Book News Vol. 8 No. 20

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.