BOOK NEWS
SPECIAL EVENT
Neil Gaiman
On Thursday, August 8, the Vancouver Writers Fest and HarperCollins Canada present the bestselling author of Anansi Boys with his latest novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/neilgaiman
Nothing prepares the reader for Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It is both Gaiman's finest book and unlike anything anyone has ever written before, writes Robert J. Wiersema. While it deals with childhood, it is not a children's book. Rather, it uses childhood, and the connections of writing for children and young adults, for adult ends, says Wiersema.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/this-novel-is-why-your-geeky-friends-rave-about-neil-gaiman/article12743057/
Read an extract from The Ocean at the End of the Lane:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/10/extract-ocean-end-lane-neil-gaiman
FESTIVALS
TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival
The TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival continues this week with Herbie Hancock, Patricia Barber, John Boutté, Nikki Yanofsky, spoken word artist Shane Koyczan and much more! Many free concerts include shows on Granville Island and David Lam Park (June 29-30). Visit the website for full details, www.vanjazzfest.ca.
Indian Summer
Reluctant Rebellions, July 7, 8pm, SFU's Goldcorp Centre for the Arts
Join celebrated writer Shauna Singh Baldwin and cultural activist Satwinder Bains as they talk about topics ranging from the struggles of immigrant Sikhs, to the roles of men and women in diasporic communities (and the price for non-conformity), and the 'reluctant rebellions' that make ordinary people extraordinary. http://indiansummerfestival.ca/events/reluctant_rebellion/
2013 Vancouver Short Film Festival: Call for Submissions Announcement
BC short filmmakers! The 4th Annual Vancouver Short Film Festival is accepting entries until August 1. Students, recent grads, and professional filmmakers can submit films and videos, the shorter the better! Last year, 29 short films were screened, and over $15,000 in prizes were awarded to BC filmmakers. More info at www.vsff.com.
AWARDS & LISTS
Michelle de Kretser has won the Miles Franklin literary award. Questions of Travel comes out on top of the unprecedented all-female-authored shortlist.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/19/michelle-de-kretser-miles-franklin
B.C. writer, critic and editor William New will receive the 20th annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement award at the Vancouver Public Library on June 25, at 7pm. New has written more than 50 books and was awarded both the Mayors Award for Literary Arts in Vancouver and the City of Vancouver Book Award for his poetry collection, YVR.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Writer+wins+lifetime+award/8498633/story.html#ixzz2VmxQ93sW
Alice Munro has won the Trillium Book Award for a book of short stories. This is the third Trillium Book Award for Alice Munro; she now shares the record with Margaret Atwood.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/06/18/alice_munro_wins_trillium_book_award_for_book_of_short_stories.html
A $100,000 prize for military writing has been awarded to an author of fiction. Tim O'Brien, known for books such as The Things They Carried and In the Lake of the Woods, has received the Pritzker Military Library Literature Award.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/25/pritzker-military-library-literature-award-_n_3496292.html
YOUNG READERS
The Fabulous Foskett Family Circus is a glorious romp of a book from John Yeoman and master picture book illustrator Quentin Blake, Britain's first first Children's Laureate.
http://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/book/8613/The-Fabulous-Foskett-Family-Circus-by-John-Yeoman-Quentin-Blake.html
Caldecott Medalist Allen Say offers both biography and autobiography in The Favorite Daughter, an intimate exploration of family life and biracial identity, writes Susan Faust, a librarian in San Francisco., Say's restrained and realistic watercolors capture lovely cityscapes as well as an inner journey from confusion to pride.
http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Roundup-of-children-s-books-4547287.php#ixzz2V7Mq44u1
British author-illustrator Shirley Hughes, has written a novel about a thirteen-year-old boy living in Florence under Nazi occupation. War forces life-and-death choices in this page-turner which powerfully juxtaposes daring and danger, loyalty and betrayal, evil and human goodness. For ages 10 to 14.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/04/hero-on-bicycle-hughes-review
NEWS & FEATURES
An excerpt from Tony Taylor's Fishing The River of Time illustrates part of grandfather Taylor's teaching his grandson how angling is really not about the fish.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Excerpt+Fishing+River+Time/8671357/story.html
The prolific science fiction and fantasy author, Richard Matheson, has died at 87.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/24/richard-matheson-dead-author-obituary_n_3493807.html
Twenty-four Israeli authors, including David Grossman, Amos Oz and AB Yehoshua, are campaigning against the eviction of West Bank villagers, calling for a reprieve for villages in South Hebron hills.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/25/israeli-authors-campaign-west-bank-villagers
Nine books battle for young readers' vote in Scottish children's book awards. A shortlist of nine books by Scottish authors and illustrators has been selected, three for each of the award's three categories. Children now have seven months to vote for the author they want to take home the top prize. Winners will be chosen by children all over Scotland.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2013/jun/25/scottish-childrens-book-awards-shortlist
Diana Athill, Margaret Atwood, Julian Barnes, Anne Enright, Howard Jacobson, Will Self and Lionel Shriver reflect on their own disappointments in life, love and work.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/22/falling-short-writers-reflect-failure
To celebrate Canada Day, Globe Books is producing a literary guide to every corner of our country—and requests your help.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/tell-us-what-book-best-describes-your-region-of-canada/article12776810/
Meet Canada's underused poet laureate, Fred Wah, who laments parliamentarians' apparent lack of interest in tapping their official poet to illuminate more "difficult" issues facing Canadians.
http://www.canada.com/Meet+Canada+underused+poet+laureate+Wordsmith+bemoans+lack+meaningful+work/8543971/story.html#ixzz2XIAPO3vs
BOOKS & WRITERS
In a kid's world, there is little more important, stunningly hierarchical which carries more potential for heartbreak than the birthday party. Any child who's experienced the thrill of an invitation and/or the agony of exclusion will love Anna Button's Willow Finds a Way, with illustrations by Tania Howells.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/why-it-hurts-to-be-uninvited-and-other-problems-kids-have/article12743557/
Kevin Powers joined the US army when he was 17 and served as a machine-gunner in Iraq in 2004-05. Now 32, his stunning debut novel, The Yellow Birds, a fictional account of a soldier attempting to deal with the horrors of war in Iraq, won the 2012 Guardian first book award.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/23/kevin-powers-interview-yellow-birds
Travelling Light, Peter Behrens' short-story collection, reflects Behrens' mastery of detail, whether it's the hitchhiker crossing paths with wacky feuding brothers, or a young Scot finding it difficult to adjust to the Canadian winter. Behrens's stories are subtle and carefully crafted, writes Monique Polak. Many of the stories deal with leaving home, or returning to it.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Behrens+uses+evocative+details+take+readers+journey+Postmedia+News/8564814/story.html
A recent issue of The New Yorker includes an essay drawn from the introduction to a new edition of Mary McCarthy's novel, The Oasis, which was published earlier this month.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/06/the-company-they-kept.html
After The New Yorker published pianist Jeremy Denk's Every Good Boy Does Fine, Mr. Denk took to his blog Think Denk, offering a bit of editorial second-guessing about the illuminating memoir of his studies. Random House has signed Denk to transform the New Yorker piece into a book, also called Every Good Boy Does Fine–a phrase that anyone who has taken piano lessons will recognize as a mnemonic to memorize the notes on the musical staff when it bears a treble clef.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/04/08/130408fa_fact_denk
The award-winning Icelandic author Sjón is finally arriving in North America with the wind at his back, writes Dimitri Nasrallah. His three short novels—The Blue Fox, The Whispering Muse, and From the Mouth of the Whale–are a must for readers of contemporary international fiction. Sjón is that rarity: an original, says Nasrallah.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/06/21/the_blue_fox_from_the_mouth_of_the_whale_the_whispering_muse_by_sjn_review.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Catherine Owen, Susan McCaslin, Jude Neale, Bernice Lever, Kevin Spenst plus Open Mic. Thursday, June 27th, 7-9:30 pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
MOHAMMED JAWARA
Local author reads from his new book The Tears of the Innocent and the Bloodshed, an account of his family's flight across three war torn countries. Tuesday, July 2 at 6:30pm, free. Tommy Douglas Library, 7311 Kingsway, Burnaby. To register or for more information, call 604-522-3971.
THE END OF SAN FRANCISCO
Canadian launch for Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore's memoir. Thursday, July 4 at 7:00pm. Little Sister's, 1238 Davie Street, Vancouver.
THE WRITER'S STUDIO READING SERIES
Featuring Linda King, Barbara Baydala, Danielle Demi, Kendall Anne Dixon, Lindsay Glauser Kwan, Nikki Hillman, Carleigh Baker, and Jennifer Irvine. Thursday, July 4 at 8:00pm. Admission by donation. Cottage Bistro, 4470 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at csreg@sfu.ca.
LITERARY CAFE
Launch of The Life and Breath of the World at the Harrison Festival. Featuring Rex Weyler, Eve Joseph, Gabriel George. Music by Franklyn Currie and his band. Monday, July 8 at 8:30pm. Tickets: $12. Memorial Hall (290 Esplanade Ave.), Harrison Hot Springs. More information at harrisonfestival.com.
LITERARY READING
An evening of readings by four local authors: Anita Miettunan, Margo Bates, Kempton Dexter and Ron Kearse. Friday, July 12 at 7:00pm. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Book News Vol. 8 No. 19
BOOK NEWS
Win A Fabulous Victoria Getaway!
Purchase a $20 raffle ticket in support of the Vancouver Writers Fest and escape for a Victoria weekend of luxury, complete with roundtrip Helijet flights, a night at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel and a book shopping-spree at Russell Books. Contest ends June 28, 2013. Complete details here, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/supportus/victoria-getaway.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Just Announced! - Neil Gaiman
On Thursday, August 8, the Vancouver Writers Fest and HarperCollins Canada present the bestselling author of Anansi Boys with his latest novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/neilgaiman
Jeannette Walls
There are still tickets available for our June 26 for a special event with Jeannette Walls in conversation with Vancouver Sun journalist Denise Ryan.
Jeannette Walls, the author of The Glass Castle and, most recently, The Silver Star, is not a fan of "escapist" literature: "Reality is just so interesting."
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/books/review/jeannette-walls-by-the-book.html?nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130614&_r=0
Fans of The Glass Castle will find familiar ground in Jeanette Walls first foray into fiction, The Silver Star.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Jeannette+Walls+There+silver+lining+this+tale/8526691/story.html
Last Chance! Special $16 Book Club Price and Chance to Meet Jeannette Walls
Book clubs can pay just $16 per ticket, plus be entered for a chance to attend a private reception with Jeannette Walls. Tickets must be purchased by Friday, June 21. Click here for more details, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jeannettewalls/contest.
Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jeannettewalls.
FESTIVALS
TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival
The TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival brings the world best musicians to city stages for an eleven-day celebration. The 2013 lineup features Herbie Hancock, Esperanza Spalding, Nikki Yanofsky, Dr. John & The Nite Trippers, and much more! Many free concerts include those at the Vancouver Art Gallery/Robson Square (June 22-23) and David Lam Park (June 29-30). Visit our website for full details. www.vanjazzfest.ca.
Indian Summer Festival Coming Up Soon
The Indian Summer Festival turns up the heat again in Vancouver, July 4-13. This international festival celebrates the arts, ideas and diversity, spanning music, literature, dance, film and food events including talks by writers such as Shauna Singh Baldwin, Jeet Thayil and filmmaker Deepa Mehta. More information can be found at www.indiansummerfestival.ca.
AWARDS & LISTS
The winners for this year's Trillium Book Awards have been announced. Alice Munro won for Dear Life: Stories, Paul Savoie for Bleu bémol, Matthew Tierney for Probably Inevitable, and Claude Forand for Un moine trop bavard.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/19/trillium-book-award-alice-munro.html
B.C. writer, critic and editor William New will receive the 20th annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement award at the Vancouver Public Library on June 25. New has written more than 50 books and was awarded both the Mayors Award for Literary Arts in Vancouver and the City of Vancouver Book Award for his poetry collection, YVR. Sam Swallow and the Riddleworld League, a new book for preteen readers, is forthcoming.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Writer+wins+lifetime+award/8498633/story.html#ixzz2VmxQ93sW
Toronto's David W. McFadden has been named the Canadian winner of this year's Griffin Poetry Prize for his collection What's the Score? Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me, and Other Poems written by Ramallah-based Palestinian poet Ghassan Zaqtan and translated from Arabic by Fady Joudah of Houston, won the international honour.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/06/13/canada-griffin-poetry-prize-winners.html
Natasha Trethewey is to be appointed to a second term as the United States poet laureate, including traveling the country for a series of reports exploring societal issues through poetry. Ms. Trethewey is a professor of English and creative writing at Emory University in Atlanta and is in the middle of a term as the poet laureate of Mississippi.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/10/books/poet-laureate-for-a-second-time.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1&
The spoils of writing about war have become richer, thanks to a new $50,000 prize for the best book in military history, to be awarded annually, starting in February 2014.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/50000-book-prize-for-military-history-established/
YOUNG READERS
Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom tells the story of his life, as an ordinary village boy, his leadership of the ANC, long years in prison, his eventual freedom and how he became President of South Africa. Abridged by author Chris van Wyk and illustrated by Paddy Bouma, this book brings an inspirational man to life for a younger generation. For children of all ages.
http://www.newsfromnowhere.org.uk/books/
A young reviewer in The Guardian gives two thumbs up to Skin and Other Stories and observes that "underneath the fantasy children's books I found that Roald Dahl is actually quite dark." For teens.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2013/jun/10/review-skin-roald-dahl
Matt and Larry (Craz) are best friends in The Awesome Almost 100% True Adventures of Matt & Craz. Their personalities are different, but they have each other's backs. And they share a passion for cartooning. Readers will need to suspend disbelief on occasion while reading this lively and entertaining novel, liberally sprinkled with black-and-white cartoons by Montreal-based author-illustrator Alan Silberberg. For ages 8 to 12.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+Friendship+mightier+than+magic/8335398/story.html
Benjamin Franklin invented a stove, the lightning rod and bifocal glasses-and "helped give birth to a new kind of nation." Newbery Medalist Russell Freedman incorporates Franklin's own words into a meticulously researched, artfully written and hard to put down narrative that follows his rise from poor apprentice in Boston to man of letters, community organizer and scientist to statesman abroad. Ages 10 to 18.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/russell-freedman/becoming-ben-franklin/
NEWS & FEATURES
Alice Munro says she has retired from writing. "It's nice to go out with a bang", says Munro.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/06/19/alice-munro-its-nice-to-go-out-with-a-bang/
Several editions of Orwell's 1984, about an all-seeing government, were among Amazon.com's top 200 sellers as of Wednesday morning. Huxley's story of a mindless future ranked No. 210 and was out of stock. A perennial favourite of futuristic horror, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, was ranked No. 75.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/06/12/government_surveillance_reports_spark_sales_for_orwells_1984_huxleys_brave_new_world.html
A trio of University of Toronto scholars, led by psychologist Maja Djikic, report that people who have just read a short story have less need for what psychologists call "cognitive closure." Compared with peers who have just read an essay, they expressed more comfort with disorder and uncertainty—attitudes that allow for both sophisticated thinking and greater creativity.
http://www.psmag.com/blogs/news-blog/reading-literature-opens-minds-60021/
Ringo Starr is to turn Octopus' Garden into a children's book based on the famous Beatles song written by Starr. Simon and Schuster's Children Books announced that the book would come out in Britain this fall and in the U.S. in early 2014.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/06/11/ringo_starr_to_turn_octopus_garden_into_a_childrens_book.html
Here is Zoo Story, a new short story by AM Homes, the winner of the 2013 women's prize for fiction.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/07/zoo-story-am-homes-womens-prize-fiction
An unpublished homework essay by Charlotte Brontë, written in French for the married teacher whom she loved, has been bought for public display at the writer's former vicarage home in Haworth, West Yorkshire. Acquired privately for £50,000, the devoir was unknown until December last year when the Brontë Society was told of its discovery in a private library.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/09/charlotte-bronte-essay-haworth
When he was a child, rebel fighters devastated Majok Tulba's village. They measured young boys against the length of an AK-47 gun, recruiting those taller to their cause. Tulba was shorter, an arbitrary fact that saved his life. In Beneath the Darkening Sky, he uses fiction to explore what his fate might have been if he had been one inch taller.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/09/majok-tulba-beneath-darkening-sky
A study of reading habits shows that, as young readers get older, they are not moving to more complex books. High-schoolers are reading books written for younger kids, "Every single person in the class said, 'I don't like realism, I don't like historical fiction. What I like is fantasy, science fiction, horror and fairy tales,' says Anita Silvey.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2013/06/11/190669029/what-kids-are-reading-in-school-and-out
Last week was Bloomsday, when readers worldwide celebrated Leopold Bloom's Dublin wanderings on June 16, 1904, in James Joyce's Ulysses.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/books/review/bloomsday-memories.html?_r=0
BOOKS & WRITERS
Ink on Paper, the second book by Brad Cran, the former Vancouver Poet Laureate, contains stirring, sometimes startling, observations of our world. Nearly as much a book of lyrical personal essays as it is a poetry collection, this second book of verse contains stirring, sometimes startling observations of our world, writes Dennis E. Bolen.
http://www.vancouversun.com/search/search.html?q=Dennis+E+Bolen
Peter Orner pays tribute to Mavis Gallant, one of the past century's great character builders, describing her time near starvation in Madrid in 1952 when her first cheque from a publisher never arrived: she sold personal possessions to survive. Gallant is one of the most prolific living writers of elite-level short stories, writes Orner. A new collection will be published by Knopf in 2014.
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/06/the-way-vivid-way-underappreciated-short-stories-of-mavis-gallant/276528/
"Stina said a country is a Coca-Cola bottle that can smash on the floor and disappoint you." So reports Darling, the child narrator of NoViolet Bulawayo's remarkable debut novel, We Need New Names. The fragile country in question is Zimbabwe, the homeland Darling shares with her 31-year-old creator. Through them, we experience just what it is like to grow up in a place turning to shards beneath your feet.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/try-it-now/?articleId=12415911
Deirdre Madden's work always reflects her profound and wide-ranging compassion; her latest novel, Time Present and Time Past, is no exception, says Christina Patterson. The constant genius of Irish letters," according to Sebastian Barry, a "first-rate novelist" for Richard Ford, and "one of the most original and disturbing writers since Jean Rhys", wrote Linda Grant. All refer to the Irish novelist Deirdre Madden.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/14/deirdre-madden-troubles-work
The CBC's Jessica Wong interviews Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/06/18/video-kwan-crazy-rich-asians.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
CRAZY RICH ASIANS
Book launch of Kevin Kwan's latest book. Thursday, June 20 at 7:00pm, free. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street, Vancouver. RSVP to rsvpcanada@randomhouse.com.
WAYDE COMPTON AND RACHEL LEBOWITZ
Readings from the authors of Cottonopolis (Lebowitz) and The Post-Spatial Option (Compton). Thursday, June 20 at 7:30pm. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway.
AUTHORS IN OUR MIDST
Author P.W. Bridgman will read from his new collection of short stories, Standing at an Angle to My Age, and discuss the creative process. Friday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Kwok-Chu Lee Living Room, Brighouse Branch, Richmond Public Library, 100-7700 Minoru Gate. More information at yourlibrary.ca.
SEA SALT
Join the Malone family team of authors, Lorna Malone, Hilary Malone, and Alison Malone-Eathorne, as they sign copies of their new nautically-themed cookbook Sea Salt: Recipes from the West Coast Galley at Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks (1740 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver) on Saturday, June 22 from 2pm to 4pm. For more information or to reserve your copy, call Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks at (604) 688-6755 or go to www.seasaltcookbook.com.
CHEVY STEVENS
Susan Juby in conversation with bestselling author Chevy Stevens to celebrate the release of Stevens' newest thriller, Always Watching. Wednesday, June 22 at 2:00pm. Chapters Nanaimo, 6670 Mary Ellen Drive, Nanaimo. More information at chapters-indigo.ca.
ANVIL GROUP LAUNCH PARTY
Celebrating the launch of selected spring titles from Anvil Press! Featuring spring authors Jane Silcott, Marita Dachsel, Mari-Lou Rowley, and Teresa McWhirter. Saturday, June 22 at 6:30pm, free. The Railway Club (back room), Vancouver. Information at info@anvilpress.com.
JAY RUZESKY
Join Jay Ruzesky as he gives a slideshow presentation, talk and book signing for his new memoir about following Amundsen's footsteps to Antarctica. In Antarctica: An Amundsen Pilgrimage, at the Vancouver Maritime Museum (1905 Ogden Avenue, Vancouver) on Sunday, June 23 at 2pm. Doors open at 1:30pm. Admission to the presentation is free. For more information, contact the Vancouver Maritime Museum at 604-257-8300 or go to www.nightwoodeditions.com.
GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Presenting the 20th annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia to William New. Tuesday, June 25 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia. More information at www.vpl.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Catherine Owen, Susan McCaslin, Jude Neale, Bernice Lever, Kevin Spenst plus Open Mic. Thursday, June 27th, 7-9:30 pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
Upcoming
MOHAMMED JAWARA
Local author reads from his new book The Tears of the Innocent and the Bloodshed, an account of his family's flight across three war torn countries. Tuesday, July 2 at 6:30pm, free. Tommy Douglas Library, 7311 Kingsway, Burnaby. To register or for more information, call 604-522-3971.
LITERARY CAFE
Launch of The Life and Breath of the World at the Harrison Festival. Featuring Rex Weyler, Eve Joseph, Gabriel George. Music by Franklyn Currie and his band. Monday, July 8 at 8:30pm. Tickets: $12. Memorial Hall (290 Esplanade Ave.), Harrison Hot Springs. More information at harrisonfestival.com.
Win A Fabulous Victoria Getaway!
Purchase a $20 raffle ticket in support of the Vancouver Writers Fest and escape for a Victoria weekend of luxury, complete with roundtrip Helijet flights, a night at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel and a book shopping-spree at Russell Books. Contest ends June 28, 2013. Complete details here, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/supportus/victoria-getaway.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Just Announced! - Neil Gaiman
On Thursday, August 8, the Vancouver Writers Fest and HarperCollins Canada present the bestselling author of Anansi Boys with his latest novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/neilgaiman
Jeannette Walls
There are still tickets available for our June 26 for a special event with Jeannette Walls in conversation with Vancouver Sun journalist Denise Ryan.
Jeannette Walls, the author of The Glass Castle and, most recently, The Silver Star, is not a fan of "escapist" literature: "Reality is just so interesting."
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/books/review/jeannette-walls-by-the-book.html?nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130614&_r=0
Fans of The Glass Castle will find familiar ground in Jeanette Walls first foray into fiction, The Silver Star.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Jeannette+Walls+There+silver+lining+this+tale/8526691/story.html
Last Chance! Special $16 Book Club Price and Chance to Meet Jeannette Walls
Book clubs can pay just $16 per ticket, plus be entered for a chance to attend a private reception with Jeannette Walls. Tickets must be purchased by Friday, June 21. Click here for more details, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jeannettewalls/contest.
Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jeannettewalls.
FESTIVALS
TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival
The TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival brings the world best musicians to city stages for an eleven-day celebration. The 2013 lineup features Herbie Hancock, Esperanza Spalding, Nikki Yanofsky, Dr. John & The Nite Trippers, and much more! Many free concerts include those at the Vancouver Art Gallery/Robson Square (June 22-23) and David Lam Park (June 29-30). Visit our website for full details. www.vanjazzfest.ca.
Indian Summer Festival Coming Up Soon
The Indian Summer Festival turns up the heat again in Vancouver, July 4-13. This international festival celebrates the arts, ideas and diversity, spanning music, literature, dance, film and food events including talks by writers such as Shauna Singh Baldwin, Jeet Thayil and filmmaker Deepa Mehta. More information can be found at www.indiansummerfestival.ca.
AWARDS & LISTS
The winners for this year's Trillium Book Awards have been announced. Alice Munro won for Dear Life: Stories, Paul Savoie for Bleu bémol, Matthew Tierney for Probably Inevitable, and Claude Forand for Un moine trop bavard.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/19/trillium-book-award-alice-munro.html
B.C. writer, critic and editor William New will receive the 20th annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement award at the Vancouver Public Library on June 25. New has written more than 50 books and was awarded both the Mayors Award for Literary Arts in Vancouver and the City of Vancouver Book Award for his poetry collection, YVR. Sam Swallow and the Riddleworld League, a new book for preteen readers, is forthcoming.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Writer+wins+lifetime+award/8498633/story.html#ixzz2VmxQ93sW
Toronto's David W. McFadden has been named the Canadian winner of this year's Griffin Poetry Prize for his collection What's the Score? Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me, and Other Poems written by Ramallah-based Palestinian poet Ghassan Zaqtan and translated from Arabic by Fady Joudah of Houston, won the international honour.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/06/13/canada-griffin-poetry-prize-winners.html
Natasha Trethewey is to be appointed to a second term as the United States poet laureate, including traveling the country for a series of reports exploring societal issues through poetry. Ms. Trethewey is a professor of English and creative writing at Emory University in Atlanta and is in the middle of a term as the poet laureate of Mississippi.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/10/books/poet-laureate-for-a-second-time.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1&
The spoils of writing about war have become richer, thanks to a new $50,000 prize for the best book in military history, to be awarded annually, starting in February 2014.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/50000-book-prize-for-military-history-established/
YOUNG READERS
Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom tells the story of his life, as an ordinary village boy, his leadership of the ANC, long years in prison, his eventual freedom and how he became President of South Africa. Abridged by author Chris van Wyk and illustrated by Paddy Bouma, this book brings an inspirational man to life for a younger generation. For children of all ages.
http://www.newsfromnowhere.org.uk/books/
A young reviewer in The Guardian gives two thumbs up to Skin and Other Stories and observes that "underneath the fantasy children's books I found that Roald Dahl is actually quite dark." For teens.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2013/jun/10/review-skin-roald-dahl
Matt and Larry (Craz) are best friends in The Awesome Almost 100% True Adventures of Matt & Craz. Their personalities are different, but they have each other's backs. And they share a passion for cartooning. Readers will need to suspend disbelief on occasion while reading this lively and entertaining novel, liberally sprinkled with black-and-white cartoons by Montreal-based author-illustrator Alan Silberberg. For ages 8 to 12.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+Friendship+mightier+than+magic/8335398/story.html
Benjamin Franklin invented a stove, the lightning rod and bifocal glasses-and "helped give birth to a new kind of nation." Newbery Medalist Russell Freedman incorporates Franklin's own words into a meticulously researched, artfully written and hard to put down narrative that follows his rise from poor apprentice in Boston to man of letters, community organizer and scientist to statesman abroad. Ages 10 to 18.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/russell-freedman/becoming-ben-franklin/
NEWS & FEATURES
Alice Munro says she has retired from writing. "It's nice to go out with a bang", says Munro.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/06/19/alice-munro-its-nice-to-go-out-with-a-bang/
Several editions of Orwell's 1984, about an all-seeing government, were among Amazon.com's top 200 sellers as of Wednesday morning. Huxley's story of a mindless future ranked No. 210 and was out of stock. A perennial favourite of futuristic horror, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, was ranked No. 75.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/06/12/government_surveillance_reports_spark_sales_for_orwells_1984_huxleys_brave_new_world.html
A trio of University of Toronto scholars, led by psychologist Maja Djikic, report that people who have just read a short story have less need for what psychologists call "cognitive closure." Compared with peers who have just read an essay, they expressed more comfort with disorder and uncertainty—attitudes that allow for both sophisticated thinking and greater creativity.
http://www.psmag.com/blogs/news-blog/reading-literature-opens-minds-60021/
Ringo Starr is to turn Octopus' Garden into a children's book based on the famous Beatles song written by Starr. Simon and Schuster's Children Books announced that the book would come out in Britain this fall and in the U.S. in early 2014.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/06/11/ringo_starr_to_turn_octopus_garden_into_a_childrens_book.html
Here is Zoo Story, a new short story by AM Homes, the winner of the 2013 women's prize for fiction.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/07/zoo-story-am-homes-womens-prize-fiction
An unpublished homework essay by Charlotte Brontë, written in French for the married teacher whom she loved, has been bought for public display at the writer's former vicarage home in Haworth, West Yorkshire. Acquired privately for £50,000, the devoir was unknown until December last year when the Brontë Society was told of its discovery in a private library.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/09/charlotte-bronte-essay-haworth
When he was a child, rebel fighters devastated Majok Tulba's village. They measured young boys against the length of an AK-47 gun, recruiting those taller to their cause. Tulba was shorter, an arbitrary fact that saved his life. In Beneath the Darkening Sky, he uses fiction to explore what his fate might have been if he had been one inch taller.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/09/majok-tulba-beneath-darkening-sky
A study of reading habits shows that, as young readers get older, they are not moving to more complex books. High-schoolers are reading books written for younger kids, "Every single person in the class said, 'I don't like realism, I don't like historical fiction. What I like is fantasy, science fiction, horror and fairy tales,' says Anita Silvey.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2013/06/11/190669029/what-kids-are-reading-in-school-and-out
Last week was Bloomsday, when readers worldwide celebrated Leopold Bloom's Dublin wanderings on June 16, 1904, in James Joyce's Ulysses.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/books/review/bloomsday-memories.html?_r=0
BOOKS & WRITERS
Ink on Paper, the second book by Brad Cran, the former Vancouver Poet Laureate, contains stirring, sometimes startling, observations of our world. Nearly as much a book of lyrical personal essays as it is a poetry collection, this second book of verse contains stirring, sometimes startling observations of our world, writes Dennis E. Bolen.
http://www.vancouversun.com/search/search.html?q=Dennis+E+Bolen
Peter Orner pays tribute to Mavis Gallant, one of the past century's great character builders, describing her time near starvation in Madrid in 1952 when her first cheque from a publisher never arrived: she sold personal possessions to survive. Gallant is one of the most prolific living writers of elite-level short stories, writes Orner. A new collection will be published by Knopf in 2014.
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/06/the-way-vivid-way-underappreciated-short-stories-of-mavis-gallant/276528/
"Stina said a country is a Coca-Cola bottle that can smash on the floor and disappoint you." So reports Darling, the child narrator of NoViolet Bulawayo's remarkable debut novel, We Need New Names. The fragile country in question is Zimbabwe, the homeland Darling shares with her 31-year-old creator. Through them, we experience just what it is like to grow up in a place turning to shards beneath your feet.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/try-it-now/?articleId=12415911
Deirdre Madden's work always reflects her profound and wide-ranging compassion; her latest novel, Time Present and Time Past, is no exception, says Christina Patterson. The constant genius of Irish letters," according to Sebastian Barry, a "first-rate novelist" for Richard Ford, and "one of the most original and disturbing writers since Jean Rhys", wrote Linda Grant. All refer to the Irish novelist Deirdre Madden.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/14/deirdre-madden-troubles-work
The CBC's Jessica Wong interviews Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/06/18/video-kwan-crazy-rich-asians.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
CRAZY RICH ASIANS
Book launch of Kevin Kwan's latest book. Thursday, June 20 at 7:00pm, free. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street, Vancouver. RSVP to rsvpcanada@randomhouse.com.
WAYDE COMPTON AND RACHEL LEBOWITZ
Readings from the authors of Cottonopolis (Lebowitz) and The Post-Spatial Option (Compton). Thursday, June 20 at 7:30pm. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway.
AUTHORS IN OUR MIDST
Author P.W. Bridgman will read from his new collection of short stories, Standing at an Angle to My Age, and discuss the creative process. Friday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Kwok-Chu Lee Living Room, Brighouse Branch, Richmond Public Library, 100-7700 Minoru Gate. More information at yourlibrary.ca.
SEA SALT
Join the Malone family team of authors, Lorna Malone, Hilary Malone, and Alison Malone-Eathorne, as they sign copies of their new nautically-themed cookbook Sea Salt: Recipes from the West Coast Galley at Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks (1740 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver) on Saturday, June 22 from 2pm to 4pm. For more information or to reserve your copy, call Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks at (604) 688-6755 or go to www.seasaltcookbook.com.
CHEVY STEVENS
Susan Juby in conversation with bestselling author Chevy Stevens to celebrate the release of Stevens' newest thriller, Always Watching. Wednesday, June 22 at 2:00pm. Chapters Nanaimo, 6670 Mary Ellen Drive, Nanaimo. More information at chapters-indigo.ca.
ANVIL GROUP LAUNCH PARTY
Celebrating the launch of selected spring titles from Anvil Press! Featuring spring authors Jane Silcott, Marita Dachsel, Mari-Lou Rowley, and Teresa McWhirter. Saturday, June 22 at 6:30pm, free. The Railway Club (back room), Vancouver. Information at info@anvilpress.com.
JAY RUZESKY
Join Jay Ruzesky as he gives a slideshow presentation, talk and book signing for his new memoir about following Amundsen's footsteps to Antarctica. In Antarctica: An Amundsen Pilgrimage, at the Vancouver Maritime Museum (1905 Ogden Avenue, Vancouver) on Sunday, June 23 at 2pm. Doors open at 1:30pm. Admission to the presentation is free. For more information, contact the Vancouver Maritime Museum at 604-257-8300 or go to www.nightwoodeditions.com.
GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Presenting the 20th annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia to William New. Tuesday, June 25 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia. More information at www.vpl.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Catherine Owen, Susan McCaslin, Jude Neale, Bernice Lever, Kevin Spenst plus Open Mic. Thursday, June 27th, 7-9:30 pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
Upcoming
MOHAMMED JAWARA
Local author reads from his new book The Tears of the Innocent and the Bloodshed, an account of his family's flight across three war torn countries. Tuesday, July 2 at 6:30pm, free. Tommy Douglas Library, 7311 Kingsway, Burnaby. To register or for more information, call 604-522-3971.
LITERARY CAFE
Launch of The Life and Breath of the World at the Harrison Festival. Featuring Rex Weyler, Eve Joseph, Gabriel George. Music by Franklyn Currie and his band. Monday, July 8 at 8:30pm. Tickets: $12. Memorial Hall (290 Esplanade Ave.), Harrison Hot Springs. More information at harrisonfestival.com.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Book News Vol. 8 No. 18
BOOK NEWS
SPECIAL EVENT
Jeannette Walls
Jeannette Walls' childhood memoir, The Glass Castle, became a No. 1 New York Times best-seller in 2005. Now, she's written her first novel, The Silver Star, about sisters who look after themselves after their mother leaves. Join us on June 26 for a special event with Jeannette Walls in conversation with Vancouver Sun journalist Denise Ryan.
You can view a CBS interview with Jeannette Walls here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505270_162-57588703/glass-castle-author-jeannette-walls-on-her-childhood-pretty-wicked/
Special $16 Book Club Price and Chance to Meet Jeannette Walls
Purchase a minimum of 5 tickets for your group and pay just $16 per ticket, plus be entered for a chance to attend a private reception with Jeannette Walls. Click here for more details, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jeannettewalls/contest.
Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jeannettewalls.
AWARDS & LISTS
Cormorant has won the Libris Award for Small Publisher of the Year, which it has won twice before.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/06/04/cormorant_wins_libris_award_for_small_press_publisher_of_the_year.html
Pyro, Monique Polak's latest novel for young adults, recently made the 2013 Canadian Children's Book Centre's Best Books List.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Review+Lauren+Davis+gives+despairing+look+addiction/8463738/story.html#ixzz2VTQjvxJA
Geist contributors Steven Heighton and Emily Schultz, have been nominated for the 2013 Trillium Book Award. Heighton's The Dead Are More Visible and Schultz's The Blondes are both finalists.
http://www.geist.com/blogs/news/trillium-award-nominations/
Kevin Barry is the winner of the 2013 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his novel City of Bohane.
http://www.impacdublinaward.ie/
Twelve books by Canadian authors were nominated for the 2013 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
http://www.impacdublinaward.ie/news/12-canadian-books-nominated-for-the-2013-award/
YOUNG READERS
Caldecott Medalist Allen Say's The Favorite Daughter offers both biography and autobiography. Say's young daughter explains how kids at school make fun of her Japanese name and blond hair. Say patiently builds Yuriko up with a quick heritage tour of San Francisco. His restrained and realistic watercolors capture lovely cityscapes as well as an inner journey from confusion to pride. For ages 4 to 8.
http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Roundup-of-children-s-books-4547287.php#ixzz2V7Mq44u1
Jennifer Berne‘s On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein; illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky. Albert Einstein was no ordinary man. He loved ice cream, didn't wear socks, and was fascinated by sugar dissolving in tea-leading to amazing discoveries about the universe. Wondrous compositions in naive art style capture the ferment of Einstein's mind and the mysteries that drove him. For ages 6 to 9.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/on-a-beam-of-light-a-story-of-albert-einstein-by-jennifer-berne-and-vladimir-radunsky/2013/06/04/6f8401be-c796-11e2-9f1a-1a7cdee20287_story.html
It's 1944, Florence is under Nazi occupation and thirteen-year-old Paolo longs to join his father, presumably in hiding with the Resistance. In Shirley Hughes's Hero on a Bicycle and in the dark of night, war forces impossible life-and-death choices in this page-turner that powerfully juxtaposes daring and danger, loyalty and betrayal, evil and human goodness. For ages 10 to 14.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/04/hero-on-bicycle-hughes-review
NEWS & FEATURES
Jeanette Winterson interviews AM Homes, whose satirical novel May We Be Forgiven beat stiff competition to take home the women's prize for fiction. The US author talks about her attempt at the Great American Novel, the significance of an award for women writers and the meaning of 'forgiveness'. Video of the interview is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/video/2013/jun/07/am-homes-jeanette-winterson-video-interview
Khaled Hosseini says, about writers: "Alice Munro is the classic underappreciated writer among readers. It is almost a cliché now to wonder why this living legend is not more widely read." He also says that he keeps a handy copy of "I'm a Lebowski, You're a Lebowski: Life, 'The Big Lebowski,' and What Have You" on his bookshelf.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/books/review/khaled-hosseini-by-the-book.html?nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130607&_r=1&
Many different outlets are trying to project the size of the U.S. ebook market and how fast it's growing. In its annual "Entertainment & Media Outlook", PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that trade ebooks (consumer, not educational or academic) will drive $8.2 billion in sales by 2017, surpassing projected print book sales, which it thinks will shrink by more than half during that period.
http://paidcontent.org/2013/06/04/pwc-the-u-s-consumer-ebook-market-will-be-bigger-than-the-print-book-market-by-2017/
Australian writers are making a name for themselves worldwide as purveyors of exciting new science fiction and fantasy. Two major Australian author acquisitions were announced by Macmillan's UK speculative fiction imprint Tor. Sydney-born Ben Peek's Children trilogy was signed in a six-figure world-rights deal, and Tor bought two novels by Rjurik Davidson, from Melbourne, in a pre-emptive deal.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/06/science-fiction-australian-writers
In an impassioned speech, John Green, author of Looking for Alaska, explains why he'll never self-publish, he says. He'd be nowhere without the 'tireless collaboration' of publishers. Green is a social-media sensation with over a million followers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/06/john-green-never-self-publish
Children's Laureate Malorie Blackman talks to Susanna Rustin about comics, cliffhangers and why she's banging the drum for diversity in literature. "I'm looking forward to redressing the balance for teenagers", says Blackman. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/05/malorie-blackman-childrens-laureate-interview
The long-awaited screen adaptation of Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes begins filming this fall.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/06/11/miniseries-book-of-negroes-filming.html
Scottish author Iain Banks has died at age 59.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/06/10/obit-banks-iain-author.html
NSA surveillance puts George Orwell's '1984' on bestseller lists.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-nsa-surveillance-puts-george-orwells-1984-on-bestseller-lists-20130611,0,5672562.story
BOOKS & WRITERS
The Globe & Mail writes that Lisa Moore's Caught is a "leaner, more linear creature than the earlier novels."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/summer-entertainment/caught-by-lisa-moore-house-of-anansi-320-pages-2995/article12417210/
One of Malorie Blackman's strengths as a writer for young adults is her directness and conviction, writes Linda Buckley-Archer. Conspiracy lies at the heart of Noble Conflict, a hard-hitting dystopian novel.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/05/noble-conflict-malorie-blackman-review
From the moment we meet Colleen Kerrigan, it's apparent she is sinking into a vortex of self-destruction, writes Jennifer Hunter. In Lauren B. Davis's The Empty Room, we shadow Colleen's descent into alcoholism, a bit like accompanying Dante into the Inferno, says Hunter. Davis appears to appreciate what Colleen is going through because she may have been there herself, writes Hunter.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/05/31/the_empty_room_by_lauren_b_davis_review.html
Bough Down, artist Karen Green's collection of poems and collages of her grief after the suicide of her husband David Foster Wallace, is being hailed as a classic.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/05/david-foster-wallace-widow-bough-down
Karen Joy Fowler's We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves occurs at a time when Skinnerian dogmatists were fighting with proponents of a more nuanced, evolutionary grasp of animal behavior. The daughter of a university psychology professor, Rosemary has lived an observed life, with an adopted chimpanzee for a twin sister. There's something not-quite-human about Rosemary, and she knows it, writes Barbara Kingsolver.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/books/review/karen-joy-fowlers-we-are-all-completely-beside-ourselves.html?nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130607&_r=0&pagewanted=all
COMMUNITY EVENTS
THE WALKING READ
CWILL BC presents a costume gala to benefit the BC Children's Hospital Foundation. Friday, June 14 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $60. Richmond Open Road Lexus dealership, 5631 Parkwood Way, Richmond. More information at thewalkingread.com.
AUTHORS IN OUR MIDST
Readings by mystery writers E.R. Brown and Robin Spano from their new novels. Friday, June 14 at 7:00pm, free. Kwok-Chu Lee Living Room, Brighouse Branch, Richmond Public Library, 100-7700 Minoru Gate. More information at yourlibrary.ca.
TOM CHO AND ALEX LESLIE
Readings by the author of People Who Disappear (Leslie) and Look Who's Morphing (Cho). Thursday, June 13 at 7:30pm, free. Project Space, 222 E. Georgia Street, Vancouver.
SUNSHINE SKETCHES OF A LITTLE TOWN
Reading from Stephen Leacock's 1912 classic book. Sunday, June 16 at 2:00pm. Suggested donation: $10. Burnaby Village Museum, 6501 Deer Lake Avenue, Burnaby.
LUNCH POEMS @ SFU
Meredith Quartermain and Miranda Pearson featured at June 19 Lunch Poems at SFU. Presented by SFU Public Square, 12-1pm in SFU Harbour Centre's Teck Gallery (515 W Hastings St.). Free admission, no registration required. For more information visit www.sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.
BC BOOK PRIZE POETRY FINALISTS
Join the winner and finalists for the 2012 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize as they read from their nominated works. Wednesday, June 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia. More information at www.vpl.ca.
EXTRAVAGANT SIGNALS
Shhhh! poetry slam featuring Lucia Misch, Zaccheus Jackson, Duncan Shields, Rupert Common and more. Wednesday, June 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $7-10. More information at extravagantsignals.eventbrite.com.
THE STANZA PROJECT
Book launch and reading. Wednesday, June 19 at 8:00pm, free. Brickhouse Bar, 730 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at www.thursdayswritingcollective.ca.
CRAZY RICH ASIANS
Book launch of Kevin Kwan's latest book. Thursday, June 20 at 7:00pm, free. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street, Vancouver. RSVP to rsvpcanada@randomhouse.com.
WAYDE COMPTON AND RACHEL LEBOWITZ
Readings from the authors of Cottonopolis (Lebowitz) and The Post-Spatial Option (Compton). Thursday, June 20 at 7:30pm. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway.
AUTHORS IN OUR MIDST
Author P.W. Bridgman will read from his new collection of short stories, Standing at an Angle to My Age, and discuss the creative process. Friday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Kwok-Chu Lee Living Room, Brighouse Branch, Richmond Public Library, 100-7700 Minoru Gate. More information at yourlibrary.ca.
SEA SALT
Join the Malone family team of authors, Lorna Malone, Hilary Malone, and Alison Malone-Eathorne, as they sign copies of their new nautically-themed cookbook Sea Salt: Recipes from the West Coast Galley at Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks (1740 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver) on Saturday, June 22 from 2pm to 4pm. For more information or to reserve your copy, call Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks at (604) 688-6755 or go to www.seasaltcookbook.com.
CHEVY STEVENS
Susan Juby in conversation with bestselling author Chevy Stevens to celebrate the release of Stevens' newest thriller, Always Watching. Wednesday, June 22 at 2:00pm. Chapters Nanaimo, 6670 Mary Ellen Drive, Nanaimo. More information at chapters-indigo.ca.
ANVIL GROUP LAUNCH PARTY
Celebrating the launch of selected spring titles from Anvil Press! Featuring spring authors Jane Silcott, Marita Dachsel, Mari-Lou Rowley, and Teresa McWhirter. Saturday, June 22 at 6:30pm, free. The Railway Club (back room), Vancouver. Information at info@anvilpress.com.
JAY RUZESKY
Join Jay Ruzesky as he gives a slideshow presentation, talk and book signing for his new memoir about following Amundsen's footsteps to Antarctica. In Antarctica: An Amundsen Pilgrimage, at the Vancouver Maritime Museum (1905 Ogden Avenue, Vancouver) on Sunday, June 23 at 2pm. Doors open at 1:30pm. Admission to the presentation is free. For more information, contact the Vancouver Maritime Museum at 604-257-8300 or go to www.nightwoodeditions.com.
Upcoming
GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Presenting the 20th annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia to William New. Tuesday, June 25 at l7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia. More information at www.vpl.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Catherine Owen, Susan McCaslin, Jude Neale, Bernice Lever, Kevin Spenst plus Open Mic. Thursday, June 27th, 7-9:30 pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
MOHAMMED JAWARA
Local author reads from his new book The Tears of the Innocent and the Bloodshed, an account of his family's flight across three war torn countries. Tuesday, July 2 at 6:30pm, free. Tommy Douglas Library, 7311 Kingsway, Burnaby. To register or for more information, call 604-522-3971.
SPECIAL EVENT
Jeannette Walls
Jeannette Walls' childhood memoir, The Glass Castle, became a No. 1 New York Times best-seller in 2005. Now, she's written her first novel, The Silver Star, about sisters who look after themselves after their mother leaves. Join us on June 26 for a special event with Jeannette Walls in conversation with Vancouver Sun journalist Denise Ryan.
You can view a CBS interview with Jeannette Walls here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505270_162-57588703/glass-castle-author-jeannette-walls-on-her-childhood-pretty-wicked/
Special $16 Book Club Price and Chance to Meet Jeannette Walls
Purchase a minimum of 5 tickets for your group and pay just $16 per ticket, plus be entered for a chance to attend a private reception with Jeannette Walls. Click here for more details, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jeannettewalls/contest.
Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jeannettewalls.
AWARDS & LISTS
Cormorant has won the Libris Award for Small Publisher of the Year, which it has won twice before.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/06/04/cormorant_wins_libris_award_for_small_press_publisher_of_the_year.html
Pyro, Monique Polak's latest novel for young adults, recently made the 2013 Canadian Children's Book Centre's Best Books List.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Review+Lauren+Davis+gives+despairing+look+addiction/8463738/story.html#ixzz2VTQjvxJA
Geist contributors Steven Heighton and Emily Schultz, have been nominated for the 2013 Trillium Book Award. Heighton's The Dead Are More Visible and Schultz's The Blondes are both finalists.
http://www.geist.com/blogs/news/trillium-award-nominations/
Kevin Barry is the winner of the 2013 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his novel City of Bohane.
http://www.impacdublinaward.ie/
Twelve books by Canadian authors were nominated for the 2013 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
http://www.impacdublinaward.ie/news/12-canadian-books-nominated-for-the-2013-award/
YOUNG READERS
Caldecott Medalist Allen Say's The Favorite Daughter offers both biography and autobiography. Say's young daughter explains how kids at school make fun of her Japanese name and blond hair. Say patiently builds Yuriko up with a quick heritage tour of San Francisco. His restrained and realistic watercolors capture lovely cityscapes as well as an inner journey from confusion to pride. For ages 4 to 8.
http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Roundup-of-children-s-books-4547287.php#ixzz2V7Mq44u1
Jennifer Berne‘s On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein; illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky. Albert Einstein was no ordinary man. He loved ice cream, didn't wear socks, and was fascinated by sugar dissolving in tea-leading to amazing discoveries about the universe. Wondrous compositions in naive art style capture the ferment of Einstein's mind and the mysteries that drove him. For ages 6 to 9.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/on-a-beam-of-light-a-story-of-albert-einstein-by-jennifer-berne-and-vladimir-radunsky/2013/06/04/6f8401be-c796-11e2-9f1a-1a7cdee20287_story.html
It's 1944, Florence is under Nazi occupation and thirteen-year-old Paolo longs to join his father, presumably in hiding with the Resistance. In Shirley Hughes's Hero on a Bicycle and in the dark of night, war forces impossible life-and-death choices in this page-turner that powerfully juxtaposes daring and danger, loyalty and betrayal, evil and human goodness. For ages 10 to 14.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/04/hero-on-bicycle-hughes-review
NEWS & FEATURES
Jeanette Winterson interviews AM Homes, whose satirical novel May We Be Forgiven beat stiff competition to take home the women's prize for fiction. The US author talks about her attempt at the Great American Novel, the significance of an award for women writers and the meaning of 'forgiveness'. Video of the interview is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/video/2013/jun/07/am-homes-jeanette-winterson-video-interview
Khaled Hosseini says, about writers: "Alice Munro is the classic underappreciated writer among readers. It is almost a cliché now to wonder why this living legend is not more widely read." He also says that he keeps a handy copy of "I'm a Lebowski, You're a Lebowski: Life, 'The Big Lebowski,' and What Have You" on his bookshelf.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/books/review/khaled-hosseini-by-the-book.html?nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130607&_r=1&
Many different outlets are trying to project the size of the U.S. ebook market and how fast it's growing. In its annual "Entertainment & Media Outlook", PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that trade ebooks (consumer, not educational or academic) will drive $8.2 billion in sales by 2017, surpassing projected print book sales, which it thinks will shrink by more than half during that period.
http://paidcontent.org/2013/06/04/pwc-the-u-s-consumer-ebook-market-will-be-bigger-than-the-print-book-market-by-2017/
Australian writers are making a name for themselves worldwide as purveyors of exciting new science fiction and fantasy. Two major Australian author acquisitions were announced by Macmillan's UK speculative fiction imprint Tor. Sydney-born Ben Peek's Children trilogy was signed in a six-figure world-rights deal, and Tor bought two novels by Rjurik Davidson, from Melbourne, in a pre-emptive deal.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/06/science-fiction-australian-writers
In an impassioned speech, John Green, author of Looking for Alaska, explains why he'll never self-publish, he says. He'd be nowhere without the 'tireless collaboration' of publishers. Green is a social-media sensation with over a million followers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/06/john-green-never-self-publish
Children's Laureate Malorie Blackman talks to Susanna Rustin about comics, cliffhangers and why she's banging the drum for diversity in literature. "I'm looking forward to redressing the balance for teenagers", says Blackman. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/05/malorie-blackman-childrens-laureate-interview
The long-awaited screen adaptation of Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes begins filming this fall.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/06/11/miniseries-book-of-negroes-filming.html
Scottish author Iain Banks has died at age 59.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/06/10/obit-banks-iain-author.html
NSA surveillance puts George Orwell's '1984' on bestseller lists.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-nsa-surveillance-puts-george-orwells-1984-on-bestseller-lists-20130611,0,5672562.story
BOOKS & WRITERS
The Globe & Mail writes that Lisa Moore's Caught is a "leaner, more linear creature than the earlier novels."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/summer-entertainment/caught-by-lisa-moore-house-of-anansi-320-pages-2995/article12417210/
One of Malorie Blackman's strengths as a writer for young adults is her directness and conviction, writes Linda Buckley-Archer. Conspiracy lies at the heart of Noble Conflict, a hard-hitting dystopian novel.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/05/noble-conflict-malorie-blackman-review
From the moment we meet Colleen Kerrigan, it's apparent she is sinking into a vortex of self-destruction, writes Jennifer Hunter. In Lauren B. Davis's The Empty Room, we shadow Colleen's descent into alcoholism, a bit like accompanying Dante into the Inferno, says Hunter. Davis appears to appreciate what Colleen is going through because she may have been there herself, writes Hunter.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/05/31/the_empty_room_by_lauren_b_davis_review.html
Bough Down, artist Karen Green's collection of poems and collages of her grief after the suicide of her husband David Foster Wallace, is being hailed as a classic.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/05/david-foster-wallace-widow-bough-down
Karen Joy Fowler's We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves occurs at a time when Skinnerian dogmatists were fighting with proponents of a more nuanced, evolutionary grasp of animal behavior. The daughter of a university psychology professor, Rosemary has lived an observed life, with an adopted chimpanzee for a twin sister. There's something not-quite-human about Rosemary, and she knows it, writes Barbara Kingsolver.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/books/review/karen-joy-fowlers-we-are-all-completely-beside-ourselves.html?nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130607&_r=0&pagewanted=all
COMMUNITY EVENTS
THE WALKING READ
CWILL BC presents a costume gala to benefit the BC Children's Hospital Foundation. Friday, June 14 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $60. Richmond Open Road Lexus dealership, 5631 Parkwood Way, Richmond. More information at thewalkingread.com.
AUTHORS IN OUR MIDST
Readings by mystery writers E.R. Brown and Robin Spano from their new novels. Friday, June 14 at 7:00pm, free. Kwok-Chu Lee Living Room, Brighouse Branch, Richmond Public Library, 100-7700 Minoru Gate. More information at yourlibrary.ca.
TOM CHO AND ALEX LESLIE
Readings by the author of People Who Disappear (Leslie) and Look Who's Morphing (Cho). Thursday, June 13 at 7:30pm, free. Project Space, 222 E. Georgia Street, Vancouver.
SUNSHINE SKETCHES OF A LITTLE TOWN
Reading from Stephen Leacock's 1912 classic book. Sunday, June 16 at 2:00pm. Suggested donation: $10. Burnaby Village Museum, 6501 Deer Lake Avenue, Burnaby.
LUNCH POEMS @ SFU
Meredith Quartermain and Miranda Pearson featured at June 19 Lunch Poems at SFU. Presented by SFU Public Square, 12-1pm in SFU Harbour Centre's Teck Gallery (515 W Hastings St.). Free admission, no registration required. For more information visit www.sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.
BC BOOK PRIZE POETRY FINALISTS
Join the winner and finalists for the 2012 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize as they read from their nominated works. Wednesday, June 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia. More information at www.vpl.ca.
EXTRAVAGANT SIGNALS
Shhhh! poetry slam featuring Lucia Misch, Zaccheus Jackson, Duncan Shields, Rupert Common and more. Wednesday, June 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $7-10. More information at extravagantsignals.eventbrite.com.
THE STANZA PROJECT
Book launch and reading. Wednesday, June 19 at 8:00pm, free. Brickhouse Bar, 730 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at www.thursdayswritingcollective.ca.
CRAZY RICH ASIANS
Book launch of Kevin Kwan's latest book. Thursday, June 20 at 7:00pm, free. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street, Vancouver. RSVP to rsvpcanada@randomhouse.com.
WAYDE COMPTON AND RACHEL LEBOWITZ
Readings from the authors of Cottonopolis (Lebowitz) and The Post-Spatial Option (Compton). Thursday, June 20 at 7:30pm. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway.
AUTHORS IN OUR MIDST
Author P.W. Bridgman will read from his new collection of short stories, Standing at an Angle to My Age, and discuss the creative process. Friday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Kwok-Chu Lee Living Room, Brighouse Branch, Richmond Public Library, 100-7700 Minoru Gate. More information at yourlibrary.ca.
SEA SALT
Join the Malone family team of authors, Lorna Malone, Hilary Malone, and Alison Malone-Eathorne, as they sign copies of their new nautically-themed cookbook Sea Salt: Recipes from the West Coast Galley at Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks (1740 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver) on Saturday, June 22 from 2pm to 4pm. For more information or to reserve your copy, call Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks at (604) 688-6755 or go to www.seasaltcookbook.com.
CHEVY STEVENS
Susan Juby in conversation with bestselling author Chevy Stevens to celebrate the release of Stevens' newest thriller, Always Watching. Wednesday, June 22 at 2:00pm. Chapters Nanaimo, 6670 Mary Ellen Drive, Nanaimo. More information at chapters-indigo.ca.
ANVIL GROUP LAUNCH PARTY
Celebrating the launch of selected spring titles from Anvil Press! Featuring spring authors Jane Silcott, Marita Dachsel, Mari-Lou Rowley, and Teresa McWhirter. Saturday, June 22 at 6:30pm, free. The Railway Club (back room), Vancouver. Information at info@anvilpress.com.
JAY RUZESKY
Join Jay Ruzesky as he gives a slideshow presentation, talk and book signing for his new memoir about following Amundsen's footsteps to Antarctica. In Antarctica: An Amundsen Pilgrimage, at the Vancouver Maritime Museum (1905 Ogden Avenue, Vancouver) on Sunday, June 23 at 2pm. Doors open at 1:30pm. Admission to the presentation is free. For more information, contact the Vancouver Maritime Museum at 604-257-8300 or go to www.nightwoodeditions.com.
Upcoming
GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Presenting the 20th annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia to William New. Tuesday, June 25 at l7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia. More information at www.vpl.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Catherine Owen, Susan McCaslin, Jude Neale, Bernice Lever, Kevin Spenst plus Open Mic. Thursday, June 27th, 7-9:30 pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
MOHAMMED JAWARA
Local author reads from his new book The Tears of the Innocent and the Bloodshed, an account of his family's flight across three war torn countries. Tuesday, July 2 at 6:30pm, free. Tommy Douglas Library, 7311 Kingsway, Burnaby. To register or for more information, call 604-522-3971.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Book News Vol. 8 No. 17
BOOK NEWS
SPECIAL EVENT
Jeannette Walls
The Glass Castle is one of the bestselling memoirs of all time. Jeannette Walls' new novel, The Silver Star, is a triumph of imagination and storytelling.
Special $16 Book Club Price and Chance to Meet Jeannette Walls
Purchase a minimum of 5 tickets for your group and pay just $16 per ticket, plus be entered for a chance to attend a private reception with Jeannette Walls. Click here for more details, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jeannettewalls/contest.
Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jeannettewalls.
AWARDS & LISTS
AM Homes became the fifth American in a row to be named winner of the women's prize for fiction, formerly known as the Orange, for her sixth novel, May We Be Forgiven.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/05/am-homes-wins-womens-prize-fiction-orange
The National Book Critics Circle has announced the addition of The John Leonard Prize, a new award category for best first book in any genre. For the first time, two previous winners of the Orange Prize, Barbara Kingsolver and Zadie Smith, will battle it out for ‘the Bessie' award and cash prize of £30,000.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/05/29/womens-prize-for-fiction-2013-live-stream_n_3355171.html
Geist contributor David Collier has won the 2013 Doug Wright Award for Hamilton Illustrated, for the best experimental comic. Founded in 2005, the Doug Wright Awards recognize and celebrate Canadian cartoonists and comic artists. Visit the Doug Wright Awards site to hear Collier's interview with Jonathan Goldstein on Wiretap.
http://www.geist.com/blogs/news/david-collier-wins/
Veteran Canadian journalist Chrystia Freeland has won the National Business Book Award for Plutocrats: The Rise of the new Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/05/28/veteran_canadian_journalist_chrystia_freeland_wins_national_business_book_award.html
Following an outcry over the Canadian government's initial refusal to admit him, Palestinian poet Ghassan Zaqtan will receive the Griffin poetry prize. Zaqtan was shortlisted for the C$65,000 (£41,000) Griffin poetry prize in April for his tenth collection Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me, described by judges as poetry which "reminds us why we live and how, in the midst of war, despair, global changes".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/31/canadian-visa-palestinian-poet-ghassan-zaqtan
British authors David Constantine and Deborah Levy, and Joyce Carol Oates and Peter Stamm are on the shortlist for the Frank O'Connor short story award. Worth €25,000, the Frank O'Connor is the world's richest award for a single short-story collection.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/31/frank-o-connor-short-story-award
Victoria author Eliza Robertson has won a Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the British Columbia-set We Walked on Water.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/boos/Victoria+Eliza+Robertson+wins+Commonwealth+Short/8462455/story.html#ixzz2UyIIIVtf
Mia Couto has received the 2013 Camões Prize for Literature, one of the most prestigious international awards honoring the work of Portuguese language writers.
http://biblioasis.blogspot.ca/2013/05/mia-couto-wins-2013-camoes-prize-for.html
Several young readers interview Malorie Blackman, Britain's first black Children's Laureate, on the accompanying video.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/video/2013/jun/04/childrens-laureate-malorie-blackman-video-interview
YOUNG READERS
Cat people, like the objects of their affection, are a breed apart and Cat Talk is bound to speak to them. Young children will love Moser's paintings and the lilt of the authors' words; older readers will recognize those words, matching the voices with felines they themselves have known. Ages 4 to 104.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Kids+Poems+meow/8402937/story.html#ixzz2Tn70UXAg
They scratch, run away, have fish breath and sick up hair balls, but we still love our furry, purry friends. Children's book author and cat lover Tor Freeman teaches you how to draw them like a pro.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/gallery/2013/apr/26/how-to-draw-cats-tor-freeman#ixzz2UkI4pYrx
In Jacqueline Wilson's My Sister Jodie, the parents get new jobs at a school, and they have to move. Everything changes for Jodie and Pearl, and Pearl begins to wonder if she needs Jodie as much as she used to. But when a tragic event occurs, Pearl realizes quite how much Jodie means to her. Age 8 to 13.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/data/book/unclassified/9780552554435/my-sister-jodie?commentpage=1#comment-23649038
NEWS & FEATURES
Actor and comedian Jim Carrey will publish a children's book, How Roland Rolls, in September. Sabrina McCarthy, the president of Perseus Distribution Client Services, described Carrey as the perfect person to write a children's book. The illustrated book, about a wave named Roland, is Carrey's first.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/05/31/jim_carrey_writes_childrens_book.html
When radical Islamists entered Timbuktu, they set about destroying everything they deemed a sin. They demolished tombs of Sufi saints and would have burned nearly 300,000 pages on a variety of subjects. But a secret operation had been set in motion within weeks of the takeover. The Washington Post has published the story of how nearly all the documents were saved.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/how-timbuktus-manuscripts-were-saved-from-jihadists/2013/05/26/299e26f6-bbd5-11e2-b537-ab47f0325f7c_story_2.html
In September 1973, after Augusto Pinochet overthrew the Chilean government in a military coup, poet Pablo Neruda died in a hospital, ostensibly of cancer. Forty years later, a Chilean court is investigating the possibility that Neruda might have been murdered by government agents hoping to silence his dissident voice. Neruda's body was exhumed in April and is currently being tested for traces of poison.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/crime/2013/06/03/pablo_neruda_poisoned_did_pinochet_agents_and_michael_townley_murder_the.html
The Rev. Andrew Greeley, an outspoken Roman Catholic priest and bestselling author of more than 50 bestselling novels, mystery thrillers, and dozens of nonfiction works, and longtime Chicago newspaper columnist who criticized the hierarchy of his own church over the child sex abuse scandal, has died, at 85.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/05/30/obit-greeley-andrew-priest-writer.html
Unlike science fiction, novels about climate change focus on an immediate and intense threat, writes Rodge Glass. In 2012, Dan Bloom produced a novella called Polar City Red, about climate refugees in a post-apocalyptic Alaska. Bloom coined the term "cli-fi", short for "climate fiction", described as a sub-genre of sci-fi. There is now a growing corpus of novels setting out to warn readers of possible environmental nightmares to come.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/31/global-warning-rise-cli-fi
One day, Dennis Lehane's Gone, Baby, Gone sold 23 e-book copies. The next day: 13,071 copies sold. A Kindle Daily Deal designated on Amazon, thousands of readers notified of a 24-hour price cut, and "It's the Groupon of books," said Dominique Raccah, publisher of Sourcebooks. "It's new, interesting, and a deal: little risk, and it works."
http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2021070533_booksoflashsalesxml.html
A letter by Rudyard Kipling has surfaced in which he writes that 'it is extremely possible I have helped myself promiscuously.' The letter, acquired by Adam Andrusier, at the New York Antiquarian book fair last month from a fellow UK manuscript dealer, sees Kipling acknowledging that parts of the hierarchical jungle code may have been borrowed from other sources.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/29/rudyard-kipling-admitted-plagiarism-jungle-book
Gillian Slovo writes about her experience at PalFest, a literary festival in the West Bank.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/may/31/palfest-book-festival-gillian-slovo
The now-wildly popular Oksa Pollack book series, were initially rejected by the French publishers of Harry Potter. After the authors self-published the series, fans wrote in in droves, attracting the attention of a Paris publishing house. The English editions hit British bookshops June 4.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/shortcuts/2013/jun/02/oksa-pollock-french-harry-potter
In an interview with Hermione Hoby, Khaled Hosseini says: 'If I could go back now, I'd take The Kite Runner apart'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/01/khaled-hosseini-kite-runner-interview
Ten novels, written while Michael Crichton was a medical student, will be brought back in print in July. Crichton began his writing career under a pseudonym while studying medicine at Harvard. All long out of print, except for A Case of Need, the novels are set to be released for the first time as ebooks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/31/michael-crichton-novels-out-of-print-ebooks
There was a centenary celebration of Barbara Pym last week, with fans celebrating the novelist of vicarages and unrequited love with cupcakes, teabag rests-and paperback perfume.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/may/31/barbara-pym-centenary-glass-of-blessings
Kate Beaton was interviewed on CBC Radio's The Sunday Edition last week, on the art of creating comics. The interview can be found here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/2013/05/be-clever-and-make-an-insightful-joke-an-interview-with-kate-beaton.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
Adam Marek's stories remind us that there is nothing that can protect our young, except constant vigilance, writes Stephen Finucan. The Stone Thrower finds himself alone with his father, tasked with rescuing baby seabirds that have nasty, spiky knuckle-fish lodged in their throats. The choices parents make are at the heart of The Stone Thrower. The Stone Thrower is reliably dark.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/oct/07/adam-marek-stone-thrower-review?INTCMP=SRCH
In Khaled Hosseini's And the Mountains Echoed, readers remember why so many millions loved his earlier books. This book weaves a complex pattern of interlinked lives, searching for what they sense is missing. While much takes place in Europe and the United States, And the Mountains Echoed, at its heart, is about Afghans becoming separated from Afghanistan, writes Qais Akbar Omar.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/26/mountains-echoed-khaled-hosseini-review
Alice Munro wins a lot of prizes and everyone from Jonathan Franzen to Margaret Atwood agrees she's the best thing going. Munro is a master at pulling universal truths from even the grubbiest, most gothic farm kitchen sinks, and we are right to love her for it, writes Leah McLaren.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/why-its-perfectly-okay-to-hate-alice-munro/article12284482/comments/
Isabel Allende's new novel Maya's Notebook tells of Maya's life in the underworld of Las Vegas until her grandmother sends her to the island of Chiloé where is able to rebuild her life. Maya's Notebook is exceptional in its portrayal of the human spirit, says Alison Rogers.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Book+review+Maya+Notebook+Isabel+Allende+shows+spirit/8463380/story.html
Laura Miller writes in Salon on why Rachel Kushner’s new novel The Flamethrowers scares male critics.
http://www.salon.com/2013/06/05/rachel_kushners_ambitious_new_novel_scares_male_critics/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
CALL AND RESPONSE: THREE
Poets in Conversation. Join Anna Swanson, Bren Simmers and Ariel Gordon for a reading that celebrates a decade of friendship. Saturday, June 8th at 7:30 pm, free. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.
CHRISTINA JOHNSON-DEAN
Author will give an illustrated talk about the artist Ina D.D. Uhthoff, who was a driving force in the Victoria art scene of the mid-20th century. Sunday, June 9 at 4:00pm. Royal BC Museum, 675 Belleville Street, Victoria. More information at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca.
KELLEY ARMSTRONG
Meet the author of the Women of the Otherworld series for young people. Tuesday, June 11. Author reading at City Centre Library at 1:30pm; writing workshop for ages 12+ at Guildford Library at 4:30pm. Complete details at surreylibraries.ca.
BC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY FAMILY HISTORY BOOK AWARDS
A Strawberry tea and the BCGS 2012 Family History Book Awards. Authors' talks. All interested in genealogy and family history are welcome to attend. Wednesday, June 11 at 7:30pm. Danish Lutheran Church, 6010 Kincaid Street, Burnaby. More information at www.bcgs.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Daphne Marlatt and Michelle Barker plus open mic. Wednesday, June 12, 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.
NOMADOS LAUNCH
Readings by Jen Currin, Christine Leclerc and Colin Smith. Wednesday, June 12 at 8:00pm. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.
THE WALKING READ
CWILL BC presents a costume gala to benefit the BC Children's Hospital Foundation. Friday, June 14 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $60. Richmond Open Road Lexus dealership, 5631 Parkwood Way, Richmond. More information at thewalkingread.com.
Upcoming
LUNCH POEMS @ SFU
Meredith Quartermain and Miranda Pearson featured at June 19 Lunch Poems at SFU. Presented by SFU Public Square, 12-1pm in SFU Harbour Centre's Teck Gallery (515 W Hastings St.). Free admission, no registration required. For more information visit www.sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.
BC BOOK PRIZE POETRY FINALISTS
Join the winner and finalists for the 2012 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize as they read from their nominated works. Wednesday, June 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia. More information at www.vpl.ca.
EXTRAVAGANT SIGNALS
Shhhh! poetry slam featuring Lucia Misch, Zaccheus Jackson, Duncan Shields, Rupert Common and more. Wednesday, June 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $7-10. More information at extravagantsignals.eventbrite.com.
SEA SALT
Join the Malone family team of authors, Lorna Malone, Hilary Malone, and Alison Malone-Eathorne, as they sign copies of their new nautically-themed cookbook Sea Salt: Recipes from the West Coast Galley at Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks (1740 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver) on Saturday, June 22 from 2pm to 4pm. For more information or to reserve your copy, call Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks at (604) 688-6755 or go to www.seasaltcookbook.com.
JAY RUZESKY
Join Jay Ruzesky as he gives a slideshow presentation, talk and book signing for his new memoir about following Amundsen's footsteps to Antarctica. In Antarctica: An Amundsen Pilgrimage, at the Vancouver Maritime Museum (1905 Ogden Avenue, Vancouver) on Sunday, June 23 at 2pm. Doors open at 1:30pm. Admission to the presentation is free. For more information, contact the Vancouver Maritime Museum at 604-257-8300 or go to www.nightwoodeditions.com.
GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Presentation of the 20th annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia to William New. Tuesday, June 25 at l7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia. More information at www.vpl.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Catherine Owen, Susan McCaslin, Jude Neale, Bernice Lever, Kevin Spenst plus Open Mic. Thursday, June 27th, 7-9:30 pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Readings by Christopher Levenson, Cathy Stonehouse, Thoung Vuong-Riddick, Joanne Arnott, and Dvora Levin. Friday, July 14 at 3:00pm. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street, Vancouver. More information at deadpoetslive.com.
SPECIAL EVENT
Jeannette Walls
The Glass Castle is one of the bestselling memoirs of all time. Jeannette Walls' new novel, The Silver Star, is a triumph of imagination and storytelling.
Special $16 Book Club Price and Chance to Meet Jeannette Walls
Purchase a minimum of 5 tickets for your group and pay just $16 per ticket, plus be entered for a chance to attend a private reception with Jeannette Walls. Click here for more details, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jeannettewalls/contest.
Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jeannettewalls.
AWARDS & LISTS
AM Homes became the fifth American in a row to be named winner of the women's prize for fiction, formerly known as the Orange, for her sixth novel, May We Be Forgiven.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/05/am-homes-wins-womens-prize-fiction-orange
The National Book Critics Circle has announced the addition of The John Leonard Prize, a new award category for best first book in any genre. For the first time, two previous winners of the Orange Prize, Barbara Kingsolver and Zadie Smith, will battle it out for ‘the Bessie' award and cash prize of £30,000.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/05/29/womens-prize-for-fiction-2013-live-stream_n_3355171.html
Geist contributor David Collier has won the 2013 Doug Wright Award for Hamilton Illustrated, for the best experimental comic. Founded in 2005, the Doug Wright Awards recognize and celebrate Canadian cartoonists and comic artists. Visit the Doug Wright Awards site to hear Collier's interview with Jonathan Goldstein on Wiretap.
http://www.geist.com/blogs/news/david-collier-wins/
Veteran Canadian journalist Chrystia Freeland has won the National Business Book Award for Plutocrats: The Rise of the new Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/05/28/veteran_canadian_journalist_chrystia_freeland_wins_national_business_book_award.html
Following an outcry over the Canadian government's initial refusal to admit him, Palestinian poet Ghassan Zaqtan will receive the Griffin poetry prize. Zaqtan was shortlisted for the C$65,000 (£41,000) Griffin poetry prize in April for his tenth collection Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me, described by judges as poetry which "reminds us why we live and how, in the midst of war, despair, global changes".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/31/canadian-visa-palestinian-poet-ghassan-zaqtan
British authors David Constantine and Deborah Levy, and Joyce Carol Oates and Peter Stamm are on the shortlist for the Frank O'Connor short story award. Worth €25,000, the Frank O'Connor is the world's richest award for a single short-story collection.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/31/frank-o-connor-short-story-award
Victoria author Eliza Robertson has won a Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the British Columbia-set We Walked on Water.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/boos/Victoria+Eliza+Robertson+wins+Commonwealth+Short/8462455/story.html#ixzz2UyIIIVtf
Mia Couto has received the 2013 Camões Prize for Literature, one of the most prestigious international awards honoring the work of Portuguese language writers.
http://biblioasis.blogspot.ca/2013/05/mia-couto-wins-2013-camoes-prize-for.html
Several young readers interview Malorie Blackman, Britain's first black Children's Laureate, on the accompanying video.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/video/2013/jun/04/childrens-laureate-malorie-blackman-video-interview
YOUNG READERS
Cat people, like the objects of their affection, are a breed apart and Cat Talk is bound to speak to them. Young children will love Moser's paintings and the lilt of the authors' words; older readers will recognize those words, matching the voices with felines they themselves have known. Ages 4 to 104.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Kids+Poems+meow/8402937/story.html#ixzz2Tn70UXAg
They scratch, run away, have fish breath and sick up hair balls, but we still love our furry, purry friends. Children's book author and cat lover Tor Freeman teaches you how to draw them like a pro.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/gallery/2013/apr/26/how-to-draw-cats-tor-freeman#ixzz2UkI4pYrx
In Jacqueline Wilson's My Sister Jodie, the parents get new jobs at a school, and they have to move. Everything changes for Jodie and Pearl, and Pearl begins to wonder if she needs Jodie as much as she used to. But when a tragic event occurs, Pearl realizes quite how much Jodie means to her. Age 8 to 13.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/data/book/unclassified/9780552554435/my-sister-jodie?commentpage=1#comment-23649038
NEWS & FEATURES
Actor and comedian Jim Carrey will publish a children's book, How Roland Rolls, in September. Sabrina McCarthy, the president of Perseus Distribution Client Services, described Carrey as the perfect person to write a children's book. The illustrated book, about a wave named Roland, is Carrey's first.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/05/31/jim_carrey_writes_childrens_book.html
When radical Islamists entered Timbuktu, they set about destroying everything they deemed a sin. They demolished tombs of Sufi saints and would have burned nearly 300,000 pages on a variety of subjects. But a secret operation had been set in motion within weeks of the takeover. The Washington Post has published the story of how nearly all the documents were saved.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/how-timbuktus-manuscripts-were-saved-from-jihadists/2013/05/26/299e26f6-bbd5-11e2-b537-ab47f0325f7c_story_2.html
In September 1973, after Augusto Pinochet overthrew the Chilean government in a military coup, poet Pablo Neruda died in a hospital, ostensibly of cancer. Forty years later, a Chilean court is investigating the possibility that Neruda might have been murdered by government agents hoping to silence his dissident voice. Neruda's body was exhumed in April and is currently being tested for traces of poison.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/crime/2013/06/03/pablo_neruda_poisoned_did_pinochet_agents_and_michael_townley_murder_the.html
The Rev. Andrew Greeley, an outspoken Roman Catholic priest and bestselling author of more than 50 bestselling novels, mystery thrillers, and dozens of nonfiction works, and longtime Chicago newspaper columnist who criticized the hierarchy of his own church over the child sex abuse scandal, has died, at 85.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/05/30/obit-greeley-andrew-priest-writer.html
Unlike science fiction, novels about climate change focus on an immediate and intense threat, writes Rodge Glass. In 2012, Dan Bloom produced a novella called Polar City Red, about climate refugees in a post-apocalyptic Alaska. Bloom coined the term "cli-fi", short for "climate fiction", described as a sub-genre of sci-fi. There is now a growing corpus of novels setting out to warn readers of possible environmental nightmares to come.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/31/global-warning-rise-cli-fi
One day, Dennis Lehane's Gone, Baby, Gone sold 23 e-book copies. The next day: 13,071 copies sold. A Kindle Daily Deal designated on Amazon, thousands of readers notified of a 24-hour price cut, and "It's the Groupon of books," said Dominique Raccah, publisher of Sourcebooks. "It's new, interesting, and a deal: little risk, and it works."
http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2021070533_booksoflashsalesxml.html
A letter by Rudyard Kipling has surfaced in which he writes that 'it is extremely possible I have helped myself promiscuously.' The letter, acquired by Adam Andrusier, at the New York Antiquarian book fair last month from a fellow UK manuscript dealer, sees Kipling acknowledging that parts of the hierarchical jungle code may have been borrowed from other sources.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/29/rudyard-kipling-admitted-plagiarism-jungle-book
Gillian Slovo writes about her experience at PalFest, a literary festival in the West Bank.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/may/31/palfest-book-festival-gillian-slovo
The now-wildly popular Oksa Pollack book series, were initially rejected by the French publishers of Harry Potter. After the authors self-published the series, fans wrote in in droves, attracting the attention of a Paris publishing house. The English editions hit British bookshops June 4.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/shortcuts/2013/jun/02/oksa-pollock-french-harry-potter
In an interview with Hermione Hoby, Khaled Hosseini says: 'If I could go back now, I'd take The Kite Runner apart'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/01/khaled-hosseini-kite-runner-interview
Ten novels, written while Michael Crichton was a medical student, will be brought back in print in July. Crichton began his writing career under a pseudonym while studying medicine at Harvard. All long out of print, except for A Case of Need, the novels are set to be released for the first time as ebooks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/31/michael-crichton-novels-out-of-print-ebooks
There was a centenary celebration of Barbara Pym last week, with fans celebrating the novelist of vicarages and unrequited love with cupcakes, teabag rests-and paperback perfume.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/may/31/barbara-pym-centenary-glass-of-blessings
Kate Beaton was interviewed on CBC Radio's The Sunday Edition last week, on the art of creating comics. The interview can be found here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/2013/05/be-clever-and-make-an-insightful-joke-an-interview-with-kate-beaton.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
Adam Marek's stories remind us that there is nothing that can protect our young, except constant vigilance, writes Stephen Finucan. The Stone Thrower finds himself alone with his father, tasked with rescuing baby seabirds that have nasty, spiky knuckle-fish lodged in their throats. The choices parents make are at the heart of The Stone Thrower. The Stone Thrower is reliably dark.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/oct/07/adam-marek-stone-thrower-review?INTCMP=SRCH
In Khaled Hosseini's And the Mountains Echoed, readers remember why so many millions loved his earlier books. This book weaves a complex pattern of interlinked lives, searching for what they sense is missing. While much takes place in Europe and the United States, And the Mountains Echoed, at its heart, is about Afghans becoming separated from Afghanistan, writes Qais Akbar Omar.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/26/mountains-echoed-khaled-hosseini-review
Alice Munro wins a lot of prizes and everyone from Jonathan Franzen to Margaret Atwood agrees she's the best thing going. Munro is a master at pulling universal truths from even the grubbiest, most gothic farm kitchen sinks, and we are right to love her for it, writes Leah McLaren.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/why-its-perfectly-okay-to-hate-alice-munro/article12284482/comments/
Isabel Allende's new novel Maya's Notebook tells of Maya's life in the underworld of Las Vegas until her grandmother sends her to the island of Chiloé where is able to rebuild her life. Maya's Notebook is exceptional in its portrayal of the human spirit, says Alison Rogers.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Book+review+Maya+Notebook+Isabel+Allende+shows+spirit/8463380/story.html
Laura Miller writes in Salon on why Rachel Kushner’s new novel The Flamethrowers scares male critics.
http://www.salon.com/2013/06/05/rachel_kushners_ambitious_new_novel_scares_male_critics/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
CALL AND RESPONSE: THREE
Poets in Conversation. Join Anna Swanson, Bren Simmers and Ariel Gordon for a reading that celebrates a decade of friendship. Saturday, June 8th at 7:30 pm, free. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.
CHRISTINA JOHNSON-DEAN
Author will give an illustrated talk about the artist Ina D.D. Uhthoff, who was a driving force in the Victoria art scene of the mid-20th century. Sunday, June 9 at 4:00pm. Royal BC Museum, 675 Belleville Street, Victoria. More information at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca.
KELLEY ARMSTRONG
Meet the author of the Women of the Otherworld series for young people. Tuesday, June 11. Author reading at City Centre Library at 1:30pm; writing workshop for ages 12+ at Guildford Library at 4:30pm. Complete details at surreylibraries.ca.
BC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY FAMILY HISTORY BOOK AWARDS
A Strawberry tea and the BCGS 2012 Family History Book Awards. Authors' talks. All interested in genealogy and family history are welcome to attend. Wednesday, June 11 at 7:30pm. Danish Lutheran Church, 6010 Kincaid Street, Burnaby. More information at www.bcgs.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Daphne Marlatt and Michelle Barker plus open mic. Wednesday, June 12, 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.
NOMADOS LAUNCH
Readings by Jen Currin, Christine Leclerc and Colin Smith. Wednesday, June 12 at 8:00pm. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.
THE WALKING READ
CWILL BC presents a costume gala to benefit the BC Children's Hospital Foundation. Friday, June 14 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $60. Richmond Open Road Lexus dealership, 5631 Parkwood Way, Richmond. More information at thewalkingread.com.
Upcoming
LUNCH POEMS @ SFU
Meredith Quartermain and Miranda Pearson featured at June 19 Lunch Poems at SFU. Presented by SFU Public Square, 12-1pm in SFU Harbour Centre's Teck Gallery (515 W Hastings St.). Free admission, no registration required. For more information visit www.sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.
BC BOOK PRIZE POETRY FINALISTS
Join the winner and finalists for the 2012 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize as they read from their nominated works. Wednesday, June 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia. More information at www.vpl.ca.
EXTRAVAGANT SIGNALS
Shhhh! poetry slam featuring Lucia Misch, Zaccheus Jackson, Duncan Shields, Rupert Common and more. Wednesday, June 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $7-10. More information at extravagantsignals.eventbrite.com.
SEA SALT
Join the Malone family team of authors, Lorna Malone, Hilary Malone, and Alison Malone-Eathorne, as they sign copies of their new nautically-themed cookbook Sea Salt: Recipes from the West Coast Galley at Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks (1740 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver) on Saturday, June 22 from 2pm to 4pm. For more information or to reserve your copy, call Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks at (604) 688-6755 or go to www.seasaltcookbook.com.
JAY RUZESKY
Join Jay Ruzesky as he gives a slideshow presentation, talk and book signing for his new memoir about following Amundsen's footsteps to Antarctica. In Antarctica: An Amundsen Pilgrimage, at the Vancouver Maritime Museum (1905 Ogden Avenue, Vancouver) on Sunday, June 23 at 2pm. Doors open at 1:30pm. Admission to the presentation is free. For more information, contact the Vancouver Maritime Museum at 604-257-8300 or go to www.nightwoodeditions.com.
GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Presentation of the 20th annual George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia to William New. Tuesday, June 25 at l7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia. More information at www.vpl.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Catherine Owen, Susan McCaslin, Jude Neale, Bernice Lever, Kevin Spenst plus Open Mic. Thursday, June 27th, 7-9:30 pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Readings by Christopher Levenson, Cathy Stonehouse, Thoung Vuong-Riddick, Joanne Arnott, and Dvora Levin. Friday, July 14 at 3:00pm. Project Space, 222 East Georgia Street, Vancouver. More information at deadpoetslive.com.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
