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.