Book News Vol. 9 No. 15

BOOK NEWS

SALT SPRING GETAWAY RAFFLE
Announcing the VWF's fabulous Salt Spring Getaway raffle-what could be better than a deluxe Gulf Island holiday? Enjoy a luxurious weekend at historic Hasting House and Spa-and avoid those ferry lineups by hopping onboard a SeaAir flight. In the blink of an eye you'll be relaxing on an island paradise. Aahh-feel that stress evaporate! Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/supportus/saltspring-getaway

AWARDS & LISTS

The winners of the Griffin Poetry Prize have been announced. 2013 Festival author Anne Carson, who won in the Canadian category, and Brenda Hillman, who won in the international one, were awarded $65,000 each.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2014/06/who-will-win-the-2014-griffin-poetry-prize.html

The National Magazine Awards were announced a few nights ago in Toronto. Among the literary winners were Jess Taylor for her story, Paul, and Karen Solie for her poem, Conversion.
http://www.randomhouse.ca/hazlitt/poetry/conversion

The League of Canadian Poets has also announced the winner of its annual awards. Murray Reiss, Alexandra Oliver and Anne Compton all won prizes worth $1,000.
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2014/06/09/anne-compton-alexandra-oliver-murray-reiss-win-league-of-canadian-poets-awards/

YOUNG READERS

The Wind in the Willows is being featured this week in The Guardian's countdown of the 100 best novels. "Like the other books for children selected for this series…The Wind in the Willows deserves recognition as a novel in which adult readers will find wisdom, humour, entertainment and meaning, as well as many passages of great literary power."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/09/100-best-novels-the-wind-in-the-willows-kenneth-grahame

Can YA Books be complex? Of course, argues Noah Berlatsky for The Atlantic, in response to a recently published article that described them as mere "maudlin teen dramas."
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/06/of-course-ya-books-can-be-complex/372340/

NEWS & FEATURES

A movement that calls attention to the marginalization of female writers, called #ReadWomen2014, has found a new defender: Canada's own House of Anansi Press. The publishing house, run mostly by women, has launched its own initiative to celebrate female authors.
http://www.quillandquire.com/book-news/2014/06/05/anansi-launches-readwomen2014-campaign/

The manuscript of Samuel Beckett's first published novel is set to go on display. It "will be on show at Reading University for just one day, before returning to the Beckett scholar who is painstakingly transcribing every crossed-out word, dash and comma."
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/jun/09/samuel-beckett-manuscript-first-novel-on-display

The New York Review of Books has slammed the CIA with a Twitter attack! Upon the CIA's entrance into the twitterverse, the "august and technophobic" literary journal released a barrage of reminders about the agency's controversial interrogation techniques.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/07/cia-twitter-new-york-review-books-attack

Whose writing career do you envy most? From George Eliot to Sophocles, Zoë Heller and Daniel Mendelsohn discuss.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/08/books/review/whose-writing-career-do-you-most-envy.html

Speaking of long literary careers, the late Maya Angelou was iconoclastic in many ways. For one, she disliked modesty. "As I learned when I met her, the late author believed that true arrogance lay in denying one's own specialness—and denying the specialness of others."
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/06/why-maya-angelou-didnt-believe-in-modesty/371965/

BOOKS & WRITERS

Bill Gaston's new short story collection, Juliet Was a Surprise, is his first in eight years. "There is nothing heavy-handed about this approach...the stories are poised, always, at the cusp of laughter, heartbreak and mystery. To read them is a heart-opening experience."
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/writer+Bill+Gaston+collection+celebrates+strange+daily+life/9915604/story.html#ixzz34BKRvULz

Another B.C. writer, Gary Geddes, has released a new book of poetry called What Does a House Want?–Selected Poems. The over-arching theme of the book "could be summed up nicely by the Milan Kundera quote that opens Section One: ‘It takes so little, so infinitely little, for a person to cross that border beyond which everything loses meaning: love, conviction, faith, history.'"
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Poignant+poet+Gary+Geddes+shatters+illusions/9915601/story.html

What do famous writers do when they're not writing? "When he wasn't writing, Kurt Vonnegut doodled. A new book, introduced by his daughter Nanette, brings together some of his finest drawings and his own musings about his art."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/gallery/2014/may/05/kurt-vonnegut-the-drawings-of-science-fictions-master-artist-in-pictures

Coinciding with the anniversary of D-Day, this week's Guardian Poem of the Week is Desert Flowers by Keith Douglas. "Succinct but mysterious, Desert Flowers belongs to a liminal state between sleeping and waking, night and day."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/09/poem-of-the-week-keith-douglas-war

Ramona Ausubel's story, You Can Find Love Now, is about a Cyclops looking for love. It appears in The New Yorker's Summer Fiction Issue, and the author is interviewed here:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/06/this-week-in-fiction-ramona-ausubel.html

When it comes to fear (of writing), Ted Thompson considers it a "self-fulfilling prophesy!" The acclaimed debut novelist says the only way to carry on is to "ignore the inner demon that tells you you'll never be as good as Zadie Smith."
http://www.salon.com/2014/06/06/ignore_the_inner_demon_that_tells_you_you%E2%80%99ll_never_be_as_good_as_zadie_smith/

In what ways can successful literary fiction contain a sense of political purpose? "For Molly Antopol, author of The UnAmericans, Grace Paley's short, generous stories manage to concern politics, and achieve a broadly activist spirit, without ever preaching."
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/05/the-writing-almost-feels-like-method-acting/371691/

COMMUNITY EVENTS

DIANE TUCKER
The Burnaby Writers' Society presents a special poetry workshop evening. Thursday, June 12 at 7:30pm. By donation. Studio 104, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.

VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING FESTIVAL
A weekend of enlivening encounters with many passionate storytellers, including Naveen Girn, Naomi Steinberg, Todd Wong, Lizzy Karp, Victor Guerin, Magpie Ulysses and Deborah Williams. June 13-15, 2014. Various locations. Compete details at vancouverstorytelling.org.

LUNCH POEMS AT SFU
Featuring Billeh Nickerson and Heather Haley. Wednesday, June 18 at 12:00 noon, free. Teck Gallery in SFU's Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.

A SPECIAL NIGHT FOR A SPECIAL MAN
On Wednesday, June 18, 2014, Pandora's Collective Presents A Special Night for A Special Man Benefit for Timothy Shay at The Cottage Bistro 4468 Main St, Vancouver. Doors open at 6pm-11pm. $10 suggested donation. Host: RC Weslowski. More information at pandorascollective.com.

GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
A Proclamation and Reading honoring Jean Barman, B.C.'s most active historian, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, as the 21st recipient of the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award. Thursday, June 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.

EUROPEAN BOOK CLUB
Features Portuguese novel The True Actor (O verdadeiro ator) by Jacinto Lucas Pires. Saturday, June 21 at 4:00pm. Free but register at eubookclub.vancouver@shaw.ca. Istituto Italiano di Cultura, 500-510 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at www.alliancefrancaise.ca.

Upcoming

POETIC FORM AND THE MYSTICAL MUSE
Readings by poets Lee Johnson and Susan McCaslin. Tuesday, June 24 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.

GEOFFREY TIGG
The Painting is the second book in the Detective Kelly O'Brian series by Geoffrey Tigg. Wednesday, June 25 at 7:00pm. Welsh Hall West, West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at westvanlibrary.ca.

MOIRA YOUNG
Reading, Q&A and book Signing by the author of Raging Star. Thursday, June 26 at 7:00pm. Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-879-7737.

BOOK LAUNCH
C.C. Humphreys launches his new novel, Plague. Monday, July 14 at 5:00pm. The Fringe Cafe, 3124 West Broadway. More information at 604-738-6977.

KATIE CROUCH
Author reads from her new book Abroad. Thursday, July 17 at 7:00pm. Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-879-7737.