here, http://filmguide.viff.org/tixSYS/vifcguide/filmguide/films/2279.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by bill bissett and Susan Cormier. Thursday, July 5 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Readings by Kate Braid, George McWhirter, Daniela Elza, Ken Klonksy, and Hal Wake. Sunday, July 8 at 3:00pm. Entry by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street, Vancouver. Details and registration here, www.deadpoetslive.com.
TIM WARD
Author reads from Zombies on Kilimanjaro: A Father-Son Journey Above the Clouds. Thursday, July 17 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
DENMAN ISLAND READERS & WRITERS FESTIVAL
Annual summer event featuring Tseporah Berman, Steven Galloway, Loran Goodison, Timothy Taylor and many others. July 19-22, 2012. For complete details, visit www.denmanislandwritersfestival.com.
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
cStories eBook Singles - currently running the "Get Into Our Shorts" contest at http://win.cstories.ca - will also offer Russell Wangersky's ebook "Bolt" to VWF members as part of the VWF membership drive; watch for the special offer in the INK Member eNewsletter. Not a member yet? Join us here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the ninth installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "Montreal Mystery and Music" from the 2011 Festival, featuring Trevor Ferguson, aka John Farrow. Experience the thrill of old Montreal, through flutes and whistles and a dramatic story of corruption and murder. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
AWARDS & LISTS
British writer Jon McGregor has won the €100,000 ($131,000 Cdn) 2012 International Impac Dublin Literary Award for his novel Even the Dogs. Winnipeg's David Bergen was the sole Canadian on the short list.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/13/impac-dublin-award.html
Jerry Kobalenkoc's Arctic Eden: Journeys through the Changing High Arctic has won the 2012 William Mills Prize for Nonfiction Polar Books.
http://www.cbabook.org/files/Arctic%20Eden%20wins%20the%20William%20Mills%20Prize%20for%20Nonfiction%20Polar%20Books.pdf
Irish author Sebastian Barry has won the £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for his novel On Canaan's Side.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-18472443
Max Hastings, a British historian, journalist and editor known for his writing about the Second World War, has won the $100,000 US Pritzker Military Library’s Literature Award. The award is given for lifetime achievement in military writing.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/19/pritzker-military-writing.html
Anna Funder has won the 2012 Miles Franklin Award for All That I Am.
http://www.milesfranklin.com.au/
YOUNG READERS
Cold Cereal, by Adam Rex is a roller-coaster ride of wit, wordplay, magic and mystery that requires a suspension of disbelief to some degree. The story involves 11-year-old Scott Doe, 13-year-old Emily Utz and her twin brother, Erno. Creatures from the fairy world, from mythology and from the world of magic are intertwined with contemporary issues. Black-and-white full-page drawings, smaller cartoon-like strips and occasional spot illustrations add visual appeal. For age 9 and older.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+quiet+moments+rainy+days/6782904/story.html
Kevin Sylvester's Neil Flambé and the Crusader’s Curse is the third of the Flambé Capers, a series about a hotshot teenage chef whose super-sensitive nose sniffs out mysteries and makes him a crime-solving sleuth as well as help when he’s cooking,. A 13th century curse against one of Neil’s ancestors explains why the young chef appears to have lost his golden touch with food. For ages 8 to 12.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+quiet+moments+rainy+days/6782904/story.html
Geoff Rodkey's Deadweather and Sunrise has a wonderful hybrid plot: islands, buried treasure, a lad avenging violence against his family, sea voyages, tourist cruises, real pirates, fake pirates for the tourist trade, and leftover pirates, too maimed for sea work.For ages 10 to 13.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/chi-deadweather-and-sunrise-by-geoff-rodkey--20120614,0,4117902.story
NEWS & FEATURES
Michael Chabon writes that he hates dreams, referring to them as the Sea Monkeys of consciousness: in the back pages of sleep, they promise us teeming submarine palaces but leave us, on waking, with a hermetic residue of freeze-dried dust.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/jun/15/why-i-hate-dreams
Researchers have unveiled new evidence suggesting that a long-disputed portrait depicts a thirteen-year-old Jane Austen. This unearthed picture reinforces the celebrity aura that has developed around Austen in recent years, writes Andrea DenHoed.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/06/new-jane-austen-portrait.html
Cory Doctorow writes of Andrew Hyde’s experience when he submitted the travel book he wrote and self-published. Amazon’s markup of digital delivery to indie authors is ~129,000%.
http://boingboing.net/2012/06/12/indie-author-gets-sticker-shoc.html
Asked if he intends to write a sequel to Go the F*** to Sleep, award-winning novelist Adam Mansbach says he would focus on one of two things: the insanely violent frenemy relationships three-year-olds form with one another, or playground etiquette.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/adam-mansbach-the-sequel-father-knows-sweet/article4266609/
Roxanne Gay, with the support of a graduate assistant, has learned that nearly 90% of the books reviewed by The New York Times are written by white writers, not reflective of the racial makeup of the U.S. According to the 2010 census, 72% of the population is white.
http://therumpus.net/2012/06/where-things-stand/
Stephen Colbert asked Maurice Sendak what makes a successful celebrity children's book. "You've started already by being an idiot," replied Sendak, and gave Colbert a tutorial on how to draw a pole. That improvised illustration inspired Colbert's I Am a Pole (And So Can You!)—NOT a children’s book.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-stephen-colbert-20120617,0,1917907.story
George Elliott Clarke, Roméo Dallaire, Charles Foran, and Marina Nemat among others have contributed articles, essay, poems to Omar Khadr, Oh Canada, edited by University of Alberta professor Janice Williamson. They differ on some issues, but share a common voice in their conviction that Khadr’s treatment has been shameful and unjust.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/wake+call+Omar+Khadr/6757431/story.html
In an interview with Tim Adams, Richard Ford talks about his novel Canada, the joys of growing old and the dangers of criticizing the US. "You are not allowed to complain. Or even have a dialogue," says Ford.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2012/jun/17/richard-ford-canada-interview
Louisa Lim and Jeffrey Wasserstrom write about the ways Chinese writers elude censors: many words cannot be written, many cannot be spoken. Among other things, the Arab Spring has made the Chinese leaders jittery.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/books/review/how-chinese-writers-elude-censors.html
In an interview with Stuart Jeffries, Mario Vargas Llosa says: "The Nobel prize is a fairytale for a week and a nightmare for a year. The first year was very difficult. I could barely write."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/jun/15/mario-vargas-llosa-life-in-writing
Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin is leaving San Francisco for a city with another kind of magic, he says. He’s heading for Santa Fe, where he plans to write a new 'Tales’ book, The Days of Anna Madrigal.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/19/DDCN1P4DG2.DTL&tsp=1
The Erasure Poetry Contest invites you to create your own poetic masterpiece from an excerpt of How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti—erasing letters, words and sentences until your own genius emerges. Visit geist.com/erasure for more details and to read the excerpt. All entries must be postmarked no later than August 1, 2012.
http://www.geist.com/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Chris Cleave’s Gold is set in the months leading up to the London Olympics. A rule change means only one British female track cyclist may compete. There is engrossing human drama as two women vie to get the single Olympics spot for track cycling.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1208353--chris-cleave-s-golda-gripping-story-about-two-female-champion-cyclists
James Laxer’s Tecumseh & Brock: The War of 1812 cleverly explains the war and the emergence of a Canadian identity through the lives of British Major General Sir Isaac Brock and Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh. Laxer proves Canadian history doesn’t have to be dull, writes Jennifer Hunter.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1210913--tecumseh-and-brock-the-war-of-1812-column
Stories in Elaine McCluskey’s collection Valery the Great are linked by their small-town Maritime settings as well as by a shared episodic structure, writes Rob Sternberg. Each story is told through a series of short scenes separated by page breaks.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/valery-the-great-by-elaine-mccluskey/article4242489/
Burying the Typewriter refers to the act carried out every night after Carmen Bugan’s father wrote pro-democracy pamphlets during the Ceausescu regime in Romania. Bugan writes from a child's perspective of a political system she barely understands.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jun/16/carmen-bugan-romanian-childhood
Jim Downs’s Sick From Freedom shows the reality of emancipation, brutally short of its positive image. About a quarter of the four million freed slaves either died or suffered from illness between 1862 and 1870, writes Downs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/16/slavery-starvation-civil-war
The focus of Gordon Bowkers’ James Joyce is almost strictly on Joyce the human being, writes Michael Dirda. In his personal life, the young Joyce is thoroughly disreputable. It’s not always a pretty picture, says Dirda, but it seems like a true one.http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/gordon-bowkers-james-joyce-portrait-of-the-author-as-a-man/2012/06/13/gJQAOhuraV_story.html
Alix Ohlin’s novel Inside and short-story collection Signs and Wonders reflect her knowledge of Ingmar Bergman and Woody Allen films, writes T.F. Rigelhof, but the readers discover a lot of smarts and a wry sense of humour.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/alix-ohlin-a-writer-who-should-be-famous/article4267001/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
TOM WAYMAN AND KATE BRAID
Award-winning authors present a dynamic evening of poetry. Wayman reads from Dirty Snow and Braid reads from several collections, including a new edition of To This Cedar Fountain. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room, level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
TRIPLE THREAT: CHICKS WHO SOLVE CRIME!
Three Canadian mystery authors - Deryn Collier, Hilary Davidson, and Robin Spano - team up for an evening of readings & discussion. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Free but register in advance at 604-299-8955. McGill branch, Burnaby Public Library, 4595 Albert Street, Burnaby.
CHRIS GUILLEBEAU AND DANIELLE LAPORTE
Appearances by the author of The Art of Non-Conformity (Guillebeau) and The $100 Startup (Laporte). Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Chapters Robson, 788 Robson St. More information at 604-682-4066.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by Jen Currin and Lisa McInnes. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
GORDON LONG
Book signing/meet the author for the comic fantasy A Sword Called...Kitten? Saturday, June 23 at 11am. Blackberry Books, 1666 Johnston Street.
RICHELLE MEAD
Signing by the author of the Bloodlines series. Saturday, June 23 at 2:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Nerd-themed youth poetry slam open to all poets 13-22 years of age, costumes encouraged. Also featuring Metis spoken word artist Moe Clark. Monday, June 25 at 8:00pm. Admission: $4 for 18 and under, $6 for 19 and up. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at www.vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
WORDS AND MUSIC
Four evenings of poetry, spontaneous song and improvised music events. Featuring Daniela Elza, James, Mark Weber and Kate Braid. June 25-28, 2012. Admission by donation. Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables St. More information at vancouverjazz.com.
DAPHNE MARLATT
Presentation of the 19th Annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award to Daphne Marlatt for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia. Thursday, June 28 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at 604-331-3603.
OUR FRIEND JOE: THE JOE FORTES STORY
Authors Lisa Anne Smith and Barbara Rogers give a presentation on Vancouver humanitarian Joe Fortes. Saturday, June 30 at 1pm, free, refreshments provided. Door prizes include a $150 gift certificate to the Joe Fortes Restaurant! Roedde House Museum, 1415 Barclay Street.
Upcoming
THE RED SHOES
Based on Hans Christian Andersen's story and filmed in 1947, The Red Shoes, beautiful and talented Vicky is hired by the top impresario of the day, Lermontov, to dance in his company. Hosted by Alma Lee. Tuesday, July 3 at 7:30pm. Vancouver International Film Centre, 1181 Seymour Street. More information here, http://filmguide.viff.org/tixSYS/vifcguide/filmguide/films/2279.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by bill bissett and Susan Cormier. Thursday, July 5 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Readings by Kate Braid, George McWhirter, Daniela Elza, Ken Klonksy, and Hal Wake. Sunday, July 8 at 3:00pm. Entry by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street, Vancouver. Details and registration here, www.deadpoetslive.com.
TIM WARD
Author reads from Zombies on Kilimanjaro: A Father-Son Journey Above the Clouds. Thursday, July 17 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
DENMAN ISLAND READERS & WRITERS FESTIVAL
Annual summer event featuring Tseporah Berman, Steven Galloway, Loran Goodison, Timothy Taylor and many others. July 19-22, 2012. For complete details, visit www.denmanislandwritersfestival.com.
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
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