Book News Vol. 6 No. 4

BOOK NEWS

Incite @ VPL

Please join us for round two of Incite on February 9. A discussion of Making Waves: Reading BC and Pacific Northwest Literature with editor Trevor Carolan and contributing writers Colin James Sanders, Russell Thornton and Hilary Turner.

7:30 pm on Wednesday, February 9
Admission is free
Alice MacKay room, Central Library

Preregister for Incite here, http://incitevpl.eventbrite.com. Please note that registration is so that we know how many people to expect. Admission on the night is always on a first-come-first-served basis.


SPECIAL EVENTS

Jodi Picoult - March 13, 2011
The bestselling author of My Sister's Keeper will read from her new novel, Sing You Home, accompanied by guitarist Ellen Wilber. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/picoult.

Howard Jacobson - April 13, 2011
Jacobson's Man Booker award-winning book, The Finkler Question, deals with love, loss and male friendship, and explores what it means to be Jewish today. Presented in partnership with the Jewish Book Festival. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jacobson.

Elizabeth Hay & Miriam Toews - May 5, 2011
Two of Canada's most acclaimed and beloved writers will discuss their new books, Alone in the Classroom and Irma Voth. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/haytoews.

AWARDS & LISTS

Liz Lochhead has been appointed makar, Scotland's national poet.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/19/liz-lochhead-makar-scotland-national-poet

Richard Meier has won the inaugural Picador Poetry Prize.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/20/picador-poetry-prize-richard-meier

Four of the winning poems can be found here.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/20/poems-richard-meier

Jonathan Franzen is a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Awards; Christopher Hitchens, Patti Smith, David Grossman and Siddhartha Mukherjee are among the finalists for the National Book Awards in various categories.
http://www.seattlepi.com/artandlife/1404ap_us_books_critics_awards.html

Poet Jo Shapcott has won the Costa book of the year award for her book Of Mutability.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/25/costa-book-award-jo-shapcott

Ian McEwan has won prizes from many parts of the western world, but none as controversial as the Jerusalem Prize, which will be awarded to him at a book fair in Israel next month.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/19/ian-mcewan-accept-jerusalem-prize

McEwan has replied to writers who had called on him to boycott the Israeli award by insisting on his right to engage in dialogue with Israelis across the region's political divide.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/25/ian-mcewan-defends-jerusalem-prize

Nobel laureate Derek Walcott has been named winner of the TS Eliot prize for the best new collection of poems published in the UK or Ireland for his 'moving and technically flawless work'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/24/ts-eliot-prize-derek-walcott

NEWS & FEATURES

The 60-year tradition of an unknown person’s leaving three roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac at Edgar Allan Poe's grave to mark Poe’s birth has ended. However, some sort of Poe tradition is expected to continue every January 19.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2011/01/19/edgar-allan-poe-toaster-no-show.html

Just two days after the release of O: A Presidential Novel, the "anonymous" author has been revealed to be Mark Salter a former speechwriter for John McCain.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/01/27/mark-salter-revealed-as-author-of-o-a-presidential-novel/

Michiko Kakutani finds the book "a thoroughly lackadaisical performance-trite, implausible and decidedly unfunny.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/books/21book.html?ref=books

Elizabeth Renzetti offers a brief description of how anonymous writing has changed since the early 20th Century.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/elizabeth-renzetti/todays-anonymii-aint-what-they-used-be-back-in-the-day-we-had-joe-klein/article1870941/

The Globe and Mail acknowledged the first anniversary of Paul Quarrington’s death with this essay and song.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/its-not-dark-yet-a-final-song-from-paul-quarrington/article1877690/

"All I've ever wanted, since I was a child, was to do something wonderful," says Patti Smith in an interview.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/jan/22/patti-smith-saturday-interview

Bernardine Evaristo examines what a landmark rap anthology can tell us about the links between the poetry of the street and the poetry of the page.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/what-can-a-landmark-rap-anthology-tell-us-about-the-links-between-the-poetry-of-the-street-and-the-poetry-of-the-page-2189868.html

Philip Pullman’s speech to the people in Oxford’s packed town hall on the importance of professional librarians and libraries (and some other social services) has been printed here.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/philip-pullman/this-is-big-society-you-see-it-must-be-big-to-contain-so-many-volunteers?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzEmail&utm_content=201210&utm_campaign=0

In an attempt to explore "Englishness" in a changed England and to reclaim the patron saint, St. George, poets Andrew Motion, Jo Shapcott and Michael Symmons Roberts, have written new works to redefine St George within a "questing agnostic liturgy".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/24/poets-enlist-st-george-liturgy

BOOKS & WRITERS

Refugees often flee their homelands empty-handed, but there is plenty of emotional baggage. Dinaw Mengestu’s How to Read the Air is a challenging novel that inhabits the paradoxes of the refugee's story, writes Peter Carty.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/how-to-read-the-air-by-dinaw-mengestu-2189874.html

In the fifteen years since she first wrote about identity in the digital age, Sherry Turkle has changed her views; her new book Alone Together reflects her current conviction that "we expect more from technology and less from each other."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/books/review/Lehrer-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3&pagewanted=all

The follow-up to Nicolas Dickner’s Nikolski is Apocalypse for Beginners, with the end of the world heralded by the best-before date on the back of a ramen noodles package. Ian MacGillis argues that Dickner’s choice of period is crucial.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Nicolas+Dickner+Apocalypse+Beginners+best+before+date+herald/4143981/story.html

Emily Donaldson writes that in The Paper Garden, Toronto-based poet Molly Peacock has produced a winsomely unorthodox ode to Mary Granville Pendarves Delany that is part biography, part miniature coffee-table book and part memoir.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/926115--review-molly-peacock-s-the-paper-garden

A new translation of Roland Barthes’ The Preparation of the Novel finally makes available in English a most unusual book by one of the most significant literary figures of the twentieth century, writes Mairéad Hanrahan.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article7171122.ece

The Independent on Sunday describes Emma Donoghue’s Room as a ‘unique work of art’.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/room-by-emma-donoghue-2191836.html

Olivia Laing describes how Atiq Rahimi explores the plight of Afghan women in his beautiful, thoughtful novella, The Patience Stone.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/23/patience-stone-atiq-rahimi-review

Rachel Hoar places Linda Grant’s We Had It So Good as part of an important fictional oeuvre that offers a fresh and perceptive commentary on our times.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/we-had-it-so-good-by-linda-grant-2191832.html

Salon online contains The Moon Above His Head, a short story by Yann Martel, an excerpt from Amnesty International’s "Freedom: Stories Celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/story/index.html?story=/books/feature/2011/01/10/freedom_yann_martel_excerpt

Daniel Rasmussen’s riveting new book, American Uprising: The Untold Story of America’s Largest Slave Revolt tells the previously untold story of the continent’s largest slave revolt in January 1811. Mitch Potter adds that there is also a Haiti connection.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/926867--untold-story-of-u-s-slave-rebellion-retold-centuries-later

Adrienne Rich is one of the United States’ foremost political poets. In her review of Tonight No Poems Will Serve, poems 2007–2010, Sara Marcus writes: "The poems in this book grapple with war even as they grope toward peace."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/01/23/RVRL1H99O2.DTL

Doug Johnstone calls David Vann’s Caribou Island "An American classic" and "jaw-droppingly powerful". These are not even the most effusive quotes about the book, but for once the hype is justified.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/caribou-island-by-david-vann-2191831.html

Alaska is the secret hero of the novel, says Kevin Canty.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/books/review/Canty-t.html?pagewanted=all

An excerpt is here:
http://www.harpercollins.com/browseinside/index.aspx?isbn13=9780061875724

Alexander Linklater calls physician/author Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer a "magnificent study of cancer".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/23/emperor-maladies-biography-cancer-siddhartha-mukherjee-review

Ali Eteraz’s award-winning Children of Dust had, as its subtitle, A Memoir of Pakistan. Its re-publication will read A Portrait of the Muslim as a Young Man. Rosemary Sorensen describes the work as "an ambitious and accomplished work of literature".
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/against-all-odds/story-e6frg8nf-1225991105441

Don Coles’ prime concern has long been the perplexing passage of time and, in his new collection of poems, Where We Might Have Been, that concern has intensified.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/where-we-might-have-been-by-don-coles/article1881190/

COMMUNITY EVENTS

HARD CORE LOGO: LIVE
Touchstone Theatre presents Hard Core Logo: LIVE, based on the book by Vancouver author Michael Turner, film by Bruce McDonald, and screenplay by Noel S. Baker, with original music by Joe "Shithead" Keithley and lyrics by Michael Turner. 8pm January 26 - February 6 at the Rickshaw Theatre, 254 East Hastings Street. Tickets available at Tickets Tonight or by calling 604-684-2787.

WILLIAM GIBSON
Author will read from his latest novel Zero History. Thursday, January 27 at 7:00pm, free. Ardea Books & Art, 2025 4th Ave. W. More information at http://ardeabooksandart.com/event/?event_id=30.

ROBSON READING SERIES
Reading by Gurjinder Basran, Jack Hodgins and Drew Hayden Taylor. Thursday, January 27 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library Bookstore, Robson Square, plaza level, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.

ON EDGE READING SERIES
Reading by Fiona Lam, author of Intimate Distances and Double Lives. Thursday, January 27 at 7:00pm, free. SB406, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street, Granville Island.

MOTHERSTONE
Chris Harris, one of Canada’s most respected photographers will introduce his new book Motherstone: BC’s Volcanic Plateau. Thursday, January 27 at 7:30pm, free. Unity Church, 5840 Oak Street. More information at www.naturevancouver.ca.

MASHED POETICS VI
Featuring RC Weslowski, Pam Bentley, Daniela Elza, Jillian Christmas, Sean McGarragle, Kyle Hawke, Daniel Zomparelli, Scruffmouth, Janet Rogers, Kyle Mallinson, Jeremy Loveday. Hendrix Cover Band 3rd Stone From the Sun playing the entire album. Each poet has been given a song from the album as a prompt to create a new piece of work to be performed at the show. Thursday, January 27 at 8:00pm. $5-$10 sliding scale. Cottage Bistro (4468 Main Street).

GABOR GASZTONYI
Award winning photographer Gabor Gasztonyi presents A Room in the City (Anvil Press), his five-year project of photographing the residents of the Cobalt, Balmoral, Regent and Sunrise Hotels in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Monday, January 31 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.

CANADA READS CELEBRATION
Actor Lorne Cardinal is defending Carol Shields' Unless in this year's Canada Reads on CBC Radio! Join Sheryl Mackay in the CBC Studio One Book Club with Lorne and one of Carol's best friends, Shelagh Rogers, as they pay tribute with stories, memories and readings of the beloved Ms. Shields! Come share your own love of her work on Tuesday February 1 in the CBC Broadcast Centre. For free tickets go to www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub.

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. Tickets and more information here, http://www.writerstrust.com/News/Events-%281%29/Writers--Trust-Presents-Margaret-Atwood.aspx.

PRISM INTERNATIONAL
Readings by Rachel Knudsen, Fiona Tinwei Lam, Dina Del Bucchia, Jill Mandrake, Gillian Jerome, Shannon Rayne, Charles Demers and George Bowering. Thursday, February 3 at 7:00pm. Tickets $10 and comes with complimentary copies of magazines. The Beaumont Studios, 316 5th Ave. W. More information at 604-822-2514.

MICHAEL CHRISTIE
Launch of the author's debut collection The Beggar's Garden. Friday, February 4 at 7:00pm, free. Ardea Books & Art, 2025 4th Ave. W. More information at http://ardeabooksandart.com/event/?event_id=29.

WRITERS COLLECTIVE
Readings and excerpts by Canada's top aboriginal writers and songwriters in one of the Drives' newest tapas bars. Featuring Joanne Arnott, Janet Rogers, Lee Maracle, Garry Gottfriedson, Wil George, Michelle Sylliboy and Wanda John. With musical performances by Russell Wallace as well as Greg Coyes. Monday, February 7 at 7:00pm. Pay-what-you-can. The Pond, 1441 Commercial Drive. More information at www.fullcircleperformance.ca.

STEVE WEINER AND HANNAH CALDER
Authors read from their respective novels, Sweet England and More House. Monday, February 7 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen Room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information here: http://www.newstarbooks.com/news.php?news_id=40108.

Upcoming

TIM WARD
Author and journalist reads from the 20th anniversary edition of his bestselling classic, What the Buddha Never Taught. Thursday, February 10 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.

ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Andre Alexis (Beauty & Sadness) and Harry Karlinsky (The Evolution of Inanimate Objects). Thursday, February 10 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library Bookstore, Robson Square, plaza level, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.

ON EDGE READING SERIES
Reading by Governor General's Award nominated poet Erin Moure. Thursday, February 10 at 7:00pm, free. ECU Library, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street, Granville Island.

MICHAEL MCCLURE
San Francisco poet will be reading from his works. Friday, February 11 at 8:00pm, free but please RSVP to library@sfu.ca. Room 1700 (Labatt's Hall), SFU Vancouver - Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street. For more information, email power@sfu.ca.

JOHN FURLONG
VANOC CEO signs his behind-the-scenes book about the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, Patriot Hearts. Saturday, February 12 at 3:00pm. Chapters, Broadway and Granville, 2505 Granville Street. More information at 604-731-7822.

POSTCARD STORY COMPETITION
Submissions are being accepted until February 14, 2011 for the Writers' Union of Canada's 12th annual Postcard Story Competition. The winning entry will receive $500 and will be published in Write, the magazine of The Writers' Union of Canada. Submission details here: http://www.writersunion.ca/cn_postcard.asp.

KATHERINE GOVIER
Author reads from her new novel, The Ghost Brush, the story of Oie, daughter of 19th century Japanese printmaker Hokusai. Tuesday, February 15 at 7:00pm, free Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level Central Library 350 West Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.

ON EDGE READING SERIES
Reading by Aaron Peck, author of The Bewilderments of Bernard Willis. Thursday, February 17 at 7:00pm, free. SB406, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street, Granville Island.

EVELYN LAU AND RAY HSU
Readings by the authors of Living Under Plastic (Lau) and Cold Sleep Permanent Afternoon (Hsu). Thursday, February 24 at 1:00pm. Dodson Room (level 3), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, UBC. More information at http://ow.ly/3C8k7.

SERENDIPITY 2011: A GRAPHIC NOVEL EVENT
With Gene Yang (American Born Chinese), Raina Telgemeier (Smile), Matt Holm, co-creator of Babymouse, Aaron Renier (The Unsinkable Walker Bean and Spiralbound) and JASON SHIGA (Meanwhile). February 26, 2011 @ SCARFE 100 (the Education Building), UBC 8:00-3:30 pm. Early Bird (before Feb 1): Student $50.00 Members $125.00 Non-members $140.00. Lunch included. Registration: http://vancouverchildrenslitroundtable.wordpress.com.

RUBIN CARTER
Discussion with Dr. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, author of Eye of the Hurricane: My Path from Darkness, hosted by Neil Boyd. Monday, February 28 at 7:30pm. Tickets $28/$22. Capilano University Performing Arts Theatre, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver. Details here: http://ow.ly/3G5oO.

NON-FICTION WRITING CONTEST
EVENT is both a literary journal showcasing fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction and a sponsor of an annual non-fiction contest. The deadline for submissions to the 2011 EVENT Non-Fiction Contest is April 15, 2011. Three winners will each receive $500 (plus publication payment). Publication in EVENT 40/3 (December 2011). Submission details here: http://event.douglas.bc.ca.