Book News Vol. 9 No. 30

BOOK NEWS

Miriam Toews and Thomas King: Held Over
Due to popular demand, we've added an extra event with Thomas King and Miriam Toews, at 5 pm on Sunday, October 26, http://writersfest.bc.ca/2014/events/88-held-over-thomas-king-and-miriam-toews.

There are still tickets available for other events at the Vancouver Writers Fest including: Waking from the American Dream (http://writersfest.bc.ca/2014/events/11-waking-american-dream), The Real Deal (http://writersfest.bc.ca/2014/events/26-real-deal), Odd Jobs (http://writersfest.bc.ca/2014/events/45-odd-jobs), The Hook (http://writersfest.bc.ca/2014/events/46-hook), To Link or Not to Link (http://writersfest.bc.ca/2014/events/50-link-or-not-link), Probables and Impossibles (http://writersfest.bc.ca/2014/events/64-probables-and-impossibles), and Who I Really Am (http://writersfest.bc.ca/2014/events/77-who-i-really-am).

Special Events

Announcing! - Joseph Boyden & Friends
Spend an unforgettable evening with The Orenda author Joseph Boyden and Festival authors and support the Vancouver Writers Fest. Details at http://writersfest.bc.ca/events/boyden.

David Mitchell
The captivating David Mitchell talks to Hal Wake about his much-lauded new novel, The Bone Clocks, at St. Andrew's-Wesley United at 7:30 pm, Saturday, September 27.

"David Mitchell is a superb storyteller." The New Yorker

Special event tickets are also on sale for Bruce Cockburn (Nov 10), Alan Doyle (Nov 13) and Conrad Black (Nov 13).

More information at http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events.

Festival Contest
There are still a few days to enter our shelfie contest! Are you an avid reader who can't wait for the 2014 Vancouver Writers Fest? Show our Festival authors how much you are looking forward to seeing them in Vancouver this fall, show your friends how much you love to read AND be entered to win $50 to Book Warehouse (to buy more books!) with our #Shelfie contest. Click here for details on how to enter, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/prefaces/tavia/shelfie-contest.

A Literary Arts Centre for Vancouver? Yes. Indeed.
As Book News readers, we know you are interested in the literary arts. You may not know, however, that a group of publishers, and other interested parties are working on creating a public space to showcase the city's extraordinary practitioners in the written and spoken arts. This initiative will be the first of its kind in the city: a dynamic home for the city's vibrant publishing and writing communities, and a lively public venue for readings, launches, and other literary-related activities. They want to hear from you and for you to learn more about their ideas. If you would like to participate in the development of this unique literary space, please help by filling in the survey here, http://www.books.bc.ca/literary-arts-centre-vancouver.

FESTIVAL AUTHORS

Kim Thúy believes that Mãn is "her most personal work yet." She was on CBC's 'All in a Weekend' recently, and you can listen to her interview here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2014/09/kim-thuy-discusses-man.html

Carrie Snyder's Girl Runner is a "well-paced book that weaves together the past and present narratives of an uncompromising woman's life." That uncompromising woman is, of course, a runner, with much of the novel focusing on her preparations for the 800-metre race at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/girl-runner-fuses-history-and-personality-to-create-an-inspiring-record-of-the-need-for-speed/article20577730/

What's the book that changed your life? For Ian Weir, it's A Bear Called Paddington, which left him "with—among other legacies—the wistful notion that everything truly wonderful happens mainly in London."
http://www.straight.com/life/732801/book-changed-your-life-ian-weir

Speaking of which, The Paying Guests, by Sarah Waters, is a "superb, bewitching new novel" set in a boarding house in 1920's London. Waters recently appeared as a guest on NPR's All Things Considered, and you can listen to the interview here:
http://www.npr.org/2014/09/23/347418535/a-historic-backdrop-frames-forbidden-love-in-the-paying-guests

Esther Freud's eighth novel takes place a few years earlier, in 1914 on the Suffolk Coast. Mr Mac and Me is a "haunting, haunted story, full of ghosts and drownings, disappointments and sadness, but there's a quality of luminous wonder too, captured in Freud's delicate, lyrical prose."
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/mr-mac-and-me-by-esther-freud--book-review-9745153.html

Back on this side of the Atlantic, James Ellroy's Perfidia has "created an awe-inspiring vision of social, moral and human chaos in wartime LA." Perfidia is a 700-page crime novel filled with brutality, extortion, blackmail, eugenics, sex, back-stabbing and booze, that just might leave you "murmuring about how Irvine Welsh is going to have to be re-shelved with the children's books."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/17/perfidia-james-ellroy-review-crime-fiction

Eimear McBride's A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing "forgoes quotation marks and elides verbiage for sense, sound and sheer appearance on the page...It is, in all respects, a heresy—which is to say, Lord above, it's a future classic."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/books/review/a-girl-is-a-half-formed-thing-by-eimear-mcbride.html

Terry Fallis, whose new novel is called No Relation, has taken 'the Proust Questionnaire'. See his answers here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2014/09/terry-fallis-takes-the-proust-questionnaire.html

AWARDS & LISTS

Festival author Jane Smiley is on the longlist for the National Book Award in Fiction. She was nominated for her book Some Luck.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/09/18/fiction-longlist-for-the-national-book-award/

The Banff Mountain Book Competition has also announced its longlist. The prize features "the best in mountain and adventure literature, mountain fiction, mountain image, and guidebooks."
http://www.banffcentre.ca/media-release/1178/banff-mountain-book-competition-announces-2014-long-list/

The Vancouver Public Library has named Rosemary Georgeson the 2014 Aboriginal Storyteller in Residence. Georgeson is a Coast Salish and Dene storyteller, filmmaker and playwright.
http://www.vpl.ca/news/details/aboriginal_storyteller_in_residence_2014

The shortlist for the Hilary Weston non-fiction prize has been announced, and Festival author Kathleen Winter is among the nominees.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/entertainment/Naomi+Klein+Kathleen+Winter+short+list+Hilary+Weston/10211106/story.html

The winners of this year's Copper Cylinder Awards have also been revealed. Festival author Cory Doctorow won the Young Adult Award for Homeland. The awards recognize works of speculative fiction published in the previous year.
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2014/09/22/2014-copper-cylinder-award-winners-announced/

David Martin has won the 2014 CBC Poetry Prize for his poem Tar Swan. The poem is "both traditional and innovative...an astonishing sequence of sonnets, with a rhythm that evokes the roots and muscular cadences of Old English, and simultaneously manages to be a fierce re-invention of the form."
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/2014/09/2014-cbc-poetry-prize-and-the-winner-is.html

YOUNG READERS

I am Jazz is a new picture book about and by a transgender child. Based on Jazz Jennings' real-life story, it shares both her struggles and successes, and explains what it means to be transgender.
http://blog.sfgate.com/sfmoms/2014/09/22/jazz-jennings-new-childrens-book-tells-transgender-story/#13612101=0

NEWS & FEATURES

Jim Deva, a Vancouver community advocate, LGBTQ activist and bookstore owner, has died. He was the co-owner of Little Sister's Book and Art Emporium, famous for its landmark censorship battle with the Canada Border Services Agency.
http://www.theprovince.com/news/Vancouver+LGBTQ+activist+Deva+dead/10223688/story.html?__federated=1

Speaking of which, it's the 32nd annual "Banned Books Week," described by organizers as a "celebration of the freedom to read." Some of the bravest people to speak out against censorship are those on the front lines—teachers who have been professing aloud the importance of reading books that "give the most real view of life."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/22/teaching-banned-books_n_5851214.html

But what is censorship, exactly? The answer is not as easy as it sounds. "To dismiss censorship as crude repression by ignorant bureaucrats is to get it wrong. Although it varied enormously, it usually was a complex process that required talent and training and that extended deep into the social order."
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2014/sep/17/what-is-censorship/

And one last thing about the matter: 33 must-read books to celebrate Banned Books Week.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/powellsbooks/33-must-read-books-to-celebrate-banned-books-week-ohuo

Extracts from this year's Giller Prize-nominated novels are now available online. You can check out the first few pages of each of them, here:
http://www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca/finalists/2014-longlist/

Vintage Books is set to release digital versions of nine Gabriel García Márquez books. "García Márquez, a towering figure in 20th-century literature and the master of magical realism, was often cited as one of the last holdouts in the shift to digital that has swept the publishing industry."
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/gabriel-garcia-marquez-e-books-to-be-released/

What's "the trouble with writing?" In this piece, Michelle Huneven expounds on the subject (and the fact that it never gets easier), here.
http://www.themillions.com/2014/09/the-trouble-with-writing-by-michelle-huneven.html

BOOKS & WRITERS

What do "the milk of figs, cows and nuts; lemon juice, orange juice and onion juice; saliva, urine, blood, vinegar, aspirin and laxatives" have in common? They have all been used to make invisible ink, the subject of Kristie Macrakis' new book Prisoners, Lovers, and Spies: The Story of Invisible Ink From Herodotus to al-Qaeda.
http://www.thenation.com/article/181641/shelf-life

Emmanuel Carrère is "the most important French writer you've never heard of." His new 'non-fiction novel', Limonov, has just come out in English.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/21/emmanuel-carrere-most-important-french-writer-youve-never-heard-of

In this week's New Yorker Poetry Podcast, Rae Armantrout reads Susan Wheeler's poem The Split. In the poem, the speaker bids farewell to a group of deceased acquaintances.
http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/poetry-podcast-rae-armantrout-reads-susan-wheeler

COMMUNITY EVENTS

WORD VANCOUVER
Festival promoting books and authors with free exhibits, performances, and hands-on activities for a wide range of ages and interests. September 24-28, 2014. Complete details at wordvancouver.ca.

TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Pandora's Collective in conjunction with Word Vancouver features Rita Wong, Jami Macarty, Lilija Valis & Kevin Spenst plus open mic. Thursday, September 25 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at pandorascollective.com.

THE GREAT RAYMOND
Ruby Slippers Theatre presents a free open workshop on September 26 of gritty femme noir drama The Great Raymond, created with award-winning writer Timothy Taylor. Information at rubyslippers.ca.

THANKS A LOT EXPRESS-OH!
North Shore Writers' Association invites community & cultural co-creators: writers, dancers, musicians and artists, to join in this fun activity of giving thanks in this 2-hour workshop to expand upon and play with word prompts. Saturday, September 27 at 10:00am, free. North Vancouver City Library, 120 14th St. W., North Vancouver. More information at culturedays.ca.

BOOK SOME TIME FOR CRIME
An afternoon on the edge of your seat with four local mystery authors, Sam Wiebe, E.R. Brown, Robin Spano and Owen Laukkanen. Listen as they share their latest novels, then book a one-on-one session for answers to any of your burning mystery questions. Saturday, September 27 at 1:00pm, free. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at culturedays.ca.

Upcoming

WOOD AND WORDS
Award-winning writers Kate Braid and John Terpstra read from their work about wood. Wednesday, October 1 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.

MEET THE AUTHOR: MARY NOVIK
Mary Novik discuses her sweeping work of historical fiction, Muse. Thursday, October 2 at 7:00p. Tickets: $22 (includes refreshments). Christianne's Lyceum. 3696 W. 8th Ave. To reserve your space call 604.733.1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com. More information at www.christiannehayward.com.

THE TOWN SLUT'S DAUGHTER
Canadian poet Heather Haley launches her debut novel. Thursday, October 2 at 7:30pm. Slickity Jim's, 3469 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at howesoundpublishing@gmail.com.

BOOK LAUNCH
Cathy Ford and Julia Leggett launch their new fall books. Sunday, October 5 at 4:00pm. Cottage Bistro, 4470 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at mothertonguepublishing.com.

POETRY READING
Reading by poets Phinder Dulai and Renee Saklikar. Thursday, October 9 at 12:30pm, free. Room 7100, Special Collections, W.A.C. Bennett Library, SFU, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby. More information at lib.sfu.ca/special.

LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS
Vancouver writer Sam Wiebe reads from his latest book. Friday, October 10 at 7:00pm. Pulp Fiction Books, Main street.

PEDAL
Chelsea Rooney launches her debut novel, Pedal. Readings and discussion also with Jen Neale, Erika Thorkelson, Tracy Stefanucci and Elizabeth Hand. Wednesday, October 15 at 7:30 pm. Cottage Bistro, 4470 Main Street, Vancouver. Fore more information, visit http://caitlin-press.com/event/vancouver-book-reading-chelsea-rooney-pedal/.

EMERGE 14
Emerge 14, the annual anthology from The Writer's Studio at Simon Fraser University, in which thirty-five emerging writers explore love, creation, death, regret, discovery and terror, will be launched in a special gala. Thursday, October 16 at 6pm. SFU Downtown Campus, Harbour Centre. More information at cormac_oreilly@hotmail.com.

JANE EATON HAMILTON
Author reads from her new book Love Will Burst Into A Thousand Shapes. Thursday, October 23 at 7:00pm. Cottage Bistro, 4470 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at http://caitlin-press.com/event/vancouver-book-reading-jane-eaton-hamilton-love-will-burst-into-a-thousand-shapes/.