BOOK NEWS
UPCOMING VIWF EVENTS
Incite
At the next Incite on April 4, Will Ferguson takes readers behind the scene of the world's most insidious internet scam in 419 and Journey Prize-winner Yasuko Thanh reads from her new collection of short stories, Floating Like the Dead. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/inciteapril4. Also appearing at Incite in the next few months are Linden MacIntyre, Vincent Lam, Richard Stursberg, John Boyne, Buffy Cram, Owen Laukkanen and Trevor Green.
Richard Ford
Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author Richard Ford appears with his latest novel, Canada. A visionary novel of vast landscapes, complex identities and fragile humanity. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/richardford.
Make your donation count with a $10 top up!
Capital One will give an extra $10 to any donation made to the VIWF above $1 until March 31. Click here to learn more, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/supportus/donate
AWARDS & LISTS
B.C. poet Susan Musgrave has been honoured with the Spirit Bear Award, in recognition of the significance of a vital and enduring contribution to the poetry of the Pacific Northwest. The biennial award was founded in 2010 by B.C. authors Patrick Lane and Lorna Crozier.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/poet+honoured/6354256/story.html
Graphic novelists Chester Brown and Seth are among those short-listed for the 2012 Doug Wright Awards.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/03/27/doug-wright-awards-shortlist.html
Jack Gantos's Dead End in Norvelt is the winner of the 2012 Newbery Medal for the year's best contribution to children's literature and the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction.
http://us.macmillan.com/deadendinnorvelt/JackGantos
Award-winning Dutch author Guus Kuijer has won the world's richest children's books prize, the Astrid Lindgren memorial award, for his novel that in Engllsh is called The Book of Everything.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/20/guus-kuijer-astrid-lindgren-award
Pulitzer-Prize winning author Steven Millhauser is the Story Prize winner for books published in 2011. The winning work, We Others, is a collection of seven new stories and 14 previously published pieces.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/03/22/story-prize-steven-millhauser.html
YOUNG READERS
The illustrated Wimpy Kid books, peppered with handwritten notes and cartoon illustrations, trace the daily tribulations of computer game nerd Greg. The seventh novel in the series will be launched this fall. No title yet, but the storyline centres around a school dance.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/mar/22/wimpy-kid-book-seven
Jack Gantos's books include the Joey Pigza and Rotten Ralph series. And Dead End in Norvelt has won the Newbery Award as the best children's book of 2011. Ages 11-13.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/newbery-author-jack-gantos-on-writing/2012/03/06/gIQAEigtNS_story.html
While most teenagers dream of being a spy, Alex wants be a normal kid and go to school. Purple Unicorns rates Snakehead (in the Alex Rider series) 10 out of 10 because of the way it's written and the way the characters interact. Ages 12-15.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/mar/22/snakehead-alex-rider-horowitz-review
In Guus Kuijer's Astrid Lindgren award-winningThe Book of Everything, Thomas can see things no one else can see: tropical fish swimming in the canals, the Lord Jesus, and his father hitting his mother. And then he discovers how happiness begins: with no longer being afraid. Grade 4-6.
http://www.arthuralevinebooks.com/book.asp?bookid=101
NEWS & FEATURES
The traditional Olympics truce has inspired a series of 'peace camps' that will bring poetry readings, inspired by the 2012 Olympics, to remote coastal sites across the UK and Ireland.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/26/olympics-poetry-peace-camps
The phenomenal popularity of The Hunger Games reminds us that killing is good entertainment. Kenneth Oppel finds it disquieting, however, that the same adults who are horrified by the notion of child soldiers offer critical praise of The Hunger Games' children killing children.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/the-hunger-games-is-an-appeal-to-our-baser-appetites/article2380780/
This week, the CBC presents the second of the ten shortlisted entries for the CBC Short Story Prize. This week features Terence Young's Mantra. Note the Q&A following the story. The "people's choice" poll enabling you to vote for your favourite shortlisted story is now open.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/2012/03/mantra-by-terence-young.html
The first-hand account of 17-year old John "Jack" Thayer, a passenger on the Titanic, lost for several decades, will be published next month to mark the sinking's centennial.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Down+down+went+spinning/6358791/story.html
A South Carolina parent has complained to police and a school about Orson Scott Card's Hugo and Nebula award-winning story Ender's Game's being read in a class of teenagers. The police found nothing criminal, the school investigation continues.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/23/police-complaint-enders-game
Rosetta Books has released Basic Training, an unpublished novella by Kurt Vonnegut, close to 60 years after it was written. The Saturday Evening Post rejected the book in the late 1940's, long before Mr. Vonnegut had become famous.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/22/previously-unpublished-vonnegut-novella-to-be-released/
Some writers/dramatists have created interesting, admirable versions of James Barrie's Peter Pan. Others have created cheap, vulgar versions, writes Alison Lurie. Now there is a new Annotated Peter Pan, edited by the Harvard folklorist Maria Tatar.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/apr/05/who-is-peter-pan/
Some Works of Art Can't Be Labeled as Fact or Fiction, and That's OK, writes Ruth Franklin in The New Republic.
http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/101892/fact-checking-mike-daisey-dagata-fingal-the-believer-this-american-life
The Canada Writes Poetry Prize competition is now open. Deadline for entries is May 1 at 11:59 pm ET. More information at:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/literaryprizes/poetry/
Geist has announced the Second Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest. Writers are asked to create their own poetic masterpiece from an excerpt of How Should a Person Be? a creative non-fiction novel by celebrated author Sheila Heti. Visit geist.com/erasure for more details and to read the excerpt.
The Aspiring Poets Contest, a new contest in Canada, is for unpublished Canadian poets, and begins in April, national poetry month. Vancouver's Poet Laureate Evelyn Lau is the honorary patron. Submissions will be accepted, beginning April 1. More information at:
www.aspiringpoetscontest.org.
BOOKS & WRITERS
Two new books alleviate the problem of bad writing about sex, writes Jacqueline Turner: Sarah de Leeuw's Geographies of a Lover and Daniel Zomparelli's Davie Street Translations.
http://www.straight.com/article-640321/vancouver/poems-desire-fuse-bodies-and-landscape
Vancouver author Alan Clements, 61, wrote A Future to Believe In for his daughter, Sahra, 5. A mammoth 3,000-page collection of wisdom and values distilled into a 262-page book that includes 108 reflections on freedom: wisdom for the future, writes Tracy Sherlock.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Wisdom+ages+culled+future/6349118/story.html
What happened beginning in 1812 remains poorly understood, writes Dennis Drabelle. Unbeknownst to the armies fighting it, fighting occurred in remote New Orleans in January of 1815, after peace had been declared. Draglle reviews three books to help us see through the murk.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/3-books-on-the-war-of-1812/2012/01/25/gIQAhj5dWS_story.html
Alice Kaplan's Dreaming in French is an account of the year Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, Susan Sontag, and Angela Davis each spent, separately, in Paris, before launching themselves into public life, a chance to explore the self, writes Michel Basilières.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1149459--dreming-in-french-by-alice-kaplan-review
Stephanie Merritt describes Sadie Jones's The Uninvited Guests as The Woman in Black meets Downton Abbey in this happy marriage of ghost story and country house drama. Highly entertaining, says Merritt.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/25/sadie-jones-uninvited-guests-review
Hermione Lee writes about Joyce Carol Oates' Mudwoman in The Terrors of the Woman President.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/apr/05/terrors-woman-president/
Arley McNeney's The Time We All Went Marching is timely, writes M.A.C. Farrant: the Depression, work camps, despair, marching, and a Prime Minister (Bennett) who views the unemployed as "a threat to society". McNeney deftly describes the times, without sentimentality, says Farrant.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Nothing+pretty+novel+based+Depression+work+camps/6349116/story.html
Science writer Kitty Ferguson has been working for over 20 years to reveal the real Stephen Hawking to the world. After one biography and assisting Hawking with The Universe in a Nutshell, she has written an updated biography, Stephen Hawking: An Unfettered Mind.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Stephen+Hawking+mind/6344165/story.html
In No time Like the Present, Nadine Gordimer, Nobel laureate and one of the best-known chroniclers of apartheid, turns her gaze on post-democratic South Africa. Gordimer has not shied away from asking difficult questions. A complex book, writes Gillian Slovo.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/23/no-time-like-present-nadine-gordimer-review
While a secretary at Ghana's embassy in Washington, Peggielene Bartels learned that she was the new king of Otuam, a fishing village in southern Ghana. Co-written with American author Eleanor Herman, King Peggy is a remarkable, but not a Cinderella, story.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/inspiring+reign+King+Peggy/6343984/story.html
Silver: Return to Treasure Island, Andrew Motion's imagined sequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's swashbuckling classic, is a literary companion piece, writes Daisy Hay. Motion reinvents Stevenson's world to reveal its dark underside and provides a fitting sequel to Treasure Island.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/25/silver-return-treasure-island-review
Clare Clark acclaims an exquisite novel of wartime Romania in Georgina Harding's Painter of Silence. A key character is both deaf and mute. Painter of Silence has recently been longlisted for the Orange prize, an accolade it richly deserves, says Clark.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/23/painter-of-silence-georgina-harding-review
Mike Doherty writes that Blaine Harden's Escape from Camp 14, the biography of Shin Dong-hyuk, the only person known to have escaped from a North Korean prison camp, makes The Hunger Games and its fellow dystopias read like Fantasy Island.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/category/arts/afterword/
Patrick Flanery's Absolution is part literary detective story, part deeply unsentimental portrait of South Africa, where freedom came recently and a lot of people are not entirely sure whether to embrace, ban or shoot it, writes Christopher Hope.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/16/absolution-patrick-flanery-review
COMMUNITY EVENTS
AUTHORS, PUBLISHERS AND READERS OF INDEPENDENT LITERATURE
APRIL, ten days of events with readings, multimedia, book/pub crawl and panels on independent publishing. March 22-31, 2012 in Seattle, WA. Complete details at aprilfestival.wordpress.com/calendar.
STAN BEVINGTON
The Alcuin Society presents its fifth Robert R. Reid Award and Medal to Stan Bevington. John Maxwell will also give a talk entitled Coach House Press as a Digital Pioneer. Friday, March 30 at 7:30pm, free. Fletcher Challenge room, Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings. More information at 604-732-5403.
NORWEGIAN WOOD
Vancity Theatre presents the film adaptation of Haruki Murakami's bestselling novel. Friday, March 30 and Saturday, March 31 at 8:30pm. Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street. Details at http://filmguide.viff.org/tixSYS/vifcguide/filmguide/films/2198.
SEATTLE EDIBLE BOOK FESTIVAL
Seventh annual festival celebrating books and food and the people who love them. Saturday, March 31 at 12:00pm. Cost: $10. The Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N., Seattle, WA. Details at frybooks.blogspot.ca.
NEW STAR BOOKS BENEFIT
Readings in support of New Star Books, featuring George Stanley, Larissa Lai, Fred Wah, David Chariandy, Daphne Marlatt and others. Saturday, March 31 at 3:00pm. Western Front, 303 8th Ave. E.
MALARKY
Anakana Schofield launches her debut novel. Sunday, April 1 at 3:00pm. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive.
ROBSON READING SERIES
In celebration of National Poetry Month, readings by Margaret Christakos (Welling), Leigh Kotsilidis (Hypotheticals) and Steven Price (Omens of the Year of the Ox). Tuesday, April 3 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
THE BURIED LIFE
Meet the stars of MTV, Oprah and YouTube as they entertain, answer questions and sign their new book. Wednesday, April 4 at 7:00pm. Cost: $25 includes ticket and signed book. Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, 2550 Camosun. Info and tickets at www.kidsbooks.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Performance by Kate Braid and Daniela Elza with bass player Clyde Reed. Thursday, April 5 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation: $5. The Prophouse, 1636 Venables Avenue, Vancouver. More information at blnish@pandorascollective.com.
Upcoming
ON EDGE READING SERIES
Presents readings by Kaie Kellough and Cornelia Hoogland. Thursday, April 12 at 7:00pm, free. SB301, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street. More information at http://www.ecuad.ca/about/events/198108.
VILLANELLES
US poets Sharmagne Leland-St. John and Ellaraine Lockie, and BC poets Sandy Shreve and Kate Braid read from the newly published poetry anthology Villanelles (an Everymans Library Pocket Poets book). Friday, April 13 at 7:00pm. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive.
LIT FEST NEW WEST
All day event featuring speakers, authors, workshops, readings and more. Saturday, April 14 at 9:00am. Douglas College, 700 Royal Avenue, New Westminster. More information at artscouncilnewwest.org.
GRANT LAWRENCE
Author reads and presents a slideshow from his new book Adventures in Solitude. Monday, April 16 at 7:00pm. Admission free for members; $5 for non-members. Capilano Public Library, 3045 Highland Blvd., North Vancouver. For more information or to register, visit www.nswriters.bc.ca.
KEVIN CHONG
Author reads from his most recent book My Year of the Racehorse: Falling in Love With The Sport of Kings. Books will be available for purchase. Tuesday, April 17 at 7:00pm, free. Tommy Douglas branch, Burnaby Public Library, 7311 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-522-3971.
RAZORBILL
Launch of the new publisher of many young adult books. Meet authors Jay Asher, Hiromi Goto and Carrie Mac. Tuesday, April 17 at 7:00pm, free. Chapters Metrotown, Burnaby.
JACK WHYTE
Meet the author of the A Dream of Eagles series and the Templar Trilogy. Wednesday, April 18 at 7:00pm. Register at 604-598-7426. City Centre Library, Surrey Public Library, 10350 University Drive, Surrey.
NVCL LOCAL AUTHOR SERIES
Readings by Gerhard Winkler and the Rogue Writers. Wednesday, April 18 at 7:00pm, free. Dr. G. Paul Singh Study Hall, North Vancouver City Library, 120 14th Street W., North Vancouver. More information at 604-998-3450.
CANADIAN CRIME WRITING
BC members of Crime Writers of Canada will present a lively panel discussion about Canadian crime writing, followed by announcement of nominees for this years Arthur Ellis Awards. Thursday, April 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3691.
CHRIS MCMAHEN
Two appearances by the author of Box of Shocks. Friday, April 20 at 10:00am at Semiahmoo Library, 1815 152 Street, Surrey. More information at 604-592-6900. Also Friday, April 20 at 1:00pm at Fleetwood Library, 15996 84 Ave. Surrey. To register, call 604-598-7340. More information at www.spl.surrey.bc.ca.
NORTH SHORE WRITERS FESTIVAL
13th annual festival of writers and readers, this year featuring Marina Endicott, Anita Rau Badami and Daniel Kalla. Saturday, April 21, free. From 11:30am to 8:30pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. Complete details at northshorewritersfestival.com.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Book News Vol. 7 No. 9
BOOK NEWS
UPCOMING VIWF EVENTS
Incite
At the next Incite on April 4, Will Ferguson takes readers behind the scene of the world's most insidious internet scam in 419 and Journey Prize-winner Yauko Thanh reads from her new collection of short stories, Floating Like the Dead. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/inciteapril4. Also appearing at Incite in the next few months are Linden MacIntyre, Vincent Lam, Richard Stursberg, John Boyne, Buffy Cram, Owen Laukkanen and Trevor Green.
Richard Ford
Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author Richard Ford appears with his latest novel, Canada. This will be Mr. Ford's first appearance in Canada with this new book. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/richardford.
Make your donation count with a $10 top up!
Capital One will give an extra $10 to any donation made to the VIWF above $1 until March 31. Click here to learn more, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/supportus/donate
AWARDS & LISTS
South Korean novelist Kyung-sook Shin has become the first woman to win the Man Asian Literary Prize, Asia's most prestigious award for writers, for her novel Please Look After Mom. The author has won an award of US$30,000; the novel's translator, Chi-Young Kim, received US$5,000.
http://www.manasianliteraryprize.org/
The Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize went to Penny Sarchet for 'The nocebo effect' and Tess Shellard for 'Bacteria and the power of teamwork'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/interactive/2012/mar/15/science-writing-prize-scienceprizes?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
Timothy Tayor's The Blue Light Project has been nominated for a CBC Bookie Award, along with Patrick deWitt, Esi Edugyan, Brian Francis and Elizabeth Hay.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/03/14/timothy-taylor-the-stock-market-with-french-flaps/
There are five Bookie nominees in each of this year's 10 categories, chosen by CBC's book-loving producers. Readers across the country are invited to cast their votes in each of the categories—by 11:59 pm EDT Saturday, March 31. Winners will be announced Thursday, April 5.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2012/03/the-second-annual-cbc-bookie-awards.html
Patricia Donahue, author of Mighty Orion - Fate is the winner of the Okanagan Literary Arts Award, 2012.
http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/entertainment/140786713.html
YOUNG READERS
Acts of Courage: Laura Secord and the War of 1812 begins when Laura was 12. She was 38 when she walked 20 hours to warn the British commander of an imminent American attack. "No one had really wanted [the War] ," says young Laura. Ages 10-14.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol18/no24/actsofcourage.html
In Carl Hiaasen's Chomp, a young boy named Wahoo helps his father recover from an iguana-caused concussion. However, the rollicking plot pulls back the curtain on so-called reality TV and its biggest outdoorsy phenom, "Man vs. Wild." A delightful, laugh-out-loud send-up, says Susan Carpenter. Middle School, and not just for kids. Ages 10-14.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-carl-hiaasen-20120318,0,543873.story
Miriam Rudolph's grandfather was a Canadian Mennonite who moved his family to Paraguay in the 1920's. Miriam was born in Paraguay but moved to Manitoba when she was 20, to study art and education. David's Trip to Paraguay, The Land of Amazing Colours, in both English and German, which Rudolph both wrote and illustrated, is the result. All ages.
http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/scene/books/2012/03/14/miriam-rudolph/
NEWS & FEATURES
For the next two weeks, the CBC will present one of the ten shortlisted entries for the CBC Short Story Prize. This week features Clea Young's Dock Day. Note the Q & A following the story. The "people's choice" poll enabling you to vote for your favourite shortlisted story opened March 19.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/2012/03/dock-day-by-clea-young.html
While Salman Rushdie dismissed death threats and returned to India to speak at a literary event in Delhi, Imran Khan, the Pakistani cricketer-turned-conservative politician, has pulled out of a conference in Delhi because of Rushdie's expected attendance.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/14/imran-khan-conference-salman-rushdie
Andrew Motion talks to William Skidelsky about life after being poet laureate and about Silver, his sequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/16/andrew-motion-silver-meet-the-author
Toronto writer Kyo Maclear launched two books this week—Virginia Wolf, an illustrated book for children and Stray Love for adults—part of a growing writers' trend to cross genres. They both deal with similar themes: "of not belonging".
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1147582--kyo-maclear-s-latest-author-to-write-for-both-children-and-adults
At a recent TEDx/Observer ideas conference, Ben Drew, aka Plan B, focused on the importance of letting kids, and yourself, read for pleasure.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/18/frank-cottrell-boyce-tedx-books-pleasurewas
In Facing the Camera, Alberto Manguel attempts an answer to the question: How much does a photograph really capture the essence of a person?
http://www.geist.com/articles/facing-the-camera
In an interview with Emma Brockes, prior to the April publication of his The Chemistry of Tears, Peter Carey reveals why he likes breaking the rules and making it up as he goes along.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/16/peter-carey-rule-breaker-books
Kafka and Leonard Cohen can help young people make sense of the world, Sheila Heti argues, while grown-ups can escape Hunger Games. Teens should read 'adult fiction'—and vice versa, writes Heti.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/why-teens-should-read-adult-fiction-and-vice-versa/article2371260/
Armistead Maupin is Patrick Gale's hero. "By the time I...met Armistead and became his friend and biographer, his creation had already exerted a powerful influence on my own writing. A gently comic tone can work wonders," writes Gale.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/16/my-hero-armistead-maupin-patrick-gale
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here: Dante's medieval classic The Divine Comedy has been condemned as racist, antisemitic and Islamophobic by a group calling for it to be removed from classrooms.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/14/the-divine-comedy-offensive-discriminatory
As celebrities land book deals to detail the minutiae of their lives to date, Nobel laureate Toni Morrison has cancelled plans to write a memoir over concerns her life is not interesting enough. She'd rather write fiction, she says.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/16/toni-morrison-memoir-not-interesting
The Hunger Games trilogy, Delirium, Pandemonium, Blood Red Road, and similar books present dystopian worlds of cowed populations and tyrannical governments. Lucy Mangan wonders whether the books are so popular because the stories describe the teenage experience of living with perpetual unease.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/shortcuts/2012/mar/19/hunger-games-dystopian-teen-fiction?CMP=EMCNEWEML1355
We do judge books by their covers, writes Dennis Loy Johnson in The Economist.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2012/03/qa-dennis-loy-johnson
David Bell writes about what we've lost with the demise of the print encyclopedia: an overview of all human knowledge, with that knowledge in a coherent, logical order and above all, the linking of the material together thematically—all of it.
http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/101795/encyclopedia-britannica-publish-information
Geoff Dyer explores what 'the literary establishment' is. "The important thing is the unspoken assumption that this establishment–whatever it is–is a bad thing", says Dyer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/16/author-geoff-dyer-literary-establishment
The Canada Writes Poetry Prize competition is now open. Deadline for entries is May 1 at 11:59 pm ET. More information at:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/literaryprizes/poetry/
Geist has announced the opening of the Second Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest. Writers are asked to create their own poetic masterpiece from an excerpt of How Should a Person Be? a creative non-fiction novel by celebrated author Sheila Heti. There's $1000 in prizes, plus publication! $20 entry fee includes an entire year of Geist. More information at:
www.geist.com/erasure
The Aspiring Poets Contest, a new contest in Canada, is for unpublished Canadian poets, and begins in April, national poetry month. Vancouver's Poet Laureate Evelyn Lau is the honorary patron. Submissions will be accepted, beginning April 1. More information at:
www.aspiringpoetscontest.org
BOOKS & WRITERS
Wade Davis wants to save an area of B.C. known by first nations people as the sacred headwaters. The Sacred Headwaters: The Fight to Save the Stikine, Skeena, and Nass, is a bid to do just that.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Wade+Davis+challenges+tsunami+development+remote/6313518/story.html
Patrick Gale's title A Perfectly Good Man sets the tone for this gently ironic tale, exemplifying a peculiarly English irony, implying a quality of goodness that falls far short of perfection and yet, at the same time, is acceptably sufficient, writes Salley Vickers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/09/perfectly-good-man-patrick-gale-review
Everything about Wilkie Collins makes him perfectly fitted to roam through Peter Ackroyd's imaginative universe, writes Kathryn Hughes. The public was in thrall to Collins's addictive prose. Failing that, they bought Woman in White bonnets and perfume, and danced Woman in White waltzes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/22/wilkie-collins-peter-ackroyd-review
Ru, Kim Thúy's account of her childhood odyssey from Saigon, a Malaysian refugee camp and eventually to Quebec, is a French-language sensation, writes Greg Quill. Now Ru—the word means "lullaby"—has found a second life in an English translation by Sheila Fischman.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1143705--q-a-kim-th-y-s-best-selling-refugee-odyssey-makes-its-mark-in-english
In Arcadia, Lauren Groff has constructed an entirely believable settlement of Free People dedicated to the Needs of Everyone, writes Ron Charles. A boy struggles to understand himself, as Groff takes on the more universal myth of paradise lost.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/lauren-groffs-arcadia-trouble-in-paradise/2012/03/04/gIQAmZRNAS_story.html
Robert Harris's latest thriller, The Fear Index, is about hedge funds, high frequency trading and algorithms, which explains his quote from Shelley's Frankenstein, writes John Schwartz: "Learn from me...how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/books/review/the-fear-index-robert-harriss-thriller.html
At Last is the culmination of a sequence of novels by Edward St. Aubyn, centred on the life of Patrick Melrose, an upper-class Englishman. What sets the Melrose novels apart from other chronicles of abuse, says André Alexis, is their tone: at times, laugh-out loud funny.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/at-last-by-edward-st-aubyn/article2364331/
Sinead Gleeson writes that Jon McGregor's This Isn't The Sort of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You is his most verbose title yet. There are 30 short stories, some as pithy as two pages long, another is just one line.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2012/0315/1224313314471.html
Canadian author Craig Taylor is an expert and patient listener," says Leslie Scrivener. The New York Times calls his new book Londoners a "master class in self-effacing journalism." The Guardian praised his "discreet but insistent presence". "It's just keeping quiet", says Taylor.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1147785--canadian-author-craig-taylor-really-listened-to-create-an-oral-portrait-of-londoners
Montrealer (ex Vancouver) Nancy Richler's third novel, The Imposter Bride, is a gripping mystery with characters drawn so well that one can vividly imagine them strolling the streets of N.D.G., writes Michelle Lalonde. An intensely satisfying read, says Lalonde.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Nancy+Richler+sets+gripping+mystery+postwar+Montreal/6314481/story.html
To the question of what it's like to be a bird, there are direct and indirect answers. Tim Birkhead explores the mysteries of the avian world in Bird Sense: What It's Like to Be a Bird. This fascinating book has much to teach us, writes David Wheatley.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/16/bird-sense-tim-birkhead-review
My Year of the Racehorse tells a lot about Kevin Chong, writes Brett Josef Grubisic. The pluses of Racehorse are numerous. Across 18 pocket-sized chapters, he covers an impressive assortment of material including track lingo, stable routines, jockey politics, and thoroughbred trivia.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Kevin+Chong+Like+Woody+Allen+race+track/6313526/story.html
In his stories in Whirl Away, Russell Wangersky delves stealthily into disquieting corners--much like the roller coaster at the centre of McNally's Fair, a ride gleaming with fresh paint, about to collapse from hidden rust and broken bolts, writes Mark Anthony Jarman.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/whirl-away-by-russell-wangersky/article2371255/
David l. Ulin writes that John Leonard's Reading for My Life: 1958-2008 is a brilliant collection of writings on politics, social and cultural engagement and literary life.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-john-leonard-20120318,0,7280303.story
Following the conventions of fairy tales, in Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child, a childless man and woman build a child out of snow; then a mysterious girl appears, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the figure. Hope emerges, says Leah Hager Cohen.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-snow-child-by-eowyn-ivey/article2371923/
John von Neumann and engineering colleagues designed and built the first computer of the digital age. George Dyson's Turing's Cathedral moves between the details of the machine's development and its practical applications, with insights born of Dyson's life experience, writes Douglas Bell.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/turings-cathedral-by-george-dyson/article2371254/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
AUTHORS, PUBLISHERS AND READERS OF INDEPENDENT LITERATURE
APRIL, ten days of events with readings, multimedia, book/pub crawl and panels on independent publishing. March 22-31, 2012 in Seattle, WA. Complete details at aprilfestival.wordpress.com/calendar.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Mark Lavorato (Believing Cedric) and Nicole Lundrigan (Glass Boys). Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
ON EDGE READING SERIES
Presents World Water Night, featuring readings by Lee Maracle and Michael Blackstock with a screening of Samaqan: Water Stories. Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. SB301, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street. More information at http://www.ecuad.ca/about/events/198107.
BOOK LAUNCH
Launch of The Enpipe Line, poetry written in resistance to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines proposal. Friday, March 23 at 7:00pm. Outside the Enbridge office, 505 Burrard Street. More information at enpipeline.org.
CAMPBELL RIVER WRITERS' FESTIVAL
Eleventh annual Words on the Water Festival featuring Gurjinder Basran, Trevor Herriot, Daphne Marlatt, Garry Thomas Morse and others. March 23-24, 2012. Maritime Heritage Centre, Campbell River. Details at www.wordsonthewater.ca.
WIN: WRITERS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK CANADA
First annual literary festival bringing together writers of diverse backgrounds and genre to develop appreciation of the art of creative writing. Saturday, March 24 from 12:30pm to 4:30pm. Richmond Cultural Centre/Library, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond. More informaton at http://tinyurl.com/84jv732.
CASCADIA POETRY FESTIVAL
Renowned and emerging poets from the Cascadian bioregion will present talks on Cascadian culture and illustrate it through poetry. March 24-25, 2012 in Seattle, Washington. For complete details, visit splab.org/cascadia.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Billeh Nickerson launches his latest collection Impact: The Titanic Poems. Tuesday, March 27 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
KAREN ARMSTRONG
On March 28 the CBC Studio One Book Club is partnering with SFU's Centre for Dialogue to welcome TED Prize winner Karen Armstrong - one of the most provocative and original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world. This Book Club will be part of a city-wide conversation on compassion and will mark the launch of the Greater Vancouver Compassion Network. For details go to www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub.
LUNCH POEMS READING SERIES
First event of a newly minted series features Evelyn Lau and Daniela Elza. Wednesday, March 28 at 12:00pm. SFU Harbour Centre, Tek Gallery. More information at strangeplaces.livingcode.org.
CLAUDIA CORNWALL
Reading by the author of Letter from Vienna: A Daughter Uncovers her Family's Jewish Past. Wednesday, March 28 at 7:30pm, free. Welsh Hall, West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver.
LEE MARACLE
Reading by the author of First Wives Club: Coast Salish Style. Thursday, March 29 at 2:00pm, free. Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Point Grey Campus, 1961 East Mall. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
STAN BEVINGTON
The Alcuin Society presents its fifth Robert R. Reid Award and Medal to Stan Bevington. John Maxwell will also give a talk entitled Coach House Press as a Digital Pioneer. Friday, March 30 at 7:30pm, free. Fletcher Challenge room, Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings. More information at 604-732-5403.
NORWEGIAN WOOD
Vancity Theatre presents the film adaptation of Haruki Murakami's bestselling novel. Friday, March 30 and Saturday, March 31 at 8:30pm. Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street. Details at http://filmguide.viff.org/tixSYS/vifcguide/filmguide/films/2198.
Upcoming
SEATTLE EDIBLE BOOK FESTIVAL
Seventh annual festival celebrating books and food and the people who love them. Saturday, March 31 at 12:00pm. Cost: $10. The Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N., Seattle, WA. Details at frybooks.blogspot.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
In celebration of National Poetry Month, readings by Margaret Christakos (Welling), Leigh Kotsilidis (Hypotheticals) and Steven Price (Omens of the Year of the Ox). Tuesday, April 3 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Performance by Kate Braid and Daniela Elza with bass player Clyde Reed. Thursday, April 5 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation: $5. The Prophouse, 1636 Venables Avenue, Vancouver. More information at blnish@pandorascollective.com.
ON EDGE READING SERIES
Presents readings by Kaie Kellough and Cornelia Hoogland. Thursday, April 12 at 7:00pm, free. SB301, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street. More information at http://www.ecuad.ca/about/events/198108.
VILLANELLES
US poets Sharmagne Leland-St. John and Ellaraine Lockie, and BC poets Sandy Shreve and Kate Braid read from the newly published poetry anthology Villanelles (an Everymans Library Pocket Poets book). Friday, April 13 at 7:00pm. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive.
LIT FEST NEW WEST
All day event featuring speakers, authors, workshops, readings and more. Saturday, April 14 at 9:00am. Douglas College, 700 Royal Avenue, New Westminster. More information at artscouncilnewwest.org.
KEVIN CHONG
Author reads from his most recent book My Year of the Racehorse: Falling in Love With The Sport of Kings. Books will be available for purchase. Tuesday, April 17 at 7:00pm, free. Tommy Douglas branch, Burnaby Public Library, 7311 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-522-3971.
JACK WHYTE
Meet the author of the A Dream of Eagles series and the Templar Trilogy. Wednesday, April 18 at 7:00pm. Register at 604-598-7426. City Centre Library, Surrey Public Library, 10350 University Drive, Surrey.
NVCL LOCAL AUTHOR SERIES
Readings by Gerhard Winkler and the Rogue Writers. Wednesday, April 18 at 7:00pm, free. Dr. G. Paul Singh Study Hall, North Vancouver City Library, 120 14th Street W., North Vancouver. More information at 604-998-3450.
CANADIAN CRIME WRITING
BC members of Crime Writers of Canada will present a lively panel discussion about Canadian crime writing, followed by announcement of nominees for this years Arthur Ellis Awards. Thursday, April 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3691.
UPCOMING VIWF EVENTS
Incite
At the next Incite on April 4, Will Ferguson takes readers behind the scene of the world's most insidious internet scam in 419 and Journey Prize-winner Yauko Thanh reads from her new collection of short stories, Floating Like the Dead. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/inciteapril4. Also appearing at Incite in the next few months are Linden MacIntyre, Vincent Lam, Richard Stursberg, John Boyne, Buffy Cram, Owen Laukkanen and Trevor Green.
Richard Ford
Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author Richard Ford appears with his latest novel, Canada. This will be Mr. Ford's first appearance in Canada with this new book. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/richardford.
Make your donation count with a $10 top up!
Capital One will give an extra $10 to any donation made to the VIWF above $1 until March 31. Click here to learn more, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/supportus/donate
AWARDS & LISTS
South Korean novelist Kyung-sook Shin has become the first woman to win the Man Asian Literary Prize, Asia's most prestigious award for writers, for her novel Please Look After Mom. The author has won an award of US$30,000; the novel's translator, Chi-Young Kim, received US$5,000.
http://www.manasianliteraryprize.org/
The Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize went to Penny Sarchet for 'The nocebo effect' and Tess Shellard for 'Bacteria and the power of teamwork'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/interactive/2012/mar/15/science-writing-prize-scienceprizes?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
Timothy Tayor's The Blue Light Project has been nominated for a CBC Bookie Award, along with Patrick deWitt, Esi Edugyan, Brian Francis and Elizabeth Hay.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/03/14/timothy-taylor-the-stock-market-with-french-flaps/
There are five Bookie nominees in each of this year's 10 categories, chosen by CBC's book-loving producers. Readers across the country are invited to cast their votes in each of the categories—by 11:59 pm EDT Saturday, March 31. Winners will be announced Thursday, April 5.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2012/03/the-second-annual-cbc-bookie-awards.html
Patricia Donahue, author of Mighty Orion - Fate is the winner of the Okanagan Literary Arts Award, 2012.
http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/entertainment/140786713.html
YOUNG READERS
Acts of Courage: Laura Secord and the War of 1812 begins when Laura was 12. She was 38 when she walked 20 hours to warn the British commander of an imminent American attack. "No one had really wanted [the War] ," says young Laura. Ages 10-14.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol18/no24/actsofcourage.html
In Carl Hiaasen's Chomp, a young boy named Wahoo helps his father recover from an iguana-caused concussion. However, the rollicking plot pulls back the curtain on so-called reality TV and its biggest outdoorsy phenom, "Man vs. Wild." A delightful, laugh-out-loud send-up, says Susan Carpenter. Middle School, and not just for kids. Ages 10-14.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-carl-hiaasen-20120318,0,543873.story
Miriam Rudolph's grandfather was a Canadian Mennonite who moved his family to Paraguay in the 1920's. Miriam was born in Paraguay but moved to Manitoba when she was 20, to study art and education. David's Trip to Paraguay, The Land of Amazing Colours, in both English and German, which Rudolph both wrote and illustrated, is the result. All ages.
http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/scene/books/2012/03/14/miriam-rudolph/
NEWS & FEATURES
For the next two weeks, the CBC will present one of the ten shortlisted entries for the CBC Short Story Prize. This week features Clea Young's Dock Day. Note the Q & A following the story. The "people's choice" poll enabling you to vote for your favourite shortlisted story opened March 19.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/2012/03/dock-day-by-clea-young.html
While Salman Rushdie dismissed death threats and returned to India to speak at a literary event in Delhi, Imran Khan, the Pakistani cricketer-turned-conservative politician, has pulled out of a conference in Delhi because of Rushdie's expected attendance.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/14/imran-khan-conference-salman-rushdie
Andrew Motion talks to William Skidelsky about life after being poet laureate and about Silver, his sequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/16/andrew-motion-silver-meet-the-author
Toronto writer Kyo Maclear launched two books this week—Virginia Wolf, an illustrated book for children and Stray Love for adults—part of a growing writers' trend to cross genres. They both deal with similar themes: "of not belonging".
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1147582--kyo-maclear-s-latest-author-to-write-for-both-children-and-adults
At a recent TEDx/Observer ideas conference, Ben Drew, aka Plan B, focused on the importance of letting kids, and yourself, read for pleasure.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/18/frank-cottrell-boyce-tedx-books-pleasurewas
In Facing the Camera, Alberto Manguel attempts an answer to the question: How much does a photograph really capture the essence of a person?
http://www.geist.com/articles/facing-the-camera
In an interview with Emma Brockes, prior to the April publication of his The Chemistry of Tears, Peter Carey reveals why he likes breaking the rules and making it up as he goes along.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/16/peter-carey-rule-breaker-books
Kafka and Leonard Cohen can help young people make sense of the world, Sheila Heti argues, while grown-ups can escape Hunger Games. Teens should read 'adult fiction'—and vice versa, writes Heti.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/why-teens-should-read-adult-fiction-and-vice-versa/article2371260/
Armistead Maupin is Patrick Gale's hero. "By the time I...met Armistead and became his friend and biographer, his creation had already exerted a powerful influence on my own writing. A gently comic tone can work wonders," writes Gale.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/16/my-hero-armistead-maupin-patrick-gale
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here: Dante's medieval classic The Divine Comedy has been condemned as racist, antisemitic and Islamophobic by a group calling for it to be removed from classrooms.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/14/the-divine-comedy-offensive-discriminatory
As celebrities land book deals to detail the minutiae of their lives to date, Nobel laureate Toni Morrison has cancelled plans to write a memoir over concerns her life is not interesting enough. She'd rather write fiction, she says.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/16/toni-morrison-memoir-not-interesting
The Hunger Games trilogy, Delirium, Pandemonium, Blood Red Road, and similar books present dystopian worlds of cowed populations and tyrannical governments. Lucy Mangan wonders whether the books are so popular because the stories describe the teenage experience of living with perpetual unease.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/shortcuts/2012/mar/19/hunger-games-dystopian-teen-fiction?CMP=EMCNEWEML1355
We do judge books by their covers, writes Dennis Loy Johnson in The Economist.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2012/03/qa-dennis-loy-johnson
David Bell writes about what we've lost with the demise of the print encyclopedia: an overview of all human knowledge, with that knowledge in a coherent, logical order and above all, the linking of the material together thematically—all of it.
http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/101795/encyclopedia-britannica-publish-information
Geoff Dyer explores what 'the literary establishment' is. "The important thing is the unspoken assumption that this establishment–whatever it is–is a bad thing", says Dyer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/16/author-geoff-dyer-literary-establishment
The Canada Writes Poetry Prize competition is now open. Deadline for entries is May 1 at 11:59 pm ET. More information at:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/literaryprizes/poetry/
Geist has announced the opening of the Second Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest. Writers are asked to create their own poetic masterpiece from an excerpt of How Should a Person Be? a creative non-fiction novel by celebrated author Sheila Heti. There's $1000 in prizes, plus publication! $20 entry fee includes an entire year of Geist. More information at:
www.geist.com/erasure
The Aspiring Poets Contest, a new contest in Canada, is for unpublished Canadian poets, and begins in April, national poetry month. Vancouver's Poet Laureate Evelyn Lau is the honorary patron. Submissions will be accepted, beginning April 1. More information at:
www.aspiringpoetscontest.org
BOOKS & WRITERS
Wade Davis wants to save an area of B.C. known by first nations people as the sacred headwaters. The Sacred Headwaters: The Fight to Save the Stikine, Skeena, and Nass, is a bid to do just that.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Wade+Davis+challenges+tsunami+development+remote/6313518/story.html
Patrick Gale's title A Perfectly Good Man sets the tone for this gently ironic tale, exemplifying a peculiarly English irony, implying a quality of goodness that falls far short of perfection and yet, at the same time, is acceptably sufficient, writes Salley Vickers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/09/perfectly-good-man-patrick-gale-review
Everything about Wilkie Collins makes him perfectly fitted to roam through Peter Ackroyd's imaginative universe, writes Kathryn Hughes. The public was in thrall to Collins's addictive prose. Failing that, they bought Woman in White bonnets and perfume, and danced Woman in White waltzes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/22/wilkie-collins-peter-ackroyd-review
Ru, Kim Thúy's account of her childhood odyssey from Saigon, a Malaysian refugee camp and eventually to Quebec, is a French-language sensation, writes Greg Quill. Now Ru—the word means "lullaby"—has found a second life in an English translation by Sheila Fischman.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1143705--q-a-kim-th-y-s-best-selling-refugee-odyssey-makes-its-mark-in-english
In Arcadia, Lauren Groff has constructed an entirely believable settlement of Free People dedicated to the Needs of Everyone, writes Ron Charles. A boy struggles to understand himself, as Groff takes on the more universal myth of paradise lost.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/lauren-groffs-arcadia-trouble-in-paradise/2012/03/04/gIQAmZRNAS_story.html
Robert Harris's latest thriller, The Fear Index, is about hedge funds, high frequency trading and algorithms, which explains his quote from Shelley's Frankenstein, writes John Schwartz: "Learn from me...how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/books/review/the-fear-index-robert-harriss-thriller.html
At Last is the culmination of a sequence of novels by Edward St. Aubyn, centred on the life of Patrick Melrose, an upper-class Englishman. What sets the Melrose novels apart from other chronicles of abuse, says André Alexis, is their tone: at times, laugh-out loud funny.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/at-last-by-edward-st-aubyn/article2364331/
Sinead Gleeson writes that Jon McGregor's This Isn't The Sort of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You is his most verbose title yet. There are 30 short stories, some as pithy as two pages long, another is just one line.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2012/0315/1224313314471.html
Canadian author Craig Taylor is an expert and patient listener," says Leslie Scrivener. The New York Times calls his new book Londoners a "master class in self-effacing journalism." The Guardian praised his "discreet but insistent presence". "It's just keeping quiet", says Taylor.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1147785--canadian-author-craig-taylor-really-listened-to-create-an-oral-portrait-of-londoners
Montrealer (ex Vancouver) Nancy Richler's third novel, The Imposter Bride, is a gripping mystery with characters drawn so well that one can vividly imagine them strolling the streets of N.D.G., writes Michelle Lalonde. An intensely satisfying read, says Lalonde.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Nancy+Richler+sets+gripping+mystery+postwar+Montreal/6314481/story.html
To the question of what it's like to be a bird, there are direct and indirect answers. Tim Birkhead explores the mysteries of the avian world in Bird Sense: What It's Like to Be a Bird. This fascinating book has much to teach us, writes David Wheatley.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/16/bird-sense-tim-birkhead-review
My Year of the Racehorse tells a lot about Kevin Chong, writes Brett Josef Grubisic. The pluses of Racehorse are numerous. Across 18 pocket-sized chapters, he covers an impressive assortment of material including track lingo, stable routines, jockey politics, and thoroughbred trivia.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Kevin+Chong+Like+Woody+Allen+race+track/6313526/story.html
In his stories in Whirl Away, Russell Wangersky delves stealthily into disquieting corners--much like the roller coaster at the centre of McNally's Fair, a ride gleaming with fresh paint, about to collapse from hidden rust and broken bolts, writes Mark Anthony Jarman.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/whirl-away-by-russell-wangersky/article2371255/
David l. Ulin writes that John Leonard's Reading for My Life: 1958-2008 is a brilliant collection of writings on politics, social and cultural engagement and literary life.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-john-leonard-20120318,0,7280303.story
Following the conventions of fairy tales, in Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child, a childless man and woman build a child out of snow; then a mysterious girl appears, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the figure. Hope emerges, says Leah Hager Cohen.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-snow-child-by-eowyn-ivey/article2371923/
John von Neumann and engineering colleagues designed and built the first computer of the digital age. George Dyson's Turing's Cathedral moves between the details of the machine's development and its practical applications, with insights born of Dyson's life experience, writes Douglas Bell.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/turings-cathedral-by-george-dyson/article2371254/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
AUTHORS, PUBLISHERS AND READERS OF INDEPENDENT LITERATURE
APRIL, ten days of events with readings, multimedia, book/pub crawl and panels on independent publishing. March 22-31, 2012 in Seattle, WA. Complete details at aprilfestival.wordpress.com/calendar.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Mark Lavorato (Believing Cedric) and Nicole Lundrigan (Glass Boys). Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
ON EDGE READING SERIES
Presents World Water Night, featuring readings by Lee Maracle and Michael Blackstock with a screening of Samaqan: Water Stories. Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. SB301, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street. More information at http://www.ecuad.ca/about/events/198107.
BOOK LAUNCH
Launch of The Enpipe Line, poetry written in resistance to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines proposal. Friday, March 23 at 7:00pm. Outside the Enbridge office, 505 Burrard Street. More information at enpipeline.org.
CAMPBELL RIVER WRITERS' FESTIVAL
Eleventh annual Words on the Water Festival featuring Gurjinder Basran, Trevor Herriot, Daphne Marlatt, Garry Thomas Morse and others. March 23-24, 2012. Maritime Heritage Centre, Campbell River. Details at www.wordsonthewater.ca.
WIN: WRITERS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK CANADA
First annual literary festival bringing together writers of diverse backgrounds and genre to develop appreciation of the art of creative writing. Saturday, March 24 from 12:30pm to 4:30pm. Richmond Cultural Centre/Library, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond. More informaton at http://tinyurl.com/84jv732.
CASCADIA POETRY FESTIVAL
Renowned and emerging poets from the Cascadian bioregion will present talks on Cascadian culture and illustrate it through poetry. March 24-25, 2012 in Seattle, Washington. For complete details, visit splab.org/cascadia.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Billeh Nickerson launches his latest collection Impact: The Titanic Poems. Tuesday, March 27 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
KAREN ARMSTRONG
On March 28 the CBC Studio One Book Club is partnering with SFU's Centre for Dialogue to welcome TED Prize winner Karen Armstrong - one of the most provocative and original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world. This Book Club will be part of a city-wide conversation on compassion and will mark the launch of the Greater Vancouver Compassion Network. For details go to www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub.
LUNCH POEMS READING SERIES
First event of a newly minted series features Evelyn Lau and Daniela Elza. Wednesday, March 28 at 12:00pm. SFU Harbour Centre, Tek Gallery. More information at strangeplaces.livingcode.org.
CLAUDIA CORNWALL
Reading by the author of Letter from Vienna: A Daughter Uncovers her Family's Jewish Past. Wednesday, March 28 at 7:30pm, free. Welsh Hall, West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver.
LEE MARACLE
Reading by the author of First Wives Club: Coast Salish Style. Thursday, March 29 at 2:00pm, free. Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Point Grey Campus, 1961 East Mall. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
STAN BEVINGTON
The Alcuin Society presents its fifth Robert R. Reid Award and Medal to Stan Bevington. John Maxwell will also give a talk entitled Coach House Press as a Digital Pioneer. Friday, March 30 at 7:30pm, free. Fletcher Challenge room, Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings. More information at 604-732-5403.
NORWEGIAN WOOD
Vancity Theatre presents the film adaptation of Haruki Murakami's bestselling novel. Friday, March 30 and Saturday, March 31 at 8:30pm. Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street. Details at http://filmguide.viff.org/tixSYS/vifcguide/filmguide/films/2198.
Upcoming
SEATTLE EDIBLE BOOK FESTIVAL
Seventh annual festival celebrating books and food and the people who love them. Saturday, March 31 at 12:00pm. Cost: $10. The Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N., Seattle, WA. Details at frybooks.blogspot.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
In celebration of National Poetry Month, readings by Margaret Christakos (Welling), Leigh Kotsilidis (Hypotheticals) and Steven Price (Omens of the Year of the Ox). Tuesday, April 3 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Performance by Kate Braid and Daniela Elza with bass player Clyde Reed. Thursday, April 5 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation: $5. The Prophouse, 1636 Venables Avenue, Vancouver. More information at blnish@pandorascollective.com.
ON EDGE READING SERIES
Presents readings by Kaie Kellough and Cornelia Hoogland. Thursday, April 12 at 7:00pm, free. SB301, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street. More information at http://www.ecuad.ca/about/events/198108.
VILLANELLES
US poets Sharmagne Leland-St. John and Ellaraine Lockie, and BC poets Sandy Shreve and Kate Braid read from the newly published poetry anthology Villanelles (an Everymans Library Pocket Poets book). Friday, April 13 at 7:00pm. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive.
LIT FEST NEW WEST
All day event featuring speakers, authors, workshops, readings and more. Saturday, April 14 at 9:00am. Douglas College, 700 Royal Avenue, New Westminster. More information at artscouncilnewwest.org.
KEVIN CHONG
Author reads from his most recent book My Year of the Racehorse: Falling in Love With The Sport of Kings. Books will be available for purchase. Tuesday, April 17 at 7:00pm, free. Tommy Douglas branch, Burnaby Public Library, 7311 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-522-3971.
JACK WHYTE
Meet the author of the A Dream of Eagles series and the Templar Trilogy. Wednesday, April 18 at 7:00pm. Register at 604-598-7426. City Centre Library, Surrey Public Library, 10350 University Drive, Surrey.
NVCL LOCAL AUTHOR SERIES
Readings by Gerhard Winkler and the Rogue Writers. Wednesday, April 18 at 7:00pm, free. Dr. G. Paul Singh Study Hall, North Vancouver City Library, 120 14th Street W., North Vancouver. More information at 604-998-3450.
CANADIAN CRIME WRITING
BC members of Crime Writers of Canada will present a lively panel discussion about Canadian crime writing, followed by announcement of nominees for this years Arthur Ellis Awards. Thursday, April 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3691.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Book News Vol. 7 No. 8
BOOK NEWS
UPCOMING VIWF EVENTS
Incite
At the next Incite on March 21, Tamara Faith Berger discusses her third novel Maidenhead, and Anakana Schofield and Ben Wood introduce their debut novels, Malarky and The Bellwether Revivals. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incitemarch7. Also appearing at Incite in the next few months are Linden MacIntyre, Will Ferguson, Vincent Lam, Richard Stursberg, John Boyne, Yasuko Thanh and Buffy Cran, among others.
Benjamin Wood's The Bellwether Revivals is part psychological thriller, part philosophical coming-of-age grand saga, writes Tracy Sherlock. The author plays with the power of music, and the dangers of supreme intelligence.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Bellwether+Revivals+Debut+novel+uncovers+creepy+side+genius/6272486/story.html
Richard Ford
Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author Richard Ford appears with his latest novel, Canada. This will be Mr. Ford's first appearance in Canada with this new book. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/richardford.
Make your donation count with a $10 top up!
Capital One will give an extra $10 to any donation made to the VIWF above $1 until March 31. Click here to learn more, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/supportus/donate
AWARDS & LISTS
Emma Donohue's The Sealed Letter and Esi Edugyan's Half Blood Blues are among the twenty novels longlisted for the Orange Prize, Britain's only annual prize for fiction written by women.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/08/books-orange-prize-fiction-longlist
The West Coast Book Prize Society has unveiled the finalists vying for the 28th edition of the annual literary prizes in seven categories. Among the authors are Carmen Aguirre, Michael Christie, Esi Edugyan, Gary Geddes, Charlotte Gill, Patrick Lane, JJ Lee and Moira Young. Complete list:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2012/03/08/bc-book-prize-shortlist-nominees.html
The National Book Critics Circle gave its 2011 fiction prize to Edith Pearlman, for Binocular Vision: New and Selected Stories at its annual awards ceremony. British author Geoff Dyer won the criticism award.
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/09/local/la-me-book-awards-20120309
Nobel Prize Laureate Wislawa Szymborska has left instructions in her will for the establishment of a new literary prize and a foundation that will guard her literary achievements. Krakow authorities aim to create a museum of literature in the city.
http://www.thenews.pl/1/11/Artykul/91787,Foundation-to-honour-Nobel-laureate-Szymborska
Novelist, playwright, journalist and composer, Anthony Burgess, best known for A Clockwork Orange, wrote many reviews for the Observer. The Observer and the Burgess Foundation have jointly established The Observer/Anthony Burgess prize in his memory, to encourage promising new arts journalists.
http://www.anthonyburgess.org/about-the-foundation/observer-competition
YOUNG READERS
Running on the Cracks by Julia Donaldson is her first teen/ tween book. It is all about a girl called Leonora Watts-Chan (Leo) who runs away from home. I couldn't put it down, says Kertan. Teens.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/mar/09/review-running-cracks-julia-donaldson
Russell Hoban said that all his work was about looking at the world and finding it strange. Soonchild bears that out – and it is also full of insight into human nature. Tony Bradman writes “Every adolescent should have a copy of this one. Trust me, nobody will be writing stories quite like this any more.” Teens.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/07/soonchild-russell-hoban-review
Dan Wells' dystopian Partials kicks off a young adult series that follows Kyra Walker, a teenage girl working as a medic, carrying out research for a cure to a virus wiping out the human race. For YA.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-dan-wells-20120226,0,6844571.story
NEWS & FEATURES
Randy Fred thought that life after residential school would be drinking, watching TV and dying. Instead, he became the "greatest blind Indian publisher in the world." Michal Kozlowski's profile of New World Publisher Randy Fred is one of a series of Geist profiles.
http://www.geist.com/articles/new-world-publisher/index.html
Tucked among the café tables in the Brooklyn Public Library headquarters', a new machine whirred and buzzed. Then, down a chute, slipped a fresh, warm paperback. The Espresso Book Machine, an instant, on-demand printing press, had arrived in Brooklyn, writes Jennifer Maloney.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203370604577265763359583758.html
Deeper into the Twungle by Margaret Atwood is in the most recent New York Review of Books, along with a DIY Margaret Atwood mask.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/mar/12/deeper-twungle-atwood-twitter/
The U.S. Justice Department has warned Apple and five large publishers that it was planning to sue them for price fixing. But Authors Guild President Scott Turow suggests that it's Amazon's ultimate monopoly and predatory pricing that is of greatest concern. http://www.salon.com/2012/03/13/scott_turow_on_why_we_should_fear_amazon/singleton/
Turow's letter to the Authors Guild:
http://www.authorsguild.org/advocacy/articles/letter-from-scott-turow-grim.html
Mathew Ingram and Laura Owen debate the merits of the agency-pricing model.
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-e-book-smackdown-who-should-control-the-prices-publishers-or-amazon/
Inspired by Dave Eggers, and recognizing the absence of encouragement in his own schooling, Roddy Doyle has established Fighting Words to encourage creative writing in students of all ages across Ireland. Since 2009, the centre has seen several thousand come through its doors.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/11/roddy-doyle-fighting-words-project
Sir Salman Rushdie claims an investigation into price fixing of ebook sales by Apple and publishers will only result in destroying the income of writers and further encourage the belief that consumers can get everything for nothing.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9136889/Sir-Salman-Rushdie-attacks-US-investigation-into-ebook-selling.html
Less than two months after being forced to pull out of the Jaipur literary festival, Rushdie has brushed aside death threats and will return to India this week to speak at a literary event in Delhi.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/13/salman-rushdie-india
A collection of fairytales gathered by historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth had been locked away in an archive in Regensburg for over 150 years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/05/five-hundred-fairytales-discovered-germany?intcmp=239
500 new fairytales have been discovered. The Turnip Princess is one of the discovered fairytales:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/05/turnip-princess-discovered-fairytale
The Encyclopedia Britannica has announced that after 244 years, dozens of editions and more than 7m sets sold, no new editions will be printed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/13/encyclopedia-britannica-halts-print-publication
The Aspiring Poets Contest, a new contest in Canada, is for unpublished Canadian poets, and begins in April, national poetry month. Vancouver's Poet Laureate Evelyn Lau is the honorary patron. Submissions will be accepted, beginning April 1. More information at:
www.aspiringpoetscontest.org
BOOKS & WRITERS
Marilynne Robinson's When I Was a Child... is not, as its title might suggest, a memoir. Nor is it about childhood or about the literature that has fed her imagination. It is, writes Kate Kellaway, – in a homespun, ordinary, autobiographical sense – about herself.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/08/marilynne-robinson-when-child-read-books-review
Margot Livesey's The Flight of Gemma Hardy contain numerous parallels with Jane Eyre, writes Candace Fertile. The similarities continue in the presentation of the material, which is Gothic, even melodramatic. But Gemma is ultimately herself, not an updated Jane, says Fertile.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-flight-of-gemma-hardy-by-margot-livesey/article2356754/
Lilian Nattel's psychological thriller, Web of Angels, peers into the world of Dissociative Identity Disorder, writes Greg Quill. Quill quotes Nattel, "I want the reader to feel it's the kind of story that can happen anywhere."
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1142037--authors-at-harbourfront-lilian-nattel-s-psychological-thriller-peers-into-the-world-of-dissociative-identity-disorder
Just as early Christians appropriated pagan sites and rituals, so should contemporary atheists repurpose religious ideas. Alain de Botton's Religion for Atheists proposes a series of weird and wonderful improvement projects for the betterment of secular society. says Brett Josef Grubisic.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Botton+puckish+philosophy+living+right/6272491/story.html
Dutch novelist and filmmaker Threes Anna's Waiting for the Monsoon takes place in Rampur, India, from childhoods through Indian independence. The book conveys the feel of India and its language, writes Georgie Binks, an achievement considering Anna's first language is Dutch.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1142708--waiting-for-the-monsoon-by-threes-anna-review
In her review of Margaret Atwood's I'm Starved for You and its controlling regime, Aretha van Herk writes: "Here is a solution for a crime-ridden time: put everybody in the slammer, and leave the criminals and miscreants outside."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/im-starved-for-you-by-margaret-atwood/article2364319/
Audrey Schulman's novel, Three Weeks in December, refers to two stretches of time—in 1899 and in 2000. Both stretches take place in Africa with terrifying events, writes Philip Marchand. It's a page-turner, and a fascinating study, says Marchand.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/03/09/open-book-three-weeks-in-december-by-audrey-schulman/
Hari Kunzru's Gods Without Men prompts Douglas Copeland's suggestion that we are in a new reality manifest in the literary world in a new literary genre: call it Translit, collapsing time and space, inserting the contemporary reader into other locations and times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/books/review/gods-without-men-by-hari-kunzru.html?ref=books
Rollo Romig stares into the void with Hari Kunzru in The New Yorker.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/03/hari-kunzru-gods-without-men.html#ixzz1p4NRZY2L
Whatever It Is, I Don't Like It is a wonderfully cranky title for a book, but as Howard Jacobson admits in the introduction to this wide-ranging collection of columns he wrote for the Independent, "There is a great deal that I do like."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/11/RVG41NGP12.DTL
COMMUNITY EVENTS
TWS READING SERIES
Reading by guest author Betsy Warland. Thursday, March 15 at 7:00pm, free. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway, Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca.
MY MOTHER'S STORY
An evening of storytelling from the project and see the process of turning personal stories into a finished production. Thursday, March 15 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $25. Presentation House Theatre, 333 Chesterfield Ave., North Vancouver. More information at www.phtheatre.org.
NAKED GIRLS READING
An entirely Neil Gaiman-themed show features readings by Riannaconda, Sweet Sashay, Mama Fortuna, and Diamon Minx. Sunday, March 18 at 8:30pm. Tickets: $20/$15. Backstage Lounge, Arts Club Theatre, 1585 Johnston Street, Vancouver.
PEN IN HAND READING SERIES
Readings by Gabriella Goliger and Arleen Paré. Monday, March 19 at 7:30pm. Cost: $3. Serious Coffee, 230 Cook Street, Victoria. More information at ainbinder.collins@gmail.com.
SPOKEN INK
Reading by mystery author Debra Purdy Kong from her soon to be released novel Deadly Accusations. Tuesday, March 20 at 8:00pm. La Fontana Caffe, 101-3701 East Hastings Street, Burnaby.
LEE MARACLE
Capilano University Creative Writing presents the author of Ravensong, Bobbi Lee, and Daughters Are Forever. Wednesday, March 21 at 11:30am, free. Room 321, Capilano University Library, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver.
AN EVENING OF CANADIAN POETRY
An evening of Canadian poetry with Ruth Roach Pierson, Rhona McAdam and Edward Blodgett. Wednesday, March 21 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kay rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St.
KAREN ARMSTRONG
Lecture by former nun and the author of Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life and A History of God. Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. Gladstone Secondary auditorium, 4105 Gladstone Street, Vancouver. More information and to register, visit http://www.sfu.ca/dialogue/study+practice/armstrong+lecture.html.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Mark Lavorato (Believing Cedric) and Nicole Lundrigan (Glass Boys). Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
ON EDGE READING SERIES
Presents World Water Night, featuring readings by Lee Maracle and Michael Blackstock with a screening of Samaqan: Water Stories. Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. SB301, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street. More information at http://www.ecuad.ca/about/events/198107.
BOOK LAUNCH
Launch of The Enpipe Line, poetry written in resistance to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines proposal. Friday, March 23 at 7:00pm. Outside the Enbridge office, 505 Burrard Street. More information at enpipeline.org.
CAMPBELL RIVER WRITERS' FESTIVAL
Eleventh annual Words on the Water Festival featuring Gurjinder Basran, Trevor Herriot, Daphne Marlatt, Garry Thomas Morse and others. March 23-24, 2012. Maritime Heritage Centre, Campbell River. Details at www.wordsonthewater.ca.
Upcoming
ROBSON READING SERIES
Billeh Nickerson launches his latest collection Impact: The Titanic Poems. Tuesday, March 27 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
KAREN ARMSTRONG
On March 28 the CBC Studio One Book Club is partnering with SFU's Centre for Dialogue to welcome TED Prize winner Karen Armstrong - one of the most provocative and original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world. This Book Club will be part of a city-wide conversation on compassion and will mark the launch of the Greater Vancouver Compassion Network. For details go to www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub.
LEE MARACLE
Reading by the author of First Wives Club: Coast Salish Style. Thursday, March 29 at 2:00pm, free. Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Point Grey Campus, 1961 East Mall. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
STAN BEVINGTON
The Alcuin Society presents its fifth Robert R. Reid Award and Medal to Stan Bevington. John Maxwell will also give a talk entitled Coach House Press as a Digital Pioneer. Friday, March 30 at 7:30pm, free. Fletcher Challenge room, Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings. More information at 604-732-5403.
ROBSON READING SERIES
In celebration of National Poetry Month, readings by Margaret Christakos (Welling), Leigh Kotsilidis (Hypotheticals) and Steven Price (Omens of the Year of the Ox). Tuesday, April 3 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Performance by Kate Braid and Daniela Elza with bass player Clyde Reed. Thursday, April 5 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation: $5. The Prophouse, 1636 Venables Avenue, Vancouver. More information at blnish@pandorascollective.com.
ON EDGE READING SERIES
Presents readings by Kaie Kellough and Cornelia Hoogland. Thursday, April 12 at 7:00pm, free. SB301, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street. More information at http://www.ecuad.ca/about/events/198108.
LIT FEST NEW WEST
All day event featuring speakers, authors, workshops, readings and more. Saturday, April 14 at 9:00am. Douglas College, 700 Royal Avenue, New Westminster. More information at artscouncilnewwest.org.
KEVIN CHONG
Author reads from his most recent book My Year of the Racehorse: Falling in Love With The Sport of Kings. Books will be available for purchase. Tuesday, April 17 at 7:00pm, free. Tommy Douglas branch, Burnaby Public Library, 7311 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-522-3971.
UPCOMING VIWF EVENTS
Incite
At the next Incite on March 21, Tamara Faith Berger discusses her third novel Maidenhead, and Anakana Schofield and Ben Wood introduce their debut novels, Malarky and The Bellwether Revivals. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incitemarch7. Also appearing at Incite in the next few months are Linden MacIntyre, Will Ferguson, Vincent Lam, Richard Stursberg, John Boyne, Yasuko Thanh and Buffy Cran, among others.
Benjamin Wood's The Bellwether Revivals is part psychological thriller, part philosophical coming-of-age grand saga, writes Tracy Sherlock. The author plays with the power of music, and the dangers of supreme intelligence.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Bellwether+Revivals+Debut+novel+uncovers+creepy+side+genius/6272486/story.html
Richard Ford
Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author Richard Ford appears with his latest novel, Canada. This will be Mr. Ford's first appearance in Canada with this new book. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/richardford.
Make your donation count with a $10 top up!
Capital One will give an extra $10 to any donation made to the VIWF above $1 until March 31. Click here to learn more, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/supportus/donate
AWARDS & LISTS
Emma Donohue's The Sealed Letter and Esi Edugyan's Half Blood Blues are among the twenty novels longlisted for the Orange Prize, Britain's only annual prize for fiction written by women.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/08/books-orange-prize-fiction-longlist
The West Coast Book Prize Society has unveiled the finalists vying for the 28th edition of the annual literary prizes in seven categories. Among the authors are Carmen Aguirre, Michael Christie, Esi Edugyan, Gary Geddes, Charlotte Gill, Patrick Lane, JJ Lee and Moira Young. Complete list:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2012/03/08/bc-book-prize-shortlist-nominees.html
The National Book Critics Circle gave its 2011 fiction prize to Edith Pearlman, for Binocular Vision: New and Selected Stories at its annual awards ceremony. British author Geoff Dyer won the criticism award.
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/09/local/la-me-book-awards-20120309
Nobel Prize Laureate Wislawa Szymborska has left instructions in her will for the establishment of a new literary prize and a foundation that will guard her literary achievements. Krakow authorities aim to create a museum of literature in the city.
http://www.thenews.pl/1/11/Artykul/91787,Foundation-to-honour-Nobel-laureate-Szymborska
Novelist, playwright, journalist and composer, Anthony Burgess, best known for A Clockwork Orange, wrote many reviews for the Observer. The Observer and the Burgess Foundation have jointly established The Observer/Anthony Burgess prize in his memory, to encourage promising new arts journalists.
http://www.anthonyburgess.org/about-the-foundation/observer-competition
YOUNG READERS
Running on the Cracks by Julia Donaldson is her first teen/ tween book. It is all about a girl called Leonora Watts-Chan (Leo) who runs away from home. I couldn't put it down, says Kertan. Teens.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/mar/09/review-running-cracks-julia-donaldson
Russell Hoban said that all his work was about looking at the world and finding it strange. Soonchild bears that out – and it is also full of insight into human nature. Tony Bradman writes “Every adolescent should have a copy of this one. Trust me, nobody will be writing stories quite like this any more.” Teens.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/07/soonchild-russell-hoban-review
Dan Wells' dystopian Partials kicks off a young adult series that follows Kyra Walker, a teenage girl working as a medic, carrying out research for a cure to a virus wiping out the human race. For YA.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-dan-wells-20120226,0,6844571.story
NEWS & FEATURES
Randy Fred thought that life after residential school would be drinking, watching TV and dying. Instead, he became the "greatest blind Indian publisher in the world." Michal Kozlowski's profile of New World Publisher Randy Fred is one of a series of Geist profiles.
http://www.geist.com/articles/new-world-publisher/index.html
Tucked among the café tables in the Brooklyn Public Library headquarters', a new machine whirred and buzzed. Then, down a chute, slipped a fresh, warm paperback. The Espresso Book Machine, an instant, on-demand printing press, had arrived in Brooklyn, writes Jennifer Maloney.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203370604577265763359583758.html
Deeper into the Twungle by Margaret Atwood is in the most recent New York Review of Books, along with a DIY Margaret Atwood mask.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/mar/12/deeper-twungle-atwood-twitter/
The U.S. Justice Department has warned Apple and five large publishers that it was planning to sue them for price fixing. But Authors Guild President Scott Turow suggests that it's Amazon's ultimate monopoly and predatory pricing that is of greatest concern. http://www.salon.com/2012/03/13/scott_turow_on_why_we_should_fear_amazon/singleton/
Turow's letter to the Authors Guild:
http://www.authorsguild.org/advocacy/articles/letter-from-scott-turow-grim.html
Mathew Ingram and Laura Owen debate the merits of the agency-pricing model.
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-e-book-smackdown-who-should-control-the-prices-publishers-or-amazon/
Inspired by Dave Eggers, and recognizing the absence of encouragement in his own schooling, Roddy Doyle has established Fighting Words to encourage creative writing in students of all ages across Ireland. Since 2009, the centre has seen several thousand come through its doors.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/11/roddy-doyle-fighting-words-project
Sir Salman Rushdie claims an investigation into price fixing of ebook sales by Apple and publishers will only result in destroying the income of writers and further encourage the belief that consumers can get everything for nothing.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9136889/Sir-Salman-Rushdie-attacks-US-investigation-into-ebook-selling.html
Less than two months after being forced to pull out of the Jaipur literary festival, Rushdie has brushed aside death threats and will return to India this week to speak at a literary event in Delhi.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/13/salman-rushdie-india
A collection of fairytales gathered by historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth had been locked away in an archive in Regensburg for over 150 years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/05/five-hundred-fairytales-discovered-germany?intcmp=239
500 new fairytales have been discovered. The Turnip Princess is one of the discovered fairytales:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/05/turnip-princess-discovered-fairytale
The Encyclopedia Britannica has announced that after 244 years, dozens of editions and more than 7m sets sold, no new editions will be printed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/13/encyclopedia-britannica-halts-print-publication
The Aspiring Poets Contest, a new contest in Canada, is for unpublished Canadian poets, and begins in April, national poetry month. Vancouver's Poet Laureate Evelyn Lau is the honorary patron. Submissions will be accepted, beginning April 1. More information at:
www.aspiringpoetscontest.org
BOOKS & WRITERS
Marilynne Robinson's When I Was a Child... is not, as its title might suggest, a memoir. Nor is it about childhood or about the literature that has fed her imagination. It is, writes Kate Kellaway, – in a homespun, ordinary, autobiographical sense – about herself.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/08/marilynne-robinson-when-child-read-books-review
Margot Livesey's The Flight of Gemma Hardy contain numerous parallels with Jane Eyre, writes Candace Fertile. The similarities continue in the presentation of the material, which is Gothic, even melodramatic. But Gemma is ultimately herself, not an updated Jane, says Fertile.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-flight-of-gemma-hardy-by-margot-livesey/article2356754/
Lilian Nattel's psychological thriller, Web of Angels, peers into the world of Dissociative Identity Disorder, writes Greg Quill. Quill quotes Nattel, "I want the reader to feel it's the kind of story that can happen anywhere."
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1142037--authors-at-harbourfront-lilian-nattel-s-psychological-thriller-peers-into-the-world-of-dissociative-identity-disorder
Just as early Christians appropriated pagan sites and rituals, so should contemporary atheists repurpose religious ideas. Alain de Botton's Religion for Atheists proposes a series of weird and wonderful improvement projects for the betterment of secular society. says Brett Josef Grubisic.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Botton+puckish+philosophy+living+right/6272491/story.html
Dutch novelist and filmmaker Threes Anna's Waiting for the Monsoon takes place in Rampur, India, from childhoods through Indian independence. The book conveys the feel of India and its language, writes Georgie Binks, an achievement considering Anna's first language is Dutch.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1142708--waiting-for-the-monsoon-by-threes-anna-review
In her review of Margaret Atwood's I'm Starved for You and its controlling regime, Aretha van Herk writes: "Here is a solution for a crime-ridden time: put everybody in the slammer, and leave the criminals and miscreants outside."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/im-starved-for-you-by-margaret-atwood/article2364319/
Audrey Schulman's novel, Three Weeks in December, refers to two stretches of time—in 1899 and in 2000. Both stretches take place in Africa with terrifying events, writes Philip Marchand. It's a page-turner, and a fascinating study, says Marchand.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/03/09/open-book-three-weeks-in-december-by-audrey-schulman/
Hari Kunzru's Gods Without Men prompts Douglas Copeland's suggestion that we are in a new reality manifest in the literary world in a new literary genre: call it Translit, collapsing time and space, inserting the contemporary reader into other locations and times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/books/review/gods-without-men-by-hari-kunzru.html?ref=books
Rollo Romig stares into the void with Hari Kunzru in The New Yorker.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/03/hari-kunzru-gods-without-men.html#ixzz1p4NRZY2L
Whatever It Is, I Don't Like It is a wonderfully cranky title for a book, but as Howard Jacobson admits in the introduction to this wide-ranging collection of columns he wrote for the Independent, "There is a great deal that I do like."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/11/RVG41NGP12.DTL
COMMUNITY EVENTS
TWS READING SERIES
Reading by guest author Betsy Warland. Thursday, March 15 at 7:00pm, free. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway, Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca.
MY MOTHER'S STORY
An evening of storytelling from the project and see the process of turning personal stories into a finished production. Thursday, March 15 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $25. Presentation House Theatre, 333 Chesterfield Ave., North Vancouver. More information at www.phtheatre.org.
NAKED GIRLS READING
An entirely Neil Gaiman-themed show features readings by Riannaconda, Sweet Sashay, Mama Fortuna, and Diamon Minx. Sunday, March 18 at 8:30pm. Tickets: $20/$15. Backstage Lounge, Arts Club Theatre, 1585 Johnston Street, Vancouver.
PEN IN HAND READING SERIES
Readings by Gabriella Goliger and Arleen Paré. Monday, March 19 at 7:30pm. Cost: $3. Serious Coffee, 230 Cook Street, Victoria. More information at ainbinder.collins@gmail.com.
SPOKEN INK
Reading by mystery author Debra Purdy Kong from her soon to be released novel Deadly Accusations. Tuesday, March 20 at 8:00pm. La Fontana Caffe, 101-3701 East Hastings Street, Burnaby.
LEE MARACLE
Capilano University Creative Writing presents the author of Ravensong, Bobbi Lee, and Daughters Are Forever. Wednesday, March 21 at 11:30am, free. Room 321, Capilano University Library, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver.
AN EVENING OF CANADIAN POETRY
An evening of Canadian poetry with Ruth Roach Pierson, Rhona McAdam and Edward Blodgett. Wednesday, March 21 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kay rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St.
KAREN ARMSTRONG
Lecture by former nun and the author of Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life and A History of God. Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. Gladstone Secondary auditorium, 4105 Gladstone Street, Vancouver. More information and to register, visit http://www.sfu.ca/dialogue/study+practice/armstrong+lecture.html.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Mark Lavorato (Believing Cedric) and Nicole Lundrigan (Glass Boys). Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
ON EDGE READING SERIES
Presents World Water Night, featuring readings by Lee Maracle and Michael Blackstock with a screening of Samaqan: Water Stories. Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. SB301, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street. More information at http://www.ecuad.ca/about/events/198107.
BOOK LAUNCH
Launch of The Enpipe Line, poetry written in resistance to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines proposal. Friday, March 23 at 7:00pm. Outside the Enbridge office, 505 Burrard Street. More information at enpipeline.org.
CAMPBELL RIVER WRITERS' FESTIVAL
Eleventh annual Words on the Water Festival featuring Gurjinder Basran, Trevor Herriot, Daphne Marlatt, Garry Thomas Morse and others. March 23-24, 2012. Maritime Heritage Centre, Campbell River. Details at www.wordsonthewater.ca.
Upcoming
ROBSON READING SERIES
Billeh Nickerson launches his latest collection Impact: The Titanic Poems. Tuesday, March 27 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
KAREN ARMSTRONG
On March 28 the CBC Studio One Book Club is partnering with SFU's Centre for Dialogue to welcome TED Prize winner Karen Armstrong - one of the most provocative and original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world. This Book Club will be part of a city-wide conversation on compassion and will mark the launch of the Greater Vancouver Compassion Network. For details go to www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub.
LEE MARACLE
Reading by the author of First Wives Club: Coast Salish Style. Thursday, March 29 at 2:00pm, free. Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Point Grey Campus, 1961 East Mall. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
STAN BEVINGTON
The Alcuin Society presents its fifth Robert R. Reid Award and Medal to Stan Bevington. John Maxwell will also give a talk entitled Coach House Press as a Digital Pioneer. Friday, March 30 at 7:30pm, free. Fletcher Challenge room, Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings. More information at 604-732-5403.
ROBSON READING SERIES
In celebration of National Poetry Month, readings by Margaret Christakos (Welling), Leigh Kotsilidis (Hypotheticals) and Steven Price (Omens of the Year of the Ox). Tuesday, April 3 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Performance by Kate Braid and Daniela Elza with bass player Clyde Reed. Thursday, April 5 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation: $5. The Prophouse, 1636 Venables Avenue, Vancouver. More information at blnish@pandorascollective.com.
ON EDGE READING SERIES
Presents readings by Kaie Kellough and Cornelia Hoogland. Thursday, April 12 at 7:00pm, free. SB301, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street. More information at http://www.ecuad.ca/about/events/198108.
LIT FEST NEW WEST
All day event featuring speakers, authors, workshops, readings and more. Saturday, April 14 at 9:00am. Douglas College, 700 Royal Avenue, New Westminster. More information at artscouncilnewwest.org.
KEVIN CHONG
Author reads from his most recent book My Year of the Racehorse: Falling in Love With The Sport of Kings. Books will be available for purchase. Tuesday, April 17 at 7:00pm, free. Tommy Douglas branch, Burnaby Public Library, 7311 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-522-3971.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Book News Vol. 7 No. 7
BOOK NEWS
UPCOMING VIWF EVENTS
Incite
At the next Incite on March 21, Tamara Faith Berger discusses her third novel Maidenhead, and Anakana Schofield and Ben Wood introduce their debut novels, Malarky and The Bellwether Revivals. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incitemarch7. Also appearing at Incite in the next few months are Linden MacIntyre, Will Ferguson, Vincent Lam, Richard Stursberg, John Boyne, Yasuko Thanh and Buffy Cran, among others.
Richard Ford
Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author Richard Ford appears with his latest novel, Canada. This will be Mr Ford's first appearance in Canada with this new book. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/richardford.
AWARDS & LISTS
Andrew Westoll has won the $25,000 Charles Taylor Prize for his book The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/03/05/charles-taylor-prize-winner.html
Roddy Doyle, Anna Porter and Gary Shteyngart have been named to the jury that will choose the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize-winner. The Prize will be awarded on Oct. 30.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/03/05/giller-prize-jury.html
The Tibetan writer Tsering Woeser remains under house arrest in Beijing after she was prevented from attending a ceremony honouring her with the 2011 Prince Claus award. "This demonstrates the importance of her voice," said the Prince Claus Fund director.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/02/china-tibetan-blogger-prince-claus-award
The $25,000 Kobzar Literary Award, which uniquely honours books with a Canadian-Ukrainian theme, was presented to Shandi Mitchell last week for her debut novel, Under This Unbroken Sky.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/03/01/shandi-mitchell-wins-kobzar-literary-award/
Orange and Booker-shortlisted author Emma Donoghue has been shortlisted for the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award for The Hunt, set during the American War of Independence.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/emma-donoghue-running-£30k-story-prize.html
Clea Young and Terence Young are two of ten finalists for CBC's short story contest. Canada Writes is the online literary destination part of CBC Books, with its partners the Canada Council for the Arts, Air Canada's enRoute magazine and The Banff Centre.
http://www.cbabook.org/files/CBC%20NEWS%20RELEASE.pdf
Ontario authors Brian Cretney and Connie Brummel Crook have been nominated for the 2012 Saskatchewan Young Readers' Choice Willow Awards.
http://www.willowawards.ca/nominated-books
YOUNG READERS
Willa Wellowby wakes up one morning to find her home invaded by monkeys in Sheree Fitch's There Are Monkeys In my Kitchen. They wear red leather boots and cowboy hats, play bagpipes in Willas bedroom and swing from the trees! Ages 4 to 7.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol18/no24/thereweremonkeysinmykitchen.html
As opening lines go, Colin Meloy's Wildwood has a humdinger: How five crows managed to lift a twenty-pound baby boy into the air was beyond Prue, but that was certainly the least of her worries. Age 10 and up.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+wilderness+adventure/6199088/story.html
In Embrace, the opener in a young adult series by Jessica Shirvington, teenage Violet discovers she is an angel. If angels are the new vampires, then Embrace is a worthy follow-up to The Twilight Saga, says Susan Carpenter. Ages 12 and up.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-jessica-shirvington-20120304,0,4040405.story
NEWS & FEATURES
At VPL, ebook downloads have increased almost tenfold year-on-year. Still, there are things, good and bad, that ebooks can't offer. The Library invites the public to help reinvent their mission through the public input campaign Free-For-All: Reimagining Your Library.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/03/05/Ebook-Libraries/
The American Library Association is urging Random House Inc. to reconsider its steep increases in the price of e-books for library wholesalers, with charges for e-books to rise by 20 percent-plus for new adult releases and more than double for new children's books.
http://www.denverpost.com/books/ci_20088888
Claraboya (Skylight), a novel that the late Nobel laureate José Saramago submitted to a publisher in 1953, has finally been released in Spanish. Random House UK is considering an English translation. Raised from the Ground (previously unpublished) is due this summer in the UK.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/05/jose-saramago-novel-published
We generally venerate those authors who stand up against acts of silencing by the authorities. But what are we to think when an author suppresses himself? Leaves posthumous orders to destroy manuscripts?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/28/authors-censor-themselves-martin-amis
The Philosopher's Beard disparages Jane Austen's novels but notes that Austen was also a brilliant moral philosopher who analysed and taught a virtue ethics for middle-class life that is surprisingly contemporary.
http://www.philosophersbeard.org/2011/08/jane-austen-terrible-novelist-brilliant.html
Chan Koonchung's novel The Fat Years is an underground sensation in China, officially banned from bookstores but available for download online if you know where to look. It's the book that China's readers ask each other if they have read yet.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/chinese-must-not-forget-the-past-warns-author-of-the-fat-years/article2351681/
L'Ingratitude, a long-lost short story written by Charlotte Brontë for an ardour-inspiring tutor is to be published for the first time after being found in a Belgian museum a century after it was last heard of.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/28/charlotte-bronte-belgian-short-story
Jonas Jonasson's The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared—a novel about a centenarian who runs away from an old people's home—was rejected by major publishers. The "laugh-out-loud, page-turner has become a European publishing phenomenon, writes Dalya Alberge.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/04/swedish-bestseller-has-last-laugh
Sameer Rahim, writing in The Telegraph, says that poets are well versed in the art of combat. Why do poets always seem to be fighting?, he asks.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9116335/Poets-well-versed-in-the-art-of-combat.html
The Aspiring Poets Contest, a new contest in Canada, is for unpublished Canadian poets, and begins in April, national poetry month. Vancouver's Poet Laureate Evelyn Lau is the honorary patron. Submissions will be accepted, beginning April 1. More information at:
http://www.aspiringpoetscontest.org
BOOKS & WRITERS
Ai Mi's Under the Hawthorn Tree is more about the Cultural Revolution than about romantic love, holding at stake "innocence in the face of the corrupting influence of extreme politics." For this, if nothing else, this book should be read, writes Michelle Berry.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/under-the-hawthorn-tree-by-ai-mi/article2354111/
Recent fiction reflects the anxiety of the times. Grim tidings abound. With Every Third Thought: A Novel in Five Seasons, John Barth's "rebeginning" restores a qualified sense of optimism to American fiction, writes Matt Kavanagh.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/every-third-thought-by-john-barth/article2352593/
Alexander MacLeod's Light Lifting is an unusual collection of short stories that dwell on the significance of the little things in life, writes Chris Ross. MacLeod, has recently been shortlisted for four literary prizes. On this evidence, he deserves it, says Ross.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/02/light-lifting-alexander-macleod-review
Without Anne Lamott, the entire sub-category of contemporary parent writing probably wouldn't exist, writes David L. Ulin. Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year was a bestseller. Now there's Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-anne-lamott-20120304,0,1121052.story
Patricia Cohen's terrific In Our Prime makes the compelling argument that middle age was invented "as much a manmade creation as polyester or the rules of chess," writes Brett Josef Grubisic. The goal is to listen to science and ignore the salespeople.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Prime+Breaking+down+stereotypes/6236513/story.html
Sarah Johnson describes Elliot Perlman's The Street Sweeper as an extraordinary tale powerfully told, how the stories we hear affect how we see the world. It's a tremendously moving work that deserves to be read and remembered, says Johnson.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-street-sweeper-by-elliot-perlman/article2357149/
Granta 118: Exit Strategies' short stories and poems focus on departures and escapes, the weight of the past rather than the promise of the future, writes James Smart. Contributors to this issue include Alice Munro, Anne Tyler, John Barth, and Chinelo Okparanta.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/28/granta-exit-strategies-review
Margaret Cannon writes that Mo Hayder is emerging as one of the best crime writers in Britain. Hanging Hill is a tale of very modern evils, horrible dilemmas and terrible choices.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/new-in-crime-fiction-the-latest-thrillers-and-mysteries/article2356589/
Flowers, a short story by Sylvia Townsend Warner has recently been discovered and is extracted from The Dolls House and Other Stories.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/02/flowers-sylvia-townsend-warner-story
Sarah Waters writes about Sylvia Townsend Warner, the neglected author.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/02/sylvia-townsend-warner
Barry Forshaw's Death in a Cold Climate describes Scandinavian crime fiction in each of the Nordic nations and places the texts into illuminating social, political and geographical contexts. He identifies a preoccupation with "bloody death" that reaches back to ancient myth.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/28/death-cold-climate-barry-forshaw-review
A satire that imagines an elderly Anne Frank, alive and well and living in the attic of an American Jewish family, stays hilariously on the right side of bad taste, writes Elizabeth Day about Shalom Auslander's Hope: A Tragedy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/04/hope-a-tragedy-shalom-auslander
John Lanchester's Capital follows a small cross-section of the inhabitants of one south London street, and the people who come to work for them. A finely observed novel, says Claire Tomalin.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/04/capital-john-lanchester-review
Naomi Benaron's prize-winning novel Running the Rift tells the story of a Rwandan runner striving to win an Olympic medal for his country. A Tutsi, with Hutu neighbours, he inevitably runs for his life.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/three-new-books-worth-a-look/article2356851/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Sean Johnston (The Ditch Was Lit Like This) and Anne Simpson (Is). Thursday, March 8 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
FROM BOMBS TO BOOKS
Author and Edmonds Community School principal David Starr discusses his new book. Thursday, March 8 at 7:00pm, free. Registration required. Lynn Valley Main Library, 1277 Lynn Valley Road, North Vancouver.
TAHEREH MAFI
The author signs her debut novel Shatter Me. Saturday, March 10 at 2:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
IRVING LAYTON CENTENARY CELEBRATION
Poets and friends will read Irving's poems or share personal anecdotes. Saturday, March 10 at 4:00pm. Heather Haley's Place, Cowan Point, Bowen Island. Call 778-861-4050 or email hshaley@emspace.com for directions.
IRVING LAYTON CENTENARY CELEBRATION
Local poets read poems by, and tell stories about, Irving Layton. Lineup includes Adrienne Drobnies, Heidi Greco, Sandy Shreve, Russell Thornton and others. Sunday, March 11 at 3:00pm. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street. More information at www.deadpoetslive.com.
DANIELA ELZA
Celebrate the author's launch of her first full-length book of poetry, "the weight of dew". Sunday, March 11 at 5:30pm. The Railway Club (in the private back room bar), 579 Dunsmuir Street. Author reading and books for sale.
THREE LOCAL AUTHORS READING
Explore fiction with Bob Friedland, poetry with Manolis Aligizakis, and autobiographical fiction with Ben Nuttall-Smith. Tuesday, March 13 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room, level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3691.
BERNICE LEVER
Reading by Bowen Island poet. Wednesday, March 14 at 7:00pm, free. Dr. G. Paul Singh Study Hall, North Vancouver City Library, 120 14th Street W., North Vancouver. More information at 604-998-3450.
AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL SLADE
Vancouver mystery-horror author Jay Clarke, aka Michael Slade, leads an evening of conversation and exploration about his "Mountie noir" genre. Wednesday, March 14 at 7:30pm, free. VCC King Edward Campus, 1155 E. Broadway. More information at www.vcc.ca.
TWS READING SERIES
Reading by guest author Betsy Warland. Thursday, March 15 at 7:00pm, free. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway, Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca.
MY MOTHER'S STORY
An evening of storytelling from the project and see the process of turning personal stories into a finished production. Thursday, March 15 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $25. Presentation House Theatre, 333 Chesterfield Ave., North Vancouver. More information at www.phtheatre.org.
Upcoming
PEN IN HAND READING SERIES
Readings by Gabriella Goliger and Arleen Paré. Monday, March 19 at 7:30pm. Cost: $3. Serious Coffee, 230 Cook Street, Victoria. More information at ainbinder.collins@gmail.com.
AN EVENING OF CANADIAN POETRY
An evening of Canadian poetry with Ruth Roach Pierson, Rhona McAdam and Edward Blodgett. Wednesday, March 21 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kay rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St.
KAREN ARMSTRONG
Lecture by former nun and the author of Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life and A History of God. Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. Gladstone Secondary auditorium, 4105 Gladstone Street, Vancouver. More information and to register, visit http://www.sfu.ca/dialogue/study+practice/armstrong+lecture.html.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Dani Couture (Algoma) and Nicole Lundrigan (Glass Boys). Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
ON EDGE READING SERIES
Presents World Water Night, featuring readings by Lee Maracle and Michael Blackstock with a screening of Samaqan: Water Stories. Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. SB301, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street. More information at http://www.ecuad.ca/about/events/198107.
CAMPBELL RIVER WRITERS' FESTIVAL
Eleventh annual Words on the Water Festival featuring Gurjinder Basran, Trevor Herriot, Daphne Marlatt, Garry Thomas Morse and others. March 23-24, 2012. Maritime Heritage Centre, Campbell River. Details at www.wordsonthewater.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Billeh Nickerson launches his latest collection Impact: The Titanic Poems. Tuesday, March 27 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
KAREN ARMSTRONG
On March 28 the CBC Studio One Book Club is partnering with SFU's Centre for Dialogue to welcome TED Prize winner Karen Armstrong - one of the most provocative and original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world. This Book Club will be part of a city-wide conversation on compassion and will mark the launch of the Greater Vancouver Compassion Network. For details go to www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub.
LEE MARACLE
Reading by the author of First Wives Club: Coast Salish Style. Thursday, March 29 at 2:00pm, free. Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Point Grey Campus, 1961 East Mall. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
STAN BEVINGTON
The Alcuin Society presents its fifth Robert R. Reid Award and Medal to Stan Bevington. John Maxwell will also give a talk entitled Coach House Press as a Digital Pioneer. Friday, March 30 at 7:30pm, free. Fletcher Challenge room, Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings. More information at 604-732-5403.
ROBSON READING SERIES
In celebration of National Poetry Month, readings by Margaret Christakos (Welling), Leigh Kotsilidis (Hypotheticals) and Steven Price (Omens of the Year of the Ox). Tuesday, April 3 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
UPCOMING VIWF EVENTS
Incite
At the next Incite on March 21, Tamara Faith Berger discusses her third novel Maidenhead, and Anakana Schofield and Ben Wood introduce their debut novels, Malarky and The Bellwether Revivals. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incitemarch7. Also appearing at Incite in the next few months are Linden MacIntyre, Will Ferguson, Vincent Lam, Richard Stursberg, John Boyne, Yasuko Thanh and Buffy Cran, among others.
Richard Ford
Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author Richard Ford appears with his latest novel, Canada. This will be Mr Ford's first appearance in Canada with this new book. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/richardford.
AWARDS & LISTS
Andrew Westoll has won the $25,000 Charles Taylor Prize for his book The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/03/05/charles-taylor-prize-winner.html
Roddy Doyle, Anna Porter and Gary Shteyngart have been named to the jury that will choose the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize-winner. The Prize will be awarded on Oct. 30.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/03/05/giller-prize-jury.html
The Tibetan writer Tsering Woeser remains under house arrest in Beijing after she was prevented from attending a ceremony honouring her with the 2011 Prince Claus award. "This demonstrates the importance of her voice," said the Prince Claus Fund director.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/02/china-tibetan-blogger-prince-claus-award
The $25,000 Kobzar Literary Award, which uniquely honours books with a Canadian-Ukrainian theme, was presented to Shandi Mitchell last week for her debut novel, Under This Unbroken Sky.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/03/01/shandi-mitchell-wins-kobzar-literary-award/
Orange and Booker-shortlisted author Emma Donoghue has been shortlisted for the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award for The Hunt, set during the American War of Independence.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/emma-donoghue-running-£30k-story-prize.html
Clea Young and Terence Young are two of ten finalists for CBC's short story contest. Canada Writes is the online literary destination part of CBC Books, with its partners the Canada Council for the Arts, Air Canada's enRoute magazine and The Banff Centre.
http://www.cbabook.org/files/CBC%20NEWS%20RELEASE.pdf
Ontario authors Brian Cretney and Connie Brummel Crook have been nominated for the 2012 Saskatchewan Young Readers' Choice Willow Awards.
http://www.willowawards.ca/nominated-books
YOUNG READERS
Willa Wellowby wakes up one morning to find her home invaded by monkeys in Sheree Fitch's There Are Monkeys In my Kitchen. They wear red leather boots and cowboy hats, play bagpipes in Willas bedroom and swing from the trees! Ages 4 to 7.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol18/no24/thereweremonkeysinmykitchen.html
As opening lines go, Colin Meloy's Wildwood has a humdinger: How five crows managed to lift a twenty-pound baby boy into the air was beyond Prue, but that was certainly the least of her worries. Age 10 and up.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+wilderness+adventure/6199088/story.html
In Embrace, the opener in a young adult series by Jessica Shirvington, teenage Violet discovers she is an angel. If angels are the new vampires, then Embrace is a worthy follow-up to The Twilight Saga, says Susan Carpenter. Ages 12 and up.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-jessica-shirvington-20120304,0,4040405.story
NEWS & FEATURES
At VPL, ebook downloads have increased almost tenfold year-on-year. Still, there are things, good and bad, that ebooks can't offer. The Library invites the public to help reinvent their mission through the public input campaign Free-For-All: Reimagining Your Library.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/03/05/Ebook-Libraries/
The American Library Association is urging Random House Inc. to reconsider its steep increases in the price of e-books for library wholesalers, with charges for e-books to rise by 20 percent-plus for new adult releases and more than double for new children's books.
http://www.denverpost.com/books/ci_20088888
Claraboya (Skylight), a novel that the late Nobel laureate José Saramago submitted to a publisher in 1953, has finally been released in Spanish. Random House UK is considering an English translation. Raised from the Ground (previously unpublished) is due this summer in the UK.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/05/jose-saramago-novel-published
We generally venerate those authors who stand up against acts of silencing by the authorities. But what are we to think when an author suppresses himself? Leaves posthumous orders to destroy manuscripts?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/28/authors-censor-themselves-martin-amis
The Philosopher's Beard disparages Jane Austen's novels but notes that Austen was also a brilliant moral philosopher who analysed and taught a virtue ethics for middle-class life that is surprisingly contemporary.
http://www.philosophersbeard.org/2011/08/jane-austen-terrible-novelist-brilliant.html
Chan Koonchung's novel The Fat Years is an underground sensation in China, officially banned from bookstores but available for download online if you know where to look. It's the book that China's readers ask each other if they have read yet.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/chinese-must-not-forget-the-past-warns-author-of-the-fat-years/article2351681/
L'Ingratitude, a long-lost short story written by Charlotte Brontë for an ardour-inspiring tutor is to be published for the first time after being found in a Belgian museum a century after it was last heard of.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/28/charlotte-bronte-belgian-short-story
Jonas Jonasson's The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared—a novel about a centenarian who runs away from an old people's home—was rejected by major publishers. The "laugh-out-loud, page-turner has become a European publishing phenomenon, writes Dalya Alberge.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/04/swedish-bestseller-has-last-laugh
Sameer Rahim, writing in The Telegraph, says that poets are well versed in the art of combat. Why do poets always seem to be fighting?, he asks.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9116335/Poets-well-versed-in-the-art-of-combat.html
The Aspiring Poets Contest, a new contest in Canada, is for unpublished Canadian poets, and begins in April, national poetry month. Vancouver's Poet Laureate Evelyn Lau is the honorary patron. Submissions will be accepted, beginning April 1. More information at:
http://www.aspiringpoetscontest.org
BOOKS & WRITERS
Ai Mi's Under the Hawthorn Tree is more about the Cultural Revolution than about romantic love, holding at stake "innocence in the face of the corrupting influence of extreme politics." For this, if nothing else, this book should be read, writes Michelle Berry.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/under-the-hawthorn-tree-by-ai-mi/article2354111/
Recent fiction reflects the anxiety of the times. Grim tidings abound. With Every Third Thought: A Novel in Five Seasons, John Barth's "rebeginning" restores a qualified sense of optimism to American fiction, writes Matt Kavanagh.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/every-third-thought-by-john-barth/article2352593/
Alexander MacLeod's Light Lifting is an unusual collection of short stories that dwell on the significance of the little things in life, writes Chris Ross. MacLeod, has recently been shortlisted for four literary prizes. On this evidence, he deserves it, says Ross.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/02/light-lifting-alexander-macleod-review
Without Anne Lamott, the entire sub-category of contemporary parent writing probably wouldn't exist, writes David L. Ulin. Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year was a bestseller. Now there's Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-anne-lamott-20120304,0,1121052.story
Patricia Cohen's terrific In Our Prime makes the compelling argument that middle age was invented "as much a manmade creation as polyester or the rules of chess," writes Brett Josef Grubisic. The goal is to listen to science and ignore the salespeople.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Prime+Breaking+down+stereotypes/6236513/story.html
Sarah Johnson describes Elliot Perlman's The Street Sweeper as an extraordinary tale powerfully told, how the stories we hear affect how we see the world. It's a tremendously moving work that deserves to be read and remembered, says Johnson.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-street-sweeper-by-elliot-perlman/article2357149/
Granta 118: Exit Strategies' short stories and poems focus on departures and escapes, the weight of the past rather than the promise of the future, writes James Smart. Contributors to this issue include Alice Munro, Anne Tyler, John Barth, and Chinelo Okparanta.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/28/granta-exit-strategies-review
Margaret Cannon writes that Mo Hayder is emerging as one of the best crime writers in Britain. Hanging Hill is a tale of very modern evils, horrible dilemmas and terrible choices.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/new-in-crime-fiction-the-latest-thrillers-and-mysteries/article2356589/
Flowers, a short story by Sylvia Townsend Warner has recently been discovered and is extracted from The Dolls House and Other Stories.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/02/flowers-sylvia-townsend-warner-story
Sarah Waters writes about Sylvia Townsend Warner, the neglected author.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/02/sylvia-townsend-warner
Barry Forshaw's Death in a Cold Climate describes Scandinavian crime fiction in each of the Nordic nations and places the texts into illuminating social, political and geographical contexts. He identifies a preoccupation with "bloody death" that reaches back to ancient myth.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/28/death-cold-climate-barry-forshaw-review
A satire that imagines an elderly Anne Frank, alive and well and living in the attic of an American Jewish family, stays hilariously on the right side of bad taste, writes Elizabeth Day about Shalom Auslander's Hope: A Tragedy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/04/hope-a-tragedy-shalom-auslander
John Lanchester's Capital follows a small cross-section of the inhabitants of one south London street, and the people who come to work for them. A finely observed novel, says Claire Tomalin.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/04/capital-john-lanchester-review
Naomi Benaron's prize-winning novel Running the Rift tells the story of a Rwandan runner striving to win an Olympic medal for his country. A Tutsi, with Hutu neighbours, he inevitably runs for his life.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/three-new-books-worth-a-look/article2356851/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Sean Johnston (The Ditch Was Lit Like This) and Anne Simpson (Is). Thursday, March 8 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
FROM BOMBS TO BOOKS
Author and Edmonds Community School principal David Starr discusses his new book. Thursday, March 8 at 7:00pm, free. Registration required. Lynn Valley Main Library, 1277 Lynn Valley Road, North Vancouver.
TAHEREH MAFI
The author signs her debut novel Shatter Me. Saturday, March 10 at 2:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
IRVING LAYTON CENTENARY CELEBRATION
Poets and friends will read Irving's poems or share personal anecdotes. Saturday, March 10 at 4:00pm. Heather Haley's Place, Cowan Point, Bowen Island. Call 778-861-4050 or email hshaley@emspace.com for directions.
IRVING LAYTON CENTENARY CELEBRATION
Local poets read poems by, and tell stories about, Irving Layton. Lineup includes Adrienne Drobnies, Heidi Greco, Sandy Shreve, Russell Thornton and others. Sunday, March 11 at 3:00pm. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street. More information at www.deadpoetslive.com.
DANIELA ELZA
Celebrate the author's launch of her first full-length book of poetry, "the weight of dew". Sunday, March 11 at 5:30pm. The Railway Club (in the private back room bar), 579 Dunsmuir Street. Author reading and books for sale.
THREE LOCAL AUTHORS READING
Explore fiction with Bob Friedland, poetry with Manolis Aligizakis, and autobiographical fiction with Ben Nuttall-Smith. Tuesday, March 13 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room, level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3691.
BERNICE LEVER
Reading by Bowen Island poet. Wednesday, March 14 at 7:00pm, free. Dr. G. Paul Singh Study Hall, North Vancouver City Library, 120 14th Street W., North Vancouver. More information at 604-998-3450.
AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL SLADE
Vancouver mystery-horror author Jay Clarke, aka Michael Slade, leads an evening of conversation and exploration about his "Mountie noir" genre. Wednesday, March 14 at 7:30pm, free. VCC King Edward Campus, 1155 E. Broadway. More information at www.vcc.ca.
TWS READING SERIES
Reading by guest author Betsy Warland. Thursday, March 15 at 7:00pm, free. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway, Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca.
MY MOTHER'S STORY
An evening of storytelling from the project and see the process of turning personal stories into a finished production. Thursday, March 15 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $25. Presentation House Theatre, 333 Chesterfield Ave., North Vancouver. More information at www.phtheatre.org.
Upcoming
PEN IN HAND READING SERIES
Readings by Gabriella Goliger and Arleen Paré. Monday, March 19 at 7:30pm. Cost: $3. Serious Coffee, 230 Cook Street, Victoria. More information at ainbinder.collins@gmail.com.
AN EVENING OF CANADIAN POETRY
An evening of Canadian poetry with Ruth Roach Pierson, Rhona McAdam and Edward Blodgett. Wednesday, March 21 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kay rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St.
KAREN ARMSTRONG
Lecture by former nun and the author of Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life and A History of God. Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. Gladstone Secondary auditorium, 4105 Gladstone Street, Vancouver. More information and to register, visit http://www.sfu.ca/dialogue/study+practice/armstrong+lecture.html.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Dani Couture (Algoma) and Nicole Lundrigan (Glass Boys). Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
ON EDGE READING SERIES
Presents World Water Night, featuring readings by Lee Maracle and Michael Blackstock with a screening of Samaqan: Water Stories. Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. SB301, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street. More information at http://www.ecuad.ca/about/events/198107.
CAMPBELL RIVER WRITERS' FESTIVAL
Eleventh annual Words on the Water Festival featuring Gurjinder Basran, Trevor Herriot, Daphne Marlatt, Garry Thomas Morse and others. March 23-24, 2012. Maritime Heritage Centre, Campbell River. Details at www.wordsonthewater.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Billeh Nickerson launches his latest collection Impact: The Titanic Poems. Tuesday, March 27 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
KAREN ARMSTRONG
On March 28 the CBC Studio One Book Club is partnering with SFU's Centre for Dialogue to welcome TED Prize winner Karen Armstrong - one of the most provocative and original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world. This Book Club will be part of a city-wide conversation on compassion and will mark the launch of the Greater Vancouver Compassion Network. For details go to www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub.
LEE MARACLE
Reading by the author of First Wives Club: Coast Salish Style. Thursday, March 29 at 2:00pm, free. Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Point Grey Campus, 1961 East Mall. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
STAN BEVINGTON
The Alcuin Society presents its fifth Robert R. Reid Award and Medal to Stan Bevington. John Maxwell will also give a talk entitled Coach House Press as a Digital Pioneer. Friday, March 30 at 7:30pm, free. Fletcher Challenge room, Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings. More information at 604-732-5403.
ROBSON READING SERIES
In celebration of National Poetry Month, readings by Margaret Christakos (Welling), Leigh Kotsilidis (Hypotheticals) and Steven Price (Omens of the Year of the Ox). Tuesday, April 3 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Book News Vol. 7 No. 6
BOOK NEWS
UPCOMING VIWF EVENTS
Incite
At the next Incite on March 7, Steven Price, Julie Bruck, and W. H. New read from their new poetry collections, Omens in the Year of the Ox, Monkey Ranch, and YVR. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incitemarch7. Also appearing at Incite in the next few months are Linden MacIntyre, Will Ferguson, Anakana Schofield, Richard Stursberg, John Boyne, Yasuko Thanh and Buffy Cran, among others.
Richard Ford
Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author Richard Ford appears with his latest novel, Canada. This will be Mr Ford's first appearance in Canada with this new book. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/richardford.
AWARDS & LISTS
Author Lawrence Hill has received The Writers' Union of Canada's 2012 Freedom to Read Award, acknowledging his reasoned and eloquent response to the threat to burn his novel The Book of Negroes," said Greg Hollingshead, Chair of the Union.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2012/02/lawrence-hill-receives-2012-freedom-to-read-award.html
Biographies of Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, and of Pierre Trudeau are two of five nominees for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. The winner of the prize will be announced in April.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2012/02/22/political-writing-prize.html
Naomi Benaron's Running the Rift is the third Bellwether Prize winner published by Algonquin. The Bellwether Prize is awarded biennially for an unpublished novel that addresses issues of social justice.
http://naomibenaron.com/books/running-the-rift
More than 23,000 children from all over Scotland voted for their favourite books of 2011. Winners of the Scottish children's book awards are Ross MacKenzie's Zac and the Dream Pirates; Ross Collins' Dear Vampa and Nicola Morgan's Wasted.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/feb/23/scottish-childrens-book-awards
A guide to Estonian socks and a celebration of the humble office chair are among the seven books short-listed for the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year. The prize will be awarded in March.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/diagram-prize-shortlist-revealed.html
Douglas & McIntyre has announced that Vancouver author Fraser Nixon's The Man Who Killed has been selected as a finalist for Amazon.ca's first novel award.
http://www.dmpibooks.com/event/339
Author Richard Wagamese has won the 2012 Aboriginal Achievement Award in Media & Communications.
http://www.naaf.ca/program/92
Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China by Ezra F. Vogel, has won the 2012 Lionel Gelber Prize for his book about China under Deng Xiaoping. Vogel will receive his award and deliver the annual Lionel Gelber Prize lecture on March 15.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/02/27/lionel-gelber-winner.html
Jack Gantos' Dead End in Norvelt has won the 2012 Newbery Medal and the Scott O'Dell Award.
http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal
YOUNG READERS
What if your summer vacation started by being grounded for the entire vacation? That's what happened to Jack Gantos, but Jack was able to find the humor in this situation. This book is for anyone who has survived being 11 years old.
http://roseburdick.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/book-review-jack-gantos-dead-end-in-norvelt/
The Declaration by Gemma Malley is an eerie page-turner that had me on the edge of my seat, writes ThePinkElephant. It's set in the future, provides every human being with perfect health, and so, every human being can live forever.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/feb/24/the-declaration-gemma-malley-review
The Hunger Games film, following up Suzanne Collins' science fiction series of books for young adults, will be released in late March.
http://www.thehungergames.co.uk/
Michelle Lalonde writes that The Mighty Miss Malone will appeal to both boys and girls. It is an inspiring and funny tale of a family rising above the kind of real adversity that existed in the Depression and exists now.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Christopher+Paul+Curtis+gives+young+readers+another+fine+novel/6170022/story.html
Kaspar: Prince of Cats by Michael Morpurgo is a book about a hotel, a bell-boy, a Countess and Kaspar, the prince of cats. The thing I like most is that he makes the reader feel like they are in the story.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/feb/20/kaspar-prince-of-cats-michael-morpurgo
In her review of Ally Carter's I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, Flame Lily says "Every page you read will fill you with excitement but also fear, in a good way!"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/27/ally-carter-gallagher-academy
NEWS & FEATURES
The Aspiring Poets Contest, a new contest in Canada, is for unpublished Canadian poets, and begins in April, national poetry month. Vancouver's Poet Laureate Evelyn Lau is the honorary patron. More information at:
http://www.aspiringpoetscontest.org
The first-ever detective novel, The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Felix, dating back to 1862, is back in print. The British Library's new edition uses photographs of the original 1863 edition, which featured illustrations by George du Maurier, grandfather of Daphne.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/21/first-detective-novel-notting-hill-mystery
In response to a friend's online appeal, Harry Turtledove provided a sneak preview of his series The War That Came Early to a young terminally ill fan.
http://socialtimes.com/how-reddit-helped-a-terminal-cancer-patients-dream-come-true_b90170
Baen Books is making available a number of its science fiction titles in electronic format: the Baen Free Library. Anyone who wishes can read these titles online—no conditions, no strings attached, or download the books in one of several formats.
http://www.baen.com/library/intro.asp
Paramount Pictures seeks to forbid a Godfather sequel book, authorised by Mario Puzo's estate, claiming it will 'tarnish' the legacy of books whose copyright is held by the film company. Random House is due to publish the book in the UK this summer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/22/godfather-sequel-paramount-pictures-book
The New York Review of Books includes Between Roses in Mumbai, by Katherine Boo, author of the recently published Behind the Beautiful Forevers.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/mar/08/between-roses-mumbai/
Is chick lit dead? Less than a decade after commentators clucked at bookstore shelves lined with cartoon high-heels and pink cocktail glasses, the only debate that the genre inspires now is over when to run its obituary, writes Laura Miller.
http://www.salon.com/2012/02/23/the_death_of_chick_lit/singleton/
J.K. Rowling has an agreement with Little, Brown in the United States and Britain to publish her first adult novel. Rowling's novel will be available in both print and electronic formats.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/jk-rowling-has-deal-to-write-novel-for-adults/article2347371/
A Brazilian company has launched a line of book vending machines that allow customers to decide what they want to pay for the book. Initial reports claim "sales at the promotional machines more than doubled within a month after the program's launch".
http://www.springwise.com/retail/brazil-books-sold-vending-machines-pay-what-you-want-prices/
At an event hosted by children's booksellers The Book People last week, author Anthony Horowitz gave a talk questioning the role of the publisher in today's literary world. Do we still need publishers?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/feb/27/anthony-horowitz-do-we-still-need-publishers
What do publishers mean when they tell would-be writers 'this is too literary for our list'? A Twitter site explains it all.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/shortcuts/2012/feb/26/what-publishers-rejection-letters-mean
Chan Koonchung's novel The Fat Years is an underground sensation in China, officially banned from bookstores but available for download online if you know where to look. It's the book that China's readers ask each other if they have read yet.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/chinese-must-not-forget-the-past-warns-author-of-the-fat-years/article2351681/
L'Ingratitude, a long-lost short story written by Charlotte Brontë for an ardour-inspiring tutor is to be published for the first time after being found in a Belgian museum a century after it was last heard of.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/28/charlotte-bronte-belgian-short-story
BOOKS & WRITERS
Naomi Benaron's Running the Rift takes place in Rwanda, as the rage of Hutu toward Tutsi is about to explode. When madness is rampant, there is only one way to survive: through the courage and kindness of others, writes Dafna Izenberg.
http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/02/07/reviews-running-the-rift/
The spare style and stark vision of Edem Awumey's Dirty Feet disrupts our complacent vision of the world we know, writes Donna Bailey Nurse. Rich in wisdom and allusion, Awumey challenges our belief in the universal progress of race relations.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/dirty-feet-by-edem-awumey/article2346313/
In Walter Mosley's latest Leonid McGill series, McGill operates against the racially integrated backdrop of contemporary New York. Now it's the socio-economic struggle between classes driving the action. All I Did Was Shoot My Man won't disappoint, writes Harold Heft.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Walter+Mosley+latest+disappoint/6199109/story.html
Love InshAllah, compiled by Ayesha Mattu, a civil rights lawyer, and human rights consultant, Nura Maznavi, is a collection of 25 modern Muslim love stories by American Muslims. A rare insight into their love, faith and choices, writes Huma Qureshi.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2012/feb/24/love-inshallah-book-muslim-women
There is no biography of Joseph Roth in English, so for many readers, The Radetzky March and Michael Hofmann‘s Joseph Roth: A Life in Letters will be the first glimpse of the man behind the novels, writes Lara Feigel.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/24/joseph-roth-letters-michael-hofmann
Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child is a magical tale of the Alaskan frontier. This debut work is so saturated with wilderness atmosphere that you almost feel you've been there yourself, writes Carrie O'Grady.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/24/snow-child-eowyn-ivey-review
Which of us has not felt that the most sensible option would be to take to our bed? asks Alex Clark. The surprise is that we haven't all joined Eva in Sue Townsend's The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/24/woman-went-bed-sue-townsend-review
Fatty Legs: A True Story is a moving account of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton's experiences as a child in a Catholic residential school in Aklavik. Inspiring evidence of the wealth of writing talent in the literary culture of First Nations people, says Greg Quill.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1135794--residential-school-memoir-fatty-legs-signals-a-future-for-first-nations-literature
Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers is an extraordinary work of journalism, says James Macgowan. This story about slum dwellers, carving out a life from refuse, is gripping, heartbreaking, penetrating and respectful. It will open your eyes.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1135856--katherine-boo-s-behind-the-beautiful-forevers-review
Rosa Parks, Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Steven Spielberg, J.K. Rowling, Charles Schulz: all introverts. Susan Cain's Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking argues that parents, teachers and employers should encourage the dreamier among us.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Quiet+Give+some+space+respect+proud+introvert+argues/6204871/story.html
A refrain runs through the essay collection, The Library Book: libraries made me what I am. Edited by Rebecca Gray, with contributions from Val McDermid, Zadie Smith, Stephen Fry, and others, the book was published to support the Reading Agency's library programmes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/26/library-book-essays-rebecca-gray-review
Eyal Press's Beautiful Souls: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times offers no prescription for how to become courageous, writes Mark Oppenheimer. Mr. Press's book is a hymn to the mystery of disobedience.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/books/eyal-press-considers-courage-in-beautiful-souls.html?src=me&ref=books
The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnette Friis, involves a three-year-old boy in a suitcase, murder, big money, acts of cruelty and acts of kindness, writes Jack Batten. The story is told from the viewpoints of a half-dozen people.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1135815--jack-batten-reviews-the-boy-in-the-suitcase-and-more
COMMUNITY EVENTS
FREEDOM TO SLAM
Kerrisdale Library branch hosts an open poetry slam in honour of Freedom to Read Week. Participate as a poet, judge or listen. For ages 13-18. Thursday, March 1 at 6:30pm, free. Kerrisdale branch, 2112 42nd Ave. W. For more information, phone 604-665-3974.
LIFESTORY: READING OUR MEMOIRS
Join award-winning author Ivan E. Coyote for an evening of local talent as she hosts the results of a seniors' writing workshop. Thursday, March 1 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
ON EDGE READING SERIES
Reading by Kyo Maclear, the author of The Letter Opener and Virginia Woolf. Thursday, March 1 at 7:00pm, free. SB301, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street. More information at http://www.ecuad.ca/about/events/198106.
CARMEN AGUIRRE
2012 Canada Reads winner Carmen Aguirre discusses her memoir Something Fierce. Thursday, March 1 at 7:00pm. Cost: $20 (includes refreshments). Christianne's Lyceum, 3696 W. 8th Ave. To reserve your space call 604.733.1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com. More information at www.christiannehayward.com.
TOBACCO WARS AND OTHER WORDS
Paul Seesequasis, Alex Jacobs, and Janet Rogers read from their new works. Thursday, March 1 at 8:00pm. Pay what you can or by donation. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway. More information at fullcircleperformance.ca.
QUEER WORDS AND FAMILY STORIES
Ivan E. Coyote and S. Bear Bergman will read from unpublished new work. Friday, March 2 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $10-$15 sliding scale. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway.
NORTH SHORE CRIC CRAC
Listen to live music and storytellers Kira Van Deusen, Golnaz Navabi, Philomena Jordon, and Abegael Fisher-Lang. Sunday, March 4 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $7/$5. Silk Purse Arts Centre, 1570 Argyle Avenue, West Vancouver. More information at nscriccrac@gmail.com.
WADE DAVIS
Author launches his latest book, The Sacred Headwaters. Tuesday, March 6 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $15/$12/$10. SFU Woodward Centre of the Arts. For more information, email melyssa.rubino@gmail.com.
BEYOND BARBED WIRE AND BEHIND BARBED WIRE
The Association of Italian Canadian Writers presents the official launch of two companion books on the internment of Italian Canadians during World War II. Tuesday, March 6 at 7:00pm. Italian Cultural Centre, 3075 Slocan. More information at 604-430-3337.
RYEBERG LIVE
Miriam Toews, Charles Demers, Michael Turner and Stephen Osborne discuss a curated collection of YouTube videos. Tuesday, March 6 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $12/$10. The Waldorf, 1489 East Hastings. More information at www.ryeberg.com.
PLAY CHTHONICS READING SERIES
Readings by Robert Majzels and Erin Mouré. Wednesday, March 7 at 5:00pm. Graham House, UBC Green College, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road. More information at www.canadianstudies.ubc.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Sean Johnston (The Ditch Was Lit Like This) and Anne Simpson (Is). Thursday, March 8 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
FROM BOMBS TO BOOKS
Author and Edmonds Community School principal David Starr discusses his new book. Thursday, March 8 at 7:00pm, free. Registration required. Lynn Valley Main Library, 1277 Lynn Valley Road, North Vancouver.
TAHEREH MAFI
The author signs her debut novel Shatter Me. Saturday, March 10 at 2:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
IRVING LAYTON CENTENARY CELEBRATION
Local poets read poems by, and tell stories about, Irving Layton. Lineup includes Adrienne Drobnies, Heidi Greco, Sandy Shreve, Russell Thornton and others. Sunday, March 11 at 3:00pm. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street. More information at www.deadpoetslive.com.
DANIELA ELZA
Celebrate the author's launch of her first full-length book of poetry, "the weight of dew". Sunday, March 11 at 5:30pm. The Railway Club (in the private back room bar), 579 Dunsmuir Street. Author reading and books for sale.
Upcoming
THREE LOCAL AUTHORS READING
Explore fiction with Bob Friedland, poetry with Manolis Aligizakis, and autobiographical fiction with Ben Nuttall-Smith. Tuesday, March 13 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room, level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3691.
AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL SLADE
Vancouver mystery-horror author Jay Clarke, aka Michael Slade, leads an evening of conversation and exploration about his "Mountie noir" genre. Wednesday, March 14 at 7:30pm, free. VCC King Edward Campus, 1155 E. Broadway. More information at www.vcc.ca.
RANJ DHALIWAL
Meet the author of the novel Daaku, the story of an Indo-Canadian gangster growing up in the streets of Surrey. Ranj will talk about his writing and answer questions from the audience. Thursday, March 15 at 6:00pm, free. South Hill branch, 6076 Fraser Street. More information at 604-665-3965.
TWS READING SERIES
Reading by guest author Betsy Warland. Thursday, March 15 at 7:00pm, free. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway, Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca.
AN EVENING OF CANADIAN POETRY
An evening of Canadian poetry with Ruth Roach Pierson, Rhona McAdam and Edward Blodgett. Wednesday, March 21 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kay rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St.
KAREN ARMSTRONG
Lecture by former nun and the author of Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life and A History of God. Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. Gladstone Secondary auditorium, 4105 Gladstone Street, Vancouver. More information and to register, visit http://www.sfu.ca/dialogue/study+practice/armstrong+lecture.html.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Dani Couture (Algoma) and Nicole Lundrigan (Glass Boys). Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
ON EDGE READING SERIES
Presents World Water Night, featuring readings by Lee Maracle and Michael Blackstock with a screening of Samaqan: Water Stories. Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. SB301, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street. More information at http://www.ecuad.ca/about/events/198107.
CAMPBELL RIVER WRITERS' FESTIVAL
Eleventh annual Words on the Water Festival featuring Gurjinder Basran, Trevor Herriot, Daphne Marlatt, Garry Thomas Morse and others. March 23-24, 2012. Maritime Heritage Centre, Campbell River. Details at www.wordsonthewater.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Billeh Nickerson launches his latest collection Impact: The Titanic Poems. Tuesday, March 27 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
LEE MARACLE
Reading by the author of First Wives Club: Coast Salish Style. Thursday, March 29 at 2:00pm, free. Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Point Grey Campus, 1961 East Mall. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
STAN BEVINGTON
The Alcuin Society presents its fifth Robert R. Reid Award and Medal to Stan Bevington. John Maxwell will also give a talk entitled Coach House Press as a Digital Pioneer. Friday, March 30 at 7:30pm, free. Fletcher Challenge room, Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings. More information at 604-732-5403.
UPCOMING VIWF EVENTS
Incite
At the next Incite on March 7, Steven Price, Julie Bruck, and W. H. New read from their new poetry collections, Omens in the Year of the Ox, Monkey Ranch, and YVR. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incitemarch7. Also appearing at Incite in the next few months are Linden MacIntyre, Will Ferguson, Anakana Schofield, Richard Stursberg, John Boyne, Yasuko Thanh and Buffy Cran, among others.
Richard Ford
Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author Richard Ford appears with his latest novel, Canada. This will be Mr Ford's first appearance in Canada with this new book. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/richardford.
AWARDS & LISTS
Author Lawrence Hill has received The Writers' Union of Canada's 2012 Freedom to Read Award, acknowledging his reasoned and eloquent response to the threat to burn his novel The Book of Negroes," said Greg Hollingshead, Chair of the Union.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2012/02/lawrence-hill-receives-2012-freedom-to-read-award.html
Biographies of Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, and of Pierre Trudeau are two of five nominees for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. The winner of the prize will be announced in April.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2012/02/22/political-writing-prize.html
Naomi Benaron's Running the Rift is the third Bellwether Prize winner published by Algonquin. The Bellwether Prize is awarded biennially for an unpublished novel that addresses issues of social justice.
http://naomibenaron.com/books/running-the-rift
More than 23,000 children from all over Scotland voted for their favourite books of 2011. Winners of the Scottish children's book awards are Ross MacKenzie's Zac and the Dream Pirates; Ross Collins' Dear Vampa and Nicola Morgan's Wasted.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/feb/23/scottish-childrens-book-awards
A guide to Estonian socks and a celebration of the humble office chair are among the seven books short-listed for the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year. The prize will be awarded in March.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/diagram-prize-shortlist-revealed.html
Douglas & McIntyre has announced that Vancouver author Fraser Nixon's The Man Who Killed has been selected as a finalist for Amazon.ca's first novel award.
http://www.dmpibooks.com/event/339
Author Richard Wagamese has won the 2012 Aboriginal Achievement Award in Media & Communications.
http://www.naaf.ca/program/92
Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China by Ezra F. Vogel, has won the 2012 Lionel Gelber Prize for his book about China under Deng Xiaoping. Vogel will receive his award and deliver the annual Lionel Gelber Prize lecture on March 15.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/02/27/lionel-gelber-winner.html
Jack Gantos' Dead End in Norvelt has won the 2012 Newbery Medal and the Scott O'Dell Award.
http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal
YOUNG READERS
What if your summer vacation started by being grounded for the entire vacation? That's what happened to Jack Gantos, but Jack was able to find the humor in this situation. This book is for anyone who has survived being 11 years old.
http://roseburdick.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/book-review-jack-gantos-dead-end-in-norvelt/
The Declaration by Gemma Malley is an eerie page-turner that had me on the edge of my seat, writes ThePinkElephant. It's set in the future, provides every human being with perfect health, and so, every human being can live forever.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/feb/24/the-declaration-gemma-malley-review
The Hunger Games film, following up Suzanne Collins' science fiction series of books for young adults, will be released in late March.
http://www.thehungergames.co.uk/
Michelle Lalonde writes that The Mighty Miss Malone will appeal to both boys and girls. It is an inspiring and funny tale of a family rising above the kind of real adversity that existed in the Depression and exists now.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Christopher+Paul+Curtis+gives+young+readers+another+fine+novel/6170022/story.html
Kaspar: Prince of Cats by Michael Morpurgo is a book about a hotel, a bell-boy, a Countess and Kaspar, the prince of cats. The thing I like most is that he makes the reader feel like they are in the story.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/feb/20/kaspar-prince-of-cats-michael-morpurgo
In her review of Ally Carter's I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, Flame Lily says "Every page you read will fill you with excitement but also fear, in a good way!"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/27/ally-carter-gallagher-academy
NEWS & FEATURES
The Aspiring Poets Contest, a new contest in Canada, is for unpublished Canadian poets, and begins in April, national poetry month. Vancouver's Poet Laureate Evelyn Lau is the honorary patron. More information at:
http://www.aspiringpoetscontest.org
The first-ever detective novel, The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Felix, dating back to 1862, is back in print. The British Library's new edition uses photographs of the original 1863 edition, which featured illustrations by George du Maurier, grandfather of Daphne.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/21/first-detective-novel-notting-hill-mystery
In response to a friend's online appeal, Harry Turtledove provided a sneak preview of his series The War That Came Early to a young terminally ill fan.
http://socialtimes.com/how-reddit-helped-a-terminal-cancer-patients-dream-come-true_b90170
Baen Books is making available a number of its science fiction titles in electronic format: the Baen Free Library. Anyone who wishes can read these titles online—no conditions, no strings attached, or download the books in one of several formats.
http://www.baen.com/library/intro.asp
Paramount Pictures seeks to forbid a Godfather sequel book, authorised by Mario Puzo's estate, claiming it will 'tarnish' the legacy of books whose copyright is held by the film company. Random House is due to publish the book in the UK this summer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/22/godfather-sequel-paramount-pictures-book
The New York Review of Books includes Between Roses in Mumbai, by Katherine Boo, author of the recently published Behind the Beautiful Forevers.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/mar/08/between-roses-mumbai/
Is chick lit dead? Less than a decade after commentators clucked at bookstore shelves lined with cartoon high-heels and pink cocktail glasses, the only debate that the genre inspires now is over when to run its obituary, writes Laura Miller.
http://www.salon.com/2012/02/23/the_death_of_chick_lit/singleton/
J.K. Rowling has an agreement with Little, Brown in the United States and Britain to publish her first adult novel. Rowling's novel will be available in both print and electronic formats.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/jk-rowling-has-deal-to-write-novel-for-adults/article2347371/
A Brazilian company has launched a line of book vending machines that allow customers to decide what they want to pay for the book. Initial reports claim "sales at the promotional machines more than doubled within a month after the program's launch".
http://www.springwise.com/retail/brazil-books-sold-vending-machines-pay-what-you-want-prices/
At an event hosted by children's booksellers The Book People last week, author Anthony Horowitz gave a talk questioning the role of the publisher in today's literary world. Do we still need publishers?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/feb/27/anthony-horowitz-do-we-still-need-publishers
What do publishers mean when they tell would-be writers 'this is too literary for our list'? A Twitter site explains it all.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/shortcuts/2012/feb/26/what-publishers-rejection-letters-mean
Chan Koonchung's novel The Fat Years is an underground sensation in China, officially banned from bookstores but available for download online if you know where to look. It's the book that China's readers ask each other if they have read yet.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/chinese-must-not-forget-the-past-warns-author-of-the-fat-years/article2351681/
L'Ingratitude, a long-lost short story written by Charlotte Brontë for an ardour-inspiring tutor is to be published for the first time after being found in a Belgian museum a century after it was last heard of.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/28/charlotte-bronte-belgian-short-story
BOOKS & WRITERS
Naomi Benaron's Running the Rift takes place in Rwanda, as the rage of Hutu toward Tutsi is about to explode. When madness is rampant, there is only one way to survive: through the courage and kindness of others, writes Dafna Izenberg.
http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/02/07/reviews-running-the-rift/
The spare style and stark vision of Edem Awumey's Dirty Feet disrupts our complacent vision of the world we know, writes Donna Bailey Nurse. Rich in wisdom and allusion, Awumey challenges our belief in the universal progress of race relations.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/dirty-feet-by-edem-awumey/article2346313/
In Walter Mosley's latest Leonid McGill series, McGill operates against the racially integrated backdrop of contemporary New York. Now it's the socio-economic struggle between classes driving the action. All I Did Was Shoot My Man won't disappoint, writes Harold Heft.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Walter+Mosley+latest+disappoint/6199109/story.html
Love InshAllah, compiled by Ayesha Mattu, a civil rights lawyer, and human rights consultant, Nura Maznavi, is a collection of 25 modern Muslim love stories by American Muslims. A rare insight into their love, faith and choices, writes Huma Qureshi.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2012/feb/24/love-inshallah-book-muslim-women
There is no biography of Joseph Roth in English, so for many readers, The Radetzky March and Michael Hofmann‘s Joseph Roth: A Life in Letters will be the first glimpse of the man behind the novels, writes Lara Feigel.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/24/joseph-roth-letters-michael-hofmann
Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child is a magical tale of the Alaskan frontier. This debut work is so saturated with wilderness atmosphere that you almost feel you've been there yourself, writes Carrie O'Grady.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/24/snow-child-eowyn-ivey-review
Which of us has not felt that the most sensible option would be to take to our bed? asks Alex Clark. The surprise is that we haven't all joined Eva in Sue Townsend's The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/24/woman-went-bed-sue-townsend-review
Fatty Legs: A True Story is a moving account of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton's experiences as a child in a Catholic residential school in Aklavik. Inspiring evidence of the wealth of writing talent in the literary culture of First Nations people, says Greg Quill.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1135794--residential-school-memoir-fatty-legs-signals-a-future-for-first-nations-literature
Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers is an extraordinary work of journalism, says James Macgowan. This story about slum dwellers, carving out a life from refuse, is gripping, heartbreaking, penetrating and respectful. It will open your eyes.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1135856--katherine-boo-s-behind-the-beautiful-forevers-review
Rosa Parks, Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Steven Spielberg, J.K. Rowling, Charles Schulz: all introverts. Susan Cain's Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking argues that parents, teachers and employers should encourage the dreamier among us.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Quiet+Give+some+space+respect+proud+introvert+argues/6204871/story.html
A refrain runs through the essay collection, The Library Book: libraries made me what I am. Edited by Rebecca Gray, with contributions from Val McDermid, Zadie Smith, Stephen Fry, and others, the book was published to support the Reading Agency's library programmes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/26/library-book-essays-rebecca-gray-review
Eyal Press's Beautiful Souls: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times offers no prescription for how to become courageous, writes Mark Oppenheimer. Mr. Press's book is a hymn to the mystery of disobedience.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/books/eyal-press-considers-courage-in-beautiful-souls.html?src=me&ref=books
The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnette Friis, involves a three-year-old boy in a suitcase, murder, big money, acts of cruelty and acts of kindness, writes Jack Batten. The story is told from the viewpoints of a half-dozen people.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1135815--jack-batten-reviews-the-boy-in-the-suitcase-and-more
COMMUNITY EVENTS
FREEDOM TO SLAM
Kerrisdale Library branch hosts an open poetry slam in honour of Freedom to Read Week. Participate as a poet, judge or listen. For ages 13-18. Thursday, March 1 at 6:30pm, free. Kerrisdale branch, 2112 42nd Ave. W. For more information, phone 604-665-3974.
LIFESTORY: READING OUR MEMOIRS
Join award-winning author Ivan E. Coyote for an evening of local talent as she hosts the results of a seniors' writing workshop. Thursday, March 1 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
ON EDGE READING SERIES
Reading by Kyo Maclear, the author of The Letter Opener and Virginia Woolf. Thursday, March 1 at 7:00pm, free. SB301, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street. More information at http://www.ecuad.ca/about/events/198106.
CARMEN AGUIRRE
2012 Canada Reads winner Carmen Aguirre discusses her memoir Something Fierce. Thursday, March 1 at 7:00pm. Cost: $20 (includes refreshments). Christianne's Lyceum, 3696 W. 8th Ave. To reserve your space call 604.733.1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com. More information at www.christiannehayward.com.
TOBACCO WARS AND OTHER WORDS
Paul Seesequasis, Alex Jacobs, and Janet Rogers read from their new works. Thursday, March 1 at 8:00pm. Pay what you can or by donation. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway. More information at fullcircleperformance.ca.
QUEER WORDS AND FAMILY STORIES
Ivan E. Coyote and S. Bear Bergman will read from unpublished new work. Friday, March 2 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $10-$15 sliding scale. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway.
NORTH SHORE CRIC CRAC
Listen to live music and storytellers Kira Van Deusen, Golnaz Navabi, Philomena Jordon, and Abegael Fisher-Lang. Sunday, March 4 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $7/$5. Silk Purse Arts Centre, 1570 Argyle Avenue, West Vancouver. More information at nscriccrac@gmail.com.
WADE DAVIS
Author launches his latest book, The Sacred Headwaters. Tuesday, March 6 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $15/$12/$10. SFU Woodward Centre of the Arts. For more information, email melyssa.rubino@gmail.com.
BEYOND BARBED WIRE AND BEHIND BARBED WIRE
The Association of Italian Canadian Writers presents the official launch of two companion books on the internment of Italian Canadians during World War II. Tuesday, March 6 at 7:00pm. Italian Cultural Centre, 3075 Slocan. More information at 604-430-3337.
RYEBERG LIVE
Miriam Toews, Charles Demers, Michael Turner and Stephen Osborne discuss a curated collection of YouTube videos. Tuesday, March 6 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $12/$10. The Waldorf, 1489 East Hastings. More information at www.ryeberg.com.
PLAY CHTHONICS READING SERIES
Readings by Robert Majzels and Erin Mouré. Wednesday, March 7 at 5:00pm. Graham House, UBC Green College, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road. More information at www.canadianstudies.ubc.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Sean Johnston (The Ditch Was Lit Like This) and Anne Simpson (Is). Thursday, March 8 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
FROM BOMBS TO BOOKS
Author and Edmonds Community School principal David Starr discusses his new book. Thursday, March 8 at 7:00pm, free. Registration required. Lynn Valley Main Library, 1277 Lynn Valley Road, North Vancouver.
TAHEREH MAFI
The author signs her debut novel Shatter Me. Saturday, March 10 at 2:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
IRVING LAYTON CENTENARY CELEBRATION
Local poets read poems by, and tell stories about, Irving Layton. Lineup includes Adrienne Drobnies, Heidi Greco, Sandy Shreve, Russell Thornton and others. Sunday, March 11 at 3:00pm. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street. More information at www.deadpoetslive.com.
DANIELA ELZA
Celebrate the author's launch of her first full-length book of poetry, "the weight of dew". Sunday, March 11 at 5:30pm. The Railway Club (in the private back room bar), 579 Dunsmuir Street. Author reading and books for sale.
Upcoming
THREE LOCAL AUTHORS READING
Explore fiction with Bob Friedland, poetry with Manolis Aligizakis, and autobiographical fiction with Ben Nuttall-Smith. Tuesday, March 13 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room, level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3691.
AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL SLADE
Vancouver mystery-horror author Jay Clarke, aka Michael Slade, leads an evening of conversation and exploration about his "Mountie noir" genre. Wednesday, March 14 at 7:30pm, free. VCC King Edward Campus, 1155 E. Broadway. More information at www.vcc.ca.
RANJ DHALIWAL
Meet the author of the novel Daaku, the story of an Indo-Canadian gangster growing up in the streets of Surrey. Ranj will talk about his writing and answer questions from the audience. Thursday, March 15 at 6:00pm, free. South Hill branch, 6076 Fraser Street. More information at 604-665-3965.
TWS READING SERIES
Reading by guest author Betsy Warland. Thursday, March 15 at 7:00pm, free. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway, Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca.
AN EVENING OF CANADIAN POETRY
An evening of Canadian poetry with Ruth Roach Pierson, Rhona McAdam and Edward Blodgett. Wednesday, March 21 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kay rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St.
KAREN ARMSTRONG
Lecture by former nun and the author of Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life and A History of God. Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. Gladstone Secondary auditorium, 4105 Gladstone Street, Vancouver. More information and to register, visit http://www.sfu.ca/dialogue/study+practice/armstrong+lecture.html.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Dani Couture (Algoma) and Nicole Lundrigan (Glass Boys). Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
ON EDGE READING SERIES
Presents World Water Night, featuring readings by Lee Maracle and Michael Blackstock with a screening of Samaqan: Water Stories. Thursday, March 22 at 7:00pm, free. SB301, Emily Carr University, 1399 Johnston Street. More information at http://www.ecuad.ca/about/events/198107.
CAMPBELL RIVER WRITERS' FESTIVAL
Eleventh annual Words on the Water Festival featuring Gurjinder Basran, Trevor Herriot, Daphne Marlatt, Garry Thomas Morse and others. March 23-24, 2012. Maritime Heritage Centre, Campbell River. Details at www.wordsonthewater.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Billeh Nickerson launches his latest collection Impact: The Titanic Poems. Tuesday, March 27 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
LEE MARACLE
Reading by the author of First Wives Club: Coast Salish Style. Thursday, March 29 at 2:00pm, free. Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Point Grey Campus, 1961 East Mall. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
STAN BEVINGTON
The Alcuin Society presents its fifth Robert R. Reid Award and Medal to Stan Bevington. John Maxwell will also give a talk entitled Coach House Press as a Digital Pioneer. Friday, March 30 at 7:30pm, free. Fletcher Challenge room, Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings. More information at 604-732-5403.
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