Book News Vol. 10 No. 37

BOOK NEWS

2015 was a great year for the Writers Fest, but we believe 2016 can be even better. Help us make that happen by donating today. We have several ways to give:

Join us at our 2016 A Dram Come True Fundraiser! Tickets for the event are available on our website (writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true) and make a great gift. If you'd like to receive a gift voucher for the tickets, purchase before December 17 and send an email to aspence@writersfest.bc.ca with your mailing address and number of gift tickets.

Make a one-time donation through our website. Donors receive special benefits such as two-for-one deals on VWF special event tickets, an invitation to our Opening Reception and more. For more details and to donate, click here http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/donate.

We also offer a convenient monthly giving option! Choose the amount you want to give per month and let us handle the rest. To become a monthly donor, click here, https://www.writersfest.bc.ca/secure/secure_donation.php.

AWARDS & LISTS

Michael Crummey has been named the first of three recipients of the Writers' Trust of Canada's new writing fellowship. The $50,000 prize was launched in order to celebrate the nation's 150th anniversary.
http://www.quillandquire.com/authors/2015/11/26/michael-crummy-awarded-inaugural-writers-trust-fellowship/

What were the best children's and YA books of the year? Here's a list, selected by the children's books editor of The New York Times Book Review.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/books/review/notable-childrens-books-of-2015.html

The shortlist has been announced for B.C.'s National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction. Two biographies and two memoirs were shortlisted. "The biographies recount the lives of Stephen Harper and the daughter of Josef Stalin, while the two memoirs deal with albinism, and climate change and Inuit culture."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/shortlist-announced-for-bcs-national-award-for-canadian-non-fiction/article27655228/

YOUNG READERS

The holiday season has officially begun! Hanukkah's already underway, and Christmas is just around the corner. Here are some holiday tales for the youngster in your life.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/04/books/review/04bookshelf-holiday.html

NEWS & FEATURES

It's official...English isn't normal! "No, English isn't uniquely vibrant or mighty or adaptable. But it really is weirder than pretty much every other language."
https://aeon.co/essays/why-is-english-so-weirdly-different-from-other-languages

The Swedish Women's Lobby, along with publisher Albert Bonniers, has announced that they will be distributing Chimamamda Ngozi Adichie's We Should All Be Feminists to every 16-year-old in the country. "Our hope is that the Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie text will open up a conversation about gender and gender roles, starting from young people's own experiences."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/04/every-16-year-old-in-sweden-to-receive-copy-of-we-should-all-be-feminists

Do you enjoy "the unmistakable essence of old paperbacks?" Then you might enjoy this perfume that's "sweet and lovely, with just a touch of the mustiness of aged paper."
http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/shortcuts/2015/nov/25/old-spines-why-love-smell-of-secondhand-books-perfume

What are the best books, new or old, that you read this year? In a special year-end edition of the New York Times' Bookends, sixteen columnists share their favorite reading experience of 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/books/review/whats-the-best-book-new-or-old-you-read-this-year.html

The Globe and Mail has produced a similar piece, with a slightly Canadian bent, of course. Stacey May Fowles, Pasha Malla and John Semley look back on their favourite reading of 2015, here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/my-year-in-reading-stacey-may-fowles-pasha-malla-and-john-semley-look-back-on-2015/article27601508/

Penguin is slashing jobs, blaming the losses on the rise of ebooks. "Ebooks now make up 25% of the market, just eight years after the launch of the Kindle in 2007."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/07/rise-ebooks-blamed-200-job-losses-penguin

Speaking of ebooks, Kobo has revealed that its ten bestselling authors of 2015 have all been women. It's an interesting development "in a year where female writers have struggled to find review space and where the publishing industry has been slammed for its 'gender bias.'"
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/07/kobos-top-10-authors-of-2015-are-all-women

What do authors really think of publishers? At the beginning of March, Jane Friedman and Harry Bingham launched "the English-speaking world's most comprehensive survey of what authors think of the firms that publish them." Here are the results.
http://agenthunter.co.uk/blog/363/

BOOKS & WRITERS

This week, The Vancouver Sun's Book Club looks at Wab Kinew's new book, The Reason You Walk. The book follows the story of Kinew and his father, "a residential school survivor who died from cancer a few years ago." http://www.vancouversun.com/news/book+club+many+indigenous+voices+ringing/11566425/story.html#ixzz3tnE9WwYC

Patrick Modiano won the Nobel Prize last year, and now a slew of his works have finally been released in English. "A sense of vaguely threatening mystery attaches to every one of the characters in Modiano's writings," with many of his books relating to the German occupation and life in post-war France.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/books/review/the-occupation-trilogy-and-more-by-patrick-modiano.html

In The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606, James Shapiro sorts through "the information that has emerged from old libraries and dusty archives in the last 50 years, and then he consolidates it and brings it alive in a smooth, lively and conversational style." It's an "irresistible" story, a "banquet of wisdom about the small and dramatic world that a 42-year-old playwright is living in."
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/books/review/the-year-of-lear-shakespeare-in-1606-by-james-shapiro.html

According to a recent Statistics Canada survey, "only 16 per cent of Canadians can successfully name the beaver as our country's national animal." Frances Backhouse's Once They Were Hats might help spread beaver knowledge. It's a "fascinating and smartly written" book that "adopts the narrative strategy of previous single-subject books on salt, sugar, coffee, cod and so on."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/review-frances-backhouse-sinks-her-teeth-into-canadas-national-animal-in-the-fascinating-and-smartly-written-once-they-were-hats/article27507847/

Gordon Lish is a "legendary" editor who has worked closely with "many of the most daring writers of the past 50 years, including Raymond Carver, Don DeLillo, Barry Hannah and Joy Williams." In this interview, which will appear in full in the Winter 2015 edition of the Paris Review, he discusses his relationship with Carver, being an editor, not being a writer, and more.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/05/gordon-lish-books-interview-editing-raymond-carver

What are some gift ideas for "literary locavores?" Here's the Georgia Straight's take on the matter, including several mini reviews. "Your holiday food and drink menus are likely full of local ingredients—so why not your holiday reading list too?"
http://www.straight.com/life/590056/gift-ideas-literary-locavores-your-list

The Vancouver Sun has compiled a similar list, with less of a focus on all things "local". The reviews are still there, though!
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/stick+good+read+under+tree/11566385/story.html

COMMUNITY EVENTS

TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Annual Christmas Fundraiser for Children in Need, with music by Patsy Thompson and readings from The Revolving City Anthology (Anvil Press, 2015). Thursday, December 10th, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street.
Cash donations accepted at the door. More information: blnish_pandoras@yahoo.ca.

SPOKEN INK
Featuring poets Bren Simmers and Raoul Fernandes. Thursday, December 10 at 8:00pm. Wings Pub & Grill, 6879 Kingsway, Burnaby.

LUNCH POEMS AT SFU
Featuring Chris Turnbull and Roger Farr. Wednesday, December 16 at 12:00 noon. Teck Gallery, SFU Vancouver, Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings St., Vancouver. More information at 778-782-6930.