Book News Vol. 9 No. 19

BOOK NEWS

Just announced! - Bruce Cockburn

Legendary Canadian singer and songwriter Bruce Cockburn talks about his long-awaited memoir, Rumours of Glory.

Monday, November 10 at 7:30 pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Purchase tickets online: http://vancouvertix.artsclub.com/tickets/reserve.aspx?performanceNumber=12385&type=rentals

Click here (http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/brucecockburn) for event details and to find out more about our special offer for bookclubs.

Just announced! - Alan Doyle

Alan Doyle, singer-songwriter and front man of the Canadian band Great Big Sea, talks about his new memoir, Where I Belong.

Thursday, November 13 at 7:30 pm
Waterfront Theatre (1412 Cartwright Street, Granville Island)
Purchase tickets online: http://vancouvertix.artsclub.com/tickets/reserve.aspx?performanceNumber=12388&type=rentals

Click here (http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/alandoyle) for event details and to find out more about our special offer for bookclubs.

An Evening with Louise Penny

New York Times bestselling author, Louise Penny is back with her latest Chief Inspector Gamache book, A Long Way Home. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/louisepenny.

Wednesday, September 3 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Purchase tickets online: http://vancouvertix.artsclub.com/tickets/reserve.aspx?performanceNumber=12377&type=rentals

Click here (http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/louisepenny) for event details and to find out more about our special offer for bookclubs.

An Evening with David Mitchell

Cloud Atlas author David Mitchell talks to Hal Wake, the Vancouver Writers Fest's Artistic Director, and reads from his new novel, The Bone Clocks.

Saturday, September 27 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Purchase tickets online: http://vancouvertix.artsclub.com/tickets/reserve.aspx?performanceNumber=12382&type=rentals

Click here (http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/davidmitchell) for event details and to find out more about our special offer for bookclubs.

AWARDS & LISTS

Three Canadians (Adam Sternbergh, Louise Penny and Will Ferguson) have made the longlist for the 2014 Dagger Awards, presented by the U.K. Crime Writers' Association. Among the nominated novels is Ferguson's Giller Prize-winning book 419.
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2014/07/02/adam-sternbergh-louise-penny-will-ferguson-make-u-k-crime-writers-association-awards-longlists/

Fantasy fiction author Guy Gavriel Kay has been awarded the Order of Canada. Besides having written twelve novels and a book of poetry, Kay helped edit J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, the posthumously published prequel to The Hobbit.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/chris-hadfield-guy-gavriel-kay-rick-mercer-to-get-order-of-canada-1.2692252

YOUNG READERS

With subjects ranging from animals to outer space, and even standards of beauty, here are three new pictures books for your child. One of the titles even features illustration by two girls, aged nine and eleven.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/from-beauty-to-animals-to-outer-space-three-new-picture-books-for-your-child/article19468107/

NEWS & FEATURES

Munro's Books, the venerable Victoria retailer launched 50 years ago by Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro and her then husband, is being turned over to a team of senior employees to run.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/owner-of-munros-books-in-victoria-handing-over-shop-to-employees/article19530442/

Copian, Cananda's adult literacy database and resource entre has lost federal funding. Copian was the "nucleus of Canada's community literacy network for 25 years," and has now been forced to close.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/07/03/mainstay_of_canadas_literacy_movement_topples_goar.html

Reinterpretation is a constant in literature, though this may be a step too far. A group of intrepid theatre folk in England has staged what might be the most unusual King Lear to date. "Called King Lear with Sheep, it was, quite literally, a barnyard affair!"
http://modernfarmer.com/2014/07/king-lear-sheep/

Like Shakespeare, Jane Austen is frequently updated for modern audiences. But will, for instance, the twenty-three-year-old-spinster idea in Pride and Prejudice, resonate with contemporary readers?
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/07/if-pride-and-prejudice-took-place-today-jane-would-have-to-be-40/373874/

Prejudice isn't just about age, of course. Despite our aspirations, it's an unfortunate truth that racism in the publishing industry is still "often quite blatant." In this interview, novelists Bernice McFadden and Lauren Francis-Sharma talk race, publishing, writing, motherhood and more.
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/01/bernice_mcfadden_racism_in_publishing_is_often_quite_blatant/

Everything that's old is new again in book design. More specifically, the 70's are back. "Chip Kidd thinks Lena Dunham's book cover could use an upgrade. But she's not alone in reviving 70s-style fonts!"
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118526/lena-dunhams-book-design-could-use-upgrade-says-chip-kidd

What does it mean to cry over a book? In a recent debate over the role of young adult fiction, Ruth Graham recently argued that "I'm a reader who did not weep. Does this make me heartless? Or does it make me a grown-up?"
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/07/crying-while-reading-through-the-centuries.html

A new edition of The Sun Also Rises is being released with an alternate opening. The reissue features the book's original first chapter, as well as several photographs. On one of the photos "Hemingway added in pencil, as an epigraph, Gertrude Stein's quotation 'You are all a lost generation.'"
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/05/books/hemingways-novel-is-reissued-with-original-first-chapter.html

Speaking of books with a history, in 1851, The London Atlas stated: "We really do believe that Melville knows more about whales than any man from Jonah down." Learn more about the real life inspirations behind Moby-Dick, here:
http://airshipdaily.com/blog/07012014-moby-dick-real-life-inspiration

BOOKS & WRITERS

Now that we're halfway through the year, Slate has released its list of "mid-year musts." Four must-read books are featured, with topics ranging from James Joyce's Ulysses, to the role of alcohol in the lives of great American writers.
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/03/mid_year_musts_the_best_of_2014_%E2%80%93_so_far/

If you're looking for something a little closer to home, here's the CBC list of the top ten indigenous books for summer reading. All the books are new releases by aboriginal authors, featuring fiction, science, politics and romance.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/10-top-indigenous-books-for-your-summer-reading-list-1.2695671

It's easy to decry technology, but this iPad app might just change your mind on the matter. Called The Seamus Heaney: Five Fables, the app features five "beautiful, homespun" Heaney translations of poems by the 15th century Scot Robert Henryson. The app also features interviews with Heaney about his first encounter with the medieval tales, discussions with experts, and charming BBC animation.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/07/03/seamus_heaney_fives_fables_app_is_the_most_charming_thing_on_my_ipad.html

In this month's New Yorker Fiction Podcast, Rebecca Curtis reads Leonard Michaels' The Penultimate Conjecture. You can hear Curtis read the story, and discuss it with Deborah Treisman, the magazine's fiction editor, here:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/07/fiction-podcast-rebecca-curtis-reads-leonard-michaels.html

Back on our side of the border, The Walrus is featuring Mark Callanan's poem Part of the Main as part of its summer reading series.
http://thewalrus.ca/part-of-the-main/

Debra Dean's career began onstage, but now it has moved to the page. She discusses the thin line between fiction and autobiography and how she became a writer, in an interview with The Rumpus, here:
http://therumpus.net/2014/07/the-rumpus-interview-with-debra-dean/

"Financial concerns for a writer will never go away—so the key is to decide how you define success." Or at least so claims Ted Thompson, who recently sold his debut novel for $25,000. Here's the debut novelist's experiment in radical honesty:
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/03/i_sold_my_book_for_25000_a_debut_novelists_experiment_with_radical_honesty/

Is all confessional writing self indulgent? Leslie Jamison doesn't think so. When her book of essays, The Empathy Exams, came out, she was "inundated with notes from strangers longing to share their stories in return."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/05/leslie-jamison-empathy-exams-confessional-writing-not-self-indulgent

North Vancouver-raised writer Emily Donaldson's new book, The Slender Margin, is a "fluidly ranging miscellany of facts, poetry, history, mythology and memoir." The book explores the infant death of her brother, and the interconnections between death, language and art.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/in-the-slender-margin-an-unflinching-embrace-of-deaths-reality-and-persistent-mystery/article19365767/

COMMUNITY EVENTS

BE NOBODY
Three Jewels Vancouver presents a book signing and public talk with Be Nobody author Lama Marut. Friday, July 11 at 6:30pm. Banyen Books and Sound, 3608 W. 4th Ave.

BOOKS ON THE RADIO
Readings by Zsuzsi Gartner, Chris Walter, Nathaniel G. Moore, Rachel Rose, Buck Buchwald, and Britt Huddart. Friday, July 11, doors at 7:00pm. Tickets: $5. Epic Sculpture Studio, 1670 Franklin, Vancouver. More information at booksontheradio.org.

BOOK LAUNCH
Candice James and Manolis launch new books Purple Haze and Autumn Leaves. Saturday, July 12 at 1:30pm. New Westminster Arts Council Gallery, Queens Park, New Westminster.

THE ADIRONDACK HAYSTACK
Book reading of recently released collection of short fiction from Regina author Nic Olson. Music by Son Howler. Saturday, July 12 at 8:00pm, free. Kokopelli Salon, 2052 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at ballsofrice.com.

AN EVENING WITH
An evening with George Bowering, Grant Buday, and Jon Paul Fiorentino at the new Book Warehouse. Saturday, July 12 at 8:00pm. Book Warehouse Main Street, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver.

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 work. Sunday, July 13 at 3:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central branch, VPL, 350 W. Georgia. More information at vpl.ca.

BOOK LAUNCH
Note new date! C.C. Humphreys launches his new novel, Plague. Sunday, July 13 at 5:00pm. The Fringe Cafe, 3124 West Broadway. More information at 604-738-6977.

LITERARY CAFE: HARRISON FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS
Features writers Andrea MacPherson, Daniela Elza, John Carroll, Rajnish Dhawan, Katie Stobbart, Michelle Rickaby, and Michelle Vandepol. Musicians: Jared Burrows, Clyde Reed, and Rob Kholer. July 14, 7:30 pm, at Memorial Hall. Tickets: $12.00 (for tickets and more information click here, harrisonfestival.com/hall_performer_14.lit_cafe.gk.

Upcoming

GETTING MESSY WITH WRITING
Daniela Elza will lead a free writing workshop. July 15, 6:30-8:30pm, at New West Public Library, 716-6th Avenue, New Westminster. Register at 604-527-4667 or secretary@rclas.com. Sponsored by the Royal City Literary Arts Society and the Library.

TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Micheal Heatherington, Susan Musgrave and Steve Noyes plus open mic. Wednesday, July 16, 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 pandorascollective.com.

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.

POETRY READING
John Barton participates in an evening of poetry readings as part of the launch of Steve Noyes' poetry book, small data. John will be reading from his new poetry collection, Polari. Friday, July 25 at 7:30pm, free. Serious Coffee, 230 Cook Street, Victoria.

SOLDIER OF THE HORSE
Author Robert W. Mackay shares personal photos, memories and insights into the Canadian Cavalry Brigade of which his father was a member. Wednesday, July 30 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.

POSTAL CODE READINGS
Readings by the Thursdays Writing Collective and guest author Clint Burnham. Thursday, July 31 at7:00pm, free. Mount Pleasant branch, VPL, 1 Kingsway, Vancouver. More information at thursdayswritingcollective.ca.

SUSAN K. FOREST
Vancouver author reads from her new kidsbook The Indigo Queen. Sunday, August 10 at 2:00pm, free. Please RSVP to http://eepurl.com/XSBz9. Seating is limited! Y'S Books, 4307 Main Street at 27th, Vancouver. More information at ysbookstore.blogspot.ca.

SILVER TOTEM OF SHAME
R.J. Harlick, author of the wilderness-based Meg Harris mystery series, will be discussing and reading from her latest book. Various dates and locations between August 12 and August 16. For more information, visit vpl.ca.

SUNSHINE COAST FESTIVAL OF THE WRITTEN ARTS
32nd annual festival featuring established literary stars and exciting, new voices. August 14-17, 2014. Complete details at writersfestival.ca.

SEBASTIEN DE CASTELL
Fantasy author reads from his swashbuckling adventure novel Traitor's Blade and gives a talk on the use of swordplay in fantasy and historical literature. Thursday, September 4 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.

RONSDALE'S FALL POETRY
An evening of poetry with three award-winning B.C. poets: Garry Gottfriedson, Pamela Porter and Henry Rappaport—all with new collections to showcase. Wednesday, September 10 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia. More information at vpl.ca.

SPOKEN INK READING SERIES
Diane Tucker reads from her new poetry collection, Bonsai Love. Tuesday, September 16 at 7:30pm, free. la Fontana Caffe, 101-3701 East Hastings Street, Burnaby. More information at burnabywritersnews.blogspot.ca.