Book News Vol. 9 No. 3

BOOK NEWS

INCITE

Join us on March 26 for poetry night with Jen Currin (School), Jane Munro (Blue Sonoma) and Adam Sol (Complicity). Details on this and other upcoming Incite events here, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite.

SPECIAL EVENTs

Announcing! - A Dram Come True
Spring is here and that can only mean one thing–A Dram Come True! Our wildly popular scotch tasting fundraiser returns on May 30 and tickets are now on sale. Join us at the legendary Hycroft—a magnificent Edwardian mansion in the heart of Shaughnessy—and enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts, while supporting the Festival. We've added a VIP reception this year for scotch fans or anyone who is interested learning more about uisce beatha—the water of life.

Friday, May 30, 2014
7:30–9:30pm
Early bird tickets $110; after April 15: $120
VIP Tasting 6:30–7:30pm; Tickets: $75 (limited quantities, only available with a main event ticket)

Hycroft
1489 McRae Avenue, Vancouver

Click here for details and to purchase tickets, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.

Miriam Toews and Steven Galloway
Tickets are going fast for our April 24 event with Miriam Toews and Steven Galloway. They'll read from and talk about their new books: Miriam Toews' All My Puny Sorrows is her most passionate novel yet, the riveting story of two sisters, and a love that illuminates life. Steven Galloway's The Confabulist is a brilliant novel about fame and ambition, reality and illusion, and the ways that love, grief and imagination can alter what we perceive and believe. Click here for event details and to find out more about our special offer for bookclubs: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/gallowaytoews.

AWARDS & LISTS

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Sheri Fink have been named among the winners of the National Book Critics Circle Awards. The annual awards are chosen by a group of almost 600 critics and editors in the publishing industry.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/business/media/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-and-sheri-fink-win-book-awards.html

The shortlists for the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medals have also been announced. Among those nominated for the venerated children's book prizes is Anne Fine, who is trying to become the first person to win three times!http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/mar/17/cilip-carnegie-medal-kate-greenaway-medal-shortlist

YOUNG READERS

James McMullan is most famous for his signature watercolour posters for the Lincoln Center Theater in New York. Now he has created a new work, aimed at children, called Leaving China. The book is a memoir of his own childhood growing up in China, India, Canada and the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/12/books/leaving-china-by-james-mcmullan.html

Where are the People of Colour in Children's literature? "Of 3,200 children's books published in 2013, just 93 were about black people, according to a study by the Cooperative Children's Book Center at the University of Wisconsin."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/opinion/sunday/where-are-the-people-of-color-in-childrens-books.html

NEWS & FEATURES

In celebration of Saint Patrick's Day, The Guardian has created an Irish fiction quiz. If you can match the ten featured quotes with their book titles, you're obviously a master of the Irish yarn!
http://www.theguardian.com/books/quiz/2014/mar/17/irish-fiction-st-patricks-day-quiz

Last week George Saunders won the inaugural Folio Fiction prize, inciting the ire of many a Brit who were hoping UK talent would be recognized (it's a British award). "But if some sense a crisis for British fiction, that sense is far from universal...British writers have "nothing to fear."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/14/british-literary-prizes-george-saunders-american-authors

Famous Beat poet and City Lights Bookstore-owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti is set to publish his travel journals. Covering the period between 1950 and 2013, they will shed light on his political passions and relationships.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/17/lawrence-ferlinghetti-publish-travel-journals-beat

"Upon graduating from college with a degree in English, there are only several career options that one is faced with: flip burgers, teach the literary canon to bored high school students, write press releases for pharmaceutical companies, or (if you're lucky), work in radio." Read a defense of the English Major, here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/14/how-english-majors-are-ch_n_4943792.html

The Oxford English dictionary has made its latest updates. New words to be inserted include "bestie", "bookaholic" and "wackadoodle"!
http://public.oed.com/the-oed-today/recent-updates-to-the-oed/march-2014-update/new-words-list-march-2014/

Original drawings and writing from John Lennon's books In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works are to be auctioned at Sotheby's in June. The portfolio is available online.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/gallery/2014/mar/17/john-lennons-drawings-poems-and-prose

"Eudora Welty once explained her popularity as a public speaker: "Colleges keep inviting me because I'm so well behaved...I'm always on time, and I don't get drunk or hole up in a hotel with my lover." Danny Heitman discusses the "Quiet Greatness of Eudora Welty", here:
http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/marchapril/feature/the-quiet-greatness-eudora-welty

A bestselling Canadian author has become the focus of a copyright suit. Filmmakers are claiming that J.L Witterick, the author of the Holocaust novel My Mother's Secret, took the books plot and all its central characters from their film No. 4 Street Of Our Lady.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/holocaust-novel-focus-of-copyright-suit/article17494819/

UBC's Creative Writing Program was revolutionary when it began, the first in the country to operate separately from an English department. To mark their 50th birthday, The Globe and Mail has asked one of the program's current students to interview one of their star graduates.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/an-authors-tips-write-as-much-as-possible-have-fun-be-patient-with-your-prose/article17493876/

"In an age of DIY publishing, why have a Writers' Union?" Russell Smith addresses that question, here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/russell-smith-in-an-age-of-diy-publishing-why-have-a-writers-union/article17480781/

What happens when no one cares about your novel? "MFA programs struggle to teach writers the most important lesson of all: You are not owed readers."
http://www.salon.com/2014/03/12/no_one_cares_about_your_novel_so_writers_dont_be_boring/

BOOKS & WRITERS

Alice Hoffman's new novel, The Museum of Extraordinary Things, "creates a sweeping narrative that keeps the reader interested—paying homage to the darkness that can motivate the creative process." Set in New York City in the early part of the 20th century, it features mermaids (of all things!) to tell a coming of age story.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2014/02/25/the_museum_of_extraordinary_things_by_alice_hoffman_review.html

Simon Schama, the prolific professor, TV presenter and non-fiction author has written a new book called The Story of the Jews. Actually it's a whole multimedia event: two books and a five-part television documentary that will be broadcast on both the BBC and PBS!
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/11/books/simon-schamas-the-story-of-the-jews.html

Tessa Hadley's story Under the Sign of the Moon has been featured in this week's New Yorker. She answers questions about the story, here:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/03/this-week-in-fiction-tessa-hadley.html

Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie is often associated with the word "political", but should this actually be the case? According to the author, "When you're not a white male writing about white male things then somehow your work has to mean something."
http://www.salon.com/2014/03/13/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_when_you%E2%80%99re_not_a_white_male_writing_about_white_male_things_then_somehow_your_work_has_to_mean_something/

Yiyun Li's new novel, Kinder Than Solitude, has been described by The Toronto Star as "haunting beyond its final words." "With only two novels and short story collections under her belt, Yiyun Li is well on her way to mastering the fine art of storytelling."
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2014/02/26/kinder_than_solitude_by_yiyun_li_review.html

The innovative storyteller Teju Cole recently penned a four-thousand word essay entirely on Twitter. He speaks about his essay, the benefits of Twitter as a platform, and the injustice of immigration systems, here:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/aaronc13/author-teju-cole-talks-his-new-essay-on-immigration-twitter

Teju Cole's novel Open City has also been chosen as The Atlantic's March Twitter Book Club read. Open City features a half-Nigerian, half-German psychiatry grad student who walks around New York City meeting interesting people, and has been described as "a beautifully modulated description of a certain kind of solitary liberalism common to thousands, if not millions, of bookish types."
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/03/1book140s-march-read-em-open-city-em-by-teju-cole/284211/

For writer Alexai Galiviz-Budziszewski, the fear of the blank page was so paralyzing that he waited fifteen years before making a concerted effort to publish. In this piece, he discusses how a passage from Steinbeck helped him write "towards uncertainty".
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/03/i-dont-believe-in-writers-block/284354/

COMMUNITY EVENTS

UNDERBELLY
Jayson McDonald's tour-de-force performance and poetic virtuosity based on the myth and impact of Burroughs and The Beats. Underbelly runs at The Cultch from now to March 30, 2014 at 8pm in the Vancity Culture Lab, 1895 Venables Street. Tickets are from $31 and can be purchased by calling The Cultch box office at 604-251-1363 or online at http://tickets.thecultch.com/show_events_list.asp?shcode=323.

WOMEN AND WAR IN AFGHANISTAN
Ann Jones, author of Kabul in Winter and They Were Soldiers, discusses the prospects for women in Afghanistan. Thursday, March 20 at 5:00 pm. Allard Hall, 1822 East Mall, UBC. More information at www.greencollege.ubc.ca.

FIONA TINWEI LAM
An informal family-oriented reading for children and adults by author Fiona Tinwei Lam from her debut children's picture book, The Rainbow Rocket. Sunday, March 23 at 2:00pm, free. Renfrew Meeting room, Renfrew Branch, 2969 22nd Ave. E. More information at vpl.ca.

OPEN TEXT READING SERIES
Reading by Vancouver writer Alex Leslie, author of a short story collection, People Who Disappear. Monday, March 24 at 1:00pm. Lib321, Capilano University, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver. More information at capilanocreativewriting.blogspot.ca.

A QUIET COMING OF LIGHT BOOK LAUNCH
Jude Neale will be launching her new book A Quiet Coming of Light with song and music. Book signing to follow. Teun Schut on guitar. Tuesday, March 25 at 7:00pm. Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street. Presented by Pandora's Collective and hosted by Bonnie Nish. More information: blnish@pandorascollective.com.

THE MAN WHO FILMED NESSIE
Angus Dinsdale's memoir discusses his unique childhood as the son of "The Man Who Filmed Nessie", experiencing his father's goal of tracking down the Loch Ness Monster. Wednesday, March 26 at 7:00pm. Welsh Hall West, West Vancouver Memorial Library. More information at 604-925-7403.

TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Portland poet John Sibley Williams and Vancouver poet Linda King plus open mic. Thursday, March 27, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. Sign up for open mic at 7pm. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.

POETIC JUSTICE READING SERIES
Features Portland poet John Sibley Williams, Daniela Elza and Deborah L. Kelly plus open mic. Sunday, March 30, 3pm-5pm. The Heritage Grill (Back Room), 447 Columbia Street, New Westminster, free.

DOV ELBAUM
Author discusses his departure from Israel's ultra-Orthodox community and his work on cultivating a secular Jewish renaissance in his book Into the Fullness of the Void. Sunday, March 30 at 6:00pm. Tickets: $14/10. Jewish Community Centre, 950 41st Ave. W., Vancouver. More information at jewishbookfestival.ca.

Upcoming

ARUNDHATI ROY
The Indian Summer Arts Society presents a special event with Arundhati Roy, who will talk about her journey in writing, from The God of Small Things to Capitalism: A Ghost Story. Tuesday, April 1 at 8:00pm. St Andrew’s-Wesley United Church, 1022 Nelson St (at Burrard), Vancouver. Tickets: $25/$20 students. More information at
http://indiansummerfestival.ca/events/arundhati-roy/.

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/.

CANADIAN WRITERS SERIES AT UFV
Features Evelyn Lau, Robert Martens, Helene Littmann, Elsie Neufeld, Rajnish Dhawan, and Daniela Elza , April 2nd, 2014, 12:30-2pm, UHouse (Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies), University of the Fraser Valley, 33488 King Road, Abbotsford Campus. All are welcome.

CHINESE CANADIAN AUTHORS' BOOK LAUNCH
This book launch features four new works in Chinese: William Haoquan Chan's Maplescapes: Selected Works of Chinese Canadian Prose, Shou-fang Hu-Moore's Who Is Calling My Name? Liang Zhaoyuan's Decoding Cao Xueqin's Crytograms, Tommy Tao and Ming Sun Poon's Book of Three Arts, and Wang Wenqin's Slow Heart Beat. Saturday, April 5 at 2:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.

VERSES VANCOUVER
4th annual festival celebrating the transformative power of words. Featuring Billeh Nickerson, Daniel Zomparelli, Evelyn Lau, Janice Lee and many more. April 5-12, 2014. For complete details, visit versesfestival.ca.

GILLIAN WIGMORE
Author launches her debut novella, Grayling. Saturday, April 5 at 5:00pm, free. Railway Club, 579 Dunsmuir St., Vancouver. More information at mothertonguepublishing.com.

UNHOLY RITES
Mystery authors Kay Stewart and Chris Bullock present an illustrated talk about Unholy Rites, their latest novel. Tuesday, April 8 at 7:00pm, free. West Point Grey branch, 4480 10th Ave. W., Vancouver. More information at vpl.ca.

GENDER FAILURE
Ivan Coyote and Rae Spoon's show and book launch. Wednesday, April 9 at 8:00pm. The Rio Theatre, Vancouver, BC. More information at t.co/sRrG1UA9uF.

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. More information at www.IcelandWritersRetreat.com.

TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Jane Munro and Jan Conn plus open mic. Wednesday, April 9, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. Sign up for open mic at 7 pm. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.

DIALOGUES IN CRITICAL INDIGENOUS STUDIES
Audra Simpson, Glen Coulthard and Chris Andersen will present on their upcoming books at the UBC Longhouse. Thursday, April 10 at 9:30am. First Nations Longhouse, 1985 West Mall, UBC. More information at www.ligi.ubc.ca.

NORTH SHORE WRITERS FESTIVAL
15th annual literary weekend. Featuring Vincent Lam, Douglas Gibson, Jen Sookfong Lee, Sandra Gulland and others. April 11 and 12, 2014. North Vancouver City Library, 120 14th St. W., North Vancouver. More information at northshorewritersfestival.com.

CHRISTOPHER LEVENSON
The Vancouver poet and co-organizer of the Dead Poets Reading Series will launch his eleventh book, Night Vision, at 3 p.m. on Saturday 12th April in the Alice MacKay Room of the Central Library, 350, West Georgia Street. As well as reading from the new book he will be interviewed about his poetry by local short fiction writer Ken Klonsky. More information at vpl.ca.