Book News Vol. 8 No. 35

BOOK NEWS

2013 Festival - October 22-27

The Vancouver Writers Fest presents a series of events at UBC's Frederic Wood Theatre featuring internationally renowned journalists and authors. We invite you to join us for insightful conversations with leading non-fiction writers George Packer, Eric Schlosser and Alan Weisman.

The Unwinding: George Packer in conversation with Wayne Grady
8:00pm, Thursday, October 24
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2013festival/event/42-unwinding

Award-winning author and staff writer for the New Yorker George Packer gives a riveting examination of a nation in crisis in his new book, The Unwinding.

Our Last Best Hope: Alan Weisman in conversation with Charlie Smith
8:00pm, Friday, October 25
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2013festival/event/56-our-last-best-hope

The author of the international bestseller The World Without Us, Alan Weisman travelled to more than twenty countries to find answers for a sustainable human future on earth for his new book Countdown.

Command and Control: Eric Schlosser in conversation with Stephen Quinn
8:00pm, Saturday, October 26
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2013festival/event/73-command-and-control

Investigative journalist and author of the bestsellers Fast Food Nation and Reefer Madness,Eric Schlosser turns his attention to America’s nuclear arsenal with Command and Control.

Check out this week's edition of VWF's Artistic Director Hal Wake's Festival picks, highlighting brave memoirs and compelling fiction.
http://youtu.be/6mpJSlGBSfs

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

The Literati Gala Cabaret
The VWF's fundraising gala on October 21 is hosted by CBC's Gloria Macarenko and features a Literary Cabaret performance with Sal Ferreras and Poetic License with writers Michael Crummey and Genni Gunn, celebrating the Lit Cab's 25th year. Tickets are $175 and are available at http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/literatigala. Corporate tables are also available-call 604 681 6330 ext 104. Literati supports the VWF's Spreading the Word education program. Presenting sponsor: Scotia Private Client Group
Reception sponsor: Vancouver Film School.

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. Sponsored by SFU Library Services. 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

FESTIVALS

The 29th annual JCC Jewish Book Festival: November 23-28

Special Pre-Festival Events Oct. 27/28
The JCC Jewish Book Festival takes Vancouver by storm with an exciting roster of writers from across Canada, the US, and Israel. The Festival week is jam-packed with innovative literary events including unique meet-the-author opportunities, literary readings and panel discussions, a foodie event, the annual bookclub gathering, writing and self-publishing workshops, children's authors, film-screenings, and two onsite bookstores.

Special pre-Festival events include novelist/poet Anne Michaels in our intimate Writer's Salon (Oct. 27) and the Israeli debut novelist Shani Boianjiu (Oct. 28).

Featured 2013 Festival authors include: Sheila Heti, Abe Morgentaler and Daniel Bergner (Libido Unleashed). Ilana Edelstein, Roberta Rich (book club headliner), Marion Grodin (daughter of funnyman Charles Grodin), and a host of others writers, events and genres.

Complete details at jewishbookfestival.ca.

FESTIVAL AUTHORS

There are some wonderful non-fiction books being featured at this year's Writers Fest. Among them is Island: How Islands Transform the World, by J. Edward Chamberlin. "The ocean is the only domain, other than outer space, where humans are so completely alien and where wonder holds us so close," says Chamberlin. "This is the heart of the matter, for it is this wonder that has inspired voyagers for millennia to row and sail the seas in search of an island."
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/10/04/open-book-island-by-j-edward-chamberlin

Has a writer ever made you fall in love with a fictional person? According Eleanor Catton, the Canadian-born author of The Luminaries, falling in love with a character in a book is one of life's greatest pleasures. The Toronto
Star claims that she's done just that in The Luminaries, recently nominated for both the Man Booker Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/10/02/the_luminaries_by_eleanor_catton_review.html

Environmental themes are everywhere these days. In Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth?, Alan Weisman looks at overpopulation, and what we can do to preserve our planet. He is interviewed by NPR, here:
http://www.npr.org/2013/10/04/229206781/countdown-explores-the-effects-of-our-overpopulated-planet

What do Radiohead and Eric Schlosser's new book, Command and Control, have in common? More than you'd think. According to the author, one of their songs inspired him as he wrote. "The lyrics–'I don't want to hear it, I don't want to know, I just want to run and hide'–express the sense of denial that cloaks the whole subject of nuclear aggression."
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/videos/how-radiohead-inspired-eric-schlosser-to-write-command-and-control-20131002

What's detective fiction without a detective? Jo Nesbø's newest crime novel, Police, is unique in that its detective doesn't make an appearance until halfway into the book. Police is reviewed in the Independent, here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/police-by-jo-nesbo-harvill-secker-1899-8851979.html

AWARDS & LISTS

Alice Munro wins the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature, becoming the first Canadian woman to take the award since its launch in 1901.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/alice-munro-is-1st-canadian-woman-to-win-nobel-literature-prize-1.1958383

Listen to Hal Wake's interview with Alice, recorded live at the 2005 Vancouver Writers Fest.
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/audio-archives/alice-munro-conversation-hal-wake?utm_source=booknews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alice_munro

The shortlist has been released for the 2013 City of Vancouver Book Prize. Two Writers Fest authors made the list: poet Brad Cran, for his new collection, Ink on Paper, and Amber Dawn, for How Poetry Saved My Life: A Hustler's Memoir.
http://www.straight.com/life/498651/short-list-released-annual-city-vancouver-book-prize

If you've ever thought about studying creative writing, here's a reason to go to UBC: the university, along with Harper Collins and the Cooke Agency are launching a new fiction prize for students and alumni. The lucky winner will be offered an monetary advance, literary representation by the Cooke Agency and a publishing contract with Harper Collins Canada. The prize will officially launch at our very own Writers Fest!
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/10/07/new-fiction-prize-launched-by-ubc-harpercollins-and-cooke-agency/

Writers Fest author Colin Mochrie has just been named Canadian comedy person of the year at the 14th annual Canadian Comedy Awards. He has just written his first book, called Not Quite the Classics.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/mr-d-goon-colin-mochrie-win-canadian-comedy-awards-1.1928467

The Giller Prize is celebrating its 20th birthday. To mark the occasion, the Globe and Mail is engaging in a month-long exploration of all things related to the prize. To start, here's a discussion with four of the Giller's most famous winners: Margaret Atwood (coming to the Writers Fest!), Austin Clarke, Linden MacIntyre and M.G. Vassanji.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/atwood-macintyre-vassanji-and-clarke-talk-writing-and-the-gillers/article14703302/

You can also see a short video from the discussion here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/arts-video/video-giller-prize-winners-give-advice-to-aspiring-writers/article14675452/

YOUNG READERS

It's Children's Book Week in the UK. To celebrate the fact, a reading charity called Booktrust has released a list of the 100 best books to read before you're 14. The Guardian dissects the list, here:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/07/booktrust-top-100-childrens-books

NEWS & FEATURES

Have you ever complained about the death of independent bookstores? Perhaps you should consider a move to France. French lawmakers have just passed a law that bars online booksellers from offering customers free delivery and large discounts. According to one politician, "the (book pricing) law is part of our cultural heritage".
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/04/business/France-Takes-Aim-at-Amazon-to-Protect-Local-Bookshops.html

"What can the man who told Ernest Hemingway to "tone it down" and lived to tell the tale teach us about publishing today?" The world may have changed, but the lessons remain the same. Learn more about Max Perkins, one of the greatest editors of all time, here:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/oct/04/age-amazon-editors-max-perkins

Has Jane Austen-mania gone too far? A new project called "The Austen Project" is setting out to rewrite the famous author's works and make them more accessible to modern audiences. Who would you get to re-write Jane Austen? You can join the discussion here:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/oct/07/who-should-rewrite-jane-austen-mansfield-park-persuasion

New York may be too far to travel for an exhibition, but if you've ever wanted to learn more about Edgar Allen Poe, this New York Times piece makes for a great read. Poe, described as "among the unluckiest and most misunderstood" of his profession, is the subject of a new exhibit at the Morgan Library.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/04/books/edgar-allan-poe-exhibition-opens-at-the-morgan.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0

If you can't make it as far as New York, consider a literary trip down I-5 to San Francisco. The San Francisco Chronicle has just released an interactive "Literary Map" of the Cool Gray City of Love (and its environs). Want to know where Allen Ginsberg lived in a cottage in Berkeley? Or find out where William Saroyan got drunk on bad whiskey? Travel through click of your mouse, here:
http://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/books/item/Bay-Area-Literary-Map-23355.php

But don't worry, we haven't forgotten about Vancouver's literary treasures either! DIY urbanism and reading intersect in one of the city's newest trends: pop-up community libraries, coming to a park near you.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Little+libraries+bring+sense+community+public+spaces/9004392/story.html

Have you ever thought that reading literary fiction might make you a more empathetic person? According to a recent scientific study, it does.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/oct/08/literary-fiction-improves-empathy-study

What do you look for in modern translation? In this week's edition of the New York Times' "Bookends", Daniel Mendelsohn and Dana Stevens discuss why tone is everything. "Translating "Agamemnon"? Clytemnestra shouldn't sound like Joan Crawford"!
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/books/review/what-do-you-look-for-in-modern-translation.html

Are you a struggling writer working a degrading day job? Chances are you might feel a bit better once you read this list: the Oddest Odd Jobs of 10 Literary Greats.
http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/before-they-were-famous-the-oddest-odd-jobs-of-10-literary-greats-2

What do Charles Dickens characters Simon Tappertit, Mr Gamp and Silas Wegg have in common? Wooden legs! According to the British Library, they occur far too regularly in the writer's work, "a preoccupation which speaks clearly of the regularity with which wooden legs and prosthetics were to be seen in Victorian society".
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/untoldlives/2013/10/without-a-leg-to-stand-on-victorian-prosthetics.html

BOOKS & WRITERS

The Nobel Prize for literature is set to be announced on Thursday. No Canadian has ever won the prize. Could Alice Munro, just possibly, bring the Nobel home?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/can-alice-munro-end-canadas-112-year-drought-with-a-nobel-win-for-literature/article14767220/

Every writer must find their muse, even if it has four legs and likes to have its ears scratched. At least that's the case for Mary Oliver, the acclaimed nature poet, whose new collection, Dog Songs, has just been released. She's "the kind of old-fashioned poet who walks the woods most days, accompanied by dog and notepad. "Dogs are perfect companions," she says. "They don't speak."
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/books/mary-olivers-dog-songs-finds-poetry-in-friends.html

COMMUNITY EVENTS

PLANET EARTH READING SERIES
Poets Daniela Elza (milk tooth bane bone) and Emilia Neilsen (Surge Narrows) will feature at Planet Earth Reading Series. Friday, October 11 at 7:30pm. The Moka House, 103-1633 Hillside Avenue, Victoria. $3 at the door. http://planetearthpoetryvictoriabc.blogspot.ca.

THE 2013 VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL
The annual festival of videopoetry and film is on October 12th, 7pm, at Pacific Cinematheque, 1131 Howe Street, Vancouver. Also hosting Colorado poet, filmmaker and founder of the Body Electric Poetry Film Festival, R.W. Perkins, who will facilitate Literary Movement, an artist's talk on videopoetry and filmmaking. This talk is at 4pm and free to the public. For the programme & ticket information go to: thecinematheque.ca/visible-verse-2013-festival.

IAN WEIR
Meet the award-winning Langley playwright, screenwriter and novelist. Tuesday, October 15 at 7:30pm. Guildford Library, Surrey Public Library, 15105 - 105 Ave., Surrey. For more information and to register, phone 604-598-7366.

LUNCH POEMS @ SFU
George Stanley and Brad Cran featured. Presented by SFU Public Square, Wednesday, October 16 at 12:00 noon, free. SFU Harbour Centre's Teck Gallery (515 W Hastings St.). For more information visit www.sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.

THE CRISIS IN DEMOCRACY
Author of seven books on politics and the environment, Green Party leader Elizabeth May will discuss what can be done to prevent a slide into "elected dictatorships" in the face of mounting cynicism toward democracy. Thursday
October 17 at 5:00pm, free. Cecil Green Park House, UBC. More information http://www.greencollege.ubc.ca/index/spotlight503.php.

EMERGE 2013 LAUNCH GALA EVENT
Thirty-six distinct voices experiment with the written word in emerge 2013, the Writer's Studio Anthology. Guest edited by JJ Lee, author of The Measure of a Man: The Story of a Father, a Son, and a Suit, the student produced anthology blurs the boundaries between genres as contributors push past limits with their writing process in the year-long program at SFU. Launching with a gala event on October 17th at Simon Fraser University's downtown campus at Harbour Centre, contributors will read from their work. 515 West Hastings. 6 to 9pm. More information at www.facebook.com/EmergeTWS2013 or contact lindsay.glauser@gmail.com.

PAMELA SACKETT
Author reads from her third book of rhythmic prose, Booing Death (with Shpilkes & Rhyme). Thursday, October 17 at 6:30pm, free. Banyen Books & Sound, 3608 4th Ave. W., Vancouver. More information at banyen.com/events/sackett.

STARS IN OUR MIDST
BC has more than its share of brilliant writers and illustrators and this month three of them will be the toast of the Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable’s Annual Illustrators Breakfast October 19 at the University Golf Club. Join the lively, talented storyteller and writer, Richard Van Camp in conversation with two amazing illustrators, Julie Flett and Julie Morstad (a GG finalist for illustration), who will show us how they create their wonderful pictures. Early bird rates end October 15. For registration and information, go to www.vclr.ca.

INSPIRED BY PACIFIC LANDS
Hawaiian author Tom Peek (Daughters of Fire) will be joined by Trevor Carolan (Cascadia: The Life and Breath of the World) and Daniela Elza (milk tooth bane bone) in a multi-genre evening of Writings from Cascadia and Hawaii. October 20, 7pm, at People's Co-Op Books, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More nformation at www.peoplescoopbookstore.com.

Upcoming

WHY GRIZZLY BEARS SHOULD WEAR UNDERPANTS
Meet Matthew Inman, the bestselling author of How to Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You, as he signs his latest book. Tuesday, October 22 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, Burnaby. More information at chapters.indigo.ca.

CBC MASSEY LECTURES
Renowned author Lawrence Hill twww.cbcing journey through the story of blood in his new book, Blood: The Stuff of Life. Wednesday, October 23 at 8:00pm. The Chan Centre for Performing Arts, 6265 Crescent Road, UBC. Information at cbc.ca/ideas/masseys.

DEBORAH ELLIS
Meet the author of Looks Like Daylight: Voices of Indigenous Kids, a collection of interviews with Aboriginal and Native American youth aged nine to eighteen. Thursday, October 24 at 10:15am at Newton Library; 1:15pm at Strawberry Hill Library. Complete information at surreylibraries.ca.

DEAD NORTH
Launch of a Canadian-themed zombie anthology with authors Linda Demeulemeester and Rhea Rose. Thursday, October 24 at 7:00pm. Storm Crow Tavern, 1305 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.

SUSANNA KEARSLEY
Meet the author of The Firebird. Sunday, October 27 at 3:00pm. Guildford Library, Surrey Public Library, 15105-105 Ave., Surrey. For more information and to register, phone 604-598-7366.

PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES
Authors Jane Silcott, Kate Braid, Cathy Stonehouse and Fiona Tinwei Lam for a boundary-pushing evening of discussion and readings about the dynamic essay form. Monday, October 28 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.

CREATING PAULINE
City Opera Vancouver offers an informal presentation about the creation of the new opera Pauline (by Margaret Atwood and Tobin Stokes) to premiere in May 2014, and an introduction to the life of Canadian poet and performer Pauline Johnson (1861-1913). Guests include composer Tobin Stokes, director Norman Armour, singer Rose-Ellen Nichols, pianist David Boothroyd, and conductor and artistic director Charles Barber. Discussion welcome. Chinese Cultural Centre Museum, 555 Columbia. Tues Oct 29, 8pm. Free.

SO WHERE DO YOU GO AT NIGHT?
Author, sailor and adventurer Patrick Hill will share adventure stories from his 14 month family sailing trip through the exotic islands of the South Seas, Hawaii and Glacier Bay. Wednesday, October 30 at 7:30pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.

ICELAND WRITERS RETREAT
The Iceland Writers Retreat invites published and aspiring book writers (fiction and non-fiction) to participate in a series of workshops and panels led by a team of international writers from April 9-13, 2014. Between intimate workshops and lectures tour the spectacular Golden Circle, sit in the cozy cafés of Reykjavik, soak in hot geothermal pools, listen to new Icelandic music, and learn about the country's rich literary tradition. More information at www.IcelandWritersRetreat.com.