Book News Vol. 5 No. 28

BOOK NEWS

Virtual Festival

The sixth recording in our recently launched series of archived events from Festivals-past features Giles Blunt. Listen in on a conversation laden with innuendo and accusation. Suicide or foul play? You decide. http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives

Donate your Aeroplan miles
So far you've donated 17,379 air miles to bring writers to the Festival! Thank you for your support. We need just 7,621 more miles to purchase a flight within North America, so if you've been procrastinating sending in your donation, consider this a friendly little nudge to get those miles off your plate and onto ours. You can download the donation form from our website, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/supportus/aeroplan.

Special Event

Alexander McCall Smith
The Vancouver International Writers Festival and Random House Canada present the bestselling author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series who will talk about his forthcoming book, Corduroy Mansions. Complete details on our website, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/specialevents.

AWARDS & LISTS

Karen Solie wins Trillium Book Award for her poetry collection Pigeon.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/06/24/trillium-book-award.html

Dutch writer Gerbrand Bakker has won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary award for his debut novel The Twin.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/dutch-novel-wins-impac-prize/article1607995/

Geoffrey Hill, described as the 'greatest living poet in the English language' won the Oxford Professor of Poetry election by a landslide.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jun/18/oxford-professor-poetry-geoffrey-hill

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and journalist Rick Atkinson has been named the 2010 recipient of the Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/06/21/pritzker-military-literature-award.html

NEWS & FEATURES

Globe and Mail columnist Russell Smith offers his thoughts on sex in Canadian publishing.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/russell-smith/the-truth-about-publishing-its-full-of-hotties/article1615061/

Portugal's most prolific and best-known 20th-century writer, Jose Saramago, has died. His 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature was the first awarded to a Portuguese writer.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/novelist-jose-saramago-dead-at-87/article1608811/

The Guardian's obituary describes the convictions that informed Saramago's work and those who opposed him because of those convictions.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jun/18/jose-saramago-obituary

Canada used to have a vibrant critical culture. What happened? asks André Alexis
http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2010.07-criticism-the-long-decline/1/

Neil Young is revisiting the fictional California town of Greendale which first took form in a concept album, a concert tour, an original film and a companion book of lyrics. It now appears in graphic novel format.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/books/16greendale.html?ref=books

Reading from a screen is so Middle Ages, says the San Francisco Chronicle.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/20/INL91DU44K.DTL&tsp=1

Thomas Newkirk, an English Professor at the University of New Hampshire, argues in favour of a return to slow reading.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jD98lVM4dGsPuKnnvm0_mrYEmkMAD9GCU8C00

Rather than issuing lists of books for summer reading, the July/August issue of The Walrus offers short works of fiction and poetry, and Canadian landscape illustrations by Seth.
http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2010.07-fiction-canadian-studies/

The Tyee adds its list of ideal summer reading.
http://thetyee.ca/Books/2010/06/18/SummerReads2010/?utm_source=mondayheadlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=210610

Lisbeth Salander, and Stieg Larsson's three books about her, has created a publishing phenomenon, resulting in tremendous new interest in the U.S. in other Scandinavian writers or, among some American writers, using Scandinavian settings for their own new books.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/books/16noir.html?ref=arts&pagewanted=all

The Washington Post believes it all began with Peter Høeg's 1992 Smilla's Sense of Snow, and goes on to list such "extremely hot properties" as Camilla Läckberg, Henning Mankell, and Jo Nesbø.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/16/AR2010061605087.html

The Globe and Mail is publishing a series of articles on the future of the book. Here is the first: from John Barber.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/the-book-is-dead-long-live-the-book/article1608823/

Gary Geddes describes how and why his visit to Xian, China informs his writing of The Terracotta Army and the poetry collection, Swimming Ginger.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/mirror+history+shows/3185182/story.html

Susan Orlean describes the impact of meeting for lunch on the editing of one's book.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/susanorlean/2010/06/alphabet-soup.html

Twenty-five years ago, Nicholson Baker wrote a fan letter to John Updike. As he didn't include a return address, he didn't receive a response. Here's the letter.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2010/jun/21/letter-to-john-updike/

BOOKS & WRITERS

For almost 20 years, Robert Wiersema has been haunted by, and carried with him Oscar Hijuelos' Pulitzer Prize-winning The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. With his new novel, Beautiful Maria of My Soul, Hijuelos returns to that story, but from a vastly different perspective: a true counterpoint.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-beautiful-maria-of-my-soul-by-oscar-hijuelos/article1606229/

Wiersema also praises Paul Harding's novel Tinkers, stating that it fully deserves the Pulitzer prize it won this year.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-beautiful-maria-of-my-soul-by-oscar-hijuelos/article1606229/

Readers young and old are always excited by the news that Lois Lowry has produced a new book. The news that her most recent, The Birthday Ball, is a result of a collaboration with Jules Feiffer, has generated more excitement still.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/books/review/Goddu-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema4

Generosity makes a difference: The Gazette reviews two new books about philanthropy.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Generosity+makes+difference/3172995/story.html

Twice longlisted for the Booker (in 2002 and 2006) Jon McGregor's new book Even the Dogs once again gives dignified treatment to working-class and lost characters.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/825835--even-the-dogs-a-novel-of-the-down-out-and-dead

Ursula K. Le Guin reviews Joseph O’Connor's Ghost Light, the tale of the doomed romance between John Synge, perhaps Ireland's most eminent playwright in the 20th century and his leading lady, Molly Allgood.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jun/19/ghost-light-joseph-oconnor

"The purists will be up in arms", writes James Urquhart in The Independent, "but no mind: this retelling of a theatrical tryst is engrossing stuff."
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/ghost-light-by-joseph-oconnor-2004287.html

Both The Privileges by Jonathan Dee and Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett, take readers inside the heads of reckless bankers before the crash.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jun/20/the-privileges-union-atlantic

Telling Times: Writing and Living, 1954-2008 brings together 91 pieces of Nadine Gordimer's nonfiction written over 55 years. "This is a collection that often inspires and seldom fails to reward", says the LA Times.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-rutten-20100616,0,5370591.story

The Observer calls Seth's creation George Sprott 'a small masterpiece'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jun/20/seth-george-sprott-graphic-novel

André Alexis' review points out that Lyndall Gordon's new biography Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and her Family's Feuds makes it clear that Dickinson was not at all the naïve and innocent shut-in that her earliest biographers depicted.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-lives-like-loaded-guns-emily-dickinson-and-her-familys-feuds-by-lyndall-gordon/article1608904/

Our landscapes are similar to Ireland before the potato famines, argues a new book, Empires of Food: Feast, Famine and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations. Wendy Leung interviews the authors.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/eat-up-we-may-soon-witness-the-decline-and-fall-of-a-food-empire/article1609951/

Rave reviews of Robert McCrum's Globish continue to appear. Gale Zöe Garnett writes that "Globish is one of the richest, fullest and most beautiful books on the history of our common and different language...that (she's) ever read."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-globish-how-the-english-language-became-the-worlds-language-by-robert-mccrum/article1607963/

COMMUNITY EVENTS

ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Des Kennedy and Steve Noyes with cello music by Clara Shandler. Thursday, June 24 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore, Robson Square, Plaza Level, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.rsquare.bookstore.ubc.ca/common/author_evt.html.

WOMBAT
Anvil Press presents the launch of Vancouver artist Rod Filbrandt's cartoon strip. Thursday, June 24 at 7:00pm, free. Railway Club, 579 Dunsmuir. For more information, email info@anvilpress.com.

MORRIS BATES
Author reads from his book Morris as Elvis: Take a Chance on Life. Thursday, June 24 at 7:30pm, free. Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.

AN EVENING OF ART AND POETRY
Featuring readings by poets Dennis E. Bolen, Lisa Richter, Rob Taylor, Natasha Boskic, Warren Dean Fulton, Fran Bourassa, Robin Susanto, Steve Locke, and Ryan Fletcher, inspired by Janet Strayer's art exhibit Child Out of Time. Thursday, June 24 at 7:30pm, free. Sidney And Gertrude Zack Gallery, 950 W. 41st, Jewish Community Centre.

ISLANDS OF RESISTANCE
New Star Books presents a launch for the first anthology published about pirate radio in Canada. Friday, June 25 at 7:00pm, free. Pulpfiction Books, 2422 Main Street. For more information, visit www.islandsofresistance.ca.

MANOLIS ALIGIZAKIS
Local author and prominent Greek writer will read from his book Triptych and his other works of poetry. Saturday, June 26 at 3:30pm, free. Kitsilano Branch, VPL, 2425 Macdonald Street. For more information, phone 604.331.3603.

BOOK SALE AND OPEN HOUSE
Open house and celebration of Nancy Lee's author residency featuring new and used books for purchase and signings by local authors. Sunday, June 27 at 1:00pm. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W. More information at www.kogawahouse.com.

EVELYN C. WHITE AND JOANNE BEALY
Authors read from their book Every Goodbye Ain't Gone: A Photo Narrative of Black Heritage on Salt Spring Island. Monday, June 28 at 7:30pm, free. Alma VanDusen Room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.

WRITING FOR SOCIAL CHANGE READING SERIES
The last writer in the series, Nancy Lee will read from and sign her works. Monday, June 28 at 7:30pm, admission by donation. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W. More information here: www.kogawahouse.com.

The TOTEM POLE
The Museum of Anthropology launches The Totem Pole: An Intercultural History, a new book by Aaron Glass and Aldona Jonaitis. Tuesday, June 29 at 7:00pm. Tickets $7. First Nations House of Learning, UBC (1985 West Mall). For more information, phone 604.822.5950 or email jenwebb@interchange.ubc.ca.

HEATHER SPEARS
Author gives a poetry reading and slide show of her drawings. Wednesday, June 30 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen Room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.

SHORT SCHRIFT WRITING CONTEST
Foul-tempered dismissal, snub, last-minute confession... Give short schrift to any topic. Maximum 500 words. Fiction or non-fiction, your choice. Extra points for attitude! Deadline: midnight, June 30, 2010. For full details, download the pdf, http://bit.ly/akaSl2.

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.

Upcoming

SYMPOSIUM ON THE BOOK CONTEST
Think you're funny? Submit a 500-700 word essay of your best humour writing and become eligible for a variety of wonderful prizes! Deadline for entries is: Monday, July 5 at 5:00 p.m. The winner will be announced July 14. For more details, including the three agencies (pick one!) that will accept your submission, go to http://tinyurl.com/257ovhu.

UBC FARM FUNDRAISER
Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks and Brian Brett, author of Trauma Farm, host a fundraiser for UBC Farm. Brian will read from his book and answer questions on farming issues. Reception will include local wines and early bounty from UBC Farm. Wednesday, July 7 at 6:00pm. Tickets: $75 and includes a signed copy of Trauma Farm. For complete information and registration, visit www.bookstocooks.com.

BILLIE LIVINGSTON AND ANTONIA BANYARD
Robson Reading Series featuring Billie Livingston, author of short-story collection Greedy Little Eyes, and Antonia Banyard, author of novel Never Going Back. Thursday, July 8 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore Robson Square, Plaza Level, 800 Robson. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.

OFF THE HIGHWAY
New Star Books presents a launch of author Mette Bach's new book about growing up in North Delta. Tuesday, July 13 at 7:00pm, free. The Sylvia Hotel, 1154 Gilford. For more information, visit www.newstarbooks.com.

SUNSHINE COAST FESTIVAL OF THE WRITTEN ARTS
Join Canada's longest-running summer gathering of Canadian writers and readers, featuring established literary stars and exciting new voices, with opportunities for writers and readers to mingle amidst Rockwood's heritage gardens. August 12-15, 2010. Tickets are now on sale by phoning 1-800-565-9631 or 604-885-9631. Details at www.writersfestival.ca.