Book News Vol. 9 No. 35

BOOK NEWS

Special Events

Special event tickets are 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.

Between the Pages: An Evening with the Scotiabank Giller Prize Finalists

The Scotiabank Giller Prize celebration reaches Vancouver on November 6. The event features appearances by Giller Prize short-listed authors David Bezmozgis, Frances Itani, Sean Michaels, Heather O'Neill, Miriam Toews and Padma Viswanathan, as well as special guest appearances and entertainment. Special offer! Use the promo code discount code AUTHOR and receive the special discount price of $20. Event information and ticket sales details, http://www.ticketmaster.ca/event/11004D427A357D04.

AWARDS & LISTS

Miriam Toews has won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize for her "heart-wrenching" novel All My Puny Sorrows. Winners of the four body-of-work awards were Ken Babstock, Joan Thomas, Cary Fagan and Susan Musgrave. The $10,000 Writers' Trust/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize, for best short story published by an emerging writer in a Canadian literary journal or magazine, went to Tyler Keevil.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Writers+Trust+awards+including+25000+fiction+prize+handed/10351739/story.html

The Banff Centre has announced the winners of its Banff Mountain Book Competition, which includes such categories as Mountain Fiction and Poetry, Adventure Travel, and Mountaineering History.
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2014/10/31/banff-mountain-book-competition-winners-announced/

Helen Macdonald's H is For Hawk has won the Samuel Johnson Prize, Britain's most prestigious non-fiction award. This "extraordinary" memoir documents her attempts to win the trust of a wild hawk as she struggled to deal with the death of her father.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/nov/04/samuel-johnson-prize-helen-macdonald-h-is-for-hawk

The BC Francophone Federation (Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique) is offering a $1,000 prize to an author in British Columbia, in recognition of the excellence of a literary or scientific work written in French. The deadline is December 30, 2014.
http://www.ffcb.ca/prix-et-bourse/

YOUNG READERS

What are the best books on animals for children? Here's a roundup of some of the best new books on the subject, as well as some older classics.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/childrens-books-site/2014/nov/03/best-books-on-animals-and-children

NEWS & FEATURES

The Man Booker Prize has always had an eclectic panel of judges. "There have been many non-literary types amongst the judges: a former spy, a former dancer, a Downton Abbey actor–but science, apparently, was a step too far." This year, that changed.
http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/11/year-i-became-first-scientist-judge-man-booker

Do you want some quick and easy advice for reading poetry? Here's a "guide for the perplexed," 20 strategies that will help you rethink the act of reading a poem.
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/11/how-to-read-poetry-a-step-by-step-guide/380657/

A new exhibit is opening in Toronto, celebrating the life of one of Canada's most important literary figures: Winnie the Pooh!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/remembering-the-real-winnie-the-pooh/article21442185/

Halloween might be over, but it's never too late to enjoy a little of the macabre (of the literary variety, of course.) Here's a glimpse into the mind of William Makepeace Thackeray when was "at his most imaginatively unhinged."
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/10/27/thackeray-gets-grotesque/

Are you a writer in search of inspiration? You can now find all the solitude, beauty, natural sublimity, global travel, and extended stretches of time that you've been looking for in this strangest of artist residencies: a container ship.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/artists-search-inspiration-can-now-find-thier-muse-cargo-ship-180953189/

What influences writers (other than books)? Thomas Mallon and James Parker discuss.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/books/review/as-a-writer-what-influences-you-other-than-books.html

An "immortality auction" is currently underway. "To raise money for the charity Freedom from Torture, seventeen authors—including Margaret Atwood, Julian Barnes, Ken Follett, Hanif Kureishi, Will Self, Alan Hollinghurst, and Zadie Smith—are offering the rights to name characters in their new novels."
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/authors-auction-off-novelistic-naming-rights/

Which books are going to end up in your stocking this Christmas? The booksellers are already making their predictions!
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/nov/04/christmas-reads-what-books-are-going-to-end-up-in-your-stocking-this-year

HarperCollinsCanada president and CEO David Kent has resigned and the company is closing its Toronto warehouse.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/harpercollins-canada-closes-toronto-warehouse/article21450745/

BOOKS & WRITERS

Richard Ford's Let Me Be Frank With You is his fourth book featuring the protagonist Frank Bascombe, who was introduced in 1986's The Sportswriter. It's a quartet of overlapping stories, a "portrait of a man in the closing chapters of his life, looking back at the receding vistas of his life."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/03/arts/richard-fords-hero-returns-in-let-me-be-frank-with-you.html

Clive James' pen never rests, even when facing death. Despite a leukemia diagnosis, James has continued to "publish poetry and work on other projects in a career that has defied definition."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/01/world/europe/prolific-writer-clive-james-facing-death-reflects-on-getting-a-few-things-done.html

You can read one of James' newest poems here, in the online version of The Times Literary Supplement. It's called Rounded with a Sleep.
http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1443087.ece

In this month's New Yorker fiction podcast, David Gilbert (author of the novel And Sons) reads the story Leg, by Steven Polansky. "You know how you can have songs that get stuck in your head—those earworms. There are also storyworms that get stuck in your head. And this is one of those stories."
http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/fiction-podcast-david-gilbert-reads-steven-polansky

M.G. Vassanji's new memoir, And Home Was Kariakoo, is "a complex exploration of the concept of home." It follows up where his first memoir, A Place Within: Rediscovering India, left off: his birth in Kenya, and Tanzania, the place where he grew up.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/mg-vassanjis-and-home-was-kariakoo-is-a-complex-exploration-of-the-concept-of-home/article21406448/

What's the best advice Russell Wangersky has ever got? "Read everything you write out loud."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/the-best-advice-writer-russell-wangersky-has-ever-gotten-read-everything-you-write-out-loud/article21408281/

COMMUNITY EVENTS

JOHN RALSTON SAUL
Presented by UBC Continuing Studies and the Laurier Institution in partnership with UBC First Nations House of Learning and the Vancouver Writers Fest. Thursday, November 6 at 7:00pm. Cost: $5 – all proceeds donated to the First Nations House of Learning Bursary. Register by phoning 604-822-1444, or online at cstudies.ubc.ca/comeback. Sty-Wet-Tan Hall, First Nations Longhouse, 1985 West Mall, UBC Point Grey.

DEAD POETS READING SERIES
To mark Remembrance Day, five local writers will read from the work of Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Isaac Rosenberg, Keith Douglas and Denise Levertov. Sunday 9th November at 3 p.m. in the Alice Mackay Room, lower level, Vancouver Public Library., 350 West Georgia Street. Free.

MICHAEL WINTER
Author reads from his new book, Walking the Fields of the Newfoundland Dead: A history and enquiry into The Royal Newfoundland Regiment and their service in WW1. Monday, November 10 at 6:00pm. Main Street Legion, 3917 Main Street.

TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Elaine Woo with Jen Currin and Christine Leclerc. Wednesday, November 12, 7:00pm. The Cottage Bistro, 4470 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.

SOUTHBANK READING SERIES
Features Kate Braid, with Cristina Viviani, Daniela Elza, Tanveer Sohal, Laurel Albina, Joan Boxall, and Bernice Lever. Nov 13, doors open at 6pm, readings begin at 6:30pm. Location: Surrey Central City Library.

AFGHAN STORYTELLING EVENING
A diverse line-up of speakers will tell short stories to accompany images of Afghanistan: about people, places, food, family, music, culture, art, education, and more. Thursday, November 13 at 7:00pm. Tickets include full dinner, dessert, beverages for $25 per person through Eventbrite or at Zulu Records at 1972 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver. Tickets at the door $35.00, cash or credit card. Details at cw4wafghan.ca.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS: A GALA FUNDRAISER
In support Pandora's Collective's Poetry Outreach Program at the BC Children's Hospital's Eating Disorder
Clinic for Youth under the age of 18. This 1920s themed event hosted by RC Weslowski features music by local songstress Sharon Bryson and visits from literary greats. Saturday, November 15 from 7-10pm at Vinci's Caffe and Gallery, 194 West 3rd Avenue. Tickets are only $45 (or $35 if you're a member of Pandora's Collective) and includes a glass of wine and canapes. Details and to purchase tickets: bit.ly/1qr0TLw.

AUTHORFEST
Featuring Norma Charles, Robert Heidbreder and Deborah Hodges. Sponsored by The Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable and the Education Library at UBC. Scarfe 100, 4:30pm-6:00pm. Free. More information at www.vclr.ca.

KAREN ARMSTRONG
The world-renowned author, founder of the international Charter for Compassion, TED Prize winner and recipient of SFU's 2012 Jack P. Blaney Award for Dialogue returns to Vancouver to launch her new book Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence. Monday, November 17 at 7:00pm. Tickets $19.50/$11.50; can't afford a ticket, email dial@sfu.ca. The Playhouse, 600 Hamilton Street. More information at sfu.ca.

Upcoming

MIRANDA PEARSON and CHRISTOPHER LEVENSON
Poets Miranda Pearson, (Prime, The Aviary and Harbour) and Christopher Levenson, whose recent collection, Night Vision, was shortlisted for the 2014 Governor General's award for poetry, will read at 7p.m. Wednesday 19th
November at People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391, Commercial Drive. For more information call Christopher Levenson at 604 739-9565.

JEWISH BOOK FESTIVAL
The 30th annual Jewish Book Festival featuring an exciting roster of writers from across Canada, the US, and Israel, including Zeruya Shalev, Steven Galloway, Dr. Brian Goldman, Bob Bossin, and Mark Leiren-Young. November 22-27, 2014. More information at jewishbookfestival.ca.

TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Christopher Levenson, Sean Wiebe, and Fionncara MacEoin plus open mic. Thursday, November 27th, 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.

THE SEA AMONG US
Join BC-based researchers, Richard Beamish and Gordon McFarlane, as well as several other Vancouver contributors, as they celebrate the release of their new book, The Sea Among Us: The Amazing Strait of Georgia. The presentation and book signing will take place at Book Warehouse (Main Street) on Thursday, November 27 at 7pm, and admission is free. For more information, email mainstreet@bookwarehouse.ca.