Book News Vol. 5 No. 19

BOOK NEWS

A Dram Come True
The Vancouver International Writers Festival presents the eighth annual Single Malt Scotch Whisky Sampling. Enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts. Scotch experts will be on hand to enhance the experience. Rare malts and other select items will also be available at auction. Details here: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/supportus/dramcometrue

Canada Meets Japan: A Conversation of Authors
Join distinguished Japanese authors Takashi Atoda, Eto Mori and Jiro Asada in conversation with Vancouverites Steven Galloway, Nancy Lee and Timothy Taylor, and featuring PEN Canada spokesperson Douglas Coupland. Free admission but please pre-register: https://websurvey.sfu.ca/cgi-bin/WebObjects/WebSurvey.woa/wa/survey?54993916. For complete details, visit our website: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/community/communitypartner.

Join us!
Our membership drive continues with exciting new incentives to join, as well as the benefits of membership:...discounts, earlybird tickets, we could go on... Click for more information, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/supportus/joinus.

Every two weeks we will draw the name of a new member to win an exciting prize. The prize for April 30: a copy of Peter Carey's new book Parrot and Olivier in America!


Special Event

Peter Carey
Tickets are still available for our event featuring Peter Carey in conversation with Hal Wake at the Frederic Wood Theatre.

Vancouver's Annabel Lyon calls Peter Carey's Parrot and Olivier in America "funny, bawdy, brainy and moving…an utter delight."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-parrot-oliver-in-america-by-peter-carey/article1536849/


AWARDS & LISTS

Shandi Mitchell has won Atlantic Canada's largest literary prize for her debut novel Under this Broken Sky.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/04/16/ns-randall-fiction-prize.html

Barbara Kingsolver, Lorrie Moore and Hilary Mantel are among the finalists for Britain's Orange Prize.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/hilary-mantel-barbara-kingsolver-among-orange-prize-finalists/article1540509/

Three emerging Ontario writers have been shortlisted for the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/04/21/prize-bronwen-wallace-finalists.html#ixzz0lrFUFw4t

The Examiner lists the 50 most memorable author vs. author put-downs. For example, Vladimir Nabokov on Ernest Hemingway: "As to Hemingway, I read him for the first time in the early 'forties, something about bells, balls and bulls, and loathed it."
http://www.examiner.com/x-562-Book-Examiner~y2010m4d16-The-50-best-author-vs-author-putdowns-of-all-time

NEWS & FEATURES

Quill & Quire looks at the implications for Canadian authors, publishers and agents unable to attend the London Book Fair due to Iceland's volcanic eruption.
http://www.quillandquire.com/google/article.cfm?article_id=11250

The New Yorker asks: "Can the iPad topple the Kindle, and save the book business?"
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/04/26/100426fa_fact_auletta

A recent BBC Radio 4 documentary asked medical historians, psychiatrists and literary specialists to give their diagnoses of the 'mad' heroines of classic Victorian fiction.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8622367.stm

How does Giller Prize winning author Joseph Boyden measure success? Find out here.
http://www.moneysense.ca/2010/04/16/what-does-success-mean-to-author-joseph-boyden/

Yann Martel responds to the "clobbering" some reviewers have given his latest novel beatrice & virgil.
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/story.html?id=2936399

HarperCollinsCanada announced Wednesday that Ottawa-born singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn's memoir will be published in April 2012.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2010/04/22/cockburn-bruce-memoir.html

BOOKS & WRITERS

Until his novel Tinkers won the Pulitzer Prize last week, Paul Harding was a relative unknown. Both The NY Times and the Boston Globe talk to the author about his journey from drumming in a now defunct band to being the at the centre of the literary world's buzz.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/books/19harding.html?ref=books
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2010/04/15/word_of_mouth_helped_propel_mass_novelist_to_pulitzer/?page=full

Both the Globe & Mail and the Montreal Gazette enjoy the "raunch and raw emotion" in Globe columnist Russell Smith's novel Girl Crazy.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-girl-crazy-by-russell-smith/article1536741/
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Russell+Smith+Girl+Crazy+skilled+Justin+meets+adventuresome+Jenna/2910978/story.html

In 1996 David Foster Wallace granted David Lipsky a rare interview that was never published. Now Lipsky has turned the transcripts into a book, one that fans and biographers will no doubt devour but that ultimately feels "half-baked" according to the Globe & Mail and the LA Times.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-although-of-course-you-end-up-becoming-yourself-by-david-lipsky/article1536769/
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-david-lipsky11-2010apr11,0,5582193.story

The Globe & Mail writes that Toronto author Brian Joseph Davis's latest collection of stories, Ronald Reagan, My Father, is a "hit-and-miss smorgasbord of the bizarre."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-ronald-reagan-my-father-by-brian-joseph-davis/article1539189/

Of Darwin's Bastards, an anthology of edited by Zsuzsi Gartner, the Georgia Straight writes: "If it’s best to greet the great unknown with a grin on your face, this book will help put one there."
http://www.straight.com/article-318863/vancouver/future-ruled-bastards

The Collected Stories of Deborah Eisenberg contains, in their entirety, the four books of stories Eisenberg has written over a 20 year span. The resulting tome is a wonder of "remarkable language [and] unconventional story-telling."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/books/review/Thompson-t.html?ref=books

Quill & Quire writes that Montreal author Miguel Syjuco's debut novel Ilustrado lives up to the accolades it has already received, namely the Man Asian Literary Prize and the Palanca Award (the Pulitzer of the Philippines).
http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=6824

Andrea Levy's first four novels looked at the lives of Caribbean immigrants living in Britain. Her new novel The Long Song, however, is set in Jamaica and tells the story of a young Jamaican girl, the daughter of a white overseer and a plantation worker. In this article Levy explains why, until now, she never wanted to "do a book about slavery."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/andrea-levy-she-couldnt-remain-silent-on-slavery-any-longer/article1540982/

Pulitzer Prize winning poet Louise Glück talks about why she doesn't like National Poetry Month and the profound affect teaching has had on her life and work.
http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/art-news/2010/04/13/gluck-fuses-poetry-teaching-style/

COMMUNITY EVENTS

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH
Celebration with Gillian Jerome, Laisha Rosnau and Gregory Scofield. Thursday, April 22 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore Library, Robson Square, 800 Robson Street.

POETRY READING
A poetry reading by Penn Kemp and Susan McCaslin. Thursday, April 22 at 7:00pm, free. The Fort Gallery, 9048 Glover Rd., Fort Langley, BC.

ARTHUR ELLIS AWARDS
Join the Crime Writers of Canada for a panel discussion of crime writing and presentation of the Arthur Ellis Awards shortlist release event. Thursday, April 22 at 7:30pm, free. Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street.

ANN ERIKSSON
Author reads from her new novel, Falling from Grace. Thursday, April, 22 at 7:30pm, free. Meeting Room, Level 3, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street.

PLANET EARTH POETRY
Launch of Daniela Elza, Peter Morin, and Onjana Yawnghwe's book 4 Poets. Friday, April 23 at 7:30pm, $3 at the door. The Black Stilt Coffee House, 103-1633 Hillside Avenue, Victoria. For more details contact planetearthpoetry@gmail.com.

TEMPERING THE CLIMATE
A poetry reading by Penn Kemp and Susan McCaslin, followed by a "Gathering Peaces" workshop. Saturday, April 24. Free reading at 1:00pm, workshop at 2:00pm (tickets are $20). Canadian Memorial Centre for Peace, the Fireside Room, 1825 W. 16th Avenue, Vancouver. More information at 604.731.3101.

STUDIO ONE BOOK CLUB
Yann Martel's highly anticipated new novel beatrice & virgil is a bewitching story about a famous, yet struggling author, an eccentric taxidermist, a donkey and a howler monkey. Meet the author of Life of Pi in the intimate setting of Studio One on Sunday April 25 at 3 pm. The only way to get in, is to win! Go to www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub to enter for free tickets.

WORLD POETRY GALA
World Poetry celebrates it's 9th anniversary. Join hosts Ariadne Sawyer and Alejandro Mujica-Olea for poetry, music and an awards presentation. A tribute to past award winners and World Poetry ambassadors. Monday, April 26 at 6:30pm, free. Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street.

YANN MARTEL WITH ANOSH IRANI
Capilano University Pacific Arbour Speaker Series presents Man Booker prize winner Yann Martel (Life of Pi) with Anosh Irani, award-winning playwright and best-selling author of The Song of Kahunsha, a 2007 Canada Reads finalist. Monday, April 26 at 7:30pm. Tickets: $15/$13. Kay Meek Centre, North Vancouver. More information at http://www.capilanou.ca/news-events/performing-arts/season-performances/Speaker.html.

VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth Poetry Slam Team Finals featuring Nathaniel Larochette. Monday, April 26 at 8:00pm. Admission: $5. Cafe Deux Soleils (2096 Commercial). More information at www.vancouverpoetryhouse.com.

THE MAQUINNA LINE
Celebrate the publication of Vancouver actress and playwright Norma Macmillan's lost novel. Tuesday, April, 27 at 7:00pm. Railway Club (579 Dunsmuir).

LORRI NEILSEN GLENN, EVE JOSEPH AND JOHN DONLAN
Join poets as they read from their latest collections. Celebrate Brick Books' 35th anniversary! Tuesday, April 27 at 7:30pm, free. Peter Kaye Room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street.

TALON'S 2010 CROSS-CANADA POETRY TOUR
Readings by derek beaulieu, Ken Belford, George Bowering, Weyman Chan, Stephen Collis, Frank Davey, Garry Thomas Morse, and Ken Norris. Wednesday, April 28 at 8:00pm, free. Heritage Hall (3102 Main). More information at www.talonbooks.com.

ALAN HAIG-BROWN
Award-winning author Alan Haig-Brown launches Still Fishin': The BC Fishing Industry Revisited. Sunday, May 2 at 2:00pm, free. Britannia Heritage Shipyard, 5180 Westwater Drive, Richmond. For more information, visit www.richmond.ca/britannia or email info@harbourpublishing.com.

WRITING FOR SOCIAL CHANGE READING SERIES
Visit the intimate living room at Historic Joy Kogawa House for a series of small salon evenings with five writers who use literature to call for social change and justice and as a tool for social transformation. The second writer in the series, Anosh Irani will read from and sign his works. Sunday, May 2 at 3:30pm, admission by donation. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W. More information here: http://www.kogawahouse.com/node/181.

EMMA DONOGHUE
Author reads from her new young adult anthology, How Beautiful the Ordinary and introduces her literary history, Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature. Monday, May 3 at 7:30pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street.

Upcoming

STUDIO ONE BOOK CLUB
Canada's own international best-selling fantasy fiction author Guy Gavriel Kay is coming to the CBC Radio Studio One Book Club! His new novel "Under Heaven" is getting rave reviews! It's set during the glory of the Tang Dynasty in China and is an adventure that has everything readers around the world love about Guy's epic stories. Come join the discussion with Guy Gavriel Kay in the intimate setting of Studio One on Wednesday May 5 at 6:30 pm. The only way to get in, is to win! Go to www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub to enter for free tickets.

ROBERT J. SAWYER
Launch of Hugo and Nebula award-winner's new novel, Watch. Wednesday, May 5 at 7:30pm, free. Alma VanDusen Room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street.

RYAN KNIGHTON
Author reads from his critically acclaimed memoir C'mon Papa, Dispatches from a Dad in the Dark. Sunday, May 9 at 7:30pm. Tickets: $10/$12. Capilano Performing Arts Theatre, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver.

KATHY PAGE
Author introduces her new novel The Find. Monday, May 10 at 7:30pm, free. ArtSpring Theatre, Salt Spring Island.

TOM WAYMAN
Author launches his novel Woodstock Rising. Wednesday, May 12 at 7:30pm, free. Vancouver Public Library, Central Branch, Peter Kaye Room, Lower Level, 350 West Georgia Street.

WRITE ON BOWEN!
Early-bird registration is now being accepted for the 3rd annual Write on Bowen Festival for Writers and Readers. July 2-4, 2010. For the full Festival line-up and registration details, visit www.biac.ca/writersfestival.