BOOK NEWS
Important Notice
Tickets go on sale for this year's Festival on September 8. You can get full information on our web site, www.writersfest.bc.ca. To ensure there are tickets for the events you really want to see, become a member for just $35. Tickets go on sale to members September 1 and you will also be providing much needed support to the Festival. Membership information at http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/get-involved/membership.
Just Announced
Stuart McLean talks with Hal Wake about his new book The Vinyl Café Notebooks, a collection of wonderfully eclectic essays selected from 15 years of radio-show archives and re-edited by the author. Join us for a rare chance to gain insight into the thoughtful mind at work behind The Vinyl Cafe. Details here, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/maclean.
Virtual Festival
The latest recording in our recently launched series of archived events from Festivals-past features a rare, rock star combination on the stage—Douglas Coupland and Irvine Welsh. http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives
Call for Volunteers
The submission deadline for returning volunteers is today, August 27. First-time volunteers are urged to apply no later than September 10. Please see http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/volunteers/volunteers_needed.htm for details and on-line registration. Come and join us, it's fun and illuminating!
Special Events
John Vaillant
The author of the multi-award-winning The Golden Spruce will discuss his new book The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival, a gripping tale of man and nature in collision, that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the Siberian forest. Details here, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/vaillant.
Author, editor, reviewer Stephen Bodio quotes Annie Proulx on Amazon about John Vaillant's The Tiger: "The Tiger is the sort of book I very much like and rarely find." "It is better than good" writes Bodio. More comments from Proulx and Bodio are here:
http://stephenbodio.blogspot.com/2010/08/john-vaillants-tiger.html
Alissa York and Richard Harvell
Please join us as Giller-shortlisted author Alissa York and debut novelist Richard Harvell read from their new works. Details at http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/yorkharvell.
2010 FESTIVAL AUTHORS
The following authors will be attending the Festival in October or participating in special events in the fall.
Margaret Cannon writes that The Nesting Dolls is one of Gail Bowen's best books.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/new-in-crime-fiction/article1679724/
Like the Russian matryoshka dolls, one secret tucks into another, making it a compelling read, writes Cheryl Parker.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Secrets+within+secrets+shape+plot/3426991/story.html
CBC interviewer Lee Ferguson says of The Beauty of Humanity Movement: "The book’s genesis is nearly as spellbinding as the novel itself."
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/08/20/f-camilla-gibb-the-beauty-of-humanity-movement.html
Terence Young's new collection of short stories The End of the Ice Age focuses attention on the tricky state of being between young and old.
http://roverarts.com/2010/08/forever-young/
The National Post review ends with the words "Buy It".
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2010/08/10/buy-it-or-skip-it-the-end-of-the-ice-age/
Halifax's poet laureate, spoken-word artist Shauntay Grant has produced a second children's book with illustrations by Susan Tooke. The City Speaks in Drums, writes reviewer Susan Perren, brings Halifax to life.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/bringing-halifax-to-life/article1678707/
What makes a poet a poet? Is one of many questions asked of George Bowering in the blog in Other Words.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/in-other-words/george-bowering-bullshit-artist-a-poetics-of-attention/article1675695/
AWARDS & LISTS
Geraldine Brooks, author of March and People of the Book, among other works, will receive the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for lifetime achievement at a ceremony in November.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/08/dayton-literary-peace-prize-geraldine-brooks.html
Alanna Mitchell's Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis is one of three finalists for the inaugural Lane Anderson Award for Canadian science writing. The complete list of finalists, including for the young readers award, is here.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/850222--finalists-named-for-science-writing-prizes
Newscientist describes Sea Sick as a very important book about the state of two-thirds of our planet.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227071.800-review-seasick-by-alanna-mitchell.html
Earlier this year, Michell was awarded the $75,000 Grantham Prize for environmental writing.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/alanna-mitchell-wins-writing-award/article1613674/
Rick Gekowski writes about being a good literary loser, based on his experience on the shortlist for the PEN/Ackerley prize. Gekowski is a judge for the Man Booker international prize for 2011.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/aug/24/literary-awards-man-booker-prize
NEWS & FEATURES
BC Ferries has banned from its shelves Annabel Lyon's award-winning book The Golden Mean, due to the jacket's illustration of a naked man lying on the back of a horse. International publications are both offended by this censorship, and finding the story a good source for bad jokes. Here are two responses to the censorship news:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/24/alexander-the-great-annabel-lyon-bum
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2010/08/banned-book-bummer.html
Edwin Morgan, Scotland's first national poet (Scots Makar), has died aged 90. Between 1952 and 2007, he published over 60 books of his own writing and translations of others' works.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/19/edwin-morgan-obituary
Examples from the TLS of the late Scottish Makar's varied, often magnificent work, can be found here.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article7165495.ece
Ed Pilkington meets journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sherry WuDunn and learns how their discovery of, and response to, trafficking of women—a modern form of global slavery—has changed the way they write.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/19/women-slavery-half-the-sky
From the archives of the New York Review of Books, David Lodge on literary critic Frank Kermode, whose death was announced last week.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1996/may/09/confessions-of-a-literary-man/?pagination=false
Three years after his death, pieces of Kurt Vonnegut's life are coming together in his hometown (Indianapolis) in a new library that will also be a museum devoted to his legacy. The collection includes first editions of his books, his Purple Heart and the rejection letters that preceded his success. “You have no talent and we suggest you give up writing,'" says one.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/08/18/vonnegut-library.html
AS Byatt criticizes the Orange prize for fiction, saying there is no such thing as feminine subject matter. She also claims that women who write intellectual books are seen as unnatural.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/20/as-byatt-intellectual-women-strange
The newest French literary star is 15. Carmen Bramly's first novel Pastel Fauve is due out this week.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/bonjour-jeunesse-new-french-literary-star-carmen-bramly-is-15-2054453.html
Other young folk are out to rid the world of typos.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/20100817_They_re_out_to_rid_the_world_of_typos.html#ixzz0wxpynJkO
Roy Peter Clark has written The Glamour of Grammar, a grammar manual for the 21st century that endorses breaking rules that make no sense.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/books/review/Shea-t.html?_r=1&nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3&pagewanted=all
Every day, the website Five Books features an eminent writer, thinker, commentator, politician, academic who chooses five books on his or her specialist subject.
http://fivebooks.com/
There was a time, not so long ago, when Shakespeare was banned. In Ontario.
http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/850826--the-day-shakespeare-was-banned
A "book" can mean many things and has many futures, but it may need explaining for new readers. Lane Smith's new work for children is It's a Book.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129251016&ft=1&f=1008
The recent Norwegian court ruling against Åsne Seierstad, the author of The Bookseller of Kabul, throws into sharp relief the fine line between journalism and literature and raises questions about the very nature of non-fiction writing itself, writes Faisal al Yafai.
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100820/REVIEW/708199994/1008
BOOKS & WRITERS
Intellectual property has become such a hot topic that Lewis Hyde's Common as Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownership is timely indeed. Robert Darnton describes the book as an eloquent and erudite plea for protecting our cultural patrimony from appropriation by commercial interests.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/books/review/Darnton-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3
Vietnam veteran and novelist Edward Wilson finds chilling echoes of that war in a US platoon's Iraq killing spree as described in Jim Frederick's Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/21/black-hearts-jim-frederick
James Ellroy, the author of LA Confidential and The Black Dahlia, and whose latest book, Blood's a Rover, is now out in paperback, is still haunted by his mother's ghost.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/aug/22/observer-profile-james-ellroy
Milan Kundera's trademark lightness of style continues in Encounters: Essays.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/21/encounters-essays-milan-kundera
Kundera's exhumed essays cast a spell with their insights into creativity, writes Geoff Dyer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/22/encounter-essays-review
Human Chain, Seamus Heaney's new collection brilliantly enacts the struggle between memory and loss, says Colm Tóibín.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/21/seamus-heaney-human-chain-review
Susan Salter Reynolds writes that Per Petterson's I Curse the River of Time masterfully captures a family's sorrow and disconnect - a vivid portrait of longing for something just out of reach.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-book-20100821,0,6463919.story
William Skidelsky argues that the fascination with Christos Tsiolkas' The Slap is due to its being a novel about the failings of middle-class life and points to wider concerns about the durability of liberal values in a multicultural society.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/22/will-skidelsky-the-slap-success
R.B. Fleming's Peter Gzowski: A Biography paints a portrait of a brilliant man who hid a private dark side.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/biographer-claims-peter-gzowski-had-secret-child/article1682183/
Margaret MacMillan's new biography of Stephen Leacock indicates that he, too, had a dark side.
http://thetyee.ca/Books/2010/08/23/StephenLeacock/?utm_source=mondayheadlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=230810
Günther Grass says that his new book Grimms Wörter: Eine Liebeserklärung (Grimms' Words: A Declaration of Love), a paean to the Brothers Grimm and the dictionary of German language they began to write, marks the end of his autobiographical writing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/24/gunter-grass-last-autobiography
COMMUNITY EVENTS
JILL EDMONSON
Author reads from her new novel, Blood and Groom, part of the Castle Street Mysteries. Saturday, August 28 at 1:00pm. Indigo Marine Drive (1025 Marine Drive).
COMIX & STORIES
Vancouver Comiccon's annual event featuring independent, small-press, and alternative publishers, comics, artists, animators,
and zines. Guests include Emily Horne and Joey Comeau. Sunday, August 29 from 11am to 5pm. Tickets $4. Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street. For more information, visit www.vancouvercomiccon.com.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Van Slam featuring Kim Johnson. Monday, August 30 at 8:00pm. Cover: $10/$5. Cafe Deux Soleils (2096 Commercial). More information at www.vancouverpoetryhouse.com
Upcoming
SPIDER ROBINSON
The Library's sixth Writer in Residence will read from some of his many award-winning works and talk about the writing process at his inaugural reading. Thursday, September 9 at 7:00pm, free. Alice McKay room, lower level, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
GARY GEDDES
Reading by the author from his latest book of poetry, Swimming Ginger. Monday, September 13 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen Room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information, phone 604-331-3603.
KATHY PAGE AND ALISSA YORK
Authors will be reading from their works. Saturday, September 18. Bolen Books (111 - 1644 Hillside Avenue, Victoria). For more information, visit www.kathypage.info or contact Bolen Books, (250) 595-4232.
SUSAN BOYD
Join the author as she reads from her book Hooked: Drug War Films in Britain, Canada and the United States. Wednesday, September 22 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information, phone 604-331-3738.
THE RAVEN'S GIFT
Author John Turk will read from his new book. Thursday, September 23 at 7:00pm. Banyen Books & Sound, 3608 4th Ave. West.
KOOTENAY BOOK WEEKEND
Discuss four books in small groups throughout the weekend. This year's books are The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid, The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberry and our guest author, Anita Rau Badami's book Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? September 24-26, 2010, Nelson BC. Further information and registration forms can be found here, www.kootenaybookweekend.ca.
DAVID GLENN
The Burnaby Arts Council will host a launch of The Queen's Sword and The Queen's Jewels. Saturday, September 25 at 1:00pm. Deer Lake Gallery, 6584 Deer Lake Avenue, Burnaby.
EVENING THE FRAYED EDGES
Launch of the Recovery Narrative Project's first anthology of collected works, edited by Susan J. Katz, featuring a series of narratives and poems bringing first-hand accounts of turning points in recovery from mental illness. Sunday, September 26 at 7:00pm, free. John Braithwaite Community Centre, 145 West 1st Street, North Vancouver.
WORD ON THE STREET
Annual event dedicated to promoting reading and literacy throughout the community. Sunday, September 26 from 11am to 6pm. Library Square, Central Libray, 350 West Georgia Street. For more information, visit www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/vancouver.
EVOLVE: VAMPIRE STORIES OF THE NEW UNDEAD
Listen to Vancouver writers Mary Choo, Sandra Wickham and Celdae (Colleen) Anderson, 3 of 22 Canadian authors featured in this most unusual and compelling collection as they re-imagine the future of vampires. Monday, September 27 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information phone 604-331-3691.
MICHAEL NICHOLL YAHGULANAAS
Reading by the author of Red. Thursday, September 30 at 1:00pm, free. Lillooet Room (level 3), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, Vancouver. More information at www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Book News Vol. 5 No. 36
BOOK NEWS
Virtual Festival
The latest recording in our recently launched series of archived events from Festivals-past featuring Lorna Crozier. One of Canada's finest poets talks about her work straight from the heart. http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives
Twitter Contest
Only one day left to win tickets to Festival events and untold fame and glory, just by tweeting! Details on our website, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/get-involved/twittercontest.
Call for Volunteers
Volunteer registration for our 2010 festival October 19-24 is now on-line! Please see http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/volunteers/volunteers_needed.htm for details and on-line registration. Come and join us, it's fun and illuminating!
Special Events
John Vaillant
The author of the multi-award-winning The Golden Spruce will discuss his new book The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival, a gripping tale of man and nature in collision, that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the Siberian forest. Details here, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/vaillant.
Amazon.com has 32 short reviews of John Vaillant's The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival which indicate that many readers find the book gripping, a page-turner, and they highly recommended it. The book will be released in Canada on August 24.
http://www.amazon.com/Tiger-True-Story-Vengeance-Survival/product-reviews/0307268934/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
Alissa York and Richard Harvell
Please join us as Giller-shortlisted author Alissa York and debut novelist Richard Harvell read from their new works. Details at http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/yorkharvell.
2010 FESTIVAL AUTHORS
The following authors will be attending the Festival in October or participating in special events in the fall.
John Barber interviews Camilla Gibb on what some might see as her counter-intuitive way of preparing to write her latest novel, The Beauty of Humanity Movement.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/full-speed-ahead-into-the-unknown/article1670545/
Elaine Kalman Naves writes: "(Gibb) isn't satisfied with merely creating convincing characters and a bold plot. She educates and enlightens the reader."
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Camilla+Gibb+explores+exile+identity+belonging+Hanoi/3391233/story.html
The Guardian's summer short story special includes stories by David Mitchell, Hilary Mantel, Barbara Trapido, and others.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/14/summer-short-story-special
Richard VanCamp and Billeh Nickerson are among the authors with works on the longlists for Canada's ReLit Award, "the country's pre-eminent literary prize recognizing independent presses," according to the Globe and Mail.
http://relitawards.com/
Karl Marlantes' Matterhorn, a novel of the Vietnam war, has reopened old debates and old wounds In America. An unquestioning salute to loyalty, sacrifice and duty, writes Adam Mars Jones.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/15/matterhorn-karl-marlantes-vietnam-war
AWARDS & LISTS
What Works, by Hamish McRae, the chief economic commentator for The Independent, is on the long list for the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/independent-expert-shortlisted-for-book-award-2048052.html
Two crime novels featuring 12-year-old investigators are in the final cut for the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger award. The authors are competing against George Pelecanos' The Way Home. Scott Turow's Innocent is among those shortlisted for the Ian Fleming Silver Dagger. Four authors are shortlisted for the John Creasey New Blood Dagger for the best first novel of the year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/10/gold-dagger-nominees-child-investigators
A Thousand Dreams: Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and the Fight for its Future by Vancouver Sun reporter Lori Culbert, Larry Campbell and Neil Boyd, has been shortlisted for the George Ryga award.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/reporter+shortlisted+book+award/3411321/story.html
NEWS & FEATURES
In June a prominent critic proclaimed American literary fiction dead. But last week, for the first time in ten years, a living American author, Jonathan Franzen, was on the cover of Time magazine and his new book received ecstatic reviews.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/15/jonathan-franzen-novels-freedom-preview
It began as a plan to introduce great literature to people who would never otherwise encounter it. Now literature is being used as part of a revolutionary therapy to transform people's lives.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/brian-viner/well-read-literature-is-being-used-as-part-of-revolutionary-therapy-to-transform-peoples-lives-2049774.html
Author Stuart Kelly argues that Sir Walter Scott invented English legends, the idea of England and the idea of Scotland.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/16/walter-scott-edinburgh-book-festival
Tahar Wattar, one of Algeria's leading Arab-language writers, who used his novels to explore his nation's struggle for independence from France and its post-colonial history, has died, at 74.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/08/13/obit-wattar-tahar.html
Sir Frank Kermode, widely acclaimed as Britain's foremost literary critic, has died, aged 90.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/18/frank-kermode-dies-aged-90
Alberta poetry publisher Frontenac House is celebrating its tenth anniversary by holding a competition with new publications of the ten winners (more than twice the number of Frontenac House's usual annual publications).
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/prairie-harvest-times-10/article1670587/
Chick Lit? Women's Literature? Why not just ... Literature? asks Diane Meier responding to some reviewers derisively deciding her first novel The Season of Second Chances was, alas, chick lit.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-meier/chick-lit-womens-literatu_b_678893.html
Will poetry aid local business? The Long Beach CA business improvement association has installed two poetry boxes near local coffee shops in the hope that poetry will foster creativity in the community and, at the same time, bring people to businesses and boost sales.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/bookpatrol/archives/217845.asp
Beatrix Potter's publisher has invited actor Emma Thompson to write a new Peter Rabbit book to mark the 110th anniversary of The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 2012.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/08/16/peter-rabbit-emma-thompson.html
Marianne Ackerman interviews Dany Laferrière, whose Je suis un écrivain japonais (2009) has been translated by David Homell. I am a Japanese Writer will be published this fall.
http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2010.09-books-the-work-of-art/1/
Blake Gopnik describes the tremendous mental kick he got from reading difficult books when he was ill.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/12/AR2010081206668.html?wprss=rss_print/style
BOOKS & WRITERS
Edited extracts of Michael Frayn's new memoir My Father's Fortune: A Life reveal a man who "had a certain lightness of being".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/14/michael-frayn-memoir
What Stieg Larsson's Trilogy has done for Sweden and Alexander McCall Smith did for Botswana, American writer Zoë Ferraris, hopes to do for Saudi Arabia, with her thriller City of Veils. The San Francisco Chronicle’s review says that Ferraris follows the formula for successful global crime fiction, and feels fresh.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/13/RVQ01ER7HI.DTL
Keith Oatley's new novel Therefore Choose (the title is based on a phrase from Dante) follows a Berlin love triangle through war and its aftermath.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/847623--therefore-choose-a-love-triangle-informed-by-world-war-ii
Boyd Tonkin describes A.B. Yehoshua’s Friendly Fire – last year shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize – as a bitingly well-observed novel.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/friendly-fire-by-a-b-yehoshua-2050887.html
"In the end, there is magic" says Kate Webb in her review of Started Early, Took My Dog, the fourth of Kate Atkinson's books about the private detective Jackson Brodie.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article7165158.ece
In Doggy Slippers, Mexican poet Jorge Luján, with illustrations by Argentinian artist Isol, brings to life the thoughts kids have about their precious pets.
http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/activities/familytime/stories/article/846831--doggy-slippers-a-mexican-poet-brings-to-vivid-life-the-thoughts-kids-have-about-their-precious-pets
Katie Roiphe writes that any dreamy or bookish girl who once loved "Harriet the Spy" should immediately take up The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton, a lively new biography by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/books/review/Roiphe-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema4
The story in Howard Norman's What is Left the Daughter is large, set against the backdrop of a simmering war whose violence sometimes hits close to home.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2012607766_br13norman.html
The NY Times review adds that What is Left the Daughter is a novel about the illogic of love and the violent chaos it leaves in its wake. And the book ends on a promise.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/books/review/Wallace-t.html
Here is an excerpt:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/books/review/excerpt-what-is-left-the-daughter.html?ref=review
COMMUNITY EVENTS
THE MAIN STREET MAGAZINE TOUR
The Magazine Association of B.C. presents a celebration of local arts, literary, and cultural magazines featuring readings by local poets Elizabeth Bachinsky and Jennica Harper, performances, and exhibits. August 19 at 6:00pm, free. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway. More information at www.mainstreetmagazinetour.ca.
SUMMER DREAMS AWARDS CEREMONY
Celebrate those in the writing community who deserve to be honoured. Friday, August 20 at 7:00pm. Jacana Gallery (2435 Granville Street).
SUMMER DREAMS LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL
Annual one day event showcasing and celebrating the on-going literary events, programs and resources available to the community. Features Evelyn Lau, Brad Cran and many others. Saturday, August 21. Complete details here, http://sites.google.com/site/summerdreamsfest/home.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth Slam featuring Rob Gee. Monday, August 23 at 8:00pm. Admission: $5/$3. Cafe Deux Soleils (2096 Commercial). More information at www.vancouverpoetryhouse.com
VANCOUVER THEN AND NOW
Launch of Francis Mansbridge's new book featuring a series of archival images juxtaposed with photos from the present. Thursday, August 26 at 7:00pm, free. City of Vancouver Archives, 1150 Chestnut Street. For more information, phone 604.323.7163.
JILL EDMONSON
Author reads from her new novel, Blood and Groom, part of the Castle Street Mysteries. Saturday, August 28 at 1:00pm. Indigo Marine Drive (1025 Marine Drive).
COMIX & STORIES
Vancouver Comiccon's annual event featuring independent, small-press, and alternative publishers, comics, artists, animators,
and zines. Guests include Emily Horne and Joey Comeau. Sunday, August 29 from 11am to 5pm. Tickets $4. Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street. For more information, visit www.vancouvercomiccon.com.
Upcoming
SPIDER ROBINSON
The Library's sixth Writer in Residence will read from some of his many award-winning works and talk about the writing process at his inaugural reading. Thursday, September 9 at 7:00pm, free. Alice McKay room, lower level, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
GARY GEDDES
Reading by the author from his latest book of poetry, Swimming Ginger. Monday, September 13 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen Room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information, phone 604-331-3603.
KATHY PAGE AND ALISSA YORK
Authors will be reading from their works. Saturday, September 18. Bolen Books (111 - 1644 Hillside Avenue, Victoria). For more information, visit www.kathypage.info or contact Bolen Books, (250) 595-4232.
SUSAN BOYD
Join the author as she reads from her book Hooked: Drug War Films in Britain, Canada and the United States. Wednesday, September 22 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information, phone 604-331-3738.
THE RAVEN'S GIFT
Author John Turk will read from his new book. Thursday, September 23 at 7:00pm. Banyen Books & Sound, 3608 4th Ave. West.
KOOTENAY BOOK WEEKEND
Discuss four books in small groups throughout the weekend. This year's books are The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid, The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberry and our guest author, Anita Rau Badami's book Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? September 24-26, 2010, Nelson BC. Further information and registration forms can be found here, www.kootenaybookweekend.ca.
WORD ON THE STREET
Annual event dedicated to promoting reading and literacy throughout the community. Sunday, September 26 from 11am to 6pm. Library Square, Central Libray, 350 West Georgia Street. For more information, visit www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/vancouver.
EVOLVE: VAMPIRE STORIES OF THE NEW UNDEAD
Listen to Vancouver writers Mary Choo, Sandra Wickham and Celdae (Colleen) Anderson, 3 of 22 Canadian authors featured in this most unusual and compelling collection as they re-imagine the future of vampires. Monday, September 27 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information phone 604-331-3691.
MICHAEL NICHOLL YAHGULANAAS
Reading by the author of Red. Thursday, September 30 at 1:00pm, free. Lillooet Room (level 3), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, Vancouver. More information at www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca.
Virtual Festival
The latest recording in our recently launched series of archived events from Festivals-past featuring Lorna Crozier. One of Canada's finest poets talks about her work straight from the heart. http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives
Twitter Contest
Only one day left to win tickets to Festival events and untold fame and glory, just by tweeting! Details on our website, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/get-involved/twittercontest.
Call for Volunteers
Volunteer registration for our 2010 festival October 19-24 is now on-line! Please see http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/volunteers/volunteers_needed.htm for details and on-line registration. Come and join us, it's fun and illuminating!
Special Events
John Vaillant
The author of the multi-award-winning The Golden Spruce will discuss his new book The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival, a gripping tale of man and nature in collision, that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the Siberian forest. Details here, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/vaillant.
Amazon.com has 32 short reviews of John Vaillant's The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival which indicate that many readers find the book gripping, a page-turner, and they highly recommended it. The book will be released in Canada on August 24.
http://www.amazon.com/Tiger-True-Story-Vengeance-Survival/product-reviews/0307268934/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
Alissa York and Richard Harvell
Please join us as Giller-shortlisted author Alissa York and debut novelist Richard Harvell read from their new works. Details at http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/yorkharvell.
2010 FESTIVAL AUTHORS
The following authors will be attending the Festival in October or participating in special events in the fall.
John Barber interviews Camilla Gibb on what some might see as her counter-intuitive way of preparing to write her latest novel, The Beauty of Humanity Movement.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/full-speed-ahead-into-the-unknown/article1670545/
Elaine Kalman Naves writes: "(Gibb) isn't satisfied with merely creating convincing characters and a bold plot. She educates and enlightens the reader."
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Camilla+Gibb+explores+exile+identity+belonging+Hanoi/3391233/story.html
The Guardian's summer short story special includes stories by David Mitchell, Hilary Mantel, Barbara Trapido, and others.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/14/summer-short-story-special
Richard VanCamp and Billeh Nickerson are among the authors with works on the longlists for Canada's ReLit Award, "the country's pre-eminent literary prize recognizing independent presses," according to the Globe and Mail.
http://relitawards.com/
Karl Marlantes' Matterhorn, a novel of the Vietnam war, has reopened old debates and old wounds In America. An unquestioning salute to loyalty, sacrifice and duty, writes Adam Mars Jones.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/15/matterhorn-karl-marlantes-vietnam-war
AWARDS & LISTS
What Works, by Hamish McRae, the chief economic commentator for The Independent, is on the long list for the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/independent-expert-shortlisted-for-book-award-2048052.html
Two crime novels featuring 12-year-old investigators are in the final cut for the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger award. The authors are competing against George Pelecanos' The Way Home. Scott Turow's Innocent is among those shortlisted for the Ian Fleming Silver Dagger. Four authors are shortlisted for the John Creasey New Blood Dagger for the best first novel of the year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/10/gold-dagger-nominees-child-investigators
A Thousand Dreams: Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and the Fight for its Future by Vancouver Sun reporter Lori Culbert, Larry Campbell and Neil Boyd, has been shortlisted for the George Ryga award.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/reporter+shortlisted+book+award/3411321/story.html
NEWS & FEATURES
In June a prominent critic proclaimed American literary fiction dead. But last week, for the first time in ten years, a living American author, Jonathan Franzen, was on the cover of Time magazine and his new book received ecstatic reviews.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/15/jonathan-franzen-novels-freedom-preview
It began as a plan to introduce great literature to people who would never otherwise encounter it. Now literature is being used as part of a revolutionary therapy to transform people's lives.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/brian-viner/well-read-literature-is-being-used-as-part-of-revolutionary-therapy-to-transform-peoples-lives-2049774.html
Author Stuart Kelly argues that Sir Walter Scott invented English legends, the idea of England and the idea of Scotland.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/16/walter-scott-edinburgh-book-festival
Tahar Wattar, one of Algeria's leading Arab-language writers, who used his novels to explore his nation's struggle for independence from France and its post-colonial history, has died, at 74.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/08/13/obit-wattar-tahar.html
Sir Frank Kermode, widely acclaimed as Britain's foremost literary critic, has died, aged 90.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/18/frank-kermode-dies-aged-90
Alberta poetry publisher Frontenac House is celebrating its tenth anniversary by holding a competition with new publications of the ten winners (more than twice the number of Frontenac House's usual annual publications).
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/prairie-harvest-times-10/article1670587/
Chick Lit? Women's Literature? Why not just ... Literature? asks Diane Meier responding to some reviewers derisively deciding her first novel The Season of Second Chances was, alas, chick lit.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-meier/chick-lit-womens-literatu_b_678893.html
Will poetry aid local business? The Long Beach CA business improvement association has installed two poetry boxes near local coffee shops in the hope that poetry will foster creativity in the community and, at the same time, bring people to businesses and boost sales.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/bookpatrol/archives/217845.asp
Beatrix Potter's publisher has invited actor Emma Thompson to write a new Peter Rabbit book to mark the 110th anniversary of The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 2012.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/08/16/peter-rabbit-emma-thompson.html
Marianne Ackerman interviews Dany Laferrière, whose Je suis un écrivain japonais (2009) has been translated by David Homell. I am a Japanese Writer will be published this fall.
http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2010.09-books-the-work-of-art/1/
Blake Gopnik describes the tremendous mental kick he got from reading difficult books when he was ill.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/12/AR2010081206668.html?wprss=rss_print/style
BOOKS & WRITERS
Edited extracts of Michael Frayn's new memoir My Father's Fortune: A Life reveal a man who "had a certain lightness of being".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/14/michael-frayn-memoir
What Stieg Larsson's Trilogy has done for Sweden and Alexander McCall Smith did for Botswana, American writer Zoë Ferraris, hopes to do for Saudi Arabia, with her thriller City of Veils. The San Francisco Chronicle’s review says that Ferraris follows the formula for successful global crime fiction, and feels fresh.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/13/RVQ01ER7HI.DTL
Keith Oatley's new novel Therefore Choose (the title is based on a phrase from Dante) follows a Berlin love triangle through war and its aftermath.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/847623--therefore-choose-a-love-triangle-informed-by-world-war-ii
Boyd Tonkin describes A.B. Yehoshua’s Friendly Fire – last year shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize – as a bitingly well-observed novel.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/friendly-fire-by-a-b-yehoshua-2050887.html
"In the end, there is magic" says Kate Webb in her review of Started Early, Took My Dog, the fourth of Kate Atkinson's books about the private detective Jackson Brodie.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article7165158.ece
In Doggy Slippers, Mexican poet Jorge Luján, with illustrations by Argentinian artist Isol, brings to life the thoughts kids have about their precious pets.
http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/activities/familytime/stories/article/846831--doggy-slippers-a-mexican-poet-brings-to-vivid-life-the-thoughts-kids-have-about-their-precious-pets
Katie Roiphe writes that any dreamy or bookish girl who once loved "Harriet the Spy" should immediately take up The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton, a lively new biography by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/books/review/Roiphe-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema4
The story in Howard Norman's What is Left the Daughter is large, set against the backdrop of a simmering war whose violence sometimes hits close to home.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2012607766_br13norman.html
The NY Times review adds that What is Left the Daughter is a novel about the illogic of love and the violent chaos it leaves in its wake. And the book ends on a promise.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/books/review/Wallace-t.html
Here is an excerpt:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/books/review/excerpt-what-is-left-the-daughter.html?ref=review
COMMUNITY EVENTS
THE MAIN STREET MAGAZINE TOUR
The Magazine Association of B.C. presents a celebration of local arts, literary, and cultural magazines featuring readings by local poets Elizabeth Bachinsky and Jennica Harper, performances, and exhibits. August 19 at 6:00pm, free. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway. More information at www.mainstreetmagazinetour.ca.
SUMMER DREAMS AWARDS CEREMONY
Celebrate those in the writing community who deserve to be honoured. Friday, August 20 at 7:00pm. Jacana Gallery (2435 Granville Street).
SUMMER DREAMS LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL
Annual one day event showcasing and celebrating the on-going literary events, programs and resources available to the community. Features Evelyn Lau, Brad Cran and many others. Saturday, August 21. Complete details here, http://sites.google.com/site/summerdreamsfest/home.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth Slam featuring Rob Gee. Monday, August 23 at 8:00pm. Admission: $5/$3. Cafe Deux Soleils (2096 Commercial). More information at www.vancouverpoetryhouse.com
VANCOUVER THEN AND NOW
Launch of Francis Mansbridge's new book featuring a series of archival images juxtaposed with photos from the present. Thursday, August 26 at 7:00pm, free. City of Vancouver Archives, 1150 Chestnut Street. For more information, phone 604.323.7163.
JILL EDMONSON
Author reads from her new novel, Blood and Groom, part of the Castle Street Mysteries. Saturday, August 28 at 1:00pm. Indigo Marine Drive (1025 Marine Drive).
COMIX & STORIES
Vancouver Comiccon's annual event featuring independent, small-press, and alternative publishers, comics, artists, animators,
and zines. Guests include Emily Horne and Joey Comeau. Sunday, August 29 from 11am to 5pm. Tickets $4. Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street. For more information, visit www.vancouvercomiccon.com.
Upcoming
SPIDER ROBINSON
The Library's sixth Writer in Residence will read from some of his many award-winning works and talk about the writing process at his inaugural reading. Thursday, September 9 at 7:00pm, free. Alice McKay room, lower level, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
GARY GEDDES
Reading by the author from his latest book of poetry, Swimming Ginger. Monday, September 13 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen Room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information, phone 604-331-3603.
KATHY PAGE AND ALISSA YORK
Authors will be reading from their works. Saturday, September 18. Bolen Books (111 - 1644 Hillside Avenue, Victoria). For more information, visit www.kathypage.info or contact Bolen Books, (250) 595-4232.
SUSAN BOYD
Join the author as she reads from her book Hooked: Drug War Films in Britain, Canada and the United States. Wednesday, September 22 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information, phone 604-331-3738.
THE RAVEN'S GIFT
Author John Turk will read from his new book. Thursday, September 23 at 7:00pm. Banyen Books & Sound, 3608 4th Ave. West.
KOOTENAY BOOK WEEKEND
Discuss four books in small groups throughout the weekend. This year's books are The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid, The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberry and our guest author, Anita Rau Badami's book Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? September 24-26, 2010, Nelson BC. Further information and registration forms can be found here, www.kootenaybookweekend.ca.
WORD ON THE STREET
Annual event dedicated to promoting reading and literacy throughout the community. Sunday, September 26 from 11am to 6pm. Library Square, Central Libray, 350 West Georgia Street. For more information, visit www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/vancouver.
EVOLVE: VAMPIRE STORIES OF THE NEW UNDEAD
Listen to Vancouver writers Mary Choo, Sandra Wickham and Celdae (Colleen) Anderson, 3 of 22 Canadian authors featured in this most unusual and compelling collection as they re-imagine the future of vampires. Monday, September 27 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information phone 604-331-3691.
MICHAEL NICHOLL YAHGULANAAS
Reading by the author of Red. Thursday, September 30 at 1:00pm, free. Lillooet Room (level 3), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, Vancouver. More information at www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Book News Vol. 5 No. 35
BOOK NEWS
Virtual Festival
The latest recording in our recently launched series of archived events from Festivals-past featuring Kate Braid, Annabel Lyon and Thomas Trofimuk. Putting words in the mouths of great philosophers, explorers and musicians is no easy task. Find out how these three authors meet the challenge. http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives
Twitter Contest
Win tickets to Festival events and untold fame and glory, just by tweeting! Details on our website, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/get-involved/twittercontest.
Special Events
Alexander McCall Smith
The Cellist of Sarajevo author Steven Galloway talks with Alexander McCall Smith, bestselling author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency about his forthcoming book, Corduroy Mansions. Complete details on our website, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/mccallsmith. The National Post, quoting the Vancouver Sun, describes Alexander McCall Smith's Corduroy Mansions as cosy and comfortable—with maybe just the tiniest hint of cynicism. http://arts.nationalpost.com/2010/08/09/buy-it-or-skip-it-corduroy-mansions/.
John Vaillant
The author of the multi-award-winning The Golden Spruce will discuss his new book The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival, a gripping tale of man and nature in collision, that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the Siberian forest. Details here, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/vaillant.
Alissa York and Richard Harvell
Please join us as Giller-shortlisted author Alissa York and debut novelist Richard Harvell read from their new works. Details at http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/yorkharvell.
2010 FESTIVAL AUTHORS
The following authors will be attending the Festival in October or participating in special events in the fall.
More accolades for Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story appeared in Sunday's NY Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/books/review/Wood-t.html?_r=1&nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3
An excerpt can be found here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/books/excerpt-super-sad-true-love-story.html?ref=review
"Dystopia is my middle name" is one of Shteyngart's responses to questions from Deborah Solomon in the NY Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/magazine/18fob-q4-t.html?ref=review
Boyd Tonkin interviews Emma Donoghue on the universal story in her latest novel.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/room-with-a-panoramic-view-how-emma-donoghues-latest-novel-aims-to-tell-a-universal-story-2044373.html
At the heart of the book is a kind of parable of the mother-child relationship, says Susanna Rustin.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/07/emma-donoghue-room-booker-review
"It's both hard to put down and profoundly affecting" writes Robert Collins about Donaghue's Room.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/07/critical-eye-book-reviews-roundup
Like one of the characters in her new collection Greedy Little Eyes, Billie Livingston may be a scavenger, but her stories are generous and wistful, writes Ryan Biggs in The Star.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/844588--greedy-little-eyes-stories-of-observance
David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is one of the books recommended in The Star's list of what Toronto's top minds are reading this summer.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/844850--what-toronto-s-top-minds-are-reading-this-summer
The graphic novel Good-bye Marianne by Irene N. Watts and illustrated by Kathryn Shoemaker, is adapted from a story book for young adults under the same name, reviewer Norman Ravinn writes: "Because of its artwork, it is the kind of book a reader might return to and muse over."
http://tinyurl.com/2earzh2
AWARDS & LISTS
A review of Rana Dasgupta's Commonwealth Writers' Prize-winning Solo informs us that The Telegraph (U.K.) has its own 20 under 40 list, which includes Dasgupta.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-solo-by-rana-dasgupta/article1664380/
NEWS & FEATURES
Tony Judt, one of America's leading intellectuals, died in New York last week of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). Perhaps the most detailed description of the impact of Judt's scholarship and writing on the history of the modern world is by his friend and colleague Geoffrey Wheatcroft, writing in the Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/08/tony-judt-obituary
The New York Review of Books has links to recent articles by Judt in the Review.
http://www.nybooks.com/
As a tribute, the Guardian has published one of Judt’s final essays.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/09/tony-judt-words-all-we-have-tribute
Robert McCrum achieves a rare interview with author Don De Lillo.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/08/don-delillo-mccrum-interview
The latest New Yorker includes a Q&A with Canadian author David Bezmozgis, one of its 20 under 40.
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/06/14/100614fi_fiction_20under40_qa_david-bezmozgis
His story The Train of Their Departure is included in the same issue.
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/08/09/100809fi_fiction_bezmozgis
Some find the 'chick-lit' label offensive: does 'light' have to mean 'stupid'?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/05/chick-lit-debate-michele-gorman
Nature on the brink is a hot theme for novels right now. The best might have been written in 1851.
http://thetyee.ca/Books/2010/07/28/EcoThrillers/
What happened to sex in the British novel? Andrew Motion, the former poet laureate, has a theory.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/01/sex-british-novel-chatterley
The Guardian interviews Howard Jacobson on being a comic writer (not a humorist). Jacobson's The Finkler Question is on the Booker Prize longlist.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/07/howard-jacobson-life-writing
PEI poet Tanya Davis has transformed her poem about combating loneliness into a song in a music video on YouTube. The video has had over 600,000 views.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2010/08/09/pei-youtube-video-hit-584.html
More than 1 million books were published in the U.S. last year, with "nontraditional" titles counting more than double the commercial titles.
http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/article_a53f72cd-28df-5d1e-8f77-265422a378c3.html
The Awl has printed a list of the books that kids (including those not so young) are stealing these days.
http://www.theawl.com/2010/08/the-most-stolen-books-at-mcnally-jackson
BOOKS & WRITERS
Robin McKie names Merchants of Doubt his runaway contender for best science book of the year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/08/merchants-of-doubt-oreskes-conway
Sometimes Lydia Davis takes a word for a walk, writes Christopher Taylor in his review of her Collected Stories.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/07/collected-stories-lydia-davis-review
Adam Ross's Mr. Peanut is a tour de force of literary gamesmanship that never takes itself too seriously, writes Robert J. Wiersema.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/dead+woman+plate+peanuts/3371294/story.html
In his review, Scott Turow writes that "Adam Ross's daring first novel is a bleakly convincing portrayal of the eternal contest that often passes for a marriage."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/books/review/Turow-t.html?ref=bookreviews
Here is an excerpt:
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307270702&view=excerpt
A hardboiled detective tale, a fictional Parisian lawyer, and the Dreyfus Affair are three components that make Kate Taylor's A Man in Uniform a wonderful read.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/bookreviews/article/840999--a-man-in-uniform-the-dreyfus-affair-spurs-a-rollicking-novel
Mark Frutkin in the Globe adds that the novel is a bracing reminder that we dare not have blind faith in our leaders.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-a-man-in-uniform-by-kate-taylor/article1662940/
Nadine Gordimer's Telling Times: Writing and Living, 1954-2008 brings together 91 pieces of her non-fiction written over 55 years.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/index.html
The Washington Post reviews two books on advertising—The Age of Persuasion by CBC regulars Terry O'Reilly and Mike Tennant and Storytelling by French author Christian Salmon. No longer do storytelling and advertising share the same multimedia bed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/30/AR2010073002548.html
Tim Congdon argues in the Times Literary Supplement that Niall Ferguson is wrong to put the banker Siegmund Warburg on a moral pedestal.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article7164546.ece
Booker-longlisted novel The Slap has been described as a 'modern masterpiece' and 'unbelievably misogynistic'. Christos Tsiolkas denies it's misogynistic, and is pleased it's making readers angry.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/07/the-slap-christos-tsiolkas
Toronto's Poet Laureate Dionne Brand's new collection of her work, Ossuaries, says reviewer Barbara Carey, offers only a glimmer of hopefulness.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/bookreviews/article/844523--ossuaries-dionne-brand-s-new-collection-ponders-the-fragile-fragile-promise-of-humanity
Wayne Grady finds Paul Greenberg's thesis in Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food to be compelling. We are doing the same thing to fish that we have done to mammals and birds.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-four-fish-the-future-of-the-last-wild-food-by-paul-greenberg/article1662788/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
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.
US AND THE SIREN OF HOWE SOUND
The Shebeen Club presents a night in celebration of the recent publication of poet Heather Haley's Three Blocks West of Wonderland. Monday, August 16 at 7:00pm. Tickets $20 and include dinner and a drink. Shebeen Whisk(e)y House (behind 212 Carrall Street). More information at www.theshebeenclub.com.
PEN IN HAND
Monthly reading series, this week featuring Gisela Ruebsaat, Joy Huebert and Katrin Horowitz with their new book Pathways Not Posted. Monday, August 16 at 7:30pm. Serious Coffee (230 Cook Street, Victoria). For more information, email ainbinder.collins@gmail.com.
THE MAIN STREET MAGAZINE TOUR
The Magazine Association of B.C. presents a celebration of local arts, literary, and cultural magazines featuring readings by local poets Elizabeth Bachinsky and Jennica Harper, performances, and exhibits. August 19 at 6:00pm, free. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway. More information at www.mainstreetmagazinetour.ca.
SUMMER DREAMS AWARDS CEREMONY
Celebrate those in the writing community who deserve to be honoured. Friday, August 20 at 7:00pm. Jacana Gallery (2435 Granville Street).
SUMMER DREAMS LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL
Annual one day event showcasing and celebrating the on-going literary events, programs and resources available to the community. Features Evelyn Lau, Brad Cran and many others. Saturday, August 21. Complete details here, http://sites.google.com/site/summerdreamsfest/home.
Upcoming
VANCOUVER THEN AND NOW
Launch of Francis Mansbridge's new book featuring a series of archival images juxtaposed with photos from the present. Thursday, August 26 at 7:00pm, free. City of Vancouver Archives, 1150 Chestnut Street. For more information, phone 604.323.7163.
JILL EDMONSON
Author reads from her new novel, Blood and Groom, part of the Castle Street Mysteries. Saturday, August 28 at 1:00pm. Indigo Marine Drive (1025 Marine Drive).
COMIX & STORIES
Vancouver Comiccon's annual event featuring independent, small-press, and alternative publishers, comics, artists, animators,
and zines. Guests include Emily Horne and Joey Comeau. Sunday, August 29 from 11am to 5pm. Tickets $4. Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street. For more information, visit www.vancouvercomiccon.com.
GARY GEDDES
Reading by the author from his latest book of poetry, Swimming Ginger. Monday, September 13 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen Room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information, phone 604-331-3603.
KATHY PAGE AND ALISSA YORK
Authors will be reading from their works. Saturday, September 18. Bolen Books (111 - 1644 Hillside Avenue, Victoria). For more information, visit www.kathypage.info or contact Bolen Books, (250) 595-4232.
SUSAN BOYD
Join the author as she reads from her book Hooked: Drug War Films in Britain, Canada and the United States. Wednesday, September 22 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information, phone 604-331-3738.
THE RAVEN'S GIFT
Author John Turk will read from his new book. Thursday, September 23 at 7:00pm. Banyen Books & Sound, 3608 4th Ave. West.
KOOTENAY BOOK WEEKEND
Discuss four books in small groups throughout the weekend. This year's books are The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid, The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberry and our guest author, Anita Rau Badami's book Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? September 24-26, 2010, Nelson BC. Further information and registration forms can be found here, www.kootenaybookweekend.ca.
WORD ON THE STREET
Annual event dedicated to promoting reading and literacy throughout the community. Sunday, September 26 from 11am to 6pm. Library Square, Central Libray, 350 West Georgia Street. For more information, visit www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/vancouver.
EVOLVE: VAMPIRE STORIES OF THE NEW UNDEAD
Listen to Vancouver writers Mary Choo, Sandra Wickham and Celdae (Colleen) Anderson, 3 of 22 Canadian authors featured in this most unusual and compelling collection as they re-imagine the future of vampires. Monday, September 27 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information phone 604-331-3691.
MICHAEL NICHOLL YAHGULANAAS
Reading by the author of Red. Thursday, September 30 at 1:00pm, free. Lillooet Room (level 3), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, Vancouver. More information at www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca.
Virtual Festival
The latest recording in our recently launched series of archived events from Festivals-past featuring Kate Braid, Annabel Lyon and Thomas Trofimuk. Putting words in the mouths of great philosophers, explorers and musicians is no easy task. Find out how these three authors meet the challenge. http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives
Twitter Contest
Win tickets to Festival events and untold fame and glory, just by tweeting! Details on our website, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/get-involved/twittercontest.
Special Events
Alexander McCall Smith
The Cellist of Sarajevo author Steven Galloway talks with Alexander McCall Smith, bestselling author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency about his forthcoming book, Corduroy Mansions. Complete details on our website, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/mccallsmith. The National Post, quoting the Vancouver Sun, describes Alexander McCall Smith's Corduroy Mansions as cosy and comfortable—with maybe just the tiniest hint of cynicism. http://arts.nationalpost.com/2010/08/09/buy-it-or-skip-it-corduroy-mansions/.
John Vaillant
The author of the multi-award-winning The Golden Spruce will discuss his new book The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival, a gripping tale of man and nature in collision, that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the Siberian forest. Details here, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/vaillant.
Alissa York and Richard Harvell
Please join us as Giller-shortlisted author Alissa York and debut novelist Richard Harvell read from their new works. Details at http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/yorkharvell.
2010 FESTIVAL AUTHORS
The following authors will be attending the Festival in October or participating in special events in the fall.
More accolades for Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story appeared in Sunday's NY Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/books/review/Wood-t.html?_r=1&nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3
An excerpt can be found here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/books/excerpt-super-sad-true-love-story.html?ref=review
"Dystopia is my middle name" is one of Shteyngart's responses to questions from Deborah Solomon in the NY Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/magazine/18fob-q4-t.html?ref=review
Boyd Tonkin interviews Emma Donoghue on the universal story in her latest novel.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/room-with-a-panoramic-view-how-emma-donoghues-latest-novel-aims-to-tell-a-universal-story-2044373.html
At the heart of the book is a kind of parable of the mother-child relationship, says Susanna Rustin.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/07/emma-donoghue-room-booker-review
"It's both hard to put down and profoundly affecting" writes Robert Collins about Donaghue's Room.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/07/critical-eye-book-reviews-roundup
Like one of the characters in her new collection Greedy Little Eyes, Billie Livingston may be a scavenger, but her stories are generous and wistful, writes Ryan Biggs in The Star.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/844588--greedy-little-eyes-stories-of-observance
David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is one of the books recommended in The Star's list of what Toronto's top minds are reading this summer.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/844850--what-toronto-s-top-minds-are-reading-this-summer
The graphic novel Good-bye Marianne by Irene N. Watts and illustrated by Kathryn Shoemaker, is adapted from a story book for young adults under the same name, reviewer Norman Ravinn writes: "Because of its artwork, it is the kind of book a reader might return to and muse over."
http://tinyurl.com/2earzh2
AWARDS & LISTS
A review of Rana Dasgupta's Commonwealth Writers' Prize-winning Solo informs us that The Telegraph (U.K.) has its own 20 under 40 list, which includes Dasgupta.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-solo-by-rana-dasgupta/article1664380/
NEWS & FEATURES
Tony Judt, one of America's leading intellectuals, died in New York last week of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). Perhaps the most detailed description of the impact of Judt's scholarship and writing on the history of the modern world is by his friend and colleague Geoffrey Wheatcroft, writing in the Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/08/tony-judt-obituary
The New York Review of Books has links to recent articles by Judt in the Review.
http://www.nybooks.com/
As a tribute, the Guardian has published one of Judt’s final essays.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/09/tony-judt-words-all-we-have-tribute
Robert McCrum achieves a rare interview with author Don De Lillo.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/08/don-delillo-mccrum-interview
The latest New Yorker includes a Q&A with Canadian author David Bezmozgis, one of its 20 under 40.
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/06/14/100614fi_fiction_20under40_qa_david-bezmozgis
His story The Train of Their Departure is included in the same issue.
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/08/09/100809fi_fiction_bezmozgis
Some find the 'chick-lit' label offensive: does 'light' have to mean 'stupid'?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/05/chick-lit-debate-michele-gorman
Nature on the brink is a hot theme for novels right now. The best might have been written in 1851.
http://thetyee.ca/Books/2010/07/28/EcoThrillers/
What happened to sex in the British novel? Andrew Motion, the former poet laureate, has a theory.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/01/sex-british-novel-chatterley
The Guardian interviews Howard Jacobson on being a comic writer (not a humorist). Jacobson's The Finkler Question is on the Booker Prize longlist.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/07/howard-jacobson-life-writing
PEI poet Tanya Davis has transformed her poem about combating loneliness into a song in a music video on YouTube. The video has had over 600,000 views.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2010/08/09/pei-youtube-video-hit-584.html
More than 1 million books were published in the U.S. last year, with "nontraditional" titles counting more than double the commercial titles.
http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/article_a53f72cd-28df-5d1e-8f77-265422a378c3.html
The Awl has printed a list of the books that kids (including those not so young) are stealing these days.
http://www.theawl.com/2010/08/the-most-stolen-books-at-mcnally-jackson
BOOKS & WRITERS
Robin McKie names Merchants of Doubt his runaway contender for best science book of the year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/08/merchants-of-doubt-oreskes-conway
Sometimes Lydia Davis takes a word for a walk, writes Christopher Taylor in his review of her Collected Stories.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/07/collected-stories-lydia-davis-review
Adam Ross's Mr. Peanut is a tour de force of literary gamesmanship that never takes itself too seriously, writes Robert J. Wiersema.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/dead+woman+plate+peanuts/3371294/story.html
In his review, Scott Turow writes that "Adam Ross's daring first novel is a bleakly convincing portrayal of the eternal contest that often passes for a marriage."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/books/review/Turow-t.html?ref=bookreviews
Here is an excerpt:
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307270702&view=excerpt
A hardboiled detective tale, a fictional Parisian lawyer, and the Dreyfus Affair are three components that make Kate Taylor's A Man in Uniform a wonderful read.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/bookreviews/article/840999--a-man-in-uniform-the-dreyfus-affair-spurs-a-rollicking-novel
Mark Frutkin in the Globe adds that the novel is a bracing reminder that we dare not have blind faith in our leaders.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-a-man-in-uniform-by-kate-taylor/article1662940/
Nadine Gordimer's Telling Times: Writing and Living, 1954-2008 brings together 91 pieces of her non-fiction written over 55 years.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/index.html
The Washington Post reviews two books on advertising—The Age of Persuasion by CBC regulars Terry O'Reilly and Mike Tennant and Storytelling by French author Christian Salmon. No longer do storytelling and advertising share the same multimedia bed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/30/AR2010073002548.html
Tim Congdon argues in the Times Literary Supplement that Niall Ferguson is wrong to put the banker Siegmund Warburg on a moral pedestal.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article7164546.ece
Booker-longlisted novel The Slap has been described as a 'modern masterpiece' and 'unbelievably misogynistic'. Christos Tsiolkas denies it's misogynistic, and is pleased it's making readers angry.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/07/the-slap-christos-tsiolkas
Toronto's Poet Laureate Dionne Brand's new collection of her work, Ossuaries, says reviewer Barbara Carey, offers only a glimmer of hopefulness.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/bookreviews/article/844523--ossuaries-dionne-brand-s-new-collection-ponders-the-fragile-fragile-promise-of-humanity
Wayne Grady finds Paul Greenberg's thesis in Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food to be compelling. We are doing the same thing to fish that we have done to mammals and birds.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-four-fish-the-future-of-the-last-wild-food-by-paul-greenberg/article1662788/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
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.
US AND THE SIREN OF HOWE SOUND
The Shebeen Club presents a night in celebration of the recent publication of poet Heather Haley's Three Blocks West of Wonderland. Monday, August 16 at 7:00pm. Tickets $20 and include dinner and a drink. Shebeen Whisk(e)y House (behind 212 Carrall Street). More information at www.theshebeenclub.com.
PEN IN HAND
Monthly reading series, this week featuring Gisela Ruebsaat, Joy Huebert and Katrin Horowitz with their new book Pathways Not Posted. Monday, August 16 at 7:30pm. Serious Coffee (230 Cook Street, Victoria). For more information, email ainbinder.collins@gmail.com.
THE MAIN STREET MAGAZINE TOUR
The Magazine Association of B.C. presents a celebration of local arts, literary, and cultural magazines featuring readings by local poets Elizabeth Bachinsky and Jennica Harper, performances, and exhibits. August 19 at 6:00pm, free. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway. More information at www.mainstreetmagazinetour.ca.
SUMMER DREAMS AWARDS CEREMONY
Celebrate those in the writing community who deserve to be honoured. Friday, August 20 at 7:00pm. Jacana Gallery (2435 Granville Street).
SUMMER DREAMS LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL
Annual one day event showcasing and celebrating the on-going literary events, programs and resources available to the community. Features Evelyn Lau, Brad Cran and many others. Saturday, August 21. Complete details here, http://sites.google.com/site/summerdreamsfest/home.
Upcoming
VANCOUVER THEN AND NOW
Launch of Francis Mansbridge's new book featuring a series of archival images juxtaposed with photos from the present. Thursday, August 26 at 7:00pm, free. City of Vancouver Archives, 1150 Chestnut Street. For more information, phone 604.323.7163.
JILL EDMONSON
Author reads from her new novel, Blood and Groom, part of the Castle Street Mysteries. Saturday, August 28 at 1:00pm. Indigo Marine Drive (1025 Marine Drive).
COMIX & STORIES
Vancouver Comiccon's annual event featuring independent, small-press, and alternative publishers, comics, artists, animators,
and zines. Guests include Emily Horne and Joey Comeau. Sunday, August 29 from 11am to 5pm. Tickets $4. Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street. For more information, visit www.vancouvercomiccon.com.
GARY GEDDES
Reading by the author from his latest book of poetry, Swimming Ginger. Monday, September 13 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen Room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information, phone 604-331-3603.
KATHY PAGE AND ALISSA YORK
Authors will be reading from their works. Saturday, September 18. Bolen Books (111 - 1644 Hillside Avenue, Victoria). For more information, visit www.kathypage.info or contact Bolen Books, (250) 595-4232.
SUSAN BOYD
Join the author as she reads from her book Hooked: Drug War Films in Britain, Canada and the United States. Wednesday, September 22 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information, phone 604-331-3738.
THE RAVEN'S GIFT
Author John Turk will read from his new book. Thursday, September 23 at 7:00pm. Banyen Books & Sound, 3608 4th Ave. West.
KOOTENAY BOOK WEEKEND
Discuss four books in small groups throughout the weekend. This year's books are The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid, The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberry and our guest author, Anita Rau Badami's book Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? September 24-26, 2010, Nelson BC. Further information and registration forms can be found here, www.kootenaybookweekend.ca.
WORD ON THE STREET
Annual event dedicated to promoting reading and literacy throughout the community. Sunday, September 26 from 11am to 6pm. Library Square, Central Libray, 350 West Georgia Street. For more information, visit www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/vancouver.
EVOLVE: VAMPIRE STORIES OF THE NEW UNDEAD
Listen to Vancouver writers Mary Choo, Sandra Wickham and Celdae (Colleen) Anderson, 3 of 22 Canadian authors featured in this most unusual and compelling collection as they re-imagine the future of vampires. Monday, September 27 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information phone 604-331-3691.
MICHAEL NICHOLL YAHGULANAAS
Reading by the author of Red. Thursday, September 30 at 1:00pm, free. Lillooet Room (level 3), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, Vancouver. More information at www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Book News Vol. 5 No. 34
BOOK NEWS
Virtual Festival
The latest recording in our recently launched series of archived events from Festivals-past. Travel back in time to the mid-sixties, the height of Beatlemania, with Patricia Young. http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives
Twitter Contest
Win tickets to Festival events and untold fame and glory, just by tweeting! Details on our website, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/get-involved/twittercontest.
Special Events
Alexander McCall Smith
The Cellist of Sarajevo author Steven Galloway talks with Alexander McCall Smith, bestselling author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency about his forthcoming book, Corduroy Mansions. Complete details on our website, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/mccallsmith.
The Washington Post describes Alexander McCall Smith's Corduroy Mansions as part Restoration comedy and part Victorian novel, tossed with a dash of mystery and a dollop of satire.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/27/AR2010072705064.html
John Vaillant
The author of the multi-award-winning The Golden Spruce will discuss his new book The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival, a gripping tale of man and nature in collision, that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the Siberian forest. Details here, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/vaillant.
Alissa York and Richard Harvell
Please join us as Giller-shortlisted author Alissa York and debut novelist Richard Harvell read from their new works. Details at http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/yorkharvell.
2010 FESTIVAL AUTHORS
The following authors will be attending the Festival in October or participating in special events in the fall.
Lee Ferguson interviews David Mitchell for the CBC, about his novel The Thousand Autumns of Jakob De Zoet.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/07/29/f-david-mitchell-thousand-autumns-jacob-de-zoet.html
" 'Write what you know' will only carry you so far", says David Mitchell in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/22/NS271EFGM2.DTL&type=books
Lenny Abramov is old (he’s 39!) and he likes to read: two strikes against him. The LA Times finds Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story "devastatingly funny".
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-gary-shteyngart-20100725,0,4076018.story
Ron Charles says Shteyngart's novel follows today's most ominous trend lines to a post-literate America that abhors books, newspapers and even conversation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/27/AR2010072705665.html
Is it true that Shteyngart can't read, as he claims in the YouTube video that accompanies this CBC interview?
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/08/03/f-gary-shteyngart-super-sad-true-love-story.html
Emma Donoghue's novel is a gem, says Nicola Barr in the Observer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/01/room-emma-donoghue-review-fritzl
The Montreal Gazette says that Alissa York's Fauna is strange and disturbing in the best ways.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Alissa+York+Fauna+strange+disturbing+best+ways/3338342/story.html
In The Star, Barbara Carey writes that Fauna presents a threatened sanctuary for humans and animals alike.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/bookreviews/article/841021--fauna-a-wounded-community-gathers-in-a-toronto-ravine
The Globe and Mail describes it as a rich novel layered with astonishing detail.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-fauna-by-alissa-york/article1656285/
In an interview, York discusses our changing relationship with nature.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/nurturing-inspiration-from-nature/article1656304/
NEWS & FEATURES
The Guardian has a podcast interview of P.D. James in honour of James' 90th birthday on Tuesday, August 3rd.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/video/2010/aug/03/pd-james-crime
The privacy of reading e-books has an impact on social relationships.
http://www.slate.com/id/2261955/?from=rss
And on your trip to your local coffee shop.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/no-e-books-allowed-in-this-establishment/
A Globe and Mail editorial states that reports of the demise of the book are exaggerated.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/reports-of-the-demise-of-books-greatly-exaggerated/article1661588/
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince is being revived on TV, film, and in print.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/01/little-prince-return-multimedia
Is the Booker a barometer of the best literature? Novelist Patrick Neate and the Observer's associate editor Robert McCrum debate.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/01/debate-booker-prize-barometer-literature
This past weekend marked the 75th anniversary of the very first book to roll off the Penguin presses. It's also the seventh month of celebrations.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/21/penguins-next-march
Colour-coded paperbacks launched in 1935 as cheap, disposable fiction have now become collectible items.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/30/penguin-books-turns-75-anniversary
Puffin's 70th anniversary celebrations include a new issue of a novel from its every decade.
http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/education/article/841009--the-welcome-return-of-3-kid-lit-classics
While newspapers everywhere struggle to survive, Mon Quotidien, a French newspaper for children, is thriving.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/world/europe/27paris.html
Åsne Seierstad defends her approach to writing The Bookseller of Kabul.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/jul/31/bookseller-of-kabul-interview-asne-seierstad
Neil Gaiman has won a second lawsuit based on a a comic series' use of characters derived from Gaiman's characters.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/08/03/gaiman-spawn-lawsuit.html
Francine Prose argues that Anne Frank's diary is a work of art by a precocious young writer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/01/anne-frank-diary-robert-mccrum
BOOKS & WRITERS
Steven Hayward describes David Nicholls' One Day as "like Groundhog Day with a touch of Jane Austen".
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-one-day-by-david-nicholls/article1656349/
Sam Sifton, the NY Times' restaurant critic describes Paul Greenberg’s Four Fish as "a necessary book for anyone truly interested in what we take from the sea to eat, and how, and why".
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/books/review/Sifton-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema1&pagewanted=all
Ian Sansom is exhausted just reading about Jack London's eventful life in James L Haley's Wolf: The Lives of Jack London.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/31/wolf-jack-london-haley-review
Graham Greene's five brothers and sisters were all, in their different ways, involved in acts of subterfuge. Jeremy Lewis' Shades of Greene: One Generation of an English Family fills a number of the blanks in the life of the author of The Third Man.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/31/shades-greene-jeremy-lewis-review
Helen Dunmore's The Betrayal is a sequel to the The Siege, recently longlisted for the Man Booker prize. Both take place in Leningrad, the first during the 1941-42 siege; the second, exactly 10 years later. The narrative is compelling.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-the-betrayal-by-helen-dunmore/article1656258/
Niall Ferguson's High Financier takes us to a time when bankers thought of themselves as rather like family doctors. The NY Times concludes that "The man who emerges from "High Financier" is more interesting for who he was than for what he did."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/books/review/Ahamed-t.html?ref=books
The Globe and Mail review of High Financier sees Siegmund Warburg differently, as someone for whom "money was never the end but always a means to a more abstract intellectual purpose".
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-high-financier-the-lives-and-times-of-siegmund-warburg-by-niall-ferguson/article1656057/
Christos Tsiolkas' Man Booker-longlisted novel The Slap is the most divisive Booker novel in years, described as "offensive", full of "unbelievable misogyny", and commendable author bravery in tackling uncomfortable truths.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/31/the-slap-christos-tsiolkas-booker
American short story writer Lydia Davis is famous for writing short pieces that are sometimes only a sentence long; still, they are stories.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/01/lydia-davis-interview-reaction-proust
COMMUNITY EVENTS
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.
Upcoming
SUMMER DREAMS AWARDS CEREMONY
Celebrate those in the writing community who deserve to be honoured. Friday, August 20 at 7:00pm. Jacana Gallery (2435 Granville Street).
SUMMER DREAMS LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL
Annual one day event showcasing and celebrating the on-going literary events, programs and resources available to the community. Features Evelyn Lau, Brad Cran and many others. Saturday, August 21. Complete details here, http://sites.google.com/site/summerdreamsfest/home.
JILL EDMONSON
Author reads from her new novel, Blood and Groom, part of the Castle Street Mysteries. Saturday, August 28 at 1:00pm. Indigo Marine Drive (1025 Marine Drive).
GARY GEDDES
Reading by the author from his latest book of poetry, Swimming Ginger. Monday, September 13 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen Room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information, phone 604-331-3603.
SUSAN BOYD
Join the author as she reads from her book Hooked: Drug War Films in Britain, Canada and the United States. Wednesday, September 22 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information, phone 604-331-3738.
EVOLVE: VAMPIRE STORIES OF THE NEW UNDEAD
Listen to Vancouver writers Mary Choo, Sandra Wickham and Celdae (Colleen) Anderson, 3 of 22 Canadian authors featured in this most unusual and compelling collection as they re-imagine the future of vampires. Monday, September 27 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information phone 604-331-3691.
MICHAEL NICHOLL YAHGULANAAS
Reading by the author of Red. Thursday, September 30 at 1:00pm, free. Lillooet Room (level 3), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, Vancouver. More information at www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca.
Virtual Festival
The latest recording in our recently launched series of archived events from Festivals-past. Travel back in time to the mid-sixties, the height of Beatlemania, with Patricia Young. http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives
Twitter Contest
Win tickets to Festival events and untold fame and glory, just by tweeting! Details on our website, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/get-involved/twittercontest.
Special Events
Alexander McCall Smith
The Cellist of Sarajevo author Steven Galloway talks with Alexander McCall Smith, bestselling author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency about his forthcoming book, Corduroy Mansions. Complete details on our website, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/mccallsmith.
The Washington Post describes Alexander McCall Smith's Corduroy Mansions as part Restoration comedy and part Victorian novel, tossed with a dash of mystery and a dollop of satire.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/27/AR2010072705064.html
John Vaillant
The author of the multi-award-winning The Golden Spruce will discuss his new book The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival, a gripping tale of man and nature in collision, that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the Siberian forest. Details here, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/vaillant.
Alissa York and Richard Harvell
Please join us as Giller-shortlisted author Alissa York and debut novelist Richard Harvell read from their new works. Details at http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/yorkharvell.
2010 FESTIVAL AUTHORS
The following authors will be attending the Festival in October or participating in special events in the fall.
Lee Ferguson interviews David Mitchell for the CBC, about his novel The Thousand Autumns of Jakob De Zoet.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/07/29/f-david-mitchell-thousand-autumns-jacob-de-zoet.html
" 'Write what you know' will only carry you so far", says David Mitchell in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/22/NS271EFGM2.DTL&type=books
Lenny Abramov is old (he’s 39!) and he likes to read: two strikes against him. The LA Times finds Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story "devastatingly funny".
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-gary-shteyngart-20100725,0,4076018.story
Ron Charles says Shteyngart's novel follows today's most ominous trend lines to a post-literate America that abhors books, newspapers and even conversation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/27/AR2010072705665.html
Is it true that Shteyngart can't read, as he claims in the YouTube video that accompanies this CBC interview?
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/08/03/f-gary-shteyngart-super-sad-true-love-story.html
Emma Donoghue's novel is a gem, says Nicola Barr in the Observer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/01/room-emma-donoghue-review-fritzl
The Montreal Gazette says that Alissa York's Fauna is strange and disturbing in the best ways.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Alissa+York+Fauna+strange+disturbing+best+ways/3338342/story.html
In The Star, Barbara Carey writes that Fauna presents a threatened sanctuary for humans and animals alike.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/bookreviews/article/841021--fauna-a-wounded-community-gathers-in-a-toronto-ravine
The Globe and Mail describes it as a rich novel layered with astonishing detail.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-fauna-by-alissa-york/article1656285/
In an interview, York discusses our changing relationship with nature.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/nurturing-inspiration-from-nature/article1656304/
NEWS & FEATURES
The Guardian has a podcast interview of P.D. James in honour of James' 90th birthday on Tuesday, August 3rd.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/video/2010/aug/03/pd-james-crime
The privacy of reading e-books has an impact on social relationships.
http://www.slate.com/id/2261955/?from=rss
And on your trip to your local coffee shop.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/no-e-books-allowed-in-this-establishment/
A Globe and Mail editorial states that reports of the demise of the book are exaggerated.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/reports-of-the-demise-of-books-greatly-exaggerated/article1661588/
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince is being revived on TV, film, and in print.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/01/little-prince-return-multimedia
Is the Booker a barometer of the best literature? Novelist Patrick Neate and the Observer's associate editor Robert McCrum debate.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/01/debate-booker-prize-barometer-literature
This past weekend marked the 75th anniversary of the very first book to roll off the Penguin presses. It's also the seventh month of celebrations.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/21/penguins-next-march
Colour-coded paperbacks launched in 1935 as cheap, disposable fiction have now become collectible items.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/30/penguin-books-turns-75-anniversary
Puffin's 70th anniversary celebrations include a new issue of a novel from its every decade.
http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/education/article/841009--the-welcome-return-of-3-kid-lit-classics
While newspapers everywhere struggle to survive, Mon Quotidien, a French newspaper for children, is thriving.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/world/europe/27paris.html
Åsne Seierstad defends her approach to writing The Bookseller of Kabul.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/jul/31/bookseller-of-kabul-interview-asne-seierstad
Neil Gaiman has won a second lawsuit based on a a comic series' use of characters derived from Gaiman's characters.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/08/03/gaiman-spawn-lawsuit.html
Francine Prose argues that Anne Frank's diary is a work of art by a precocious young writer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/01/anne-frank-diary-robert-mccrum
BOOKS & WRITERS
Steven Hayward describes David Nicholls' One Day as "like Groundhog Day with a touch of Jane Austen".
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-one-day-by-david-nicholls/article1656349/
Sam Sifton, the NY Times' restaurant critic describes Paul Greenberg’s Four Fish as "a necessary book for anyone truly interested in what we take from the sea to eat, and how, and why".
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/books/review/Sifton-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema1&pagewanted=all
Ian Sansom is exhausted just reading about Jack London's eventful life in James L Haley's Wolf: The Lives of Jack London.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/31/wolf-jack-london-haley-review
Graham Greene's five brothers and sisters were all, in their different ways, involved in acts of subterfuge. Jeremy Lewis' Shades of Greene: One Generation of an English Family fills a number of the blanks in the life of the author of The Third Man.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/31/shades-greene-jeremy-lewis-review
Helen Dunmore's The Betrayal is a sequel to the The Siege, recently longlisted for the Man Booker prize. Both take place in Leningrad, the first during the 1941-42 siege; the second, exactly 10 years later. The narrative is compelling.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-the-betrayal-by-helen-dunmore/article1656258/
Niall Ferguson's High Financier takes us to a time when bankers thought of themselves as rather like family doctors. The NY Times concludes that "The man who emerges from "High Financier" is more interesting for who he was than for what he did."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/books/review/Ahamed-t.html?ref=books
The Globe and Mail review of High Financier sees Siegmund Warburg differently, as someone for whom "money was never the end but always a means to a more abstract intellectual purpose".
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-high-financier-the-lives-and-times-of-siegmund-warburg-by-niall-ferguson/article1656057/
Christos Tsiolkas' Man Booker-longlisted novel The Slap is the most divisive Booker novel in years, described as "offensive", full of "unbelievable misogyny", and commendable author bravery in tackling uncomfortable truths.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/31/the-slap-christos-tsiolkas-booker
American short story writer Lydia Davis is famous for writing short pieces that are sometimes only a sentence long; still, they are stories.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/01/lydia-davis-interview-reaction-proust
COMMUNITY EVENTS
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.
Upcoming
SUMMER DREAMS AWARDS CEREMONY
Celebrate those in the writing community who deserve to be honoured. Friday, August 20 at 7:00pm. Jacana Gallery (2435 Granville Street).
SUMMER DREAMS LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL
Annual one day event showcasing and celebrating the on-going literary events, programs and resources available to the community. Features Evelyn Lau, Brad Cran and many others. Saturday, August 21. Complete details here, http://sites.google.com/site/summerdreamsfest/home.
JILL EDMONSON
Author reads from her new novel, Blood and Groom, part of the Castle Street Mysteries. Saturday, August 28 at 1:00pm. Indigo Marine Drive (1025 Marine Drive).
GARY GEDDES
Reading by the author from his latest book of poetry, Swimming Ginger. Monday, September 13 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen Room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information, phone 604-331-3603.
SUSAN BOYD
Join the author as she reads from her book Hooked: Drug War Films in Britain, Canada and the United States. Wednesday, September 22 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information, phone 604-331-3738.
EVOLVE: VAMPIRE STORIES OF THE NEW UNDEAD
Listen to Vancouver writers Mary Choo, Sandra Wickham and Celdae (Colleen) Anderson, 3 of 22 Canadian authors featured in this most unusual and compelling collection as they re-imagine the future of vampires. Monday, September 27 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information phone 604-331-3691.
MICHAEL NICHOLL YAHGULANAAS
Reading by the author of Red. Thursday, September 30 at 1:00pm, free. Lillooet Room (level 3), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, Vancouver. More information at www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca.
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