BOOK NEWS
The VIWF wishes you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Book News will be taking a break for the remainder of the year and will be back on January 5.
AWARDS & LISTS
The Green Carnation prize 'for modern gay writing' goes to Catherine Hall’s The Proof of Love, beating work by Colm Tóibín and Jackie Kay.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/08/green-carnation-prize-catherine-hall
The Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction has announced eleven titles on its long list, including books by: Carmen Aguirre, Wade Davis, Ryan Flavelle, Charlotte Gill, Richard Gwyn, J.J. Lee, David Adams Richards, Ray Robertson, Madeline Sonik, Andrew Westoll, and Joel Yanofsky. The short list will be announced on January 10, 2012.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/charles-taylor-prize-unveils-long-list/article2268011/
NEWS & FEATURES
Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy is to become a series of graphic novels. DC Comics have signed the Glaswegian crime writer Denise Mina to adapt the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo novels. The first graphic novel will be released in March, 2012.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/13/stieg-larsson-millennium-trilogy-graphic-novel
Jay Parini writes a centenary tribute to Nobel prize-winner Naguib Mahfouz, born in Egypt December 11, 1911, author of 30 novels and numerous volumes of stories (he wrote about 350), a master of both detailed realism and fabulous storytelling.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/12/naguib-mahfouz-centenary
There are calls for a judge to exhume the remains of Pablo Neruda for medical testing, due to allegations the poet and Nobel laureate died of poisoning and not of cancer. The request will be reviewed by Chilean Judge Mario Carroza who has been conducting probes into hundreds of deaths allegedly connected to abuses of Pinochet's regime from 1973 to 1990.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/12/06/neruda-poet-exhume-chile-investigate.html
Margaret Atwood describes Twitter followers as "dedicated readers" boldly exploring new frontiers in literacy. "Your brain lights up a lot," she said. Neuroscientists, however, have come to different conclusions, worrying the "expert reading brain" will become obsolete and its replacement, a completely different organ.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/books-vs-screens-which-should-your-kids-be-reading/article2268465/
Norwegian journalist Åsne Seierstad, author of The Bookseller of Kabul, has been cleared of invading the privacy of the Afghan family with whom she’d lived, while she researched her book.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/13/bookseller-of-kabul-author-cleared
John Kinsella has joined Alice Oswald in withdrawing from the shortlist for the TS Eliot Poetry Prize, due to the Prize’s sponsor. Observer books editor William Skidelsky and novelist Geoff Dyer debate the issue.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/10/ts-eliot-poetry-prize-aurum
It should be noted that other arts are reviewing their sponsorships. The Tate galleries are reviewing their 20-year partnership with BP, after demonstrations by green campaigners, including a petition from 8,000 Tate members and visitors.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/dec/13/tate-bp-partnership-environmental-protests
A new facsimile edition of Dickens’s Great Expectations, showing the writer's decisions and revisions, as well as his terrible handwriting, provides fresh insight into his creative genius.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/08/dickens-manuscript-great-expectations
Vancouver’s Ryan Nadel, a self-described "digital hustler", has created MetaMaus, a digital version of Art Spiegelman’s Holocaust memoir, Maus.
http://wevancouver.com/articles/entry/metamaus-more-than-just-a-digital-book/news-and-views/
The science of poetry, the poetry of science: both depend on metaphor, which is as crucial to scientific discovery as it is to lyric. The deepest thing science and poetry share, perhaps, is the way they can tolerate uncertainty, writes Ruth Padel.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/09/ruth-padel-science-poetry?commentpage=1#comment-13683561
Michael Morpurgo, former children's laureate, author of more than 120 books, including War Horse, and judge of the Wicked young writers' award, offers his top advice for writers of all ages.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2011/dec/08/michael-morpurgo-top-tips-writing
Congrats! You’re the best. For now. That’s the message Alison Espach received in June, when her novel The Adults was listed as an Amazon Best Book of 2011. It appears that Amazon simultaneously honours its writers and hedges its bets. Months later, books by Russell Banks, Haruki Murakami, Jeffrey Eugenides were launched and made Amazon’s Best Books of 2011 list. As for Espach’s book? Its gold medal had disappeared.
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/08/when_amazon_took_my_gold_medal_away/singleton/
The hardline "Chinese way" of raising children revealed by Amy Chua in Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother has prompted The Complete Book of Combat With Mum, written by Chen Leshui and Deng Xinyi, a pair of Beijing schoolgirls, describing how to cope when you're being over-parented.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/09/tiger-children-fight-back
Unbound is one of many start-ups offering to crowd fund literary endeavour. Authors pitch their ideas for a book; people who like them are invited to show their support in the form of donations. If enough money is raised, the author writes it, thus publishing books that "otherwise might never see the light of day".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/07/evil-machines-terry-jones-review
Michael Holroyd explains why the 15 years it took to write his biography of George Bernard Shaw was 'remarkably quick'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/13/paperback-q-a-michael-holroyd-bernard-shaw
Two significant literary figures have died this week: Russell Hoban, aged 86, author of post-apocalyptic classic Riddley Walker, as well as numerous children's books and George Whitman, aged 98, the proprietor of Shakespeare and Company in Paris, probably the world's most famous bookshop.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/14/russell-hoban-dies-86
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/14/george-whitman-obituary
The Writers' Trust of Canada is accepting submissions for the Bronwen Wallace Emerging Author Award, which is awarded to authors under the age of 35 whose work has been published in a magazine or anthology. The deadline for submissions is January 30, 2012. Full submission guidelines here:
http://www.cbabook.org/files/RBC_BWA_Call%20for%20Submissions.pdf
The Writers Union of Canada has announced the jury and the submission deadlines for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, which will be awarded to the best first short fiction collection by a Canadian writer. The submission deadline is January 31, 2012 and submitted words must have been published in 2011.
http://www.writersunion.ca/pdfs/2011_danutagleed_press_release.pdf
BOOKS & WRITERS
Michael Torosian started 25 years ago to produce, in the tradition of Johannes Gutenberg, exquisitely crafted, limited-edition books on photography and photographers. His latest labour of love is a 52-page volume, published in a case-bound edition of only 250 copies, titled Steichen: Eduard et Voulangis.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/book-craftsman-produces-limited-edition-on-edward-steichen/article2269766/
Many books have been written about Catherine The Great. Robert K. Massie’s Catherine the Great, Portrait of a Woman brings a novelistic effect to his profile of this unique woman. He is a storyteller in the true sense, writes Jennifer Hunter.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1098482--catherine-the-great-by-robert-k-massie
Simon Sebag Montefiore's epic survey of Jerusalem's history does not inspire confidence in the civilizing qualities of religion, writes Wendy Smith. "Most of Jerusalem's shrines...have been borrowed or stolen." And Jerusalem's political and social history is equally complex.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/la-ca-simon-sebag-montefiore-20111211,0,3072170.story
In I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, Alan Bradley weaves a ghoulish yuletide tale against the backdrop of the crumbling Buckshaw mansion. The narrator is the 11-year-old hobby sleuth and compulsively curious Flavia de Luce. A lighthearted holiday read, writes Dravgana Kovacevic.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/i-am-half-sick-of-shadows-by-alan-bradley/article2263154/singlepage/#articlecontent
American writer Tim Mueller lives in Italy in a farmhouse surrounded by olive groves. Mueller’s Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil is filled with information mindful eaters will wish to have, writes Dwight Garner.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/books/extra-virginity-by-tom-mueller-a-word-on-olive-oil-review.html?ref=books
Jonathan P. Kuehlein, the Toronto Star’s resident graphic novel and comics expert reviews four of the latest offerings.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1097840--seth-s-brotherhood-worth-joining
A good winter read is Willa Cather’s My Antonia, writes Xan Brooks. A story of the hardships of a bitter winter in the American west, this is also a stirring tribute to unfreezable human spirit, says Brooks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/08/winter-reads-my-antonia-willa-cather
Kurt Vonnegut's son Mark disputes the portrait of his father drawn by Charles Shields in And So It Goes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/07/kurt-vonnegut-son-biography-charles-shields
David L. Ulin writes that And So It Goes is a problematic portrait of Vonnegut, sketchy and pedantic by turns. Although Shields loads the book with information, he never develops an integrated overview.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/books/la-ca-charles-shields-20111113,0,2699733.story
Alison Preston is unique among Canadian crime writers, writes Jack Batten, no one else matching Preston’s combination of humour and creepiness. In The Girl in the Wall, readers experience both giggles and an impulse to pull the covers over their heads.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1098937--special-delivery-from-alison-preston
Sarah Murdoch reviews ten coffee table books including Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide, an updated volume of the Smithsonian Institution’s respected animal catalogue. Compiled by more than 70 biologists, zoologists and naturalists, it includes nearly 2,000 animal profiles.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1099075--get-the-picture
In India, where deep-rooted tradition meets the engine of unbridled capitalism, stories of loss, beauty and hurt abound, Anita Desai explores the personal effects of India’s modernization with The Artist of Disappearance. India is a multifarious world, unlike any other, concludes Hector Tobar.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/books/la-ca-anita-desai-20111211,0,4738202.story
Ian McGillis speaks with Kevin Chong about Beauty Plus Pity, Chong’s first novel since 2001. The book is well-paced, smartly structured, and packs a sting in the tail. It was, in short, one of my favourite novels of 2011, says McGillis.
http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2011/12/10/kevin-chong-talks-about-beauty-plus-pity-a-novel-where-frothy-meets-substantial-and-substantial-wins/
Anna Porter writes that P.D. James’s Death Comes to Pemberley is a story to savour. There are, of course, numerous suspects. Porter’s sole complaint is that the book is not long enough.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/death-comes-to-pemberley-by-pd-james/article2265841/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Esi Edugyan and Jen Sookfong Lee. Thursday, December 15 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
MIKE MCCARDELL
The local news reporter and author signs copies of his new book Here's Mike. Proceeds from the sale of each book go to Variety-The Children's Charity. Saturday, December 17 at 1:00pm. Black Bond Books Warehouse, 1-15562-24th Ave., Surrey. More information at www.blackbondbooks.com.
HOBNOB WITH LOCAL AUTHORS
People's Co-Op Books is holding an open house with many writers including Kevin Chong, Timothy Taylor, Dennis Bolen, Ivan Coyote, Elizabeth Bachinsky and many more. Sunday, December 18 starting at 5pm. People's Co-Op Books, 1391 Commercial Drive. More information at talonbooks.com/events.
VANCOUVER STORYTELLERS
Winter Solstice stories told by Mary Gavan, Erin Graham, and Chen Ha. Includes seasonal music and stories by Philomena Jordan. Sunday, December 18 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $6. St. Mark's Anglican Church, 1805 Larch Street. More information at www.vancouverstorytellers.ca.
MARATHON POETRY READING EVENT
subTerrain magazine launches its Vancouver 125 issue with readings from many of the 95 poets featured in the issue. Tuesday, December 20 at 5:00pm. Army, Navy, and Air Force Veteran's Club, 3917 Main. More information at www.subterrain.ca.
Upcoming
POETRY READING
Readings by three members of the Vancouver Poetry Dogs: Stephanie Bolster, Barbara Nickel, and Elise Partridge. Tuesday, January 3 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Reading featuring David Zieroth, Diane Tucker, Miranda Pearson, Garry Thomas Morse, and John Donlan. Sunday, January 8 at 3:00pm. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street. More information at http://www.deadpoetslive.com.
CHINATOWN STORIES
Come hear about forgotten Chinatowns and stories about growing up Chinese in Vancouver and in Mexico. Meet authors Rebeca Lau, Chad Reimer, and Larry Wong and learn more about the new book series Gold Mountain Stories. Wednesday, January 11 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street.
GRACE LI XIU WOO
Author of Ghost Dancing with Colonialism discusses her new book. Thursday, January 12 at 7:00pm, free. Alma vanDusen room, lower level, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street.
WRITING FROM REAL LIFE
Madeline Sonik, award-winning author and university teacher of writing, will teach autobiographical writing techniques, structure and theme. Saturday, January 14 at 1:00pm, free. Alma vanDusen room, lower level, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
BETTY JEAN MCHUGH
Please join the author as she reads from My Road to Rome: The Running Times of BJ McHugh, the story of how she became the world's fastest senior long-distance runner. Monday, January 16 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street.
PLAY CHTHONICS
Readings by bill bissett and Alex Leslie. Wednesday, January 18 at 5:00pm. Piano lounge, Graham House, Green College, UBC. More information at talonbooks.com.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Sachiko Murakami (Rebuild) and Nick Thran (Earworm). Thursday, January 19 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
KEVIN MCNEILLY
Reading by the author of his debut poetry collection, Embouchure. Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 2:00pm. Rm301, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre 1961 East Mall, UBC.
JOHN IRVING
The author will talk about his new novel In One Person on Friday, May 18th, 2012 at 7:30 pm at the North Shore Credit Union Centre for the Performing Arts. Capilano University, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver. Ticket price of $30 includes a copy of the new novel available for pick up at the event. More information at 604.990.7810 or http://www2.capilanou.ca/news-events/nscucentre.html.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Book News Vol. 6 No. 48
BOOK NEWS
The perfect gift for book lovers!
Gift certificates, in increments of $20, are now available for the 2012 Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival. To purchase gift certificates, valid towards events during the 2012 Festival from October 16 to 21, please call 604-681-6330 x0. Gift certificates are available for purchase until December 16, 2011. Some restrictions apply.
AWARDS & LISTS
Finalists named for BC's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction.
http://www.bcachievement.com/nonfiction/finalists.php
Oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee's biography of cancer, The Emperor of All Maladies, a 'remarkable and unusual' study, has won the Guardian First Book award, with a £10,000 prize.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/01/biography-cancer-guardian-first-book-award?INTCMP=SRCH
An excerpt is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/11/guardian-first-book-siddhartha-mukherjee
Nicanor Parra, the Chilean poet and mathematician who seeks to demystify poetry and make it accessible to a wide audience, is winner of the 2011 Miguel de Cervantes Prize. Worth €125,000 (nearly $171,500 Cdn), the Cervantes Prize honours a Spanish-language writer for his or her body of work.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/12/01/cervantes-prize-nicanor-parra.html
Jesmyn Ward has won the US National Book Award for her novel Salvage the Bones. The book was inspired by her family's gut-wrenching experience just prior to, and during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/01/jesmyn-ward-national-book-award
Margaret Drabble is the winner of the 2011 Golden PEN Award, an award given annually to an accomplished writer whose body of work has had a profound impact on readers, is held in high regard by the literary community, and is supportive of the values upheld by English PEN.
http://www.englishpen.org/news/_1708/
Emma Donoghue's novel Room has won the 2011 Evergreen Award. The Evergreen Award is administered by the Ontario Library Association as part of the Forest of Reading program, designed to expose adult library users to Canadian fiction and non-fiction. The award will be presented in February, 2012.
http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/2011/11/11/emma-donoghues-room-wins-evergreen-award/
David Guterson (author of Snow Fallng on Cedars, Ed King) was declared 'the clear winner' of the Literary Review's bad sex fiction award with his 'mortifyingly awful sex scenes'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/06/david-guterson-bad-sex-award
NEWS & FEATURES
Alice Oswald, shortlisted for her much-praised collection Memorial, has withdrawn from the TS Eliot poetry prize in protest at the sponsorship of the investment company Aurum and its focus on hedge funds.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/06/alice-oswald-withdraws-ts-eliot-prize
How do you write about cancer? Siddhartha Mukherjee describes the process to Decca Aitkenhead, including dealing with the declarations of well-meaning individuals fostering 'positive mental attitude'. "A positive attitude does not cure cancer, any more than a negative one causes it", says Mukherjee.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/04/siddhartha-mukherjee-talk-about-cancer
Britain's Royal Mint has come up with a novel way to wish Charles Dickens a happy 200th birthday—a new coin with a portrait of the author made up of the titles of some of his most famous fictional works.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/12/06/dickens-charles-coin.html
Alison Flood reports that New York City's transport department is hoping to reduce accidents with a set of haikus. Here is a selection:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/curbside-haiku-sample.pdf
As a lark during this month's holiday season, House of Anansi has taken one of the most prominent authors in its stable—CanLit icon Margaret Atwood—and made her over as a Charleston-dancing elf: Atwood as dancing avatar.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/things-that-go-pop-blog/2011/12/anansi-plugs-dancing-atwood-avatar.html
The Colombian court has ruled against a man who claimed Gabriel García Márquez used his life story for the main character in Chronicle of a Death Foretold. This brings to an end a 17-year legal fight.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/30/gabriel-garcia-marquez-court-victory
Prompted by Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes sequel's imminent arrival in movie theatres, the Observer has identified the ten most brilliant sleuths, ranging from the Man with No Name to the single woman on the list—Smilla Qaaviqaaq Jasperson. A gallery of the ten is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/gallery/2011/dec/04/ten-best-fictional-sleuths-in-pictures
Toronto comic artist Ramon Perez has illustrated Jim Henson's Tale of Sand, an unproduced film script in an archive for almost 40 years, now a graphic novel for adult readers. Perez's graphic novel will be the only version true to her father's vision, says Lisa Henson. Tale of Sand will be launched in Canada in January, 2012.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/ramon-perez-draws-on-henson-literally/article2258040/
Author Christa Wolf, one of Germany's most significant writers, has died in Berlin, at 82. Wolf is best known for her novel Cassandra, a retelling of the Trojan War, known for its feminist themes. Wolf was awarded the Thomas Mann prize in 2010.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/12/german-author-christa-wolf-has-died.html
Ten paper sculptures, created from shredded books, have been left anonymously at various cultural institutions in Edinburgh.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/dec/01/edinburgh-book-sculptures
A sculpture created specifically for Ian Rankin can be viewed here:
http://twitter.com/#!/EdinBookshop/status/142570552152956928/photo/1/large
Siddhartha Mukherjee names Primo Levi as his hero. After reading Levi's description of distilling, Mukherjee writes: "If chemists can write like that, God help the writers."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/02/my-hero-primo-levi-siddhartha-mukherjee
Film-maker Shaun Tan, In a conversation with Neil Gaiman, says: 'I use text as the grout between the tiles of the pictures. I always overwrite and then trim it down to the bare bones'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/02/neil-gaiman-shaun-tan-interview
The Globe and Mail's guide to the fattest and fanciest gift books, in all categories, can be found here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-globe-guide-to-the-fattest-and-fanciest-gift-books-of-the-year/article2258380/
Renowned literary critic Harold Bloom has just begun his 58th year teaching literature at Yale. In an interview, Bloom says that Walt Whitman is America's Shakespeare, but not much appreciated. The result is the forthcoming "Walt Whitman: A Pageant," a combination of biography, poetry and music.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/02/RVJA1KV53J.DTL&type=books
In an essay about fantasy fiction, Adam Gopnik describes Oxford students' experience studying in the 1940s under Tolkien—then considered the most boring lecturer, teaching the most boring subject. But, as the boring old professor knew, says Gopnik, the backstory is the biggest one of all.
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2011/12/05/111205crat_atlarge_gopnik?currentPage=all
Novelist (The Yacoubian Building, The State of Egypt), dentist, and defender of democracy, Alaa Al Aswany speaks to Joe Lauria about the Egyptian uprising and the future of Eygpt.
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/03/novelist_dentist_and_defender_of_democracy/
The National Post's Mark Medley is reading Moby Dick for the first time and poses a challenge to readers: what books do you feel you should read but haven't? Post in the comments section or participate in the conversation. on Twitter (#unread) before Saturday, December 10.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/12/05/the-great-unread/
Twitter is good for literacy, says Margaret Atwood. We should celebrate it and the internet as new platforms for instant communication and as drivers of literacy, says Atwood.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/12/05/margaret-atwood-digital-twitter-publishing.html
The National Literacy Trust has published research showing that almost 4 million children in Britain—one in three—do not own a book. The Literacy Trust charity, which carried out the survey, said the proportion had risen from one in 10 in 2005.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/dec/05/children-literacy-britain-book
Niall Ferguson's resort to legal threats over a bad book review smacks of bullying, not intellectual rigour, writes Catherine Bennett.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/04/catherine-bennett-niall-ferguson-libel
The European commission has launched an investigation into whether Apple and five large publishing houses have conspired to fix the price of ebooks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/06/ebooks-price-fixing-apple-inquiry
The Writers' Trust of Canada is accepting submissions for the Bronwen Wallace Emerging Author Award, which is awarded to authors under the age of 35 whose work has been published in a magazine or anthology. The deadline for submissions is January 30, 2012. Full submission guidelines here:
http://www.cbabook.org/files/RBC_BWA_Call%20for%20Submissions.pdf
The Writers Union of Canada has announced the jury and the submission deadlines for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, which will be awarded to the best first short fiction collection by a Canadian writer. The submission deadline is January 31, 2012 and submitted words must have been published in 2011.
http://www.writersunion.ca/pdfs/2011_danutagleed_press_release.pdf
BOOKS & WRITERS
Chuck Davis's History of Metropolitan Vancouver is 574 pages of short factual items covering the years from 1757 (George Vancouver's birth) to 2011 (the city's 125th birthday). A group of writers, photographers, editors and publishers helped finish the book after Davis's death.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/filled+with+facts/5803032/story.html
Stephen King travels back in time to the Kennedy assassination—and changes the course of history. Which prompts Mike Fischer's question: what right do any of us have to change others' stories in order to write our own?
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/King+travels+back+time+Kennedy+assassination/5803035/story.html
David Adams Richards' new book, Facing the Hunter: Reflections on a Misunderstood Pursuit is a mix of memoir and meditation about the art and sport of hunting, writes Nathan Whitlock, a practice he both defends and admits he has mostly given up.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1096229--facing-the-hunter-reflections-on-a-misunderstood-pursuitby-david-adams-richards
What I Don't Know About Animals, by British author Jenny Diski, is a personal journey into her engagement with non-humans, writes Erika Ritter. Diski's wide-ranging exploration of what she doesn't know about animals makes for a lively read, says Ritter.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/what-i-dont-know-about-animals-by-jenny-diski/article2260565/
George Jonas is CanLit's version of a Swiss Army knife, writes Mark Medley; his output is as eclectic as it is prolific. Jonas comes full circle with the release of his 16th book, The Jonas Variations, his first collection of poetry since 1993.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/12/05/poetry-in-devotion-george-jonas-comes-full-circle-with-the-release-of-his-new-book/#more-55353
Jean H. Baker's biography Margaret Sanger: A Life of Passion, defends the Planned Parenthood founder's career without whitewashing her brush with eugenics, writes Barbara Spindel for Barnes & Noble Reviews. Sanger was a tenacious visionary in her advocacy for female sexual autonomy.
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/06/margaret_sanger_jean_baker/singleton/
River of Smoke is Amitav Ghosh's follow-up to Sea of Poppies, which was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. In a recent New York Times piece, Dwight Garner wondered whether some overweight American novels might need liposuction: Why so large, he asks. This lush tome might well raise the same question, but Mark Anthony Jarman argues that this art is worth the time and caloric intake.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/river-of-smoke-by-amitav-ghosh/article2261750/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
THE WRITER'S STUDIO READING SERIES
Come and hear poems and stories related to the theme of 'New Beginnings'. December's guest author, Dan Green, published his first novel, Blue Saltwater, last year. Thursday, December 8 at 7:00pm. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway.
MIKE MCCARDELL
Meet the renowned news reporter and author at a book signing of his new book, Here's Mike: And Junkyard Granny, Whistling Bernie Smith, the Robertson Screwdriver, Pancakes and Eternal Truth. Saturday, December 10 at 11:00am. Coles, Cottonwood Corner, 45-45585 Lukakuck Way, Chilliwack. For more information, phone 604-858-9595.
POETRY AROUND THE WORLD
Book launch by Ibrahim Honjo, author of Poems I Didn't Want to Write, Some Other Dreams. Saturday, December 10 at 3:30pm. Renfrew Public Library, 2969 22nd Ave. E., Vancouver. More information at 604-441-0169.
BOB LENARDUZZI
Meet the soccer legend and renowned sports writer Jim Taylor at a book signing for Bob Lenarduzzi: A Canadian Soccer Story. Saturday, December 10 at 5:00pm. Black Bond Books, Trenant Park Square Shopping Centre, 5251 Ladner Trunk Road, Ladner. For more information, phone 604-946-6677.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Esi Edugyan and Jen Sookfong Lee. Thursday, December 15 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
Upcoming
POETRY READING
Readings by three members of the Vancouver Poetry Dogs: Stephanie Bolster, Barbara Nickel, and Elise Partridge. Tuesday, January 3 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
CHINATOWN STORIES
Come hear about forgotten Chinatowns and stories about growing up Chinese in Vancouver and in Mexico. Meet authors Rebeca Lau, Chad Reimer, and Larry Wong and learn more about the new book series Gold Mountain Stories. Wednesday, January 11 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street.
GRACE LI XIU WOO
Author of Ghost Dancing with Colonialism discusses her new book. Thursday, January 12 at 7:00pm, free. Alma vanDusen room, lower level, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street.
WRITING FROM REAL LIFE
Madeline Sonik, award-winning author and university teacher of writing, will teach autobiographical writing techniques, structure and theme. Saturday, January 14 at 1:00pm, free. Alma vanDusen room, lower level, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
BETTY JEAN MCHUGH
Please join the author as she reads from My Road to Rome: The Running Times of BJ McHugh, the story of how she became the world's fastest senior long-distance runner. Monday, January 16 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Sachiko Murakami (Rebuild) and Nick Thran (Earworm). Thursday, January 19 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
KEVIN MCNEILLY
Reading by the author of his debut poetry collection, Embouchure. Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 2:00pm. Rm301, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre 1961 East Mall, UBC.
The perfect gift for book lovers!
Gift certificates, in increments of $20, are now available for the 2012 Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival. To purchase gift certificates, valid towards events during the 2012 Festival from October 16 to 21, please call 604-681-6330 x0. Gift certificates are available for purchase until December 16, 2011. Some restrictions apply.
AWARDS & LISTS
Finalists named for BC's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction.
http://www.bcachievement.com/nonfiction/finalists.php
Oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee's biography of cancer, The Emperor of All Maladies, a 'remarkable and unusual' study, has won the Guardian First Book award, with a £10,000 prize.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/01/biography-cancer-guardian-first-book-award?INTCMP=SRCH
An excerpt is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/11/guardian-first-book-siddhartha-mukherjee
Nicanor Parra, the Chilean poet and mathematician who seeks to demystify poetry and make it accessible to a wide audience, is winner of the 2011 Miguel de Cervantes Prize. Worth €125,000 (nearly $171,500 Cdn), the Cervantes Prize honours a Spanish-language writer for his or her body of work.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/12/01/cervantes-prize-nicanor-parra.html
Jesmyn Ward has won the US National Book Award for her novel Salvage the Bones. The book was inspired by her family's gut-wrenching experience just prior to, and during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/01/jesmyn-ward-national-book-award
Margaret Drabble is the winner of the 2011 Golden PEN Award, an award given annually to an accomplished writer whose body of work has had a profound impact on readers, is held in high regard by the literary community, and is supportive of the values upheld by English PEN.
http://www.englishpen.org/news/_1708/
Emma Donoghue's novel Room has won the 2011 Evergreen Award. The Evergreen Award is administered by the Ontario Library Association as part of the Forest of Reading program, designed to expose adult library users to Canadian fiction and non-fiction. The award will be presented in February, 2012.
http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/2011/11/11/emma-donoghues-room-wins-evergreen-award/
David Guterson (author of Snow Fallng on Cedars, Ed King) was declared 'the clear winner' of the Literary Review's bad sex fiction award with his 'mortifyingly awful sex scenes'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/06/david-guterson-bad-sex-award
NEWS & FEATURES
Alice Oswald, shortlisted for her much-praised collection Memorial, has withdrawn from the TS Eliot poetry prize in protest at the sponsorship of the investment company Aurum and its focus on hedge funds.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/06/alice-oswald-withdraws-ts-eliot-prize
How do you write about cancer? Siddhartha Mukherjee describes the process to Decca Aitkenhead, including dealing with the declarations of well-meaning individuals fostering 'positive mental attitude'. "A positive attitude does not cure cancer, any more than a negative one causes it", says Mukherjee.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/04/siddhartha-mukherjee-talk-about-cancer
Britain's Royal Mint has come up with a novel way to wish Charles Dickens a happy 200th birthday—a new coin with a portrait of the author made up of the titles of some of his most famous fictional works.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/12/06/dickens-charles-coin.html
Alison Flood reports that New York City's transport department is hoping to reduce accidents with a set of haikus. Here is a selection:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/curbside-haiku-sample.pdf
As a lark during this month's holiday season, House of Anansi has taken one of the most prominent authors in its stable—CanLit icon Margaret Atwood—and made her over as a Charleston-dancing elf: Atwood as dancing avatar.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/things-that-go-pop-blog/2011/12/anansi-plugs-dancing-atwood-avatar.html
The Colombian court has ruled against a man who claimed Gabriel García Márquez used his life story for the main character in Chronicle of a Death Foretold. This brings to an end a 17-year legal fight.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/30/gabriel-garcia-marquez-court-victory
Prompted by Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes sequel's imminent arrival in movie theatres, the Observer has identified the ten most brilliant sleuths, ranging from the Man with No Name to the single woman on the list—Smilla Qaaviqaaq Jasperson. A gallery of the ten is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/gallery/2011/dec/04/ten-best-fictional-sleuths-in-pictures
Toronto comic artist Ramon Perez has illustrated Jim Henson's Tale of Sand, an unproduced film script in an archive for almost 40 years, now a graphic novel for adult readers. Perez's graphic novel will be the only version true to her father's vision, says Lisa Henson. Tale of Sand will be launched in Canada in January, 2012.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/ramon-perez-draws-on-henson-literally/article2258040/
Author Christa Wolf, one of Germany's most significant writers, has died in Berlin, at 82. Wolf is best known for her novel Cassandra, a retelling of the Trojan War, known for its feminist themes. Wolf was awarded the Thomas Mann prize in 2010.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/12/german-author-christa-wolf-has-died.html
Ten paper sculptures, created from shredded books, have been left anonymously at various cultural institutions in Edinburgh.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/dec/01/edinburgh-book-sculptures
A sculpture created specifically for Ian Rankin can be viewed here:
http://twitter.com/#!/EdinBookshop/status/142570552152956928/photo/1/large
Siddhartha Mukherjee names Primo Levi as his hero. After reading Levi's description of distilling, Mukherjee writes: "If chemists can write like that, God help the writers."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/02/my-hero-primo-levi-siddhartha-mukherjee
Film-maker Shaun Tan, In a conversation with Neil Gaiman, says: 'I use text as the grout between the tiles of the pictures. I always overwrite and then trim it down to the bare bones'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/02/neil-gaiman-shaun-tan-interview
The Globe and Mail's guide to the fattest and fanciest gift books, in all categories, can be found here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-globe-guide-to-the-fattest-and-fanciest-gift-books-of-the-year/article2258380/
Renowned literary critic Harold Bloom has just begun his 58th year teaching literature at Yale. In an interview, Bloom says that Walt Whitman is America's Shakespeare, but not much appreciated. The result is the forthcoming "Walt Whitman: A Pageant," a combination of biography, poetry and music.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/02/RVJA1KV53J.DTL&type=books
In an essay about fantasy fiction, Adam Gopnik describes Oxford students' experience studying in the 1940s under Tolkien—then considered the most boring lecturer, teaching the most boring subject. But, as the boring old professor knew, says Gopnik, the backstory is the biggest one of all.
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2011/12/05/111205crat_atlarge_gopnik?currentPage=all
Novelist (The Yacoubian Building, The State of Egypt), dentist, and defender of democracy, Alaa Al Aswany speaks to Joe Lauria about the Egyptian uprising and the future of Eygpt.
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/03/novelist_dentist_and_defender_of_democracy/
The National Post's Mark Medley is reading Moby Dick for the first time and poses a challenge to readers: what books do you feel you should read but haven't? Post in the comments section or participate in the conversation. on Twitter (#unread) before Saturday, December 10.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/12/05/the-great-unread/
Twitter is good for literacy, says Margaret Atwood. We should celebrate it and the internet as new platforms for instant communication and as drivers of literacy, says Atwood.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/12/05/margaret-atwood-digital-twitter-publishing.html
The National Literacy Trust has published research showing that almost 4 million children in Britain—one in three—do not own a book. The Literacy Trust charity, which carried out the survey, said the proportion had risen from one in 10 in 2005.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/dec/05/children-literacy-britain-book
Niall Ferguson's resort to legal threats over a bad book review smacks of bullying, not intellectual rigour, writes Catherine Bennett.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/04/catherine-bennett-niall-ferguson-libel
The European commission has launched an investigation into whether Apple and five large publishing houses have conspired to fix the price of ebooks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/06/ebooks-price-fixing-apple-inquiry
The Writers' Trust of Canada is accepting submissions for the Bronwen Wallace Emerging Author Award, which is awarded to authors under the age of 35 whose work has been published in a magazine or anthology. The deadline for submissions is January 30, 2012. Full submission guidelines here:
http://www.cbabook.org/files/RBC_BWA_Call%20for%20Submissions.pdf
The Writers Union of Canada has announced the jury and the submission deadlines for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, which will be awarded to the best first short fiction collection by a Canadian writer. The submission deadline is January 31, 2012 and submitted words must have been published in 2011.
http://www.writersunion.ca/pdfs/2011_danutagleed_press_release.pdf
BOOKS & WRITERS
Chuck Davis's History of Metropolitan Vancouver is 574 pages of short factual items covering the years from 1757 (George Vancouver's birth) to 2011 (the city's 125th birthday). A group of writers, photographers, editors and publishers helped finish the book after Davis's death.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/filled+with+facts/5803032/story.html
Stephen King travels back in time to the Kennedy assassination—and changes the course of history. Which prompts Mike Fischer's question: what right do any of us have to change others' stories in order to write our own?
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/King+travels+back+time+Kennedy+assassination/5803035/story.html
David Adams Richards' new book, Facing the Hunter: Reflections on a Misunderstood Pursuit is a mix of memoir and meditation about the art and sport of hunting, writes Nathan Whitlock, a practice he both defends and admits he has mostly given up.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1096229--facing-the-hunter-reflections-on-a-misunderstood-pursuitby-david-adams-richards
What I Don't Know About Animals, by British author Jenny Diski, is a personal journey into her engagement with non-humans, writes Erika Ritter. Diski's wide-ranging exploration of what she doesn't know about animals makes for a lively read, says Ritter.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/what-i-dont-know-about-animals-by-jenny-diski/article2260565/
George Jonas is CanLit's version of a Swiss Army knife, writes Mark Medley; his output is as eclectic as it is prolific. Jonas comes full circle with the release of his 16th book, The Jonas Variations, his first collection of poetry since 1993.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/12/05/poetry-in-devotion-george-jonas-comes-full-circle-with-the-release-of-his-new-book/#more-55353
Jean H. Baker's biography Margaret Sanger: A Life of Passion, defends the Planned Parenthood founder's career without whitewashing her brush with eugenics, writes Barbara Spindel for Barnes & Noble Reviews. Sanger was a tenacious visionary in her advocacy for female sexual autonomy.
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/06/margaret_sanger_jean_baker/singleton/
River of Smoke is Amitav Ghosh's follow-up to Sea of Poppies, which was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. In a recent New York Times piece, Dwight Garner wondered whether some overweight American novels might need liposuction: Why so large, he asks. This lush tome might well raise the same question, but Mark Anthony Jarman argues that this art is worth the time and caloric intake.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/river-of-smoke-by-amitav-ghosh/article2261750/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
THE WRITER'S STUDIO READING SERIES
Come and hear poems and stories related to the theme of 'New Beginnings'. December's guest author, Dan Green, published his first novel, Blue Saltwater, last year. Thursday, December 8 at 7:00pm. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway.
MIKE MCCARDELL
Meet the renowned news reporter and author at a book signing of his new book, Here's Mike: And Junkyard Granny, Whistling Bernie Smith, the Robertson Screwdriver, Pancakes and Eternal Truth. Saturday, December 10 at 11:00am. Coles, Cottonwood Corner, 45-45585 Lukakuck Way, Chilliwack. For more information, phone 604-858-9595.
POETRY AROUND THE WORLD
Book launch by Ibrahim Honjo, author of Poems I Didn't Want to Write, Some Other Dreams. Saturday, December 10 at 3:30pm. Renfrew Public Library, 2969 22nd Ave. E., Vancouver. More information at 604-441-0169.
BOB LENARDUZZI
Meet the soccer legend and renowned sports writer Jim Taylor at a book signing for Bob Lenarduzzi: A Canadian Soccer Story. Saturday, December 10 at 5:00pm. Black Bond Books, Trenant Park Square Shopping Centre, 5251 Ladner Trunk Road, Ladner. For more information, phone 604-946-6677.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Esi Edugyan and Jen Sookfong Lee. Thursday, December 15 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
Upcoming
POETRY READING
Readings by three members of the Vancouver Poetry Dogs: Stephanie Bolster, Barbara Nickel, and Elise Partridge. Tuesday, January 3 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
CHINATOWN STORIES
Come hear about forgotten Chinatowns and stories about growing up Chinese in Vancouver and in Mexico. Meet authors Rebeca Lau, Chad Reimer, and Larry Wong and learn more about the new book series Gold Mountain Stories. Wednesday, January 11 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street.
GRACE LI XIU WOO
Author of Ghost Dancing with Colonialism discusses her new book. Thursday, January 12 at 7:00pm, free. Alma vanDusen room, lower level, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street.
WRITING FROM REAL LIFE
Madeline Sonik, award-winning author and university teacher of writing, will teach autobiographical writing techniques, structure and theme. Saturday, January 14 at 1:00pm, free. Alma vanDusen room, lower level, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
BETTY JEAN MCHUGH
Please join the author as she reads from My Road to Rome: The Running Times of BJ McHugh, the story of how she became the world's fastest senior long-distance runner. Monday, January 16 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Sachiko Murakami (Rebuild) and Nick Thran (Earworm). Thursday, January 19 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
KEVIN MCNEILLY
Reading by the author of his debut poetry collection, Embouchure. Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 2:00pm. Rm301, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre 1961 East Mall, UBC.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Book News Vol. 6 No. 47
BOOK NEWS
The perfect gift for book lovers!
Gift certificates, in increments of $20, are now available for the 2012 Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival. To purchase gift certificates, valid towards events during the 2012 Festival from October 16 to 21, please call 604-681-6330 x0. Gift certificates are available for purchase until December 16, 2011. Some restrictions apply.
Incite - Complete details here: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite
Join us Wednesdays at 7:30pm in the Alice MacKay Room at VPL Central Library.
December 7: Two writers bring their debut books to Incite. JJ Lee and Heather Jessup read from their work and discuss the writing process; http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incitedecember7
After the above event, Incite takes a break for the holidays and resumes on January 25th. Writers featured in the 2012 series will include William Gibson, Tess Gallagher, and Linden McIntyre.
AWARDS & LISTS
Rhea Tregebov and Myrna Kostash are two of the five authors short listed for the Kobzar 2012 Literary Award. The Kobzar Literary $25,000 Biennial Award recognizes outstanding contributions to Canadian literary arts by authors who develop a Ukrainian Canadian theme with literary merit.
http://209.171.32.180/en/releases/archive/November2011/11/c4757.html
Globe Books editors select the best-reviewed poetry collections of the year.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-globe-100-poetry/article2249438/
Globe Books editors select the best-reviewed Canadian novels and story collections of the year.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-globe-100-canadian-fiction/article2249250/
Globe Books editors select the best-reviewed fiction from around the world.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-globe-100-foreign-fiction/article2249293/
Globe Books editors select the best-reviewed non-fiction titles of the year.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-globe-100-non-fiction/article2249381/
NEWS & FEATURES
Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer has accused the ANC of apartheid-style censorship. A new secrecy law to muzzle press will affect all writers, says the poet and fighter against black oppression.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/27/nadine-gordimer-south-africa-anc-secrecy-law-censorship
From Wall St to Athens and Occupy sit-ins worldwide, protesters are wearing masks inspired by Alan Moore's V for Vendetta. Moore talks to Tom Lamont about why his avenging hero has such potency today.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/27/alan-moore-v-vendetta-mask-protest
The compilers of the Oxford English Dictionary have chosen the phrase "squeezed middle" as word of the year. OED lexicographers on both sides of the Atlantic picked the phrase – popularised by (Labour Party leader) Ed Miliband – as their first global word of the year. Surprisingly, the accolade does not guarantee the phrase's inclusion into the dictionary.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/23/squeezed-middle-word-of-year?CMP=EMCNEWEML1355
The National Geographic's list of the top ten literary cities includes two American cities, but no Canadian cities.
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/literary-cities/
PD James is not just the author of a slew of detective novels; she has slipped with ease into other genres. She is also an author of fanfiction with Death Comes to Pemberley. This finally shows that fanfiction is a worthwhile literary pursuit, writes Mathilda Gregory.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/24/fanfiction-deserves-more-respect
Having an existential crisis? Or just caught in a reading rut? Bibliotherapy is the new service offering solace to jaded souls – by revitalising your reading list. The Guardian sent six of their writers to find out if it works.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2011/nov/27/school-of-life-bibliotherapy-books
Of the 12 authors short listed for the Bad Sex Award, only two are women. Nominations for the Literary Review Bad Sex awards are always dominated by men, says Rowan Pelling. Why are women so much better at writing about sex?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/the-womens-blog-with-jane-martinson/2011/nov/25/male-writers-bad-writing-sex
CBC Radio One has released the names of five celebrities and the books they will champion for next year's Canada Reads. For the first time, the books are all non-fiction. Participants selected their favorite books from 10 chosen by readers at CBC Books. In early February, the panellists will debate their books in front of audiences in Toronto before choosing a single book as the Canada Reads winner.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/11/22/canada-reads-panelists-books.html
Peter Waugh, nephew of Evelyn, talks to Patrick Barkham about the father whose love he couldn't accept – and the uncle who scared him.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/nov/26/peter-waugh-alec-wagh-evelyn-waugh
Among the snippets of stories, Simon Hoggart's finds a splendid article demolishing the many bonkers theories about who wrote the works of Shakespeare. It couldn't be better timed, writes Hoggart.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/nov/25/simon-hoggart-week-believing-in-the-bard
In an interview with Michelle Paul, Jeff Kinney says that he had never intended the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series to be for kids, although he is certainly happy with their response to the books.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/video/2011/nov/21/jeff-kinney-wimpy-kid-interview
Over forty authors were invited to identify the books that most impressed them in 2011. A novel about a dinner-party guest who won't leave, a history of Henry VII... Several made the same choices.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/25/books-of-the-year
The Writers' Trust of Canada is accepting submissions for the Bronwen Wallace Emerging Author Award, which is awarded to authors under the age of 35 whose work has been published in a magazine or anthology. The deadline for submissions is January 30, 2012. Full submission guidelines here:
http://www.cbabook.org/files/RBC_BWA_Call%20for%20Submissions.pdf
The Writers Union of Canada has announced the jury and the submission deadlines for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, which will be awarded to the best first short fiction collection by a Canadian writer. The submission deadline is January 31, 2012 and submitted words must have been published in 2011.
http://www.writersunion.ca/pdfs/2011_danutagleed_press_release.pdf
BOOKS & WRITERS
William Carlos Williams was a furious poetic revolutionary. To many, he was the greatest poet of the 20th century. He would have been furious at the egregious proofreading of Herbert Leibowitz's Something Urgent I Have to Say to You, says Daisy Fried.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/books/review/something-urgent-i-have-to-say-to-you-the-life-and-works-of-william-carlos-williams-by-herbert-leibowitz-book-review.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3
Jack Kerouac's long-lost first novel will finally see the light of day. The Sea Is My Brother, a semi-autographical work, was written when Kerouac was 20 and drew on his experience as a merchant seaman. The work is important because "it opens up and shows a side to (Kerouac) that we don't normally see in his books," says Dawn Ward, the book's editor. The book will be published in North America in March.
http://www.toronto.com/article/705394?bn=1
Three years after Geist received a review copy of Somewhere Towards the End (Granta), Diana Athill's memoir about getting old, Mary Schendlinger comments that everything is connected. Diana Athill generally makes old people look smart, generous, complicated and interesting, says Schendlinger.
http://www.geist.com/articles/grey-matters
David Lodge's The Campus Trilogy, about a fictional English university, are solidly crafted pieces of comedy, writes Natasha Tripney, the last oddly prescient about academic life and British society.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/27/david-lodge-campus-trilogy-review
In Johanna Skibsrud's This Will Be Difficult to Explain, stories hinge on a failure to communicate, writes Ian McGillis. Whole lives can turn on a misunderstood comment, an ambiguous choice of words, a language barrier. This writer is here to stay, says McGillis.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Failure+communicate/5762091/story.html
Candace Fertile became so engaged in Anne DeGrace's Flying with Amelia, she was late for a date. Life is hard, people move to find work or escape a bad situation. DeGrace delivers emotionally rich and aesthetically enticing fiction, says Fertile.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/flying-with-amelia-by-anne-degrace/article2246300/
The Granta Collection of Irish Short Stories attempts to define the essential Irish aspects of the stories chosen. As Anne Enright says, only some countries make the form their own. A book to dip into, rather than devour, writes Isobel Montgomery.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/22/granta-irish-short-story-enright-review
Marina Endicott's The Little Shadows should come with a warning label, writes Monique Polak: you will stay up too late at night reading this book. In the morning, your first thoughts will be about its characters. Are they all right?
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Marina+Endicott+Little+Shadows+World+Vaudeville+comes+alive/5767122/story.html
The literature of wartime France and the Holocaust is by now so vast as to confound the imagination, but there is always room for something new, writes Jonathan Yardley. Caroline Moorehead's A Train in Winter shows that friendship enabled women's survival.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/a-train-in-winter-an-extraordinary-story-of-women-friendship-and-resistance-in-occupied-france-by-caroline-moorehead/2011/11/09/gIQA4MnkvN_story.html
Kurt Vonnegut died in 2007, but one gets the sense from Charles J. Shields's sad, often heartbreaking biography, And So It Goes, that he would have been happy to depart this vale of tears sooner, writes Christopher Buckley. "So it goes."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/books/review/and-so-it-goes-kurt-vonnegut-a-life-by-charles-j-shields-book-review.html?_r=1&nl=books&emc=booksupdateema1&pagewanted=all
Howard Mandel comments that Christopher Buckley's New York Times Book Review frontpage piece on And So It Goes, Charles J. Shields' biography of Kurt Vonnegut, is as lazy a bit of evaluation as it's possible to pick up a paycheck for. Vonnegut deserves better, says Mandel.
http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2011/11/kurt-vonnegut-deserves-better.html
A casual observer might assume that big, continent-spanning sagas with magic in them are always set in some imaginary variation on Medieval Britain. And would be of little interest for African-American readers and writers. Dead wrong, writes Laura Miller.
http://www.salon.com/2011/11/09/if_tolkien_were_black/singleton
Since readers rarely read plays for pleasure, Robert Lepage and long-time collaborator Marie Michaud have published the play The Blue Dragon in the format of a graphic novel, combining traditional panels with wide-angle, two-page spreads.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/theatre/blue-dragon-in-graphic-novel-form/article2249352/
Marc Lewis's Memoirs of an Addicted Brain is a primer on the neural chemistry of addiction. At one stage, Lewis shot, snorted, swallowed and drank his way through nature's dangerous bounty, finally finding successful therapy. An inherently appealing story, says Brett Josef Grubisic.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/former+addict+looks+neural+chemistry+addiction/5762070/story.html
In The Dovekeepers, Alice Hoffman's haunting re-imagining of the historical destruction of Masada and the defiance of its defenders, distinctions between fact and fable fall away, writes Nancy Richler.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-dovekeepers-by-alice-hoffman/article2250248/
A long-forgotten smallpox outbreak in the U.S. from 1898 to 1903 forms the basis for Michael Willrich's Pox: An American History, a combined medical thriller and courthouse drama, writes Crawford Kilian. That outbreak changed American law and politics.
http://thetyee.ca/Books/2011/11/09/Smallpox-Vaccine/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
NOWHERE ELSE ON EARTH
Postponed until early 2012. Book launch and reading by Caitlin Vernon from her new book Nowhere Else on Earth: Standing Tall for the Great Bear Rainforest. For more information, visit http://www.sierraclub.bc.ca/events/nowhere-else-on-earth-2.
THE TIME WE ALL WENT MARCHING
Arley McNeney launches her new novel set during the 1930s and 1940s in the BC interior. Thursday, December 1 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room. level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Michael Christie (The Beggar's Garden), Kim Clark (Attemptations) and Ashley Little (PRICK: Confessions of a Tattoo Artist). Thursday, December 1 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
JJ LEE
The New Westminster author and Governor General's Literary Award nominee talks about his new book The Measure of a Man. Thursday, December 1 at 7:00pm. New Westminster Public Library, 716 6th Ave. W., New Westminster).
TROPIC OF CHAOS
A discussion of Christian Parenti's book Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence. Friday, December 2 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10 at the door. Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema, SFU Woodward's (149 W. Hastings). More information at www.sfuwoodwards.ca.
NORTH SHORE CRIC CRAC
Abegael Fisher-Lang hosts an evening of storytelling with Sepand Blank, Manuel Salgado, Patricia Smith, Pauline Wenn, and Allison Cox. Sunday, December 4 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $7/$5. Silk Purse Arts Centre, 1570 Argyle Road, West Vancouver. More information at wong.wingsiu@telus.net.
BOOK LAUNCH
Join journalist Allen Garr, publisher Howard White, broadcaster Red Robinson and others to celebrate the launch of The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver. Tuesday, December 6 at 7:00pm, free. Central Branch, VPL (350 West Georgia Street, Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms). More information at www.harbourpublishing.com.
THE BRIGHT WELL
Editor Fiona Tinwei Lam and local poets Elise Partridge, Miranda Pearson, Rachel Rose, and Betsy Warland read poems from The Bright Well, Canada's first collection of contemporary poems about facing cancer. Tuesday, December 6 at 7:00pm, free. Central Branch, VPL, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
PLAY CHTHONICS READING SERIES
Readings by poets Cecily Nicholson and Jim Johnstone. Wednesday, December 7 at 5pm, free. Graham House at Green College UBC, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road. For more information, email play.chthonics@gmail.com.
CHRIS PAOLINI
After a six-year absence, Chris Paolini comes to Vancouver with the final book in the cycle: Inheritance, Wednesday December 7 at 7 pm at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Gymnasium, 2550 Camosun Street (at W.10th Ave.) Vancouver. Note: Each person will require a ticket to attend. Tickets are $5.00 each and are fully redeemable toward any of Chris Paolini's books on the night of the event only. For more information, call Kidsbooks at 604-738-5335.
THE WRITER'S STUDIO READING SERIES
Come and hear poems and stories related to the theme of 'New Beginnings'. December's guest author, Dan Green, published his first novel, Blue Saltwater, last year. Thursday, December 8 at 7:00pm. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway.
Upcoming
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Esi Edugyan and Jen Sookfong Lee. Thursday, December 15 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
The perfect gift for book lovers!
Gift certificates, in increments of $20, are now available for the 2012 Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival. To purchase gift certificates, valid towards events during the 2012 Festival from October 16 to 21, please call 604-681-6330 x0. Gift certificates are available for purchase until December 16, 2011. Some restrictions apply.
Incite - Complete details here: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite
Join us Wednesdays at 7:30pm in the Alice MacKay Room at VPL Central Library.
December 7: Two writers bring their debut books to Incite. JJ Lee and Heather Jessup read from their work and discuss the writing process; http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incitedecember7
After the above event, Incite takes a break for the holidays and resumes on January 25th. Writers featured in the 2012 series will include William Gibson, Tess Gallagher, and Linden McIntyre.
AWARDS & LISTS
Rhea Tregebov and Myrna Kostash are two of the five authors short listed for the Kobzar 2012 Literary Award. The Kobzar Literary $25,000 Biennial Award recognizes outstanding contributions to Canadian literary arts by authors who develop a Ukrainian Canadian theme with literary merit.
http://209.171.32.180/en/releases/archive/November2011/11/c4757.html
Globe Books editors select the best-reviewed poetry collections of the year.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-globe-100-poetry/article2249438/
Globe Books editors select the best-reviewed Canadian novels and story collections of the year.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-globe-100-canadian-fiction/article2249250/
Globe Books editors select the best-reviewed fiction from around the world.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-globe-100-foreign-fiction/article2249293/
Globe Books editors select the best-reviewed non-fiction titles of the year.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-globe-100-non-fiction/article2249381/
NEWS & FEATURES
Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer has accused the ANC of apartheid-style censorship. A new secrecy law to muzzle press will affect all writers, says the poet and fighter against black oppression.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/27/nadine-gordimer-south-africa-anc-secrecy-law-censorship
From Wall St to Athens and Occupy sit-ins worldwide, protesters are wearing masks inspired by Alan Moore's V for Vendetta. Moore talks to Tom Lamont about why his avenging hero has such potency today.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/27/alan-moore-v-vendetta-mask-protest
The compilers of the Oxford English Dictionary have chosen the phrase "squeezed middle" as word of the year. OED lexicographers on both sides of the Atlantic picked the phrase – popularised by (Labour Party leader) Ed Miliband – as their first global word of the year. Surprisingly, the accolade does not guarantee the phrase's inclusion into the dictionary.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/23/squeezed-middle-word-of-year?CMP=EMCNEWEML1355
The National Geographic's list of the top ten literary cities includes two American cities, but no Canadian cities.
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/literary-cities/
PD James is not just the author of a slew of detective novels; she has slipped with ease into other genres. She is also an author of fanfiction with Death Comes to Pemberley. This finally shows that fanfiction is a worthwhile literary pursuit, writes Mathilda Gregory.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/24/fanfiction-deserves-more-respect
Having an existential crisis? Or just caught in a reading rut? Bibliotherapy is the new service offering solace to jaded souls – by revitalising your reading list. The Guardian sent six of their writers to find out if it works.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2011/nov/27/school-of-life-bibliotherapy-books
Of the 12 authors short listed for the Bad Sex Award, only two are women. Nominations for the Literary Review Bad Sex awards are always dominated by men, says Rowan Pelling. Why are women so much better at writing about sex?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/the-womens-blog-with-jane-martinson/2011/nov/25/male-writers-bad-writing-sex
CBC Radio One has released the names of five celebrities and the books they will champion for next year's Canada Reads. For the first time, the books are all non-fiction. Participants selected their favorite books from 10 chosen by readers at CBC Books. In early February, the panellists will debate their books in front of audiences in Toronto before choosing a single book as the Canada Reads winner.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/11/22/canada-reads-panelists-books.html
Peter Waugh, nephew of Evelyn, talks to Patrick Barkham about the father whose love he couldn't accept – and the uncle who scared him.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/nov/26/peter-waugh-alec-wagh-evelyn-waugh
Among the snippets of stories, Simon Hoggart's finds a splendid article demolishing the many bonkers theories about who wrote the works of Shakespeare. It couldn't be better timed, writes Hoggart.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/nov/25/simon-hoggart-week-believing-in-the-bard
In an interview with Michelle Paul, Jeff Kinney says that he had never intended the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series to be for kids, although he is certainly happy with their response to the books.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/video/2011/nov/21/jeff-kinney-wimpy-kid-interview
Over forty authors were invited to identify the books that most impressed them in 2011. A novel about a dinner-party guest who won't leave, a history of Henry VII... Several made the same choices.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/25/books-of-the-year
The Writers' Trust of Canada is accepting submissions for the Bronwen Wallace Emerging Author Award, which is awarded to authors under the age of 35 whose work has been published in a magazine or anthology. The deadline for submissions is January 30, 2012. Full submission guidelines here:
http://www.cbabook.org/files/RBC_BWA_Call%20for%20Submissions.pdf
The Writers Union of Canada has announced the jury and the submission deadlines for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, which will be awarded to the best first short fiction collection by a Canadian writer. The submission deadline is January 31, 2012 and submitted words must have been published in 2011.
http://www.writersunion.ca/pdfs/2011_danutagleed_press_release.pdf
BOOKS & WRITERS
William Carlos Williams was a furious poetic revolutionary. To many, he was the greatest poet of the 20th century. He would have been furious at the egregious proofreading of Herbert Leibowitz's Something Urgent I Have to Say to You, says Daisy Fried.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/books/review/something-urgent-i-have-to-say-to-you-the-life-and-works-of-william-carlos-williams-by-herbert-leibowitz-book-review.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3
Jack Kerouac's long-lost first novel will finally see the light of day. The Sea Is My Brother, a semi-autographical work, was written when Kerouac was 20 and drew on his experience as a merchant seaman. The work is important because "it opens up and shows a side to (Kerouac) that we don't normally see in his books," says Dawn Ward, the book's editor. The book will be published in North America in March.
http://www.toronto.com/article/705394?bn=1
Three years after Geist received a review copy of Somewhere Towards the End (Granta), Diana Athill's memoir about getting old, Mary Schendlinger comments that everything is connected. Diana Athill generally makes old people look smart, generous, complicated and interesting, says Schendlinger.
http://www.geist.com/articles/grey-matters
David Lodge's The Campus Trilogy, about a fictional English university, are solidly crafted pieces of comedy, writes Natasha Tripney, the last oddly prescient about academic life and British society.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/27/david-lodge-campus-trilogy-review
In Johanna Skibsrud's This Will Be Difficult to Explain, stories hinge on a failure to communicate, writes Ian McGillis. Whole lives can turn on a misunderstood comment, an ambiguous choice of words, a language barrier. This writer is here to stay, says McGillis.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Failure+communicate/5762091/story.html
Candace Fertile became so engaged in Anne DeGrace's Flying with Amelia, she was late for a date. Life is hard, people move to find work or escape a bad situation. DeGrace delivers emotionally rich and aesthetically enticing fiction, says Fertile.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/flying-with-amelia-by-anne-degrace/article2246300/
The Granta Collection of Irish Short Stories attempts to define the essential Irish aspects of the stories chosen. As Anne Enright says, only some countries make the form their own. A book to dip into, rather than devour, writes Isobel Montgomery.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/22/granta-irish-short-story-enright-review
Marina Endicott's The Little Shadows should come with a warning label, writes Monique Polak: you will stay up too late at night reading this book. In the morning, your first thoughts will be about its characters. Are they all right?
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Marina+Endicott+Little+Shadows+World+Vaudeville+comes+alive/5767122/story.html
The literature of wartime France and the Holocaust is by now so vast as to confound the imagination, but there is always room for something new, writes Jonathan Yardley. Caroline Moorehead's A Train in Winter shows that friendship enabled women's survival.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/a-train-in-winter-an-extraordinary-story-of-women-friendship-and-resistance-in-occupied-france-by-caroline-moorehead/2011/11/09/gIQA4MnkvN_story.html
Kurt Vonnegut died in 2007, but one gets the sense from Charles J. Shields's sad, often heartbreaking biography, And So It Goes, that he would have been happy to depart this vale of tears sooner, writes Christopher Buckley. "So it goes."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/books/review/and-so-it-goes-kurt-vonnegut-a-life-by-charles-j-shields-book-review.html?_r=1&nl=books&emc=booksupdateema1&pagewanted=all
Howard Mandel comments that Christopher Buckley's New York Times Book Review frontpage piece on And So It Goes, Charles J. Shields' biography of Kurt Vonnegut, is as lazy a bit of evaluation as it's possible to pick up a paycheck for. Vonnegut deserves better, says Mandel.
http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2011/11/kurt-vonnegut-deserves-better.html
A casual observer might assume that big, continent-spanning sagas with magic in them are always set in some imaginary variation on Medieval Britain. And would be of little interest for African-American readers and writers. Dead wrong, writes Laura Miller.
http://www.salon.com/2011/11/09/if_tolkien_were_black/singleton
Since readers rarely read plays for pleasure, Robert Lepage and long-time collaborator Marie Michaud have published the play The Blue Dragon in the format of a graphic novel, combining traditional panels with wide-angle, two-page spreads.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/theatre/blue-dragon-in-graphic-novel-form/article2249352/
Marc Lewis's Memoirs of an Addicted Brain is a primer on the neural chemistry of addiction. At one stage, Lewis shot, snorted, swallowed and drank his way through nature's dangerous bounty, finally finding successful therapy. An inherently appealing story, says Brett Josef Grubisic.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/former+addict+looks+neural+chemistry+addiction/5762070/story.html
In The Dovekeepers, Alice Hoffman's haunting re-imagining of the historical destruction of Masada and the defiance of its defenders, distinctions between fact and fable fall away, writes Nancy Richler.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-dovekeepers-by-alice-hoffman/article2250248/
A long-forgotten smallpox outbreak in the U.S. from 1898 to 1903 forms the basis for Michael Willrich's Pox: An American History, a combined medical thriller and courthouse drama, writes Crawford Kilian. That outbreak changed American law and politics.
http://thetyee.ca/Books/2011/11/09/Smallpox-Vaccine/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
NOWHERE ELSE ON EARTH
Postponed until early 2012. Book launch and reading by Caitlin Vernon from her new book Nowhere Else on Earth: Standing Tall for the Great Bear Rainforest. For more information, visit http://www.sierraclub.bc.ca/events/nowhere-else-on-earth-2.
THE TIME WE ALL WENT MARCHING
Arley McNeney launches her new novel set during the 1930s and 1940s in the BC interior. Thursday, December 1 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room. level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at www.vpl.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Michael Christie (The Beggar's Garden), Kim Clark (Attemptations) and Ashley Little (PRICK: Confessions of a Tattoo Artist). Thursday, December 1 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
JJ LEE
The New Westminster author and Governor General's Literary Award nominee talks about his new book The Measure of a Man. Thursday, December 1 at 7:00pm. New Westminster Public Library, 716 6th Ave. W., New Westminster).
TROPIC OF CHAOS
A discussion of Christian Parenti's book Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence. Friday, December 2 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10 at the door. Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema, SFU Woodward's (149 W. Hastings). More information at www.sfuwoodwards.ca.
NORTH SHORE CRIC CRAC
Abegael Fisher-Lang hosts an evening of storytelling with Sepand Blank, Manuel Salgado, Patricia Smith, Pauline Wenn, and Allison Cox. Sunday, December 4 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $7/$5. Silk Purse Arts Centre, 1570 Argyle Road, West Vancouver. More information at wong.wingsiu@telus.net.
BOOK LAUNCH
Join journalist Allen Garr, publisher Howard White, broadcaster Red Robinson and others to celebrate the launch of The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver. Tuesday, December 6 at 7:00pm, free. Central Branch, VPL (350 West Georgia Street, Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms). More information at www.harbourpublishing.com.
THE BRIGHT WELL
Editor Fiona Tinwei Lam and local poets Elise Partridge, Miranda Pearson, Rachel Rose, and Betsy Warland read poems from The Bright Well, Canada's first collection of contemporary poems about facing cancer. Tuesday, December 6 at 7:00pm, free. Central Branch, VPL, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
PLAY CHTHONICS READING SERIES
Readings by poets Cecily Nicholson and Jim Johnstone. Wednesday, December 7 at 5pm, free. Graham House at Green College UBC, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road. For more information, email play.chthonics@gmail.com.
CHRIS PAOLINI
After a six-year absence, Chris Paolini comes to Vancouver with the final book in the cycle: Inheritance, Wednesday December 7 at 7 pm at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Gymnasium, 2550 Camosun Street (at W.10th Ave.) Vancouver. Note: Each person will require a ticket to attend. Tickets are $5.00 each and are fully redeemable toward any of Chris Paolini's books on the night of the event only. For more information, call Kidsbooks at 604-738-5335.
THE WRITER'S STUDIO READING SERIES
Come and hear poems and stories related to the theme of 'New Beginnings'. December's guest author, Dan Green, published his first novel, Blue Saltwater, last year. Thursday, December 8 at 7:00pm. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway.
Upcoming
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Esi Edugyan and Jen Sookfong Lee. Thursday, December 15 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
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