BOOK NEWS
Incite @ VPL
The next installment of Incite (http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/readingseries) will feature John Burns interviewing Dianne Warren, as well as readings by Evelyn Lau and Aurian Haller.
7:30 pm on Wednesday, March 9
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incitemarch9
Admission is free
Alice MacKay room, Central Library
Let us know you're coming by registering 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
The Finkler Question is a scorching story of friendship and loss, exclusion and belonging, and of the wisdom and humanity of maturity. Funny, furious, unflinching, this extraordinary novel shows one of our finest writers at his brilliant best. Presented in partnership with the Jewish Book Festival. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jacobson.
Simon Winchester - April 18, 2011
The bestselling author of Krakatoa, returns to the natural world with his epic new book, a "biography" of the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories. http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/winchester.
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
Earlier this week, the Writers' Union of Canada awarded the Union's Freedom to Read Award for 2011 to John Ralston Saul.
http://www.writersunion.ca/pdfs/FTR_Ralston_Saul_2011.pdf
A Mills & Boon bonkbuster, an examination of the ongoing debate surrounding organ procurement, and a guide to managing a dental practice in a Mongol warlord kind of way, are among the titles vying for the Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of 2010.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/diagram-prize-shortlist-announced.html
NEWS & FEATURES
Nathan Heller’s commentary, as a stutterer, about The King’s Speech, identifies many writers who stutter—among others, Updike, Drabble, Borges, Hitchens, Larkin, and Henry James, raising the question: Is there a correlation between the impediment and the creation of literary voice?
http://www.slate.com/id/2285533/pagenum/all/
Matthew Bell interviews Aminatta Forna about Memory of Love, one of six books shortlisted for the Warwick prize.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/even-the-middle-classes-are-hit-by-war-2219818.html
The Warwick prize will be awarded in late March. Details about all the shortlisted books can be found here:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/prizeforwriting/thisyear/shortlist/
For decades, Gene Sharp's practical writings on nonviolent revolution—most notably From Dictatorship to Democracy in 2003—have inspired dissidents around the world, including in Burma, Serbia, Zimbabwe, and now Tunisia and Egypt. Sheryl Gay Stolberg connects the dots.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17sharp.html?src=me&ref=general
Robert McCrum argues that great novelists tend to avoid the barricades, whatever our fantasies of dissent.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/20/novelists-protest-egypt-aswany-lafayette
Boyd Tonkin explores the causes, and effects, of a cultural rebirth in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/revolution-in-the-head-and-on-the-page-writers-are-waking-up-to-a-new-dawn-across-the-arab-world-2218074.html
On its 400th anniversary, Jeanette Winterson, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Alexander McCall Smith, Michèle Roberts, David Crystal and Diarmaid McCulloch write about the importance of the King James Bible to our use of language.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/18/king-james-bible-language
Cornish bookseller and Du Maurier enthusiast, Ann Willmore has tracked down lost stories by Daphne du Maurier. The Doll, a new anthology of 13 stories—described as 'gothic, suspenseful and macabre',—will be published in May.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/fan-tracks-down-lost-stories-of-daphne-du-maurier-2220130.html
Mr Tumpy's Caravan, a previously unknown manuscript by Enid Blyton was discovered last year among works and manuscripts belonging to the late author's eldest daughter. Blyton died in 1968, but continues to sell eight million books a year.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/delight-as-lost-enid-blyton-book-is-discovered-2222818.html
The death last year of actor and director Dennis Hopper sparked renewed interest in his 'other' career—photography—suggested by James Dean. The photography chronicling Sixties America will be published by Taschen this week.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/rebel-with-a-camera-dennis-hoppers-stunning-photographic-archive-is-revealed-2216480.html
Bookseller Borders, which helped pioneer superstores, applied for bankruptcy protection last week.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/02/16/borders_books_chapter_11_bankruptcy/index.html
Edward McClelland analyzes how Borders went from a true alternative to a big-box bore.
http://www.salon.com/books/bookstores/index.html?story=/books/feature/2011/02/19/borders_disappears
The Washington Post has invited readers to submit three-sentence novels on Borders' demise.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/community/groups/index.html?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat%3aa70e3396-6663-4a8d-ba19-e44939d3c44fForum%3a24dd3e45-d5af-46c4-ab36-fd93fbed59dbDiscussion%3a4fc32e7c-e64d-4344-8a1d-88126007b7b2?hpid=talkbox1
Seventy-five years after the publication of George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier, David Sharrock retraces the Orwell journey that laid bare Britain's north-south divide.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/20/orwell-wigan-pier-75-years
Two excellent and similar novels came out in the US in the summer of 2010: Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, and The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman. Only one got the Capital Letter treatment. Gabriel Brownstein asks why.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/feb/17/great-american-novel
BOOKS & WRITERS
A recent comment by Bernard Madoff caused Margaret Heffernan, who recently wrote on the subject, to recognize "willful blindness".
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/why-we-see-no-evil/article1913885/
An excerpt from Heffernan's Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril can be found here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/leading-the-blind/article1913889/
Carolyn Kellogg writes of Jonathan Evison's West of Here, that although the plotting is uneven, it offers a vision of the Pacific Northwest told through the people who find themselves at the edge of America's idea of itself.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/books/la-ca-jonathan-evison-20110220,0,2025992.story
For a long time, loyalists were left out of patriotic American histories of the revolution. Linda Colley writes that Liberty's Exiles, Maya Jasanoff's superbly researched and highly intelligent book, supplements a mass of recent revisionist research on these men and women.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/19/libertys-exiles-maya-jasanoff-review
In his review of Under the Sun: The Letters of Bruce Chatwin, Dwight Garner writes "One of the pleasures of a good book of letters is watching a voice develop and ripen over time, and Chatwin's does."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/books/18book.html?ref=books
An excerpt is here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=bdVzZ59FoO4C&printsec=frontcover
Michel Basilières writes that the stories in Michael Christie's The Beggar's Garden, set in his native Vancouver and peopled with the down-and-out, the disenfranchised and disaffected, are by turns funny, melancholy, bizarre and very, very real.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/941895--the-beggar-s-garden-by-michael-christie
Tracy Sherlock adds: Christie reminds us of one vital fact: every person who finds themselves on the streets or down and out has a story. They all have, or had, families and childhoods and attachments.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Beggar+Garden+Striking+portraits+vulnerable/4312499/story.html
Jamie Portman reports that David Nicholls' One Day continues to be an international hit, two years after its publication.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Move+over+Stieg+Larson+Stephenie+Meyer/4295023/story.html
Two recent books may encourage readers to pick up James Joyce's modernist novel Ulysses and try again, writes Jim Ruland in his review of The House of Ulysses and Ulysses and Us: The Art of Everyday Life in Joyce's Masterpiece.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-james-joyce-20110220,0,2235151.story
Wesley Stace's new book, Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer, "is both a murder mystery and a novel about classical music, with a character who sometimes assumes another identity". Stace is also the singer-songwriter, John Wesley Harding.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/books/20stace.html?ref=books&pagewanted=all
An excerpt is here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=DDfpkO3K0mEC&printsec=frontcover
Dan Cryer finds that, by tracing the lives of three ‘white' families and their black forebears, Daniel J. Sharfstein's The Invisible Line is a spellbinding chronicle of racial passing in America, with often deadly consequences.
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2011/02/20/tracing_lives_of_three_white_families_and_their_black_forebears/
Barack Obama became President of the United States barely 40 years after legally mandated segregation was abolished. Patricia Sullivan reviews two new books on blacks and the White House.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/18/AR2011021807073.html
Jim Bartley finds Darcie Friesen Hossack's Mennonites Don't Dance (short-listed for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for first fiction, Canada and the Caribbean), "arresting, mesmerizing, authentic, and stunning".
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/mennonites-dont-dance-by-darcie-friesen-hossack/article1912787/
Michiko Kakutani notes that in Alone Together, Sherry Turkle is primarily concerned with the psychological side effects of the Internet—the illusion of companionship without the demands of intimacy and communication without emotional risk, leaving people feeling lonelier and more overwhelmed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/books/22book.html?ref=books
Prompted by reflections from John Brockman and his colleagues' statements in Edge, Jonathan Freedland pursues the question of how the Internet changes how we think.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/22/internet-learn-to-turn-off
Here are six responses—in Edge—to that question:
http://www.edge.org/q2010/q10_index.html
Dwight Garner describes Townie by Andre Dubus III—who recounts the story of his childhood on the edge of the middle class, looking in—as "a sleek muscle car of a memoir".
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/books/23book.html?ref=books
COMMUNITY EVENTS
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.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Eve Joseph, Lydia Kwa and Kenneth Radu. Thursday, February 24 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library/Bookstore at Robson Square, Plaza Level, 800 Robson St. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca/#Kwa.
GEORGIA NICOLS
Author introduces her first book, You and Your Future. Thursday, February 24 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
CHARLOTTE GILL
Author discusses Ladykiller, her debut collection of short stories.Thursday, February 24 at 7:00pm. Call 604-733-1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com to register. Christianne's Lyceum, 3696 8th Ave. W.
GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL
Readings, interviews, writing workshops, panel discussions, and small press production. Featuring Gurjinder Basran, Don Calame, Ivan E. Coyote, Des Kennedy, Meg Tilly and many more. February 25-28, 2011. Complete information at galianoliteraryfestival.wordpress.com.
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.
GETTING STARTED IN CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Join seven professional children's authors and illustrators to find out how they broke into this exciting and competitive field and how they built their careers. Monday, February 28 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
RUBIN CARTER
Dr. Rubin Hurricane Carter - Eye of the Hurricane: My Path from Darkness to Freedom, with host Neil Boyd. With a brand new release, Rubin Carter tells of the metaphoric and physical prisons he has survived: his poverty-stricken childhood, his troubled adolescence and early adulthood, his 19-year imprisonment with 10 years in solitary confinement and the knowledge that his life was forever altered by injustice. 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.
YOUTH POETRY SLAM
Vancouver Poetry House presents special guest Tanya Evanson. Monday, Febrary 28 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $3/$5. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. Details at http://vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
RUSSELL SMITH
Author reads from his novel, Girl Crazy, a fast paced cinematic ride through one man's obsession with a younger woman. Wednesday, March 2 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kay rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
DAVID J. SMITH
Launch of the author's new book This Child Every Child: A Picture Book for Children About the Rights of Children. Friday, March 4 at 6:00pm, free. Ardea Books & Art, 2025 4th Ave. W. More information at http://ardeabooksandart.com/event/?event_id=34.
YARN BOMBING
Yarn Bombing (the art of crochet and knit graffiti) at Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver. Help stitch knitted blossoms in place on the Kogawa cherry tree (whose story is told in Joy Kogawa's book Naomi's Tree) on Sunday, March 6, 2 to 3:30pm. More details: http://www.kogawahouse.com/node/251.
Upcoming
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by John Gould and Terence Young. Thursday, March 10 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library/Bookstore at Robson Square, Plaza Level, 800 Robson St. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
RACHEL WYATT
Reading and discussion of the author's new novel, Letters to Omar. Thursday, March 10 at 7:00pm, free. Ardea Books & Art, 2025 4th Ave. W. More information at http://ardeabooksandart.com/event/?event_id=31.
CABIN FEVER
Anna Swanson, Bren Simmers and Maleea Acker - three former fire lookouts - read from their debut collections of poetry. Monday, March 14 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
JORDAN SCOTT
Reading by the author of Silt and Blert. Friday, March 18 at 8:00pm, free. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive. More information at http://www.newstarbooks.com/news.php?news_id=40111.
BECKETT SOUNDINGS
Launch party for Inge Israel's new poetry collection. Also readings with Barbara Pelman and Pamela Porter. Sunday, March 20 at 5:00pm, free. Ardea Books & Art, 2025 4th Ave. W. More information at ronsdalepress.com.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Suzanne Buffam and Derek Lundy. Thursday, March 24 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library/Bookstore at Robson Square, Plaza Level, 800 Robson St. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Book News Vol. 6 No. 7
BOOK NEWS
Incite @ VPL
The next installment of Incite (http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/readingseries) will feature Steven Galloway interviewing Alexander MacLeod and readings by Gabriella Goliger and Théodora Armstrong.
7:30 pm on Wednesday, February 23
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incitefebruary23
Admission is free
Alice MacKay room, Central Library
Let us know you're coming by registering 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
The Finkler Question is a scorching story of friendship and loss, exclusion and belonging, and of the wisdom and humanity of maturity. Funny, furious, unflinching, this extraordinary novel shows one of our finest writers at his brilliant best. Presented in partnership with the Jewish Book Festival. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jacobson.
Simon Winchester - April 18, 2011
The bestselling author of Krakatoa, returns to the natural world with his epic new book, a "biography" of the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories. http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/winchester.
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
Anna Porter has won the 2011 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing for her book Ghosts of Europe, an examination of democracy in Central Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/02/16/shaughnessy-cohen-prize-for-political-writing-announces-winner/
The £50,000 Warwick prize for writing—one of Britain's richest, and certainly strangest, books prizes—has announced its shortlist, pitting poetry against anthropology, politics, science and fiction.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/11/prize-books-about-colour-shortlist
P.E.I. poet Tanya Davis was commissioned to write and read a poem in honour of the athletes at the opening ceremonies of the Canada Games in Halifax last week.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2011/02/10/pei-davis-canada-games-584.html
The winning Jackpine Sonnet is by Monica Kidd, a physician in St. John's Nfld. for her poem A Large Stake, which can be found here.
http://www.geist.com/poetry/large-stake
Five emerging writers of promise are this year's finalists for the Sami Rohr Prize in Jewish Literature, a $100,000 prize for best Jewish literature.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/02/finalists-for-sami-rohr-prize-for-jewish-literature.html
Charles Foran's biography Mordecai: The Life and Times is the 2011 winner of the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-fiction.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/in-other-words/charles-foran-wins-charles-taylor-prize/article1906370/
NEWS & FEATURES
Vit Wagner describes the experience of serving on a jury for a major literary award, in this instance, the Charles Taylor Prize.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/936057--the-charles-taylor-prize
Here are thumbnail sketches, with jury comments, on the five finalists for the $25,000 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, awarded Monday.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/937654--it-s-a-fact-charles-taylor-prize-contenders
Paul Laity interviews Edmund de Waal about his pottery, how he managed his ceramic projects and writing at the same time, and how his inheritance of netsuke led to his writing the 2011 Costa Award-winning The Hare with Amber Eyes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/12/edmund-waal-life-profile-interview
The NY Times offers a preview of an essay by Robyn Cresswell on the cultural revolution in Egypt.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/books/review/Creswell-t.html?_r=1&nl=books&emc=booksupdateemb4&pagewanted=print
The Paris Review will be running Roberto Bolaño's "lost novel" as a serial in four issues, over the course of a year. Titled The Third Reich, the first installment will appear in the Paris Review's spring issue.http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/02/lost-roberto-bolano-story-to-appear-in-the-paris-review.html
The Guardian has an extract of an essay by the travel writer Paul Theroux on his experience as an alien living in Britain. The full essay will appear in Granta 114: Aliens.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/13/paul-theroux-this-was-england
The San Francisco Chronicle elaborates on the Caldecott and Newberry medal winners announced last month.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/01/28/RVU01HE004.DTL&type=books
British author Martin Amis created an uproar when he said, during an interview, "If I had a serious brain injury I might well write a children's book".
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/amis-irsquod-write-for-children-only-if-id-had-a-brain-injury-2212493.html
Macy Halford responds in the New Yorker's Weekly Reader.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2011/02/weekly-reader-february-5thfebruary-11th-2011.html
Russell Smith comes to Amis' defence.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/russell-smith/kid-lit-authors-get-over-yourselves-amis-has-a-point/article1910155/
Adam Clark Estes writes that "Malcolm Gladwell, the zany-haired Canadian who loves to write bestsellers, just got meme-ified." Comedy writer Cory Bortnicker has designed a simple template that lets you apply Malcolm Gladwell's wisdom to pretty much everything."
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2011/02/08/malcolm_gladwell_book_generator
Adam Gopnik reviews a series of books explaining why books no longer matter, dividing these many new books about the Internet into Never-Betters, the Better-Nevers, and the Ever-Wasers.
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2011/02/14/110214crat_atlarge_gopnik
Groups on the internet have organized to remove books from libraries they believe are inappropriate for children. They assume that professional librarians don't have the expertise, that they're pushing porn on kids.
http://www.miller-mccune.com/culture-society/book-banners-finding-power-in-numbers-28097/
Salon has awarded its first-ever Good Sex Awards to James Hynes for Next.
http://www.salon.com/books/good_sex_awards/index.html?story=/books/feature/2011/02/14/good_sex_awards_hynes
What makes a good sex scene? Salon's judges discuss their favourite (and least) favourite) finalists—and the delicate art of erotic writing.
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2011/02/14/good_sex_winner_announcement/index.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
In her review of Maggie O'Farrell's award-winning The Hand That First Held Mine, Emma Hagestadt writes: "the book tears down the walls between the generations and, in an inspired upending of convention, places a father's post-natal ravings centre-stage."
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-hand-that-first-held-mine-by-maggie-ofarrell-2210891.html
Vit Wagner writes that Dan Vyleta's The Quiet Twin, which has the unsettlingly noirish quality of Hitchcock's Rear Window, should only enhance his reputation as one of Canada's emerging literary talents.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/937514--the-neighbours-are-watching
Jackie Kay's poems shimmer with a sense of place, home and identity, says Ben Wilkinson in his review of Fiere, Kay's latest poetry collection. ("Fiere" is an old Scots word meaning "companion" or "mate".)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/12/fiere-jackie-kay-poetry-review
Bernie Goedhart acknowledges that with the volume of books being published, it's inevitable some will slip through the cracks. Only after hearing its author/illustrator Chris Raschka read Little Black Crow at a children's-lit conference did he look for it.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Little+Black+Crow/4226640/story.html
J. D. Salinger spent the first third of his life trying to get noticed and the rest of it trying to disappear. He would have hated "J. D. Salinger: A Life," Kenneth Slawenski's reverent new biography, writes Jay McInerney.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/books/review/McInerney-t.html?ref=books
Bride of New France, a novel by historian Suzanne Desrochers, gives readers a new understanding of early settlement in Quebec through the experiences of the filles du roi: horrors reminiscent of Charles Dickens' stories, but engage the mind and imagination nonetheless.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/bride-of-new-france-by-suzanne-desrochers/article1903956/
Michiko Kakutani says of Humphrey Bogart, "He was cool before cool was cool", "the very image of the quintessential American hero". Stefan Kanfer's title for his Bogart biography Tough Without a Gun is a quote—about Bogart—from Raymond Chandler.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/books/15book.html?ref=books
An excerpt is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/books/excerpt-tough.html?ref=books
Language is a weapon of war, e.g.,US soldiers distinguished Japanese spies from friendly Filipinos by their enunciation of "lollapalooza". Jonathan Sale writes that Henry Hitchings' The Language Wars: a history of proper English is on the winning side.
http://www.independent.co.uk/artsentertainment/books/reviews/the-language-wars-a-history-of-proper-english-by-henry-hitchings-2214958.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
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.
CATHY SOSNOWSKY
Author reads from her memoir, Snapshots: A Story of Love, Loss and Life. Thursday, February 17 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room, level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
LISA ROBERTSON
Reading by the author of Debbie: An Epic, and XEclogue. Friday, February 18 at 8:00pm, free. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive. More information at http://www.newstarbooks.com/news.php?news_id=40111.
MICHAEL CHRISTIE
Day for Night: Films in the Afternoon, The National Film Board of Canada, and Michael Christie, author of The Beggar's Garden (2011) present a screening of The Devil's Toy (1966) directed by Claude Jutra and The Ernie Game (1967) directed by Don Owen, featuring Leonard Cohen. Sunday, February 20, doors at 2:00pm, films at 2:30pm. The Waldorf Hotel, 1489 East Hastings. More information at www.waldorfhotel.com.
PEN IN HAND
Readings by Blaine Marchand and Gabriella Goliger. Monday, February 21 at 7:30pm. Fee: $3 honorarium. Serious Coffee, 230 Cook Street, Victoria. More information at ainbinder.collins@gmail.com.
BOOK LAUNCH
Launch of Steve Weiner's new novel Sweet England and George Bowering's new historical novel Caprice. Tuesday, February 22 at 7:00pm, free. The Sylvia Hotel, 1154 Gilford Street. More information here, http://www.newstarbooks.com/news.php?news_id=40110.
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.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Eve Joseph, Lydia Kwa and Kenneth Radu. Thursday, February 24 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library/Bookstore at Robson Square, Plaza Level, 800 Robson St. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca/#Kwa.
GEORGIA NICOLS
Author introduces her first book, You and Your Future. Thursday, February 24 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
CHARLOTTE GILL
Author discusses Ladykiller, her debut collection of short stories.Thursday, February 24 at 7:00pm. Call 604-733-1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com to register. Christianne's Lyceum, 3696 8th Ave. W.
GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL
Readings, interviews, writing workshops, panel discussions, and small press production. Featuring Gurjinder Basran, Don Calame, Ivan E. Coyote, Des Kennedy, Meg Tilly and many more. February 25-28, 2011. Complete information at galianoliteraryfestival.wordpress.com.
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.
GETTING STARTED IN CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Join seven professional children's authors and illustrators to find out how they broke into this exciting and competitive field and how they built their careers. Monday, February 28 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
RUBIN CARTER
Dr. Rubin Hurricane Carter - Eye of the Hurricane: My Path from Darkness to Freedom, with host Neil Boyd. With a brand new release, Rubin Carter tells of the metaphoric and physical prisons he has survived: his poverty-stricken childhood, his troubled adolescence and early adulthood, his 19-year imprisonment with 10 years in solitary confinement and the knowledge that his life was forever altered by injustice. 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.
Upcoming
RUSSELL SMITH
Author reads from his novel, Girl Crazy, a fast paced cinematic ride through one man's obsession with a younger woman. Wednesday, March 2 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kay rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
DAVID J. SMITH
Launch of the author's new book This Child Every Child: A Picture Book for Children About the Rights of Children. Friday, March 4 at 6:00pm, free. Ardea Books & Art, 2025 4th Ave. W. More information at http://ardeabooksandart.com/event/?event_id=34.
YARN BOMBING
Yarn Bombing (the art of crochet and knit graffiti) at Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver. Help stitch knitted blossoms in place on the Kogawa cherry tree (whose story is told in Joy Kogawa's book Naomi's Tree) on Sunday, March 6, 2 to 3:30pm. More details: http://www.kogawahouse.com/node/251.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by John Gould and Terence Young. Thursday, March 10 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library/Bookstore at Robson Square, Plaza Level, 800 Robson St. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
RACHEL WYATT
Reading and discussion of the author's new novel, Letters to Omar. Thursday, March 10 at 7:00pm, free. Ardea Books & Art, 2025 4th Ave. W. More information at http://ardeabooksandart.com/event/?event_id=31.
CABIN FEVER
Anna Swanson, Bren Simmers and Maleea Acker - three former fire lookouts - read from their debut collections of poetry. Monday, March 14 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
Incite @ VPL
The next installment of Incite (http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/readingseries) will feature Steven Galloway interviewing Alexander MacLeod and readings by Gabriella Goliger and Théodora Armstrong.
7:30 pm on Wednesday, February 23
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incitefebruary23
Admission is free
Alice MacKay room, Central Library
Let us know you're coming by registering 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
The Finkler Question is a scorching story of friendship and loss, exclusion and belonging, and of the wisdom and humanity of maturity. Funny, furious, unflinching, this extraordinary novel shows one of our finest writers at his brilliant best. Presented in partnership with the Jewish Book Festival. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jacobson.
Simon Winchester - April 18, 2011
The bestselling author of Krakatoa, returns to the natural world with his epic new book, a "biography" of the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories. http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/winchester.
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
Anna Porter has won the 2011 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing for her book Ghosts of Europe, an examination of democracy in Central Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/02/16/shaughnessy-cohen-prize-for-political-writing-announces-winner/
The £50,000 Warwick prize for writing—one of Britain's richest, and certainly strangest, books prizes—has announced its shortlist, pitting poetry against anthropology, politics, science and fiction.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/11/prize-books-about-colour-shortlist
P.E.I. poet Tanya Davis was commissioned to write and read a poem in honour of the athletes at the opening ceremonies of the Canada Games in Halifax last week.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2011/02/10/pei-davis-canada-games-584.html
The winning Jackpine Sonnet is by Monica Kidd, a physician in St. John's Nfld. for her poem A Large Stake, which can be found here.
http://www.geist.com/poetry/large-stake
Five emerging writers of promise are this year's finalists for the Sami Rohr Prize in Jewish Literature, a $100,000 prize for best Jewish literature.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/02/finalists-for-sami-rohr-prize-for-jewish-literature.html
Charles Foran's biography Mordecai: The Life and Times is the 2011 winner of the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-fiction.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/in-other-words/charles-foran-wins-charles-taylor-prize/article1906370/
NEWS & FEATURES
Vit Wagner describes the experience of serving on a jury for a major literary award, in this instance, the Charles Taylor Prize.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/936057--the-charles-taylor-prize
Here are thumbnail sketches, with jury comments, on the five finalists for the $25,000 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, awarded Monday.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/937654--it-s-a-fact-charles-taylor-prize-contenders
Paul Laity interviews Edmund de Waal about his pottery, how he managed his ceramic projects and writing at the same time, and how his inheritance of netsuke led to his writing the 2011 Costa Award-winning The Hare with Amber Eyes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/12/edmund-waal-life-profile-interview
The NY Times offers a preview of an essay by Robyn Cresswell on the cultural revolution in Egypt.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/books/review/Creswell-t.html?_r=1&nl=books&emc=booksupdateemb4&pagewanted=print
The Paris Review will be running Roberto Bolaño's "lost novel" as a serial in four issues, over the course of a year. Titled The Third Reich, the first installment will appear in the Paris Review's spring issue.http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/02/lost-roberto-bolano-story-to-appear-in-the-paris-review.html
The Guardian has an extract of an essay by the travel writer Paul Theroux on his experience as an alien living in Britain. The full essay will appear in Granta 114: Aliens.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/13/paul-theroux-this-was-england
The San Francisco Chronicle elaborates on the Caldecott and Newberry medal winners announced last month.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/01/28/RVU01HE004.DTL&type=books
British author Martin Amis created an uproar when he said, during an interview, "If I had a serious brain injury I might well write a children's book".
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/amis-irsquod-write-for-children-only-if-id-had-a-brain-injury-2212493.html
Macy Halford responds in the New Yorker's Weekly Reader.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2011/02/weekly-reader-february-5thfebruary-11th-2011.html
Russell Smith comes to Amis' defence.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/russell-smith/kid-lit-authors-get-over-yourselves-amis-has-a-point/article1910155/
Adam Clark Estes writes that "Malcolm Gladwell, the zany-haired Canadian who loves to write bestsellers, just got meme-ified." Comedy writer Cory Bortnicker has designed a simple template that lets you apply Malcolm Gladwell's wisdom to pretty much everything."
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2011/02/08/malcolm_gladwell_book_generator
Adam Gopnik reviews a series of books explaining why books no longer matter, dividing these many new books about the Internet into Never-Betters, the Better-Nevers, and the Ever-Wasers.
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2011/02/14/110214crat_atlarge_gopnik
Groups on the internet have organized to remove books from libraries they believe are inappropriate for children. They assume that professional librarians don't have the expertise, that they're pushing porn on kids.
http://www.miller-mccune.com/culture-society/book-banners-finding-power-in-numbers-28097/
Salon has awarded its first-ever Good Sex Awards to James Hynes for Next.
http://www.salon.com/books/good_sex_awards/index.html?story=/books/feature/2011/02/14/good_sex_awards_hynes
What makes a good sex scene? Salon's judges discuss their favourite (and least) favourite) finalists—and the delicate art of erotic writing.
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2011/02/14/good_sex_winner_announcement/index.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
In her review of Maggie O'Farrell's award-winning The Hand That First Held Mine, Emma Hagestadt writes: "the book tears down the walls between the generations and, in an inspired upending of convention, places a father's post-natal ravings centre-stage."
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-hand-that-first-held-mine-by-maggie-ofarrell-2210891.html
Vit Wagner writes that Dan Vyleta's The Quiet Twin, which has the unsettlingly noirish quality of Hitchcock's Rear Window, should only enhance his reputation as one of Canada's emerging literary talents.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/937514--the-neighbours-are-watching
Jackie Kay's poems shimmer with a sense of place, home and identity, says Ben Wilkinson in his review of Fiere, Kay's latest poetry collection. ("Fiere" is an old Scots word meaning "companion" or "mate".)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/12/fiere-jackie-kay-poetry-review
Bernie Goedhart acknowledges that with the volume of books being published, it's inevitable some will slip through the cracks. Only after hearing its author/illustrator Chris Raschka read Little Black Crow at a children's-lit conference did he look for it.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Little+Black+Crow/4226640/story.html
J. D. Salinger spent the first third of his life trying to get noticed and the rest of it trying to disappear. He would have hated "J. D. Salinger: A Life," Kenneth Slawenski's reverent new biography, writes Jay McInerney.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/books/review/McInerney-t.html?ref=books
Bride of New France, a novel by historian Suzanne Desrochers, gives readers a new understanding of early settlement in Quebec through the experiences of the filles du roi: horrors reminiscent of Charles Dickens' stories, but engage the mind and imagination nonetheless.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/bride-of-new-france-by-suzanne-desrochers/article1903956/
Michiko Kakutani says of Humphrey Bogart, "He was cool before cool was cool", "the very image of the quintessential American hero". Stefan Kanfer's title for his Bogart biography Tough Without a Gun is a quote—about Bogart—from Raymond Chandler.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/books/15book.html?ref=books
An excerpt is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/books/excerpt-tough.html?ref=books
Language is a weapon of war, e.g.,US soldiers distinguished Japanese spies from friendly Filipinos by their enunciation of "lollapalooza". Jonathan Sale writes that Henry Hitchings' The Language Wars: a history of proper English is on the winning side.
http://www.independent.co.uk/artsentertainment/books/reviews/the-language-wars-a-history-of-proper-english-by-henry-hitchings-2214958.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
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.
CATHY SOSNOWSKY
Author reads from her memoir, Snapshots: A Story of Love, Loss and Life. Thursday, February 17 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room, level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
LISA ROBERTSON
Reading by the author of Debbie: An Epic, and XEclogue. Friday, February 18 at 8:00pm, free. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive. More information at http://www.newstarbooks.com/news.php?news_id=40111.
MICHAEL CHRISTIE
Day for Night: Films in the Afternoon, The National Film Board of Canada, and Michael Christie, author of The Beggar's Garden (2011) present a screening of The Devil's Toy (1966) directed by Claude Jutra and The Ernie Game (1967) directed by Don Owen, featuring Leonard Cohen. Sunday, February 20, doors at 2:00pm, films at 2:30pm. The Waldorf Hotel, 1489 East Hastings. More information at www.waldorfhotel.com.
PEN IN HAND
Readings by Blaine Marchand and Gabriella Goliger. Monday, February 21 at 7:30pm. Fee: $3 honorarium. Serious Coffee, 230 Cook Street, Victoria. More information at ainbinder.collins@gmail.com.
BOOK LAUNCH
Launch of Steve Weiner's new novel Sweet England and George Bowering's new historical novel Caprice. Tuesday, February 22 at 7:00pm, free. The Sylvia Hotel, 1154 Gilford Street. More information here, http://www.newstarbooks.com/news.php?news_id=40110.
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.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Eve Joseph, Lydia Kwa and Kenneth Radu. Thursday, February 24 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library/Bookstore at Robson Square, Plaza Level, 800 Robson St. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca/#Kwa.
GEORGIA NICOLS
Author introduces her first book, You and Your Future. Thursday, February 24 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
CHARLOTTE GILL
Author discusses Ladykiller, her debut collection of short stories.Thursday, February 24 at 7:00pm. Call 604-733-1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com to register. Christianne's Lyceum, 3696 8th Ave. W.
GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL
Readings, interviews, writing workshops, panel discussions, and small press production. Featuring Gurjinder Basran, Don Calame, Ivan E. Coyote, Des Kennedy, Meg Tilly and many more. February 25-28, 2011. Complete information at galianoliteraryfestival.wordpress.com.
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.
GETTING STARTED IN CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Join seven professional children's authors and illustrators to find out how they broke into this exciting and competitive field and how they built their careers. Monday, February 28 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
RUBIN CARTER
Dr. Rubin Hurricane Carter - Eye of the Hurricane: My Path from Darkness to Freedom, with host Neil Boyd. With a brand new release, Rubin Carter tells of the metaphoric and physical prisons he has survived: his poverty-stricken childhood, his troubled adolescence and early adulthood, his 19-year imprisonment with 10 years in solitary confinement and the knowledge that his life was forever altered by injustice. 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.
Upcoming
RUSSELL SMITH
Author reads from his novel, Girl Crazy, a fast paced cinematic ride through one man's obsession with a younger woman. Wednesday, March 2 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kay rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
DAVID J. SMITH
Launch of the author's new book This Child Every Child: A Picture Book for Children About the Rights of Children. Friday, March 4 at 6:00pm, free. Ardea Books & Art, 2025 4th Ave. W. More information at http://ardeabooksandart.com/event/?event_id=34.
YARN BOMBING
Yarn Bombing (the art of crochet and knit graffiti) at Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver. Help stitch knitted blossoms in place on the Kogawa cherry tree (whose story is told in Joy Kogawa's book Naomi's Tree) on Sunday, March 6, 2 to 3:30pm. More details: http://www.kogawahouse.com/node/251.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by John Gould and Terence Young. Thursday, March 10 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library/Bookstore at Robson Square, Plaza Level, 800 Robson St. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
RACHEL WYATT
Reading and discussion of the author's new novel, Letters to Omar. Thursday, March 10 at 7:00pm, free. Ardea Books & Art, 2025 4th Ave. W. More information at http://ardeabooksandart.com/event/?event_id=31.
CABIN FEVER
Anna Swanson, Bren Simmers and Maleea Acker - three former fire lookouts - read from their debut collections of poetry. Monday, March 14 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Book News Vol. 6 No. 6
BOOK NEWS
Incite @ VPL
The next installment of Incite (http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/readingseries) will feature Steven Galloway interviewing Alexander MacLeod and readings by Gabriella Goliger and Théodora Armstrong.
7:30 pm on Wednesday, February 23
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incitefebruary23
Admission is free
Alice MacKay room, Central Library
Let us know you're coming by registering 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
The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis has won CBC Radio's 10th annual Canada Reads.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-best-laid-plans-by-terry-fallis-wins-canada-reads/article1900459/
Dame Beryl Bainbridge, who died last July, was shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize five times but never won. The prize's literary director, Ion Trewin, in an effort to end her status as the eternal Booker bridesmaid, has asked readers to vote for one of her five shortlisted novels to be awarded a special prize called The Man Booker Best of Beryl.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/honour-at-last-for-a-booker-bridesmaid-2207448.html
The nominees for the 2011 Joe Shuster Awards (for comics, graphic novels and webcomics published in 2010) have been announced.
http://joeshusterawards.com/awards/about/2011-nominees/
NEWS & FEATURES
J. Kelly Nestruck reports that Michel Tremblay's plays are, uniquely in the Canadian canon, now getting second or even third translations. And they may be getting better as that art form evolves.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/theatre/the-enduring-appeal-of-michel-tremblay/article1899250/
The February 24 issue of The New Yorker includes The Other Place, a new story by Mary Gaitskill.
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2011/02/14/110214fi_fiction_gaitskill
Fifteen unpublished short stories by Dashiell Hammett have been unearthed in Texas by Andrew Gulli, who is publishing one in his magazine The Strand.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/04/dashiell-hammett-unpublished-works-found
The Boston Globe interviewed Irish author John Banville author of 15 novels, including The Sea, which won the Man Booker Prize in 2005. He has also written a series of popular mystery novels under the pseudonym Benjamin Black.
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2011/02/03/john_banville_meets_benjamin_black/
Protests against the planned closure of more than 450 library services were staged in Britain at the weekend including a mass "shhh-in" and a flashmob book reading. Closures may also affect Oxford's submission to become UNESCO's World Book Capital in 2014.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/05/library-closures-coalition-cuts-writers-protest
The Times Literary Supplement, together with the Translators Association of the Society of Authors, have announced the winners of the 2011 Translation Prizes—an assist, perhaps, to addressing the near-invisibility of writers in languages other than English identified recently by Orhan Pamuk.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article7171521.ece
An interview with Michael Cunningham, whose novel By Nightfall is now out, reveals, among other things, that he lacks confidence, and that Virginia Woolf is his hero.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/feb/07/michael-cunningham-life-writing
When Kazuo Ishiguro began writing, it was as a songwriter; he wanted to be, he says, like Leonard Cohen. Here he reflects on past passions, fatherhood, and critical abuse.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/feb/06/kazuo-ishiguro-this-much-i-know
Fifty years after leaving County Clare for London, Edna O'Brien is still preoccupied with Ireland. Rachel Cooke interviews O'Brien on the eve of the publication of Saints and Sinners, a collection of short stories, her 21st work of fiction.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/06/edna-obrien-ireland-interview
"Authors are now often forced to hire their own editors, even before submitting their manuscripts for publication; the biggest-growing sector in Canadian publishing is the freelance editor," reports John Barber.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/where-have-all-the-book-editors-gone/article1894501/
Elizabeth Bishop's poems are infused with the iridescent landscapes of Nova Scotia, where she grew up. On the centenary of her birth, Lavinia Greenlaw celebrates this most remarkable of American poets.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8300772/Elizabeth-Bishop-and-Nova-Scotia.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
We still need books to make sense of Wikileaks, says Robert McCrum. Wikileaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy is unputdownable. The Leigh/Harding narrative reads like Stieg Larsson out of Joseph Conrad by Peter Carey.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/feb/02/books-make-sense-of-wikileaks
Ian McGillis found that reading Alice Munro's latest short story Axis, in the January 31 issue of The New Yorker, completely distracted him from the world events (Egypt) that had so absorbed him.
http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/blogs/narratives/archive/2011/02/03/perfection-on-the-installment-plan-with-alice-munro.aspx
Ami Sands Brodoff writes that the fictional autobiography of the reclusive hero of Étienne's Alphabet is arranged like a dictionary, each letter evoking a rush of associations and memories. Étienne is an insightful narrator who ultimately wins the reader's heart.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/tiennes-alphabet-by-james-king/article1892082/
An excerpt is here:
http://www.harpercollins.com/browseinside/index.aspx?isbn13=9780061711
I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Maxine Hong Kingston's reflection on aging, has roots in her previous writing going all the way back to her first and award-winning book The Warrior Woman.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/books/la-ca-maxine-hong-kingston-20110206,0,5861459.story
Emma Donoghue says of Karen Russell's first novel: "The plot of Swamplandia! is nothing special but the execution is. This family...survive in their scarred way, and will lodge in the memories of anyone lucky enough to read “Swamplandia!".
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/books/review/Donoghue-t.html?_r=1&ref=books&pagewanted=all
In his review of Swamplandia, Ron Charles reminds us that Russell's work has appeared in "Best American Short Stories," and she's been blessed by the New Yorker, Granta and the National Book Foundation, so this is a debut with an unusual amount of momentum behind it - all well deserved, he says.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/01/AR2011020105883.html
Carlos Fuentes' Destiny and Desire, writes Michael Wood, offers lavish quantities of comedy, satire, allegory, fantasy and brilliant political commentary.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/books/review/Wood-t.html?ref=books&pagewanted=all
The book fairly smokes with acid commentary on Mexican history ("It has all been betrayal, lies, cruelty, and vengeance") and political manipulation, writes Marcela Valdes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/31/AR2011013105835.html
An excerpt is here:
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl/display.pperl?isbn=9781400068807&view=excerpt
Sara Wheeler applauds Colin Thubron's elegiac pilgrimage to Tibet as described in To a Mountain in Tibet, a simple story of a secular pilgrimage to the sacred slopes of Kailas.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/05/mountain-tibet-colin-thubron-review
The rise of the lonely hearts ad went hand in hand with the rise of the novel. Carole Cadwalladr finds that Francesca Beauman‘s Shapely Ankle Preferr'd falls down about the present day but the history of lonely hearts advertising abounds with entertaining 18th century detail.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/06/shapely-ankle-preferrd-francesca-beauman-review
Elmore Leonard, perhaps best known for his crime-ridden Westerns, has set Djibouti, his new book, off the coast of east Africa. Robert Epstein admires Leonard's willingness to investigate and interpret the geopolitical hypocrisies of this immensely complicated arena.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/djibouti-by-elmore-leonard-2205539.html
David Kamp says that Djibouti, for all its travelogue aspects and newsy urgency, is not such a departure from the Leonard template after all.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/books/review/Kamp-t.html
Donna Bailey Nurse writes that: "As a rule, Jamaican patois, broadly deployed, amusingly distances us from the characters. But (in By Love Possessed) Lorna Goodison’s alchemy of standard and Jamaican English locates us deep within the consciousness of her people."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/by-love-possessed-by-lorna-goodison/article1894517/
David Nicholls' One Day, a novel about friendship, has hit a nerve, translated into 31 languages, months on bestsellers' lists, and a film version in the works.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Move+over+Stieg+Larson+Stephenie+Meyer/4229927/story.html
"A sleeper hit of huge proportions," says Paul Gent.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8246300/David-Nicholls-One-Day-Seize-the-book-of-the-moment.html
The key to writing fiction is in knowing what to leave out. That capacity is even more essential in poetry, writes Barbara Carey, citing Rob Winger's gaps in The Chimney Stone. Vancouver's Bren Simmers connects the dots in Night Gears.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/933642--on-a-zigzag-path-two-new-collections
With her new collection Missed Her, Ivan E. Coyote delves into the seriousness of sexual conventions and gender roles with a wit that bridges gaps between city and country, oral and written, self-conscious writer and contemplative reader, writes Brooke Ford.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/missed-her-by-ivan-e-coyote/article1895080/
Tim Flannery writes that John Vaillant's The Tiger is a brilliantly told tale of man and nature. Flannery's article begins with a review of Sound of a Wild Snail Eating. The Tiger review begins on page 2.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/feb/10/tigers-humans-and-snails/
There are many good reasons to read Annia Ciezladio's Day of Honey, writes Dwight Garner: tales of Middle Eastern food, narrow escapes, cultural misunderstandings. And "Ms. Ciezadlo is the kind of thinker who listens as well as she writes."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/books/07book.html?ref=books
COMMUNITY EVENTS
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 André 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.
SPOKEN INK
Featuring readings by Julie Ferguson and Daryl Stennett. Tuesday, February 15 at 8:00pm. La Fontana Caffe, 101-3701 East Hastings, Burnaby. For more information, visit www.BurnabyWritersNews.blogspot.com.
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.
BOOK LAUNCH
Launch of Steve Weiner's new novel Sweet England and George Bowering's new historical novel Caprice. Tuesday, February 22 at 7:00pm, free. The Sylvia Hotel, 1154 Gilford Street. More information here, http://www.newstarbooks.com/news.php?news_id=40110.
Upcoming
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.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Eve Joseph, Lydia Kwa and Kenneth Radu. Thursday, February 24 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library/Bookstore at Robson Square, Plaza Level, 800 Robson St. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca/#Kwa.
CHARLOTTE GILL
Author discusses Ladykiller, her debut collection of short stories.Thursday, February 24 at 7:00pm. Call 604-733-1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com to register. Christianne's Lyceum, 3696 8th Ave. W.
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.
YARN BOMBING
Yarn Bombing (the art of crochet and knit graffiti) at Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver. Help stitch knitted blossoms in place on the Kogawa cherry tree (whose story is told in Joy Kogawa’s book Naomi’s Tree) on Sunday, March 6, 2 to 3:30pm. More details: http://www.kogawahouse.com/node/251.
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.
HAIKU NORTH AMERICA
A long weekend of papers, presentations, workshops, readings, and other activities in celebration of haiku poetry. August 3-7, 2011, Seattle, Washington. For more information, visit www.haikunorthamerica.com.
Incite @ VPL
The next installment of Incite (http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/readingseries) will feature Steven Galloway interviewing Alexander MacLeod and readings by Gabriella Goliger and Théodora Armstrong.
7:30 pm on Wednesday, February 23
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incitefebruary23
Admission is free
Alice MacKay room, Central Library
Let us know you're coming by registering 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
The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis has won CBC Radio's 10th annual Canada Reads.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-best-laid-plans-by-terry-fallis-wins-canada-reads/article1900459/
Dame Beryl Bainbridge, who died last July, was shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize five times but never won. The prize's literary director, Ion Trewin, in an effort to end her status as the eternal Booker bridesmaid, has asked readers to vote for one of her five shortlisted novels to be awarded a special prize called The Man Booker Best of Beryl.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/honour-at-last-for-a-booker-bridesmaid-2207448.html
The nominees for the 2011 Joe Shuster Awards (for comics, graphic novels and webcomics published in 2010) have been announced.
http://joeshusterawards.com/awards/about/2011-nominees/
NEWS & FEATURES
J. Kelly Nestruck reports that Michel Tremblay's plays are, uniquely in the Canadian canon, now getting second or even third translations. And they may be getting better as that art form evolves.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/theatre/the-enduring-appeal-of-michel-tremblay/article1899250/
The February 24 issue of The New Yorker includes The Other Place, a new story by Mary Gaitskill.
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2011/02/14/110214fi_fiction_gaitskill
Fifteen unpublished short stories by Dashiell Hammett have been unearthed in Texas by Andrew Gulli, who is publishing one in his magazine The Strand.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/04/dashiell-hammett-unpublished-works-found
The Boston Globe interviewed Irish author John Banville author of 15 novels, including The Sea, which won the Man Booker Prize in 2005. He has also written a series of popular mystery novels under the pseudonym Benjamin Black.
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2011/02/03/john_banville_meets_benjamin_black/
Protests against the planned closure of more than 450 library services were staged in Britain at the weekend including a mass "shhh-in" and a flashmob book reading. Closures may also affect Oxford's submission to become UNESCO's World Book Capital in 2014.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/05/library-closures-coalition-cuts-writers-protest
The Times Literary Supplement, together with the Translators Association of the Society of Authors, have announced the winners of the 2011 Translation Prizes—an assist, perhaps, to addressing the near-invisibility of writers in languages other than English identified recently by Orhan Pamuk.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article7171521.ece
An interview with Michael Cunningham, whose novel By Nightfall is now out, reveals, among other things, that he lacks confidence, and that Virginia Woolf is his hero.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/feb/07/michael-cunningham-life-writing
When Kazuo Ishiguro began writing, it was as a songwriter; he wanted to be, he says, like Leonard Cohen. Here he reflects on past passions, fatherhood, and critical abuse.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/feb/06/kazuo-ishiguro-this-much-i-know
Fifty years after leaving County Clare for London, Edna O'Brien is still preoccupied with Ireland. Rachel Cooke interviews O'Brien on the eve of the publication of Saints and Sinners, a collection of short stories, her 21st work of fiction.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/06/edna-obrien-ireland-interview
"Authors are now often forced to hire their own editors, even before submitting their manuscripts for publication; the biggest-growing sector in Canadian publishing is the freelance editor," reports John Barber.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/where-have-all-the-book-editors-gone/article1894501/
Elizabeth Bishop's poems are infused with the iridescent landscapes of Nova Scotia, where she grew up. On the centenary of her birth, Lavinia Greenlaw celebrates this most remarkable of American poets.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8300772/Elizabeth-Bishop-and-Nova-Scotia.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
We still need books to make sense of Wikileaks, says Robert McCrum. Wikileaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy is unputdownable. The Leigh/Harding narrative reads like Stieg Larsson out of Joseph Conrad by Peter Carey.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/feb/02/books-make-sense-of-wikileaks
Ian McGillis found that reading Alice Munro's latest short story Axis, in the January 31 issue of The New Yorker, completely distracted him from the world events (Egypt) that had so absorbed him.
http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/blogs/narratives/archive/2011/02/03/perfection-on-the-installment-plan-with-alice-munro.aspx
Ami Sands Brodoff writes that the fictional autobiography of the reclusive hero of Étienne's Alphabet is arranged like a dictionary, each letter evoking a rush of associations and memories. Étienne is an insightful narrator who ultimately wins the reader's heart.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/tiennes-alphabet-by-james-king/article1892082/
An excerpt is here:
http://www.harpercollins.com/browseinside/index.aspx?isbn13=9780061711
I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, Maxine Hong Kingston's reflection on aging, has roots in her previous writing going all the way back to her first and award-winning book The Warrior Woman.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/books/la-ca-maxine-hong-kingston-20110206,0,5861459.story
Emma Donoghue says of Karen Russell's first novel: "The plot of Swamplandia! is nothing special but the execution is. This family...survive in their scarred way, and will lodge in the memories of anyone lucky enough to read “Swamplandia!".
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/books/review/Donoghue-t.html?_r=1&ref=books&pagewanted=all
In his review of Swamplandia, Ron Charles reminds us that Russell's work has appeared in "Best American Short Stories," and she's been blessed by the New Yorker, Granta and the National Book Foundation, so this is a debut with an unusual amount of momentum behind it - all well deserved, he says.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/01/AR2011020105883.html
Carlos Fuentes' Destiny and Desire, writes Michael Wood, offers lavish quantities of comedy, satire, allegory, fantasy and brilliant political commentary.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/books/review/Wood-t.html?ref=books&pagewanted=all
The book fairly smokes with acid commentary on Mexican history ("It has all been betrayal, lies, cruelty, and vengeance") and political manipulation, writes Marcela Valdes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/31/AR2011013105835.html
An excerpt is here:
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl/display.pperl?isbn=9781400068807&view=excerpt
Sara Wheeler applauds Colin Thubron's elegiac pilgrimage to Tibet as described in To a Mountain in Tibet, a simple story of a secular pilgrimage to the sacred slopes of Kailas.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/05/mountain-tibet-colin-thubron-review
The rise of the lonely hearts ad went hand in hand with the rise of the novel. Carole Cadwalladr finds that Francesca Beauman‘s Shapely Ankle Preferr'd falls down about the present day but the history of lonely hearts advertising abounds with entertaining 18th century detail.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/06/shapely-ankle-preferrd-francesca-beauman-review
Elmore Leonard, perhaps best known for his crime-ridden Westerns, has set Djibouti, his new book, off the coast of east Africa. Robert Epstein admires Leonard's willingness to investigate and interpret the geopolitical hypocrisies of this immensely complicated arena.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/djibouti-by-elmore-leonard-2205539.html
David Kamp says that Djibouti, for all its travelogue aspects and newsy urgency, is not such a departure from the Leonard template after all.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/books/review/Kamp-t.html
Donna Bailey Nurse writes that: "As a rule, Jamaican patois, broadly deployed, amusingly distances us from the characters. But (in By Love Possessed) Lorna Goodison’s alchemy of standard and Jamaican English locates us deep within the consciousness of her people."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/by-love-possessed-by-lorna-goodison/article1894517/
David Nicholls' One Day, a novel about friendship, has hit a nerve, translated into 31 languages, months on bestsellers' lists, and a film version in the works.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Move+over+Stieg+Larson+Stephenie+Meyer/4229927/story.html
"A sleeper hit of huge proportions," says Paul Gent.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8246300/David-Nicholls-One-Day-Seize-the-book-of-the-moment.html
The key to writing fiction is in knowing what to leave out. That capacity is even more essential in poetry, writes Barbara Carey, citing Rob Winger's gaps in The Chimney Stone. Vancouver's Bren Simmers connects the dots in Night Gears.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/933642--on-a-zigzag-path-two-new-collections
With her new collection Missed Her, Ivan E. Coyote delves into the seriousness of sexual conventions and gender roles with a wit that bridges gaps between city and country, oral and written, self-conscious writer and contemplative reader, writes Brooke Ford.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/missed-her-by-ivan-e-coyote/article1895080/
Tim Flannery writes that John Vaillant's The Tiger is a brilliantly told tale of man and nature. Flannery's article begins with a review of Sound of a Wild Snail Eating. The Tiger review begins on page 2.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/feb/10/tigers-humans-and-snails/
There are many good reasons to read Annia Ciezladio's Day of Honey, writes Dwight Garner: tales of Middle Eastern food, narrow escapes, cultural misunderstandings. And "Ms. Ciezadlo is the kind of thinker who listens as well as she writes."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/books/07book.html?ref=books
COMMUNITY EVENTS
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 André 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.
SPOKEN INK
Featuring readings by Julie Ferguson and Daryl Stennett. Tuesday, February 15 at 8:00pm. La Fontana Caffe, 101-3701 East Hastings, Burnaby. For more information, visit www.BurnabyWritersNews.blogspot.com.
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.
BOOK LAUNCH
Launch of Steve Weiner's new novel Sweet England and George Bowering's new historical novel Caprice. Tuesday, February 22 at 7:00pm, free. The Sylvia Hotel, 1154 Gilford Street. More information here, http://www.newstarbooks.com/news.php?news_id=40110.
Upcoming
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.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Eve Joseph, Lydia Kwa and Kenneth Radu. Thursday, February 24 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library/Bookstore at Robson Square, Plaza Level, 800 Robson St. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca/#Kwa.
CHARLOTTE GILL
Author discusses Ladykiller, her debut collection of short stories.Thursday, February 24 at 7:00pm. Call 604-733-1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com to register. Christianne's Lyceum, 3696 8th Ave. W.
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.
YARN BOMBING
Yarn Bombing (the art of crochet and knit graffiti) at Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver. Help stitch knitted blossoms in place on the Kogawa cherry tree (whose story is told in Joy Kogawa’s book Naomi’s Tree) on Sunday, March 6, 2 to 3:30pm. More details: http://www.kogawahouse.com/node/251.
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.
HAIKU NORTH AMERICA
A long weekend of papers, presentations, workshops, readings, and other activities in celebration of haiku poetry. August 3-7, 2011, Seattle, Washington. For more information, visit www.haikunorthamerica.com.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Book News Vol. 6 No. 5
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
Vancouver's John Vaillant has won British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction for his book The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Vancouver+author+wins+fiction+book+award/4198897/story.html
An essay by John Vaillant on the threats to tigers and how to save them is here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/john-valliant-on-the-threats-to-tigers-and-how-to-save-them/article1694479/
Michelle Berry’s This Book Will Not Save Your Life won the inaugural Colophon Prize for fiction from its publisher, Enfield & Wizenty.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/this-book-will-not-save-your-life-by-michelle-berry/article1890440/
NEWS & FEATURES
B.C Teen Services librarians whose funding for the Teen Reading Club was cut, have secured support from The TELUS Vancouver Community Board (which believes "literacy is at the forefront") to keep the online component of the program alive in 2011.
http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2011/01/31/TeenRescue/?utm_source=mondayheadlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=310111
The mystery of the authorship of O appears to be over. The author has been identified by Time magazine as Mark Salter, a former aide to John McCain.
http://thepage.time.com/2011/01/27/o-mark-salter/
Salter has neither confirmed nor denied his authorship.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/01/is-mark-salter-author-of-o.html
Douglas Bell suggests the author might wish to remain anonymous since, in Bell’s view, the best part of O is its cover.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/o-a-presidential-novel-by-anonymous/article1886246/
Following the successful uprising in Tunisia and the biggest demonstrations in Egypt for decades, protests have spread across the Arab world. Will other regimes fall? Ten leading Arab writers from the region respond.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/interactive/2011/jan/28/tunisia-protests-writers-reflect
Vladimir Nabokov was the author of Lolita and other books. He also had a parallel existence as a self-taught expert on butterflies. Few professional lepidopterists took seriously his hypothesis for the evolution of the butterflies he studied. This week, his theory was vindicated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/science/01butterfly.html?src=me&ref=general
Yann Martel has ended his ‘one-sided book club’—his practice of sending books to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. "Books are too precious and wonderful to be used for long in such a fashion," he said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/01/yann-martel-book-canadian-pm
Jackie Kay writes: "It's a wonderful time for poetry. This week, for the second year running, a poet won the Costa book award and thousands are crowding into readings." What’s going on?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/jan/29/poets-poetry-stage-roar-renaissance
New York Times columnist Stanley Fish offers readers a guided tour through some of the most beautiful, arresting sentences in the English language in How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One. His top five sentences are here:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/archive/2011/01/24/stanley-fish-s-top-five-sentences.aspx
The Nobel prize-winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk laments the near-invisibility of writers in languages other than English, and the persistent shortage of translations.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/26/orhan-pamuk-attacks-marginalisation-non-english
Dorothy Livesay’s Day and Night and Truman Green’s A Credit to Your Race are among the ten Vancouver books to be republished for the city’s 125th anniversary.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/vancouvers-lost-gems-to-be-republished-for-citys-125th-anniversary/article1885695/
What books we say we like may (or may not) provide insights into our character. Geoff Nicholson examines books in Hitler’s and Oscar Wilde’s libraries, among others.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/books/review/Nicholson-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateemb3&pagewanted=all
Quai d'Orsay. a satirical graphic novel based on the former French prime minister and foreign policy supremo, Dominique de Villepin, is a surprise French literary hit, tipped for the top prizes at the Angoulême International Comics festival.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/28/quai-d-orsay-comic-book
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that three times as many books are self-published as are produced by traditional publishers.
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/114869199.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
The Poets Laureate Anthology provides a comprehensive overview via generous biographical introductions to, and selections of poetry from, the 43 holders of the post from 1937 to the present.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/29/poets-laureate-anthology-norton-review
Annie Murphy Paul writes that Peggy Orenstein’s debating with herself about ‘the princess phase’ in Cinderella Ate My Daughter has done parents a great favor, and reminds readers that kids grow out of it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/books/review/Paul-t.html
An excerpt is here:
http://www.harpercollins.com/browseinside/index.aspx?isbn13=9780061711527
Who knows what really lurks in the hearts and minds of teens? Deidre Baker reviews four books for teens, in an attempt to find out.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/930191--those-mystifying-teen-years-in-fiction
Margaret Atwood is to publish her seventh children's book, Wandering Wenda and Widow Wallop's Wunderground Washery, The book will be out this summer.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Atwood+publish+children+book/4128062/story.html
British author Glynis Ridley’s The Discovery of Jeanne Baret is a whopper of a story, says Emily Donaldson, which brings to our attention the first woman to circumnavigate the globe, despite the strict law that barred women from naval vessels.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/930148--the-discovery-of-jeanne-baret-by-glynis-ridley
Award-winning Guardian journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding have been at the centre of the Wikileaks publishing drama. Their book Wikileaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy will be out this week. Here is an excerpt:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/30/julian-assange-wikileaks-profile
Vit Wagner says that poet Lorna Goodison routinely seeks inspiration in the works of her favourite writer, the 19th-century English Romantic poet John Keats. Her new collection By Love Possessed includes previous work and some entirely new work.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/929853--lorna-goodison-passion-for-keats-weaves-through-writer-s-work
The problem with memoirs began with our period of over-sharing, writes Neil Genzlinger in his review of four memoirs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/books/review/Genzlinger-t.html?ref=books
David Vann tells the heartbreaking story of the two youngest Britons to climb Everest.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/30/young-everest-adventurers-into-void
"Rarely has loss and grieving been handled with such deft tenderness, sly humour and almost inexplicable beauty,” writes Robert Wiersema in his review of Steven Hayward’s Don’t Be Afraid.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/dont-be-afraid-by-steven-hayward/article1886175/
Tracy Sherlock writes that Alice Hoffman’s trademark magical realism informs the interwoven enchanting fairy tales in The Red Garden.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Alice+Hoffman+Garden+merges+mystical+tales+with+tragedy+history/4173444/story.html
Former soldier and war correspondent Scott Taylor describes James Brabazon’s My Friend the Mercenary as "a fast-paced page-turner”.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/my-friend-the-mercenary-a-memoir-by-james-brabazon/article1889003/
Jane Johnson’s The Salt Road, informed by her own life in the Tuareg area of Morocco, gives readers a portrait of an area and history few of us know. Linda Holeman describes this historical novel as an "exhilarating ride”.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-salt-road-by-jane-johnson/article1886377/
Henry’s Demons, jointly written by Patrick Cockburn and his son Henry, who suffers from schizophrenia, is "a living, breathing book because nearly everyone in this shaggy, expressive family is worth getting to know” says Dwight Garner.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/books/02book.html?ref=books
Time in Sweden, coupled with an introduction to Stieg Larsson’s books, have resulted in Paul Wilson’s memoir The Archivist: How I found Stieg Larsson’s inner sanctum.
http://walrusmagazine.com/articles/2011.03-memoir-the-archivist/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
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.
PLAY CHTHONICS READING SERIES
Reading and dialogue by poets Chris Hutchinson and Jay MillAr. Wednesday, February 9 at 7:30pm, free. Graham House, Green College, 6201 Cecil Green Park Rd. More information at playchthonics.blogspot.com.
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 André 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.
Upcoming
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.
CHARLOTTE GILL
Author discusses Ladykiller, her debut collection of short stories.Thursday, February 24 at 7:00pm. Call 604-733-1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com to register. Christianne's Lyceum, 3696 8th Ave. W.
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.
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
Vancouver's John Vaillant has won British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction for his book The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Vancouver+author+wins+fiction+book+award/4198897/story.html
An essay by John Vaillant on the threats to tigers and how to save them is here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/john-valliant-on-the-threats-to-tigers-and-how-to-save-them/article1694479/
Michelle Berry’s This Book Will Not Save Your Life won the inaugural Colophon Prize for fiction from its publisher, Enfield & Wizenty.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/this-book-will-not-save-your-life-by-michelle-berry/article1890440/
NEWS & FEATURES
B.C Teen Services librarians whose funding for the Teen Reading Club was cut, have secured support from The TELUS Vancouver Community Board (which believes "literacy is at the forefront") to keep the online component of the program alive in 2011.
http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2011/01/31/TeenRescue/?utm_source=mondayheadlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=310111
The mystery of the authorship of O appears to be over. The author has been identified by Time magazine as Mark Salter, a former aide to John McCain.
http://thepage.time.com/2011/01/27/o-mark-salter/
Salter has neither confirmed nor denied his authorship.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/01/is-mark-salter-author-of-o.html
Douglas Bell suggests the author might wish to remain anonymous since, in Bell’s view, the best part of O is its cover.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/o-a-presidential-novel-by-anonymous/article1886246/
Following the successful uprising in Tunisia and the biggest demonstrations in Egypt for decades, protests have spread across the Arab world. Will other regimes fall? Ten leading Arab writers from the region respond.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/interactive/2011/jan/28/tunisia-protests-writers-reflect
Vladimir Nabokov was the author of Lolita and other books. He also had a parallel existence as a self-taught expert on butterflies. Few professional lepidopterists took seriously his hypothesis for the evolution of the butterflies he studied. This week, his theory was vindicated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/science/01butterfly.html?src=me&ref=general
Yann Martel has ended his ‘one-sided book club’—his practice of sending books to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. "Books are too precious and wonderful to be used for long in such a fashion," he said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/01/yann-martel-book-canadian-pm
Jackie Kay writes: "It's a wonderful time for poetry. This week, for the second year running, a poet won the Costa book award and thousands are crowding into readings." What’s going on?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/jan/29/poets-poetry-stage-roar-renaissance
New York Times columnist Stanley Fish offers readers a guided tour through some of the most beautiful, arresting sentences in the English language in How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One. His top five sentences are here:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/archive/2011/01/24/stanley-fish-s-top-five-sentences.aspx
The Nobel prize-winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk laments the near-invisibility of writers in languages other than English, and the persistent shortage of translations.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/26/orhan-pamuk-attacks-marginalisation-non-english
Dorothy Livesay’s Day and Night and Truman Green’s A Credit to Your Race are among the ten Vancouver books to be republished for the city’s 125th anniversary.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/vancouvers-lost-gems-to-be-republished-for-citys-125th-anniversary/article1885695/
What books we say we like may (or may not) provide insights into our character. Geoff Nicholson examines books in Hitler’s and Oscar Wilde’s libraries, among others.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/books/review/Nicholson-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateemb3&pagewanted=all
Quai d'Orsay. a satirical graphic novel based on the former French prime minister and foreign policy supremo, Dominique de Villepin, is a surprise French literary hit, tipped for the top prizes at the Angoulême International Comics festival.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/28/quai-d-orsay-comic-book
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that three times as many books are self-published as are produced by traditional publishers.
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/114869199.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
The Poets Laureate Anthology provides a comprehensive overview via generous biographical introductions to, and selections of poetry from, the 43 holders of the post from 1937 to the present.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/29/poets-laureate-anthology-norton-review
Annie Murphy Paul writes that Peggy Orenstein’s debating with herself about ‘the princess phase’ in Cinderella Ate My Daughter has done parents a great favor, and reminds readers that kids grow out of it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/books/review/Paul-t.html
An excerpt is here:
http://www.harpercollins.com/browseinside/index.aspx?isbn13=9780061711527
Who knows what really lurks in the hearts and minds of teens? Deidre Baker reviews four books for teens, in an attempt to find out.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/930191--those-mystifying-teen-years-in-fiction
Margaret Atwood is to publish her seventh children's book, Wandering Wenda and Widow Wallop's Wunderground Washery, The book will be out this summer.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Atwood+publish+children+book/4128062/story.html
British author Glynis Ridley’s The Discovery of Jeanne Baret is a whopper of a story, says Emily Donaldson, which brings to our attention the first woman to circumnavigate the globe, despite the strict law that barred women from naval vessels.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/930148--the-discovery-of-jeanne-baret-by-glynis-ridley
Award-winning Guardian journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding have been at the centre of the Wikileaks publishing drama. Their book Wikileaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy will be out this week. Here is an excerpt:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/30/julian-assange-wikileaks-profile
Vit Wagner says that poet Lorna Goodison routinely seeks inspiration in the works of her favourite writer, the 19th-century English Romantic poet John Keats. Her new collection By Love Possessed includes previous work and some entirely new work.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/929853--lorna-goodison-passion-for-keats-weaves-through-writer-s-work
The problem with memoirs began with our period of over-sharing, writes Neil Genzlinger in his review of four memoirs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/books/review/Genzlinger-t.html?ref=books
David Vann tells the heartbreaking story of the two youngest Britons to climb Everest.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/30/young-everest-adventurers-into-void
"Rarely has loss and grieving been handled with such deft tenderness, sly humour and almost inexplicable beauty,” writes Robert Wiersema in his review of Steven Hayward’s Don’t Be Afraid.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/dont-be-afraid-by-steven-hayward/article1886175/
Tracy Sherlock writes that Alice Hoffman’s trademark magical realism informs the interwoven enchanting fairy tales in The Red Garden.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Alice+Hoffman+Garden+merges+mystical+tales+with+tragedy+history/4173444/story.html
Former soldier and war correspondent Scott Taylor describes James Brabazon’s My Friend the Mercenary as "a fast-paced page-turner”.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/my-friend-the-mercenary-a-memoir-by-james-brabazon/article1889003/
Jane Johnson’s The Salt Road, informed by her own life in the Tuareg area of Morocco, gives readers a portrait of an area and history few of us know. Linda Holeman describes this historical novel as an "exhilarating ride”.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-salt-road-by-jane-johnson/article1886377/
Henry’s Demons, jointly written by Patrick Cockburn and his son Henry, who suffers from schizophrenia, is "a living, breathing book because nearly everyone in this shaggy, expressive family is worth getting to know” says Dwight Garner.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/books/02book.html?ref=books
Time in Sweden, coupled with an introduction to Stieg Larsson’s books, have resulted in Paul Wilson’s memoir The Archivist: How I found Stieg Larsson’s inner sanctum.
http://walrusmagazine.com/articles/2011.03-memoir-the-archivist/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
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.
PLAY CHTHONICS READING SERIES
Reading and dialogue by poets Chris Hutchinson and Jay MillAr. Wednesday, February 9 at 7:30pm, free. Graham House, Green College, 6201 Cecil Green Park Rd. More information at playchthonics.blogspot.com.
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 André 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.
Upcoming
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.
CHARLOTTE GILL
Author discusses Ladykiller, her debut collection of short stories.Thursday, February 24 at 7:00pm. Call 604-733-1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com to register. Christianne's Lyceum, 3696 8th Ave. W.
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.
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