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.