Book News Vol. 9 No. 36

BOOK NEWS

Tonight!

Tickets will be available at the door for our special event with Conrad Black this evening, http://writersfest.bc.ca/events/conradblack.

AWARDS & LISTS

Sean Michaels has been awarded the $100,000 Giller Prize for his debut novel, Us Conductors. Only one other first-timer has ever won the prize.
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2014/11/11/sean-michaels-a-surprise-winner-at-last-nights-scotiabank-giller-prize-gala/

Kathy Stinson and illustrator Dusan Petricic have won the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award. Their book is called The Man with the Violin.
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2014/11/11/photos-td-canadian-childrens-literature-awards/

Cathy Marie Buchanan has won this year's Forest of Reading Evergreen Award for her book The Painted Girls. The award is part of a reading program initiated by the Ontario Library Association, and aims to recognize the best titles in Canadian adult fiction and non-fiction.
http://www.quillandquire.com/book-news/2014/11/07/cathy-marie-buchanan-wins-2014-forest-of-reading-evergreen-award/

YOUNG READERS

Maxwell Neely-Cohen is a YA writer who likes to play with tropes. In this interview, he discusses "smart teens, furious parents, YA tropes, the intersection of video games and literature, messy early drafts, how our screens change how we see the world, and the apocalypse."
http://therumpus.net/2014/11/the-rumpus-interview-with-maxwell-neely-cohen/

NEWS & FEATURES

What makes a good or bad editor? "An editor whose taste is unique to himself is a bad editor. The only person who discovers a writer is the writer himself." Here's an interview with Lorin Stein, editor of The Paris Review.
http://alainelkanninterviews.com/lorin-stein/

Should books be declared an "essential good?" The French government recently declared them so. Daniel Mendelsohn and Mohsin Hamid discuss.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/books/review/should-the-united-states-declare-books-an-essential-good.html

Between the fifth and the thirteenth centuries, most books were made of calf, sheep or goatskin. In this article, Erik Kwakkel explores a few of those books, and discusses why looking at imperfect skin is "far more interesting than studying its perfect counterpart."
http://medievalbooks.nl/2014/10/24/feeling-good-about-bad-skin/

Flannery O'Connor has been inducted into the American Poets Corner at New York's St. John the Divine Cathedral. It is the "only shrine to American literature in the country."
http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/flannery-oconnors-manhattan-memorial

John le Carré's A Most Wanted Man has been banned at Guantánamo Bay. "The fact that le Carré's book is banned at least certifies that the censors at Guantánamo Bay can read-and take offence. Few novels have been more critical of America's post-2001 "security" apparatus than A Most Wanted Man."
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/a-most-wanted-man-by-john-le-carre-964

Translator Greg Spence is currently in the process of translating Joseph Boyden's critically acclaimed first novel, Three Day Road, into Cree. Many problems have arisen, especially from the opposing worldviews inherent within the languages themselves.
http://www.quillandquire.com/book-culture/2014/11/11/spotlight-translating-joseph-boydens-three-day-road

Seven Munsch titles, including Love You Forever, Thomas' Snowsuit, Mud Puddle, and I Have to Go have all been translated by a committee of Mi'kmaq educators.
http://www.quillandquire.com/childrens-publishing/2014/11/11/spotlight-robert-munsch-in-mikmaq/

Last but not least, there has been an recent effort to create indigenous graphic novels for the YA set, spearheaded by David Alexander, who writes books that draw on Cree mythology and history. His books are just some of many that can be found in the Mazinbiige Indigenous Graphic Novel Collection at the University of Manitoba.
http://www.quillandquire.com/authors/2014/11/11/spotlight-david-alexanders-graphic-novels-draw-on-cree-mythology/

BOOKS & WRITERS

As the audience at this week's VWF event with Bruce Cockburn discovered, his book Rumours of Glory is "not your standard rock 'n' roll memoir." A Globe and Mail interview with Cockburn can be found here.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/from-bruce-cockburn-not-your-standard-rocknroll-memoir/article21538901/

A new book, Writers: Literary Lives in Focus, is a collection of two hundred and fifty portraits of literary greats. "From Henri Cartier-Bresson's 1947 photograph of William Faulkner at his home in Oxford, Mississippi, to Philippe Halsman's portrait of a leaping Aldous Huxley, the book is a testament to the expressive power of portrait photography."
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/capturing-literary-lives

The curator of the Stephen Leacock Museum in Orillia, Ontario, has compiled a poetry anthology dedicated to Gordon Lightfoot. Stephen Leacock is "probably the person of largest significance in our town, but he's been dead since 1944. We thought we would look forward."
http://www.quillandquire.com/bookselling-2/2014/11/11/leacock-museum-curator-compiles-poetry-anthology-dedicated-to-gordon-lightfoot/

What was the last poem you loved? For Brian Spears, it was Let Me Tell You, by Miller Williams, "a terrific poem to start beginning students off with, because it illustrates the importance of image when writing a narrative poem, among other things."
http://therumpus.net/2014/11/the-last-poem-i-loved-let-me-tell-you-by-miller-williams/

Two years ago, fans of John Darnielle's band, the Mountain Goats, led a campaign to see him named US Poet Laureate. Now his debut novel, Wolf in White Van, has been named to the 2014 National Book Award longlist. He's interviewed here.
http://therumpus.net/2014/11/the-rumpus-interview-with-john-darnielle/

COMMUNITY EVENTS

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. This 1920s themed event hosted by RC Weslowski features music by singer Sharon Bryson and appearnces from literary greats. Saturday, November 15 from 7-10pm at Vinci's Caffe and Gallery, 194 West 3rd Avenue. Tickets are $45 ($35 for member of Pandora's Collective) and includes a glass of wine and canapes. Details and to purchase tickets: bit.ly/1qr0TLw.

WHY MUSEUMS MATTER
Random House of Canada and The Beaty Biodiversity Museum invite you to a special event on why museums matter to the arts. Friday, November 14th 7:00-8:30pm. Featuring the award-winning author Aislinn Hunter, the award-winning singer-songwriter Veda Hille, and the Museum of Vancouver's Jillian Povarchook. Join us for live music, a short reading, and a passionate discussion about museums and artistry in one of the most haunting museums in Vancouver. Free.

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.

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.

LUNCH POEMS AT SFU
Heidi Greco and Mariner Janes are the featured poets. Wednesday, November 19 at 12:00 noon, free. SFU Harbour Centre's Teck Gallery, 515 W Hastings St. For more information visit www.sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.

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.

Upcoming

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.