Book News Vol. 7 No. 25

BOOK NEWS
UPCOMING EVENTS
Michael Chabon - Just Announced!
September 26, 2012 at 8:00pm
St. Andrew's Wesley United Church
Author of the New York Times bestselling novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, talks about his latest book, Telegraph Avenue. Members - check Ink e-newsletter for your special discount code. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/michaelchabon
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
Listen to the twelfth installment in our series of audio archives from past Festival events. This week you'll hear "My Generation" from the 2011 Festival, featuring Dennis E. Bolen, Linda Grant and Cate Kennedy. There are consequences to living the 'ideal' life, no matter your generation. 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.
AROUND TOWN THIS MONTH
The Indian Summer Festival (http://indiansummerfestival.ca) continues this weekend events featuring with exciting authors from India, Canada and the UK, music, film and dance.
The Other Side of Silence (http://indiansummerfestival.ca/events/butalia/), with Urvashi Butalia. Renowned Indian writer, publisher, feminist and historian Urvashi Butalia talks with Charlie Smith, Editor of the Georgia Straight.
Multimedia Lit & Sound Cabaret (http://indiansummerfestival.ca/events/cabaret/). Led by an all-star cast of wordsmiths and language artists into a plethora of sound and delight, this first Indian Summer Lit and Sound Cabaret is a must-see event.
Ideas Series: Who Do You Think You Are? With Gurjinder Basran, David Chariandy & Anosh Irani (http://indiansummerfestival.ca/events/ideas/). Three of BC's most celebrated young writers talk with Hal Wake, Artistic Director of the Vancouver International Writers Festival.
AWARDS & LISTS
American author Nathan Englander has won the 2012 Frank O'Connor short story award (€25,000) for What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/09/nathan-englander-wins-frank-oconnor
During the week running up to the award's presentation in September, 500 short story collections will be left in public places around Cork City, free for members of the public to take home and read.
http://www.frankoconnor-shortstory-award.net/
Books by Aidon Chambers, Roddy Doyle, Jack Gantos, Russell Hoban, Anne Holt, Eva Ibbotson, Ally Kennan, and Frank Cottrell Royce are on the longlist of the Guardian children's fiction prize 2012.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/gallery/2012/jun/08/childrens-fiction-prize-longlist-gallery
The CBC has announced the five English-language finalists in the annual CBC Creative Nonfiction Prize.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1223604--finalists-announced-for-cbc-creative-nonfiction-prize
On 19 July, Colin Dexter will be honoured with the Theakstons Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction award for his creation of the unforgettable character Inspector Morse.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/06/colin-dexter-honoured-contribution-crime-writing
YOUNG READERS
Lauren St John's The One Dollar Horse follows teenager Casey Blue and how her life changes when she rescues a horse from a knackers yard, paying only a dollar. She brings her horse back to full health but things aren't going well. The young reviewer "HorseLover3000" says she really loved this book. For readers 12 and up.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/jul/05/one-dollar-horse-lauren-st-john-review
It’s summer vacation—just fun in the sun! But even during the holidays, one's brain needs exercising. Enter Edgar Allan Poe’s Pie. Texts are by J. Patrick Lewis, the American children’s poet laureate. Illustrations are by Michael Slack. For ages 8 to 88.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+Math+puzzles+wrapped+poetry/6893738/story.html
William Joyce's The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore tells of Mr. Lessmore's love of books. Wondering whether his own book can fly, Morris discovers it doesn't – that he needs a good story before his book will take wing. A film version won an Academy award. For ages 4 to 104.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+homage+printed+word/6824536/story.html
The average American teenager spends two hours watching TV each day and just seven minutes reading, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The Urban Flip Book is a lifeline for struggling teen readers. There are 10 titles in the Urban Flip Book series.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-urban-flip-book-20120617,0,5240646.story
NEWS & FEATURES
Arab diplomats in France have been sharply criticized for withdrawing prize money for a literary award because the winner had visited Israel. Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal was scheduled to receive the Prix du Roman Arabe for his book Rue Darwin, but in May, he spoke at a literary festival in Israel.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/world/europe/arab-envoys-rebuked-for-denying-prize-money-to-algerian-writer.html
To mark the 50th anniversary of his death, the Folio Society is printing Faulkner's 1929 novel, The Sound and the Fury, the way he intended, with different colours marking chronological shifts in the story. 1,480 copies will be published.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/04/william-faulkner-sound-fury-coloured-ink
Amelia Hill has discovered that abandonment, alienation and homelessness are increasingly the themes covered in modern literature for children. Children's books are now less likely to be along the lines of Alice in Wonderland, and instead reflect the harsh reality of modern childhood.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/06/childrens-books-reflect-harsh-reality
Following her review of Tim Kendall's The Art of Robert Frost, Kathryn Schulz concludes that Robert Frost is really a terrifying poet.
http://www.vulture.com/2012/05/the-art-of-robert-frost-tim-kendall.html
The author Douglas Brinkley and the actor Johnny Depp are teaming up to edit House of Earth, a previously unpublished novel by the folk singer Woody Guthrie that will be released next spring.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/09/with-johnny-depps-help-woody-guthrie-novel-to-arrive-in-2013/
The brother of Nobel prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez says side-effects of cancer treatment have accelerated his brother's decline from senile dementia and that he can no longer write.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/07/gabriel-garcia-marquez-career-dementia
Michael Chabon tries to figure out what to make of Finnegans Wake, The Dubliners and what he describes as "the unlovable" Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Rather than achieving a greater understanding of Finnegans Wake, Chabon appears to have learned more about himself.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jul/12/what-make-finnegans-wake/?pagination=false
A U.S. Supreme Court decision has left American libraries' book-lending rights under threat, since the right of a purchaser of a book to sell or lend that copy, applies only to copies manufactured in the United States. Three major library groups are requesting a reversal of the Second Circuit decision.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/copyright/article/52874-in-supreme-court-filing-libraries-say-decision-in-wiley-suit-threatens-lending-rights.html
The hottest controversy of the summer concerns the New York Public Library, and a plan to disembowel its main building and "replace books with people", writes Jason Farago. Writers and professors are enraged, staff demoralized, and the entire purpose of the system is called into question.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/07/what-lies-behind-battle-over-new-york-public-library
An exchange in defense of the New York Public Library is in the most recent issue of The New York Review of Books.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jul/12/defense-new-york-public-library-exchange/
The New York Times' Janet Maslin panned Patrick Somerville's book This Bright River. Then The Times had to correct the review to fix all their errors.
http://www.salon.com/2012/07/05/thank_you_for_killing_my_novel/
The novelist David Vann reveals that he can't even sign his name in longhand now that he's switched to typing and why he downloaded the Kindle app in desperation. His most recent novel is Dirt, set in 1985 New Age California.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/05/david-vann-my-desktop
After being arrested in 1974 by the Savak, the shah's secret police, the Iranian writer Mahmoud Dowlatabadi asked his interrogators what crime he had committed. "None," he recalled them responding, "but everyone we arrest seems to have copies of your novels, so that makes you provocative."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/books/the-colonel-by-the-iranian-writer-mahmoud-dowlatabadi.html
A recent issue of The New York Review of Books includes an excerpt of Bring Up the Bodies, the sequel to Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jun/21/bring-bodies/
The Erasure Poetry Contest is Closing Soon! 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
Julie Bosman writes that Ernest Hemingway wrote the ending to A Farewell to Arms 39 times before he was satisfied. A new edition of A Farewell to Arms, out next week, will include all the alternative endings.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/books/a-farewell-to-arms-with-hemingways-alternate-endings.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss
Patrick Senécal's Against God, barely 100 pages, is a chilling tale of an ordinary man's rancorous dance with disillusionment in the wake of insufferable loss. Senécal, known as "Quebec's Stephen King," is a prolific writer. This first English translation will introduce English Canada to his work.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/against-god-by-patrick-sencal/article4375124/
Dystopian fiction needs to strike a balance between strangeness and familiarity in order to transport us, writes Eric Boodman. "My job is just to reveal this magic to you, to illustrate what in your hearts you already know," says a character in Pasha Malla's People Park.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Pasha+Malla+People+Park+magic+show+reveals+disquieting+truths/6893756/story.html#ixzz1zzuYcu4b
A wedding, a car accident, a death, a story about redemption. In her review of Carol Anshaw's Carry the One, Deborah Dundee quotes Emma Donoghue: The book "will lift readers off their feet and bear them along on its eloquent tide."
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1221068--carry-the-one-by-carol-anshaw-review
Clive Stafford Smith's portrayal of the American judicial system in Injustice: Life and Death in the Courtrooms of America is shocking and illuminating, writes Ed Vuillamy. This is killing as a matter of procedure, the process of what America calls law, says Vuillamy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/08/injustice-life-death-stafford-smith-review
Most readers will already know what happened to George Mallory as he sets out for the summit of the world's highest peak, but the joy in reading Tanis Rideout's Above All Things is in the journey, says Claire Cameron.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/above-all-things-by-tanis-rideout/article4394393/
Billy Lynn's Longtime Walk, Ben Fountain's blinder of a first novel, has been a long time coming, writes Theo Tait. It's a fierce, exhilarating novel about the Iraq war which Vietnam veteran and novelist Karl Marlantes dubbed 'the Catch-22 of the Iraq war'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/06/billy-lynn-ben-fountain-review
Focusing attention this week on authors from independent presses, Brett Josef Grubisic identifies Mike Barnes' The Reasonable Ogre, Anne Fleming's Gay Dwarves of America, Heather Birrell's Mad Hope, as examples of small labels offering big stories.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Small+labels+offer+stories/6895161/story.html
Clover, over 50 and underappreciated, wakes up invisible one day. In Jeanne Ray's Calling Invisible Women, Clover bands together with other invisible women to fight back. Ray began to write at 60, and now has several titles. She credits daughter Ann Patchett's limited advice.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/books/sc-ent-0627-books-invisible-women-20120628,0,7073232.story
COMMUNITY EVENTS
TWS READING SERIES
Readings by Fiona Scott, Tara Wohlberg, Ben Nuttall-Smith, Danielle Patrick, Karen J. Lee, Carol Tulpar, Bernice Lever and guest author Nora Gold. Friday, July 13 at 7:00pm. Take 5 Cafe, 429 Granville St.
ALL ROADS LEAD TO WELLS
Launch for author Susan Safyan's book that tells the story of a group of idealistic young men and women who moved to the tiny B.C. town of Wells in the late 1960s and 1970s. Friday, July 13 at 7:00pm, free. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive. More information at admin@caitlin-press.com.
VAN SLAM: OPEN SECRET
Van Slam featuring Ikenna "OpenSecret" Onyegbula. Monday, July 16 at 8:00pm. Cost: $6-$10 sliding scale. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive.
TIM WARD
Author reads from Zombies on Kilimanjaro: A Father-Son Journey Above the Clouds. Tuesday, 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 Tzeporah Berman, Steven Galloway, Loran Goodison, Timothy Taylor and many others. July 19-22, 2012. For complete details, visit www.denmanislandwritersfestival.com.
Upcoming
SURREY MUSE
This month's meeting features author Joanne Arnott, poet Franci Louanne, and filmmaker Hari Alluri. Also, Timothy Shay, Gomathy Puri and hosted by Randeep Purewall. Friday, July 27 at 5:30pm. Room 418, Surrey Public Library - City Centre, 10350 University Drive.
FORT LANGLEY CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS
An Afternoon of Poetry and Music with poet Susan McCaslin and jazz musician Amanda Tosoff collaborate from their recent works. Saturday, July 28 at 2:30pm. Centennial Museum, 9135 King Street, Fort Langley.
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.