BOOK NEWS
Holiday Break
We wish everyone a joyful holiday season. Book News will be taking a break for the remainder of the year and will be back on your screens on January 6.
Final call for the perfect gift for book lovers! Ignite a passion for reading and writing in your loved ones this holiday season with a gift certificate for events at the 2011 Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival (October 18–23). To purchase gift certificates (available in $20 increments), please call us at 604-681-6330 ext 0 by 11am on December 17. Non-fattening and easy to wrap!
Join the Writers Festival for a new twice-monthly series at the Central Library for illuminating readings and discussions with novelists, poets, non-fiction writers and more. Confirmed Spring appearances include 2010 Giller Prize winner Johanna Skibsrud and 2010 Giller Prize nominee Alexander MacLeod, as well as local stars Zuszsi Gartner and Timothy Taylor. Presented in partnership with the Vancouver Public Library. Info: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/readingseries.
AWARDS & LISTS
Anosh Irani's Dahanu Road is one of the 10 books on the Man Asian Literary Prize longlist. Also included is Kenzaburo Oe, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994. The shortlist will be announced in February.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/12/man-asian-longlist-announced.html
The shortlisted titles for the BC National Award for Canadian Non-fiction are: The Boy in the Moon: A Father's Search for His Disabled Son by Ian Brown; Burmese Lessons: A Love Story by Karen Connally; The Cello Suites: J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece by Eric Siblin; and The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst by Kenneth Whyte. The award will be presented January 31, 2011.
http://www.bcachievement.com/home.php
NEWS & FEATURES
Green College at the University of British Columbia has opened their Writer-in-Residence program to applications for Fall 2011, with a deadline of February 1, 2011. They are accepting applications from writers located outside of the Lower Mainland of BC, and especially welcome playwrights who also work in one or more other genres to apply.
http://www.greencollege.ubc.ca/WIR
While many Africans express their regret that Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o did not win the Nobel Prize in Literature, Daobi Tricia Nwaubani writes that African literature is better off without another Nobel...at least for now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/opinion/12nwaubani.html?_r=1&ref=nobel_prizes
Minneapolis-based independent publisher Graywolf Press has bought world rights to a first English-language collection of poetry by Chinese poet and newly anointed Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, translated by poet Jeffrey Yang. June Fourth Elegies, explores the Tiananmen Square massacre on 4 June 1989. A second book of Liu's political writings will be published by Harvard University Press in 2012.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/13/liu-xiaobo-poetry-english-nobel
Richard Lea interviews Amy Sackville, who has just won the John Llewellyn Rhys prize for her debut book, The Still Point. Lea describes Sackville as an "accidental novelist".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/07/amy-sackville-accidental-novelist?CMP=EMCGT_081210&
The New York Times' selection of the 10 best books of 2010 includes Emma Donoghue's Room.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/books/review/10-best-books-of-2010.html?_r=1&nl=books&emc=booksupdateema1
The Montreal Gazette offers a list of this year's best graphic novels and comics.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Pictures+help+tell+story+year+best+graphic+novels+comics/3953303/story.html
The Star's list of great gift books for kids can be found here:
http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/activities/pc-festive/article/904797--great-gift-books-for-kids
Globe and Mail cartoonist Anthony Jenkins talks to the artist behind the famed Doonesbury comic strip and casts some of their interview in Trudeau's unmistakable style.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/anthony-jenkins-draws-out-garry-trudeau/article1832765/
In an article responding to UK government cuts to library budgets and a key proposal that skilled librarians be replaced by volunteers, Kate Mosse writes that: "The government has little idea of what skilled and trained librarians actually do". Mosse, Phillip Pullman and others are to meet with culture minister Ed Vaizey next week.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/11/kate-mosse-libraries-books
On a recent journey on the train, Edward Docx noticed that the majority of the passengers were reading books. Then he noticed they were all reading Stieg Larsson. He argues that even good genre fiction doesn't bear comparison with works of true literary merit.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/12/genre-versus-literary-fiction-edward-docx
An early copy of Anne of Green Gables, auctioned by Sotheby's last week, sold for $37,500 US. The copy, printed in 1909, had a pre-sale estimate of $20,200 to $30,300 Cdn.
http://www.sothebys.com/app/live/lot/LotDetail.jsp?lot_id=159569681
Leah McLaren writes that she welcomes e-books, especially when she's traveling. However, the act of giving books as gifts–once the simplest of holiday rituals–has been perverted beyond recognition as a result of technology. And sharing the reading experience is no longer an option.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/leah-mclaren/how-the-rise-of-e-readers-takes-the-fun-out-of-giving-books/article1833182/
In the household of David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times Book Critic, the rule is that he and his wife will always pony up for a book. "Whatever else they are, after all, books are gifts (for the mind, the eye, the hand), which makes it downright uncharitable to deny them to anyone," he writes.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-ca-gift-david-ulin-essay-20101205,0,5779882.story
Marie Aranaaranam writes about Dave Eggers as "literary evangelist" and his passion for spreading the love of writing to the young.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/10/AR2010121005522.html
In an article reflecting on the writing life, Dave Eggers writes: "This kind of life is at odds with the romantic notions I once had, and most people have, of the writing life. We don't imagine-or I didn't imagine-quite so much sitting... And so I have to get out of the shed sometimes."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/10/AR2010121005527.html
The Guardian offers a series of Season's Readings, suggested by readers and reviewers: Laura Ingalls Wilder and Jonathan Franzen, Susan Cooper, Charles Dickens, and Babar—and more.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/season-s-readings
And The Star offers great reads for younger eyes.
http://www.thestar.com/specialsections/holidaygiftguide/article/907319--great-reads-for-younger-eyes
BOOKS & WRITERS
Alison Pick used the family stories of her own Czech grandparents' five-year escape to Canada as the inspiration for her novel Far to Go. Nancy Wigston finds the story mesmerizing.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/905278--far-to-go-novelist-alison-pick-shines
Nicholas Wroe hails 2010 as a good year for verse, and briefly reviews a dozen new books of poetry.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/11/poetry-roundup-nicholas-wroe-reviews
In his review of Thomas Powers' Crazy Horse, David Treuer writes: "More than the story of Crazy Horse or the battles between two implacable foes, Powers gives us a portrait of a place, done in the blood of the heartland. Powers has given us a great book."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/10/AR2010121007088.html
My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, edited by novelist Kate Bernheimer, includes 40 fairy tales and fairy tale-esque stories. Celebrity writers include Lydia Millet, Aimee Bender, John Updike, Chris Adrian, Neil Gaiman, Michael Cunningham and Francine Prose. These fairy tales are decidedly not for children, writes Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/my-mother-she-killed-me-my-father-he-ate-me-forty-new-fairy-tales-edited-by-kate-bernheimer/article1832665/
Joe Queenan writes that David Bajo's Panopticon, paying affectionate homage to everyone from Jorge Luis Borges to Aldous Huxley to Jim Thompson to J.G. Ballard, is a mildly futuristic science-fiction novel written by someone who can actually write.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/panopticon-by-david-bajo/article1833448/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
SERENA LEUNG
Author launches her new book Fugitives at the Mouth of Pearl River. Saturday, December 18 at 2:00pm, free. Chinatown Cultural Centre, 2nd floor 50 Pender Street E. More information at www.2ndwavetogoldenmountain.com.
CRAFTING KINGDOMS: THE ART OF BUILDING STRONG FANTASY WORLDS
VPL hosts a fantastical writing and illustration workshop with author/illustrator Lee Edward Fodi. Open to teens 13-18. Saturday, December 18 at 3:00pm, free; call 604-331-3663 to register. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street.
LISTEN! LAUGH! ENJOY!
Storytelling and music featuring Irish storyteller Philomena Jordan, Deaf Dog musicians, and the Candy Cane Circle with short open-mike stories. Sunday, December 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets $7 at the door and includes tea, treats by donation. St. Mark's Anglican Church, 1805 Larch. More information at www.vancouverstorytellers.ca.
MEMEWAR MAGAZINE CHRISTMAS PARTY
Highlights include readings from the magazine, music by the Creaking Planks and Geometric Shapes, photos with Santa, ugly sweater contest, and carolling. Bring items for the food bank and receive a free raffle ticket. Sunday, December 19 at 8:30pm. Tickets are $10 at the door. Railway Club, 579 Dunsmuir. More information at www.memewaronline.com.
Upcoming
WALK MYSELF HOME
Caitlin Press presents readings from Walk Myself Home, an anthology of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and oral interviews about violence against women, with contributions by Kate Braid, Yasuko Thahn, and Susan Musgrave. Thursday, January 13 at 7:00pm, free. Central Library, 350 W. Georgia.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Sheila Heti (How Should A Person Be?) and Bren Simmers (Night Gears). Thursday, January 13 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library Bookstore, Robson Square, plaza level, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
ANNE GIARDINI
Author reads from her warm and witty novel, Advice for Italian Boys. Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
STEVE WEINER AND SAM WHARTON
Local authors explore post World War England in their books Sweet England and Ignorant Armies with dramatically different results. Wednesday, January 19, 2011 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen Room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street.
GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY WORLD POETRY NIGHT
Seventh annual gala, celebrating Robbie Burns Day and Chinese New Year. A celebration of Chinese and Scottish traditions with a distinctly Canadian twist! Monday, January 24 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street.
DREW HAYDEN TAYLOR
Reading by the author of NEWS: Postcards from the Four Directions and Motorcycles & Sweetgrass. Thursday, January 27 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library Bookstore, Robson Square, plaza level, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
STEVEN HEIGHTON
One of Canada's finest writers, Steven Heighton reads from Every Lost Country. Wednesday, February 2 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD
Writers' Trust co-founder Margaret Atwood will narrate a theatrical performance based on her best-selling novel, The Year of the Flood at a Writers' Trust of Canada fundraiser on February 3. The performance at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver will feature the singers and actors from the VIWF's sold out 2009 production. Tickets for the event, which features special guest and Writers' Trust co-founder Graeme Gibson, a cocktail reception, and an auction of original postcard stories from celebrated Canadian writers and other select items, are $175. Tickets and more information here, http://www.writerstrust.com/News/Events-%281%29/Writers--Trust-Presents-Margaret-Atwood.aspx.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Book News Vol. 5 No. 51
BOOK NEWS
The perfect gift for book lovers! Ignite a passion for reading and writing in your loved ones this holiday season with a gift certificate for events at the 2011 Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival (October 18–23). To purchase gift certificates (available in $20 increments), please call us at 604-681-6330 ext 0 by December 16. Non-fattening and easy to wrap!
Stay tuned for exciting news about the Vancouver International Writers Festival's new year-round reading series. Twice a month, we will present established and emerging writers discussing their new books—fiction, non-fiction, poetry, spoken word, travel, biography and more—in partnership with the Vancouver Public Library. And it’s free! The first event will be in the Alice MacKay Room at the Central Library on January 26 at 7:30 pm. Mark your calendar! Info: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/readingseries.
AWARDS & LISTS
The finalists for the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction are Stevie Cameron for On the Farm: Robert William Pickton and the Tragic Story of Vancouver's Missing Women, James FitzGerald for What Disturbs Our Blood: A Son's Quest to Redeem the Past, Charles Foran for Mordecai: The Life & Times, and John Vaillant for The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival. The Award will be presented January 31, 2011.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Finalists+named+fiction+award/3951042/story.html
U.S. poet Elyse Fenton has won the 2010 Dylan Thomas Prize of £30,000 (about $47,000 Cdn) for writers under age 30, for her poetry collection, Clamor.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/900058--u-s-poet-elyse-fenton-wins-dylan-thomas-prize
Christopher Fowler's Paperboy, a memoir of growing up in 1960s London has won the inaugural Green Carnation prize for literature by gay men, one of the few prizes for gay literature.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/12/01/gay-men-literature.html
Japan has bestowed the prestigious Order of the Rising Sun on Joy Kogawa, author of several books, including Obasan, for her contribution to the understanding and preservation of Japanese Canadian history and the promotion of friendship between Japan and Canada.
http://www.vancouver.anglican.ca/News/tabid/27/ArticleId/1121/Default.aspx
The Guardian First Book Award—along with £10,000—has been won by Alexandra Harris’s Romantic Moderns: English Writers, Artists and the Imagination from Virginia Woolf to John Piper, a choice described as counter-intuitive since serious works of art history have difficulty finding publishers, let alone win populist prizes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/01/guardian-first-book-award-romantic-moderns
NEWS & FEATURES
A copy of John James Audubon's Birds of America became the most expensive book ever when it sold at Sotheby's for £7.3m ($11.6 million Cdn.) earlier this week.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/07/world-most-expensive-book-sold
Figment.com will soon be unveiled as an experiment in online literature.Developed by two New Yorker staff (one current, one former), figment.com is a free platform for young people to read and write fiction, both on their computers and on their cellphones.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/books/06figment.html?ref=books
Philip Marchand explores how it is that some writers are loved by the New Yorker.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2010/12/03/open-book-how-to-be-loved-by-the-new-yorker/#more-17952
Why is there no Good Sex in Fiction Award, asks Toby Lichtig.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/nov/30/good-sex-in-fiction-award
Onnesha Roychoudhuri explores the question: does Amazon have too much power over bookselling? and concludes that "publishers and readers will finally know what happens when you sell a book like it’s a can of soup".
http://www.bostonreview.net/BR35.6/roychoudhuri.php
Amazon now sponsors the US literary prize, the Best Translated Book Award. Some independent booksellers, including prize judges, have suggested that taking money from the retail giant would be "akin to the medical researchers who take money from cigarette companies."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/06/against-amazon-sponsorship-row-bookseller
Google is challenging Amazon.com with its long-awaited launch this week of an on-line bookstore in the U.S.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/12/06/con-google-books.html
More than 100 independent book retailers in 36 states have already agreed to team up with Google.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/friend-or-foe-google-indie-book-sellers-team-up/article1827922/
On the other hand, Robert McCrum says that "For all the kvetching about the digital era, the books world's vital signs are looking very healthy."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/dec/06/bookselling-merry-christmas
World Book Night is an ingenious scheme and celebration in which one million books will be given away for free across the UK and Ireland on March 5 2011. Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin and Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi are among the books to be distributed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/02/world-book-night-1m-free-books?CMP=EMCGT_031210&
Susan Swan notes that Canadian literature is widely acclaimed internationally but barely included in Canadian schools’ curricula. Why aren’t we teaching more of these books? she asks.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/why-arent-we-teaching-more-of-these-books/article1822820/
While Anthony Burgess was a teacher at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar (considered the "Eton of the East"), he composed Ode: Celebration for a Malay College for the college's golden jubilee in 1955. The work was suppressed—and rediscovered only recently.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/unveiled-work-by-anthony-burgess-suppressed-for-years-2151578.html
The Globe and Mail has hand-picked the best eye candy (books) of the season for your gift-giving pleasure.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/no-gift-so-rare-as-a-book-the-globes-christmas-gift-book-guide/article1823594/
Here is the New York Times’ annual list of 100 notable books in fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/books/review/100-notable-books-2010.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema1
And eight notable children’s books of 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/books/review/KidsNotables-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateemb4
The Star recommends eleven entrancing fantasy books for kids for holiday reading.
http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/activities/familyevents/article/899900--fantasy-books-for-kids
BOOKS & WRITERS
In her Eisner Award-winning coming-of-art memoir, What It Is, Lynda Barry prodded would-be writers to pick up a pen (or a brush) and put it to paper. Jennifer B. McDonald writes that Barry’s latest book, Picture This taps into something more elemental and asks, "Do you wish you could draw?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/books/review/McDonald-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3
David L. Ulin says about Garry Trudeau’s 40: A Doonesbury Retrospective that "the narrative elements quickly grow seductive, just as the strip, at its best, has always been".
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/12/david-l-ulin-on-doonesbury.html
Once upon a time, writes Joe Friesen, not many people grew old. Much has now changed, as is clearly outlined in Ted C. Fishman’s Shock of Gray.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/shock-of-gray-by-ted-c-fishman/article1820751/
Many better-known writers will be lucky to leave behind a monument as memorable as John Lavery’s first novel, Sandra Beck, writes John Barber.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/could-life-be-better-for-john-lavery-or-worse/article1814867/
Kate Taylor interviews prolific author Anita Shreve about, among other things, the continuing desire (by some) to pigeonhole books written by women.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/anita-shreve-you-dont-sit-waiting-for-the-muse-to-come/article1823963/?cmpid=rss1
Those who used to follow Maira Kalman’s blog for the Opinion section of NYTimes.com will be particularly pleased at the news that she’s "written" a picture book for grown-ups. Leah Hager Cohen writes that And The Pursuit of Happiness is like an impromptu interpretive dance about America.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/books/review/Cohen-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3
Nadine Gordimer’s Life Times: Stories 1952-2007 map Gordimer's engagement with the moral dimension of her art.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/04/life-times-nadine-gordimer-review
Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon have written a young adult mystery featuring the iconic Harlem author Zora Neale Hurston. Zora and Me thrills and chills, writes Mary Quattlebaum.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/30/AR2010113006113.html
In Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s The Fall: Book Two of The Strain Trilogy, vampires spread like a virus. The Strain, Book One in the series, is now out in paperback.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Reads+Vampires+haunt+York/3918827/story.html
Bernhard Schlink’s new novel The Weekend focuses attention on one member of the German terrorist movement of the 1970s that called itself the Red Army Faction, since pardoned by the German President. Schlink is interested in how memories linger or don’t.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120106052.html
John Gilkey is a serial stealer of books and the focus of Allison Hoover Bartlett’s The Man Who Loved Books Too Much. And then there is Ken Sanders, a book-dealer and sleuth.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/04/man-loved-books-allison-hoover-bartlett-review
Julia Franck’s The Blind Side of the Heart, beginning in the chaos of the German withdrawal from Stettin in 1945, is a rich affecting novel, writes David Evans.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-blind-side-of-the-heart-by-julia-franck-trs-anthea-bell-2151382.html
Annie Proulx hails an outstanding debut about Sicilian immigrants making lives in America in Salvatore Scibona’s The End. The reader gets the strong sense of standing just inside the door of the characters' shifting worlds, says Proulx. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/04/the-end-salvatore-scibona-review
Fannie Flagg, the author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café, continues using her foolproof recipe for whimsical tales of Southern discomfort, and skeletons in Southern closets, with I Still Dream About You, says Emma Hagestadt.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/i-still-dream-about-you-by-fannie-flagg-2151998.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
BRENDAN MCLEOD
Turner Music's "All Things Spoken" presents the competitive performance poet and Vancouver SLAM champion with special guest R.C. Weslowski. Thursday, December 9 at 6:00pm. Tickets $10. Cory Weeds' Cellar Jazz Club, 3611 W. Broadway. More information at www.turnerme.com/brendanmcleod.shtml.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Anna Swanson (The Nights Also) and Deborah Willis (Vanishing and Other Stories). Thursday, December 9 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library/Bookstore Robson Square, Plaza level, 800 Robson Street. For more information, visit www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
ANVIL PRESS CANADIAN TOUR
Canadian publisher presents Spaz author Bonnie Bowman, Ravenna Gets author Tony Burgess, A Mountie In Niagara Falls author Salvatore Difalco, Spat the Dummy author Ed Macdonald, and Vs. author Kerry Ryan reading selections from their newest works. Friday, December 10 at 7:00pm, free. Cafe Montmartre, 4362 Main Street. More information at www.anvilpress.com
BOOK SIGNING
Vikram Vij, author of Vij's at Home and Evaleen Jaager Roy, author of Four Chefs One Garden are signing their new cookbooks. Saturday, December 11 at 12:00pm. Chapters Granville, 2505 Granville Street.
CANDICE JAMES
Book launch and signing by New Westminster Poet Laureate. Sunday, December 12 at 2:30pm, free. Renaissance Bookstore, 43 6th Street, New Westminster. For more information, phone (604) 525-4566.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Featuring Jive Poetic. Monday, December 13 at 8:00pm. Cover: $5-10 sliding scale. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
STEPHEN HUME
Vancouver Sun columnist will give a reading and talk based on his new book A Walk With the Rainy Sisters: In Praise of British Columbia's Places. Wednesday, December 15 at 7:00pm, free. Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
SAY WHA?!
Sara Bynoe hosts an evening of deliciously rotten writing, as read by Ryan Steele, Billeh Nickerson, Andrew Barber, Eric Fell, and Jeff Gladstone. Wednesday, December 15 at 8:00pm. Tickets $10/5. Cottage Bistro, 4470 Main Street. More information at www.sarabynoe.com/shows/say-wha/.
Upcoming
ANNE GIARDINI
Author reads from her warm and witty novel, Advice for Italian Boys. Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD
Writers' Trust co-founder Margaret Atwood will narrate a theatrical performance based on her best-selling novel, The Year of the Flood at a Writers' Trust of Canada fundraiser on February 3. The performance at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver will feature the singers and actors from the VIWF's sold out 2009 production. Tickets for the event, which features special guest and Writers' Trust co-founder Graeme Gibson, a cocktail reception, and an auction of original postcard stories from celebrated Canadian writers and other select items, are $175. Tickets and more information here, http://www.writerstrust.com/News/Events-%281%29/Writers--Trust-Presents-Margaret-Atwood.aspx.
The perfect gift for book lovers! Ignite a passion for reading and writing in your loved ones this holiday season with a gift certificate for events at the 2011 Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival (October 18–23). To purchase gift certificates (available in $20 increments), please call us at 604-681-6330 ext 0 by December 16. Non-fattening and easy to wrap!
Stay tuned for exciting news about the Vancouver International Writers Festival's new year-round reading series. Twice a month, we will present established and emerging writers discussing their new books—fiction, non-fiction, poetry, spoken word, travel, biography and more—in partnership with the Vancouver Public Library. And it’s free! The first event will be in the Alice MacKay Room at the Central Library on January 26 at 7:30 pm. Mark your calendar! Info: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/readingseries.
AWARDS & LISTS
The finalists for the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction are Stevie Cameron for On the Farm: Robert William Pickton and the Tragic Story of Vancouver's Missing Women, James FitzGerald for What Disturbs Our Blood: A Son's Quest to Redeem the Past, Charles Foran for Mordecai: The Life & Times, and John Vaillant for The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival. The Award will be presented January 31, 2011.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Finalists+named+fiction+award/3951042/story.html
U.S. poet Elyse Fenton has won the 2010 Dylan Thomas Prize of £30,000 (about $47,000 Cdn) for writers under age 30, for her poetry collection, Clamor.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/900058--u-s-poet-elyse-fenton-wins-dylan-thomas-prize
Christopher Fowler's Paperboy, a memoir of growing up in 1960s London has won the inaugural Green Carnation prize for literature by gay men, one of the few prizes for gay literature.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/12/01/gay-men-literature.html
Japan has bestowed the prestigious Order of the Rising Sun on Joy Kogawa, author of several books, including Obasan, for her contribution to the understanding and preservation of Japanese Canadian history and the promotion of friendship between Japan and Canada.
http://www.vancouver.anglican.ca/News/tabid/27/ArticleId/1121/Default.aspx
The Guardian First Book Award—along with £10,000—has been won by Alexandra Harris’s Romantic Moderns: English Writers, Artists and the Imagination from Virginia Woolf to John Piper, a choice described as counter-intuitive since serious works of art history have difficulty finding publishers, let alone win populist prizes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/01/guardian-first-book-award-romantic-moderns
NEWS & FEATURES
A copy of John James Audubon's Birds of America became the most expensive book ever when it sold at Sotheby's for £7.3m ($11.6 million Cdn.) earlier this week.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/07/world-most-expensive-book-sold
Figment.com will soon be unveiled as an experiment in online literature.Developed by two New Yorker staff (one current, one former), figment.com is a free platform for young people to read and write fiction, both on their computers and on their cellphones.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/books/06figment.html?ref=books
Philip Marchand explores how it is that some writers are loved by the New Yorker.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2010/12/03/open-book-how-to-be-loved-by-the-new-yorker/#more-17952
Why is there no Good Sex in Fiction Award, asks Toby Lichtig.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/nov/30/good-sex-in-fiction-award
Onnesha Roychoudhuri explores the question: does Amazon have too much power over bookselling? and concludes that "publishers and readers will finally know what happens when you sell a book like it’s a can of soup".
http://www.bostonreview.net/BR35.6/roychoudhuri.php
Amazon now sponsors the US literary prize, the Best Translated Book Award. Some independent booksellers, including prize judges, have suggested that taking money from the retail giant would be "akin to the medical researchers who take money from cigarette companies."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/06/against-amazon-sponsorship-row-bookseller
Google is challenging Amazon.com with its long-awaited launch this week of an on-line bookstore in the U.S.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/12/06/con-google-books.html
More than 100 independent book retailers in 36 states have already agreed to team up with Google.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/friend-or-foe-google-indie-book-sellers-team-up/article1827922/
On the other hand, Robert McCrum says that "For all the kvetching about the digital era, the books world's vital signs are looking very healthy."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/dec/06/bookselling-merry-christmas
World Book Night is an ingenious scheme and celebration in which one million books will be given away for free across the UK and Ireland on March 5 2011. Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin and Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi are among the books to be distributed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/02/world-book-night-1m-free-books?CMP=EMCGT_031210&
Susan Swan notes that Canadian literature is widely acclaimed internationally but barely included in Canadian schools’ curricula. Why aren’t we teaching more of these books? she asks.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/why-arent-we-teaching-more-of-these-books/article1822820/
While Anthony Burgess was a teacher at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar (considered the "Eton of the East"), he composed Ode: Celebration for a Malay College for the college's golden jubilee in 1955. The work was suppressed—and rediscovered only recently.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/unveiled-work-by-anthony-burgess-suppressed-for-years-2151578.html
The Globe and Mail has hand-picked the best eye candy (books) of the season for your gift-giving pleasure.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/no-gift-so-rare-as-a-book-the-globes-christmas-gift-book-guide/article1823594/
Here is the New York Times’ annual list of 100 notable books in fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/books/review/100-notable-books-2010.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema1
And eight notable children’s books of 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/books/review/KidsNotables-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateemb4
The Star recommends eleven entrancing fantasy books for kids for holiday reading.
http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/activities/familyevents/article/899900--fantasy-books-for-kids
BOOKS & WRITERS
In her Eisner Award-winning coming-of-art memoir, What It Is, Lynda Barry prodded would-be writers to pick up a pen (or a brush) and put it to paper. Jennifer B. McDonald writes that Barry’s latest book, Picture This taps into something more elemental and asks, "Do you wish you could draw?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/books/review/McDonald-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3
David L. Ulin says about Garry Trudeau’s 40: A Doonesbury Retrospective that "the narrative elements quickly grow seductive, just as the strip, at its best, has always been".
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/12/david-l-ulin-on-doonesbury.html
Once upon a time, writes Joe Friesen, not many people grew old. Much has now changed, as is clearly outlined in Ted C. Fishman’s Shock of Gray.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/shock-of-gray-by-ted-c-fishman/article1820751/
Many better-known writers will be lucky to leave behind a monument as memorable as John Lavery’s first novel, Sandra Beck, writes John Barber.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/could-life-be-better-for-john-lavery-or-worse/article1814867/
Kate Taylor interviews prolific author Anita Shreve about, among other things, the continuing desire (by some) to pigeonhole books written by women.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/anita-shreve-you-dont-sit-waiting-for-the-muse-to-come/article1823963/?cmpid=rss1
Those who used to follow Maira Kalman’s blog for the Opinion section of NYTimes.com will be particularly pleased at the news that she’s "written" a picture book for grown-ups. Leah Hager Cohen writes that And The Pursuit of Happiness is like an impromptu interpretive dance about America.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/books/review/Cohen-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3
Nadine Gordimer’s Life Times: Stories 1952-2007 map Gordimer's engagement with the moral dimension of her art.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/04/life-times-nadine-gordimer-review
Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon have written a young adult mystery featuring the iconic Harlem author Zora Neale Hurston. Zora and Me thrills and chills, writes Mary Quattlebaum.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/30/AR2010113006113.html
In Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s The Fall: Book Two of The Strain Trilogy, vampires spread like a virus. The Strain, Book One in the series, is now out in paperback.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Reads+Vampires+haunt+York/3918827/story.html
Bernhard Schlink’s new novel The Weekend focuses attention on one member of the German terrorist movement of the 1970s that called itself the Red Army Faction, since pardoned by the German President. Schlink is interested in how memories linger or don’t.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120106052.html
John Gilkey is a serial stealer of books and the focus of Allison Hoover Bartlett’s The Man Who Loved Books Too Much. And then there is Ken Sanders, a book-dealer and sleuth.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/04/man-loved-books-allison-hoover-bartlett-review
Julia Franck’s The Blind Side of the Heart, beginning in the chaos of the German withdrawal from Stettin in 1945, is a rich affecting novel, writes David Evans.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-blind-side-of-the-heart-by-julia-franck-trs-anthea-bell-2151382.html
Annie Proulx hails an outstanding debut about Sicilian immigrants making lives in America in Salvatore Scibona’s The End. The reader gets the strong sense of standing just inside the door of the characters' shifting worlds, says Proulx. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/04/the-end-salvatore-scibona-review
Fannie Flagg, the author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café, continues using her foolproof recipe for whimsical tales of Southern discomfort, and skeletons in Southern closets, with I Still Dream About You, says Emma Hagestadt.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/i-still-dream-about-you-by-fannie-flagg-2151998.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
BRENDAN MCLEOD
Turner Music's "All Things Spoken" presents the competitive performance poet and Vancouver SLAM champion with special guest R.C. Weslowski. Thursday, December 9 at 6:00pm. Tickets $10. Cory Weeds' Cellar Jazz Club, 3611 W. Broadway. More information at www.turnerme.com/brendanmcleod.shtml.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Anna Swanson (The Nights Also) and Deborah Willis (Vanishing and Other Stories). Thursday, December 9 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library/Bookstore Robson Square, Plaza level, 800 Robson Street. For more information, visit www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
ANVIL PRESS CANADIAN TOUR
Canadian publisher presents Spaz author Bonnie Bowman, Ravenna Gets author Tony Burgess, A Mountie In Niagara Falls author Salvatore Difalco, Spat the Dummy author Ed Macdonald, and Vs. author Kerry Ryan reading selections from their newest works. Friday, December 10 at 7:00pm, free. Cafe Montmartre, 4362 Main Street. More information at www.anvilpress.com
BOOK SIGNING
Vikram Vij, author of Vij's at Home and Evaleen Jaager Roy, author of Four Chefs One Garden are signing their new cookbooks. Saturday, December 11 at 12:00pm. Chapters Granville, 2505 Granville Street.
CANDICE JAMES
Book launch and signing by New Westminster Poet Laureate. Sunday, December 12 at 2:30pm, free. Renaissance Bookstore, 43 6th Street, New Westminster. For more information, phone (604) 525-4566.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Featuring Jive Poetic. Monday, December 13 at 8:00pm. Cover: $5-10 sliding scale. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
STEPHEN HUME
Vancouver Sun columnist will give a reading and talk based on his new book A Walk With the Rainy Sisters: In Praise of British Columbia's Places. Wednesday, December 15 at 7:00pm, free. Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
SAY WHA?!
Sara Bynoe hosts an evening of deliciously rotten writing, as read by Ryan Steele, Billeh Nickerson, Andrew Barber, Eric Fell, and Jeff Gladstone. Wednesday, December 15 at 8:00pm. Tickets $10/5. Cottage Bistro, 4470 Main Street. More information at www.sarabynoe.com/shows/say-wha/.
Upcoming
ANNE GIARDINI
Author reads from her warm and witty novel, Advice for Italian Boys. Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD
Writers' Trust co-founder Margaret Atwood will narrate a theatrical performance based on her best-selling novel, The Year of the Flood at a Writers' Trust of Canada fundraiser on February 3. The performance at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver will feature the singers and actors from the VIWF's sold out 2009 production. Tickets for the event, which features special guest and Writers' Trust co-founder Graeme Gibson, a cocktail reception, and an auction of original postcard stories from celebrated Canadian writers and other select items, are $175. Tickets and more information here, http://www.writerstrust.com/News/Events-%281%29/Writers--Trust-Presents-Margaret-Atwood.aspx.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Book News Vol. 5 No. 50
BOOK NEWS
The perfect gift for book lovers! Ignite a passion for reading and writing in your loved ones this holiday season with a gift certificate for events at the 2011 Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival (October 18–23). To purchase gift certificates (available in $20 increments), please call us at 604-681-6330 ext 0 by December 16. Non-fattening and easy to wrap!
Stay tuned for exciting news about the Vancouver International Writers Festival's new year-round reading series. Twice a month, we will present established and emerging writers discussing their new books—fiction, non-fiction, poetry, spoken word, travel, biography and more—in partnership with the Vancouver Public Library. And it’s free! The first event will be in the Alice MacKay Room at the Central Library on January 26 at 7:30 pm. Mark your calendar!
Eleanor Wachtel's interview with Gary Shteyngart, an event co-sponsored by the Vancouver International Writers Festival and the Jewish Book Festival, will be aired on Sunday, December 5th on Writers & Company, CBC Radio at 3pm.
The VIWF’s 2009 sold-out production of The Year of the Flood is being remounted. Writers’ Trust co-founder Margaret Atwood will narrate the theatrical performance, based on her best-selling novel. Tickets for the event, which features special guest and Writers’ Trust co-founder Graeme Gibson, a cocktail reception, and an auction of original postcard stories from celebrated Canadian writers and other select items, are $175. Tickets and more information at http://www.writerstrust.com/News/Events-%281%29/Writers--Trust-Presents-Margaret-Atwood.aspx.
AWARDS & LISTS
Amy Sackville has won the John Llewellyn Rhys prize for her debut novel The Still Point. Judges call the novel 'breathtaking’.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/23/john-llewellyn-rhys-amy-sackville
The Guardian first book award—along with £10,000—has been won by Alexandra Harris's Romantic Moderns: English Writers, Artists and the Imagination from Virginia Woolf to John Piper, a choice described as counter-intuitive since serious works of art history have difficulty finding publishers, let alone win populist prizes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/01/guardian-first-book-award-romantic-moderns
David Carpenter's non-fiction work, A Hunter's Confession, won the Book of the Year Award at the Saskatchewan Book Awards. Other award-winners include Dianne Warren for Clear Water, Sandra Birdsell for Waiting for Joe and Martine Noël-Maw (at the Festival in 2007) for Dans le pli des collines. A complete list is here:
http://www.bookawards.sk.ca/images/stories/PDF_Files/PressReleases/2010_Winners_Media_Release.pdf
The PEI Book Awards went to Brent MacLaine for poetry, Steven Mayoff for fiction and John Sylvester for non-fiction.
http://www.gov.pe.ca/news/index.php3?number=news&dept=&newsnumber=7455&lang=E
Irish writer Rowan Somerville has won the Bad Sex in Fiction Award for his book The Shape of Her.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/11/29/bad-sex-award.html
When Canadian novelist Annabel Lyon was shortlisted for this dubious award, she pronounced herself "deeply honoured" by the nomination of her bestselling novel, The Golden Mean. The news that Ms. Lyon did not win prompted this headline: Annabel Lyon denied Bad Sex writing award.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/annabel-lyon-denied-bad-sex-writing-award/article1817738/
Gil Courtemanche has refused the nomination of his book Je ne veux pas mourir seul (I Don't Want do Die Alone) for the French-language Archambault Prize for Literature to show his solidarity with locked out workers at Journal de Montréal.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/11/25/journal-archambault-quebecor.html
NEWS & FEATURES
Bestselling mystery writer Thomas Perry is one of dozens of authors who will name characters in their books after you—if you are the highest bidder—in a fundraiser to support free speech.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/11/become-a-fictional-character-free-speech.html
It's been suggested that a boys' club generation of writers Amis-Barnes-McEwan-Rushdie has frozen out a generation of writers.
http://www.fictionuncovered.co.uk/2010/11/a-generation-of-undervalued-authors/
The Guardian is not convinced that literary recognition works that way.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/nov/29/amis-barnes-mcewan-rushdie-boys-club
Malicious reviews and false reviews seem to be part of the downside of online reviewing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/30/amazon-stalker-poison-pen-reviews
The Independent offers its recommendations of the best books in all categories (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, crime, children's, food, memoirs) for Christmas.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-best-books-for-christmas-our-pick-of-2010-2143731.html
The Guardian's recommendations overlap a little.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/27/christmas-books-year-roundup
The Globe and Mail suggests 100 Canadian books, in all categories.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-2010-globe-100-canadian-fiction/article1813220/
Poet Siân Hughes asks: Is there even such a thing as public poetry? There have been strange rumblings in Britain about whether Carol Ann Duffy, England's poet laureate, will, or should, or ought to be expected to write for the occasion of a royal wedding.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/23/carol-duffy-poetry-royal-wedding
Russell Smith urges writers to ignore advice to blog and tweet and otherwise market their books—and to finish their novels, instead.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/russell-smith/note-to-canadian-authors-stop-tweeting-start-writing/article1812180/
Robert McCrum interviews Margaret Atwood about cowardly politicians, her love of birds, planet earth, the development of the Long Pen, and why she's joined the Twitterati, among other topics.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/28/margaret-atwood-interview
The Wall Street Journal interviews Salman Rushdie on why he became a writer.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704638304575636763279031150.html
Now that the requisite 100 years have passed and Mark Twain's autobiography has been published, what does it reveal about the father of American literature? asks John Crace.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/25/mark-twain-truth-fiction?CMP=EMCGT_261110&
Poet and prizewinning novelist Joe Dunthorpe describes his experience with The Ministry of Stories in Hackney. "Many of the young people who come through our secret door really struggle with writing and reading but, when they go home as published authors, their outlooks are thoroughly changed."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/27/joe-dunthorne-schools-ministry-stories
Grammy Award-winning singer Tom Waits is to make his publishing debut next year with a book that combines his poetry with images of the homeless.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/11/24/tom-waits-poetry.html
Kate Bittman explores what makes grownups love Harry Potter.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2010/11/adult-education-at-hogwarts.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
Vancouver Island poet Patricia Young's ninth collection of poetry, An Auto-Erotic History of Swings, "shows an acclaimed poet swinging at the height of her powers," writes Candace Fertile in the Times Colonist.
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Local+poet+explores+sexual+side+swinging/3896019/story.html#ixzz16gvWiK6X
David Homel's new novel, Midway attempts to restore dignity to the mid-life crisis by plumbing its emotional and psychological depths, says Harold Heft.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/David+Homel+novel+finds+protagonist+depths+life+crisis/3884483/story.html
Jack Batten highly recommends the latest works on skullduggery from two octogenarians (just barely), John Le Carré's Our Kind of Traitor and Eric Walter's A Likely Story.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/897506--john-le-carre-and-eric-wright-two-hugely-readable-old-guys
In his review of Joseph Boyden's Louis Riel & Gabriel Dumont, Doug Grant writes "The enduring historical question is not whether Riel wasvmentally ill but whether his cause was just and he justly dealt with. There's no doubt in Joseph Boyden's mind about Riel's answer."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/rebellion-through-the-eyes-of-riel-and-dumont/article1817819/
Physician and author Susan Okie describes Siddhartha Mukherjee's The Emperor of All Maladies an enthralling, scholarly, wonderfully written history of cancer.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/19/AR2010111906890.html
International affairs columnist Jonathan Manthorpe describes Andre Gerolymatos' Castles Made of Sand: A Century of Anglo-American Espionage and Intervention in the Middle East as "an often fascinating account of the American and British interventions in the Middle East after the collapse of the Turkish Ottoman Empire", including some errors in judgment.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Kermit+spook+making+modern+Middle+East/3893280/story.html
Historian Alan Taylor's The Civil War of 1812 presents a bold new argument about the War of 1812 and America's attempted invasion of Canada, writes Michael O'Donnell in a Barnes & Noble Review.
http://www.salon.com/books/history/index.html?story=/books/feature/2010/11/29/the_civil_war_of_1812_alan_taylor
Craig Davidson's Sarah Court can be read as any genre, writes Michelle Berry—a connected collection of stories, a novel—and, says Berry, it will please readers who think they don't enjoy science fiction.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/sarah-court-by-craig-davidson/article1819176/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
EVERYTHING WORKS
Mike McCardell signs his newly released book, Everything Works. Saturday, December 4 at 11:00am at Save On Foods in Coquitlam (Pinetree Village, 2991 Lougheed Highway). Also at 3:00pm at Save On Foods in Surrey (South Point, 3033 152nd Avenue). For information, phone Save On Foods at 604-552-1772 (Pinetree Village) or 604-538-7331 (Surrey).
RC WESLOWSKI CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
Santa Klaus Meine hosts the fifth annual spoken-word fundraiser, featuring the Svelte Ms. Spelt, Fang!, the Juggle Man, and the Klute, with proceeds to the AIDS Vancouver Holiday Food Hamper Program. Saturday, December 4, doors at 7:00pm, show at 8:15pm. Admission by donation. Café Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive.
LIGHTS FOR DARK NIGHTS
Vancouver Society of Storytelling presents Cric Crac storytellers Helen May, Kira Van Deusen, Anne Anderson, Wong Wing-Siu. Sunday, December 5 at 7:00pm. Tickets $8/6, includes tea and cookies. Silk Purse Arts Centre, 1570 Argyle Ave., West Vancouver.
WALK MYSELF HOME
Launch of an anthology of fiction/non-fiction/poetry about violence against women edited by Andrea Routley. Monday, December 6, doors open at 7:00pm, launch at 7:30pm. RSVP recommended. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W. More information at kogawahouse@yahoo.ca.
AN EVENING OF POETRY
Join Bibiana Tomasic and Sandy Shreve reading from their latest works at Vancouver's newest independent bookstore. Wednesday, December 8 at 7:00pm. Sitka Books & Art, 2025 West 4th Avenue. More information at 604-734-2025 or http://www.sitkabooksandart.com.
BRENDAN MCLEOD
Turner Music's "All Things Spoken" presents the competitive performance poet and Vancouver SLAM champion with special guest R.C. Weslowski. Thursday, December 9 at 6:00pm. Tickets $10. Cory Weeds' Cellar Jazz Club, 3611 W. Broadway. More information at www.turnerme.com/brendanmcleod.shtml.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Anna Swanson (The Nights Also) and Deborah Willis (Vanishing and Other Stories). Thursday, December 9 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library/Bookstore Robson Square, Plaza level, 800 Robson Street. For more information, visit www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
ANVIL PRESS CANADIAN TOUR
Canadian publisher presents Spaz author Bonnie Bowman, Ravenna Gets author Tony Burgess, A Mountie In Niagara Falls author Salvatore Difalco, Spat the Dummy author Ed Macdonald, and Vs. author Kerry Ryan reading selections from their newest works. Friday, December 10 at 7:00pm, free. Cafe Montmartre, 4362 Main Street. More information at www.anvilpress.com
BOOK SIGNING
Vikram Vij, author of Vij's at Home and Evaleen Jaager Roy, author of Four Chefs One Garden are signing their new cookbooks. Saturday, December 11 at 12:00pm. Chapters Granville, 2505 Granville Street.
CANDICE JAMES
Book launch and signing by New Westminster Poet Laureate. Sunday, December 12 at 2:30pm, free. Renaissance Bookstore, 43 6th Street, New Westminster. For more information, phone (604) 525-4566.
STEPHEN HUME
Vancouver Sun columnist will give a reading and talk based on his new book A Walk With the Rainy Sisters: In Praise of British Columbia's Places. Wednesday, December 15 at 7:00pm, free. Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
SAY WHA?!
Sara Bynoe hosts an evening of deliciously rotten writing, as read by Ryan Steele, Billeh Nickerson, Andrew Barber, Eric Fell, and Jeff Gladstone. Wednesday, December 15 at 8:00pm. Tickets $10/5. Cottage Bistro, 4470 Main Street. More information at www.sarabynoe.com/shows/say-wha/.
The perfect gift for book lovers! Ignite a passion for reading and writing in your loved ones this holiday season with a gift certificate for events at the 2011 Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival (October 18–23). To purchase gift certificates (available in $20 increments), please call us at 604-681-6330 ext 0 by December 16. Non-fattening and easy to wrap!
Stay tuned for exciting news about the Vancouver International Writers Festival's new year-round reading series. Twice a month, we will present established and emerging writers discussing their new books—fiction, non-fiction, poetry, spoken word, travel, biography and more—in partnership with the Vancouver Public Library. And it’s free! The first event will be in the Alice MacKay Room at the Central Library on January 26 at 7:30 pm. Mark your calendar!
Eleanor Wachtel's interview with Gary Shteyngart, an event co-sponsored by the Vancouver International Writers Festival and the Jewish Book Festival, will be aired on Sunday, December 5th on Writers & Company, CBC Radio at 3pm.
The VIWF’s 2009 sold-out production of The Year of the Flood is being remounted. Writers’ Trust co-founder Margaret Atwood will narrate the theatrical performance, based on her best-selling novel. Tickets for the event, which features special guest and Writers’ Trust co-founder Graeme Gibson, a cocktail reception, and an auction of original postcard stories from celebrated Canadian writers and other select items, are $175. Tickets and more information at http://www.writerstrust.com/News/Events-%281%29/Writers--Trust-Presents-Margaret-Atwood.aspx.
AWARDS & LISTS
Amy Sackville has won the John Llewellyn Rhys prize for her debut novel The Still Point. Judges call the novel 'breathtaking’.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/23/john-llewellyn-rhys-amy-sackville
The Guardian first book award—along with £10,000—has been won by Alexandra Harris's Romantic Moderns: English Writers, Artists and the Imagination from Virginia Woolf to John Piper, a choice described as counter-intuitive since serious works of art history have difficulty finding publishers, let alone win populist prizes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/01/guardian-first-book-award-romantic-moderns
David Carpenter's non-fiction work, A Hunter's Confession, won the Book of the Year Award at the Saskatchewan Book Awards. Other award-winners include Dianne Warren for Clear Water, Sandra Birdsell for Waiting for Joe and Martine Noël-Maw (at the Festival in 2007) for Dans le pli des collines. A complete list is here:
http://www.bookawards.sk.ca/images/stories/PDF_Files/PressReleases/2010_Winners_Media_Release.pdf
The PEI Book Awards went to Brent MacLaine for poetry, Steven Mayoff for fiction and John Sylvester for non-fiction.
http://www.gov.pe.ca/news/index.php3?number=news&dept=&newsnumber=7455&lang=E
Irish writer Rowan Somerville has won the Bad Sex in Fiction Award for his book The Shape of Her.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/11/29/bad-sex-award.html
When Canadian novelist Annabel Lyon was shortlisted for this dubious award, she pronounced herself "deeply honoured" by the nomination of her bestselling novel, The Golden Mean. The news that Ms. Lyon did not win prompted this headline: Annabel Lyon denied Bad Sex writing award.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/annabel-lyon-denied-bad-sex-writing-award/article1817738/
Gil Courtemanche has refused the nomination of his book Je ne veux pas mourir seul (I Don't Want do Die Alone) for the French-language Archambault Prize for Literature to show his solidarity with locked out workers at Journal de Montréal.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/11/25/journal-archambault-quebecor.html
NEWS & FEATURES
Bestselling mystery writer Thomas Perry is one of dozens of authors who will name characters in their books after you—if you are the highest bidder—in a fundraiser to support free speech.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/11/become-a-fictional-character-free-speech.html
It's been suggested that a boys' club generation of writers Amis-Barnes-McEwan-Rushdie has frozen out a generation of writers.
http://www.fictionuncovered.co.uk/2010/11/a-generation-of-undervalued-authors/
The Guardian is not convinced that literary recognition works that way.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/nov/29/amis-barnes-mcewan-rushdie-boys-club
Malicious reviews and false reviews seem to be part of the downside of online reviewing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/30/amazon-stalker-poison-pen-reviews
The Independent offers its recommendations of the best books in all categories (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, crime, children's, food, memoirs) for Christmas.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-best-books-for-christmas-our-pick-of-2010-2143731.html
The Guardian's recommendations overlap a little.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/27/christmas-books-year-roundup
The Globe and Mail suggests 100 Canadian books, in all categories.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-2010-globe-100-canadian-fiction/article1813220/
Poet Siân Hughes asks: Is there even such a thing as public poetry? There have been strange rumblings in Britain about whether Carol Ann Duffy, England's poet laureate, will, or should, or ought to be expected to write for the occasion of a royal wedding.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/23/carol-duffy-poetry-royal-wedding
Russell Smith urges writers to ignore advice to blog and tweet and otherwise market their books—and to finish their novels, instead.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/russell-smith/note-to-canadian-authors-stop-tweeting-start-writing/article1812180/
Robert McCrum interviews Margaret Atwood about cowardly politicians, her love of birds, planet earth, the development of the Long Pen, and why she's joined the Twitterati, among other topics.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/28/margaret-atwood-interview
The Wall Street Journal interviews Salman Rushdie on why he became a writer.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704638304575636763279031150.html
Now that the requisite 100 years have passed and Mark Twain's autobiography has been published, what does it reveal about the father of American literature? asks John Crace.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/25/mark-twain-truth-fiction?CMP=EMCGT_261110&
Poet and prizewinning novelist Joe Dunthorpe describes his experience with The Ministry of Stories in Hackney. "Many of the young people who come through our secret door really struggle with writing and reading but, when they go home as published authors, their outlooks are thoroughly changed."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/27/joe-dunthorne-schools-ministry-stories
Grammy Award-winning singer Tom Waits is to make his publishing debut next year with a book that combines his poetry with images of the homeless.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/11/24/tom-waits-poetry.html
Kate Bittman explores what makes grownups love Harry Potter.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2010/11/adult-education-at-hogwarts.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
Vancouver Island poet Patricia Young's ninth collection of poetry, An Auto-Erotic History of Swings, "shows an acclaimed poet swinging at the height of her powers," writes Candace Fertile in the Times Colonist.
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Local+poet+explores+sexual+side+swinging/3896019/story.html#ixzz16gvWiK6X
David Homel's new novel, Midway attempts to restore dignity to the mid-life crisis by plumbing its emotional and psychological depths, says Harold Heft.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/David+Homel+novel+finds+protagonist+depths+life+crisis/3884483/story.html
Jack Batten highly recommends the latest works on skullduggery from two octogenarians (just barely), John Le Carré's Our Kind of Traitor and Eric Walter's A Likely Story.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/897506--john-le-carre-and-eric-wright-two-hugely-readable-old-guys
In his review of Joseph Boyden's Louis Riel & Gabriel Dumont, Doug Grant writes "The enduring historical question is not whether Riel wasvmentally ill but whether his cause was just and he justly dealt with. There's no doubt in Joseph Boyden's mind about Riel's answer."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/rebellion-through-the-eyes-of-riel-and-dumont/article1817819/
Physician and author Susan Okie describes Siddhartha Mukherjee's The Emperor of All Maladies an enthralling, scholarly, wonderfully written history of cancer.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/19/AR2010111906890.html
International affairs columnist Jonathan Manthorpe describes Andre Gerolymatos' Castles Made of Sand: A Century of Anglo-American Espionage and Intervention in the Middle East as "an often fascinating account of the American and British interventions in the Middle East after the collapse of the Turkish Ottoman Empire", including some errors in judgment.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Kermit+spook+making+modern+Middle+East/3893280/story.html
Historian Alan Taylor's The Civil War of 1812 presents a bold new argument about the War of 1812 and America's attempted invasion of Canada, writes Michael O'Donnell in a Barnes & Noble Review.
http://www.salon.com/books/history/index.html?story=/books/feature/2010/11/29/the_civil_war_of_1812_alan_taylor
Craig Davidson's Sarah Court can be read as any genre, writes Michelle Berry—a connected collection of stories, a novel—and, says Berry, it will please readers who think they don't enjoy science fiction.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/sarah-court-by-craig-davidson/article1819176/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
EVERYTHING WORKS
Mike McCardell signs his newly released book, Everything Works. Saturday, December 4 at 11:00am at Save On Foods in Coquitlam (Pinetree Village, 2991 Lougheed Highway). Also at 3:00pm at Save On Foods in Surrey (South Point, 3033 152nd Avenue). For information, phone Save On Foods at 604-552-1772 (Pinetree Village) or 604-538-7331 (Surrey).
RC WESLOWSKI CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
Santa Klaus Meine hosts the fifth annual spoken-word fundraiser, featuring the Svelte Ms. Spelt, Fang!, the Juggle Man, and the Klute, with proceeds to the AIDS Vancouver Holiday Food Hamper Program. Saturday, December 4, doors at 7:00pm, show at 8:15pm. Admission by donation. Café Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive.
LIGHTS FOR DARK NIGHTS
Vancouver Society of Storytelling presents Cric Crac storytellers Helen May, Kira Van Deusen, Anne Anderson, Wong Wing-Siu. Sunday, December 5 at 7:00pm. Tickets $8/6, includes tea and cookies. Silk Purse Arts Centre, 1570 Argyle Ave., West Vancouver.
WALK MYSELF HOME
Launch of an anthology of fiction/non-fiction/poetry about violence against women edited by Andrea Routley. Monday, December 6, doors open at 7:00pm, launch at 7:30pm. RSVP recommended. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W. More information at kogawahouse@yahoo.ca.
AN EVENING OF POETRY
Join Bibiana Tomasic and Sandy Shreve reading from their latest works at Vancouver's newest independent bookstore. Wednesday, December 8 at 7:00pm. Sitka Books & Art, 2025 West 4th Avenue. More information at 604-734-2025 or http://www.sitkabooksandart.com.
BRENDAN MCLEOD
Turner Music's "All Things Spoken" presents the competitive performance poet and Vancouver SLAM champion with special guest R.C. Weslowski. Thursday, December 9 at 6:00pm. Tickets $10. Cory Weeds' Cellar Jazz Club, 3611 W. Broadway. More information at www.turnerme.com/brendanmcleod.shtml.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Anna Swanson (The Nights Also) and Deborah Willis (Vanishing and Other Stories). Thursday, December 9 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library/Bookstore Robson Square, Plaza level, 800 Robson Street. For more information, visit www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
ANVIL PRESS CANADIAN TOUR
Canadian publisher presents Spaz author Bonnie Bowman, Ravenna Gets author Tony Burgess, A Mountie In Niagara Falls author Salvatore Difalco, Spat the Dummy author Ed Macdonald, and Vs. author Kerry Ryan reading selections from their newest works. Friday, December 10 at 7:00pm, free. Cafe Montmartre, 4362 Main Street. More information at www.anvilpress.com
BOOK SIGNING
Vikram Vij, author of Vij's at Home and Evaleen Jaager Roy, author of Four Chefs One Garden are signing their new cookbooks. Saturday, December 11 at 12:00pm. Chapters Granville, 2505 Granville Street.
CANDICE JAMES
Book launch and signing by New Westminster Poet Laureate. Sunday, December 12 at 2:30pm, free. Renaissance Bookstore, 43 6th Street, New Westminster. For more information, phone (604) 525-4566.
STEPHEN HUME
Vancouver Sun columnist will give a reading and talk based on his new book A Walk With the Rainy Sisters: In Praise of British Columbia's Places. Wednesday, December 15 at 7:00pm, free. Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
SAY WHA?!
Sara Bynoe hosts an evening of deliciously rotten writing, as read by Ryan Steele, Billeh Nickerson, Andrew Barber, Eric Fell, and Jeff Gladstone. Wednesday, December 15 at 8:00pm. Tickets $10/5. Cottage Bistro, 4470 Main Street. More information at www.sarabynoe.com/shows/say-wha/.
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