BOOK NEWS
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the tenth installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "Japanning" from the 2010 Festival, featuring Katherine Govier and David Mitchell. The genesis for a great book can develop from the most accidental of moments. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
cStories eBook Singles is a new program that offers short Canadian fiction in e-book format for download on a wide array of digital devices, desktop or mobile, to be read anytime, anywhere. The cStories "Get Into Our Shorts" contest runs until the end of June. Enter by midnight June 30 to win an
iPad3 chock full of ebook singles including the stories of Jessica Westhead, named by CBC Books as one of the "10 Canadian women writers you need to read now." Details at win.cstories.ca.
AROUND TOWN THIS MONTH
TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival
The 27th Annual TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival is on NOW until July 1 with a smokin' hot line up including: R&B/Soul sensation Janelle Monae, indie rockers Destroyer, Latin Legends Los Amigos Invisibles, pedal steel guitar god Robert Randolph, the venerable Terell Stafford, Canadian sweetheart Jill Barber and many more. If you missed the fabulous downtown jazz opening weekend, don't forget closing weekend at David Lam Park (June 30 & July 1), Granville Island Jazz, etc... Details here, vanjazzfest.ca.
Indian Summer Literature Series
http://indiansummerfestival.ca
The Indian Summer Festival presents top international talent from Canada and India across music, literature, dance, film, yoga and cuisine. The literature series features some of the most exciting authors and public intellectuals from India, Canada and the UK.
Events this year include:
Tinderbox: India & its Neighbours, with MJ Akbar (THURSDAY JULY 12 @ 7pm
$20 ($80 with reception)
Goldcorp Centre for the Arts) Indians and Pakistanis are of the same people: Why then have their nations moved on such different trajectories since freedom in 1947?
Ideas Series: Buddhist Revival, Sanchi and the Begum of Bhopal with Nayanjot Lahiri (FRIDAY JULY 13 @ 6pm
$15
Goldcorp Centre for the Arts) The Buddhist revival in Asia, beginning in India, and spanning Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, China and Japan is one of the most remarkable pan-Asian cultural phenomenons of modern times. While the Buddhist revival in Asia evokes images of various places, persons and phenomena, Muslim ruling houses rarely figure in narratives about it.
AWARDS & LISTS
Susan Hughes's Off to Class, a non-fiction title detailing the experiences of children seeking an education in countries like India, China and Uganda, is a double nominee for the Canadian Children's Book Awards. Shane Peacock's The Dragon Turn, part of the popular boy Sherlock Holmes series is also a double nominee. Other nominees are listed here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/20/childrens-book-awards-nominees.html
Wayne Arthurson, Susan McCaslin, and Peter Midgley are among the publishers, poets, novelists, and editors to have won 2012 Alberta Book Awards. The complete list is here:
http://holeinthebucket.wordpress.com/2012/06/11/alberta-book-awards-2012-edition/
Poets Phil Hall, Nick Thran, and Sonia Lamontagne, and novelist Michèle Vinet are winners of the 25th annual Trillium Award; Hall and Thran for work in English, Lamontagne and Vinet for work in French.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/poet-phil-hall-wins-english-language-trillium-book-award/article4356286/
The first-ever Andrew Carnegie Awards for Excellence in Literature were announced last week with awards given in fiction and nonfiction. Robert K. Massiec's biography Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman received the nonfiction prize; Anne Enright's The Forgotten Waltz won in fiction.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2012/06/first-ever-carnegie-awards-in-literature-go-to-enright-massie.html
Amber Dawn, a Vancouver writer, filmmaker, and performance artist has won the Dayne Ogilvie Prize from the Writers' Trust of Canada. The prize is given annually to an LGBT emerging writer who demonstrates great literary promise. Mariko Tomaki of Toronto received an honorable mention.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/26/dayne-ogilvie-award.html
YOUNG READERS
Geoff Rodkey's Deadweather and Sunrise has a hybrid plot including islands, buried treasure, real pirates, fake pirates, and leftover pirates, too maimed for sea work. At the center, there is Egbert (aka Egg). Egg's practical narrative tone keeps the profusion of plot elements in balance. For ages 10 to 13.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/chi-deadweather-and-sunrise-by-geoff-rodkey--20120614,0,4117902.story
Elisha Cooper's Homer, a large yellow lab, is a porch potato. When the other family dogs burst through the door inviting him to "chase and race around the yard," he simply answers, "No, thanks." All invitations are quietly rejected. Homer's take on life is clear: "I have everything I want," he says. "I have you." For ages 4 to 7.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/homer-by-elisha-cooper-a-picture-book-about-a-very-contented-dog/2012/06/19/gJQAn3BloV_story.html
A great wildlife series by Éditions Michel Quentin called Savais-tu?, is written by Alain M. Bergeron, illustrated by Sampar. Each book in the series looks at a weird and fascinating animal, fish, reptile, bird or insect, zeroing in on the kind of bizarre factoids kids love to learn and recite. The books are part cartoon, part fun facts, and the illustrations are simply brilliant. For ages 7 and over.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Superb+stories+fascinating+facts/6782889/story.html
NEWS & FEATURES
It has been proposed that a new status code to reflect Internet censorship be named after Ray Bradbury's most famous novel, Fahrenheit 451.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/22/ray-bradbury-internet-error-message-451
Jean Craighead George, a leading writer of novels about nature for young readers, including the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves, has died at 92.
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-jean-craighead-george-20120527,0,3813817.story
Nora Ephron has died of leukemia, at 71.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1217710--nora-ephron-gravely-ill-rep-says
Brazil will offer inmates in its federal penitentiary system the opportunity to shorten their sentences by four days for every book they read.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/26/prisoners-books-reduce-sentence
Claire Tomalin, who wrote a biography of the novelist Charles Dickens, wrote a letter to Dickens earlier this year, congratulating him on his 200th birthday, as she wonders what he would make of the 21st century.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/07/letter-charles-dickens-200th-birthday
Charles Dickens has been identified as the author of a previously unattributed article which attacks the middle classes for patronising the "working man".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/25/charles-dickens-identified-author-article?CMP=EMCNEWEML1355
Margaret Atwood has joined the story-sharing website Wattpad to share her writing with an online community of nine million other users. Atwood has posted two new poems on the website and is planning to share a piece of fiction this autumn.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/25/margaret-atwood-joins-wattpad
When it comes to reading books, the French are determinedly bucking the digital trend and sticking to paperbacks. Ebooks in France have been slow to catch on, as readers overwhelmingly prefer the printed page, writes Angelique Chrisafis.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/shortcuts/2012/jun/24/why-is-france-shunning-ebooks
When Eric Walters began writing almost 20 years ago, he told his students stories; they offered their feedback. More than 70 books later—kids remain an essential part of the editing process. They spent more than two months this year advising him on Hunter, out this fall.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1216086--author-eric-walters-lets-kids-be-his-editors
George Orwell had four motives for writing, says Maria Popova: (1) Sheer egoism. (2) Aesthetic enthusiasm. (3) Historical Impulse, and (4) Political purpose.
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/06/25/george-orwell-why-i-write/
A bronze sculpture of literary icon Northrop Frye, set to be unveiled in Moncton next month, has University of Toronto officials interested in getting a copy. The life-size statue, depicting Frye sitting on a park bench, reading a book, is being created by Darren Byers and Fred Harrison, in collaboration with Janet Fotheringham, and is intended to mark the 100th anniversary of the literary giant's birth.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/26/nb-frye-sculpture-moncton-toronto.html
The Erasure Poetry Contest invites you to create your own poetic masterpiece from an excerpt of How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti—erasing letters, words and sentences until your own genius emerges. Visit geist.com/erasure for more details and to read the excerpt. All entries must be postmarked no later than August 1, 2012.
http://www.geist.com/
Enter the Search for the Great BC Novel contest offered by Mother Tongue Publishing Limited.
http://www.allianceforarts.com/files/enet/pdf/12/06/literary_0.pdf
BOOKS & WRITERS
Denis Béchard's Cures for Hunger is a standard story of father and son, of the struggle for some sort of meaningful communication between the two, writes Brad Smith. But ultimately, the unknowable man remains just that, says Smith.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/cures-for-hunger-by-deni-y-bchard/article4324301/
In Enrique Vila-Matas's Dublinesque, Alberto Manguel visits a Dublin haunted by the ghosts of modern literature. There is a kind of literary fiction that feeds on itself, like an introverted cannibal. And the French excel in this, writes Manguel.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/15/dublinesque-enrique-vila-matas-review
Tanis Rideout's Above All Things fictionalizes George Mallory's historic third attempt to scale the top of Everest. It's a book about obsession, writes Jennifer Hunter, a man's consuming drive to be the first to reach the peak of Mount Everest.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1215843--above-all-things
Few people have been both great writers and great illustrators of children's books. Perhaps the most gifted of them all was Maurice Sendak, writes Alison Lurie. Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are shocked some adult readers at first; later it was recognized as a brilliant breakthrough.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jul/12/something-wonderful-out-almost-nothing/
Nadine Gordimer's No Time Like the Present concerns the political, social and emotional questions raised by the South Africa of today. This complex, probing novel is emboldened by its attachment of South African political development to the deepening years of one formerly illegal "mixed-race" marriage, writes Darryl Whetter.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/no-time-like-the-present-by-nadine-gordimer/article4363995/
Peter Dubé's protest fiction is well-timed, writes Anne Chudobiak. As "casseroling" becomes a gerund in Montreal English, it's time to read The City's Gates, an eerie, fanciful take on the kinds of issues that have dominated headlines since Quebec's student crisis began.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Peter+Dubé+protest+fiction+well+timed/6824569/story.html
When Victoria Sweet went to practice medicine at the last almshouse in America, she signed a two-month contract—and stayed for 20 years. God's Hotel describes the transformation from almshouse to modern health care facility, writes Joanne Latimer, changing forever Sweet's approach to patient care.
http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/06/22/review-gods-hotel-a-doctor-a-hospital-and-a-pilgrimage-to-the-heart-of-medicine/
Unless you're traveling alone, don't pack a copy of Mark Haddon's new novel this summer, writes Ron Charles. The Red House is too demanding, too absorbing and, finally, too knowing about the tensions and anxieties that attend vacations with extended family.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/mark-haddons-the-red-house-reviewed-by-ron-charles/2012/06/19/gJQAXOshoV_story.html
Cheryl Strayed's Wild is a dazzling and inspiring account of personal transformation wrapped within a hair-raising story of an exceptionally foolhardy hiking adventure, writes Brett Josef Grubisic. The inexperienced hiker trekked solo for miles. An exciting story, says Grubisic.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Cheryl+Strayed+Wild+reckless+journey+redemption/6825608/story.html
"Women take up smoking because it's empowering", says historian Sharon Anne Cook, author of Sex, Lies and Cigarettes. Women use cigarettes as social currency. And cigarettes allow women to express rebellion, presenting yourself as cool, leaving anti-smoking messages as not credible, says Joanne Laucius.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Women+tobacco+Smoke+mirrors/6835151/story.html
Ewan White describes Anne Carson's Antigone as riveting and humorous. In her updated rendition of the play, which she calls Antigonick, Carson fashions a protagonist with the headspace of a suicide bomber. Her Antigone is in love with the idea of martyrdom.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/antigonick-by-anne-carson/article4363942/
Jim Bartley suggests we may have to give Grace O'Connell the prize for aural evocation of a Toronto streetcar. In any case, Bartley finds O'Connell's Magnified World nice, funny and strong, adding that it connects with a wallop.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/magnified-world-by-grace-oconnell/article4363900/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
DAPHNE MARLATT
Presentation of the 19th Annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award to Daphne Marlatt for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia. Thursday, June 28 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at 604-331-3603.
OUR FRIEND JOE: THE JOE FORTES STORY
Authors Lisa Anne Smith and Barbara Rogers give a presentation on Vancouver humanitarian Joe Fortes. Saturday, June 30 at 1pm, free, refreshments provided. Door prizes include a $150 gift certificate to the Joe Fortes Restaurant! Roedde House Museum, 1415 Barclay Street.
MARGINS ZINE LAUNCH PARTY
Launch of the first issue with live entertainment provided by local poets, singers and storytellers. Saturday, June 30 at 7:00pm. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway.
THE RED SHOES
Based on Hans Christian Andersen's story and filmed in 1947, The Red Shoes, beautiful and talented Vicky is hired by the top impresario of the day, Lermontov, to dance in his company. Hosted by Alma Lee. Tuesday, July 3 at 7:30pm. Vancouver International Film Centre, 1181 Seymour Street. More information here, http://filmguide.viff.org/tixSYS/vifcguide/filmguide/films/2279.
JED LA LUMIERE
The author of Patience: A Gay Man's Virtue brings humour and insight to the launch for his book about being an invisible minority. Thursday, July 5 at 7:00pm, free. Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium, 1238 Davie Street.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by bill bissett and Susan Cormier. Thursday, July 5 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Readings by Kate Braid, George McWhirter, Daniela Elza, Ken Klonksy, and Hal Wake. Sunday, July 8 at 3:00pm. Entry by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street, Vancouver. Details and registration here, www.deadpoetslive.com.
RACHEL HARTMAN
Author launches her new book Seraphina. Tuesday, July 10 at 7:00pm. RSVP to pkells@randomhouse.com. Kidsbooks, 3083 West Broadway. More information at kidsbooks.ca.
Upcoming
TIM WARD
Author reads from Zombies on Kilimanjaro: A Father-Son Journey Above the Clouds. Thursday, July 17 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
DENMAN ISLAND READERS & WRITERS FESTIVAL
Annual summer event featuring Tseporah Berman, Steven Galloway, Loran Goodison, Timothy Taylor and many others. July 19-22, 2012. For complete details, visit www.denmanislandwritersfestival.com.
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
SUMMER DREAMS LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL
Annual family-friendly celebration of literary arts features two stages, a kids' area, a marketplace, and over 90 performers, including headliner Barbara Adler and Fang, a local spoken-word artist who combines poetry with music. Saturday, August 25, 2012, free. Trout Lake Park, 3350 Victoria. More information at www.summerdreamsfest.com.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Book News Vol. 7 No. 22
BOOK NEWS
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
cStories eBook Singles - currently running the "Get Into Our Shorts" contest at http://win.cstories.ca - will also offer Russell Wangersky's ebook "Bolt" to VWF members as part of the VWF membership drive; watch for the special offer in the INK Member eNewsletter. Not a member yet? Join us here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the ninth installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "Montreal Mystery and Music" from the 2011 Festival, featuring Trevor Ferguson, aka John Farrow. Experience the thrill of old Montreal, through flutes and whistles and a dramatic story of corruption and murder. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
AWARDS & LISTS
British writer Jon McGregor has won the €100,000 ($131,000 Cdn) 2012 International Impac Dublin Literary Award for his novel Even the Dogs. Winnipeg's David Bergen was the sole Canadian on the short list.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/13/impac-dublin-award.html
Jerry Kobalenkoc's Arctic Eden: Journeys through the Changing High Arctic has won the 2012 William Mills Prize for Nonfiction Polar Books.
http://www.cbabook.org/files/Arctic%20Eden%20wins%20the%20William%20Mills%20Prize%20for%20Nonfiction%20Polar%20Books.pdf
Irish author Sebastian Barry has won the £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for his novel On Canaan's Side.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-18472443
Max Hastings, a British historian, journalist and editor known for his writing about the Second World War, has won the $100,000 US Pritzker Military Library’s Literature Award. The award is given for lifetime achievement in military writing.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/19/pritzker-military-writing.html
Anna Funder has won the 2012 Miles Franklin Award for All That I Am.
http://www.milesfranklin.com.au/
YOUNG READERS
Cold Cereal, by Adam Rex is a roller-coaster ride of wit, wordplay, magic and mystery that requires a suspension of disbelief to some degree. The story involves 11-year-old Scott Doe, 13-year-old Emily Utz and her twin brother, Erno. Creatures from the fairy world, from mythology and from the world of magic are intertwined with contemporary issues. Black-and-white full-page drawings, smaller cartoon-like strips and occasional spot illustrations add visual appeal. For age 9 and older.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+quiet+moments+rainy+days/6782904/story.html
Kevin Sylvester's Neil Flambé and the Crusader’s Curse is the third of the Flambé Capers, a series about a hotshot teenage chef whose super-sensitive nose sniffs out mysteries and makes him a crime-solving sleuth as well as help when he’s cooking,. A 13th century curse against one of Neil’s ancestors explains why the young chef appears to have lost his golden touch with food. For ages 8 to 12.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+quiet+moments+rainy+days/6782904/story.html
Geoff Rodkey's Deadweather and Sunrise has a wonderful hybrid plot: islands, buried treasure, a lad avenging violence against his family, sea voyages, tourist cruises, real pirates, fake pirates for the tourist trade, and leftover pirates, too maimed for sea work.For ages 10 to 13.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/chi-deadweather-and-sunrise-by-geoff-rodkey--20120614,0,4117902.story
NEWS & FEATURES
Michael Chabon writes that he hates dreams, referring to them as the Sea Monkeys of consciousness: in the back pages of sleep, they promise us teeming submarine palaces but leave us, on waking, with a hermetic residue of freeze-dried dust.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/jun/15/why-i-hate-dreams
Researchers have unveiled new evidence suggesting that a long-disputed portrait depicts a thirteen-year-old Jane Austen. This unearthed picture reinforces the celebrity aura that has developed around Austen in recent years, writes Andrea DenHoed.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/06/new-jane-austen-portrait.html
Cory Doctorow writes of Andrew Hyde’s experience when he submitted the travel book he wrote and self-published. Amazon’s markup of digital delivery to indie authors is ~129,000%.
http://boingboing.net/2012/06/12/indie-author-gets-sticker-shoc.html
Asked if he intends to write a sequel to Go the F*** to Sleep, award-winning novelist Adam Mansbach says he would focus on one of two things: the insanely violent frenemy relationships three-year-olds form with one another, or playground etiquette.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/adam-mansbach-the-sequel-father-knows-sweet/article4266609/
Roxanne Gay, with the support of a graduate assistant, has learned that nearly 90% of the books reviewed by The New York Times are written by white writers, not reflective of the racial makeup of the U.S. According to the 2010 census, 72% of the population is white.
http://therumpus.net/2012/06/where-things-stand/
Stephen Colbert asked Maurice Sendak what makes a successful celebrity children's book. "You've started already by being an idiot," replied Sendak, and gave Colbert a tutorial on how to draw a pole. That improvised illustration inspired Colbert's I Am a Pole (And So Can You!)—NOT a children’s book.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-stephen-colbert-20120617,0,1917907.story
George Elliott Clarke, Roméo Dallaire, Charles Foran, and Marina Nemat among others have contributed articles, essay, poems to Omar Khadr, Oh Canada, edited by University of Alberta professor Janice Williamson. They differ on some issues, but share a common voice in their conviction that Khadr’s treatment has been shameful and unjust.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/wake+call+Omar+Khadr/6757431/story.html
In an interview with Tim Adams, Richard Ford talks about his novel Canada, the joys of growing old and the dangers of criticizing the US. "You are not allowed to complain. Or even have a dialogue," says Ford.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2012/jun/17/richard-ford-canada-interview
Louisa Lim and Jeffrey Wasserstrom write about the ways Chinese writers elude censors: many words cannot be written, many cannot be spoken. Among other things, the Arab Spring has made the Chinese leaders jittery.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/books/review/how-chinese-writers-elude-censors.html
In an interview with Stuart Jeffries, Mario Vargas Llosa says: "The Nobel prize is a fairytale for a week and a nightmare for a year. The first year was very difficult. I could barely write."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/jun/15/mario-vargas-llosa-life-in-writing
Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin is leaving San Francisco for a city with another kind of magic, he says. He’s heading for Santa Fe, where he plans to write a new 'Tales’ book, The Days of Anna Madrigal.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/19/DDCN1P4DG2.DTL&tsp=1
The Erasure Poetry Contest invites you to create your own poetic masterpiece from an excerpt of How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti—erasing letters, words and sentences until your own genius emerges. Visit geist.com/erasure for more details and to read the excerpt. All entries must be postmarked no later than August 1, 2012.
http://www.geist.com/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Chris Cleave’s Gold is set in the months leading up to the London Olympics. A rule change means only one British female track cyclist may compete. There is engrossing human drama as two women vie to get the single Olympics spot for track cycling.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1208353--chris-cleave-s-golda-gripping-story-about-two-female-champion-cyclists
James Laxer’s Tecumseh & Brock: The War of 1812 cleverly explains the war and the emergence of a Canadian identity through the lives of British Major General Sir Isaac Brock and Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh. Laxer proves Canadian history doesn’t have to be dull, writes Jennifer Hunter.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1210913--tecumseh-and-brock-the-war-of-1812-column
Stories in Elaine McCluskey’s collection Valery the Great are linked by their small-town Maritime settings as well as by a shared episodic structure, writes Rob Sternberg. Each story is told through a series of short scenes separated by page breaks.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/valery-the-great-by-elaine-mccluskey/article4242489/
Burying the Typewriter refers to the act carried out every night after Carmen Bugan’s father wrote pro-democracy pamphlets during the Ceausescu regime in Romania. Bugan writes from a child's perspective of a political system she barely understands.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jun/16/carmen-bugan-romanian-childhood
Jim Downs’s Sick From Freedom shows the reality of emancipation, brutally short of its positive image. About a quarter of the four million freed slaves either died or suffered from illness between 1862 and 1870, writes Downs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/16/slavery-starvation-civil-war
The focus of Gordon Bowkers’ James Joyce is almost strictly on Joyce the human being, writes Michael Dirda. In his personal life, the young Joyce is thoroughly disreputable. It’s not always a pretty picture, says Dirda, but it seems like a true one.http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/gordon-bowkers-james-joyce-portrait-of-the-author-as-a-man/2012/06/13/gJQAOhuraV_story.html
Alix Ohlin’s novel Inside and short-story collection Signs and Wonders reflect her knowledge of Ingmar Bergman and Woody Allen films, writes T.F. Rigelhof, but the readers discover a lot of smarts and a wry sense of humour.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/alix-ohlin-a-writer-who-should-be-famous/article4267001/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
TOM WAYMAN AND KATE BRAID
Award-winning authors present a dynamic evening of poetry. Wayman reads from Dirty Snow and Braid reads from several collections, including a new edition of To This Cedar Fountain. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room, level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
TRIPLE THREAT: CHICKS WHO SOLVE CRIME!
Three Canadian mystery authors - Deryn Collier, Hilary Davidson, and Robin Spano - team up for an evening of readings & discussion. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Free but register in advance at 604-299-8955. McGill branch, Burnaby Public Library, 4595 Albert Street, Burnaby.
CHRIS GUILLEBEAU AND DANIELLE LAPORTE
Appearances by the author of The Art of Non-Conformity (Guillebeau) and The $100 Startup (Laporte). Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Chapters Robson, 788 Robson St. More information at 604-682-4066.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by Jen Currin and Lisa McInnes. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
GORDON LONG
Book signing/meet the author for the comic fantasy A Sword Called...Kitten? Saturday, June 23 at 11am. Blackberry Books, 1666 Johnston Street.
RICHELLE MEAD
Signing by the author of the Bloodlines series. Saturday, June 23 at 2:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Nerd-themed youth poetry slam open to all poets 13-22 years of age, costumes encouraged. Also featuring Metis spoken word artist Moe Clark. Monday, June 25 at 8:00pm. Admission: $4 for 18 and under, $6 for 19 and up. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at www.vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
WORDS AND MUSIC
Four evenings of poetry, spontaneous song and improvised music events. Featuring Daniela Elza, James, Mark Weber and Kate Braid. June 25-28, 2012. Admission by donation. Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables St. More information at vancouverjazz.com.
DAPHNE MARLATT
Presentation of the 19th Annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award to Daphne Marlatt for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia. Thursday, June 28 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at 604-331-3603.
OUR FRIEND JOE: THE JOE FORTES STORY
Authors Lisa Anne Smith and Barbara Rogers give a presentation on Vancouver humanitarian Joe Fortes. Saturday, June 30 at 1pm, free, refreshments provided. Door prizes include a $150 gift certificate to the Joe Fortes Restaurant! Roedde House Museum, 1415 Barclay Street.
Upcoming
THE RED SHOES
Based on Hans Christian Andersen's story and filmed in 1947, The Red Shoes, beautiful and talented Vicky is hired by the top impresario of the day, Lermontov, to dance in his company. Hosted by Alma Lee. Tuesday, July 3 at 7:30pm. Vancouver International Film Centre, 1181 Seymour Street. More information here, http://filmguide.viff.org/tixSYS/vifcguide/filmguide/films/2279.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by bill bissett and Susan Cormier. Thursday, July 5 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Readings by Kate Braid, George McWhirter, Daniela Elza, Ken Klonksy, and Hal Wake. Sunday, July 8 at 3:00pm. Entry by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street, Vancouver. Details and registration here, www.deadpoetslive.com.
TIM WARD
Author reads from Zombies on Kilimanjaro: A Father-Son Journey Above the Clouds. Thursday, July 17 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
DENMAN ISLAND READERS & WRITERS FESTIVAL
Annual summer event featuring Tseporah Berman, Steven Galloway, Loran Goodison, Timothy Taylor and many others. July 19-22, 2012. For complete details, visit www.denmanislandwritersfestival.com.
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
cStories eBook Singles - currently running the "Get Into Our Shorts" contest at http://win.cstories.ca - will also offer Russell Wangersky's ebook "Bolt" to VWF members as part of the VWF membership drive; watch for the special offer in the INK Member eNewsletter. Not a member yet? Join us here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the ninth installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "Montreal Mystery and Music" from the 2011 Festival, featuring Trevor Ferguson, aka John Farrow. Experience the thrill of old Montreal, through flutes and whistles and a dramatic story of corruption and murder. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
AWARDS & LISTS
British writer Jon McGregor has won the €100,000 ($131,000 Cdn) 2012 International Impac Dublin Literary Award for his novel Even the Dogs. Winnipeg's David Bergen was the sole Canadian on the short list.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/13/impac-dublin-award.html
Jerry Kobalenkoc's Arctic Eden: Journeys through the Changing High Arctic has won the 2012 William Mills Prize for Nonfiction Polar Books.
http://www.cbabook.org/files/Arctic%20Eden%20wins%20the%20William%20Mills%20Prize%20for%20Nonfiction%20Polar%20Books.pdf
Irish author Sebastian Barry has won the £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for his novel On Canaan's Side.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-18472443
Max Hastings, a British historian, journalist and editor known for his writing about the Second World War, has won the $100,000 US Pritzker Military Library’s Literature Award. The award is given for lifetime achievement in military writing.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/19/pritzker-military-writing.html
Anna Funder has won the 2012 Miles Franklin Award for All That I Am.
http://www.milesfranklin.com.au/
YOUNG READERS
Cold Cereal, by Adam Rex is a roller-coaster ride of wit, wordplay, magic and mystery that requires a suspension of disbelief to some degree. The story involves 11-year-old Scott Doe, 13-year-old Emily Utz and her twin brother, Erno. Creatures from the fairy world, from mythology and from the world of magic are intertwined with contemporary issues. Black-and-white full-page drawings, smaller cartoon-like strips and occasional spot illustrations add visual appeal. For age 9 and older.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+quiet+moments+rainy+days/6782904/story.html
Kevin Sylvester's Neil Flambé and the Crusader’s Curse is the third of the Flambé Capers, a series about a hotshot teenage chef whose super-sensitive nose sniffs out mysteries and makes him a crime-solving sleuth as well as help when he’s cooking,. A 13th century curse against one of Neil’s ancestors explains why the young chef appears to have lost his golden touch with food. For ages 8 to 12.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+quiet+moments+rainy+days/6782904/story.html
Geoff Rodkey's Deadweather and Sunrise has a wonderful hybrid plot: islands, buried treasure, a lad avenging violence against his family, sea voyages, tourist cruises, real pirates, fake pirates for the tourist trade, and leftover pirates, too maimed for sea work.For ages 10 to 13.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/chi-deadweather-and-sunrise-by-geoff-rodkey--20120614,0,4117902.story
NEWS & FEATURES
Michael Chabon writes that he hates dreams, referring to them as the Sea Monkeys of consciousness: in the back pages of sleep, they promise us teeming submarine palaces but leave us, on waking, with a hermetic residue of freeze-dried dust.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/jun/15/why-i-hate-dreams
Researchers have unveiled new evidence suggesting that a long-disputed portrait depicts a thirteen-year-old Jane Austen. This unearthed picture reinforces the celebrity aura that has developed around Austen in recent years, writes Andrea DenHoed.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/06/new-jane-austen-portrait.html
Cory Doctorow writes of Andrew Hyde’s experience when he submitted the travel book he wrote and self-published. Amazon’s markup of digital delivery to indie authors is ~129,000%.
http://boingboing.net/2012/06/12/indie-author-gets-sticker-shoc.html
Asked if he intends to write a sequel to Go the F*** to Sleep, award-winning novelist Adam Mansbach says he would focus on one of two things: the insanely violent frenemy relationships three-year-olds form with one another, or playground etiquette.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/adam-mansbach-the-sequel-father-knows-sweet/article4266609/
Roxanne Gay, with the support of a graduate assistant, has learned that nearly 90% of the books reviewed by The New York Times are written by white writers, not reflective of the racial makeup of the U.S. According to the 2010 census, 72% of the population is white.
http://therumpus.net/2012/06/where-things-stand/
Stephen Colbert asked Maurice Sendak what makes a successful celebrity children's book. "You've started already by being an idiot," replied Sendak, and gave Colbert a tutorial on how to draw a pole. That improvised illustration inspired Colbert's I Am a Pole (And So Can You!)—NOT a children’s book.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-stephen-colbert-20120617,0,1917907.story
George Elliott Clarke, Roméo Dallaire, Charles Foran, and Marina Nemat among others have contributed articles, essay, poems to Omar Khadr, Oh Canada, edited by University of Alberta professor Janice Williamson. They differ on some issues, but share a common voice in their conviction that Khadr’s treatment has been shameful and unjust.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/wake+call+Omar+Khadr/6757431/story.html
In an interview with Tim Adams, Richard Ford talks about his novel Canada, the joys of growing old and the dangers of criticizing the US. "You are not allowed to complain. Or even have a dialogue," says Ford.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2012/jun/17/richard-ford-canada-interview
Louisa Lim and Jeffrey Wasserstrom write about the ways Chinese writers elude censors: many words cannot be written, many cannot be spoken. Among other things, the Arab Spring has made the Chinese leaders jittery.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/books/review/how-chinese-writers-elude-censors.html
In an interview with Stuart Jeffries, Mario Vargas Llosa says: "The Nobel prize is a fairytale for a week and a nightmare for a year. The first year was very difficult. I could barely write."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/jun/15/mario-vargas-llosa-life-in-writing
Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin is leaving San Francisco for a city with another kind of magic, he says. He’s heading for Santa Fe, where he plans to write a new 'Tales’ book, The Days of Anna Madrigal.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/19/DDCN1P4DG2.DTL&tsp=1
The Erasure Poetry Contest invites you to create your own poetic masterpiece from an excerpt of How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti—erasing letters, words and sentences until your own genius emerges. Visit geist.com/erasure for more details and to read the excerpt. All entries must be postmarked no later than August 1, 2012.
http://www.geist.com/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Chris Cleave’s Gold is set in the months leading up to the London Olympics. A rule change means only one British female track cyclist may compete. There is engrossing human drama as two women vie to get the single Olympics spot for track cycling.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1208353--chris-cleave-s-golda-gripping-story-about-two-female-champion-cyclists
James Laxer’s Tecumseh & Brock: The War of 1812 cleverly explains the war and the emergence of a Canadian identity through the lives of British Major General Sir Isaac Brock and Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh. Laxer proves Canadian history doesn’t have to be dull, writes Jennifer Hunter.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1210913--tecumseh-and-brock-the-war-of-1812-column
Stories in Elaine McCluskey’s collection Valery the Great are linked by their small-town Maritime settings as well as by a shared episodic structure, writes Rob Sternberg. Each story is told through a series of short scenes separated by page breaks.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/valery-the-great-by-elaine-mccluskey/article4242489/
Burying the Typewriter refers to the act carried out every night after Carmen Bugan’s father wrote pro-democracy pamphlets during the Ceausescu regime in Romania. Bugan writes from a child's perspective of a political system she barely understands.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jun/16/carmen-bugan-romanian-childhood
Jim Downs’s Sick From Freedom shows the reality of emancipation, brutally short of its positive image. About a quarter of the four million freed slaves either died or suffered from illness between 1862 and 1870, writes Downs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/16/slavery-starvation-civil-war
The focus of Gordon Bowkers’ James Joyce is almost strictly on Joyce the human being, writes Michael Dirda. In his personal life, the young Joyce is thoroughly disreputable. It’s not always a pretty picture, says Dirda, but it seems like a true one.http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/gordon-bowkers-james-joyce-portrait-of-the-author-as-a-man/2012/06/13/gJQAOhuraV_story.html
Alix Ohlin’s novel Inside and short-story collection Signs and Wonders reflect her knowledge of Ingmar Bergman and Woody Allen films, writes T.F. Rigelhof, but the readers discover a lot of smarts and a wry sense of humour.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/alix-ohlin-a-writer-who-should-be-famous/article4267001/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
TOM WAYMAN AND KATE BRAID
Award-winning authors present a dynamic evening of poetry. Wayman reads from Dirty Snow and Braid reads from several collections, including a new edition of To This Cedar Fountain. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room, level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
TRIPLE THREAT: CHICKS WHO SOLVE CRIME!
Three Canadian mystery authors - Deryn Collier, Hilary Davidson, and Robin Spano - team up for an evening of readings & discussion. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Free but register in advance at 604-299-8955. McGill branch, Burnaby Public Library, 4595 Albert Street, Burnaby.
CHRIS GUILLEBEAU AND DANIELLE LAPORTE
Appearances by the author of The Art of Non-Conformity (Guillebeau) and The $100 Startup (Laporte). Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Chapters Robson, 788 Robson St. More information at 604-682-4066.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by Jen Currin and Lisa McInnes. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
GORDON LONG
Book signing/meet the author for the comic fantasy A Sword Called...Kitten? Saturday, June 23 at 11am. Blackberry Books, 1666 Johnston Street.
RICHELLE MEAD
Signing by the author of the Bloodlines series. Saturday, June 23 at 2:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Nerd-themed youth poetry slam open to all poets 13-22 years of age, costumes encouraged. Also featuring Metis spoken word artist Moe Clark. Monday, June 25 at 8:00pm. Admission: $4 for 18 and under, $6 for 19 and up. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at www.vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
WORDS AND MUSIC
Four evenings of poetry, spontaneous song and improvised music events. Featuring Daniela Elza, James, Mark Weber and Kate Braid. June 25-28, 2012. Admission by donation. Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables St. More information at vancouverjazz.com.
DAPHNE MARLATT
Presentation of the 19th Annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award to Daphne Marlatt for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia. Thursday, June 28 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at 604-331-3603.
OUR FRIEND JOE: THE JOE FORTES STORY
Authors Lisa Anne Smith and Barbara Rogers give a presentation on Vancouver humanitarian Joe Fortes. Saturday, June 30 at 1pm, free, refreshments provided. Door prizes include a $150 gift certificate to the Joe Fortes Restaurant! Roedde House Museum, 1415 Barclay Street.
Upcoming
THE RED SHOES
Based on Hans Christian Andersen's story and filmed in 1947, The Red Shoes, beautiful and talented Vicky is hired by the top impresario of the day, Lermontov, to dance in his company. Hosted by Alma Lee. Tuesday, July 3 at 7:30pm. Vancouver International Film Centre, 1181 Seymour Street. More information here, http://filmguide.viff.org/tixSYS/vifcguide/filmguide/films/2279.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by bill bissett and Susan Cormier. Thursday, July 5 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Readings by Kate Braid, George McWhirter, Daniela Elza, Ken Klonksy, and Hal Wake. Sunday, July 8 at 3:00pm. Entry by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street, Vancouver. Details and registration here, www.deadpoetslive.com.
TIM WARD
Author reads from Zombies on Kilimanjaro: A Father-Son Journey Above the Clouds. Thursday, July 17 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
DENMAN ISLAND READERS & WRITERS FESTIVAL
Annual summer event featuring Tseporah Berman, Steven Galloway, Loran Goodison, Timothy Taylor and many others. July 19-22, 2012. For complete details, visit www.denmanislandwritersfestival.com.
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Book News Vol. 7 No. 21
BOOK NEWS
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your
choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
cStories eBook Singles - currently running the "Get Into Our Shorts" contest at http://win.cstories.ca - will also offer Russell Wangersky's ebook "Bolt" to VWF members as part of the VWF membership drive; watch for the special offer in the INK Member eNewsletter. Not a member yet? Join us here,
https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the eighth installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "An Intimate Afternoon" from the 2011 Festival, featuring Russell Banks. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
AWARDS & LISTS
Canadian literary icon Margaret Atwood was honoured at the CBA's Libris Awards, where she was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Atwood's acceptance speech is here:
http://www.cbabook.org/files/LibrisAwards/Margaret%20Atwood's%20Acceptance%20Speech.pdf
The Libris Awards recognize the best in the Canadian book industry. The winners of this year's Libris Awards can be found here:
http://www.cbabook.org/files/LibrisAwards/LibrisWINNERSannouncement12FINAL.pdf
Natasha Trethewey has been appointed the US Poet Laureate, the first to hail from the south since Robert Penn Warren in 1986.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Natasha+Trethewey+explored+forgotten+Civil+history+named/6745858/story.html
Canadian Ken Babstock and Briton David Harsent won the 2012 Griffin Poetry Prize Thursday, each taking home $65,000.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/babstock-harsent-win-2012-griffin-poetry-prize/article4241056/
Poet Seamus Heaney has won the Griffin 2012 lifetime achievement award. Griffin trustee Robin Robertson referred to Mr. Heaney as "our greatest living poet".
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/poet-seamus-heaney-wins-griffin-prize-for-lifetime-achievement/article4237660/
American author Nathan Englander, along with Kevin Barry, Etgar Keret, Sarah Hall, Lucia Perillo, and Fiona Kidman are shortlisted for the lucrative short-story prize, the 2012 Frank O'Connor award.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/07/nathan-englander-favourite-frank-oconnor-award
Philip Roth paid tribute to his "dear friend" Carlos Fuentes on winning Spain's prestigious literary prize the Prince of Asturias award.
http: //www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/07/philip-roth-asturias-carlos-fuentes
Toronto author Ian Williams is the 2011 winner of the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, for Not Anyone's Anything.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/ian-williams-named-winner-of-danuta-gleed-literary-award/article4239253/
Beryl Young's Follow the Elephant, Michelle Superle's Black Dog Dream, and Linda Bailey's Stanley's Little Sister have won Chocolate Lilly 2012 awards. The awards gala took place at Devon Gardens Elementary School in Delta, B.C.
http://chocolatelilyawards.com/?p=296
The Walrus was the toast of Canada's National Magazine Awards last week, winning six gold awards and six silver. A complete list of winners and nominees is available here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/walrus-wins-big-at-national-magazine-awards/article4241029/.com
Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka has won the Commonwealth book prize for his debut novel Chinaman: the Legend of Pradeep Mathew.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/08/shehan-karunatilaka-commonwealth-book-prize
YOUNG READERS
Isabella's Garden By Glenda Millard, illustrated by Rebecca Cool. Beginning with "the soil/ all dark and deep/ in Isabella's garden," the book stays through the expected planting, the end of the growing season, through winter and on to the next growing season. The rhythm of the words matches well the roundness of the naturally
growing world. Ages 5 to 9.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/ct-books-isabellas-garden-by-glenda-millard,0,438383.story
Two books for Fathers Day or for fathers to read to their children: Australian author/illustrator Nick Bland's Some Dads; and Klaas Verplancke's Applesauce: images of polar bears, cautious elephants, sporty dads, naughty dads, "and some dads who just brighten your day". Ages 3 to 7.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+Books+share+with/6751217/story.html
Violet had no idea how important her interest in all things Japanese would become when she went to live with her artist dad for a summer. In Diana Renn's mystery novel Tokyo Heist, Violet learns about the art world and tracks stolen art. Ages 12 and up.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-diana-renn-20120603,0,2002959.story
Step Gently Out, In the Sea, Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature by Helen Frost and Rick Lieder. Ages 2 to 6.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1207616--step-gently-out-in-the-sea-outside-your-window-a-first-book-of-nature-who-needs-an-iceberg-an-arctic-ecosystem-50-climate-questions-a-blizzard-of-blistering-facts-mini-reviews
NEWS & FEATURES
Margaret Atwood and 25 other writers agreed to write a short story in Bradburyesque mode to contribute to a tribute volume on Ray Bradbury. It's no accident that he was descended from Mary Bradbury, convicted as a witch during the Salem witchcraft trials, writes Atwood.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/08/margaret-atwood-on-ray-bradbury
Booker prize-winning writer Barry Unsworth, author of Sacred Hunger (18th Century slave trade) and other historical novels, has died, age 81.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/08/barry-unsworth
New secrecy laws proposed for South Africa have provoked a rare public intervention from JM Coetzee, the Nobel laureate and double Booker prize winner, and fellow Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer. "We are going back to apartheid censorship under a new guise," says Gordimer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/06/south-african-campaigners-secrecy-bill
The South African press law is 'more harmful than apartheid-era censorship', says Wendy Woods, widow of anti-apartheid journalist and editor Donald Woods.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/06/south-african-press-law-harmful
Nicholas Lezard writes that Victor Serge's Memoirs of a Revolutionary should be required reading for anyone who cares about justice and freedom of speech.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/05/memoirs-revolutionary-victor-serge-review
Alberto Manguel reflects on art as a witness to the human desire to be infinite and eternal.
http://www.geist.com/articles/observer-and-observed/index.html
Four up-and-coming mystery writers—Hilary Davidson, Deryn Collier, Robin Spano and Ian Hamilton—are on a crime tour of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland in June, writes Tracy Sherlock. All four are fresh faces on the crime fiction scene.
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2012/05/30/crime-authors-on-a-mystery-tour-of-vancouver/
Fictional sleuths have a habit of bouncing back from retirement. Author Ian Rankin said there was "unfinished business" with his celebrated character, Inspector Rebus. Rebus will return in the novel Standing in Another Man's Grave, to be released in November.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/ian-rankin-brings-back-rebus-for-unfinished-business-7817887.html
Riel Nason's The Town that Drowned won the Commonwealth Book Prize for Canada and Europe, was inspired by Hawkshaw, NB, population of about 35 (including Nason). The book is now in contention for the main award.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Canadian+Commonwealth+Book+Prize+contender+inspired+drowned+town/6739714/story.html
In a major overhaul of the national curriculum for schools in England, children as young as five will be expected to learn and recite poetry by heart.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/jun/10/primary-school-children-recite-poetry
Two hundred love letters between Rainer Maria Rilke and Andreas-Salomé have been gathered into a book called Rilke and Andreas-Salomé: A Love Story in Letters. Each of the letters reveals a different facet of Rilke, writes Maria Popova.
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/06/06/rilke-salome-love-letters/
When W. H. Auden met Edward Mendelson, professor of English at Columbia University and discovered Mendelson's work, he decided that Mendelson, and not he, should select the essays for his next collection. Later, Auden asked Mendelson to become his literary executor.
http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/features/interview-edward-mendelson-literary-executor-and-wh-auden-fan-1-2333608
BOOKS & WRITERS
Skagboys is the prequel to Irvine Welsh's debut novel, Trainspotting and so, we revisit the lives of those characters—or, as Don Gillmore describes them, trainspotters-in-training. Perhaps we'll see the gang again in 2014 when the referendum on Scottish independence takes place, writes Gillmore.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/irvine-welshs-skagboys-trainspotters-in-training/article4241642/
Winning Words: Inspiring Poems for Everyday Life chosen by William Sieghart is an anthology to rejoice in, full of poems trying to make one feel better about being alive. The only off-putting thing about this anthology is its title, writes Kate Kellaway.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/10/winning-words-william-sieghart-review
Stories in Elaine McCluskey's collection Valery the Great are linked by their small-town Maritime settings as well as by a shared episodic structure, writes Rob Sternberg. Each story is told through a series of short scenes separated by page breaks.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/valery-the-great-by-elaine-mccluskey/article4242489/
Amber Dermont's The Starboard Sea conforms to the German idea of the bildungsroman, the story of a youth's transition to adulthood, writes Robert J. Wiersema, adding that The Starboard Sea is a well-constructed, well-paced character study.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Starboard+Coming+tale+sensitive+retelling+distant+past/6751858/story.html
Modern Russia is still unwilling to acknowledge the butchery of Stalin's rule, writes John Kampfner. Stephen F. Cohen's The Victims Return is not a history of the camps, but a history of the survivors and their legacy, with Russia locked in historical denial.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/10/stephen-cohen-survivors-gulag-stalin-review
In Our Way Out, Marq de Villiers shows that democracy has probably peaked and the globe's financial system has become a casino for the rich, writes Andrew Nikiforuk. We have exercised God-like energy powers badly; now we must learn how to use our "little powers" better.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/our-way-out-by-marq-de-villiers/article4248191/
Anakana Schofield has titled her debut novel Malarky, defined as "exaggerated or foolish talk, usually intended to deceive." The voice is always Our Woman's, a working class middle-aged woman and one of the most vivid fictional creations to come along in years, writes Ian McGillis.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Malarky+heroine+revels+freedom/6751318/story.html
The Matter with Morris, initially published in 2010, is now shortlisted for the €100,000 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, to be announced this week. This is a moving and engaging novel of grief and loss, impeccably written and fully imagined, writes Michel Basilières.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1201844--the-matter-with-morris-by-david-bergen-review
COMMUNITY EVENTS
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Phil Hall (Killdeer) and Aaron Bushkowsky (Curtains for Roy). Thursday, June 14 at 7:00pm, free. BC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
TWS READING SERIES
The Writer's Studio at SFU presents an evening with guest author Robyn Michele Levy, who has been shortlisted for the 2012 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour for her book All of Me:Surviving My Medical Meltdown. Thursday, June 14 at 7:00pm. Admission by donation. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway.
V6A - POSTAL CODE READINGS
Launch of a five-part reading series to support the anthology V6A with readings by Cathleen With, Brenda Prince, Antonette Rea and Sen Yi. Friday, June 15 at 7:00pm, free. Carnegie Community Centre, 401 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at www.thursdayswritingcollective.ca.
WAYDE COMPTON
The Canadian poet reads from a sequence of elegies about Canada and the Air India bombing. Friday, June 15 at 8:00pm. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive. More information at 604-253-6442.
CHRISTINA JOHNSON-DEAN
Launch of the fifth book in the series The Unheralded Artists of BC, The Life and Art of Ina D.D. Uhthoff. Saturday, June 16 at 8:00pm, free. Martin Batchelor Gallery, 712 Cormorant St., Victoria. More information at www.mothertonguepublishing.com.
THE OPENING ACT: CANADIAN THEATRE HISTORY 1945-1953
Book launch of Susan McNicoll new theatre history book. Sunday, June 17 at 2 pm, free. Trout Lake Community Centre, Lakewood Room, 3360 Victoria Drive. More information at www.ronsdalepress.com.
VAN SLAM
Slam featuring Dave Morris. Monday June 18 at 8:00pm. Cost: $6-$10 at the door. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
LUNCH POEMS @ SFU
Readings by Sonnet L'Abbe and Renee Sarojini Saklilkar presented by Simon Fraser University. Wednesday, June 20 at 12:00pm, free. Teck Gallery, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings.
BEHIND BARBED WIRE
Literary reading from Behind Barbed Wire: Creative Works on the Internment of Italian Canadians and Beyond Barbed Wire: Essays on the Internment of Italian Canadians with B.C. authors Lynne Bowen, Anna Foschi Ciampolini, Robert Pepper-Smith, and Osvaldo Zappa. Wednesday, June 20 at 7:00pm, free. McGill branch,
Burnaby Public Library, 4595 Albert Street, Burnaby.
TOM WAYMAN AND KATE BRAID
Award-winning authors present a dynamic evening of poetry. Wayman reads from Dirty Snow and Braid reads from several collections, including a new edition of To This Cedar Fountain. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room, level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
TRIPLE THREAT: CHICKS WHO SOLVE CRIME!
Three Canadian mystery authors - Deryn Collier, Hilary Davidson, and Robin Spano - team up for an evening of readings & discussion. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Free but register in advance at 604-299-8955. McGill branch, Burnaby Public Library, 4595 Albert Street, Burnaby.
CHRIS GUILLEBEAU AND DANIELLE LAPORTE
Appearances by the author of The Art of Non-Conformity (Guillebeau) and The $100 Startup (Laporte). Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Chapters Robson, 788 Robson St. More information at 604-682-4066.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by Jen Currin and Lisa McInnes. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
RICHELLE MEAD
Signing by the author of the Bloodlines series. Saturday, June 23 at 2:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
Upcoming
DAPHNE MARLATT
Presentation of the 19th Annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award to Daphne Marlatt for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia. Thursday, June 28 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at 604-331-3603.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by bill bissett and Susan Cormier. Thursday, July 5 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Readings by Kate Braid, George McWhirter, Daniela Elza, Ken Klonksy, and Hal Wake. Sunday, July 8 at 3:00pm. Entry by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street, Vancouver. Details and registration here, www.deadpoetslive.com.
DENMAN ISLAND READERS & WRITERS FESTIVAL
Annual summer event featuring Tseporah Berman, Steven Galloway, Loran Goodison, Timothy Taylor and many others. July 19-22, 2012. For complete details, visit www.denmanislandwritersfestival.com.
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your
choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
cStories eBook Singles - currently running the "Get Into Our Shorts" contest at http://win.cstories.ca - will also offer Russell Wangersky's ebook "Bolt" to VWF members as part of the VWF membership drive; watch for the special offer in the INK Member eNewsletter. Not a member yet? Join us here,
https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the eighth installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "An Intimate Afternoon" from the 2011 Festival, featuring Russell Banks. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
AWARDS & LISTS
Canadian literary icon Margaret Atwood was honoured at the CBA's Libris Awards, where she was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Atwood's acceptance speech is here:
http://www.cbabook.org/files/LibrisAwards/Margaret%20Atwood's%20Acceptance%20Speech.pdf
The Libris Awards recognize the best in the Canadian book industry. The winners of this year's Libris Awards can be found here:
http://www.cbabook.org/files/LibrisAwards/LibrisWINNERSannouncement12FINAL.pdf
Natasha Trethewey has been appointed the US Poet Laureate, the first to hail from the south since Robert Penn Warren in 1986.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Natasha+Trethewey+explored+forgotten+Civil+history+named/6745858/story.html
Canadian Ken Babstock and Briton David Harsent won the 2012 Griffin Poetry Prize Thursday, each taking home $65,000.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/babstock-harsent-win-2012-griffin-poetry-prize/article4241056/
Poet Seamus Heaney has won the Griffin 2012 lifetime achievement award. Griffin trustee Robin Robertson referred to Mr. Heaney as "our greatest living poet".
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/poet-seamus-heaney-wins-griffin-prize-for-lifetime-achievement/article4237660/
American author Nathan Englander, along with Kevin Barry, Etgar Keret, Sarah Hall, Lucia Perillo, and Fiona Kidman are shortlisted for the lucrative short-story prize, the 2012 Frank O'Connor award.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/07/nathan-englander-favourite-frank-oconnor-award
Philip Roth paid tribute to his "dear friend" Carlos Fuentes on winning Spain's prestigious literary prize the Prince of Asturias award.
http: //www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/07/philip-roth-asturias-carlos-fuentes
Toronto author Ian Williams is the 2011 winner of the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, for Not Anyone's Anything.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/ian-williams-named-winner-of-danuta-gleed-literary-award/article4239253/
Beryl Young's Follow the Elephant, Michelle Superle's Black Dog Dream, and Linda Bailey's Stanley's Little Sister have won Chocolate Lilly 2012 awards. The awards gala took place at Devon Gardens Elementary School in Delta, B.C.
http://chocolatelilyawards.com/?p=296
The Walrus was the toast of Canada's National Magazine Awards last week, winning six gold awards and six silver. A complete list of winners and nominees is available here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/walrus-wins-big-at-national-magazine-awards/article4241029/.com
Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka has won the Commonwealth book prize for his debut novel Chinaman: the Legend of Pradeep Mathew.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/08/shehan-karunatilaka-commonwealth-book-prize
YOUNG READERS
Isabella's Garden By Glenda Millard, illustrated by Rebecca Cool. Beginning with "the soil/ all dark and deep/ in Isabella's garden," the book stays through the expected planting, the end of the growing season, through winter and on to the next growing season. The rhythm of the words matches well the roundness of the naturally
growing world. Ages 5 to 9.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/ct-books-isabellas-garden-by-glenda-millard,0,438383.story
Two books for Fathers Day or for fathers to read to their children: Australian author/illustrator Nick Bland's Some Dads; and Klaas Verplancke's Applesauce: images of polar bears, cautious elephants, sporty dads, naughty dads, "and some dads who just brighten your day". Ages 3 to 7.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+Books+share+with/6751217/story.html
Violet had no idea how important her interest in all things Japanese would become when she went to live with her artist dad for a summer. In Diana Renn's mystery novel Tokyo Heist, Violet learns about the art world and tracks stolen art. Ages 12 and up.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-diana-renn-20120603,0,2002959.story
Step Gently Out, In the Sea, Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature by Helen Frost and Rick Lieder. Ages 2 to 6.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1207616--step-gently-out-in-the-sea-outside-your-window-a-first-book-of-nature-who-needs-an-iceberg-an-arctic-ecosystem-50-climate-questions-a-blizzard-of-blistering-facts-mini-reviews
NEWS & FEATURES
Margaret Atwood and 25 other writers agreed to write a short story in Bradburyesque mode to contribute to a tribute volume on Ray Bradbury. It's no accident that he was descended from Mary Bradbury, convicted as a witch during the Salem witchcraft trials, writes Atwood.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/08/margaret-atwood-on-ray-bradbury
Booker prize-winning writer Barry Unsworth, author of Sacred Hunger (18th Century slave trade) and other historical novels, has died, age 81.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/08/barry-unsworth
New secrecy laws proposed for South Africa have provoked a rare public intervention from JM Coetzee, the Nobel laureate and double Booker prize winner, and fellow Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer. "We are going back to apartheid censorship under a new guise," says Gordimer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/06/south-african-campaigners-secrecy-bill
The South African press law is 'more harmful than apartheid-era censorship', says Wendy Woods, widow of anti-apartheid journalist and editor Donald Woods.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/06/south-african-press-law-harmful
Nicholas Lezard writes that Victor Serge's Memoirs of a Revolutionary should be required reading for anyone who cares about justice and freedom of speech.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/05/memoirs-revolutionary-victor-serge-review
Alberto Manguel reflects on art as a witness to the human desire to be infinite and eternal.
http://www.geist.com/articles/observer-and-observed/index.html
Four up-and-coming mystery writers—Hilary Davidson, Deryn Collier, Robin Spano and Ian Hamilton—are on a crime tour of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland in June, writes Tracy Sherlock. All four are fresh faces on the crime fiction scene.
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2012/05/30/crime-authors-on-a-mystery-tour-of-vancouver/
Fictional sleuths have a habit of bouncing back from retirement. Author Ian Rankin said there was "unfinished business" with his celebrated character, Inspector Rebus. Rebus will return in the novel Standing in Another Man's Grave, to be released in November.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/ian-rankin-brings-back-rebus-for-unfinished-business-7817887.html
Riel Nason's The Town that Drowned won the Commonwealth Book Prize for Canada and Europe, was inspired by Hawkshaw, NB, population of about 35 (including Nason). The book is now in contention for the main award.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Canadian+Commonwealth+Book+Prize+contender+inspired+drowned+town/6739714/story.html
In a major overhaul of the national curriculum for schools in England, children as young as five will be expected to learn and recite poetry by heart.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/jun/10/primary-school-children-recite-poetry
Two hundred love letters between Rainer Maria Rilke and Andreas-Salomé have been gathered into a book called Rilke and Andreas-Salomé: A Love Story in Letters. Each of the letters reveals a different facet of Rilke, writes Maria Popova.
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/06/06/rilke-salome-love-letters/
When W. H. Auden met Edward Mendelson, professor of English at Columbia University and discovered Mendelson's work, he decided that Mendelson, and not he, should select the essays for his next collection. Later, Auden asked Mendelson to become his literary executor.
http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/features/interview-edward-mendelson-literary-executor-and-wh-auden-fan-1-2333608
BOOKS & WRITERS
Skagboys is the prequel to Irvine Welsh's debut novel, Trainspotting and so, we revisit the lives of those characters—or, as Don Gillmore describes them, trainspotters-in-training. Perhaps we'll see the gang again in 2014 when the referendum on Scottish independence takes place, writes Gillmore.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/irvine-welshs-skagboys-trainspotters-in-training/article4241642/
Winning Words: Inspiring Poems for Everyday Life chosen by William Sieghart is an anthology to rejoice in, full of poems trying to make one feel better about being alive. The only off-putting thing about this anthology is its title, writes Kate Kellaway.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/10/winning-words-william-sieghart-review
Stories in Elaine McCluskey's collection Valery the Great are linked by their small-town Maritime settings as well as by a shared episodic structure, writes Rob Sternberg. Each story is told through a series of short scenes separated by page breaks.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/valery-the-great-by-elaine-mccluskey/article4242489/
Amber Dermont's The Starboard Sea conforms to the German idea of the bildungsroman, the story of a youth's transition to adulthood, writes Robert J. Wiersema, adding that The Starboard Sea is a well-constructed, well-paced character study.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Starboard+Coming+tale+sensitive+retelling+distant+past/6751858/story.html
Modern Russia is still unwilling to acknowledge the butchery of Stalin's rule, writes John Kampfner. Stephen F. Cohen's The Victims Return is not a history of the camps, but a history of the survivors and their legacy, with Russia locked in historical denial.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/10/stephen-cohen-survivors-gulag-stalin-review
In Our Way Out, Marq de Villiers shows that democracy has probably peaked and the globe's financial system has become a casino for the rich, writes Andrew Nikiforuk. We have exercised God-like energy powers badly; now we must learn how to use our "little powers" better.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/our-way-out-by-marq-de-villiers/article4248191/
Anakana Schofield has titled her debut novel Malarky, defined as "exaggerated or foolish talk, usually intended to deceive." The voice is always Our Woman's, a working class middle-aged woman and one of the most vivid fictional creations to come along in years, writes Ian McGillis.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Malarky+heroine+revels+freedom/6751318/story.html
The Matter with Morris, initially published in 2010, is now shortlisted for the €100,000 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, to be announced this week. This is a moving and engaging novel of grief and loss, impeccably written and fully imagined, writes Michel Basilières.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1201844--the-matter-with-morris-by-david-bergen-review
COMMUNITY EVENTS
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Phil Hall (Killdeer) and Aaron Bushkowsky (Curtains for Roy). Thursday, June 14 at 7:00pm, free. BC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
TWS READING SERIES
The Writer's Studio at SFU presents an evening with guest author Robyn Michele Levy, who has been shortlisted for the 2012 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour for her book All of Me:Surviving My Medical Meltdown. Thursday, June 14 at 7:00pm. Admission by donation. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway.
V6A - POSTAL CODE READINGS
Launch of a five-part reading series to support the anthology V6A with readings by Cathleen With, Brenda Prince, Antonette Rea and Sen Yi. Friday, June 15 at 7:00pm, free. Carnegie Community Centre, 401 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at www.thursdayswritingcollective.ca.
WAYDE COMPTON
The Canadian poet reads from a sequence of elegies about Canada and the Air India bombing. Friday, June 15 at 8:00pm. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive. More information at 604-253-6442.
CHRISTINA JOHNSON-DEAN
Launch of the fifth book in the series The Unheralded Artists of BC, The Life and Art of Ina D.D. Uhthoff. Saturday, June 16 at 8:00pm, free. Martin Batchelor Gallery, 712 Cormorant St., Victoria. More information at www.mothertonguepublishing.com.
THE OPENING ACT: CANADIAN THEATRE HISTORY 1945-1953
Book launch of Susan McNicoll new theatre history book. Sunday, June 17 at 2 pm, free. Trout Lake Community Centre, Lakewood Room, 3360 Victoria Drive. More information at www.ronsdalepress.com.
VAN SLAM
Slam featuring Dave Morris. Monday June 18 at 8:00pm. Cost: $6-$10 at the door. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
LUNCH POEMS @ SFU
Readings by Sonnet L'Abbe and Renee Sarojini Saklilkar presented by Simon Fraser University. Wednesday, June 20 at 12:00pm, free. Teck Gallery, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings.
BEHIND BARBED WIRE
Literary reading from Behind Barbed Wire: Creative Works on the Internment of Italian Canadians and Beyond Barbed Wire: Essays on the Internment of Italian Canadians with B.C. authors Lynne Bowen, Anna Foschi Ciampolini, Robert Pepper-Smith, and Osvaldo Zappa. Wednesday, June 20 at 7:00pm, free. McGill branch,
Burnaby Public Library, 4595 Albert Street, Burnaby.
TOM WAYMAN AND KATE BRAID
Award-winning authors present a dynamic evening of poetry. Wayman reads from Dirty Snow and Braid reads from several collections, including a new edition of To This Cedar Fountain. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room, level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
TRIPLE THREAT: CHICKS WHO SOLVE CRIME!
Three Canadian mystery authors - Deryn Collier, Hilary Davidson, and Robin Spano - team up for an evening of readings & discussion. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Free but register in advance at 604-299-8955. McGill branch, Burnaby Public Library, 4595 Albert Street, Burnaby.
CHRIS GUILLEBEAU AND DANIELLE LAPORTE
Appearances by the author of The Art of Non-Conformity (Guillebeau) and The $100 Startup (Laporte). Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Chapters Robson, 788 Robson St. More information at 604-682-4066.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by Jen Currin and Lisa McInnes. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
RICHELLE MEAD
Signing by the author of the Bloodlines series. Saturday, June 23 at 2:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
Upcoming
DAPHNE MARLATT
Presentation of the 19th Annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award to Daphne Marlatt for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia. Thursday, June 28 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at 604-331-3603.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by bill bissett and Susan Cormier. Thursday, July 5 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at talonbooks.com.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Readings by Kate Braid, George McWhirter, Daniela Elza, Ken Klonksy, and Hal Wake. Sunday, July 8 at 3:00pm. Entry by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street, Vancouver. Details and registration here, www.deadpoetslive.com.
DENMAN ISLAND READERS & WRITERS FESTIVAL
Annual summer event featuring Tseporah Berman, Steven Galloway, Loran Goodison, Timothy Taylor and many others. July 19-22, 2012. For complete details, visit www.denmanislandwritersfestival.com.
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Book News Vol. 7 No. 20
BOOK NEWS
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
Newfoundland writer Russell Wangersky will be appearing at this year's Festival - but you don't have to wait until October to experience his acclaimed new collection. cStories eBook Singles is a new program that offers short Canadian fiction in ePub format for download on a wide array of digital devices, desktop or mobile, to be read anytime, anywhere. Russell's ebook single Bolt is now available to Book News subscribers free on cstories.ca - get it now! Details: http://win.cstories.ca.
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the seventh installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "An Intimate Evening" from the 2011 Festival, featuring Aminatta Forna. How does hope exist for a generation shaped and scarred by war? Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
AWARDS & LISTS
Victoria author Kit Pearson has won a 2012 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award for The Whole Truth. The annual literary honour celebrates writing and illustration excellence in English-language Canadian children's literature.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/05/31/schwartz-awards-pearson-griek.html
Author Annabel Lyon, and Michal Kozlowski, Assistant Publisher of Geist, have been short listed for the 2012-2013 Chocolate Lily Book Awards: Lyon, for Encore Edie; Kozlowski, for Louis the Tiger who Came from the Sea. The full list of nominees is here:
http://chocolatelilyawards.com/?p=298
The Walrus Foundation and the Hal Jackman Foundation have launched the Walrus Poetry Prize, which offers a $5,000 cheque and a chance to be published in the Walrus magazine. The contest is accepting submissions until July 31.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1204364--5-000-poetry-prize-offers-a-chance-to-be-published-in-the-walrus-magazine
Sir Terry Pratchett has a new honour: a pig named after one of his books. He was given the unusual award after his novel Snuff won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. The prize includes a case of champagne.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/sir-terry-pratchett-wins-wodehouse-book-prize-7803946.html
Peter Robinson and his novel Before the Poison have won the Arthur Ellis Award for the best crime novel of the year, the sixth Arthur Ellis triumph for Robinson. Go here for the full list of winners.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/04/arthur-ellis-awards.html
The winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize will be announced Thursday. The short listed contenders for the Prize can be found here:
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1203657--griffin-poetry-prize-contender-redefined-polish-poetry
YOUNG READERS
As Kit Pearson's The Whole Truth begins, Polly and Maud are newly orphaned and are travelling by train from Winnipeg to B.C., where they will live with relatives they've never met. A sequel, entitled And Nothing But The Truth, will be published later this year. For ages 10 to 13.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/05/31/schwartz-awards-pearson-griek.html
The Hueys are a horde of egg-shaped characters that "looked and thought the same, and did the same things." Until one of them, named Rupert, knitted himself an orange jumper (read: sweater). The other Hueys were horrified but Gillespie "thought being different was interesting". Ages 5 to 7.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Kids+Embracing+individuality/6707662/story.html#ixzz1wbfPv69v
Listen to Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker reading from Oliver Jeffers's new picture book, The Hueys in the New Jumper here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/video/2012/may/31/jarvis-cocker-hueys-video
Lee Wardlaw's Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku is about a homeless feline that wiggles his way out of the shelter and slips into your heart. "Letmeoutletme / outletmeoutletmeout. / Wait — let me back in!" Ages 5 to 7.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/best-childrens-books-of-2011/2011/11/15/gIQAwyLfiO_story.html
UnBEElievables: Honeybee Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian. With facts tucked in at the bottom of the page. His bees sound like confident rappers. For ages 5 to 8.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/sc-ent-0418-books-kids-20120425,0,4336840.story
NEWS & FEATURES
Ray Bradbury, master of science fiction, has died, at 91.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/books/ray-bradbury-popularizer-of-science-fiction-dies-at-91.html?_r
Read Ray Bradbury's last article in the June 4 edition of the New Yorker here:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/06/04/120604fa_fact_bradbury
Both Enid Blyton and JK Rowling have proved that if children find a book, series or author they love, they'll read – regardless of what their parents think about it, writes Julia Eccleshare.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/jun/05/book-doctor-enid-blyton
Lemony Snicket's new series, All the Wrong Questions, is the first authorised account of his childhood. Who Could That Be at This Hour? – the first wrong question – will be published on 23 October. For one week, you can read the first chapter here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/interactive/2012/jun/04/lemony-snicket-new-book-first-chapter
Are literary classics obsolete? Laura Miller reports that a new study says today's writers are influenced by authors of the present, not the past. More than anything else, these writers hate the prose of the past.
http://www.salon.com/2012/05/31/are_literary_classics_obsolete/
Kira Cochrane interviews Madeline Miller, the most recent (and last-ever) recipient of the Orange Prize for her novel, The Song of Achilles.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/02/madeline-miller-orange-prize-achilles
An original Tintin comic book cover that the legendary Belgian artist Hergé created in 1932 has fetched more than €1.3 million at a Paris auction. An anonymous collector paid €1,338,509.20 (about $1.7 million Cdn) for the rare cover illustration of Tintin in America.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/04/tintin-cover-art-auction.html
The world's first known one book bookshop was established. A bookshop selling only one title: Pig Iron. The upshot of the impromptu bookshop is that Pig Iron is currently out-selling Hilary Mantel in the area by 3-1. A phyrric victory, of course, writes Ben Myers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/jun/04/ben-myers-pig-iron-hebden-bridge
BOOKS & WRITERS
Sir Andrew Motion's 10-year tenure as Britain's Poet Laureate almost killed the poet in him, he says. Now promoting Silver, a sequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, Motion has begun writing a sequel to his own sequel.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1202346--poet-finds-novel-treasure-in-classic-pirate-yarn
In his Complete Poems, Philip Larkin writes: "What will survive of us is love." Ron Rosenbaum comments: "The line is so uncharacteristic of Larkin, you can barely believe it. Elsewhere, there are quotes from Larkin suggesting he could barely believe it either."
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_spectator/2012/05/_what_will_survive_of_us_is_love_poet_philip_larkin_s_controversial_line_from_on_arundel_tomb_.html
Chris Cleave's Olympics-themed novel Gold is timely, sentimental...and thrillingly good, writes Alex Preston. As much a domestic drama as a trackside thriller, the novel takes us deep into the lives of three Olympic sprint cyclists in the lead-up to the London games.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/03/gold-chris-cleave-review-olympics
Reality, Reality, Jackie Kay's most recent short story collection is both hilarious and heartbreaking, writes Anita Sethi, although loss is the connecting theme in the collection. Often recounted by unreliable narrators, the stories probe one of Kay's obsessions: the tricksy nature of our perceptions.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/03/reality-reality-jackie-kay-review
Paul Krugman's End This Depression Now has a plan for escaping the financial crisis, and it doesn't involve austerity measures or deregulating the banks, writes Decca Aitkenhead. It's the sort of book you wish were compulsory reading, says Aitkenhead.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jun/03/paul-krugman-cassandra-economist-crisis
Orhan Pamuk's plan was to write a novel in the form of a museum catalogue, writes Elif Batuman, while simultaneously building the museum to which it referred. Pamuk's first step was to contact a real-estate agent.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v34/n11/elif-batuman/diary?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3411&hq_e=el&hq_m=1750968&hq_l=11&hq_v=e88626cf24
Martin Amis, now living in New York, has written Lionel Asbo: State of England, whose key character is a criminal who has won the lottery. The press conjectures that Amis's move to New York is due to disaffection for England are entirely wrong.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/03/martin-amis-brooklyn-lionel-asbo-interview
Thanks to Peggy Dymond Leavey‘s Laura Secord: Heroine of the War of 1812, we who believed that Laura Secord was Canadian, now know that she was born in Massachusetts. Still, Secord walked 30 km. to warn the Brits the Americans were coming.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1203013--laura-secord-heroine-of-the-war-of-1812-column
Herta Müller's The Hunger Angel reduces life to its essentials, endowing objects with human characteristics and reducing people to objects. The novel is based on the memories of her fellow German-Romanian poet Oskar Pastior, who was carted off to a labour camp at 17.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/the-hunger-angel-by-herta-mller/article4226026/
In What We Talk About When We Talk About War, Noah Richler writes that Canada's former self-identity as a peacekeeping nation has switched to one as a warrior nation. "Using the word terrorist excuses us from having to think about what it means to be someone else," says Richler.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Noah+Richler+explores+role+combat+affects+folklore+book/6715936/story.html
A farm girl has a compelling tale to tell in Nell Leyshon's evocative novella The Colour of Milk, says Lettie Ransley. The charm of Leyshon's novella is to be found as much in its spare, evocative style as in the candour of its narrator.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/03/colour-milk-nell-leyshon-review
Paul Theroux's new novel The Lower River tells a story of an American who goes back to Africa where he was once happy. The Lower River is all about being misunderstood: madly, wildly and very nearly fatally, writes Christopher Hope.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/31/lower-river-paul-theroux-review
HHhH, the brilliant, haunting debut novel by French writer Laurent Binet, focuses on Operation Anthropoid, the 1942 military plan to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich. HHhH is as much the story of Binet's lifelong obsession with the mission as it is the story of the mission itself, writes Anthony Domestico.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/27/RVFO1OADP9.DTL
COMMUNITY EVENTS
GRIFFIN VANCOUVER
Livestream video of the prize ceremonies in Toronto. Thursday, June 7 at 6:00pm. Performance Space, W2 Media Cafe, 111 West Hastings Street. More information at griffinvancouver.com.
KUCKI LOW
Author will talk about her memoir recalling her life as South Africa's first female airline pilot, This is Kucki Your Pilot Speaking. Thursday, June 7 at 7:00pm. Free but please register in advance by phoning 604-299-8955. McGill branch, Burnaby Public Library, 4595 Albert Street, Burnaby.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Reading by Lisa Shatzky and Robin Susanto. Thursday, June 7 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
TALE OF THE GREAT WHITE FISH
Reading by Maggie de Vries. Saturday, June 9 at 1:00pm. Free but registration required. Bob Prittie Metrotown, 6100 Willingdon Ave., Burnaby. More information at 604-436-5420.
MICHAEL SCOTT
The award-winning Irish author of the popular Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series will be coming to Kidsbooks to present the sixth and final book: The Enchantress. Wednesday, June 13 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $23 and include a copy of the book. Kidsbooks, 3083 West Broadway. More information at www.kidsbooks.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Phil Hall (Killdeer) and Aaron Bushkowsky (Curtains for Roy). Thursday, June 14 at 7:00pm, free. BC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
TWS READING SERIES
The Writer's Studio at SFU presents an evening with guest author Robyn Michele Levy, who has been shortlisted for the 2012 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour for her book All of Me:Surviving My Medical Meltdown. Thursday, June 14 at 7:00pm. Admission by donation. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway.
CHRISTINA JOHNSON-DEAN
Launch of the fifth book in the series The Unheralded Artists of BC, The Life and Art of Ina D.D. Uhthoff. Saturday, June 16 at 8:00pm, free. Martin Batchelor Gallery, 712 Cormorant St., Victoria. More information at www.mothertonguepublishing.com.
THE OPENING ACT: CANADIAN THEATRE HISTORY 1945-1953
Book launch of Susan McNicoll new theatre history book. Sunday, June 17 at 2 pm, free. Trout Lake Community Centre, Lakewood Room, 3360 Victoria Drive. More information at www.ronsdalepress.com.
Upcoming
LUNCH POEMS @ SFU
Readings by Sonnet L'Abbe and Renee Sarojini Saklilkar presented by Simon Fraser University. Wednesday, June 20 at 12:00pm, free. Teck Gallery, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings.
BEHIND BARBED WIRE
Literary reading from Behind Barbed Wire: Creative Works on the Internment of Italian Canadians and Beyond Barbed Wire: Essays on the Internment of Italian Canadians with B.C. authors Lynne Bowen, Anna Foschi Ciampolini, Robert Pepper-Smith, and Osvaldo Zappa. Wednesday, June 20 at 7:00pm, free. McGill branch, Burnaby Public Library, 4595 Albert Street, Burnaby.
TOM WAYMAN AND KATE BRAID
Award-winning authors present a dynamic evening of poetry. Wayman reads from Dirty Snow and Braid reads from several collections, including a new edition of To This Cedar Fountain. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room, level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
TRIPLE THREAT: CHICKS WHO SOLVE CRIME!
Three Canadian mystery authors - Deryn Collier, Hilary Davidson, and Robin Spano - team up for an evening of readings & discussion. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Free but register in advance at 604-299-8955. McGill branch, Burnaby Public Library, 4595 Albert Street, Burnaby.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by Jen Currin and Lisa McInnes. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
RICHELLE MEAD
Signing by the author of the Bloodlines series. Saturday, June 23 at 2:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
DAPHNE MARLATT
Presentation of the 19th Annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award to Daphne Marlatt for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia. Thursday, June 28 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at 604-331-3603.
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
Special Offers
If being a member of the VIWF didn't already have enough benefits, we've added an extra incentive! Every two weeks new and renewing members will have a chance to win a book by a Festival or Incite author. At the end of August we'll have a grand prize draw for a deluxe pack of Festival tickets - two tickets to any event of your choice for each day of the Festival! Sign up now here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_membership.php.
Newfoundland writer Russell Wangersky will be appearing at this year's Festival - but you don't have to wait until October to experience his acclaimed new collection. cStories eBook Singles is a new program that offers short Canadian fiction in ePub format for download on a wide array of digital devices, desktop or mobile, to be read anytime, anywhere. Russell's ebook single Bolt is now available to Book News subscribers free on cstories.ca - get it now! Details: http://win.cstories.ca.
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the seventh installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "An Intimate Evening" from the 2011 Festival, featuring Aminatta Forna. How does hope exist for a generation shaped and scarred by war? Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives.
AWARDS & LISTS
Victoria author Kit Pearson has won a 2012 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award for The Whole Truth. The annual literary honour celebrates writing and illustration excellence in English-language Canadian children's literature.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/05/31/schwartz-awards-pearson-griek.html
Author Annabel Lyon, and Michal Kozlowski, Assistant Publisher of Geist, have been short listed for the 2012-2013 Chocolate Lily Book Awards: Lyon, for Encore Edie; Kozlowski, for Louis the Tiger who Came from the Sea. The full list of nominees is here:
http://chocolatelilyawards.com/?p=298
The Walrus Foundation and the Hal Jackman Foundation have launched the Walrus Poetry Prize, which offers a $5,000 cheque and a chance to be published in the Walrus magazine. The contest is accepting submissions until July 31.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1204364--5-000-poetry-prize-offers-a-chance-to-be-published-in-the-walrus-magazine
Sir Terry Pratchett has a new honour: a pig named after one of his books. He was given the unusual award after his novel Snuff won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. The prize includes a case of champagne.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/sir-terry-pratchett-wins-wodehouse-book-prize-7803946.html
Peter Robinson and his novel Before the Poison have won the Arthur Ellis Award for the best crime novel of the year, the sixth Arthur Ellis triumph for Robinson. Go here for the full list of winners.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/04/arthur-ellis-awards.html
The winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize will be announced Thursday. The short listed contenders for the Prize can be found here:
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1203657--griffin-poetry-prize-contender-redefined-polish-poetry
YOUNG READERS
As Kit Pearson's The Whole Truth begins, Polly and Maud are newly orphaned and are travelling by train from Winnipeg to B.C., where they will live with relatives they've never met. A sequel, entitled And Nothing But The Truth, will be published later this year. For ages 10 to 13.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/05/31/schwartz-awards-pearson-griek.html
The Hueys are a horde of egg-shaped characters that "looked and thought the same, and did the same things." Until one of them, named Rupert, knitted himself an orange jumper (read: sweater). The other Hueys were horrified but Gillespie "thought being different was interesting". Ages 5 to 7.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Kids+Embracing+individuality/6707662/story.html#ixzz1wbfPv69v
Listen to Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker reading from Oliver Jeffers's new picture book, The Hueys in the New Jumper here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/video/2012/may/31/jarvis-cocker-hueys-video
Lee Wardlaw's Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku is about a homeless feline that wiggles his way out of the shelter and slips into your heart. "Letmeoutletme / outletmeoutletmeout. / Wait — let me back in!" Ages 5 to 7.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/best-childrens-books-of-2011/2011/11/15/gIQAwyLfiO_story.html
UnBEElievables: Honeybee Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian. With facts tucked in at the bottom of the page. His bees sound like confident rappers. For ages 5 to 8.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/sc-ent-0418-books-kids-20120425,0,4336840.story
NEWS & FEATURES
Ray Bradbury, master of science fiction, has died, at 91.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/books/ray-bradbury-popularizer-of-science-fiction-dies-at-91.html?_r
Read Ray Bradbury's last article in the June 4 edition of the New Yorker here:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/06/04/120604fa_fact_bradbury
Both Enid Blyton and JK Rowling have proved that if children find a book, series or author they love, they'll read – regardless of what their parents think about it, writes Julia Eccleshare.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/jun/05/book-doctor-enid-blyton
Lemony Snicket's new series, All the Wrong Questions, is the first authorised account of his childhood. Who Could That Be at This Hour? – the first wrong question – will be published on 23 October. For one week, you can read the first chapter here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/interactive/2012/jun/04/lemony-snicket-new-book-first-chapter
Are literary classics obsolete? Laura Miller reports that a new study says today's writers are influenced by authors of the present, not the past. More than anything else, these writers hate the prose of the past.
http://www.salon.com/2012/05/31/are_literary_classics_obsolete/
Kira Cochrane interviews Madeline Miller, the most recent (and last-ever) recipient of the Orange Prize for her novel, The Song of Achilles.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/02/madeline-miller-orange-prize-achilles
An original Tintin comic book cover that the legendary Belgian artist Hergé created in 1932 has fetched more than €1.3 million at a Paris auction. An anonymous collector paid €1,338,509.20 (about $1.7 million Cdn) for the rare cover illustration of Tintin in America.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/06/04/tintin-cover-art-auction.html
The world's first known one book bookshop was established. A bookshop selling only one title: Pig Iron. The upshot of the impromptu bookshop is that Pig Iron is currently out-selling Hilary Mantel in the area by 3-1. A phyrric victory, of course, writes Ben Myers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/jun/04/ben-myers-pig-iron-hebden-bridge
BOOKS & WRITERS
Sir Andrew Motion's 10-year tenure as Britain's Poet Laureate almost killed the poet in him, he says. Now promoting Silver, a sequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, Motion has begun writing a sequel to his own sequel.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1202346--poet-finds-novel-treasure-in-classic-pirate-yarn
In his Complete Poems, Philip Larkin writes: "What will survive of us is love." Ron Rosenbaum comments: "The line is so uncharacteristic of Larkin, you can barely believe it. Elsewhere, there are quotes from Larkin suggesting he could barely believe it either."
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_spectator/2012/05/_what_will_survive_of_us_is_love_poet_philip_larkin_s_controversial_line_from_on_arundel_tomb_.html
Chris Cleave's Olympics-themed novel Gold is timely, sentimental...and thrillingly good, writes Alex Preston. As much a domestic drama as a trackside thriller, the novel takes us deep into the lives of three Olympic sprint cyclists in the lead-up to the London games.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/03/gold-chris-cleave-review-olympics
Reality, Reality, Jackie Kay's most recent short story collection is both hilarious and heartbreaking, writes Anita Sethi, although loss is the connecting theme in the collection. Often recounted by unreliable narrators, the stories probe one of Kay's obsessions: the tricksy nature of our perceptions.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/03/reality-reality-jackie-kay-review
Paul Krugman's End This Depression Now has a plan for escaping the financial crisis, and it doesn't involve austerity measures or deregulating the banks, writes Decca Aitkenhead. It's the sort of book you wish were compulsory reading, says Aitkenhead.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jun/03/paul-krugman-cassandra-economist-crisis
Orhan Pamuk's plan was to write a novel in the form of a museum catalogue, writes Elif Batuman, while simultaneously building the museum to which it referred. Pamuk's first step was to contact a real-estate agent.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v34/n11/elif-batuman/diary?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3411&hq_e=el&hq_m=1750968&hq_l=11&hq_v=e88626cf24
Martin Amis, now living in New York, has written Lionel Asbo: State of England, whose key character is a criminal who has won the lottery. The press conjectures that Amis's move to New York is due to disaffection for England are entirely wrong.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/03/martin-amis-brooklyn-lionel-asbo-interview
Thanks to Peggy Dymond Leavey‘s Laura Secord: Heroine of the War of 1812, we who believed that Laura Secord was Canadian, now know that she was born in Massachusetts. Still, Secord walked 30 km. to warn the Brits the Americans were coming.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1203013--laura-secord-heroine-of-the-war-of-1812-column
Herta Müller's The Hunger Angel reduces life to its essentials, endowing objects with human characteristics and reducing people to objects. The novel is based on the memories of her fellow German-Romanian poet Oskar Pastior, who was carted off to a labour camp at 17.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/the-hunger-angel-by-herta-mller/article4226026/
In What We Talk About When We Talk About War, Noah Richler writes that Canada's former self-identity as a peacekeeping nation has switched to one as a warrior nation. "Using the word terrorist excuses us from having to think about what it means to be someone else," says Richler.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Noah+Richler+explores+role+combat+affects+folklore+book/6715936/story.html
A farm girl has a compelling tale to tell in Nell Leyshon's evocative novella The Colour of Milk, says Lettie Ransley. The charm of Leyshon's novella is to be found as much in its spare, evocative style as in the candour of its narrator.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/03/colour-milk-nell-leyshon-review
Paul Theroux's new novel The Lower River tells a story of an American who goes back to Africa where he was once happy. The Lower River is all about being misunderstood: madly, wildly and very nearly fatally, writes Christopher Hope.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/31/lower-river-paul-theroux-review
HHhH, the brilliant, haunting debut novel by French writer Laurent Binet, focuses on Operation Anthropoid, the 1942 military plan to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich. HHhH is as much the story of Binet's lifelong obsession with the mission as it is the story of the mission itself, writes Anthony Domestico.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/27/RVFO1OADP9.DTL
COMMUNITY EVENTS
GRIFFIN VANCOUVER
Livestream video of the prize ceremonies in Toronto. Thursday, June 7 at 6:00pm. Performance Space, W2 Media Cafe, 111 West Hastings Street. More information at griffinvancouver.com.
KUCKI LOW
Author will talk about her memoir recalling her life as South Africa's first female airline pilot, This is Kucki Your Pilot Speaking. Thursday, June 7 at 7:00pm. Free but please register in advance by phoning 604-299-8955. McGill branch, Burnaby Public Library, 4595 Albert Street, Burnaby.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Reading by Lisa Shatzky and Robin Susanto. Thursday, June 7 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
TALE OF THE GREAT WHITE FISH
Reading by Maggie de Vries. Saturday, June 9 at 1:00pm. Free but registration required. Bob Prittie Metrotown, 6100 Willingdon Ave., Burnaby. More information at 604-436-5420.
MICHAEL SCOTT
The award-winning Irish author of the popular Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series will be coming to Kidsbooks to present the sixth and final book: The Enchantress. Wednesday, June 13 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $23 and include a copy of the book. Kidsbooks, 3083 West Broadway. More information at www.kidsbooks.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Phil Hall (Killdeer) and Aaron Bushkowsky (Curtains for Roy). Thursday, June 14 at 7:00pm, free. BC Bookstore/Library at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
TWS READING SERIES
The Writer's Studio at SFU presents an evening with guest author Robyn Michele Levy, who has been shortlisted for the 2012 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour for her book All of Me:Surviving My Medical Meltdown. Thursday, June 14 at 7:00pm. Admission by donation. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway.
CHRISTINA JOHNSON-DEAN
Launch of the fifth book in the series The Unheralded Artists of BC, The Life and Art of Ina D.D. Uhthoff. Saturday, June 16 at 8:00pm, free. Martin Batchelor Gallery, 712 Cormorant St., Victoria. More information at www.mothertonguepublishing.com.
THE OPENING ACT: CANADIAN THEATRE HISTORY 1945-1953
Book launch of Susan McNicoll new theatre history book. Sunday, June 17 at 2 pm, free. Trout Lake Community Centre, Lakewood Room, 3360 Victoria Drive. More information at www.ronsdalepress.com.
Upcoming
LUNCH POEMS @ SFU
Readings by Sonnet L'Abbe and Renee Sarojini Saklilkar presented by Simon Fraser University. Wednesday, June 20 at 12:00pm, free. Teck Gallery, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings.
BEHIND BARBED WIRE
Literary reading from Behind Barbed Wire: Creative Works on the Internment of Italian Canadians and Beyond Barbed Wire: Essays on the Internment of Italian Canadians with B.C. authors Lynne Bowen, Anna Foschi Ciampolini, Robert Pepper-Smith, and Osvaldo Zappa. Wednesday, June 20 at 7:00pm, free. McGill branch, Burnaby Public Library, 4595 Albert Street, Burnaby.
TOM WAYMAN AND KATE BRAID
Award-winning authors present a dynamic evening of poetry. Wayman reads from Dirty Snow and Braid reads from several collections, including a new edition of To This Cedar Fountain. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room, level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
TRIPLE THREAT: CHICKS WHO SOLVE CRIME!
Three Canadian mystery authors - Deryn Collier, Hilary Davidson, and Robin Spano - team up for an evening of readings & discussion. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Free but register in advance at 604-299-8955. McGill branch, Burnaby Public Library, 4595 Albert Street, Burnaby.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Readings by Jen Currin and Lisa McInnes. Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave., Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
RICHELLE MEAD
Signing by the author of the Bloodlines series. Saturday, June 23 at 2:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
DAPHNE MARLATT
Presentation of the 19th Annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award to Daphne Marlatt for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia. Thursday, June 28 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at 604-331-3603.
VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL 2012
VVF seeks videopoems that wed words and images, the voice seen as well as heard. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. For more information, contact Artistic Director Heather Haley at hshaley@emspace.com.
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