Book News Vol. 7 No. 52

BOOK NEWS

Incite: Mind-altering, metamorphic, twice-monthly!

Join us on Wednesday, February 13 for an evening filled with non-fiction, featuring Globe and Mail journalist Sandra Martin and Zac Unger. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite. Register here: http://incitevpl2013spring.eventbrite.ca/.

Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library. Incite is sponsored by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and supported by the R.J. Nelson Family Foundation.

SPECIAL EVENT

Sally Armstrong in conversation with Kathryn Gretsinger
The Vancouver Writers Fest presents its first special event of 2013, an evening with award-winning Canadian author, journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong. Armstrong is the author of three previous books, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. Her new book is Ascent of Women.

7:30 pm, Monday, March 25
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Burrard at Nelson

A DRAM COME TRUE

Tickets are on sale now for our popular single malt tasting A Dram Come True. Join us at Hycroft, the elegant Shaughnessy mansion, for an evening of great fun and good spirits. Enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts, a premium silent auction, Cuban cigars and great company. A Dram Comes True is a fundraiser for the Writers Fest. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.

AWARDS & LISTS

The BC Achievement Foundation has awarded historian Modris Eksteins the $40,000 BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction for his book Solar Dance: Genius, Forgery and the Crisis of Truth in the Modern Age.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Historian+nets+fiction+prize/7917106/story.html

Three short story collections are shortlisted for The Story Prize: Dan Chaon's Stay Awake, Junot Diaz's This Is How You Lose Her and Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins. The winner will be announced March 13, and will receive a prize of $20,000.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-congrats-story-prize-finalists-20130116,0,6963746.story

The Canada Reads 2013 contenders are listed here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/2012/11/meet-the-canada-reads-2013-contenders.html

YOUNG READERS

An Irish lass came to North America more than 150 years ago in search of a better life. A necklace of crystal beads makes its way into the hands of young girls. Sharon Dennis Wyeth's The Granddaughter Necklace, is less a story of history than a story of family. Ages 4 to 8.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Books+kids+Stories+that+just+imagine/7910493/story.html#ixzz2Joa6J8IY

"What would you do if you had a chance to help a person find freedom?" That's the question on the back cover of Henry Cole's Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad, an otherwise wordless picture book. Ages 6 to 9.
http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Books-for-young-readers-4224639.php#ixzz2Joeo3QXp

In Ayun Halliday's Peanut, Sadie Wildhack, new to her school, decides a deadly peanut allergy will give her just the right dose of offbeat cachet. It will surely pique interest from her new classmates. For ages 12 to 18.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/books/peanut-by-ayun-halliday.html

NEWS & FEATURES

The news that the entire content of the libraries in Timbuktu have been destroyed by fire is incorrect. Jean-Michel Djian, a French writer and author of The Manuscripts of Timbuktu, has confirmed that parts of the various collections were safe. "The majority of the manuscripts are housed in the thirty-two family libraries of the 'City of 333 Saints,'" said Djian.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/01/the-libraries-of-timbuktu.html

A German father wrote to one of Germany's oldest children's publishers urging it to revise the text of Die Kleine Hexe (The Little Witch) to expunge racist sentiment from the children's book. He was delighted by the publisher's response, despite the angry backlash and hate mail it has generated.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/29/germany-race

Eleanor Watchtel recently interviewed Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgaard about his six-volume, 3600-page memoir, My Struggle, a literary sensation at home, and now, around the world. The interview can be found here:
http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/ID/ID/2331214085/

As the New York Review of Books celebrates its 50th anniversary, editor Bob Silvers explains why a world without long, serious reviews is 'unthinkable'. The NYRB celebrated its 50th anniversary with an event featuring Joan Didion, Michael Chabon and other contributors, on February 5.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/091ba1b6-6576-11e2-a3db-00144feab49a.html#ixzz2JZ5GA05q

Dany Laferrière's The Enigma of the Return, published this month by MacLehose Press, is the penultimate volume of more than 20 so far. A meditation on exile, loss and "navigating through two worlds", it won the 2009 Prix Médicis in France and the Grand Prix du Livre in Montreal.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/01/dany-laferriere-life-in-books

Threats, letter bombs, cover-ups, Basharat Peer, author of the Curfewed Night describes Kashmir's culture of intimidation in his keynote speech at the Edinburgh World Writers' Conference in Jaipur.http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/01/censorship-kashmir-basharat-peer-speech

Italy fears for 'vanishing' heritage after arrests over the sacking of historic libraries. Estimates of how many books were stolen vary because a large proportion of volumes in the collection were not catalogued, but investigators have spoken of a total that could exceed 4,000.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/30/italy-fears-vanifhing-heritage-sacking-historic-library

Librarian Barbara Fister reports that her students conducted a survey, finding that fellow students are less inclined to read ebooks than older adults are. Their contemporaries enjoy an escape from screens, and like to pass on stories from hand to hand.
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/library-babel-fish/still-bookish-after-all-these-years#ixzz2JzPz1mI5Inside Higher Ed

After spending eight years translating the first third of James Joyce's famously opaque novel Finnegans Wake into Chinese, Dai Congrong, professor at Shanghai's Fudan University was incredulous when the translation of "Fennigen de Shouling Ye" sold out its first run of 8,000 copies and reached number two on a bestseller list.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/05/finnegans-wake-china-james-joyce-hit

The three-day Irrawaddy literary festival brought together writers, poets and former political prisoners from Burma and abroad, with sessions held in Burmese and English. The festival's most popular talks invariably involved the opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi—who acted as patron of the festival.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/03/burma-literary-festival

D&M Publishers has sold the Greystone Books imprint to Heritage House Publishing.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Publishers+sells+Greystone+Books+imprint/7910173/story.html#ixzz2Jm3ZpLGn

Less than one week after the assets of Greystone Books were acquired by Heritage House Publishing, Douglas & McIntyre has been purchased by fellow British Columbia indie Harbour Publishing.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/02/06/harbour-publishing-acquires-douglas-mcintyre/

Poet Patricia Young weighs the relative merits of self-publishing and publishing houses. Even if the taboos re self-publishing have fallen away, it's hard for the average writer to get an overall sense of what's going on in publishing. "The best I can do," says Young, "is compare publishing to language itself: messy, unpredictable, changeable, alive."
http://www.winnipegreview.com/wp/2013/02/a-poets-perspective-on-self-publishing/

Research from Virginia Tech, published in the journal Body Image, conclude that "scholars and health officials should be concerned about the effect chick lit novels might have on women's body image". Bridget Jones and weight-obsessed young heroines have a lot to answer for.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/05/chick-lit-body-image

Little is certain about any of Shakespeare's relationships but scholarship has now illuminated the Dark Lady, Shakespeare's hitherto frustratingly shadowy muse, writes Stephen Bayley. Dr. Aubrey Burl announced last month that he now believes she can be revealed as Aline Florio, the wife of an Italian translator.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/unmasking+Dark+Lady+other+artists+muses/7910177/story.html

THE deadline for the 9th Annual Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest has been extended to March 1, 2013, 11:59pm PST! For your chance at literary fame and fortune, information on how the contest works and contest details is here:
http://www.geist.com/articles/postcard-contest/

BOOKS & WRITERS

Ali Smith's Artful is built upon four lectures first delivered at the University of Oxford in 2012. Around these lectures, which appear "pretty much as they were delivered", Smith has constructed a fiction that serves as the embodiment of the essay's themes in story, writes Dimitri Nasrallah.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/02/01/artful_by_ali_smith_review.html

Manil Suri has written what's sure to be the best sex comedy of the year about nuclear war between India and Pakistan, writes Ron Charles. The City of Devi completes a loose trilogy about the Hindu trinity. Suri's work stands apart, mingling comedy and death, eroticism and politics, godhood and Bollywood like no one else, says Charles.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/manil-suris-the-city-of-devi-reviewed-by-ron-charles/2013/01/29/54a94280-6735-11e2-93e1-475791032daf_story.html

The question of "why" ripples powerfully throughout Marjorie Celona's visceral, vivid novel Y, in which a baby is abandoned on the steps of a Canadian YMCA and raised in foster care, writes Anita Sethi. In the novel's cleverly constructed Y-shaped structure, the narrative arc inches the baby Shannon's story closer towards her mother Yula.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/03/debut-author-marjorie-celona-interview

In See Now Then: Truth from the inside, Jamaica Kincaid exploits tension between the imagined ideal and the compromised real life being lived, writes Ian McGillis. Viewed from a certain angle, the Sweets of Bennington, Vt., could be living a version of the American Dream. In fact, all is far from well.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Then+Truth+from+inside/7910540/story.html#ixzz2JsELnbEi

In the moody German mystery Snow White Must Die, an unlucky backhoe operator scoops up a rusted fuel tank, filled with bones and a human skull. And the plot thickens. Published in Germany in 2010, Snow White Must Die has been a bestseller in Europe. It's easy to see why, says Maureen Corrigan.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/snow-white-must-die-by-nele-neuhaus/2013/01/27/e7ef2978-6498-11e2-b84d-21c7b65985ee_story.html

In winter 1941-42, the German army besieged Leningrad. The city near collapse, officials decided that a live broadcast of Shostakovich's Leningrad symphony (not yet complete) would lift spirits. Sarah Quigley's evocation of these years in The Conductor bounces back and forth between Shostakovich and Karl Eliasberg, the only conductor left after other artists had been taken to safety.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2012/12/28/the_conductor_by_sarah_quigley_review.html

A novel satirising Adolf Hitler and the personality cult that once surrounded him has topped the bestselling lists in Germany. The cover of Timur Vermes's He's Back (Er Ist Wieder Da) squeezes the title into the shape of Hitler's trademark square moustache, while the €19.33 price tag refers to the year the Nazi party leader came to power in Germany.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/05/adolf-hitler-novel-german-bestseller

A February 3 editorial in the Globe and Mail notes that it is strange to be nominated for an international literary award when almost no one in your home country has heard of you. But that is what happened to Josip Novakovich, who is wickedly funny, deeply harrowing and Canadian.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/editorials/josip-novakovich-is-wickedly-funny-deeply-harrowing-and-canadian/article8123128/?utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_source=The%20Globe%20and%20Mail&utm_type=text&utm_content=TheGlobeandMail&utm_campaign=101086017

COMMUNITY EVENTS

SAY WHA?
Performers, Sara Bynoe, Eric Fell, Ken Hegan, & Lauren McGibbon, put their comedic spin on some of the most cringe-worthy, embarrassing and painfully earnest writing in print. Thursday, February 7 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $15. River Market Food Hall, 810 Quayside Drive, New Westminster. More information at rivermarket.ca.

ERIC LITWIN
Part of the Children's Arts Festival, author shares his best-selling book Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes and other musical stories. Monday, February 11 at various times. Tickets: $10. Richmond Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond. More information at childrensartsfestival.ca.

BRANDON SANDERSON
Meet Brandon Sanderson as he signs the final book in Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light. Thursday, February 14 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.

UNIQUE LIVES & EXPERIENCES
A lecture series featuring four outstanding women. First lecture will feature Valerie Plame Wilson, a former CIA spy and author of a bestselling autobiography, My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal By the White House, on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30pm. Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street. For complete season details and ticket information, visit www.uniquelives.com.

TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Kim Clark (Nanaimo) and Kempton Dexter plus Open Mic. Wednesday, February 13, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.

SHAKESPEAREAN SWORDPLAY
Hear Greg Mele and author C.C. Humphreys discourse on what happens when England plays Italy—but not on the soccer field—with honour as the prize. Saturday, February 16 at 10:00am. Part of Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium. For complete information, visit www.vancouverswordplay.com.

WRITING WESTERN MARTIAL ARTS IN FICTION
Join Neal Stephenson and Joseph Brassey, two of the authors behind the Mongoliad, as they talk about the steps taken to create a literary martial arts epic. Saturday, February 16 at 3:00pm. Part of Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium. For complete information, visit www.vancouverswordplay.com.

PEN AND SWORD
Lecture by Dr. Noelle Phillips will explore the representation and literary description of medieval weaponry–swords in particular–in a variety of medieval manuscripts. Sunday, February 17 at 3:30pm. Part of Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium. For complete information, visit www.vancouverswordplay.com.

UBC ALUMNI BOOK CLUB
Choose between Timothy Taylor's Stanley Park and Lynn Coady's Mean Boy at this book club in which you can meet the facilitator and fellow alumni, and learn about the book before you read it. Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10. Cecil Green Park Coach House, 6323 Cecil Green Park Rd., UBC.

Upcoming

W.P. KINSELLA
Canadian author will read from, and chat about, his latest book, Butterfly Winter. Thursday, February 21 at 10:30am, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.

ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Walid Bitar, Basma Kavanagh, and Missy Marston. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, visit http://rrs-feb2013.eventbrite.ca/.

CATHY OSTLERE
Cathy Ostlere discusses her memoir Lost. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00 PM. Christianne's Lyceum. 3696 W. 8th Ave. $20 (includes refreshments). To reserve your space call 604.733.1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com. More information at www.christiannehayward.com.

FROM TALKING STICK TO MICROPHONE
Zaccheus Jackson and a selection of this country's best independent musicians and slam poets go head to head! Friday, February 22 at 8:00pm, pay what you can. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at www.fullcircle.ca.

GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL
Fourth annual festival featuring John Belshaw, Kevin Chong, Pauline Holdstock, Nancy Richler and many others. February 22-24, 2013. Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, Galiano Island. For complete details, visit galianoliteraryfestival.com.

OLIVER JEFFERS
Oliver Jeffers, author/illustrator of This Moose Belongs to Me, to speak at the Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable's annual Author/Illustrator Breakfast February 23 at the University Golf Club. A limited number of seats remain. For registration and information, go to www.vclr.ca.

VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth poetry slam featuring Scruffmouth. Monday, February 25 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $6/$4. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.

GATHER @ ZAWA
Spoken word and music, featuring Victoria's Poet Laureate of Victoria, Janet Rogers and Alex Jacobs from New Mexico alongside the sounds of Kristi Lane Sinclair. Monday, February 25 at 9:30pm. Zawa Restaurant, 920 Commercial Drive. For complete information, visit www.fullcircle.ca.

THE WORD AND RESISTANCE
Alex Jacobs and Janet Rogers talk about creative ways to resist and affect change. They will present a literary array of politically inspired poetry from many movements throughout their careers. Tuesday, February 26 at 3:30pm. First Nations House of Learning @ UBC, 1985 West Mall. Complete details at www.fullcircle.ca.

AB-ORIGINAL SPOKENWORD-SCAPES
Join Spoken Word artists and musicians as they riff and jam and spark together. Features Janet Rogers, Alex Jacobs, Dave Larocque, Joseph 'Pepe' Danza, Cris Derksen and more. Wednesday, February 28 at 8:00pm. Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews. For tickets, visit www.ticketstonight.ca. More information at www.fullcircle.ca.

TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Susan Steudel and Chelsea Comeau plus Open Mic. Thursday, February 28, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.

AL HUNTER
Poetry reading by Anishinaabe writer Al Hunter. Wednesday, March 6 at 6:30pm, free. First Nations Longhouse, UBC. Admission is free and books will be available for purchase and signing. For more information and to register, visit http://rrs-march2013.eventbrite.ca/.

POETS AND THE SOCIAL SELF
Join Wayde Compton, Joanne Arnott, and Michael Turner with Renee Sarojini Saklikar as they discuss and read from their work. Thursday, March 7 at 7:00pm, free. Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre,SFU's Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W Hasting St. More information at sfuwoodwards.ca.

ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Andrew Kaufman, Camille Martin, and Barry Webster. Thursday, March 6 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, visit http://www.rrs-mar2013.eventbrite.ca.