Book News Vol. 10 No. 12

BOOK NEWS

Win a romantic oceanside Getaway!

Pamper yourself and rekindle the flame between you and your partner with a stay in the Romance Suite which features a cozy fireplace, a whirlpool bathtub, and an oceanfront balcony with a spectacular view of the Pacific.

The Vancouver Writers Fest Romantic Weekend Raffle features a two night stay in the Romance Suite at the Kingfisher Oceanside Resort & Spa, including a roundtrip flight from Vancouver to Comox on Pacific Coastal Airlines.

Tickets are only $25.00 each. The winner will be drawn at 12pm on June 30, 2015. Details (http://writersfest.bc.ca/support-us/kingfisher-raffle) and to purchase tickets:
https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_raffle_requests.php

Special Event

Announcing - An Evening with Louise Penny

New York Times bestselling author, Louise Penny is back with the 11th book in her Chief Inspector Gamache series, The Nature of the Beast. Set in Three Pines, Quebec, The Nature of the Beast begins with Laurent Lepage, a nine year old boy whose stories of alien invasions, walking trees and dinosaurs outside the village have many villagers, including newcomers Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache, doubting the truth of his words. That is, until Laurent disappears and the people of Three Pines are faced with the possibility that one of his tall tales might have been true.

Monday, August 24 at 7:30pm
Vancouver Playhouse
600 Hamilton Street

Information about tickets will be available soon. Keep checking our website for details: https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/louise-penny

AWARDS & LISTS

Jane Munro has been awarded the 2015 Griffin Poetry Prize for her most recent collection, Blue Sonoma. Blue Sonoma focuses on the struggle Munro's long-time partner has faced with Alzheimer's.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/jane-munros-blue-sonoma-wins-griffin-poetry-prize/article24817466/

Judith Saltman and Jacques Payette have won the 2014 Claude Aubry Awards for distinguished service in the field of Canadian children's literature. Judith Saltman, author of Picturing Canada: A History of Canadian Children's Illustrated Books and Publishing received the English-language award, while Jacques Payette was honoured for his work in French.
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2015/06/09/judith-saltman-jacques-payette-win-ibby-canadas-aubry-award/

Winnipeg author Casey Plett has been named winner of the 2015 Lambda Literary Award for transgender fiction. "The awards aim to recognize the best English-language LGBT titles published the previous year."
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2015/06/09/casey-plett-wins-lambda-literary-award-for-transgender-fiction/

Vancouver writer Alex Leslie has won the $4,000 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT Emerging Writers. Leslie's works include the short-story collection People Who Disappear and the poetry collection The things I heard about you, both nominated for several awards.
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2015/06/08/alex-leslie-wins-2015-dayne-ogilvie-prize-for-lgbt-emerging-writers/

Wayson Choy, also of Vancouver, has been named winner of this year's George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding long-time contributions to B.C. literature. "His stories connect us, help us understand our city's past, and let us see life through a different perspective. He has helped tear down barriers between cultures and generations."
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2015/06/08/wayson-choy-receives-2015-george-woodcock-lifetime-achievement-award/

Ann-Marie MacDonald has been selected as a finalist for the 2016 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, nicknamed America's Nobel Prize. "MacDonald is the sole Canadian among nine authors shortlisted for their ongoing literary achievements."
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2015/06/08/ann-marie-macdonald-shortlisted-for-2016-neustadt-prize/

YOUNG READERS

Illustrator Chris Riddell has been named as the UK's new children's laureate. "The 53-year-old illustrator, who lives in Brighton, is dedicating his laureateship to championing creativity and, in particular, to visual literacy."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/09/illustrator-chris-riddell-named-uk-childrens-laureate

Here are some new young adult fiction titles worth checking out! Among the books reviewed is The Truth Commission, by B.C.'s own Susan Juby, "her finest novel yet."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/review-new-young-adult-fiction-from-susin-nielsen-sarah-henstra-susan-juby-and-others/article24821718/

NEWS & FEATURES

Anne of Green Gables, one of Canada's favourite books and film adaptations, is set to be adapted for the screen once more. Filming is currently under way, with Martin Sheen playing Matthew Cuthbert.
http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/canada/story/1.3104952

Is Quebec literature isolated from the rest of North America? Here's Pasha Malla's take on the matter: "Too Different and Too Familiar: The Challenge of French-Canadian Literature."
http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/too-different-and-too-familiar-the-challenge-of-french-canadian-literature

Carmine Starnino, editor at Montreal's Véhicule Press, also has an opinion on the matter. Why does the prospect of publishing a new collection by Pierre Nepveu plunge him "into despair? Because I already know what to expect when the book is finally released: what UK poet and translator Michael Hofmann has called "a deluge—a deluge of nothing."
http://www.partisanmagazine.com/blog/2015/6/8/why-the-book-im-about-to-publish-will-be-ignored

An attempt to break the book dominos world record has been condemned as "disrespectful to books!" Japan's Gifu City Library had planned the event in order to commemorate its spectacular new building, and promote Gifu as a "book city."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/11653656/Book-dominos-world-record-attempt-causes-outcry-as-disrespectful-to-books.html

Are you a good online reader? Here's a guide to being better!
http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/being-a-better-online-reader

Paulo Coelho is offering two of his works for free, asking readers to pay only if they enjoyed reading them. ‘This idea does not harm the business,' he stated.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/jun/09/paulo-coelho-buy-my-book-after-youve-read-it-only-if-you-liked-it

BOOKS & WRITERS

Ali Smith's recently won the Bailey's Fiction Prize. The "triumph in the women's fiction prize confirmed her as one of our pre-eminent writers. And, she says, the award shares her own preoccupation–how to assert a complex female identity in a world that tells women to be simple." Her new book, How to be Both, challenges the male cannon.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/05/baileys-prize-winner-ali-smith-interview

Joshua Cohen's new novel, Book of Numbers, features a struggling writer and a tech billionaire who share the same name. It "hums with the static of the cosmos," and "in its fractured way, is more impressive than all but a few novels published so far this decade.'
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/08/books/review-book-of-numbers-by-joshua-cohen-is-narrative-as-rich-as-the-web.html

"Today's fiction rarely has kind things to say about the middle-aged male psyche. Whether through hyper-masculine compensation, nostalgic tales of misspent youth or creepy accounts of abuse, most literary depictions of this maligned demographic might as well be accompanied by the warning sign: ‘Here be dragons!'" James Grainger's Harmless, on the other hand, is a "book made for today."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/mean-thriller-harmless-is-a-book-made-for-today/article24818969/

Colm Tóibín is featured in this week's Guardian books podcast. He discusses the women in his fiction, here:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2015/jun/05/colm-toibin-women-fiction-podcast

Aleksandar Hemon's The Making of Zombie Wars is "a violent, sexually astute, culturally exacting, zany and weirdly observant feat of writing." It's also one of the "funniest books of the year."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/review-aleksandar-hemons-the-making-of-zombie-wars-is-one-of-the-funniest-books-of-the-year/article24821619/

COMMUNITY EVENTS

AIR INDIA MEDITATIONS
Award winning poet Renee Saklikar and renowned composer John Oliver present the Vancouver premiere of Air India Meditations-a sequence of soundscapes interwoven with poems from Children of Air India, about the bombing of Air India Flight 182. Saturday, June 13 at 1:00pm. Vancouver Public Library, 350 W. Georgia St., Vancouver. More information at vpl.ca.

ELIZABETH RENZETTI
National columnist with The Globe and Mail, presents her debut novel, Based on A True Story. Monday, June 15 at 7:00pm. Vancouver Public Library, 350 W. Georgia St., Vancouver. More information at vpl.ca.

DEE HOBSBAWN-SMITH
Author reads from her first collection of short fiction, What Can't Be Undone. Tuesday, June 16 at 7:00pm, White Rock Library. More information at fvrl.bc.ca.

SPOKEN INK
Melia McClure reads from her debut novel, The Delphi Room. Tuesday, June 16 at 8:00pm. La Fontana Caffe, 101-3701 East Hastings Street, Burnaby. More information at burnabywritersnews.blogspot.ca.

LUNCH POEMS @ SFU
Featuring Kevin Spenst and Louis Cabri. Wednesday, June 17 at 12:00 noon. Teck Gallery, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca.

NOVEL NIGHTS
BC Book Prize winner Aislinn Hunter in discussion of her award-winning novel The World Before Us. Wednesday, June 17 at 7:00pm. Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street. For further details please call 604 879-7737.

HEATHER HALEY
Author reads from her debut novel The Town Slut's Daughter. Thursday, June 18 at 7:00pm. Storm Crow Tavern. More information at howesoundpublishing@gmail.com.

VOICE TO VOICE
Launch of the latest book from the Thursdays Writing Collective. Thursday, June 18 at 7:00pm. Lost and Found Cafe, 33 W. Hastings.

Upcoming

ACTIVE FICTION PROJECT
Call for writers: real life choose your own adventure fiction The Active Fiction Project is a public art initiative that explores the intersection of public space and literary fiction. They're looking for a few talented authors to create short pieces of choose your own adventure fiction (max 10 pages) for this summer/fall. More information at www.activefictionproject.com/submissions.

TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Adrienne Gruber and Raoul Fernandes with open mic. Thursday, June 25 at 7:00pm. 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.