Book News Vol. 9 No. 9

BOOK NEWS

INCITE

Join us on May 7 for readings by Ondjaki (Granma Nineteen and the Soviet's Secret), Sean Michaels (Us Conductors), and Claire Battershill (Circus). Details on this and other upcoming Incite events here, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite.

SPECIAL EVENT

A Dram Come True
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. New this year: Heighten your experience at an exclusive VIP reception before the main event-a private tasting tour of some of the special malts, guided by whisky experts.

Friday, May 30, 2014
7:30–9:30pm
Tickets: $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.

A Dram Come True is a fundraiser for the Vancouver Writers Fest.

AWARDS & LISTS

First Nation Communities Read, an annual reading program launched by the First Nations public libraries of Ontario, has announced the finalists for its 2014-2015 selection. Writers Fest author Julie Flett has made the list for her Cree book, Wild Berries/Pakwa Che Menisu.
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2014/04/28/nominees-announced-for-first-nation-communities-read/

Andrew Solomon has won the £30,000 Wellcome Book Prize. A combination of fiction and non-fiction titles made the shortlist, but it was Solomon's "monumental" book about parents and exceptional children that came out on top.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/29/wellcome-book-prize-andrew-solomon-far-from-the-tree

And now for an award of a more dubious kind! The shortlist for the 2014 Bad Grammar award has been revealed. The award was set up to highlight "the incorrect use of English by people and institutions who should know better".
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/28/bad-grammar-award-shortlist-english-language-nhs-tesco

YOUNG READERS

When it comes to children's books, sometimes the pictures can be just as important as the words. Here's a round-up of the best new books for young readers under six (all of which contain pictures, of course!).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/10795170/Childrens-book-round-up-picture-books.html

NEWS & FEATURES

Harper Lee has agreed to an ebook version of To Kill a Mockingbird, "filling one of the biggest gaps in the digital library." The novel will be released as an ebook and downloadable audiobook on July 8th.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/28/harper-lee-ebook-to-kill-a-mockingbird

Is there pain in parenthesis? Do we bracket grief? From Nabokov's Lolita to Elizabeth Bishop's 'One Art', the New York Review of Books tackles the subject, here:
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2014/apr/26/pain-and-parentheses/

Parentheses are one thing, but what about epitaphs? The Paris Review is currently conducting a three-part series on writers' epitaphs. In this section, Daniel Bosch discusses the use of Robert Louis Stevenson's words, "This Be The Verse", in a Philip Larkin poem.
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/04/29/on-epitaphic-fictions-robert-louis-stevenson-philip-larkin/

Is memorizing poetry a lost art? "In the age of search engines, perfect recall is no longer prized and we're taught to skim rather than remember."
http://www.salon.com/2014/04/27/the_lost_art_of_memorizing_poetry_partner/

It's Bernard Malamud's centenary this year! To celebrate, art director Charlotte Strick and typographer Jude Landry have given his library a sharp makeover. See the soon-to-be-classic covers for the first time, and read about "the ins and outs of giving a new look to a true icon of twentieth-century American literature", here:
http://www.fsgworkinprogress.com/2014/04/a-new-birthday-suit-for-bernard/

Speaking of anniversaries, Shakespeare's 450th birthday has brought up a lot of questions about how we should understand the Bard in the modern age. Where does he belong? According to the piece, in prison...where "the incarcerated may be the Bard's ideal modern audience."
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/04/why-shakespeare-belongs-in-prison/361052/

On a similar note, while Shakespeare's writing remains a never-ending topic of conversation, we often forget that he was an actor too. "In his day, performers received little respect for grueling work. Yet the playwright strode the stage for more than 15 years—and then changed the acting profession forever."
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/04/shakespeares-brilliant-forgotten-acting-career/361093/

Dr. Seuss is under attack in Toronto. His book, Hop on Pop, has made the Toronto Public Library's annual list of challenged items, thanks to an irate reader who considers the book "violent", encouraging "children to take a pop at dad."
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/04/28/violent_dr_seuss_book_should_be_banned_from_library_patron_says.html

Why is it so hard to capture the writer's life on film? Thomas Mallon and Dana Stevens discuss.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/books/review/why-is-it-so-hard-to-capture-the-writers-life-on-film.html

Book Polishing and Bookcrossing will be releasing 90 Polish books in English translation to Vancouver booklovers in coffee shops and little free libraries.
https://www.facebook.com/BookPolishing

BOOKS & WRITERS

Lydia Davis (the winner of last year's Booker Prize) has a new book of short stories out called Can't and Won't. As a "cabinet of wonders", it contains more than 100 stories arranged into five interlocking sections. She's interviewed, here:
http://www.salon.com/2014/04/28/lydia_davis_i_kind_of_like_the_fact_that_my_work_isn%E2%80%99t_for_everybody/

Hilary Mantel is a very busy woman. Besides working on the final book in her Cromwell trilogy, she's also been active in the recent Royal Shakespeare Company theatre adaptations of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. She's interviewed by The Guardian, here:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/27/hilary-mantel-interview-wolf-hall-novelist-margaret-thatcher-assassin

Quiet Dell, Jayne Anne Phillips' new novel about a real-life murder, has been described as "extraordinary book–the best she has written." In fleshing out the crime, she includes courtroom quotes, news, and black-and-white photographs. But "the facts are scraps compared to the real substance of the novel, which is imagination itself: truth in fiction."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/27/quiet-dell-review-jayne-anne-phillips

"Literature about literature is booming." In his new book, Lost for Words, Edward St Aubyn joins the "grand tradition of literary revenge" by constructing a farce that centres on the judges of a fictional book prize.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/28/edward-st-aubyn-literary-revenge

Douglas Coupland is famous for his obsession with modernity, so it is fitting that this interview takes place at the Museum of Modern Art, in New York, where he and Chuck Palahniuk did an event recently. He discusses millennials, Generation X, reality TV, his book on Marshall McLuhan and Worst.Person.Ever. here:
http://www.salon.com/2014/04/25/douglas_coupland_everything_they%E2%80%99ve_been_saying_about_generation_x_they%E2%80%99re_now_saying_about_millennials_like_everything/

Linn Ulmann, author of The Cold Song (and daughter of Ingmar Bergman), is "fascinated by the way our surroundings shape us." In this piece for The Atlantic, she uses a short story by Alice Munro "to illustrate the way setting drives her writing, and how place and memory help dictate the stories we tell."
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/04/why-every-writer-needs-two-educations/360689/

Vancouver's own Brad Cran is featured in the newest issue of Geist Magazine. You can read (and listen) to his poem, Science Fiction, here:
http://www.geist.com/fact/dispatches/science-fiction/

Karen Connelly is also featured. Her poem, Home for Good, challenges the meaning of the word Canada, as well as the personal stories we tell.
http://www.geist.com/findings/poetry/home-for-good/

COMMUNITY EVENTS

SPEAKING FREEDOM
An evening for poetry on freedom from some of Canada's top writers: Fred Wah, Evelyn Lau, Marilyn Dumont, Daniela Elza, Charlie Wilkins, and Martha Roth. St. James Hall, 3214 10th Ave. W. Doors at 7:00pm. May 1, 2014. For tickets in advance go to: http://www.laurarobinsondefensefund.org/i-wish-to-donate-.html or contact Laura at laura.robinson@sympatico.ca. More information at strangeplaces.livingcode.org.

MICHAEL NICOLL YAHGULANAAS
Celebrate the launch of the paperback edition of his graphic novel, Red: A Haida Manga. Saturday, May 3 at 2:00pm. Douglas Udell Gallery, 1566 6th Ave. W., Vancouver. More information at 604-736-8900.

TRAVELS BY NIGHT: A MEMOIR
To mark publication of an expanded anniversary edition of his memoir, in an interview with historian Dan Francis, author George Fetherling will describe how the world of writing redeemed a life of hardship. Tuesday, May 6 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information, email info@quattrobooks.ca.

JANIE CHANG
Reading and discussion by the author of Three Souls. Tuesday, May 6 at 7:00pm. White Rock Library, 15342 Buena Vista, White Rock. More information at 604-541-2201.

KENNETH OPPEL
Author presents his newest book, The Boundless. Wednesday, May 7. Tickets: $5. North Vancouver District Library, 1277 Lynn Valley Road. More information and to purchase tickets at kidsbooks.ca.

2014 POETRY IN VOICE NATIONAL FINALS
The 2014 National Finals; Atwood, Dickinson and Verlaine-by heart will take place. Canada's best student reciters compete for $25,000 in prizes. May 8-9, 2014.Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, 149 W. Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at poetryinvoice.com.

DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Five poets/readers/poetry-lovers/writers with extensive public reading experience read poems from one of their favourite dead poet's brilliant work to bring anew to a keen audience. Sunday, May 11 at 3:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.

SOMAN CHAINANI
Meet the author of The School For Good and Evil. Monday, May 12 at 7:00pm. Kidsbooks, 3083 West Broadway. More information and tickets at kidsbooks.ca.

AN EVENING WITH ANDREW WESTOLL
Award-winning author, journalist and creative writing instructor presents his national bestselling The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary is the biography of a family of chimpanzees. Tuesday, May 13 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen and Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.

Upcoming

MOTHER TONGUE
Two of Canada's finest poets, Lorna Crozier and Erín Moure, lend their work to choreographer and director Conrad Alexandrowicz, whose Wild Excursions Performance presents two works of physical theatre for actors, dancers and musicians. May 14-18, 2014. Tickets: $20 plus service charges. Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie Street. More information at wildexcursions.ca.

SKAGIT RIVER POETRY FESTIVAL
A celebration of poetry featuring readings, workshops, and storytelling. Access to internationally famous poets through intimate venues and workshop sessions. May 15-18, 2014. Various venues throughout La Conner, WA. More information at www.skagitriverpoetry.org.

125 POETRY READINGS
Stop #95 in Kevin Spenst's Small Books, Big Country, a chapbook tour of Canada. Saturday, May 17 at 2:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.

ANN ERIKSSON
Author reads from her new novel High Clear Bell of Morning. Also featuring Garry Geddes reading from his new book of selected poems, What Does a House Want?. Tuesday, May 20 at 7:00pm, free. Capilano Branch, North Vancouver Library, 3045 Highland Blvd., North Vancouver. More information at 604-987-4471.

LUNCH POEMS AT SFU
Readings by Phinder Dulai and Kim Minkus. Wednesday, May 21 at 12:00 noon. Teck Gallery, Main floor, SFU Vancouver Harbour Center, 515 W. Hastings. More information at sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.

D.B. CAREW
Local author signs his debut novel The Killer Trail. Friday, May 23 at 4:00pm. Black Bond Books, Haney PLace Mall, Maple Ridge. More information at blackbondbooks.com.

POETIC JUSTICE
Reading by poets Russell Thornton, Susan McCaslin, and Lee Johnson. Sunday, May 25 at 3:00pm. The Heritage Grill Backroom, 447 Columbia St., New Westminster. More information at poeticjustice.ca.