Book News Vol. 8 No. 30

BOOK NEWS

2013 Festival - October 22-27

The 2013 Vancouver Writers Fest events go on sale Sept 9. This year's author lineup includes Margaret Atwood, Joseph Boyden, Tomson Highway, Wayne Johnston, Anne Michaels, Rachel Kushner, Lisa Moore, Paul Muldoon, George
Packer, Marisha Pessl and Eric Schlosser. Festival program guides are now available at bookstores, cafes and library branches around Vancouver. Complete Festival details including a downloadable PDF of the guide are
available online.

VWF Writing Contests for Adults and Youth
Submit your finest prose and poetry to the 15th annual Vancouver Writers Fest Poetry & Short Story Contest, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/writingcontest. The top entries in poetry and fiction will be published in subTerrain magazine and receive cash prizes. New this year is our writing contest for BC students in grades 8-12 which also awards cash prizes, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/youthwritingcontest.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Just Announced! - Jung Chang
The best-selling author of the books Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China and Mao: The Unknown Story talks about her groundbreaking new biography, Empress Dowager Cixi. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jungchang

SPECIAL FOR BOOK CLUBS! $16 per person, minimum of 5 people, book by phone only at 604-629-8849.

Thursday, November 21 at 7:30pm
Waterfront Theatre
1412 Cartwright Street, Granville Island

J.B. MacKinnon
The independent journalist and award-winning author of The 100-Mile Diet talks about his new book, The Once and Future World, providing an eye-opening account of nature as it was, as it is and as it could be. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jbmackinnon.

SPECIAL FOR BOOK CLUBS! $16 per person, minimum of 5 people, book by phone only at 604-629-8849.

Thursday, October 3 at 7:30pm
Frederic Wood Theatre
6354 Crescent Road, UBC

David Sedaris
The renowned NPR humorist comes to Vancouver's Chan Centre for an evening of cutting wit, social satire, riveting conversation and post-event book signing with his recent New York Times' bestseller release Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/davidsedaris.

SPECIAL WRITERS FEST OFFER! Use the code "VWF" to get $5 off your ticket.

Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30pm
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
6265 Crescent Road, UBC

FESTIVAL AUTHORS

Eleanor Catton is only 28 years old, and she's just published her second novel, The Luminaries. A favourite for the Booker Prize, it mines the world of Victorian New Zealand, run amok with prospectors, opium traffickers, and immigrants from the north trying make sense of the southern sky, and a world turned on its head.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/10260118/The-Luminaries-by-Eleanor-Catton-review.html

There are only seven days to go before the release of Joseph Boyden's highly anticipated new book, The Orenda. The Globe and Mail has published a sneak preview excerpt here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/excerpt-a-sneak-preview-of-joseph-boydens-the-orenda/article14041768/?page=all#dashboard/follows/

Douglas Glover is interviewed about his forthcoming collection of stories, Savage Love. "It's a gorgeously vivid, inventive, and occasionally brutal collection, steeped in blood, familial affection, and North American history. If you're a fan of short fiction, it's not one to ignore."
http://www.wholebeastrag.org/douglas-glover/

Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam, the thrilling conclusion to her speculative fiction trilogy, has finally been released. Set in the future, it tells the story of a genetically engineered plague that wipes out most of humanity, a fact which, according to Jeet Heer of the National Post, doesn't prevent it from being "unexpectedly and frequently an exhilarating and hilarious novel."
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/08/30/book-review-maddaddam-by-margaret-atwood/

You can also read what Margaret Atwood has to say for herself in New York Magazine, especially when it comes to the word "sci-fi".
http://nymag.com/guides/fallpreview/2013/margaret-atwood-maddaddam-2013-9/

One of this year's festival's most harrowing tales is not fiction at all. It's the true-life story of Amanda Lindhout and her fifteen months of captivity in war-torn Somalia, as told in her memoir, A House in the Sky.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/after-15-months-captivity-in-somalia-a-story-of-resilience/article14042160

Robert J. Wiersema calls Michael Winter's new novel Minister Without Portfolio a "masterful examination of the very marrow of life."
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/08/30/book-review-minister-without-portfolio-by-michael-winter/

AWARDS & LISTS

Canadian-born British writer and psychologist Cordelia Fine has been shortlisted for the Warwick Prize. Her competition includes Robert Macfarlane, current chair of judges for this year's Man Booker Prize. Fine's book, Delusions of Gender, was written with the purpose to debunk myths of male and female hardwiring.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/08/30/torontoborn_psychologist_cordelia_fine_shortlisted_for_lucrative_warwick_prize_for_delusions_of_gender.html

Saskatchewan author Guy Vanderhaeghe will be presented with the 2013 Lieutenant Governor's Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2013/09/04/sk-artist-award.html

YOUNG READERS

The Owl and The Pussycat is a children's poetry classic. Now, 142 years after its publication, the British author Julia Donaldson has written a sequel, called The Further Adventures of the Owl and the Pussy-cat. In this piece, she describes how Edward Lear's poems influenced her childhood, and why she decided to pay homage.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/10257895/Julia-Donaldson-on-how-Edward-Lears-poems-influenced-her.html

NEWS & FEATURES

Seamus Heaney, the great Irish poet, died on August 30th. The tributes have been pouring in, including this one, by the Scottish writer Andrew O'Hagan. He details the travels that he and Heaney took together, traipsing all over Britain and Ireland, making small pilgrimages to the graves and landscapes of the poets who came before.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/02/seamus-heaney-my-travels-with-poet

And for those who missed CBC radio's rebroadcast of Eleanor Wachtel's Writers and Company interview with Seamus Heaney in 2010, there's still a chance to listen to it online.
http://www.cbc.ca/writersandcompany/2013/09/01/seamus-heaney/index.html

It's rare that libraries are associated with the word "Bling", but when it comes to Birmingham's new Central Library, it's unavoidable. In keeping with trends in the city, the architects set out to design a building that reflected Birmingham's industrial past as a centre of jewelry-making.
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/video/2013/aug/29/new-birmingham-library-centenary-square-video-tour

When J.K. Rowling was unmasked this summer as the author of The Cuckoo's Calling, many questions arose about the psychology of book reviews and sales. The New York Times takes up that issue in this piece, discussing why the odds are so long for newly published authors.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/31/business/cuckoos-calling-reveals-long-odds-for-new-authors.html?ref=books

There have been many casualties during the latest violence in Egypt. Who knew a bookstore was one of them?
http://www.dw.de/the-dangerous-job-of-selling-books-in-cairo/a-17053566

And what about Canadian bookstores? In his final column about rediscovering Canadian literature in Paris, Craig Taylor asks "Why is it easier to run a Canadian bookstore in Paris than in Canada?"
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/why-is-it-easier-to-run-a-canadian-bookstore-in-paris-than-in-canada/article14042318/

Meanwhile, at the Paris Review, a writer reflects on the importance of keeping a notebook in the digital age.
Part 1: http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/08/28/on-keeping-a-notebook-part-one/
Part 2: http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/page/3/

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife...or perhaps a deck of Jane Austen tarot cards?
http://flavorwire.com/412008/jane-austen-tarot-cards-for-a-woman-in-want-of-a-card-deck

The 3rd Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest has been extended to September 30! Information re: entries can be found here:
http://www.geist.com/contests/erasure/erasure/

BOOKS & WRITERS

In 1972, Daniel Woodrell (who just published his second book, The Maid's Version,) traded two tacos in Tijuana for an Ernest Hemingway novel. After reading it, he was determined to be a writer. Here's the story of the moment that changed his life.
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/09/two-tacos-for-i-a-moveable-feast-i-a-writers-life-changing-barter-in-tijuana/279273/

Thomas Pynchon's new novel, Bleeding Edge, comes out in two weeks. Penguin has called it ""a historical romance of New York in the early days of the internet". You can check out the first page here:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/04/22/thomas_pynchon_bleeding_edge_first_page_novel_about_new_york_in_2001_is.html

Andrea Barrett has released a new short story collection, Archangel. "Her stories work as both fiction and as philosophy of science. And she need do no grandstanding to advance her belief in unstoppable progress. But this book does offer a powerfully human sense of the struggle it takes for new ideas to dislodge old ones."
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/books/archangel-by-andrea-barrett.html?ref=books

It may be ensconced in ice for much of the year, but Copenhagen is very hot these days. Danish crime shows are taking over television sets...but what about fiction? This week's New Yorker features a story by Dorthe Nors, set in the Frederiksberg Gardens, in the Danish capital. The author discusses why here:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/09/this-week-in-fiction-dorthe-nors.html

COMMUNITY EVENTS

DEAD POETS READING SERIES
The Dead Poets Reading Series will continue on Sunday 8th September from 3 to 5 pm. at Project Space, 222 East Georgia (in Chinatown, between Main and Gore) It will feature poetry by John Berryman, read by Kevin Spenst, Anne Hebert, (Thuong Vuong-Riddick) Malcolom Lowry (Steven Brown), William Matthews (Rhea Tregebov) and Thomas Merton (Sheila Rosen). Admission is by donation. For more information please visit www.deadpoetslive.com.

CARMEN RODRIGUEZ AND CARMEN AGUIRRE
In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the military coup in Chile, the mother and daughter read from their books and discuss past and current events in Chile. Wednesday, September 11 at 6:30pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.

TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Stephen Collis and David King with open mic. Wednesday, September 11 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.

THE WOMEN OF OPENING DOORS IN VANCOUVER
Poet Daphne Marlatt and artist Carole Itter recall experiences and memories of the diverse women interviewed in the 1970s for their book. They will be joined by historian James Johnstone. Thursday, September 12 at 7:00pm, free. City of Vancouver Archives, 1150 Chestnut.

EMERGE 2013 FUNDRAISER
A night of incredible talent all in support of this year's emerge anthology that features work by all 36 writers of the Writer's Studio at SFU. Readings by Betsy Warland, Wayde Compton, Jen Currin and a special reading by the emerge publisher, Andrew Chesham, with musical guests Leanne Dunic and Ryan Ogg of Luck Commander. Thursday, September 12. Entrance by donation (suggested $15) so arrive early to ensure entry. Max 75 people. Calabash Bistro, 428 Carrall Street.

TO TIMBUKTU FOR A HAIRCUT
President and CEO of Tourism Vancouver Rick Antonson will regale you with tales of his epic journey by train, boat, four-wheel drive, camel and on foot. Monday, September 16 at 7:00pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.

RAWI HAGE
Inaugural reading by VPLs 2013 Writer in Residence, award-winning Canadian author. Tuesday, September 17 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.

SPOKEN INK READING SERIES
Features guest reader Daniela Elza with open mic. Tuesday, September 17 at 8:00pm. La Fontana Caffe, 101-3701 East Hastings Street (at Boundary Rd). More information at burnabywritersnews.blogspot.ca.

Upcoming

LUNCH POEMS
Canada’s Poet Laureate Fred Wah and Christine Leclerc featured at Sept 18 '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. Lunch Poems hosts well-known and up-and-coming poets on the third Wednesday of every month except July and August. For more information visit www.sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.

SMALLPOX AND THE TSILHQOT'IN WAR
Author Tom Swanky shows who, where, when, why and how smallpox featured in the Tsilhqot'in War, a pivotal event in B.C.'s history. Wednesday, September 18 at 7:00pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.

HAPA-PALOOZA
In a talk on hybridity, identity, and creativity, Canadian poet laureate Fred Wah, author Yasuko Thanh, author David Chariandy, and UBC English prof Glenn Deer explore mixed cultural upbringing and its influence on creative work. Wednesday, September 18 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, Central Branch, VPL, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.

BOOK LAUNCH
Poet Bonnie Nish will launch her collection Love and Bones. Friday, September 20 at 7:00pm. St. Mark's Church, 1805 Larch S. Vancouver. For more information, contact blnish_pandoras@yahoo.ca.

ALLY CARTER
Author celebrates the release of the final book in the Gallagher Girls' series, United We Spy. Saturday, September 21 at 2:00pm. Chapters Granville, 2505 Granville Street.

THE MAYAN MYSTERIES
Sharon MacGougan will talk about her novel, The Mayan Mysteries. The real-life ancient mystery of the disappearance of the Mayan people converges with the inner transformation of a fifteen-year-old girl in this adventure story. Wednesday, September 25 at 7:30pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.

TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Celeste Snowber and Carl Leggo with open mic in collaboration with Word Vancouver. Thursday, September 26 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.

INTO THE ABYSS
Carol Shaben discuses her book Into the Abyss, with special guest former pilot Erik Vogel. Thursday, September 26 at 7:00 PM. Christianne’s Lyceum. 3696 W. 8th Ave. $20 (includes refreshments). To reserve your space call 604.733.1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com. More information at
www.christiannehayward.com.