Book News Vol. 6 No. 39

BOOK NEWS

Literati Gala - Bollywood, Books and Bill!
Join us for the Literati Gala on October 18th at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel. CBC's Bill Richardson hosts the event that features Festival writers and dancers from the Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration Society in a fundraising event for our Spreading the Word schools program. Click here for more information and ticket purchase, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/literatigala.

School Group Tickets on Sale
Lots of tickets are still available for school events at the Festival. If your child is in school in the Lower Mainland, please talk to his or her teacher about bringing a group to the Festival. The BC Teachers Federation has confirmed that trips to Writers Festival events are permitted during the job action. More details here: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/teachers/BCTF

HAL'S FESTIVAL PICKS
Artistic Director Hal Wake's suggestions for the 2011 Festival

An Intimate Evening with...
Our intimate evening series at the Festival is a chance for you to experience a writer up close and personal. When I was at the Auckland Festival in the spring, I interviewed a brilliant new writer, Aminatta Forna, and she is articulate, thoughtful and compelling. I put her in the series so that you could discover this amazing new literary star. Award winners Linda Grant and David Adams Richards are must-sees as well. (Events 9, 50, 62)
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/9-intimate-evening-linda-grant
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/50-intimate-evening-david-adams-richards
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/62-intimate-evening-aminatta-forna

Montreal Mystery & Music
A huge hit in Kingston last week, John Farrow (AKA Trevor Ferguson) is traveling the country with his literary thriller River City. The novel is a panoramic saga covering significant events out of 400 years of the history of Montreal. Accompanied by David Gossage performing music composed for this event, you will be captivated and enthralled by this masterful storyteller. (Event 20)
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/20-montreal-mystery-and-music

Calling All Non-fiction Fans
We have a stellar line-up of non-fiction writers at the festival this year and you will get a chance to see some of the best in Truth and Storytelling. They are great writers, but the real hallmark of this event is the diversity of stories they have to tell and the distinctiveness of their respective
approaches to narrative. You will leave this one wanting more. (Event 43)
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/43-truth-and-storytelling

2011 FESTIVAL AUTHORS

What Anita Rau Badami has learned from living in Canada for the last 20 years—about half that time in Montreal—is that winter, hate it or not, is always coming. Coincidentally, its arrival plays a crucial role in the plot of her new novel, Tell It to the Trees. You could almost call it the villain of the piece, says Joel Yanofsky. (events 52, 63)
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Anita+Badami+does+look+forward+winter/5415239/story.html
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/52-coast-coast
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/63-sunday-brunch

Randy Boyagoda's Beggar's Feast is a beautifully written book, writes Hubert O'Hearn. It reads like a hot curry balanced against a mango relish. The central flavour is dark and filled with fire, while all about it is a sweetness that keeps the palate happy and willingly engaged. Beggar's Feast is a triumphant entry into the classic genre of the multi-generational epic, contained in one man's life, says O'Hearn. (events 21, 59)
http://www.thewinnipegreview.com/wp/2011/08/‘beggar's-feast'-by-randy-boyagoda/
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/21-rich-history
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/59-when-then-was-now

Raise You Twenty is the third volume of essays by Barry Callaghan, Canada's Man of Letters, following the critically acclaimed Raise You Five and Raise You Ten. The Globe and Mail describes his essays and encounters as "literary criticism and cultural history of a high order, in turn joyous, acerbic, celebratory." (events 40, 43)
http://canadianbookshelf.com/Books/R/Raise-You-Twenty
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/40-conversations-bill
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/43-truth-and-storytelling

In The Antagonist, Lynn Coady makes an empathetic character out of a "big-mouthed bruiser" who throws his weight around and has a penchant for gross-out stunts. A deft blend of farce, tragedy and wry social comment, The Antagonist is no mean feat, writes Barbara Carey. (events 41, 56, 67)
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1058925--brutish-hero-made-human
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/41-culture-petri-dish
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/56-possibilities-hope
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/67-afternoon-tea

John Farrow's River City novel about the theft of the Cartier Dagger is also a sweeping history of Montreal, writes H.J. Kirchhoff, adding that the reader won't be disappointed. Together with the dramatic and dynamic performance of multi–instrumentalist David Gossage, Farrow (Trevor Ferguson) will offer a new telling of mystery and history. (event 20)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/river-city-by-john-farrow/article2125502/
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/20-montreal-mystery-and-music

An entire wall is hidden by bookshelves, which hold a first edition of almost every book Douglas Gibson ever worked on, says Mark Medley. Stories About Storytellers is the culmination of a more than 40-year career that saw Gibson become one of the most influential, and powerful, figures in Canadian publishing. The book allows Gibson to share some of the stories he's hoarded over the years. Douglas Gibson is "a born storyteller," Medley quotes Terry Fallis. (event 10)
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/09/23/douglas-gibson-life-among-his-writers/
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/10-dish

Linda Grant has much to tell us about class and character, history and human frailty, and in We Had It So Good, she has created a story that captures much of the truth about a certain time, place and class setting as the Age of Aquarius morphed into the Age of Hedge Funds, writes Tom Sandborn. This book is one baby boomers will read with rueful recognition. As for younger readers, they may find it an interesting historical romance. (events 9, 44)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/we-had-it-so-good-by-linda-grant/article2041666/
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/9-intimate-evening-linda-grant
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/44-my-generation

Paula Todd describes Rosemary Nixon's Kalila as "exquisitely written, about a terrible time but from a great distance". (events 6, 64)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/kalila-by-rosemary-nixon/article2147307/
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/6-and-introducing
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/64-tie-binds

Jeet Heer writes that Harry Whitehead's The Cannibal Spirit joins a long tradition of flesh-eating literature set in Canada, based on the true story of George Hunt, an ethnologist who reported on the alleged cannibalistic practices of the Kwakwaka'wakw people of British Columbia. Tellingly, the roots of the word "cannibal" lie in colonial misunderstanding. Kate Beaton illustrated the review. (events 6, 59)
http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2011.10-books-guess-whos-for-dinner/
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/6-and-introducing
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/event/59-when-then-was-now

AWARDS & LISTS

Two Festival authors—Edi Edugyen and Clark Blaise—are among the five nominees for the $25,000 Writers’ Trust fiction award. Other nominees are Michael Christie, Patrick DeWitt, and Dan Vyleta. Edugyen and deWitt are also on the shortlist for the Giller Prize and the Man Booker Prize.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2011/09/28/writers-trust-award-nominees.html

Seyward Goodhand, Miranda Hill, and Ross Klatte have been nominated for The Journey Prize, given annually to a Canadian short story.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/09/28/writers-trust-award-nominees.html

Charles Foran, Charlotte Gill, Richard Gwyn, Grant Lawrence, and Ray Robertson are the five finalists for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize. The winner will be announced October 25.
http://www.writerstrust.com/Awards/Hilary-Weston-Writers-Trust-Prize.aspx

Canadian cartoonist and illustrator Seth is the latest recipient of the 2011 Harbourfront Festival Prize. It is the first time a graphic novelist has won the award given to an individual whose work has substantially contributed to the state of literature and books in Canada. Seth will receive the honour on October 29.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/09/22/seth-harbourfront-prize.html

DW Wilson has won the £15,000 BBC National Short Story award with The Dead Road, a tale of a road trip through the Canadian Rockies. Born and raised in British Columbia, Wilson went to the UK when he received the inaugural Man Booker prize scholarship for the creative writing MA at the University of East Anglia.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/26/john-mcgregor-mj-hyland-beaten-prize

Wilbert Rideau's prison memoir In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance (nonfiction) and Chang-Rae Lee's The Surrendered (fiction have won this year's Dayton Literary Peace Prize. The awards commemorate the 1995 Dayton Peace accords, which brought the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina to an end.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/09/dayton-literary-peace-prize-will-go-to-chang-rae-lee.html

Canada Reads, CBC's annual book debate, will shine a spotlight on non-fiction in 2012, for the first time. A public campaign to choose the contenders begins Tuesday. For Canada Reads: True Stories, CBC Books is inviting readers to nominate their favourite Canadian titles as potential choices. Memoirs, biographies and literary non-fiction are all eligible.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/09/26/canada-reads.html

NEWS & FEATURES

Accusations of "dumbing down" were levelled at this year's Man Booker shortlist when the judges aimed for "readability" above all, but it turns out readability was exactly what the public were looking for. This year's Booker shortlist has sold more than double the number of copies of the shortlist last year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/26/booker-prize-shortlist-breaks-sales-records

At 83, Maurice Sendak has released a new book, Bumble-Ardy, the first book in 30 years he has written and illustrated. The story dates to the 1970s, when he and Jim Henson collaborated on an animated project for Sesame Street.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/09/22/sendak-new-book-bumble-ardy.html

John Barber's interview of Sendak creates a rich portrait of the self-described cranky old man who continues to create tales of gleefully misbehaving children who never go punished. In this case, Maurice Sendak's rambunctious young mischief-maker is in the form of a gawky, quarrelsome pig.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/maurice-sendak-at-83-a-portrait-of-the-author-as-a-cranky-old-man/article2177811/

Faber is to publish Death Comes to Pemberley: a crime novel by PD James set in Jane Austen's universe. This use of the Austen canon isn't altogether a surprise, given that Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies already exists.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/sep/22/janeausten-pdjames

A "lost" first novel by Arthur Conan Doyle, was published this week, 128 years after it was written. Part of a collection of private papers that emerged at auction in 2004, The Narrative of John Smith provides a fascinating glimpse into the young writer's mind.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/sherlock-holmess-origins-revealed-2360513.html

Artist John Hartley has planted an oak sapling on Peckham Rye, an art installation in honour of William Blake, who claimed to have seen an oak "filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars" when he visited the place at the age of nine. Hartley's blog includes a photo-story of the installation, completed with the support of the Blake Society, the Forestry Commission, and the Peckham Library.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/sep/20/william-blake

Mary Shelley wrote her novel Frankenstein in response to a challenge. In 2010, Texas astronomers used the light of the moon to highlight the hour of creation for Frankenstein and his notorious monster. Scholars and biographers had suggested that, to enhance sales, Shelley may have composed a fiction about the chronology of literary creation. The astronomers work supports Shelley's version of events.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/26/frankenstein-hour-creation-identified-astronomers?CMP=EMCGT_260911&

Readers from around the world are demonstrating their support for free speech by participating in a virtual read-out of banned and challenged books that will culminate during the 30th annual Banned Books Week (Sept. 24-Oct. 1), the only international celebration of the freedom to read. The virtual read-out is the centerpiece of an expanded Banned Books Week, which focuses attention on the censorship of books in schools and libraries.
http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/

A Massachusetts library has put the Mark Twain work Eve's Diary back on the shelf more than a century after it was banned. Trustee Richard Whitehead said the move was made to coincide with the American Library Association's Banned Book Week.
http://www.masslive.com/talk/index.ssf/2011/09/mass_library_reverses_century-.html

Winner of the Guardian children's fiction prize for her debut How I Live Now and of the Carnegie medal for Just in Case, children's author Meg Rosoff's reimagining of God as a sex-mad teenage boy in her new novel There Is No Dog has proved unpalatable for some schools in England and the Emirates Airline festival of literature in Dubai, which cancelled events with the author because of the "blasphemous" nature of the book, her publisher said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/27/school-cancels-event-meg-rosoff

On the eve of her eagerly awaited life of Dickens, Claire Tomalin, the grande dame of literary biography, speaks with Rachel Cooke about seeing the world through the eyes of her subject.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/25/claire-tomalin-biographer-charles-dickens

The CBC has announced three new literary prizes: for short stories, poetry and literary nonfiction. More details here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/literaryprizes/

The short story competition for Canada Writes is underway. Launch your literary career! More details here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/literaryprizes/shortstory/

BOOKS & WRITERS

Charles Dickens's novels–full of laughter, indignation and sentimentality–have a special place in our cultural heritage, writes Claire Tomalin in her biography of Dickens. An excerpt details his first experience as a juror.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/23/charles-dickens-life-writing

In Three Famines: Starvation and Politics, Australian novelist Thomas Keneally writes vividly about the depths to which human beings descend during famines, exemplified by Ireland, Bengal and Ethiopia. The book is both reportage and analysis, writes Alex de Waal.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/23/three-famines-starvation-keneally-review

David Runciman is persuaded by Steven Pinker's arguments in The Better Angels of Our Nature that most of what we believe about violence is wrong and we are less violent than we used to be. Everyone should read this astonishing book, says Runciman.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/22/better-angels-steven-pinker-review

Robert Harris's new novel The Fear Index races along as a thriller of high finance set during a single day: that of the Flash Crash in 2010, writes Boyd Tonkin. At root, says Tonkin, this is a version of the Frankenstein story.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/robert-harris--programmed-for-peril-2359191.html

Candace Fertile writes that in Various Positions, Martha Schabas's insight into the world of girls, ballet, and lame parents is pitch perfect. Various Positions is an outstanding novel, full of wisdom and language that dances across the page, says Fertile.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Writer+dances+through+teen+angst+sexuality+body+image/5442910/story.html

Johanna Skibsrud heads in new directions with This Will Be Difficult To Explain and Other Stories, her new collection of short stories, writes Ian McGillis.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Skibsrud+heads+directions/5449566/story.html

In Walk Like A Man: Coming of Age with the Music of Bruce Springsteen, Robert J. Wiersema, blends music criticism and memoir, writes Shaun Smith. Fourteen chapters each provide analysis of a single Springsteen song, followed by a short memoir piece.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1058004--walk-like-a-man-by-robert-j-wiersema

COMMUNITY EVENTS

IN THE EYE OF THE CHINA STORM
Paul T.K. Lin and Eileen Chen Lin celebrate the launch of their new book with a roundtable discussion and light refreshments. Thursday, September 29 at 5:00pm, free. Institute of Asian Research, 1855 West Mall, UBC. More information at www.iar.ubc.ca.

PRICK: CONFESSIONS OF A TATTOO ARTIST
Tightrope Books presents the launch of B.C. author Ashley Little's debut novel. Includes guests Dennis E. Bolen and Cathleen With. Thursday, September 29 at 7:00pm. The FALL Tattooing & Artist's Gallery, 644 Seymour St. More information at www.tightropebooks.com.

ON EDGE READING SERIES
Nikki Reimer and Ray Hsu read from their poetry. Thursday, September 29 at 7:00pm, free. Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street. More information at http://www.ecuad.ca/about/news/160367.

CULTURAL SECRETS OF VANCOUVER
CBC TV's Cultural Secrets of Vancouver airs this Thursday September 29 at 7:30 pm. The show reveals secrets by writers Douglas Coupland and Anosh Irani, as well as a host of other local luminaries. Check out cbc.ca/bc/secrets for an interactive map with the secrets plus a contest
with great prizes if you want to send in a cultural secret yourself...

CARMEN AGUIRRE
Celebrate Public Lending Rights' 25th Anniversary with a reading by Vancouver-based theatre artist and writer Carmen Aguirre. Friday, September 30 at 3:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.

SMART CHICKS KICK IT TOUR
Join six brilliant authors as they sign their bestselling Teen novels and have fun with prizes, games, music and more! Saturday, October 1 at 2:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway.

BOOK LAUNCH AND LECTURE
Childhood Under Siege by Joel Bakan. 8:15 pm, Saturday October 1 (doors open 7:30 pm). Vancouver Institute in Lecture Hall No. 2, Woodward Instructional Resources Centre, University of British Columbia. www.joelbakan.com

GEORGE RYGA AWARD EVENING
Eighth annual award will be presented to Richard Wagamese for his book One Story One Song. Presentation will be followed by the play Portrait of a Lady, adapted by George Ryga from Margaret Lawrence's novel Stone Angel. Saturday, October 1 at 8:00pm. Centre Stage Theatre, Summerland, BC. More information at www.ryga.org.

PACIFIC ARBOUR SPEAKER SERIES
Presenting Dr. Marc Lewis with his book Memoirs of an Addicted Brain. Thursday, October 6 at 7:30pm. Tickets $12/$10. North Shore Credit Union Centre for the Performing Arts, Capilano University. Box office: 604-990-7810. Information at www.capilanou.ca/nscucentre.

Upcoming

ALCUIN AWARDS FOR CANADIAN BOOK DESIGN
The ceremonies for this year's presentation of the 29th Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada will precede an informal talk by New York graphic designer and Vintage Books' Artistic Director, John Gall. Wednesday, October 12 at 6:30pm, free. Room SB301, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street. More information at blog.alcuinsociety.com.

ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Johanna Skibsrud (This Will Be Difficult to Explain & Other Stories) and Martha Schabas (Various Positions). Thursday, October 13 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, Plaza level, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.

JOHN GILMORE AND KEITH HARRISON
Readings by authors John Gilmore and Keith Harrison. John Gilmore's first novel is Head of a Man. Keith Harrison's recent work is The Missionary, The Violinist and the Aunt Whose Head Was Squeezed. Monday, October 17 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St.