Book News Vol. 8 No. 38

BOOK NEWS

SPECIAL EVENT

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

Just announced! - Khaled Hosseini
The author of The Kite Runner talks about his latest book, And the Mountains Echoed. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/khaledhosseini.

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

Thursday, December 5 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Burrard at Nelson

FESTIVAL

The 29th annual JCC Jewish Book Festival

The JCC Jewish Book Festival (Nov 23-28, 2013) presents an exciting roster of writers from across Canada, the US, and Israel. Featured 2013 Festival authors include opening night gala event headliner Sheila Heti, the Libidos Unleashed panel with Abe Morgentaler (Why Men Fake It: The Unexpected Truth About Men and Sex) and Daniel Bergner (What Women Want: Adventures in the Science of Female Desire).

Complete details at jewishbookfestival.ca.

AWARDS & LISTS

Lynn Coady has won the Giller Prize for this year's best book of Canadian fiction! "In her victory speech, Ms. Coady also celebrated the Giller Prize and its popularizing effect, noting that it made her "proud not just to be a Canadian writer, but to be a Canadian–to live in a country where we treat our writers like movie stars."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/edmonton-author-lynn-coady-wins-2013-giller-prize/article15286641/

The Walrus Poetry Prize has just been announced. Also, if you check out this link for a second time on November 12th, you can download a free ebook that celebrates the past ten years of poetry in The Walrus! You can read this year's winning poems here:
http://thewalrus.ca/foundation/projects/poetry-prize/

Lucy Hughes-Hallett's biography of Gabriele D'Annunzio has just won the Samuel Johnson prize for non-fiction. The Pike tells the story of the poet-turned-fascist's transformation into an Italian national hero.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/04/biography-fascist-samuel-johnson-prize

YOUNG READERS

What are the best illustrated children's books of the year? Here is the New York Times' list:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/10/31/books/review/31best-illustrated.html

NEWS & FEATURES

Controversy continues to surround Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird. She claims that a local museum has been exploiting her literary fame.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/01/harper-lee-monroeville-museum-lawsuit-mockingbird

What's the ideal day job for a poet? According to Lorrie Moore, any would-be writer should "first, try to be something, anything, else". Amy Woolard, poet and child-welfare attorney, tackles that question here:
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/11/whats-the-ideal-day-job-for-a-poet/281081/

For those who don't become lawyers, here's some advice for broke writers:
http://therumpus.net/2013/10/advice-for-broke-writers/

Truth really can be stranger than fiction, and sometimes they can even go hand in hand. Here's a list of ten crime writers who used their literary chops in order to solve real-life crimes!
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/nov/01/inside-job-10-crime-writers-turned-detective-pd-james

Score another point for gay marriage! Thanks to the relevantly recent chances to US marriage laws, we're thrilled to announce that Chip Kidd (who appeared at last year's Writers Fest) has just gotten married! His husband, Joseph Donald McClatchy is a writer himself, as well as the editor-in-chief of The Yale Review.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/fashion/weddings/j-d-mcclatchy-and-chip-kidd.html

Next time you pick up a folded Metro newspaper from an empty seat at the back of the bus, be sure consider its literary content. On November 4th, Metro started to publish an exclusive serialized fiction story by Douglas Coupland.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1249953/metro-to-publish-exclusive-fiction-entitled-temp-written-by-douglas-coupland

Sometimes the best interviews happen when the interviewee takes over and asks questions of their own. Such was the case with David Foster Wallace and John Freeman (who recently appeared at the festival).
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/11/05/in-conversation/

BOOKS & WRITERS

How long does a book have to be in order to be considered a novel? Only 69 pages, if you're Zadie Smith, apparently! Of her mini-novel, The Embassy of Cambodia, the Guardian says: "Reading it is a bit like having a starter in a restaurant that is so good you wish you had ordered a big portion as a main course, only to realise, as you finish it, that it was exactly the right amount."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/04/embassy-of-cambodia-zadie-smith-review

Apparently being a nanny to the London literati can be great fodder for storytelling...or letter-writing, if you're Nina Stibbe. Her book Love, Nina is set to be this year's Christmas hit.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10418353/Love-Nina-confessions-of-a-north-London-nanny.html

Joe Sacco, most famous for his political journalism, has just written a graphic novel about the battle of the Somme. Of course, "written" is a misnomer, since there are no words in it at all. And it's hard to call The Great War a book, too, since it's actually just a 24 foot long piece of paper, folded. It all began when a friend challenged him to draw a panorama of the Western Front.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/04/books/joe-saccos-the-great-war-july-1-1916.html

On a similar note, the Globe and Mail has reviewed three new books about the Second World War, all of which remind us of the war's power to fascinate and horrify. These books all tell uniquely Canadian war stories, and are especially timely as Remembrance Day approaches.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/how-we-remember-in-literary-form-the-second-world-war-has-lost-none-of-its-power-to-fascinate-and-horrify/article15213802/

It's rare that poets become superstars, but Shane Koyczan (a long-time Writers Fest icon) seems to be headed that way. His star rose rapidly after his performance at the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver Olympics, and one of his recent poems has received more than 10 million views on YouTube (in its video form). He's currently working on the libretto for an anti-bullying opera, set to premier in collaboration with the Vancouver Opera next fall.
http://thewalrus.ca/the-last-word/

Malcolm Gladwell's newest book, David and Goliath, operates under the premise that the underdog is inherently stronger than his colossal adversary. According to this Globe and Mail reviewer, "he had me at hello–the initial thesis is simply irresistible. After all, who doesn't want to believe that small things make a huge difference...or that gorgeous, rich, powerful people are actually functioning at a serious disadvantage to my messy, non-powerful, non-rich self?"
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/desirable-disadvantages-an-unproven-theory-is-a-dangerous-thing/article15209295/

When Ernest Hemingway killed himself in 1961, he was apparently perpetuating a family tradition. As it turns out, seven in his immediate family also committed suicide, a curse that his granddaughter, Mariel, likens to that of the Kennedy's. Famous for her appearance in Woody Allen's Manhattan, she has just created a documentary about the subject.
http://www.salon.com/2013/11/05/mariel_hemingway_nobody_talked_about_anything_in_my_family/

Will Alice Munro come out of retirement? "Every day I have mixed messages to myself over whether I will retire" she tells the Wall Street Journal. "I have promised to retire but now and then I get an idea."
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/10/22/will-nobelist-alice-munro-come-out-of-retirement/

What are the books to watch out for this November? From highly creative autobiography to Flanner O'Connor's letters to God, check out the New Yorker's list (and a collection of short reviews), here:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/11/books-to-watch-out-for-november.html

Two months before his death, Seamus Heaney wrote a poem called "In a Field" for a memorial anthology marking the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. It is his last-known poem, and thanks to the Guardian, we can all read it ahead of publication. It's printed here:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/25/seamus-heaney-last-poem-published

Along similar lines, Canada's own Alistair MacLeod has written a story called "Remembrance", which McClelland & Stewart has just released as an e-book. "I thought it had been done", says MacLeod in reference to tales of trench warfare and the laying of wreaths. "What I wanted to do...was the after-effects of war: What is left behind?"
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/books/alistair-macleod-looks-at-after-effects-of-war-with-remembrance-story-230550161.html

COMMUNITY EVENTS

MYSTERY @ MCGILL
Two Canadian mystery authors, Miriam Clavir and Glynis Whiting, team up for an evening of readings & discussion. Thursday, November 7 at 7:00pm, free but register by phoning 604-299-8955. McGill branch, Burnaby Public Library, 4595 Albert Street. More information at bpl.bc.ca.

ANNE RICE
Pacific Arbour Speaker Series presents Anne Rice, the grand dame of gothic horror, will talk about her latest series on Werewolf legend on Thursday, Nov 7, 2013 @ 7:30pm. Tickets $10/$35 (includes a copy of her new release: The Wolves of Midwinter), Kay Meek Centre, 1700 Mathers Ave, West Vancouver, Tix & Info: 604.981.6335 / kaymeekcentre.com.

TWS READING SERIES
Featuring guest reader Eufemia Fantetti. Thursday, November 7 at 8:00pm. Cottage Bistro, 4470 Main Street. More information at sfu.ca.

FENCEPOST 13
Features readings by Leacock Medal for Humour winners W.P. Kinsella, Joe Kertes, Dan Needles, Terry Fallis, Trevor Cole. Sunday, November 10 at 3:00pm, free. Yale & District Community Centre, 65050 Albert Street, Yale, BC.

DEAD POETS READING SERIES
The first reading of the Dead Poets Reading Series at its new venue the Vancouver Public Library's Central Branch (350 West Georgia Street, Vancouver) will take place on November 10 from 3-5PM. The reading will be hosted in the Central Branch's Level Three Meeting Room and will feature: A Medley of War Poets, read by Christopher Levenson, Kofi Awoonor (1935-2013), read by Leslie Timmins, John Donne (1572-1631), read by Ken Klonsky, Anna Swirszczynska (1909-1984), read by Fiona Tinwei Lam, William Wordsworth (1770-1850), read by Charles Carroll. Admission is free. For further information, please visit www.deadpoetslive.com.

PEN-IN-HAND READING SERIES
Launch of A Recipe for Disaster by Eufemia Fantetti, plus a reading by M.A.C. Farrant. Sunday, November 10 at 4:00pm. Serious Coffee, 230 Cook Street, Victoria.

TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features New Voices: Christina Shah, Sho Wiley, Elaine Woo, Eva Waldorf, Jason Morden, Taslim Jaffer, Kagan Goh, Christy Hill, Lindsay Kwan. Wednesday, November 13, 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.

INDIE LIT EXTRAVAGANZA
Book launches of Ashley Little's new book, Anatomy of a Girl Gang, Jennica Harper's book, Wood, and Nathaniel G. Moore's Savage. Hosted by Sean Cranbury. Wednesday, November 13 at 8:00pm, free. Penthouse Night Club, 1019 Seymour Street, Vancouver.

LOVE AND WAR
Mother Tongue Publishing presents the brilliant debut fiction from two exciting new literary voices, Kathryn Para (Lucky: A Novel) and Eufemia Fantetti (A Recipe for Disaster and Other Unlikely Tales of Love). Friday, November 15 at 3:30pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.

TOO TRUE
Acclaimed BC poets, Elizabeth Bachinsky, Marita Dachsel, Amber Dawn, and Jennica Harper will read from their most recent books and engage in a discussion about the nature of truth in poetry, mining biography and autobiography in their works, and whether or not it is possible to be too true. Friday, November 15 at 7:30pm, free. Goldcorp Centre for the Arts. More information at sfuwoodwards.ca.

BOOK LAUNCH
Launch of author Michael Hetherington's first novel, The Playing Card. Tuesday, November 19 at 6:00pm, free. The Paper Hound Bookshop, 344 West Pender, Vancouver. More information at passfieldpress.ca.

Upcoming

LUNCH POEMS AT SFU
Dennis E. Bolen and Fiona Tinwei Lam featured at Nov 20 "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.

PLAY CHTHONICS
Readings by Daniel Zomparelli and David McGimpsey. Wednesday, November 20 at 5:00pm. Green College, UBC, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road. More information at greencollege.ubc.ca.

DAVID ZIEROTH
The Governor General Award-winning poet and author will read from The November Optimist and talk about working with Gaspereau Press and about his own initiative, The Alfred Gustav Press. Wednesday, November 20 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.

LITERASIAN
Inaugural literASIAN: A Festival of Pacific Rim Asian Canadian Writing featuring a weekend of readings, workshops, panel discussions and book launches. November 21 to 24, 2013. UBC Learning Exchange, 612 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at asiancanadianwriters.ca.

JANIE CHANG
Janie Chang discusses her novel Three Souls. Thursday, November 21 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.

POETRY PLEASE!
Tiffany Stone and Robert Heidbreder, two well-known BC children's poets whose published works include Rainbow Shoes, Floyd the Flamingo and His Flock of Friends, Black and Bittern Was Night and Crocodiles Play, will take you on a poetic ride. You will listen to poetry, act it out, read it, write your own poems, and discover some criteria for choosing and writing poetry with your class. Friday November 22 at the University Golf Club. Co-sponsored by CWILL. Early bird rates end October 31. For registration and information, go to www.vclr.ca.

DENISE CHONG
Launch of the author's new book Lives of the Family: Stories of Fate and Circumstance. Friday, November 22 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.

RAWI HAGE
A special evening with Vancouver Public Library's writer in residence Rawi Hage. Monday, November 25 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.

JOE CLARK
Pacific Arbour Speaker Series presents Joe Clark, the former Prime Minister weighs in on Canada's future from his own unique perspective. Monday, November 25 @ 7:30pm. Tickets $12/$10, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts, Capilano University, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver. Tix & Info: 604.990.7810 / capilanou.ca/centre.

JACQUELINE WINDH
Book reading and slide show of Hai kur mamashu chis, a collection of stories recounted by Cristina Calderón and her late sister Ursula Calderón. Wednesday, November 27 at 6:30pm, free. Banyen Books & Sound, 3608 4th Ave. W., Vancouver. More information at jacquelinewindh.com.

IAN RANKIN
Meet bestselling author Ian Rankin as he talks and signs copies of his new book, Saints of the Shadow Bible, featuring Rebus and Malcolm Fox working together for the first time. Wednesday, November 27 at 7:00pm. Chapters Robson, 788 Robson Street, Vancouver.

LUNCH POEMS AT SFU
Jordan Abel and Nicole Markotic featured at Dec 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. For more information visit www.sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.

F.G. BRESSANI LITERARY PRIZE
IL CENTRO Italian Cultural Centre is thrilled to announce the publication of the Rules & Regulations for the 2014 Edition of the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize. The literary prize honours and promotes the work of Canadian writers of Italian origin or Italian descent. Deadline: April 2, 2014. Complete details can be found here: http://italianculturalcentre.ca/blog/bressani-literary-prize/.

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 including Joseph Boyden. 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.