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.