BOOK NEWS
Indian Summer Literature Series
Anosh Irani, Shrabani Basu, Vikram Vij, Tabu Hashmi, Yann Martel and many more stellar Canadian and Indian performers in a 10-day festival of music, literature, dance, film, yoga and cuisine. July 7-17, 2011, at SFU Woodward's in downtown Vancouver. For info and tickets, visit indiansummerfestival.ca.
July 8 Yann Martel in conversation with Bollywood film star Tabu, who will appear in Oscar-winning director Ang Lee's film adaptation of Martel's Booker Prizewinning novel, Life of Pi. (Followed by a screening of The Namesake, based on the novel by Pulitzer prize-winning author Jhumpa
Lahiri.)
TD International Jazz Festival
We love the Jazz Festival and this year's lineup is as stellar and adventurous as ever. Events include Jazz at the Lincoln Centre Orchestra with Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Wynton Marsalis at the Orpheum Theatre, and Matheson/Roper/Mollerup – Literary Cabaret trumpeter Allan Matheson, Jon Roper and Laurence Mollerup play original compositions inspired by Tom Harrell, Miles Davis and Bill Evans at Canada Place. Both performances are on June 26.
The full festival guide is here: http://www.server-jbmultimedia.net/VancouverInternationalJazzFestival/
Check out free Jazz education programs including workshops and artist talks at the David Lam Park/Roundhouse Jazz Week-end, and the TD High School Jazz Intensive Band perform on the Outdoor Stage July 2 and 3. More info at www.coastaljazz.ca.
SPECIAL EVENT
Michael Ondaatje - September 21, 2011
Join us for an evening with the Booker Prize-winning author of The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje, as he discusses his forthcoming novel, The Cat's Table. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/ondaatje.
AWARDS & LISTS
Irish writer Colum McCann has won the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for Let The Great World Spin. Let The Great World Spin also won the U.S. National Book Award in 2009. Past Canadian winners of the IMPAC Award include Rawi Hage and Alastair MacLeod.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/colum-mccann-wins-2011-impac-prize/article2062390/
Jean Little's Exiles from the War: The War Guests Diary of Charlotte Mary Twiss and a picture book version of Gordon Lightfoot's Canadian Railroad Trilogy are among the titles nominated for the Canadian Children's Book Centre Awards. Édith Bourget, participant in the Festival's La Joie de Lire program, and member of a team of Québec writers contributing to Oh! La vache!, is among French writers nominated for the Prix TD de litterature Canadienne pour l'enfance et la jeunesse.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2011/06/14/childrens-book-awards-nominees.html
Rabindranath (Robin) Maharaj's The Amazing Absorbing Boy is the winner of this year's $20,000 Trillium Book Award for Ontario authors. The $10,000 poetry prize went to Jeff Latosik's Tiny, Frantic, Stronger. French-language prizes went to: Estelle Beauchamp's Un souffle venu de loin (the $25,000 Trillium Book Award); Daniel Marchildon's La première guerre de Toronto won the $10,000 children's literature award.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1010775--trillium-prize-ajax-s-rabindranath-maharaj-wins-for-novel-the-amazing-absorbing-boy
Andrea Levy's story of the end of slavery, The Long Song, has won the £25,000 Walter Scott prize for historical fiction.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/20/andrea-levy-wins-walter-scott-prize
John Le Carré is one of this year's recipients of Germany's Goethe Medal, which goes to individuals who "have performed outstanding service for the German language and international cultural dialogue". The Goethe Institute describes Le Carré as Great Britain's most famous German speaker.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/21/john-le-carre-goethe-medal
Kim Scott is the 2011 winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award for That Deadman Dance.
http://www.milesfranklin.com.au/
NEWS & FEATURES
Novelists Timothy Taylor (The Blue Light Project) and Peter Darbyshire (The Warhol Gang) were struck by the parallels between their latest books and the chaos that engulfed Vancouver after the Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. In this conversation, exclusive to The Afterword, the two writers reflect on what transpired last week.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/06/18/timothy-taylor-and-peter-darbyshire-discuss-the-vancouver-riots/#more-37676
Returning to his hometown of Dublin to accept this year's Impac Dublin Literary Award, Colum McCann speaks to Eileen Battersby about being an ‘Irish New Yorker' and how he has succeeded as a writer—despite his happy childhood.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2011/0616/1224298993543.html
The most recent decisions on the Miles Franklin Literary Award has generated criticism. Two years ago, the five shortlisted novels were all by men. This year the Miles judges had a shortlist of only three books—again, all by men. Critical comment continues.
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/separated-by-the-miles-20110617-1g6xs.html#ixzz1PmN8Oi6h
Ann Patchett's first published work was in The Paris Review while she was still in college. She went on to become published in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Gourmet, Vogue and elsewhere—among other accomplishments. If you missed hearing Shelagh Rogers' interview on The Last Chapter this past Monday, it will be re-broadcast on Saturday at 4pm. The podcast is available here.
http://www.cbc.ca/thenextchapter/
Viv Groskop writes that Goodnight Keith Moon, a spoof of the children's classic Goodnight Moon, told through the eyes of The Who's late drummer, is the latest in a very strange fad: children's bedtime books for adults.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jun/19/parents-and-parenting-booksforchildrenandteenagers
The latest list to argue about: The Guardian's books desk has generated a list of—in their view—the 100 greatest non-fiction books, the very best factual writing, organized by category, and then by date.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/14/100-greatest-non-fiction-books
Drew Grant writes that for the upcoming edition, entirely composed of "Talk of the Town" pieces, the New Yorker created an instructional video (in the style of a 1960s classroom film) on how the magazine cherry-picks certain people for "Talk of the Town" segments.
http://www.salon.com/books/2011/06/14/talk_of_the_town_new_yorker_video/index.html
On a rare visit to the UK, Nobel prize-winning Nigerian poet and dramatist Wole Soyinka talks to Sarah Crown about his fears for his country and using theatre to 'fire pellets at the complacent body of society'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/video/2011/jun/08/wole-soyinka-video
Derek Walcott, the winner of this year's TS Eliot prize, talks to Rob Sharp about why Britain means little to him.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/derek-walcott-of-poetry-prizes-and-postcolonialism-2300641.html
While H.G. Wells remains best known for what he called his “scientific romances,” he was far more than just the author of The War of the Worlds. The founder of modern science fiction was also a major social novelist of the Edwardian period. Now Weidenfeld & Nicolson have made these novels available again.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/books-the-history-of-mr-polly-by-hg-wells/2011/06/02/AGmpFaMH_story.html
The Wimpy Kid will be back this fall, with a most un-wimpy first printing. Cabin Fever, the sixth in Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, will be out November 15, with a first printing of 6 million copies.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1010082--new-wimpy-kid-book-gets-6-million-first-printing-but-no-e-book
Canadian Bookshelf is a new online book community that hosts the largest publicly available collection of Canadian books and authors ever assembled. Find recommended books and book reviews.
http://www.canadianbookshelf.com/
Or, test your CanLit knowledge with The Cover Shuffle Challenge.
http://canadianbookshelf.com/covershuffle
Diary of a Combatant, revolutionary icon Ernesto Che Guevara's journal of the time leading up to Fidel Castro's rise to power, was launched in Havana on what would have been his 83rd birthday. Diary of a Combatant is the sequel to The Motorcycle Diaries.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2011/06/15/guevara-cuba-journal-campaign.html
In her profile of Margaret Drabble's life in writing, Lisa Allardice writes that with more than 20 books to her name, Drabble this month publishes her first collection of short stories, A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/jun/17/life-writing-margaret-drabble-interview
Vit Wagner interviews Maya Soetoro-Ng, half-sister to President Barack Obama, and author of the children's book Ladder to the Moon, described as "a character study of how all of us shape our lives out of what we are given."
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/1012758--children-s-book-by-obama-s-half-sister-bridges-generations
Staff and contributors at The Tyee offer up a list of perfect summer reading to complement all of your favorite summer activities.
http://thetyee.ca/Books/2011/06/21/SummerBooks2011/
The unfinished fourth novel by Stieg Larsson is set in Canada and Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist continue to play key roles. These details emerge in Charles McGrath's conversation with Eva Gabrielsson about her own book There Are Things I Want You to Know about Stieg Larsson and Me.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/22/books/eva-gabrielssons-memoir-of-her-life-with-stieg-larsson.html?_r=1&ref=books&pagewanted=all
BOOKS & WRITERS
Aravind Adiga's second novel Last Man in Tower is a complex and multi-layered novel that builds on his Booker win and continues his project of shining a light on the changing face of India, writes Alex Clark.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/15/last-man-tower-adiga-review
Shakespeare invites many superlatives and much sublime exaggeration, which Stephen Marche employs in his new book, How Shakespeare Changed Everything. For Marche, Shakespeare is a messy writer because of his encompassing vision and extreme brilliance, writes Richard Handler.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/06/14/f-vp-handler.html
In the latest post-Fleming James Bond tale, Jeffery Deaver gives the spy a taste for Canadian whisky—he drinks Crown Royal—and his thriller Carte Blanche a breakneck pace, writes John Barber.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/jeffery-deavers-007-bonds-shaken-hes-stirred-but-he-drinks-crown-royal/article2065397/
Bharati Mukherjee's territory is cultural shock: she has been chronicling the traumas of displacement for more than four decades. Miss New India is the final volume of a trilogy: old meets new, says Linda Leith.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/miss-new-india-by-bharati-mukherjee/article2065234/
Steven Hayward writes that, In The Meagre Tarmac, a collection of linked short stories, Clark Blaise addresses himself to India and the stories of Indian immigrants to North America: with dislocation and disorientation perhaps uniquely Canadian.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-meagre-tarmac-stories-by-clark-blaise/article2065107/
Theo Tait says that Alan Hollinghurst's new novel, The Stranger's Child, is a sort of ironic meditation on the evolution of literary memory and is undoubtedly one of the best books this year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/17/strangers-child-alan-hollinghurst-review
Alice Ozma's father read to her every night for 3,218 days and didn't stop until the day she moved into her college dormitory. The accomplishment is chronicled in The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared, says Jessica Gelt.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-book-alice-ozma-20110616,0,5689043.story
River of Smoke, the second part of Amitav Ghosh's Ibis trilogy is a subversive act of empathy, viewing a whole panorama of world history from the "wrong" end of the telescope, says Tim Adams.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/19/river-of-smoke-amitav-ghosh-review
Like le Carré's The Constant Gardener, Ann Patchett's State of Wonder explores the unsavory behavior of Western pharmaceutical firms in Third World countries, observing the strange choices individuals make. The smartest, most exciting novel of the summer, says Ron Charles.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/books-state-of-wonder/2011/05/30/AGQicRLH_story.html
An excerpt ofChapter 1 is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/books/excerpt-state-of-wonder-by-ann-patchett.html?ref=review
COMMUNITY EVENTS
MAUREEN HYNES
The Toronto-based author reads from her latest poetry collection, Marrow, Willow. Friday, June 24 at 7:00pm, free. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial.
AMANDA NAHANEE
In celebration of National Aboriginal Day, the descendant and ambassador of the Squamish and Nisga'a Nations tells stories and shares her culture, history, and understanding of what it means to be from the Northwest Coast. Saturday, June 25 at 2:00pm, free. Hastings Branch, VPL, 2675 E. Hastings. More information at www.vpl.ca.
SUBVERSIONS
Launch and discussion of the anarchist fiction anthology features speakers from the Montreal Anarchist Writers Bloc and the B.C. Black Ink Group, as well as Norman Nawrocki, Ron Sakolsky, David Lester, and Bob Sarti. Saturday, June 25 at 3pm, free. Spartacus Books, 684 E. Hastings. More information at awb@daemonflower.com.
BOOK LAUNCH
Join Sheryl MacKay and the North by Northwest Library Sleuths when they celebrate "100+ Years of Library Services to British Columbians" at Library Square in the Vancouver Public Library on Wednesday June 29 at 10am. Sheryl will tape a special live segment of "Lost Childhood Books" and you can bring your own requests for future episodes too. The day is full of celebration with lots of activities for all - check it out at http://thelibrarybook.bclibraries.ca/booklaunch/
TD HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ INTENSIVE
Students are offered a chance to perform in the TD Vancouver international Jazz Festival. Open rehearsal: Saturday, July 2 from 1-4pm, Tom Lee Music Hall; free. Feature performance and scholarship presentations: Sunday, July 3 from 12-1pm, David Lam Park Mainstage; free. Complete details here: http://tinyurl.com/3ztx7jl.
Upcoming
OF MAMMOTHS AND MEN
Sharon Levy, author of the new book Once and Future Giants, explores the causes of the mass extinction of mammoths and the reasons why this ancient story is vitally important here and now. Wednesday, July 6 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room. lower level, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
VPL SUMMER BOOK SALE
Lots of great fiction for summer reading plus some DVDs, childrens, travel, gardening and multilingual items will be available. Admission ends 30 minutes before sale closes. All sales final. Prices .75 to 2.50. Cash and carry. Thursday, July 7 at 10:00am, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia St.
KY-MANI MARLEY
Son of reggae icon Bob Marley presents his biography of his dad, Dear Dad. Friday, July 8 at 4:00pm. Chapters Robson, 788 Robson Street. More information at 604-682-4056.
WRITE ON BOWEN 2011
Join writers from all over the Lower Mainland for a series of intensive, interactive writing workshops, panel presentations, and other events. July 8 to 11, Artisan Square, Bowen Island. For complete details, visit www.writeonbowen.com.
CROSS BORDER READING SERIES
Readings and conversations with writers and poets from Canada, US, and Scotland. Featuring Alan Jamieson, Carmen Aguirre, Andrew Feld, Pimone Triplett, Bren Simmers and Maggie de Vries. Saturday, July 9 at 5:00pm. Room 1530, SFU Harbour Centre, 555 W. Hastings Street. More information cbprs.wordpress.com.
CBC BOOKCLUB
Lisa See, the New York Times best-selling author of Shanghai Girls, Peony in Love, and Snow Flower & the Secret Fan will be coming to Vancouver in July, with her latest novel Dreams of Joy. The CBC Studio One Book Club will be taped in the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden on Sunday afternoon, July 17. To win tickets, go to www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub.
CHEVY STEVENS
Reading by the author of Never Knowing. Monday, June 25 at 7:00pm. Chapters Granville, 2505 Granville Street. More information at 604-731-7822.
HAIKU NORTH AMERICA
A long weekend of papers, presentations, workshops, readings, and other activities in celebration of haiku poetry, held at the Seattle Center, at the foot of the Space Needle. Featured presenters include Cor van den Heuvel, Richard Gilbert, David Lanoue, Carlos Colón, Fay Aoyagi, Jim Kacian, Emiko Miyashita, George Swede, and many others. August 3-7, 2011. For more information, visit www.haikunorthamerica.com.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Book News Vol. 6 No. 23
BOOK NEWS
Indian Summer Literature Series
Celebrating the 'Year of India in Canada', Indian Summer Festival presents top international talent from Canada and India across music, literature, dance, film, yoga and cuisine. Indian Summer's literature series features some of the most exciting authors and public intellectuals from India, Canada and the UK. Intimate, thought-provoking and truly international, the sessions feature fine minds in conversations about literature, language, politics, democracy, freedom of speech. Details: http://indiansummerfestival.ca/
SUNSHINE COAST FESTIVAL OF THE WRITTEN ARTS
Tickets are now on sale for the 29th Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts, Canada's longest-running literary festival, taking place August 4-7, 2011 in beautiful downtown Sechelt. Call 1-800-565-9631 to order tickets. Information: www.writersfestival.ca.
AWARDS & LISTS
U.S. poet Gjertrud Schnackenberg and Canadian Dionne Brand each won the $75,000 prizes awarded by the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry at its annual banquet in Toronto last week. Tacoma, Wash.-born Schnackenberg won the international Griffin Prize for Heavenly Questions; Toronto poet Brand was recognized for Ossuaries.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/schnackenberg-and-brand-win-75000-griffin-poetry-prizes/article2043891/
Novelist Louise Penny and veteran journalist Stevie Cameron are among the latest winners of the Arthur Ellis Awards, Canada's literary prize celebrating crime-writing excellence—Penny for Bury Your Dead and Cameron, On the Farm, Cameron's second book about B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton. The complete list is here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/06/02/crime-writing-awards.html
Leonard Cohen has been named winner of Spain's Prince of Asturias Award for Letters, for "a body of literary work that has influenced three generations of people worldwide", and Bob Dylan has been nominated for an American book prize. Fans have long argued that the best rock music has literary merit: now it's becoming officially recognized.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/03/leonard-cohen-major-spanish-literary-prize
After 44 years in a Louisiana prison, Wilbert Rideau is campaigning for society to help prisoners start a new life. His own new life began with writing In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance, which has been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger prize for Non-Fiction, a British literary award.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/may/31/wilbert-rideau-rehabilitate-prisoners
Julia Donaldson, the creator of the Gruffalo, has been named Children's Laureate. The two-year appointment marks a lifetime's contribution to children's literature and highlights the importance of children's books.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/07/gruffalo-julia-donaldson-new-children-s-laureate
NEWS & FEATURES
Signature Editions has named Vancouver author Genni Gunn their Author of the Month (June, 2011).
http://signature-editions.com/index.php/author_of_the_month/
Gunn's most recent novel Solaria is now available in Kindle format from Amazon.com, as well as in print from any bookstore. More details are available on the Signature website.
http://signatureeditions.com/index.php/books/single_title/solitaria/
Canadian Bookshelf offers the online opportunity to discover, discuss, and indulge in Canadian books.
http://canadianbookshelf.com/
The God of Small Things author Arundhati Roy has a vocal critic of the Indian state for the last decade. Stephen Moss interviews Roy about the issues and her latest book, Broken Republic.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/05/arundhati-roy-keep-destabilised-danger
Michael Cunningham discovered Virginia Woolf when he was a teenager and his discovery inspired him to write his novel about her life: what fun she was at parties, her periodic depressions, her adoration of the world, and his mother.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/04/virginia-woolf-the-hours-michael-cunningham.
Thessaly La Force interviews Francine Prose on her new novel My New American Life, on her research trip to Albania, and why she won't write nonfiction.
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/05/13/francine-prose-on-my-new-american-life/
Megan Cox Gurden argues that contemporary fiction for teens is rife with explicit abuse, violence and depravity; she describes teen fiction as a hall of funhouse mirrors.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303657404576357622592697038.html?mod=WSJ_Books_LS_Books_6
Linda Holmes counters that what's distorted is the notion that kids don't know pathologies like suicide or abuse unless they read about them in books.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/06/06/137005354/seeing-teenagers-as-we-wish-they-were-the-debate-over-ya-fiction
“YA literature saves lives. Every. Single. Day," writes prize-winning YA novelist Laurie Halse Anderson.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/07/teen-fiction-accused
In an interview at the Royal Geographic Society last week, during which VS Naipaul provoked fury by suggesting that women writers are 'sentimental' and 'unequal to me', he also claimed that 'I read a piece of writing and within a paragraph or two I know whether it is by a woman or not.' Here is a chance to discover if this is a universal trait.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/quiz/2011/jun/02/naipaul-test-author-s-sex-quiz?CMP=EMCGT_030611&
Naipaul's attack on her just made Diana Athill laugh, she said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/03/v-s-naipaul-diana-athill
Does reading great books make you a better person? A critic says Jane Austen taught him to be a more decent man, but the world is full of well-read jerks, writes Laura Miller.
http://www.salon.com/books/jane_austen/index.html?story=/books/laura_miller/2011/05/31/jane_austen_education
Aminatta Forna has put Sierra Leone on the literary map with The Memory of Love. Boyd Tonkin meets her on the eve of the Orange Prize for Fiction.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/aminatta-forna-my-country-had-a-war-it-would-be-extraordinary-not-to-want-to-write-about-that-2291536.html
Ann Patchett won huge acclaim for her bestselling novel Bel Canto, set in South America. She returns to deepest, darkest Amazonia in her new novel, State of Wonder. Arifa Akbar talks to her about the rainforest and everlasting fertility.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/ann-patchett-voyage-into-the-amazons-dark-heart-2292227.html
Tracy Sherlock talks to Zsuzsi Gartner about her latest collection of stories, Better Living Through Plastic Explosives, her feelings toward Vancouver, and her next project.
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Hilarity+with+splendid+whack+asperity/4893377/story.html
Few books have changed the literary landscape like Frederick Forsyth's political thriller, The Day of the Jackal. The Jackal has influenced a generation of thriller writers. This month marks the 40th anniversary of the novel's publication.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/03/day-jackal-frederick-forsyth
After languishing unpublished for almost 130 years, The Narrative of John Smith, Sherlock Holmes author's previously unpublished debut novel, is due out this autumn.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/06/lost-conan-doyle-novel-narrative-john-smith
Pablo Neruda, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, may have been poisoned, an associate maintains. A Chilean judge has opened an investigation into the poet's 1973 death.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/06/was-nobel-prizewinning-poet-pablo-neruda-poisoned.html
Hans Keilson, described by Francine Prose in the New York Times as one of "the world's very greatest writers", has died, aged 101. He became an international literary sensation in his 100th year for The Death of the Adversary.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/07/hans-keilson-obituary
Designers Kai & Sunny created the covers for David Mitchell's novels Cloud Atlas and Number 9 Dream. In return, Mitchell wrote a short story to accompany their latest exhibition. Chris Moran reads The Gardener, over images from the exhibition.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/audioslideshow/2011/jun/06/davidmitchell
Faber takes TS Eliot into the 21st century, with the launch, of an iPad app of The Waste Land that includes a video performance of the poem, notes, commentary and readings from Viggo Mortensen, Ted Hughes, and Eliot himself.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/video/2011/jun/07/ipad-apple-the-wasteland-apps-video
BOOKS & WRITERS
The story of a dinner guest who refuses to leave develops into a satire on the way we live now in There but for the, Ali Smith's enjoyably playful new novel, writes Sarah Churchill.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/05/there-but-for-the-review
Adam Hochschild's To End All Wars is about the clash of world views and a world turned upside down, writes Jonathan Vance, from the turbulent years of social and political unrest before 1914 to more turbulent years after 1918.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/to-end-all-wars-by-adam-hochschild/article2046338/
Umberto Eco wrote his first novel, The Name of the Rose, in 1980; it was a runaway bestseller. In Confessions of a Young Novelist, Eco has decided to tell us what he believes the ingredients are for a successful novel.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/books/la-et-0602-book-20110602,0,5088721.story
Leila Ahmed was raised in Cairo by a generation of women who never wore the veil; why are more women now wearing the veil? In A Quiet Revolution, Ahmed addresses how and why these fluctuations of personal habit affected so many across the Muslim world.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/03/quiet-revolution-leila-ahmed-review
Sue Ellen is one of 13 chimpanzees profiled in Andrew Westoll's The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary: A Canadian Story of Resilience and Recovery. Westoll weaves essential elements into a call to end chimpanzee abuse in medical labs, writes Kathryn Greenaway.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Rescued+from+lives+pain+Andrew+Westoll+introduces+readers+chimps/4889618/story.html
Ai Weiwei's Blog, a collection of Ai Weiwei's blog entries proves he's much more than a playful dilettante of Chinese art. The People's Republic, he suggests, is like a runner surging ahead, but with a heart condition, writes Jonathan Fenby.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jun/05/ai-weiwei-blog-review
In her new novel State of Wonder, Ann Patchett gives readers almost a feminized version of Heart of Darkness,' but without the savagery. Patchett creates a compelling mystery, writes Carolyn Kellogg.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/books/la-ca-ann-patchett-20110605,0,6081157.story
Carolyn Cooke's Daughters of the Revolution is a successful entwining of people that comes to signify the Big Moment of history. When does a revolution begin? The book is “so good you have to read it", says Susanna Sonnenberg.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/05/RVNQ1JNBPL.DTL
The Americans in Paris in Cynthia Ozick's Foreign Bodies are worthy of Henry James, writes Leyla Sanaii. Ozick has skillfully left certain questions open. The sense of doubt renders this intriguing story all the more mesmerising, says Sanaii.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/foreign-bodies-by-cynthia-ozick-2293021.html
The night before class, Haley Tanner wrote a novel's opening pages. The class and the professor hated it. Tanner kept writing. Mark Medley reports that The New York Times recently called Vaclav & Lena a “wonderful and wrenching debut novel."
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/06/03/for-her-first-trick-haley-tanner-discusses-her-magical-debut-novel-vaclav-lena/
Patrick Ness describes Chris Adrian as “the most magical novelist you've never heard of". One of the New Yorker's “20 Under 40", Adrian's latest, The Great Night, is a work of magic realism based on A Midsummer Night's Dream.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/02/great-night-chris-adrian-review
Sinya Queras finds that the work in Ken Babstock's Methodist Hatchet confirms that Babstock is one of the most exciting lyric poets writing today.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/methodist-hatchet-by-ken-babstock/article2046115/
Helon Habila writes that George Makana Clark's The Raw Man is an unforgettable epic of Zimbabwean history—and is not for the fainthearted. Yet once the reader has gone past the first page, the chances of putting down the book are small.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/04/raw-man-george-makana-clark-review
In The Quotable Hitchens—from Alcohol to Zionism: the Very Best of Christopher Hitchens, there are views on everything. He laments the dull, monochrome, righteous and boring. None of these epithets could be applied to him, says George Eaton.
http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2011/05/christopher-hitchens
Malicious Facebook exposures are at the heart of Live Wire, the latest thriller by Harlan Coben. An anonymous Facebook posting makes scurrilous claims about the paternity of an unborn child: inevitably, the chickens come home to roost, reports Barry Forshaw.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/live-wire-by-harlan-coben-2293429.html
Les Murray, Australia's most honoured and internationally renowned poet, seems to have chosen to deepen his commitment to poetic and moral compassion and empathy, as evidenced by the best poems in Taller When Prone, writes Ken Babstock.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/taller-when-prone-by-les-murray/article2048895/
The spectral sense of Roberto Bolaño's unfulfilled promise makes him something akin to Latin America's David Foster Wallace, says Dwight Garner. The excellent thing about Between Parentheses is how thoroughly it dispels any incense or stale reverence in the air.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/books/roberto-bolanos-between-parentheses-review.html?ref=books
COMMUNITY EVENTS
OPENING DOORS
Join editors Daphne Marlatt and Carole Itter for the launch of the new book Opening Doors in Vancouver's East End: Strathcona. The editors will be on hand to answer questions and sign books. Thursday, June 9 at 7:00pm, free. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive.
GENERATIONS
Editor Eury Chang hosts Ricepaper magazine's launch of its 16.1 spring issue. Includes readings and performances by Changming Yuan, Howie Tsui, Tetsuro Shigematsu, Larissa Lai, Ray Hsu, C.E. Gatchalian, and Sabrina Mehra Furminger. June 9 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $15. Rhizome Cafe, 317 E. Broadway. More information at www.ricepapermagazine.ca.
TRAVELING LIGHT
Canadian launch of author Lloyd Meeker's new book about a gay Vancouver shaman and his journey of self-discovery. Thursday, June 9 at 7:00pm, free. Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium, 1238 Davie St.
SHERYL SALLOUM
Launch of the author's new book The Life and Art of Mildred Valley Thornton. Thursday, June 9 at 8:00pm. Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street. More information at info@mothertonguepublishing.com.
IRSHAD MANJI
Canadian author and journalist discusses her new book Allah, Liberty, and Love. Friday, June 10 at 7:30pm. Tickets: $18/$15. Capilano Performing Arts Theatre, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver. More information at www.capilanou.ca/theatre/.
GREEK POETRY READING
Manolis Aligizakis is going to talk about his translation of the works of renowned Greek poet, Yiannis Ritsos and about his book The Vernal Equinox. Saturday, June 11 at 3:00pm, free. Kitsilano Branch, VPL, 2425 Macdonald Street.
SAY WHA?!
Sara Bynoe hosts a comedy show that highlights readings of deliciously rotten writing. Readers include Darren Williams, Tom Hill, Lauren McGibbon, Ivan Decker, Ken Hegan, Sam Mullins, Peter New, and Taz Vanrassel. Wednesday, June 15 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $10/$5 at the door. Cottage Bistro, 4470 Main Street. More information at sarabynoe.com/shows/say-wha/.
WORDPLAY
WordPlay is a program of Vancouver Poetry House that sends poets to classrooms to perform spoken word poetry and to run workshops. This year marks the debut of Summer Youth Slam Camp (July 4 to 8) at Little Mountain Gallery. Fifteen youth poets will work with Vancouver's best slam poets in this spoken word intensive. The deadline for registration for Slam Camp is June 15. For more details, go to vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
SMOKE SIGNALS
A screening of the award-winning film based on the work of Sherman Alexie. Thursday, June 16 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room. lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
KEVIN MCNEILLY
Reading by the author of Embouchure, his debut poetry collection. Thursday, June 16 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore Robson Square, plaza level, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
TIMES OUT OF JOINT
Simon Fraser University's 11th annual English Graduate Conference will be held from Thursday, June 16 to Saturday, June 18 at SFU's Harbour Centre (Thursday and Friday) and the Segal Graduate School of Business (Saturday). All events are open to the general public. There is no fee for attendance. For more information check the website: www.sfu.ca/~gradconf/.
HARRY MOURATIDIS
Join Vancouver author as he reads from his latest book, They Live Longer: The Secrets of Healthy and Active Ninety-Year-Olds. Saturday, June 18 at 3:00pm, free. Kitsilano Branch, 2425 Macdonald Street.
BETTY KRAWCZYK
Book launch for the author's new book, This Dangerous Place: My Journey Between the Passions of the Living and the Dead. Sunday, June 19 at 3:00pm. Reading, book signing, and refreshments to be served. Galiano Island Books (76 Madrona Drive, Galiano Island, 250-539-3340).
Upcoming
JOAN THOMAS
Award-winning novelist Joan Thomas reads from her love story, Curiosity. Tuesday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library. 350 W. Georgia St.
THE WRITERS CARAVAN
Thursdays Writing Collective is hosting an evening celebration and reading for the culmination of its pilot project: The Writers Caravan. Tuesday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Roundhouse, 81 Roundhouse Mews (Davie and Pacific). Find The Writers Caravan on facebook and online at: Thursdayspoems.wordpress.com.
READING
Yvonne Blomer, Cynthia Woodman Kerkham, and Anne McDonald launch new poetry and fiction. Tuesday, June 21 at 7:30pm, free. Cafe Montmartre, 4362 Main Street. More information at yblomer@shaw.ca.
OF MAMMOTHS AND MEN
Sharon Levy, author of the new book Once and Future Giants, explores the causes of the mass extinction of mammoths and the reasons why this ancient story is vitally important here and now. Wednesday, July 6 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room. lower level, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
VPL SUMMER BOOK SALE
Lots of great fiction for summer reading plus some DVDs, childrens, travel, gardening and multilingual items will be available. Admission ends 30 minutes before sale closes. All sales final. Prices .75 to 2.50. Cash and carry. Thursday, July 7 at 10:00am, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia St.
WRITE ON BOWEN 2011
Join writers from all over the Lower Mainland for a series of intensive, interactive writing workshops, panel presentations, and other events. July 8 to 11, Artisan Square, Bowen Island. For complete details, visit www.writeonbowen.com.
HAIKU NORTH AMERICA
A long weekend of papers, presentations, workshops, readings, and other activities in celebration of haiku poetry, held at the Seattle Center, at the foot of the Space Needle. Featured presenters include Cor van den Heuvel, Richard Gilbert, David Lanoue, Carlos Colón, Fay Aoyagi, Jim Kacian, Emiko Miyashita, George Swede, and many others. August 3-7, 2011. For more information, visit www.haikunorthamerica.com.
Indian Summer Literature Series
Celebrating the 'Year of India in Canada', Indian Summer Festival presents top international talent from Canada and India across music, literature, dance, film, yoga and cuisine. Indian Summer's literature series features some of the most exciting authors and public intellectuals from India, Canada and the UK. Intimate, thought-provoking and truly international, the sessions feature fine minds in conversations about literature, language, politics, democracy, freedom of speech. Details: http://indiansummerfestival.ca/
SUNSHINE COAST FESTIVAL OF THE WRITTEN ARTS
Tickets are now on sale for the 29th Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts, Canada's longest-running literary festival, taking place August 4-7, 2011 in beautiful downtown Sechelt. Call 1-800-565-9631 to order tickets. Information: www.writersfestival.ca.
AWARDS & LISTS
U.S. poet Gjertrud Schnackenberg and Canadian Dionne Brand each won the $75,000 prizes awarded by the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry at its annual banquet in Toronto last week. Tacoma, Wash.-born Schnackenberg won the international Griffin Prize for Heavenly Questions; Toronto poet Brand was recognized for Ossuaries.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/schnackenberg-and-brand-win-75000-griffin-poetry-prizes/article2043891/
Novelist Louise Penny and veteran journalist Stevie Cameron are among the latest winners of the Arthur Ellis Awards, Canada's literary prize celebrating crime-writing excellence—Penny for Bury Your Dead and Cameron, On the Farm, Cameron's second book about B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton. The complete list is here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/06/02/crime-writing-awards.html
Leonard Cohen has been named winner of Spain's Prince of Asturias Award for Letters, for "a body of literary work that has influenced three generations of people worldwide", and Bob Dylan has been nominated for an American book prize. Fans have long argued that the best rock music has literary merit: now it's becoming officially recognized.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/03/leonard-cohen-major-spanish-literary-prize
After 44 years in a Louisiana prison, Wilbert Rideau is campaigning for society to help prisoners start a new life. His own new life began with writing In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance, which has been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger prize for Non-Fiction, a British literary award.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/may/31/wilbert-rideau-rehabilitate-prisoners
Julia Donaldson, the creator of the Gruffalo, has been named Children's Laureate. The two-year appointment marks a lifetime's contribution to children's literature and highlights the importance of children's books.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/07/gruffalo-julia-donaldson-new-children-s-laureate
NEWS & FEATURES
Signature Editions has named Vancouver author Genni Gunn their Author of the Month (June, 2011).
http://signature-editions.com/index.php/author_of_the_month/
Gunn's most recent novel Solaria is now available in Kindle format from Amazon.com, as well as in print from any bookstore. More details are available on the Signature website.
http://signatureeditions.com/index.php/books/single_title/solitaria/
Canadian Bookshelf offers the online opportunity to discover, discuss, and indulge in Canadian books.
http://canadianbookshelf.com/
The God of Small Things author Arundhati Roy has a vocal critic of the Indian state for the last decade. Stephen Moss interviews Roy about the issues and her latest book, Broken Republic.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/05/arundhati-roy-keep-destabilised-danger
Michael Cunningham discovered Virginia Woolf when he was a teenager and his discovery inspired him to write his novel about her life: what fun she was at parties, her periodic depressions, her adoration of the world, and his mother.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/04/virginia-woolf-the-hours-michael-cunningham.
Thessaly La Force interviews Francine Prose on her new novel My New American Life, on her research trip to Albania, and why she won't write nonfiction.
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/05/13/francine-prose-on-my-new-american-life/
Megan Cox Gurden argues that contemporary fiction for teens is rife with explicit abuse, violence and depravity; she describes teen fiction as a hall of funhouse mirrors.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303657404576357622592697038.html?mod=WSJ_Books_LS_Books_6
Linda Holmes counters that what's distorted is the notion that kids don't know pathologies like suicide or abuse unless they read about them in books.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/06/06/137005354/seeing-teenagers-as-we-wish-they-were-the-debate-over-ya-fiction
“YA literature saves lives. Every. Single. Day," writes prize-winning YA novelist Laurie Halse Anderson.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/07/teen-fiction-accused
In an interview at the Royal Geographic Society last week, during which VS Naipaul provoked fury by suggesting that women writers are 'sentimental' and 'unequal to me', he also claimed that 'I read a piece of writing and within a paragraph or two I know whether it is by a woman or not.' Here is a chance to discover if this is a universal trait.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/quiz/2011/jun/02/naipaul-test-author-s-sex-quiz?CMP=EMCGT_030611&
Naipaul's attack on her just made Diana Athill laugh, she said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/03/v-s-naipaul-diana-athill
Does reading great books make you a better person? A critic says Jane Austen taught him to be a more decent man, but the world is full of well-read jerks, writes Laura Miller.
http://www.salon.com/books/jane_austen/index.html?story=/books/laura_miller/2011/05/31/jane_austen_education
Aminatta Forna has put Sierra Leone on the literary map with The Memory of Love. Boyd Tonkin meets her on the eve of the Orange Prize for Fiction.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/aminatta-forna-my-country-had-a-war-it-would-be-extraordinary-not-to-want-to-write-about-that-2291536.html
Ann Patchett won huge acclaim for her bestselling novel Bel Canto, set in South America. She returns to deepest, darkest Amazonia in her new novel, State of Wonder. Arifa Akbar talks to her about the rainforest and everlasting fertility.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/ann-patchett-voyage-into-the-amazons-dark-heart-2292227.html
Tracy Sherlock talks to Zsuzsi Gartner about her latest collection of stories, Better Living Through Plastic Explosives, her feelings toward Vancouver, and her next project.
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Hilarity+with+splendid+whack+asperity/4893377/story.html
Few books have changed the literary landscape like Frederick Forsyth's political thriller, The Day of the Jackal. The Jackal has influenced a generation of thriller writers. This month marks the 40th anniversary of the novel's publication.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/03/day-jackal-frederick-forsyth
After languishing unpublished for almost 130 years, The Narrative of John Smith, Sherlock Holmes author's previously unpublished debut novel, is due out this autumn.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/06/lost-conan-doyle-novel-narrative-john-smith
Pablo Neruda, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, may have been poisoned, an associate maintains. A Chilean judge has opened an investigation into the poet's 1973 death.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/06/was-nobel-prizewinning-poet-pablo-neruda-poisoned.html
Hans Keilson, described by Francine Prose in the New York Times as one of "the world's very greatest writers", has died, aged 101. He became an international literary sensation in his 100th year for The Death of the Adversary.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/07/hans-keilson-obituary
Designers Kai & Sunny created the covers for David Mitchell's novels Cloud Atlas and Number 9 Dream. In return, Mitchell wrote a short story to accompany their latest exhibition. Chris Moran reads The Gardener, over images from the exhibition.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/audioslideshow/2011/jun/06/davidmitchell
Faber takes TS Eliot into the 21st century, with the launch, of an iPad app of The Waste Land that includes a video performance of the poem, notes, commentary and readings from Viggo Mortensen, Ted Hughes, and Eliot himself.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/video/2011/jun/07/ipad-apple-the-wasteland-apps-video
BOOKS & WRITERS
The story of a dinner guest who refuses to leave develops into a satire on the way we live now in There but for the, Ali Smith's enjoyably playful new novel, writes Sarah Churchill.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/05/there-but-for-the-review
Adam Hochschild's To End All Wars is about the clash of world views and a world turned upside down, writes Jonathan Vance, from the turbulent years of social and political unrest before 1914 to more turbulent years after 1918.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/to-end-all-wars-by-adam-hochschild/article2046338/
Umberto Eco wrote his first novel, The Name of the Rose, in 1980; it was a runaway bestseller. In Confessions of a Young Novelist, Eco has decided to tell us what he believes the ingredients are for a successful novel.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/books/la-et-0602-book-20110602,0,5088721.story
Leila Ahmed was raised in Cairo by a generation of women who never wore the veil; why are more women now wearing the veil? In A Quiet Revolution, Ahmed addresses how and why these fluctuations of personal habit affected so many across the Muslim world.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/03/quiet-revolution-leila-ahmed-review
Sue Ellen is one of 13 chimpanzees profiled in Andrew Westoll's The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary: A Canadian Story of Resilience and Recovery. Westoll weaves essential elements into a call to end chimpanzee abuse in medical labs, writes Kathryn Greenaway.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Rescued+from+lives+pain+Andrew+Westoll+introduces+readers+chimps/4889618/story.html
Ai Weiwei's Blog, a collection of Ai Weiwei's blog entries proves he's much more than a playful dilettante of Chinese art. The People's Republic, he suggests, is like a runner surging ahead, but with a heart condition, writes Jonathan Fenby.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jun/05/ai-weiwei-blog-review
In her new novel State of Wonder, Ann Patchett gives readers almost a feminized version of Heart of Darkness,' but without the savagery. Patchett creates a compelling mystery, writes Carolyn Kellogg.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/books/la-ca-ann-patchett-20110605,0,6081157.story
Carolyn Cooke's Daughters of the Revolution is a successful entwining of people that comes to signify the Big Moment of history. When does a revolution begin? The book is “so good you have to read it", says Susanna Sonnenberg.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/05/RVNQ1JNBPL.DTL
The Americans in Paris in Cynthia Ozick's Foreign Bodies are worthy of Henry James, writes Leyla Sanaii. Ozick has skillfully left certain questions open. The sense of doubt renders this intriguing story all the more mesmerising, says Sanaii.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/foreign-bodies-by-cynthia-ozick-2293021.html
The night before class, Haley Tanner wrote a novel's opening pages. The class and the professor hated it. Tanner kept writing. Mark Medley reports that The New York Times recently called Vaclav & Lena a “wonderful and wrenching debut novel."
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/06/03/for-her-first-trick-haley-tanner-discusses-her-magical-debut-novel-vaclav-lena/
Patrick Ness describes Chris Adrian as “the most magical novelist you've never heard of". One of the New Yorker's “20 Under 40", Adrian's latest, The Great Night, is a work of magic realism based on A Midsummer Night's Dream.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/02/great-night-chris-adrian-review
Sinya Queras finds that the work in Ken Babstock's Methodist Hatchet confirms that Babstock is one of the most exciting lyric poets writing today.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/methodist-hatchet-by-ken-babstock/article2046115/
Helon Habila writes that George Makana Clark's The Raw Man is an unforgettable epic of Zimbabwean history—and is not for the fainthearted. Yet once the reader has gone past the first page, the chances of putting down the book are small.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/04/raw-man-george-makana-clark-review
In The Quotable Hitchens—from Alcohol to Zionism: the Very Best of Christopher Hitchens, there are views on everything. He laments the dull, monochrome, righteous and boring. None of these epithets could be applied to him, says George Eaton.
http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2011/05/christopher-hitchens
Malicious Facebook exposures are at the heart of Live Wire, the latest thriller by Harlan Coben. An anonymous Facebook posting makes scurrilous claims about the paternity of an unborn child: inevitably, the chickens come home to roost, reports Barry Forshaw.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/live-wire-by-harlan-coben-2293429.html
Les Murray, Australia's most honoured and internationally renowned poet, seems to have chosen to deepen his commitment to poetic and moral compassion and empathy, as evidenced by the best poems in Taller When Prone, writes Ken Babstock.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/taller-when-prone-by-les-murray/article2048895/
The spectral sense of Roberto Bolaño's unfulfilled promise makes him something akin to Latin America's David Foster Wallace, says Dwight Garner. The excellent thing about Between Parentheses is how thoroughly it dispels any incense or stale reverence in the air.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/books/roberto-bolanos-between-parentheses-review.html?ref=books
COMMUNITY EVENTS
OPENING DOORS
Join editors Daphne Marlatt and Carole Itter for the launch of the new book Opening Doors in Vancouver's East End: Strathcona. The editors will be on hand to answer questions and sign books. Thursday, June 9 at 7:00pm, free. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive.
GENERATIONS
Editor Eury Chang hosts Ricepaper magazine's launch of its 16.1 spring issue. Includes readings and performances by Changming Yuan, Howie Tsui, Tetsuro Shigematsu, Larissa Lai, Ray Hsu, C.E. Gatchalian, and Sabrina Mehra Furminger. June 9 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $15. Rhizome Cafe, 317 E. Broadway. More information at www.ricepapermagazine.ca.
TRAVELING LIGHT
Canadian launch of author Lloyd Meeker's new book about a gay Vancouver shaman and his journey of self-discovery. Thursday, June 9 at 7:00pm, free. Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium, 1238 Davie St.
SHERYL SALLOUM
Launch of the author's new book The Life and Art of Mildred Valley Thornton. Thursday, June 9 at 8:00pm. Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street. More information at info@mothertonguepublishing.com.
IRSHAD MANJI
Canadian author and journalist discusses her new book Allah, Liberty, and Love. Friday, June 10 at 7:30pm. Tickets: $18/$15. Capilano Performing Arts Theatre, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver. More information at www.capilanou.ca/theatre/.
GREEK POETRY READING
Manolis Aligizakis is going to talk about his translation of the works of renowned Greek poet, Yiannis Ritsos and about his book The Vernal Equinox. Saturday, June 11 at 3:00pm, free. Kitsilano Branch, VPL, 2425 Macdonald Street.
SAY WHA?!
Sara Bynoe hosts a comedy show that highlights readings of deliciously rotten writing. Readers include Darren Williams, Tom Hill, Lauren McGibbon, Ivan Decker, Ken Hegan, Sam Mullins, Peter New, and Taz Vanrassel. Wednesday, June 15 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $10/$5 at the door. Cottage Bistro, 4470 Main Street. More information at sarabynoe.com/shows/say-wha/.
WORDPLAY
WordPlay is a program of Vancouver Poetry House that sends poets to classrooms to perform spoken word poetry and to run workshops. This year marks the debut of Summer Youth Slam Camp (July 4 to 8) at Little Mountain Gallery. Fifteen youth poets will work with Vancouver's best slam poets in this spoken word intensive. The deadline for registration for Slam Camp is June 15. For more details, go to vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
SMOKE SIGNALS
A screening of the award-winning film based on the work of Sherman Alexie. Thursday, June 16 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room. lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
KEVIN MCNEILLY
Reading by the author of Embouchure, his debut poetry collection. Thursday, June 16 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore Robson Square, plaza level, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
TIMES OUT OF JOINT
Simon Fraser University's 11th annual English Graduate Conference will be held from Thursday, June 16 to Saturday, June 18 at SFU's Harbour Centre (Thursday and Friday) and the Segal Graduate School of Business (Saturday). All events are open to the general public. There is no fee for attendance. For more information check the website: www.sfu.ca/~gradconf/.
HARRY MOURATIDIS
Join Vancouver author as he reads from his latest book, They Live Longer: The Secrets of Healthy and Active Ninety-Year-Olds. Saturday, June 18 at 3:00pm, free. Kitsilano Branch, 2425 Macdonald Street.
BETTY KRAWCZYK
Book launch for the author's new book, This Dangerous Place: My Journey Between the Passions of the Living and the Dead. Sunday, June 19 at 3:00pm. Reading, book signing, and refreshments to be served. Galiano Island Books (76 Madrona Drive, Galiano Island, 250-539-3340).
Upcoming
JOAN THOMAS
Award-winning novelist Joan Thomas reads from her love story, Curiosity. Tuesday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library. 350 W. Georgia St.
THE WRITERS CARAVAN
Thursdays Writing Collective is hosting an evening celebration and reading for the culmination of its pilot project: The Writers Caravan. Tuesday, June 21 at 7:00pm. Roundhouse, 81 Roundhouse Mews (Davie and Pacific). Find The Writers Caravan on facebook and online at: Thursdayspoems.wordpress.com.
READING
Yvonne Blomer, Cynthia Woodman Kerkham, and Anne McDonald launch new poetry and fiction. Tuesday, June 21 at 7:30pm, free. Cafe Montmartre, 4362 Main Street. More information at yblomer@shaw.ca.
OF MAMMOTHS AND MEN
Sharon Levy, author of the new book Once and Future Giants, explores the causes of the mass extinction of mammoths and the reasons why this ancient story is vitally important here and now. Wednesday, July 6 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room. lower level, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
VPL SUMMER BOOK SALE
Lots of great fiction for summer reading plus some DVDs, childrens, travel, gardening and multilingual items will be available. Admission ends 30 minutes before sale closes. All sales final. Prices .75 to 2.50. Cash and carry. Thursday, July 7 at 10:00am, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia St.
WRITE ON BOWEN 2011
Join writers from all over the Lower Mainland for a series of intensive, interactive writing workshops, panel presentations, and other events. July 8 to 11, Artisan Square, Bowen Island. For complete details, visit www.writeonbowen.com.
HAIKU NORTH AMERICA
A long weekend of papers, presentations, workshops, readings, and other activities in celebration of haiku poetry, held at the Seattle Center, at the foot of the Space Needle. Featured presenters include Cor van den Heuvel, Richard Gilbert, David Lanoue, Carlos Colón, Fay Aoyagi, Jim Kacian, Emiko Miyashita, George Swede, and many others. August 3-7, 2011. For more information, visit www.haikunorthamerica.com.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Book News Vol. 6 No.22
BOOK NEWS
Now that our spring season is wrapped up, we are busy planning the 2011 Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival (as well as the fall Incite series and special events). We are part way through the process of inviting authors and we're very excited about the line-up. We'll be telling you about who's coming over the next weeks and months. You can also learn about Festival authors by reading our blog, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/prefaces/2011/blog.
SUNSHINE COAST FESTIVAL OF THE WRITTEN ARTS
Tickets are now on sale for the 29th Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts, Canada's longest-running literary festival, taking place August 4-7, 2011 in beautiful downtown Sechelt. Call 1-800-565-9631 to order tickets. Information: www.writersfestival.ca.
AWARDS & LISTS
Barcelona-based Peruvian writer Santiago Roncagliolo has won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for Red April, a murder story with a fictional serial killer to dramatize the impact of Shining Path in Peru. He shares the £10,000 award, the annual honour for fiction from beyond the English language, with his translator Edith Grossman.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/27/serial-killer-novel-independent-foreign-fiction-prize
Irish novelist John Banville has won the Franz Kafka award. The prize is given by the Kafka Society to an international author whose work is "exceptional for its artistic quality", and "addresses readers regardless of their origin, nationality or culture, just like the work of Franz Kafka".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/26/john-banville-kafka-prize
Political economist and writer Stephen Clarkson was among 43 people invested with the Order of Canada at a ceremony at Rideau Hall last week.
http://www.gg.ca/document.aspx?id=14116
Irish poet Seamus Heaney is one of seven finalists for the Griffin Poetry Prize. Three Canadians and four international nominees are in the running for two separate awards.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/997636--seamus-heaney-griffin-poetry-prize-finalist
William Deverell is to receive the lifetime achievement award at this weekend's Bloody Words, the annual crime writers' convention.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/scene+crime+writers/4856063/story.html
Thirty-plus books in seven categories are shortlisted for Arthur Ellis Awards for best Canadian mystery writing. Awards will be given the night before Bloody Word begins.
http://www.crimewriterscanada.com/awards/arthur-ellis-awards/current-contest/shortlists
Traitor, by New Zealand soldier Stephen Daisley, is one of five finalists for the fiction prize among the (Australian) Prime Minister's Literary Awards. Two other finalists are also shortlisted for the Miles Franklin.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/gallipoli-novel-on-pm-short-list/story-e6frg8nf-1226063776013
Emma Donoghue and Michael Winter are among the six English-language finalists for the 2011 Trillium Book Awards. There are twenty French- and English-language finalists for Ontario's annual literary honour. The Trillium Book Award is open to writers of all genres, living in Ontario and working in English or French.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/emma-donoghues-room-among-finalists-for-trillium-award/article2040018/
NEWS & FEATURES
Boyd Tonkin talks to Santiago Roncagliolo, the author of Red April.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/red-april-wins-the-independent-foreign-fiction-prize-2289435.html
David Grossman's new novel Falling Out of Time, about coming to terms with the death of a child, is not autobiographical, nor is it set in Israel. The novel will be published in Hebrew in June and later, in English.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/29/israeli-author-david-grossman-bereavement-novel
The flood of Canadian literary prizes is great for book marketers. But some worry the emphasis on winning is misplaced in a world of fewer book reviews and little recognition for lifetime achievement.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/literary-awards-are-abundant-in-canada-but-some-see-a-downside/article2037331/
The P.E.I. government has reinstated its publishers assistance program, following a meeting between the Island's publishing community and the culture minister, with the minister's acknowledging a greater understanding of the program.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/05/27/pei-publishers-assistance-government-584.html
Over the last 12 months, Christopher Hitchens has provided an account of how to face death that is matched in contemporary literature only by French philosopher Albert Camus's 1947 masterpiece, The Plague, writes Nicolaus Mills.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/may/25/christopher-hitchens-cancer
Here is an early piece.
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/09/hitchens-201009
Hitchens's latest installment reflects on his wondering if perhaps there is room for a short handbook of cancer etiquette, applying to sufferers as well as to sympathizers.
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/12/hitchens-201012
Gil Scott-Heron, whose poetry set to rhythmic jazz music, especially "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," was one of the most important and obvious inspirations for rap music, has died.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2011/05/gil-scott-heron-dies.html
The May 30, 2011 issue of the New Yorker includes the August 2010 profile of Scott-Heron.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/09/100809fa_fact_wilkinson
Along with a postscript by Rollo Romig.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/05/gil-scott-heron.html
There has been a flurry of online rumours that some of Mao Tse-Tung's Little Red Book was not written by Mao himself, but by his secretary Hu Qiaomu and others.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/chairman-mao-may-not-be-the-author-of-his-little-red-book-2290164.html
Several authors have developed writing programs for adult prisoners in various countries' jails. Caspar Walsh, ex-con, author and founder of Write to Freedom, reveals how writing can lead to rehabilitation for young offenders.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/may/29/young-offenders-write-to-freedom
After fifteen years of a very public feud, V.S. Naipaul and Paul Theroux have finally buried the hatchet. The literary titans shook hands again at the Hay Festival, the scene of their original public falling out in 1996, after a gentle intervention by the writer Ian McEwan.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/celebrated-literary-feud-ends-after-naipaul-and-theroux-bury-the-hatchet-2290775.html
Robert Munsch launched a new children's book in Rigolet, Labrador this past weekend. Give Me Back My Dad is based on a fishing trip he made there two decades ago and is the story of a girl on an ice fishing trip in Rigolet, who is caught by a fish herself.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2011/05/30/nl-munsch-launch-530.html
Despite the emerging popularity of e-books, millions of books first emerge in the paper and ink version, reports Seattle Times Book Editor Mary Ann Gwinn.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2015167782_litlife30.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
Love and money are joined at the hip in the Irish, Booker Prize-winning Anne Enright's latest offering, the novel The Forgotten Waltz, The narrative plays out against a hot economy turned very chilly indeed, writes Nancy Wigston.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/998141--the-forgotten-waltz-by-anne-enright
A love story from Anne Enright was never going to be a heart-warming romance of the happily-ever-after variety. Nor would we want it to be, says Liam Davison in his review of The Forgotten Waltz.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/dancing-through-the-destruction-of-desire/story-e6frg8nf-1226061196521
Shilpi Somaya Gowda began writing to see if she could produce a novel. Secret Daughter, the story of two families, one Indian, one American, and an adopted child, sold 300,000 copies in the first 12 months, reports Geeta Nadkarni.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Secret+Daughter+author+Shilpi+Somaya+Gowda+been+successful+beyond/4851686/story.html
Philip Marchand writes that Clark Blaise's appropriation of voice in The Meagre Tarmac, a collection of short fiction, is a literary felony justified in this case by the results.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/05/27/open-book-the-meagre-tarmac-by-clark-blaise/#more-35239
Stephanie Merritt believes fans will approve of Jeffery Deaver's James Bond in Carte Blanche—both the daring spy of old and a product of the 21st century. It's a nail-biter!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/29/carte-blanche-jeffery-deaver-review
Anxiety about the ability of a US thriller writer to handle this most British of spies was misplaced, says Alexandra Heminsley. No detectives sitting, glaring at computer screens. A classic Bond is with us again, she says.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/carte-blanche-by-jeffery-deaver-2290352.html
Susan Salter Reynolds writes that in Caleb's Crossing, Geraldine Brooks has created multidimensional, inspiring yet unpredictable characters in 1640's Martha's Vineyard—Caleb's journey from his (native) world and Bethia's, from the Puritan colony of her birth.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/books/la-ca-geraldine-brooks-20110529,0,404752.story
Ron Charles says that The Sisters' Brothers, Patrick deWitt's tale of two hired guns during the Gold Rush, is weirdly funny, startlingly violent and steeped in sadness.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-review-patrick-dewitts-the-sisters-brothers/2011/05/13/AF8TOeAH_story.html
Lila Azam Zanganeh loved Nabokov from an early age and has just published a deeply unconventional study of the Russian émigré writer. The Enchanter: Nabokov and Happiness is a book unlike anything else I've ever come across, writes William Skidelsky.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/26/lila-azam-zanganeh-nabokov-interview
Viv Groskrop asks: is Nabokov a narcissist or a genius? Perhaps he's only a writer's writer. To the average reader though, The Enchanted has a lot of the same problems as Nabokov's work. Beautiful, but...
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/vladimir-nabokov-genius-or-narcissist-2290351.html
Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly ends when U.S. Navy Lt. Pinkerton returns to Nagasaki with an American wife. Tragic ending. Curtain down. In Butterfly's Child, Angela Davis-Gardner raises that curtain again to imagine the consequences—unique and entirely enchanting, writes Eugenia Zukerman.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-review-butterflys-child/2011/03/07/AG3bUxCH_story.html
Terrible things happen in old country songs. Steve Earle embraces this heartbreaky landscape in his first novel I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive, a rowdy country music song turned into narration. We're in for some heartbreak, says Don Waters.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/28/RVHG1J9U8B.DTL
“He who writes, dies," writes Roberto Saviano. Beauty and the Inferno is a collection of essays that continue the themes that dominate Saviano's thinking: the purpose of writing and the need to take a stand, says Matthew Hoffman.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/beauty-and-the-inferno-by-roberto-saviano-2290354.html
Embassytown is China Miéville's first foray into what has been called “pure” or even “hardcore” science fiction. The novel is decidedly a thing of complicated wonder, writes Geoff Pevere.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/999081--bard-of-geekdom-china-mieville-discovers-yet-another-new-world
If there's one writer who embodies the changes sweeping through our reading culture, it's probably China Miéville, writes James Bradley.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/on-another-planet-with-breathtaking-results/story-e6frg8nf-1226061200239
Although the heaviness of the past sometimes outweighs the present in Edna O'Brien's Saints and Sinners, she hasn't lost her eye for contemporary Ireland's petty jealousies, its covert malice and its never-quite-extinguished violent history, writes Elizabeth Grove-Whites.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/saints-and-sinners-by-edna-obrien/article2037234/
Roddy Doyle's new collection Bullfighting is filled with stragglers and loners, men who have come loose from the pack and don't know how to get back. It's both hilarious and heartbreaking, writes Tom Shone.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/books/review/book-review-bullfighting-by-roddy-doyle.html?ref=review&pagewanted=all
After writing 12 books for children, Linda Hutsell-Manning, at 70, has published That Summer in Franklin, an upbeat adult novel about dealing with the final years of elderly parents—as much about reunions as losses, says Sharon Abron Drache.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/that-summer-in-franklin-by-linda-hutsell-manning/article2040337/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
THUNDERING WORD
Spoken word and storytelling performances by C.R. Avery, Bill McNamara, Mary Gavan, Bryant Ross and Rosemary Nowicki. Saturday, June 4 at 7:00pm. Location TBA. For information, visit www.inthehousefestival.com.
A MEMOIR OF IRIS CHANG
Ying-Ying Chang reads from her memoir The Woman Who Could Not Forget: Iris Chang Before and Beyond the Rape of Nanking , which chronicles her daughter's life. Sunday, June 5 at 2:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia St.
CATHY STONEHOUSE
The Vancouver author launches Something About the Animal, her debut collection of short stories. Includes a performance by guitarist Phil DeMarsh. Sunday, June 5 at 7:30pm, free. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at tmurphy@biblioasis.com.
SHERYL SALLOUM
Launch of the author's new book The Life and Art of Mildred Valley Thornton. Thursday, June 9 at 8:00pm. Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street. More information at info@mothertonguepublishing.com.
IRSHAD MANJI
Canadian author and journalist discusses her new book Allah, Liberty, and Love. Friday, June 10 at 7:30pm. Tickets: $18/$15. Capilano Performing Arts Theatre, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver. More information at www.capilanou.ca/theatre/.
GREEK POETRY READING
Manolis Aligizakis is going to talk about his translation of the works of renowned Greek poet, Yiannis Ritsos and about his book The Vernal Equinox. Saturday, June 11 at 3:00pm, free. Kitsilano Branch, VPL, 2425 Macdonald Street.
WORDPLAY
WordPlay is a program of Vancouver Poetry House that sends poets to classrooms to perform spoken word poetry and to run workshops. This year marks the debut of Summer Youth Slam Camp (July 4 to 8) at Little Mountain Gallery. Fifteen youth poets will work with Vancouver's best slam poets in this spoken word intensive. The deadline for registration for Slam Camp is June 15. For more details, go to vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
Upcoming
SMOKE SIGNALS
A screening of the award-winning film based on the work of Sherman Alexie. Thursday, June 16 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room. lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
KEVIN MCNEILLY
Reading by the author of Embouchure, his debut poetry collection. Thursday, June 16 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore Robson Square, plaza level, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
TIMES OUT OF JOINT
Simon Fraser University's 11th annual English Graduate Conference will be held from Thursday, June 16 to Saturday, June 18 at SFU's Harbour Centre (Thursday and Friday) and the Segal Graduate School of Business (Saturday). All events are open to the general public. There is no fee for attendance. For more information check the website: www.sfu.ca/~gradconf/.
HARRY MOURATIDIS
Join Vancouver author as he reads from his latest book, They Live Longer: The Secrets of Healthy and Active Ninety-Year-Olds. Saturday, June 18 at 3:00pm, free. Kitsilano Branch, 2425 Macdonald Street.
JOAN THOMAS
Award-winning novelist Joan Thomas reads from her love story, Curiosity. Tuesday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library. 350 W. Georgia St.
WRITE ON BOWEN 2011
Join writers from all over the Lower Mainland for a series of intensive, interactive writing workshops, panel presentations, and other events. July 8 to 11, Artisan Square, Bowen Island. For complete details, visit www.writeonbowen.com.
HAIKU NORTH AMERICA
A long weekend of papers, presentations, workshops, readings, and other activities in celebration of haiku poetry, held at the Seattle Center, at the foot of the Space Needle. Featured presenters include Cor van den Heuvel, Richard Gilbert, David Lanoue, Carlos Colón, Fay Aoyagi, Jim Kacian, Emiko Miyashita, George Swede, and many others. August 3-7, 2011. For more information, visit www.haikunorthamerica.com.
Now that our spring season is wrapped up, we are busy planning the 2011 Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival (as well as the fall Incite series and special events). We are part way through the process of inviting authors and we're very excited about the line-up. We'll be telling you about who's coming over the next weeks and months. You can also learn about Festival authors by reading our blog, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/prefaces/2011/blog.
SUNSHINE COAST FESTIVAL OF THE WRITTEN ARTS
Tickets are now on sale for the 29th Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts, Canada's longest-running literary festival, taking place August 4-7, 2011 in beautiful downtown Sechelt. Call 1-800-565-9631 to order tickets. Information: www.writersfestival.ca.
AWARDS & LISTS
Barcelona-based Peruvian writer Santiago Roncagliolo has won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for Red April, a murder story with a fictional serial killer to dramatize the impact of Shining Path in Peru. He shares the £10,000 award, the annual honour for fiction from beyond the English language, with his translator Edith Grossman.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/27/serial-killer-novel-independent-foreign-fiction-prize
Irish novelist John Banville has won the Franz Kafka award. The prize is given by the Kafka Society to an international author whose work is "exceptional for its artistic quality", and "addresses readers regardless of their origin, nationality or culture, just like the work of Franz Kafka".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/26/john-banville-kafka-prize
Political economist and writer Stephen Clarkson was among 43 people invested with the Order of Canada at a ceremony at Rideau Hall last week.
http://www.gg.ca/document.aspx?id=14116
Irish poet Seamus Heaney is one of seven finalists for the Griffin Poetry Prize. Three Canadians and four international nominees are in the running for two separate awards.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/997636--seamus-heaney-griffin-poetry-prize-finalist
William Deverell is to receive the lifetime achievement award at this weekend's Bloody Words, the annual crime writers' convention.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/scene+crime+writers/4856063/story.html
Thirty-plus books in seven categories are shortlisted for Arthur Ellis Awards for best Canadian mystery writing. Awards will be given the night before Bloody Word begins.
http://www.crimewriterscanada.com/awards/arthur-ellis-awards/current-contest/shortlists
Traitor, by New Zealand soldier Stephen Daisley, is one of five finalists for the fiction prize among the (Australian) Prime Minister's Literary Awards. Two other finalists are also shortlisted for the Miles Franklin.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/gallipoli-novel-on-pm-short-list/story-e6frg8nf-1226063776013
Emma Donoghue and Michael Winter are among the six English-language finalists for the 2011 Trillium Book Awards. There are twenty French- and English-language finalists for Ontario's annual literary honour. The Trillium Book Award is open to writers of all genres, living in Ontario and working in English or French.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/emma-donoghues-room-among-finalists-for-trillium-award/article2040018/
NEWS & FEATURES
Boyd Tonkin talks to Santiago Roncagliolo, the author of Red April.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/red-april-wins-the-independent-foreign-fiction-prize-2289435.html
David Grossman's new novel Falling Out of Time, about coming to terms with the death of a child, is not autobiographical, nor is it set in Israel. The novel will be published in Hebrew in June and later, in English.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/29/israeli-author-david-grossman-bereavement-novel
The flood of Canadian literary prizes is great for book marketers. But some worry the emphasis on winning is misplaced in a world of fewer book reviews and little recognition for lifetime achievement.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/literary-awards-are-abundant-in-canada-but-some-see-a-downside/article2037331/
The P.E.I. government has reinstated its publishers assistance program, following a meeting between the Island's publishing community and the culture minister, with the minister's acknowledging a greater understanding of the program.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/05/27/pei-publishers-assistance-government-584.html
Over the last 12 months, Christopher Hitchens has provided an account of how to face death that is matched in contemporary literature only by French philosopher Albert Camus's 1947 masterpiece, The Plague, writes Nicolaus Mills.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/may/25/christopher-hitchens-cancer
Here is an early piece.
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/09/hitchens-201009
Hitchens's latest installment reflects on his wondering if perhaps there is room for a short handbook of cancer etiquette, applying to sufferers as well as to sympathizers.
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/12/hitchens-201012
Gil Scott-Heron, whose poetry set to rhythmic jazz music, especially "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," was one of the most important and obvious inspirations for rap music, has died.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2011/05/gil-scott-heron-dies.html
The May 30, 2011 issue of the New Yorker includes the August 2010 profile of Scott-Heron.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/09/100809fa_fact_wilkinson
Along with a postscript by Rollo Romig.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/05/gil-scott-heron.html
There has been a flurry of online rumours that some of Mao Tse-Tung's Little Red Book was not written by Mao himself, but by his secretary Hu Qiaomu and others.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/chairman-mao-may-not-be-the-author-of-his-little-red-book-2290164.html
Several authors have developed writing programs for adult prisoners in various countries' jails. Caspar Walsh, ex-con, author and founder of Write to Freedom, reveals how writing can lead to rehabilitation for young offenders.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/may/29/young-offenders-write-to-freedom
After fifteen years of a very public feud, V.S. Naipaul and Paul Theroux have finally buried the hatchet. The literary titans shook hands again at the Hay Festival, the scene of their original public falling out in 1996, after a gentle intervention by the writer Ian McEwan.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/celebrated-literary-feud-ends-after-naipaul-and-theroux-bury-the-hatchet-2290775.html
Robert Munsch launched a new children's book in Rigolet, Labrador this past weekend. Give Me Back My Dad is based on a fishing trip he made there two decades ago and is the story of a girl on an ice fishing trip in Rigolet, who is caught by a fish herself.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2011/05/30/nl-munsch-launch-530.html
Despite the emerging popularity of e-books, millions of books first emerge in the paper and ink version, reports Seattle Times Book Editor Mary Ann Gwinn.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2015167782_litlife30.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
Love and money are joined at the hip in the Irish, Booker Prize-winning Anne Enright's latest offering, the novel The Forgotten Waltz, The narrative plays out against a hot economy turned very chilly indeed, writes Nancy Wigston.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/998141--the-forgotten-waltz-by-anne-enright
A love story from Anne Enright was never going to be a heart-warming romance of the happily-ever-after variety. Nor would we want it to be, says Liam Davison in his review of The Forgotten Waltz.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/dancing-through-the-destruction-of-desire/story-e6frg8nf-1226061196521
Shilpi Somaya Gowda began writing to see if she could produce a novel. Secret Daughter, the story of two families, one Indian, one American, and an adopted child, sold 300,000 copies in the first 12 months, reports Geeta Nadkarni.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Secret+Daughter+author+Shilpi+Somaya+Gowda+been+successful+beyond/4851686/story.html
Philip Marchand writes that Clark Blaise's appropriation of voice in The Meagre Tarmac, a collection of short fiction, is a literary felony justified in this case by the results.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/05/27/open-book-the-meagre-tarmac-by-clark-blaise/#more-35239
Stephanie Merritt believes fans will approve of Jeffery Deaver's James Bond in Carte Blanche—both the daring spy of old and a product of the 21st century. It's a nail-biter!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/29/carte-blanche-jeffery-deaver-review
Anxiety about the ability of a US thriller writer to handle this most British of spies was misplaced, says Alexandra Heminsley. No detectives sitting, glaring at computer screens. A classic Bond is with us again, she says.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/carte-blanche-by-jeffery-deaver-2290352.html
Susan Salter Reynolds writes that in Caleb's Crossing, Geraldine Brooks has created multidimensional, inspiring yet unpredictable characters in 1640's Martha's Vineyard—Caleb's journey from his (native) world and Bethia's, from the Puritan colony of her birth.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/books/la-ca-geraldine-brooks-20110529,0,404752.story
Ron Charles says that The Sisters' Brothers, Patrick deWitt's tale of two hired guns during the Gold Rush, is weirdly funny, startlingly violent and steeped in sadness.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-review-patrick-dewitts-the-sisters-brothers/2011/05/13/AF8TOeAH_story.html
Lila Azam Zanganeh loved Nabokov from an early age and has just published a deeply unconventional study of the Russian émigré writer. The Enchanter: Nabokov and Happiness is a book unlike anything else I've ever come across, writes William Skidelsky.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/26/lila-azam-zanganeh-nabokov-interview
Viv Groskrop asks: is Nabokov a narcissist or a genius? Perhaps he's only a writer's writer. To the average reader though, The Enchanted has a lot of the same problems as Nabokov's work. Beautiful, but...
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/vladimir-nabokov-genius-or-narcissist-2290351.html
Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly ends when U.S. Navy Lt. Pinkerton returns to Nagasaki with an American wife. Tragic ending. Curtain down. In Butterfly's Child, Angela Davis-Gardner raises that curtain again to imagine the consequences—unique and entirely enchanting, writes Eugenia Zukerman.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-review-butterflys-child/2011/03/07/AG3bUxCH_story.html
Terrible things happen in old country songs. Steve Earle embraces this heartbreaky landscape in his first novel I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive, a rowdy country music song turned into narration. We're in for some heartbreak, says Don Waters.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/28/RVHG1J9U8B.DTL
“He who writes, dies," writes Roberto Saviano. Beauty and the Inferno is a collection of essays that continue the themes that dominate Saviano's thinking: the purpose of writing and the need to take a stand, says Matthew Hoffman.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/beauty-and-the-inferno-by-roberto-saviano-2290354.html
Embassytown is China Miéville's first foray into what has been called “pure” or even “hardcore” science fiction. The novel is decidedly a thing of complicated wonder, writes Geoff Pevere.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/999081--bard-of-geekdom-china-mieville-discovers-yet-another-new-world
If there's one writer who embodies the changes sweeping through our reading culture, it's probably China Miéville, writes James Bradley.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/on-another-planet-with-breathtaking-results/story-e6frg8nf-1226061200239
Although the heaviness of the past sometimes outweighs the present in Edna O'Brien's Saints and Sinners, she hasn't lost her eye for contemporary Ireland's petty jealousies, its covert malice and its never-quite-extinguished violent history, writes Elizabeth Grove-Whites.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/saints-and-sinners-by-edna-obrien/article2037234/
Roddy Doyle's new collection Bullfighting is filled with stragglers and loners, men who have come loose from the pack and don't know how to get back. It's both hilarious and heartbreaking, writes Tom Shone.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/books/review/book-review-bullfighting-by-roddy-doyle.html?ref=review&pagewanted=all
After writing 12 books for children, Linda Hutsell-Manning, at 70, has published That Summer in Franklin, an upbeat adult novel about dealing with the final years of elderly parents—as much about reunions as losses, says Sharon Abron Drache.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/that-summer-in-franklin-by-linda-hutsell-manning/article2040337/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
THUNDERING WORD
Spoken word and storytelling performances by C.R. Avery, Bill McNamara, Mary Gavan, Bryant Ross and Rosemary Nowicki. Saturday, June 4 at 7:00pm. Location TBA. For information, visit www.inthehousefestival.com.
A MEMOIR OF IRIS CHANG
Ying-Ying Chang reads from her memoir The Woman Who Could Not Forget: Iris Chang Before and Beyond the Rape of Nanking , which chronicles her daughter's life. Sunday, June 5 at 2:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia St.
CATHY STONEHOUSE
The Vancouver author launches Something About the Animal, her debut collection of short stories. Includes a performance by guitarist Phil DeMarsh. Sunday, June 5 at 7:30pm, free. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at tmurphy@biblioasis.com.
SHERYL SALLOUM
Launch of the author's new book The Life and Art of Mildred Valley Thornton. Thursday, June 9 at 8:00pm. Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street. More information at info@mothertonguepublishing.com.
IRSHAD MANJI
Canadian author and journalist discusses her new book Allah, Liberty, and Love. Friday, June 10 at 7:30pm. Tickets: $18/$15. Capilano Performing Arts Theatre, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver. More information at www.capilanou.ca/theatre/.
GREEK POETRY READING
Manolis Aligizakis is going to talk about his translation of the works of renowned Greek poet, Yiannis Ritsos and about his book The Vernal Equinox. Saturday, June 11 at 3:00pm, free. Kitsilano Branch, VPL, 2425 Macdonald Street.
WORDPLAY
WordPlay is a program of Vancouver Poetry House that sends poets to classrooms to perform spoken word poetry and to run workshops. This year marks the debut of Summer Youth Slam Camp (July 4 to 8) at Little Mountain Gallery. Fifteen youth poets will work with Vancouver's best slam poets in this spoken word intensive. The deadline for registration for Slam Camp is June 15. For more details, go to vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
Upcoming
SMOKE SIGNALS
A screening of the award-winning film based on the work of Sherman Alexie. Thursday, June 16 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room. lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
KEVIN MCNEILLY
Reading by the author of Embouchure, his debut poetry collection. Thursday, June 16 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore Robson Square, plaza level, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
TIMES OUT OF JOINT
Simon Fraser University's 11th annual English Graduate Conference will be held from Thursday, June 16 to Saturday, June 18 at SFU's Harbour Centre (Thursday and Friday) and the Segal Graduate School of Business (Saturday). All events are open to the general public. There is no fee for attendance. For more information check the website: www.sfu.ca/~gradconf/.
HARRY MOURATIDIS
Join Vancouver author as he reads from his latest book, They Live Longer: The Secrets of Healthy and Active Ninety-Year-Olds. Saturday, June 18 at 3:00pm, free. Kitsilano Branch, 2425 Macdonald Street.
JOAN THOMAS
Award-winning novelist Joan Thomas reads from her love story, Curiosity. Tuesday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library. 350 W. Georgia St.
WRITE ON BOWEN 2011
Join writers from all over the Lower Mainland for a series of intensive, interactive writing workshops, panel presentations, and other events. July 8 to 11, Artisan Square, Bowen Island. For complete details, visit www.writeonbowen.com.
HAIKU NORTH AMERICA
A long weekend of papers, presentations, workshops, readings, and other activities in celebration of haiku poetry, held at the Seattle Center, at the foot of the Space Needle. Featured presenters include Cor van den Heuvel, Richard Gilbert, David Lanoue, Carlos Colón, Fay Aoyagi, Jim Kacian, Emiko Miyashita, George Swede, and many others. August 3-7, 2011. For more information, visit www.haikunorthamerica.com.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Book News Vol. 6 No.21
BOOK NEWS
Incite @ VPL
This January we launched Incite, our new reading series in cooperation with Vancouver Public Library. For the last five months we have presented great writers and new books to Vancouver readers, every second Wednesday. We hope you’ve had a chance to join us. Incite is now on hiatus while we plan this year’s Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival. The series will start up again in September; confirmed already is The Birth House author Ami MacKay on November 9. Check Book News in August for details on the fall schedule.
SUNSHINE COAST FESTIVAL OF THE WRITTEN ARTS
Tickets are now on sale for the 29th Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts, Canada's longest-running literary festival, taking place August 4-7, 2011 in beautiful downtown Sechelt. Call 1-800-565-9631 to order tickets. Information: www.writersfestival.ca.
AWARDS & LISTS
British-African author Aminatta Forna has captured the Commonwealth Writer's Prize for The Memory of Love. Forna's story of war and its consequences is set in Sierra Leone.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/05/21/commonwealth-writers-prize.html?ref=rss
Gary Shteyngart is the first American ever to win the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for comic fiction, which goes to a book that "has captured the comic spirit of PG Wodehouse". Shteyngart won for the 'wild comedy' of his novel Super Sad True Love Story.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/24/pg-wodehouse-prize-gary-shteyngart
Edmund de Waal's much-praised biography of his family's history, The Hare with Amber Eyes, has been named winner of the £10,000 Ondaatje prize. The Royal Society of Literature award is given annually to a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry which best evokes "the spirit of a place". De Waal also won the Costa biography award, earlier this year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/24/ondaatje-prize-edmund-de-waal
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have awarded Nebula Awards to: Rachel Swirsky for best novella, The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen's Window; Eric James Stone for best novelette; Kij Johnson's Ponies, an allegory about female bullying, tied for best short story with a piece by Harlan Ellison. Connie Willis won in the novel category for Blackout and All Clear, her two-part chronicle of a time-travel assignment gone awry.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/science-fiction-and-fantasy-writers-of-america-hold-annual-convention/2011/05/21/AF4vkK9G_story.html
Newfoundland and Labrador writer Kathleen Winter has won the 2011 Atlantic Fiction Prize for her book Annabel. The former Parliamentary Poet Laureate John Steffler won the 2011 Atlantic Poetry Prize for Lookout, his fifth poetry collection.
http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2011-05-20/article-2523095/Locals-take-home-Atlantic-Book-Awards/1
Richelle Kosar has won the Toronto Star Short Story contest with Citrines. Second prize winner is Erik Martinez for Up High Towards the Night; third, is Samantha Cragg for Drinking In The Basement.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/994987--toronto-star-short-story-contest-winner-citrines
NEWS & FEATURES
In The Use and Abuse of Literature, author and Harvard professor Marjorie Garber writes that literature is not “good for you,” it is simply “good.” Her message: beware the single interpretation, the closing argument, the simple solution, says Nathan Whitlock.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/995180--the-use-and-abuse-of-literature-by-marjorie-garber
Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth has topped a list of the biggest selling books championed by departing TV diva Oprah Winfrey over the past decade.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/05/20/winfrey-books-tolle.html
A rare, handwritten manuscript of Jane Austen's unfinished novel The Watsons is to be sold at auction at Sotherby's in London. The Watsons manuscript shows how Austen's other manuscripts would have looked and shines a light on how she worked.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/20/jane-austen-rare-manuscript-sale-auction
When sci-fi writer Geoffrey Hoyle was asked in 1972 to imagine what the world might be like in 2011, little could he have known quite how many advances he would correctly predict.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/the-man-who-saw-the-future-how-the-scifi-writer-geoffrey-hoyle-predicted-2011s-technologies-in-1972-2285839.html
LA Times journalist Jessica Gelt writes about the transformative moment on her 15 year-old self of reading Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-jessica-gelt-20110522,0,1836204.story
Author Umberto Eco and script-writer Jean-Claude Carrière make some surprising revelations about the scope of their reading.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/22/umberto-eco-writer-not-reader
As digital technology transforms the world of knowledge, writes Ian Brown, there remains a need for spaces that give the mind a home, with the help of specialists which Brown calls “the knowledge concierge”, some call ‘a librarian'.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/dont-discard-the-librarians/article2030514/
In an interview with Kira Cochrane, we learn that Marcia Clark, prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson case, has turned to writing books. Her first novel, Guilt by Association, is a thriller about a special trials prosecutor.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/23/marcia-clark-after-simpson-trial?CMP=EMCGT_240511&
As this week's contributor to the New York Times' Sunday Routine section, Gary Shteyngart describes how he spends his day.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/nyregion/for-gary-shteyngart-hunting-food-and-ideas-on-sundays.html?_r=1&ref=books
The response to Claire Callil's unwillingness to vote for Philip Roth's Booker prize prompts Laura Miller to ask: are women who hate Philip Roth blinded by feminist ideology? Nope.
http://www.salon.com/books/phillip_roth/index.html?story=/books/laura_miller/2011/05/23/callil_vs_roth
Alberto Manguel considers the burning of Rohinton Mistry's Such a Long Journey and asks: how is this still happening?
http://www.geist.com/opinion/burning-mistry
BOOKS & WRITERS
Mellissa Fung interviewed both her rapist the morning after he assaulted her and the man who had knifed her—showing herself to be the ultimate journalist. Under An Afghan Sky is a gripping, searching memoir, says Julius Majerczyk.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Abducted+Afghanistan/4821838/story.html
Between captivity and freedom, optimism alternates with psychological bottom, with long days and nights of boredom. Under the Afghan Sky is a richly detailed chronicle of Fung's ordeal, with an ending as happy as possible, says Michael Posner.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/under-the-afghan-sky-a-memoir-of-captivity-by-mellissa-fung/article2029767/
Philip Kerr writes that Erik Larsen's non-fiction book In the Garden of Beasts reads like an elegant thriller—and is utterly compelling. A key character is Martha Dodd, the U.S. Ambassador's daughter, who becomes a spy for the Soviet Union.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/erik-larsons-in-the-garden-of-beasts/2011/04/05/AFwbUr2G_story.html
In his time, Dodd was taunted, undercut and called “Ambassador Dud.” And he ultimately recognized enough reality, and clung to enough dignity, to make Mr. Larson's powerful, poignant historical narrative a transportingly true story, adds Janet Maslin.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/books/in-the-garden-of-beasts-by-erik-larson-review.html?ref=books&pagewanted=all
Recently, a few German writers have delved into their family pasts in the Third Reich. The Perfect Nazi, Martin Davidson's family memoir, uncovers the life of his grandfather, loyal stormtrooper and trained dentist. Nicholas Stargardt calls the book “truly remarkable”.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article7175086.ece
Novelists are lucky, says Sandip Roy. While "new India" nonfiction has come under attack for what is written, Bharati Mukherjee writes about two Bangalores and one woman, telling a story about the best of times and the worst of times.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/21/RVS51JC6DU.DTL
Tracy Sherlock writes that in Caleb's Crossing, Geraldine Brooks has successfully built a fascinating story around a nugget of history involving the first native American to graduate from Harvard—in 1665.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/piece+history+transformed+into+fiction/4821836/story.html
Matthew Gilbert writes that Brooks merges her research with her intuitive sense of the daily lives of both real and fictional individuals—a dazzling act of imagination, creating intimate historical fiction, says Gilbert.
http://articles.boston.com/2011-05-15/ae/29546233_1_novel-teachings-vineyard
'Americans are not very good at nation-building', says Francis Fukayama. Once a favourite of the US right, Fukayama's The Origins of Political Order shows why the anti-state instincts of the Tea Party movement are wrong, writes Will Hutton.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/20/francis-fukuyama-origins-political-order-review
“The pace is fervent, the prose heady and the social observations are bang-on in Zsuzsi Gartner's latest collection. She has outdone herself with Better Living Through Plastic Explosives”, writes Patricia Dawn Robertson, anticipating a fistful of award nominations.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/books/brilliant-collections-heady-adult-prose-attacks-all-comers-122380773.html
In Scribbling Women: True Tales from Astonishing Lives, Marthe Jocelyn portrays eleven women, some highly educated, others barely literate, one a horse thief—a powerfully respectful, artful and joyous celebration of a group of diverse women, writes Deirdre Baker.
http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/activities/familyevents/article/995172--scribbling-women-by-marthe-jocelyn
COMMUNITY EVENTS
THROWN
Book launch and signing for the book Thrown: British Columbia's Apprentices of Bernard Leach and Their Contemporaries. Thursday, May 26 at 6:00pm, free. Gallery of BC Ceramics, 1359 Cartwright Street, Granville Island.
MATT HERN
The local author discusses his latest book Common Ground in a Liquid City: Essays in Defense of an Urban Future, a down-to-earth look at the importance of space and place in urban renewal. Thursday, May 26 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
STEVE NOYES
The B.C. author of six books of poetry and fiction reads from his first novel It Is Just That Your House Is So Far Away. Thursday, May 26 at 7:00pm, free. Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
TORN
Launch of the new anthology features local mama writers sharing their stories about the joys and conflicts of modern motherhood and readings from contributors and local "momior" writers. Thursday, May 26 at 7:00pm, free. Rhizome Cafe, 317 E. Broadway. More information at www.rhizomecafe.ca.
DOUGLAS COUPLAND
Douglas Coupland will be hosting an interactive presentation on Marshall McLuhan and YouTube. Thursday, May 26 at 8:00pm, free. The Waldorf Hotel, 1489 East Hastings. More information at http://tinyurl.com/4226kem.
THE PALE SURFACE OF THINGS
Join us as award winning author, Janey Bennett, discusses her novel, The Pale Surface of Things. The story is set on the Greek Island of Crete. Saturday, May 28 at 3:00pm, free. Kitsilano Branch, 2425 Macdonald Street.
EUROPEAN BOOK CLUB
The first book to be read and discussed will be the novel Visitation by German writer Jenny Erpenbeck. Saturday, May 28 at 4:00pm, free but registration is required at eubookclub.vancouver@shaw.ca. Unitarian Church of Vancouver, 949 49th Ave. W.
DI BRANDT
Pen-In-Hand Poetry/Prose Reading Series and Turnstone Press present a Sunday brunch and workshop with author/poet Di Brandt. Sunday, May 29; brunch at 11am, workshop at 1:15pm. Cost: $40/$25. The Well, 821 Fort Street, Victoria. For complete details, email info@thewellvictoria.com.
JEFF BURSEY
Author reads from his novel, Verbatim, a blackly humorous exposé of parliamentary practice in an unnamed Atlantic province. Monday, May 30 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room, level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
NATIONAL BOOK COLLECTING CONTEST 2010-11
The W.A. Deacon Literary Foundation and Alcuin Society will be presenting the cash prizes to this year's local winners of the National Book-Collecting Contest for young Canadians under 30 years of age. The event will take place on Monday, May 30 at Simon Fraser Univeristy, Rm. 2520 - 515 West Hastings Street, from 7:00 to 8:00 pm.
A CAPITAL CRIME WAVE
Spend an evening with Canadian mystery authors, R.J. Harlick and Barbara Fradkin as they discuss the underlying aboriginal and psychological themes of their mystery series. Wednesday, June 1 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
THUNDERING WORD
Spoken word and storytelling performances by C.R. Avery, Bill McNamara, Mary Gavan, Bryant Ross and Rosemary Nowicki. Saturday, June 4 at 7:00pm. Location TBA. For information, visit www.inthehousefestival.com.
Upcoming
SHERYL SALLOUM
Launch of the author's new book The Life and Art of Mildred Valley Thornton. Thursday, June 9 at 8:00pm. Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street. More information at info@mothertonguepublishing.com.
IRSHAD MANJI
Canadian author and journalist discusses her new book Allah, Liberty, and Love. Friday, June 10 at 7:30pm. Tickets: $18/$15. Capilano Performing Arts Theatre, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver. More information at www.capilanou.ca/theatre/.
GREEK POETRY READING
Manolis Aligizakis is going to talk about his translation of the works of renowned Greek poet, Yiannis Ritsos and about his book The Vernal Equinox. Saturday, June 11 at 3:00pm, free. Kitsilano Branch, VPL, 2425 Macdonald Street.
WORDPLAY
WordPlay is a program of Vancouver Poetry House that sends poets to classrooms to perform spoken word poetry and to run workshops. This year marks the debut of Summer Youth Slam Camp (July 4 to 8) at Little Mountain Gallery. Fifteen youth poets will work with Vancouver's best slam poets in this spoken word intensive. The deadline for registration for Slam Camp is June 15. For more details, go to vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
KEVIN MCNEILLY
Reading by the author of Embouchure, his debut poetry collection. Thursday, June 16 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore Robson Square, plaza level, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
TIMES OUT OF JOINT
Simon Fraser University's 11th annual English Graduate Conference will be held from Thursday, June 16 to Saturday, June 18 at SFU's Harbour Centre (Thursday and Friday) and the Segal Graduate School of Business (Saturday). All events are open to the general public. There is no fee for attendance. For more information check the website: www.sfu.ca/~gradconf/.
JOAN THOMAS
Award-winning novelist Joan Thomas reads from her love story, Curiosity. Tuesday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library. 350 W. Georgia St.
WRITE ON BOWEN 2011
Join writers from all over the Lower Mainland for a series of intensive, interactive writing workshops, panel presentations, and other events. July 8 to 11, Artisan Square, Bowen Island. For complete details, visit www.writeonbowen.com.
HAIKU NORTH AMERICA
A long weekend of papers, presentations, workshops, readings, and other activities in celebration of haiku poetry, held at the Seattle Center, at the foot of the Space Needle. Featured presenters already include Cor van den Heuvel, Richard Gilbert, David Lanoue, Carlos Colón, Fay Aoyagi, Jim Kacian, Emiko Miyashita, George Swede, and many others. August 3-7, 2011. For more information, visit www.haikunorthamerica.com.
Incite @ VPL
This January we launched Incite, our new reading series in cooperation with Vancouver Public Library. For the last five months we have presented great writers and new books to Vancouver readers, every second Wednesday. We hope you’ve had a chance to join us. Incite is now on hiatus while we plan this year’s Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival. The series will start up again in September; confirmed already is The Birth House author Ami MacKay on November 9. Check Book News in August for details on the fall schedule.
SUNSHINE COAST FESTIVAL OF THE WRITTEN ARTS
Tickets are now on sale for the 29th Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts, Canada's longest-running literary festival, taking place August 4-7, 2011 in beautiful downtown Sechelt. Call 1-800-565-9631 to order tickets. Information: www.writersfestival.ca.
AWARDS & LISTS
British-African author Aminatta Forna has captured the Commonwealth Writer's Prize for The Memory of Love. Forna's story of war and its consequences is set in Sierra Leone.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/05/21/commonwealth-writers-prize.html?ref=rss
Gary Shteyngart is the first American ever to win the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for comic fiction, which goes to a book that "has captured the comic spirit of PG Wodehouse". Shteyngart won for the 'wild comedy' of his novel Super Sad True Love Story.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/24/pg-wodehouse-prize-gary-shteyngart
Edmund de Waal's much-praised biography of his family's history, The Hare with Amber Eyes, has been named winner of the £10,000 Ondaatje prize. The Royal Society of Literature award is given annually to a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry which best evokes "the spirit of a place". De Waal also won the Costa biography award, earlier this year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/24/ondaatje-prize-edmund-de-waal
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have awarded Nebula Awards to: Rachel Swirsky for best novella, The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen's Window; Eric James Stone for best novelette; Kij Johnson's Ponies, an allegory about female bullying, tied for best short story with a piece by Harlan Ellison. Connie Willis won in the novel category for Blackout and All Clear, her two-part chronicle of a time-travel assignment gone awry.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/science-fiction-and-fantasy-writers-of-america-hold-annual-convention/2011/05/21/AF4vkK9G_story.html
Newfoundland and Labrador writer Kathleen Winter has won the 2011 Atlantic Fiction Prize for her book Annabel. The former Parliamentary Poet Laureate John Steffler won the 2011 Atlantic Poetry Prize for Lookout, his fifth poetry collection.
http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2011-05-20/article-2523095/Locals-take-home-Atlantic-Book-Awards/1
Richelle Kosar has won the Toronto Star Short Story contest with Citrines. Second prize winner is Erik Martinez for Up High Towards the Night; third, is Samantha Cragg for Drinking In The Basement.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/994987--toronto-star-short-story-contest-winner-citrines
NEWS & FEATURES
In The Use and Abuse of Literature, author and Harvard professor Marjorie Garber writes that literature is not “good for you,” it is simply “good.” Her message: beware the single interpretation, the closing argument, the simple solution, says Nathan Whitlock.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/995180--the-use-and-abuse-of-literature-by-marjorie-garber
Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth has topped a list of the biggest selling books championed by departing TV diva Oprah Winfrey over the past decade.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/05/20/winfrey-books-tolle.html
A rare, handwritten manuscript of Jane Austen's unfinished novel The Watsons is to be sold at auction at Sotherby's in London. The Watsons manuscript shows how Austen's other manuscripts would have looked and shines a light on how she worked.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/20/jane-austen-rare-manuscript-sale-auction
When sci-fi writer Geoffrey Hoyle was asked in 1972 to imagine what the world might be like in 2011, little could he have known quite how many advances he would correctly predict.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/the-man-who-saw-the-future-how-the-scifi-writer-geoffrey-hoyle-predicted-2011s-technologies-in-1972-2285839.html
LA Times journalist Jessica Gelt writes about the transformative moment on her 15 year-old self of reading Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-jessica-gelt-20110522,0,1836204.story
Author Umberto Eco and script-writer Jean-Claude Carrière make some surprising revelations about the scope of their reading.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/22/umberto-eco-writer-not-reader
As digital technology transforms the world of knowledge, writes Ian Brown, there remains a need for spaces that give the mind a home, with the help of specialists which Brown calls “the knowledge concierge”, some call ‘a librarian'.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/dont-discard-the-librarians/article2030514/
In an interview with Kira Cochrane, we learn that Marcia Clark, prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson case, has turned to writing books. Her first novel, Guilt by Association, is a thriller about a special trials prosecutor.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/23/marcia-clark-after-simpson-trial?CMP=EMCGT_240511&
As this week's contributor to the New York Times' Sunday Routine section, Gary Shteyngart describes how he spends his day.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/nyregion/for-gary-shteyngart-hunting-food-and-ideas-on-sundays.html?_r=1&ref=books
The response to Claire Callil's unwillingness to vote for Philip Roth's Booker prize prompts Laura Miller to ask: are women who hate Philip Roth blinded by feminist ideology? Nope.
http://www.salon.com/books/phillip_roth/index.html?story=/books/laura_miller/2011/05/23/callil_vs_roth
Alberto Manguel considers the burning of Rohinton Mistry's Such a Long Journey and asks: how is this still happening?
http://www.geist.com/opinion/burning-mistry
BOOKS & WRITERS
Mellissa Fung interviewed both her rapist the morning after he assaulted her and the man who had knifed her—showing herself to be the ultimate journalist. Under An Afghan Sky is a gripping, searching memoir, says Julius Majerczyk.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Abducted+Afghanistan/4821838/story.html
Between captivity and freedom, optimism alternates with psychological bottom, with long days and nights of boredom. Under the Afghan Sky is a richly detailed chronicle of Fung's ordeal, with an ending as happy as possible, says Michael Posner.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/under-the-afghan-sky-a-memoir-of-captivity-by-mellissa-fung/article2029767/
Philip Kerr writes that Erik Larsen's non-fiction book In the Garden of Beasts reads like an elegant thriller—and is utterly compelling. A key character is Martha Dodd, the U.S. Ambassador's daughter, who becomes a spy for the Soviet Union.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/erik-larsons-in-the-garden-of-beasts/2011/04/05/AFwbUr2G_story.html
In his time, Dodd was taunted, undercut and called “Ambassador Dud.” And he ultimately recognized enough reality, and clung to enough dignity, to make Mr. Larson's powerful, poignant historical narrative a transportingly true story, adds Janet Maslin.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/books/in-the-garden-of-beasts-by-erik-larson-review.html?ref=books&pagewanted=all
Recently, a few German writers have delved into their family pasts in the Third Reich. The Perfect Nazi, Martin Davidson's family memoir, uncovers the life of his grandfather, loyal stormtrooper and trained dentist. Nicholas Stargardt calls the book “truly remarkable”.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article7175086.ece
Novelists are lucky, says Sandip Roy. While "new India" nonfiction has come under attack for what is written, Bharati Mukherjee writes about two Bangalores and one woman, telling a story about the best of times and the worst of times.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/21/RVS51JC6DU.DTL
Tracy Sherlock writes that in Caleb's Crossing, Geraldine Brooks has successfully built a fascinating story around a nugget of history involving the first native American to graduate from Harvard—in 1665.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/piece+history+transformed+into+fiction/4821836/story.html
Matthew Gilbert writes that Brooks merges her research with her intuitive sense of the daily lives of both real and fictional individuals—a dazzling act of imagination, creating intimate historical fiction, says Gilbert.
http://articles.boston.com/2011-05-15/ae/29546233_1_novel-teachings-vineyard
'Americans are not very good at nation-building', says Francis Fukayama. Once a favourite of the US right, Fukayama's The Origins of Political Order shows why the anti-state instincts of the Tea Party movement are wrong, writes Will Hutton.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/20/francis-fukuyama-origins-political-order-review
“The pace is fervent, the prose heady and the social observations are bang-on in Zsuzsi Gartner's latest collection. She has outdone herself with Better Living Through Plastic Explosives”, writes Patricia Dawn Robertson, anticipating a fistful of award nominations.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/books/brilliant-collections-heady-adult-prose-attacks-all-comers-122380773.html
In Scribbling Women: True Tales from Astonishing Lives, Marthe Jocelyn portrays eleven women, some highly educated, others barely literate, one a horse thief—a powerfully respectful, artful and joyous celebration of a group of diverse women, writes Deirdre Baker.
http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/activities/familyevents/article/995172--scribbling-women-by-marthe-jocelyn
COMMUNITY EVENTS
THROWN
Book launch and signing for the book Thrown: British Columbia's Apprentices of Bernard Leach and Their Contemporaries. Thursday, May 26 at 6:00pm, free. Gallery of BC Ceramics, 1359 Cartwright Street, Granville Island.
MATT HERN
The local author discusses his latest book Common Ground in a Liquid City: Essays in Defense of an Urban Future, a down-to-earth look at the importance of space and place in urban renewal. Thursday, May 26 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
STEVE NOYES
The B.C. author of six books of poetry and fiction reads from his first novel It Is Just That Your House Is So Far Away. Thursday, May 26 at 7:00pm, free. Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
TORN
Launch of the new anthology features local mama writers sharing their stories about the joys and conflicts of modern motherhood and readings from contributors and local "momior" writers. Thursday, May 26 at 7:00pm, free. Rhizome Cafe, 317 E. Broadway. More information at www.rhizomecafe.ca.
DOUGLAS COUPLAND
Douglas Coupland will be hosting an interactive presentation on Marshall McLuhan and YouTube. Thursday, May 26 at 8:00pm, free. The Waldorf Hotel, 1489 East Hastings. More information at http://tinyurl.com/4226kem.
THE PALE SURFACE OF THINGS
Join us as award winning author, Janey Bennett, discusses her novel, The Pale Surface of Things. The story is set on the Greek Island of Crete. Saturday, May 28 at 3:00pm, free. Kitsilano Branch, 2425 Macdonald Street.
EUROPEAN BOOK CLUB
The first book to be read and discussed will be the novel Visitation by German writer Jenny Erpenbeck. Saturday, May 28 at 4:00pm, free but registration is required at eubookclub.vancouver@shaw.ca. Unitarian Church of Vancouver, 949 49th Ave. W.
DI BRANDT
Pen-In-Hand Poetry/Prose Reading Series and Turnstone Press present a Sunday brunch and workshop with author/poet Di Brandt. Sunday, May 29; brunch at 11am, workshop at 1:15pm. Cost: $40/$25. The Well, 821 Fort Street, Victoria. For complete details, email info@thewellvictoria.com.
JEFF BURSEY
Author reads from his novel, Verbatim, a blackly humorous exposé of parliamentary practice in an unnamed Atlantic province. Monday, May 30 at 7:00pm, free. Meeting room, level 3, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
NATIONAL BOOK COLLECTING CONTEST 2010-11
The W.A. Deacon Literary Foundation and Alcuin Society will be presenting the cash prizes to this year's local winners of the National Book-Collecting Contest for young Canadians under 30 years of age. The event will take place on Monday, May 30 at Simon Fraser Univeristy, Rm. 2520 - 515 West Hastings Street, from 7:00 to 8:00 pm.
A CAPITAL CRIME WAVE
Spend an evening with Canadian mystery authors, R.J. Harlick and Barbara Fradkin as they discuss the underlying aboriginal and psychological themes of their mystery series. Wednesday, June 1 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street.
THUNDERING WORD
Spoken word and storytelling performances by C.R. Avery, Bill McNamara, Mary Gavan, Bryant Ross and Rosemary Nowicki. Saturday, June 4 at 7:00pm. Location TBA. For information, visit www.inthehousefestival.com.
Upcoming
SHERYL SALLOUM
Launch of the author's new book The Life and Art of Mildred Valley Thornton. Thursday, June 9 at 8:00pm. Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street. More information at info@mothertonguepublishing.com.
IRSHAD MANJI
Canadian author and journalist discusses her new book Allah, Liberty, and Love. Friday, June 10 at 7:30pm. Tickets: $18/$15. Capilano Performing Arts Theatre, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver. More information at www.capilanou.ca/theatre/.
GREEK POETRY READING
Manolis Aligizakis is going to talk about his translation of the works of renowned Greek poet, Yiannis Ritsos and about his book The Vernal Equinox. Saturday, June 11 at 3:00pm, free. Kitsilano Branch, VPL, 2425 Macdonald Street.
WORDPLAY
WordPlay is a program of Vancouver Poetry House that sends poets to classrooms to perform spoken word poetry and to run workshops. This year marks the debut of Summer Youth Slam Camp (July 4 to 8) at Little Mountain Gallery. Fifteen youth poets will work with Vancouver's best slam poets in this spoken word intensive. The deadline for registration for Slam Camp is June 15. For more details, go to vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
KEVIN MCNEILLY
Reading by the author of Embouchure, his debut poetry collection. Thursday, June 16 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore Robson Square, plaza level, 800 Robson Street. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
TIMES OUT OF JOINT
Simon Fraser University's 11th annual English Graduate Conference will be held from Thursday, June 16 to Saturday, June 18 at SFU's Harbour Centre (Thursday and Friday) and the Segal Graduate School of Business (Saturday). All events are open to the general public. There is no fee for attendance. For more information check the website: www.sfu.ca/~gradconf/.
JOAN THOMAS
Award-winning novelist Joan Thomas reads from her love story, Curiosity. Tuesday, June 21 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library. 350 W. Georgia St.
WRITE ON BOWEN 2011
Join writers from all over the Lower Mainland for a series of intensive, interactive writing workshops, panel presentations, and other events. July 8 to 11, Artisan Square, Bowen Island. For complete details, visit www.writeonbowen.com.
HAIKU NORTH AMERICA
A long weekend of papers, presentations, workshops, readings, and other activities in celebration of haiku poetry, held at the Seattle Center, at the foot of the Space Needle. Featured presenters already include Cor van den Heuvel, Richard Gilbert, David Lanoue, Carlos Colón, Fay Aoyagi, Jim Kacian, Emiko Miyashita, George Swede, and many others. August 3-7, 2011. For more information, visit www.haikunorthamerica.com.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Book News Vol. 6 No. 19
BOOK NEWS
Incite @ VPL
The next installment of Incite (http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incitemay11) will feature Madeleine Thien, Jen Sookfong Lee and Patrick deWitt.
Reviews from the recent Incite event with Bernhard Schlink:
This is a wonderful opportunity to meet and listen to great writers.
Well done - interesting author who expressed a compelling perspective.
Excellent event - remarkable author and glad I heard about it.
Admission is free
Alice MacKay room, Central Library
Let us know you're coming by registering here, http://incitevpl.eventbrite.com. Please note that registration is so that we know how many people to expect. Admission on the night is always on a first-come-first-served basis.
This is the last Incite event before our summer hiatus. Incite events launch again September 14.
SPECIAL EVENTS
A Dram Come True - May 13, 2011
Tomorrow ! There are still tickets available for A Dram Come True but they are going fast! Join us for a scintillating evening of scotch whisky sampling and enjoy a variety of rare and distinguished single malts. "The light music of whiskey falling into a glass - an agreeable interlude." - James Joyce. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dramcometrue
Mellissa Fung - May 28, 2011
CBC Journalist Mellissa Fung will discuss her soon to be released memoir, Under an Afghan Sky, with Kirk LaPointe. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/fung
AWARDS & LISTS
A group of Australian women writers and publishers are working to set up an equivalent of the Orange prize in their country, to combat what they describe as "the systemic exclusion of women writers over several decades" from the country's major literary awards. The new prize has the working title of A Prize of One's Own.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/04/australian-version-orange-prize
Storytellers of Canada/Conteurs du Canada have announced that Vancouver storyteller Melanie Roy is the winner of the 2nd annual Storykeeper Award/Prix Guardienne des Contes.
Three Doug Wright Awards—celebrating excellence in the Canadian art and alternative comic scene—were awarded Saturday. Montreal-based cartoonist and illustrator Pascal Girard won the best book award for Bigfoot, Alex Fellows, the emerging talent honour for Spain and Morocco, and Michael DeForge, the Pigskin Peters Award, for Spotting Deer.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2011/05/08/wright-award-comics-winners.html
Vancouver writer Helen Waldstein Wilkes' Letters from the Lost: A Memoir of Discovery is one of five finalists for the $10,000 Alberta Readers' Choice book award. Other finalists are: Robert Kroetsch, Jeff Gailus, Michael J. Martineck; and brothers Clem and Olivier Martini.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Voting+begins+finalists+Alberta+book+prize/4666530/story.html
Five authors have been shortlisted for The Caine Prize for African Writing, known as the African Booker: David Medalie (South Africa); Tim Keegan (South Africa); NoViolet Bulawayo (Zimbabwe); Laura Kubuitsile (Botswana); and Beatrice Lamwaka (Uganda).
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/05/09/caine-prize-shortlist.html
Read the five finalists on the Caine Prize website:
http://www.caineprize.com/
Tim Wynne-Jones is a finalist for the biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award—often dubbed the Nobel Prize for children's literature, or "Little Nobel".
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/988855--tim-wynne-jones-in-the-running-for-the-little-nobel
NEWS & FEATURES
Peter Mansbridge talks to Mellissa Fung about her 28 days as a hostage in Afghanistan—a story she tells in her book Under an Afghan Sky.
http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/1221258968/ID=1909515050
Citing ''security reasons'', the Chinese government has banned the dissident author and poet Liao Yiwu from travelling to Australia to attend the Sydney Writers' Festival.
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/chinese-author-banned-from-visiting-sydney-20110510-1eh1r.html
Boyd Tonkin describes the careers of the six writers shortlisted for this year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. The Prize will be awarded at the end of May.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/independent-foreign-fiction-prize-writers-on-the-front-line-2279470.html
After decades of pirated editions of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude in China—prompting Garcia Marquez to swear that even 150 years after his death his books would not be authorized in China—a Chinese publisher will bring out the first authorized edition this summer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/29/gabriel-garcia-marquez-chinese-edition
Zhang Lei describes how Marquez was persuaded to relinquish the 100 year ban.
http://life.globaltimes.cn/art/2011-04/647374.html
Montreal Gazette journalist Ian McGillis writes of his love of Ganges, Salt Spring Island, and especially its book stores.
http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2011/05/07/ganges-the-book-town-that-amazon-forgot/
The web allows stories to be spun in different ways. The use of multimedia is beginning to take storytelling in radical new directions, writes Robert McCrum.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/08/deep-media-fiction-web-mccrum
Harper Lee has written one book—To Kill a Mockingbird. Marja Mills has written a memoir about Lee. While Lee denies cooperating with The Mockingbird Next Door, the publisher claims there was direct access to Lee, friends and family.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/ct-live-0430-harper-lee-memoir-20110429,0,7537664.story
Philip Hensher comments: "The task of balancing the awareness of past success with the necessary task of producing new work is not one that every writer can achieve...much harder to deal with when they come early in a writer's career."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8485628/Why-Harper-Lee-has-remained-silent-all-these-years.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
Douglas Todd writes that Andre Girard's Fathers: A Literary Anthology simultaneously acknowledges that fathers and mothers are inextricably linked and provides readers with a riveting collection of emotive examinations of dozens of particular dads. The author's blog is here:
http://patremoirpress.com/
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Understanding+parents/4744873/story.html
Writing about Madeleine Thien's bracing, shattering tales of Cambodian lives in Dogs at the Perimeter, Charles Foran describes Thien as a deeply empathetic and instinctive writer whose novel merits slow reading.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/dogs-at-the-perimeter-by-madeleine-thien/article2012824/
David Chau adds that "Dogs at the Perimeter is a work of restrained power, a remembrance of Cambodia's genocide and the accumulated identities that linger."
http://www.straight.com/article-390708/vancouver/book-review-dogs-perimeter-madeleine-thien
Ursula LeGuin says China Miéville‘s sophisticated science fiction novel Embassytown addresses who we are—"a fully achieved work of art."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/08/embassytown-china-mieville-review
The radicalism inherent in the best science fiction is at the heart of Miéville's work, and makes it perfect reading for our troubled times, writes Damien Walter.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/may/10/china-mieville-radical-sf-mainstream
If we were to roll back history to the start of the 20th century and undo one event...it would be the war that began in 1914, suggests Adam Hochschild's To End All Wars. A compassionate and sympathetic book, writes Andrew Motion.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/08/all-wars-adam-hochschild-review
Jonathan Manthorpe writes that Peter Godwin's The Fear is an important book not only for anyone who knows and loves Zimbabwe, but also for anyone who cares about human values.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Unmasking+Mugabe+evil/4732146/story.html
Is Journalism Worth Dying For? is a collection of essays by Russia's murdered Anna Politkovskaya, including dispatches from Chechnya, Paris and Sydney. There is also a long and surprisingly tender essay on her dog, writes Jason Farago.
http://www.salon.com/books/nonfiction/index.html?story=/books/2011/05/03/is_journalsim_worth_dying_for
There is much more to modern Icelandic writing than detectives and crime scenes, says Carolyne Larrington describing From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjón (Sigurjón B. Sigurðsson).
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article7174361.ece
James Magowan finds Steve Burgess' new memoir, Who Killed Mom? to be a marvelous book with an unfortunately silly title. It's a poignant, darkly humorous but very loving memoir of his parents, his mom especially, says Magowan.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/987441--who-killed-mom-by-steve-burgess
An excerpt is here:
http://www.vancouversun.com/couple+cons+hitch+ride+with/4744878/story.html
Pulse is a quietly apt title for Julian Barnes' vibrant new collection of stories, a book at once full of life and voice, and also pierced at points by sadness, writes Sylvia Brownrigg.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/08/RVM81J999T.DTL
In his review of Ian Brown's The Boy in the Moon, Roger Rosenblatt comments that the mystery of his son contains other mysteries and that Walker has made the Browns greater people.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/books/review/book-review-the-boy-in-the-moon-by-ian-brown.html?_r=1&ref=books&pagewanted=all
An excerpt is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/books/review/excerpt-the-boy-in-the-moon-by-ian-brown.html?ref=review
Katja Grubisic writes that Best European Fiction 2011 is laudable and exciting for the number of non-mainstream translations, for the discovery of writing in languages too small and writers too far to reach, and for its very good writing.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/best-european-fiction-2011-edited-by-aleksandar-hemon/article2016816/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
FELICE TEBBE AND "BOOKLYN" IN STRATHCONA
The Alcuin Society presents a book arts show-and-tell evening featuring artisis' books from over 100 artists, from the Brooklyn, NY, arts organization known as "Booklyn". Hosted by Chalk Exchange. Free admission. Chalk Exchange, 593 East Georgia St. Friday, May 13, 7:30-9pm. Doors open at 7:00.
SUSAN MCCASLIN
Reading by the author of Demeter Goes Skydiving, her new volume of poetry. Friday, May 13 at 7:00pm. Admission by donation. Take 5 Cafe, 429 Granville Street. For more information, email twsread@sfu.ca.
EVERYDAY EDEN
Join food and lifestyle writer Christina Symons and horticulturalist and landscaper John Gillespie for a book signing, featuring refreshments and a demonstration from their new book Everyday Eden: 100+ Fun, Green Garden Projects for the Whole Family to Enjoy. Saturday, May 14 at 2:00pm, free. Barbara Jo's Books to Cooks, 1740 2nd Ave. W. Pre-register at 604-688-6755 or visit www.bookstocooks.com.
CROSS BORDER POLLINATION SERIES
Readings by Roberta Rich, Sheryda Warrener, Catherine Owen, Michael Dylan Welch, and Jericho Brown. Saturday, May 14 at 5:00pm, free. SFU Harbour Centre. room 7000 Earl and Jennie Lohn Policy Room.
ROB TAYLOR
Author launches his debut collection of poetry, The Other Side of Ourselves. Saturday, May 14 at 7:00pm, free. Rowan's Roof Restaurant and Lounge, 2340 4th Ave. W.
AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL NICOLL YAHGULANAAS
Join the author, illustrator and creator of Haida Manga for a discussion about his graphic novel Red: A Haida Manga. Saturday, May 14 at 7:00pm. Tickets are $20, call 604-733-1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com to register. Christianne's Lyceum, 3696 8th Ave. W. www.christiannehayward.com.
MUSICWORKS MAGAZINE WRITING CONTEST
Enter Musicworks magazine's writing contest and composition contest to win some fabulous prizes including an Apple iPad or Ableton Live composition software. Deadline is May 16. For complete contest details and to enter, visit http://contest.musicworks.ca.
ROBERT W. MACKAY AND BEN NUTTALL-SMITH
Two Vancouver authors will give dynamic presentations from historical novels set 1000 years apart. Monday, May 16 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3691.
ROBERT WHITAKER
Award-winning science and history writer Robert Whitaker reads. Monday, May 16 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
PEN-IN-HAND POETRY/PROSE READING SERIES
Featuring the poetry of Carol Matthews, Jay Ruzesky and Kim Goldberg. Monday May 16 at 7:30pm. Cost: $3 per person. Serious Coffee, 230 Cook Street, Victoria.
BRUCE FRASER
The author will read from his book On Potato Mountain: a Chilcotin Mystery. Wednesday, May 18 at 6:30pm, free. Firehall Meeting Room, Firehall Branch, 1455 10th Ave. W. For more information please contact Firehall Branch at 604-665-3970.
THE CUCUMBER TREE
Author Bob Ross discusses his book The Cucumber Tree: Memories of a Vancouver Boyhood in celebration of the 14th Annual Dunbar Salmonberry Days festival. Wednesday, May 18 at 6:30pm, free. Dunbar Branch, 4515 Dunbar Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-665-3968.
CHESTER BROWN
Author reads from his new graphic novel, Paying For It, a contemporary defense of the world's oldest profession. Wednesday, May 18 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
ORCA BOOK LAUNCH
Six Orca authors celebrate the release of their books for young readers. Wednesday, May 18 at 7:00pm, free. Ardea Books & Art, 2025 4th Ave. W. More information at 604-734-2025.
I FEEL GREAT ABOUT MY HANDS
Join Shari Graydon and other contributors to the new anthology, I Feel Great About My Hands, a collection of stories from remarkable women who revel in the joys of aging. Wednesday, May 18 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
CBC STUDIO ONE BOOK CLUB
The CBC Studio One Book Club presents three of B.C.'s hottest garden bloggers with new books - Andrea Bellamy with Sugar Snaps and Strawberries and Christina Symons & John Gillespie with Everyday Eden. Thursday, May 19th, 6:30 pm, at the CBC Broadcast Centre. Free tickets www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub.
MARC KAUFMAN
Reading and discussion by the author of First Contact. Thursday, May 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
SUSAN MCCASLIN
Reading by the author of Demeter Goes Skydiving, her new volume of poetry. Wednesday, May 25 at 7:30pm, free. Pelican Rouge Coffee House, 15142 North Bluff Road, White Rock. For more information, email literary@semiahmooarts.com.
Upcoming
SHERYL SALLOUM
Launch of the author's new book The Life and Art of Mildred Valley Thornton. Thursday, June 9 at 8:00pm. Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street. More information at info@mothertonguepublishing.com.
HAIKU NORTH AMERICA
A long weekend of papers, presentations, workshops, readings, and other activities in celebration of haiku poetry, held at the Seattle Center, at the foot of the Space Needle. Featured presenters already include Cor van den Heuvel, Richard Gilbert, David Lanoue, Carlos Colón, Fay Aoyagi, Jim Kacian, Emiko Miyashita, George Swede, and many others. August 3-7, 2011. For more information, visit www.haikunorthamerica.com.
Incite @ VPL
The next installment of Incite (http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incitemay11) will feature Madeleine Thien, Jen Sookfong Lee and Patrick deWitt.
Reviews from the recent Incite event with Bernhard Schlink:
This is a wonderful opportunity to meet and listen to great writers.
Well done - interesting author who expressed a compelling perspective.
Excellent event - remarkable author and glad I heard about it.
Admission is free
Alice MacKay room, Central Library
Let us know you're coming by registering here, http://incitevpl.eventbrite.com. Please note that registration is so that we know how many people to expect. Admission on the night is always on a first-come-first-served basis.
This is the last Incite event before our summer hiatus. Incite events launch again September 14.
SPECIAL EVENTS
A Dram Come True - May 13, 2011
Tomorrow ! There are still tickets available for A Dram Come True but they are going fast! Join us for a scintillating evening of scotch whisky sampling and enjoy a variety of rare and distinguished single malts. "The light music of whiskey falling into a glass - an agreeable interlude." - James Joyce. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dramcometrue
Mellissa Fung - May 28, 2011
CBC Journalist Mellissa Fung will discuss her soon to be released memoir, Under an Afghan Sky, with Kirk LaPointe. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/fung
AWARDS & LISTS
A group of Australian women writers and publishers are working to set up an equivalent of the Orange prize in their country, to combat what they describe as "the systemic exclusion of women writers over several decades" from the country's major literary awards. The new prize has the working title of A Prize of One's Own.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/04/australian-version-orange-prize
Storytellers of Canada/Conteurs du Canada have announced that Vancouver storyteller Melanie Roy is the winner of the 2nd annual Storykeeper Award/Prix Guardienne des Contes.
Three Doug Wright Awards—celebrating excellence in the Canadian art and alternative comic scene—were awarded Saturday. Montreal-based cartoonist and illustrator Pascal Girard won the best book award for Bigfoot, Alex Fellows, the emerging talent honour for Spain and Morocco, and Michael DeForge, the Pigskin Peters Award, for Spotting Deer.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2011/05/08/wright-award-comics-winners.html
Vancouver writer Helen Waldstein Wilkes' Letters from the Lost: A Memoir of Discovery is one of five finalists for the $10,000 Alberta Readers' Choice book award. Other finalists are: Robert Kroetsch, Jeff Gailus, Michael J. Martineck; and brothers Clem and Olivier Martini.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Voting+begins+finalists+Alberta+book+prize/4666530/story.html
Five authors have been shortlisted for The Caine Prize for African Writing, known as the African Booker: David Medalie (South Africa); Tim Keegan (South Africa); NoViolet Bulawayo (Zimbabwe); Laura Kubuitsile (Botswana); and Beatrice Lamwaka (Uganda).
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/05/09/caine-prize-shortlist.html
Read the five finalists on the Caine Prize website:
http://www.caineprize.com/
Tim Wynne-Jones is a finalist for the biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award—often dubbed the Nobel Prize for children's literature, or "Little Nobel".
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/988855--tim-wynne-jones-in-the-running-for-the-little-nobel
NEWS & FEATURES
Peter Mansbridge talks to Mellissa Fung about her 28 days as a hostage in Afghanistan—a story she tells in her book Under an Afghan Sky.
http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/1221258968/ID=1909515050
Citing ''security reasons'', the Chinese government has banned the dissident author and poet Liao Yiwu from travelling to Australia to attend the Sydney Writers' Festival.
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/chinese-author-banned-from-visiting-sydney-20110510-1eh1r.html
Boyd Tonkin describes the careers of the six writers shortlisted for this year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. The Prize will be awarded at the end of May.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/independent-foreign-fiction-prize-writers-on-the-front-line-2279470.html
After decades of pirated editions of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude in China—prompting Garcia Marquez to swear that even 150 years after his death his books would not be authorized in China—a Chinese publisher will bring out the first authorized edition this summer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/29/gabriel-garcia-marquez-chinese-edition
Zhang Lei describes how Marquez was persuaded to relinquish the 100 year ban.
http://life.globaltimes.cn/art/2011-04/647374.html
Montreal Gazette journalist Ian McGillis writes of his love of Ganges, Salt Spring Island, and especially its book stores.
http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2011/05/07/ganges-the-book-town-that-amazon-forgot/
The web allows stories to be spun in different ways. The use of multimedia is beginning to take storytelling in radical new directions, writes Robert McCrum.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/08/deep-media-fiction-web-mccrum
Harper Lee has written one book—To Kill a Mockingbird. Marja Mills has written a memoir about Lee. While Lee denies cooperating with The Mockingbird Next Door, the publisher claims there was direct access to Lee, friends and family.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/ct-live-0430-harper-lee-memoir-20110429,0,7537664.story
Philip Hensher comments: "The task of balancing the awareness of past success with the necessary task of producing new work is not one that every writer can achieve...much harder to deal with when they come early in a writer's career."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8485628/Why-Harper-Lee-has-remained-silent-all-these-years.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
Douglas Todd writes that Andre Girard's Fathers: A Literary Anthology simultaneously acknowledges that fathers and mothers are inextricably linked and provides readers with a riveting collection of emotive examinations of dozens of particular dads. The author's blog is here:
http://patremoirpress.com/
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Understanding+parents/4744873/story.html
Writing about Madeleine Thien's bracing, shattering tales of Cambodian lives in Dogs at the Perimeter, Charles Foran describes Thien as a deeply empathetic and instinctive writer whose novel merits slow reading.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/dogs-at-the-perimeter-by-madeleine-thien/article2012824/
David Chau adds that "Dogs at the Perimeter is a work of restrained power, a remembrance of Cambodia's genocide and the accumulated identities that linger."
http://www.straight.com/article-390708/vancouver/book-review-dogs-perimeter-madeleine-thien
Ursula LeGuin says China Miéville‘s sophisticated science fiction novel Embassytown addresses who we are—"a fully achieved work of art."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/08/embassytown-china-mieville-review
The radicalism inherent in the best science fiction is at the heart of Miéville's work, and makes it perfect reading for our troubled times, writes Damien Walter.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/may/10/china-mieville-radical-sf-mainstream
If we were to roll back history to the start of the 20th century and undo one event...it would be the war that began in 1914, suggests Adam Hochschild's To End All Wars. A compassionate and sympathetic book, writes Andrew Motion.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/08/all-wars-adam-hochschild-review
Jonathan Manthorpe writes that Peter Godwin's The Fear is an important book not only for anyone who knows and loves Zimbabwe, but also for anyone who cares about human values.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Unmasking+Mugabe+evil/4732146/story.html
Is Journalism Worth Dying For? is a collection of essays by Russia's murdered Anna Politkovskaya, including dispatches from Chechnya, Paris and Sydney. There is also a long and surprisingly tender essay on her dog, writes Jason Farago.
http://www.salon.com/books/nonfiction/index.html?story=/books/2011/05/03/is_journalsim_worth_dying_for
There is much more to modern Icelandic writing than detectives and crime scenes, says Carolyne Larrington describing From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjón (Sigurjón B. Sigurðsson).
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article7174361.ece
James Magowan finds Steve Burgess' new memoir, Who Killed Mom? to be a marvelous book with an unfortunately silly title. It's a poignant, darkly humorous but very loving memoir of his parents, his mom especially, says Magowan.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/987441--who-killed-mom-by-steve-burgess
An excerpt is here:
http://www.vancouversun.com/couple+cons+hitch+ride+with/4744878/story.html
Pulse is a quietly apt title for Julian Barnes' vibrant new collection of stories, a book at once full of life and voice, and also pierced at points by sadness, writes Sylvia Brownrigg.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/08/RVM81J999T.DTL
In his review of Ian Brown's The Boy in the Moon, Roger Rosenblatt comments that the mystery of his son contains other mysteries and that Walker has made the Browns greater people.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/books/review/book-review-the-boy-in-the-moon-by-ian-brown.html?_r=1&ref=books&pagewanted=all
An excerpt is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/books/review/excerpt-the-boy-in-the-moon-by-ian-brown.html?ref=review
Katja Grubisic writes that Best European Fiction 2011 is laudable and exciting for the number of non-mainstream translations, for the discovery of writing in languages too small and writers too far to reach, and for its very good writing.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/best-european-fiction-2011-edited-by-aleksandar-hemon/article2016816/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
FELICE TEBBE AND "BOOKLYN" IN STRATHCONA
The Alcuin Society presents a book arts show-and-tell evening featuring artisis' books from over 100 artists, from the Brooklyn, NY, arts organization known as "Booklyn". Hosted by Chalk Exchange. Free admission. Chalk Exchange, 593 East Georgia St. Friday, May 13, 7:30-9pm. Doors open at 7:00.
SUSAN MCCASLIN
Reading by the author of Demeter Goes Skydiving, her new volume of poetry. Friday, May 13 at 7:00pm. Admission by donation. Take 5 Cafe, 429 Granville Street. For more information, email twsread@sfu.ca.
EVERYDAY EDEN
Join food and lifestyle writer Christina Symons and horticulturalist and landscaper John Gillespie for a book signing, featuring refreshments and a demonstration from their new book Everyday Eden: 100+ Fun, Green Garden Projects for the Whole Family to Enjoy. Saturday, May 14 at 2:00pm, free. Barbara Jo's Books to Cooks, 1740 2nd Ave. W. Pre-register at 604-688-6755 or visit www.bookstocooks.com.
CROSS BORDER POLLINATION SERIES
Readings by Roberta Rich, Sheryda Warrener, Catherine Owen, Michael Dylan Welch, and Jericho Brown. Saturday, May 14 at 5:00pm, free. SFU Harbour Centre. room 7000 Earl and Jennie Lohn Policy Room.
ROB TAYLOR
Author launches his debut collection of poetry, The Other Side of Ourselves. Saturday, May 14 at 7:00pm, free. Rowan's Roof Restaurant and Lounge, 2340 4th Ave. W.
AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL NICOLL YAHGULANAAS
Join the author, illustrator and creator of Haida Manga for a discussion about his graphic novel Red: A Haida Manga. Saturday, May 14 at 7:00pm. Tickets are $20, call 604-733-1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com to register. Christianne's Lyceum, 3696 8th Ave. W. www.christiannehayward.com.
MUSICWORKS MAGAZINE WRITING CONTEST
Enter Musicworks magazine's writing contest and composition contest to win some fabulous prizes including an Apple iPad or Ableton Live composition software. Deadline is May 16. For complete contest details and to enter, visit http://contest.musicworks.ca.
ROBERT W. MACKAY AND BEN NUTTALL-SMITH
Two Vancouver authors will give dynamic presentations from historical novels set 1000 years apart. Monday, May 16 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3691.
ROBERT WHITAKER
Award-winning science and history writer Robert Whitaker reads. Monday, May 16 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
PEN-IN-HAND POETRY/PROSE READING SERIES
Featuring the poetry of Carol Matthews, Jay Ruzesky and Kim Goldberg. Monday May 16 at 7:30pm. Cost: $3 per person. Serious Coffee, 230 Cook Street, Victoria.
BRUCE FRASER
The author will read from his book On Potato Mountain: a Chilcotin Mystery. Wednesday, May 18 at 6:30pm, free. Firehall Meeting Room, Firehall Branch, 1455 10th Ave. W. For more information please contact Firehall Branch at 604-665-3970.
THE CUCUMBER TREE
Author Bob Ross discusses his book The Cucumber Tree: Memories of a Vancouver Boyhood in celebration of the 14th Annual Dunbar Salmonberry Days festival. Wednesday, May 18 at 6:30pm, free. Dunbar Branch, 4515 Dunbar Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-665-3968.
CHESTER BROWN
Author reads from his new graphic novel, Paying For It, a contemporary defense of the world's oldest profession. Wednesday, May 18 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
ORCA BOOK LAUNCH
Six Orca authors celebrate the release of their books for young readers. Wednesday, May 18 at 7:00pm, free. Ardea Books & Art, 2025 4th Ave. W. More information at 604-734-2025.
I FEEL GREAT ABOUT MY HANDS
Join Shari Graydon and other contributors to the new anthology, I Feel Great About My Hands, a collection of stories from remarkable women who revel in the joys of aging. Wednesday, May 18 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
CBC STUDIO ONE BOOK CLUB
The CBC Studio One Book Club presents three of B.C.'s hottest garden bloggers with new books - Andrea Bellamy with Sugar Snaps and Strawberries and Christina Symons & John Gillespie with Everyday Eden. Thursday, May 19th, 6:30 pm, at the CBC Broadcast Centre. Free tickets www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub.
MARC KAUFMAN
Reading and discussion by the author of First Contact. Thursday, May 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
SUSAN MCCASLIN
Reading by the author of Demeter Goes Skydiving, her new volume of poetry. Wednesday, May 25 at 7:30pm, free. Pelican Rouge Coffee House, 15142 North Bluff Road, White Rock. For more information, email literary@semiahmooarts.com.
Upcoming
SHERYL SALLOUM
Launch of the author's new book The Life and Art of Mildred Valley Thornton. Thursday, June 9 at 8:00pm. Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street. More information at info@mothertonguepublishing.com.
HAIKU NORTH AMERICA
A long weekend of papers, presentations, workshops, readings, and other activities in celebration of haiku poetry, held at the Seattle Center, at the foot of the Space Needle. Featured presenters already include Cor van den Heuvel, Richard Gilbert, David Lanoue, Carlos Colón, Fay Aoyagi, Jim Kacian, Emiko Miyashita, George Swede, and many others. August 3-7, 2011. For more information, visit www.haikunorthamerica.com.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Book News Vol. 6 No. 18
BOOK NEWS
Incite @ VPL
Coming up in May, we are offering two installments of Incite in one week! A special Incite on May 9 features Bernhard Schlink, author of The Reader, reading from his new novel The Weekend, and on Wednesday, May 11 Zsuzsi Gartner discusses her latest book, Better Living Through Plastic Explosives, and singer-songwriter Sylvia Tyson reads from her debut novel, Joyner's Dream.
Reviews from the recent Incite event with Joyce Carol Oates and Johanna Skibsrud:
Remarkable, courageous and generous reading. Thank you!
A wonderful evening in every way.
A true thrill to hear Joyce Carol Oates-a rare treat. Thank you.
Admission is free
Alice MacKay room, Central Library
Let us know you're coming by registering here, http://incitevpl.eventbrite.com. Please note that registration is so that we know how many people to expect. Admission on the night is always on a first-come-first-served basis.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Elizabeth Hay & Miriam Toews - May 5, 2011
Two of Canada's most acclaimed and beloved writers will discuss their new books, Alone in the Classroom and Irma Voth. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/haytoews.
A Dram Come True - May 13, 2011
There are still tickets available for A Dram Come True but they are going fast! Join us for a scintillating evening of scotch whisky sampling and enjoy a variety of rare and distinguished single malts. "The light music of whiskey falling into a glass - an agreeable interlude." - James Joyce. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dramcometrue
Mellissa Fung - May 28, 2011
CBC Journalist Mellissa Fung will discuss her soon to be released memoir, Under an Afghan Sky, with Kirk LaPointe. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/fung
AWARDS & LISTS
Globe and Mail European bureau chief Doug Saunders has won the $35,000 Donner Prize for Arrival City: The Final Migration and Our Next World. The award jury declared it "a work that analyzes a global trend that we ignore at our peril.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-globes-doug-saunders-wins-donner-prize/article2001091/
85-year-old Ana Maria Matute received the 2010 Cervantes prize, the Spanish-speaking world's top literary honour, from King Juan Carlos last week, the third woman to receive the award in its 35-year history. Matute is acclaimed for her lyrical novels dealing with the lives of children and adolescents.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2011/04/27/cervantes-matute-prize.html
South African author Lauren Beukes has won the Arthur C. Clarke award, the UK's top science fiction prize, for her novel Zoo City, set in an alternate Johannesburg.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/28/lauren-beukes-arthur-c-clarke-award
The Canada Reads Poetry 2011 champion is Forage by Rita Wong.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/04/28/forage-by-rita-wong-wins-canada-reads-poetry/#more-31980
Indian writer Amitav Ghosh, author of Sea of Poppies, has won the 2011 Blue Metropolis International Literary Grand Prix.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/04/28/blue-met-grand-prix.html
Michael Van Rooy, the Winnipeg writer who died while on a book tour earlier this year, has earned an Arthur Ellis Award nomination for A Criminal to Remember. Other shortlisted authors include Louise Penny, Jeffrey Moore and Sheree Fitch. The awards are named for Arthur Ellis, the pseudonym used by Canada's official hangman.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/04/29/arthur-ellis-awards.html
Emerging writer Eleanor Catton has won the Amazon.ca First Novel award for The Rehearsal.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/04/29/amazon-first-novel-catton-rehearsal.html
Trevor Cole's Practical Jean has won the 2011 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/04/29/leacock-cole-practical-jean.html
Quebec mystery writer Louise Penny has captured an Agatha Award for a fourth year in a row for best mystery novel, with Bury Your Dead, the sixth in the Insp. Gamache series.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/05/01/penny-agatha-award.html
The Walrus leads in the National Magazine Awards with 35 nominations. Writer J.B. MacKinnon and photographer Edward Burtynsky are also among the finalists for awards.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/05/02/national-magazine-award-nominees.html
NEWS & FEATURES
Maxine Hong Kingston talks with Susanna Rustin about changing times in China, turning to poetry 'to hasten the pace of creation' and getting arrested with Alice Walker.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/26/maxine-hong-kingston-whitman
Canadian poet Katherine Leyton spent April in Miami, celebrating Poetry Month by approaching strangers and asking them to read poems by Erin Robson, Ken Babstock and Matt Rader, among others, on camera.
http://tinyurl.com/3ugbrw3
Argentina is considering granting a special pension to writers on the grounds that they generate "social richness" but often end up impoverished. Authors who have published five books or invested 20 years in 'literary creation' would get £565 a month.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/27/argentina-considers-paying-writers-pension
Marja Mills' The Mockingbird Next Door, a biography of Harper Lee, will cover topics ranging from Lee's childhood in Alabama to why she never wrote a follow-up to her acclaimed, Pulitzer Prize-winning To Kill a Mockingbird.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/04/27/harper-lee-bio.html
Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, spent his childhood moving between California and his native Lahore, thus developing a fascination with maps and with imaginary islands he could populate with the best of both places.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/may/01/once-upon-a-life-mohsin-hamid
Hamid's first book, Moth Smoke (now reissued in paperback), provides the context for the clash of cultures in its portrait of a country violently divided against itself, writes Rachel Aspden.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/01/moth-smoke-mohsin-hamid-review
When Miles Franklin established Australia's most significant award for literary fiction, she wanted to encourage Australian writers and writing. And she knew the particular difficulties women writers faced. Since 1957, the prize has been awarded 39 times to male writers and 13 times to women.
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/a-closed-book-as-prize-list-leaves-women-on-outer-20110421-1dqgg.html
The Australian's Books blog reflects on the Miles Franklin short list, which has attracted a lot of comment for being all-male for the second time in three years.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/why-long-lists-can-be-so-unfair/story-e6frg8nf-1226045089010
Physician and author Rahul K. Parikh interviews Dr. Siddhartha Mukerjee (Emperor of All Maladies) because of Mukerjee's writing the "biography" of cancer, bringing to light its cultural, mythical, clinical, social and political history. Their focus: why cancer matters.
http://www.salon.com/books/our_picks/
Libraries have nothing at all to do with silence, says Bella Bathurst, as she reveals what communities are about to lose with the closure of libraries.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/01/the-secret-life-of-libraries
120 years after it was condemned as 'vulgar' and 'unclean', an uncensored version of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray has been published by Harvard University Press.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/27/dorian-gray-oscar-wilde-uncensored
BOOKS & WRITERS
Zsuzsi Gartner has been touted as a satirical writer, and to the degree that her latest collection of short stories, Better Living Through Plastic Explosives, heaps scorn on a wide range of targets, the definition fits, writes Emily Donaldson.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/978977--better-living-through-plastic-explosives-by-zsuzsi-gartner
The Naive and the Sentimental Novelist by Orhan Pamuk is a love letter to the literary novel, writes Cherilyn Parsons. It can expand your awareness and joy of reading. And for novelists, it's a treasure trove.
http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/gazing_into_the_center_of_the_novel_20110428/
Philip Hensher is also engrossed in Pamuk's vision for the novel, not least because "Over the past 50 or so years, literary criticism has abandoned its general duty to say interesting things about books to an ordinary reader.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8387989/The-Naive-and-the-Sentimental-Novelist-by-Orhan-Pamuk-review.html
Renewed critical interest in novelist William Golding has Faber producing centenary editions of Lord of the Flies and The Inheritors, and publishing daughter Judy's memoir Children of Lovers. The occasional King Lear quotes are apt, says Helen Taylor.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-children-of-lovers-by-judy-golding-2276056.html
Four characters in John Porcellino's graphic book The Next Day are real people, now adults, identified only by their first names. They attempted suicide, survived and lived to know another day, the next day of the book's title.
http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/983449--graphic-novella-the-next-day-tackles-suicide-and-survival
In Lucky Break, Esther Freud casts off the complex family ties that dominate her early books, and the middle European angst of more recent works, to embrace the funny yet brutal world of acting, says Susanna Rustin.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/30/lucky-break-esther-freud-review
Monsieur Linh and His Child by award-winning author Phillippe Claudel is a tale of two old men who befriend each other, neither speaking the other's language, communicating through kindly smiles, gestures and tones of voice.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/01/monsieur-linh-child-philippe-claudel-review
Miriam Toews' Sweet Badass Dude is included in Geist's 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition and can be found here:
http://www.geist.com/dispatch/sweet-badass-dude
Aritha Van Herk suggests that Elizabeth Hay's Alone in the Classroom be read slowly, or better, read twice, for its poetry, entanglements and richness.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/alone-in-the-classroom-by-elizabeth-hay/article2003976/
John Barber's interview with Hay adds insights into the author's approach.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/elizabeth-hay-a-celebrated-novelist-who-wears-a-cloak-of-self-deprecation/article2002875/
Gale Zoë Garnett describes Carsten Jensen's debut novel, We the Drowned, as "a huge achievement”. Nordic people live in relation to the water; this saga weaves myth, village life and sea, illuminating the lives of sailor and their loves.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/we-the-drowned-by-carsten-jensen/article2004011/
The terror of death and humankind's attempts to transcend it form the engrossing centre of John Gray's The Immortalization Commission: Science and the Strange Quest to Cheat Death.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-immortalization-commission-by-john-gray/article2003851/
Lucy Popescu describes Camilla Gibbs' The Beauty of Humanity Movement as "a rich soup of memory and loss”.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-beauty-of-humanity-movement-by-camilla-gibb-2278001.html
Brad MacKay writes that Chester Brown's Paying For It is about more than just its author's journey into john-dom. Paying For It is a defiant work of truth telling, writes MacKay.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/paying-for-it-by-chester-brown/article2003879/
Vit Wagner combines a review of Chester Brown's Paying for It: A Comic-Strip Memoir About Being a John with information about Brown's election campaign for The Libertarian Party.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/982927--paying-for-it-a-comic-strip-memoir-about-being-a-john-by-chester-brown
American author Cara Black has situated her eleven novels, including her latest, Murder in Passey, in different Paris arrondissements. Paris makes even murder most foul somehow more pleasurable, says Jack Batten.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/983310--murder-in-passy-by-cara-black
COMMUNITY EVENTS
AN EVENING WITH COACH HOUSE BOOKS
Readings by poet Helen Guri, author of Match and Alan Reid, author of Isobel & Emile. Thursday, May 5 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library/Bookstore at Robson Square, Plaza Level, 800 Robson St. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
FRASER NIXON AND ANGIE ABDOU
John Burns hosts the Canadian writers reading from their new books The Man Who Killed and The Canterbury Trail. Thursday, May 5 at 7:00pm, free. Montmartre Cafe, 4362 Main Street.
CHAMPAGNE AND MEATBALLS
Historian Larry Hannant speaks about Bert Whyte's new memoir. Friday, May 6 at 7:00pm, free. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive. More information at www.peoplescoopbookstore.com.
MOTHER'S DAY TEA
Readings that celebrate women supporting women by Mette Bach, Shana Myara, Maddy Van Beek, Lorrie Miller, Cathleen With, and Fiona Tinwei Lam. Saturday, May 7 at 2:00pm. Tickets $10 and includes tea and goodies. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W. More information at kogawahouse@yahoo.ca.
SUSAN MCCASLIN
Poet launches her new volume Demeter Goes Skydiving. With host Liz Bachinsky and soprano Rachel Landrecht. Saturday, May 7 at 7:00pm. Canadian Memorial Centre for Peace, 1825 W. 16th Ave., Vancouver. More information: Vivian@canadianmemorial.org.
ALMOST-ANYTHING-GOES ANARCHY SLAM
The Anarchy/Chaos Poetry Slam is your chance to put on a costume, use your props or break out that ukelele collecting dust in your closet. Monday, May 9 at 8:00pm. Admission: $6. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
THIS INNOCENT CORNER
Peggy Herring reads from her debut novel set in Bangladesh and Salt Spring Island. The reading will be accompanied by a slide show by international development photographer Shehzad Noorani. Tuesday, May 10 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3691.
EVERYDAY EDEN
Join food and lifestyle writer Christina Symons and horticulturalist and landscaper John Gillespie for a book signing, featuring refreshments and a demonstration from their new book Everyday Eden: 100+ Fun, Green Garden Projects for the Whole Family to Enjoy. Saturday, May 14 at 2:00pm, free. Barbara Jo's Books to Cooks, 1740 2nd Ave. W. Pre-register at 604-688-6755 or visit www.bookstocooks.com.
CROSS BORDER POLLINATION SERIES
Readings by Roberta Rich, Sheryda Warrener, Catherine Owen, Michael Dylan Welch, and Jericho Brown. Saturday, May 14 at 5:00pm, free. SFU Harbour Centre. room 7000 Earl and Jennie Lohn Policy Room.
ROB TAYLOR
Author launches his debut collection of poetry, The Other Side of Ourselves. Saturday, May 14 at 7:00pm, free. Rowan's Roof Restaurant and Lounge, 2340 4th Ave. W.
AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL NICOLL YAHGULANAAS
Join the author, illustrator and creator of Haida Manga for a discussion about his graphic novel Red: A Haida Manga. Saturday, May 14 at 7:00pm. Tickets are $20, call 604-733-1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com to register. Christianne's Lyceum, 3696 8th Ave. W. www.christiannehayward.com.
ROBERT W. MACKAY AND BEN NUTTALL-SMITH
Two Vancouver authors will give dynamic presentations from historical novels set 1000 years apart. Monday, May 16 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3691.
ROBERT WHITAKER
Award-winning science and history writer Robert Whitaker reads. Monday, May 16 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
Upcoming
BRUCE FRASER
The author will read from his book On Potato Mountain: a Chilcotin Mystery. Wednesday, May 18 at 6:30pm, free. Firehall Meeting Room, Firehall Branch, 1455 10th Ave. W. For more information please contact Firehall Branch at 604-665-3970.
THE CUCUMBER TREE
Author Bob Ross discusses his book The Cucumber Tree: Memories of a Vancouver Boyhood in celebration of the 14th Annual Dunbar Salmonberry Days festival. Wednesday, May 18 at 6:30pm, free. Dunbar Branch, 4515 Dunbar Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-665-3968.
CHESTER BROWN
Author reads from his new graphic novel, Paying For It, a contemporary defense of the world's oldest profession. Wednesday, May 18 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
ORCA BOOK LAUNCH
Six Orca authors celebrate the release of their books for young readers. Wednesday, May 18 at 7:00pm, free. Ardea Books & Art, 2025 4th Ave. W. More information at 604-734-2025.
I FEEL GREAT ABOUT MY HANDS
Join Shari Graydon and other contributors to the new anthology, I Feel Great About My Hands, a collection of stories from remarkable women who revel in the joys of aging. Wednesday, May 18 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
CBC STUDIO ONE BOOK CLUB
The CBC Studio One Book Club presents three of B.C.'s hottest garden bloggers with new books - Andrea Bellamy with Sugar Snaps and Strawberries and Christina Symons & John Gillespie with Everyday Eden. Thursday, May 19th, 6:30 pm, at the CBC Broadcast Centre. Free tickets www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub.
MARC KAUFMAN
Reading and discussion by the author of First Contact. Thursday, May 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
Incite @ VPL
Coming up in May, we are offering two installments of Incite in one week! A special Incite on May 9 features Bernhard Schlink, author of The Reader, reading from his new novel The Weekend, and on Wednesday, May 11 Zsuzsi Gartner discusses her latest book, Better Living Through Plastic Explosives, and singer-songwriter Sylvia Tyson reads from her debut novel, Joyner's Dream.
Reviews from the recent Incite event with Joyce Carol Oates and Johanna Skibsrud:
Remarkable, courageous and generous reading. Thank you!
A wonderful evening in every way.
A true thrill to hear Joyce Carol Oates-a rare treat. Thank you.
Admission is free
Alice MacKay room, Central Library
Let us know you're coming by registering here, http://incitevpl.eventbrite.com. Please note that registration is so that we know how many people to expect. Admission on the night is always on a first-come-first-served basis.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Elizabeth Hay & Miriam Toews - May 5, 2011
Two of Canada's most acclaimed and beloved writers will discuss their new books, Alone in the Classroom and Irma Voth. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/haytoews.
A Dram Come True - May 13, 2011
There are still tickets available for A Dram Come True but they are going fast! Join us for a scintillating evening of scotch whisky sampling and enjoy a variety of rare and distinguished single malts. "The light music of whiskey falling into a glass - an agreeable interlude." - James Joyce. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dramcometrue
Mellissa Fung - May 28, 2011
CBC Journalist Mellissa Fung will discuss her soon to be released memoir, Under an Afghan Sky, with Kirk LaPointe. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/fung
AWARDS & LISTS
Globe and Mail European bureau chief Doug Saunders has won the $35,000 Donner Prize for Arrival City: The Final Migration and Our Next World. The award jury declared it "a work that analyzes a global trend that we ignore at our peril.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-globes-doug-saunders-wins-donner-prize/article2001091/
85-year-old Ana Maria Matute received the 2010 Cervantes prize, the Spanish-speaking world's top literary honour, from King Juan Carlos last week, the third woman to receive the award in its 35-year history. Matute is acclaimed for her lyrical novels dealing with the lives of children and adolescents.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2011/04/27/cervantes-matute-prize.html
South African author Lauren Beukes has won the Arthur C. Clarke award, the UK's top science fiction prize, for her novel Zoo City, set in an alternate Johannesburg.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/28/lauren-beukes-arthur-c-clarke-award
The Canada Reads Poetry 2011 champion is Forage by Rita Wong.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/04/28/forage-by-rita-wong-wins-canada-reads-poetry/#more-31980
Indian writer Amitav Ghosh, author of Sea of Poppies, has won the 2011 Blue Metropolis International Literary Grand Prix.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/04/28/blue-met-grand-prix.html
Michael Van Rooy, the Winnipeg writer who died while on a book tour earlier this year, has earned an Arthur Ellis Award nomination for A Criminal to Remember. Other shortlisted authors include Louise Penny, Jeffrey Moore and Sheree Fitch. The awards are named for Arthur Ellis, the pseudonym used by Canada's official hangman.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/04/29/arthur-ellis-awards.html
Emerging writer Eleanor Catton has won the Amazon.ca First Novel award for The Rehearsal.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/04/29/amazon-first-novel-catton-rehearsal.html
Trevor Cole's Practical Jean has won the 2011 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/04/29/leacock-cole-practical-jean.html
Quebec mystery writer Louise Penny has captured an Agatha Award for a fourth year in a row for best mystery novel, with Bury Your Dead, the sixth in the Insp. Gamache series.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/05/01/penny-agatha-award.html
The Walrus leads in the National Magazine Awards with 35 nominations. Writer J.B. MacKinnon and photographer Edward Burtynsky are also among the finalists for awards.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/05/02/national-magazine-award-nominees.html
NEWS & FEATURES
Maxine Hong Kingston talks with Susanna Rustin about changing times in China, turning to poetry 'to hasten the pace of creation' and getting arrested with Alice Walker.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/26/maxine-hong-kingston-whitman
Canadian poet Katherine Leyton spent April in Miami, celebrating Poetry Month by approaching strangers and asking them to read poems by Erin Robson, Ken Babstock and Matt Rader, among others, on camera.
http://tinyurl.com/3ugbrw3
Argentina is considering granting a special pension to writers on the grounds that they generate "social richness" but often end up impoverished. Authors who have published five books or invested 20 years in 'literary creation' would get £565 a month.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/27/argentina-considers-paying-writers-pension
Marja Mills' The Mockingbird Next Door, a biography of Harper Lee, will cover topics ranging from Lee's childhood in Alabama to why she never wrote a follow-up to her acclaimed, Pulitzer Prize-winning To Kill a Mockingbird.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/04/27/harper-lee-bio.html
Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, spent his childhood moving between California and his native Lahore, thus developing a fascination with maps and with imaginary islands he could populate with the best of both places.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/may/01/once-upon-a-life-mohsin-hamid
Hamid's first book, Moth Smoke (now reissued in paperback), provides the context for the clash of cultures in its portrait of a country violently divided against itself, writes Rachel Aspden.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/01/moth-smoke-mohsin-hamid-review
When Miles Franklin established Australia's most significant award for literary fiction, she wanted to encourage Australian writers and writing. And she knew the particular difficulties women writers faced. Since 1957, the prize has been awarded 39 times to male writers and 13 times to women.
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/a-closed-book-as-prize-list-leaves-women-on-outer-20110421-1dqgg.html
The Australian's Books blog reflects on the Miles Franklin short list, which has attracted a lot of comment for being all-male for the second time in three years.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/why-long-lists-can-be-so-unfair/story-e6frg8nf-1226045089010
Physician and author Rahul K. Parikh interviews Dr. Siddhartha Mukerjee (Emperor of All Maladies) because of Mukerjee's writing the "biography" of cancer, bringing to light its cultural, mythical, clinical, social and political history. Their focus: why cancer matters.
http://www.salon.com/books/our_picks/
Libraries have nothing at all to do with silence, says Bella Bathurst, as she reveals what communities are about to lose with the closure of libraries.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/01/the-secret-life-of-libraries
120 years after it was condemned as 'vulgar' and 'unclean', an uncensored version of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray has been published by Harvard University Press.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/27/dorian-gray-oscar-wilde-uncensored
BOOKS & WRITERS
Zsuzsi Gartner has been touted as a satirical writer, and to the degree that her latest collection of short stories, Better Living Through Plastic Explosives, heaps scorn on a wide range of targets, the definition fits, writes Emily Donaldson.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/978977--better-living-through-plastic-explosives-by-zsuzsi-gartner
The Naive and the Sentimental Novelist by Orhan Pamuk is a love letter to the literary novel, writes Cherilyn Parsons. It can expand your awareness and joy of reading. And for novelists, it's a treasure trove.
http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/gazing_into_the_center_of_the_novel_20110428/
Philip Hensher is also engrossed in Pamuk's vision for the novel, not least because "Over the past 50 or so years, literary criticism has abandoned its general duty to say interesting things about books to an ordinary reader.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8387989/The-Naive-and-the-Sentimental-Novelist-by-Orhan-Pamuk-review.html
Renewed critical interest in novelist William Golding has Faber producing centenary editions of Lord of the Flies and The Inheritors, and publishing daughter Judy's memoir Children of Lovers. The occasional King Lear quotes are apt, says Helen Taylor.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-children-of-lovers-by-judy-golding-2276056.html
Four characters in John Porcellino's graphic book The Next Day are real people, now adults, identified only by their first names. They attempted suicide, survived and lived to know another day, the next day of the book's title.
http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/983449--graphic-novella-the-next-day-tackles-suicide-and-survival
In Lucky Break, Esther Freud casts off the complex family ties that dominate her early books, and the middle European angst of more recent works, to embrace the funny yet brutal world of acting, says Susanna Rustin.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/30/lucky-break-esther-freud-review
Monsieur Linh and His Child by award-winning author Phillippe Claudel is a tale of two old men who befriend each other, neither speaking the other's language, communicating through kindly smiles, gestures and tones of voice.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/01/monsieur-linh-child-philippe-claudel-review
Miriam Toews' Sweet Badass Dude is included in Geist's 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition and can be found here:
http://www.geist.com/dispatch/sweet-badass-dude
Aritha Van Herk suggests that Elizabeth Hay's Alone in the Classroom be read slowly, or better, read twice, for its poetry, entanglements and richness.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/alone-in-the-classroom-by-elizabeth-hay/article2003976/
John Barber's interview with Hay adds insights into the author's approach.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/elizabeth-hay-a-celebrated-novelist-who-wears-a-cloak-of-self-deprecation/article2002875/
Gale Zoë Garnett describes Carsten Jensen's debut novel, We the Drowned, as "a huge achievement”. Nordic people live in relation to the water; this saga weaves myth, village life and sea, illuminating the lives of sailor and their loves.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/we-the-drowned-by-carsten-jensen/article2004011/
The terror of death and humankind's attempts to transcend it form the engrossing centre of John Gray's The Immortalization Commission: Science and the Strange Quest to Cheat Death.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-immortalization-commission-by-john-gray/article2003851/
Lucy Popescu describes Camilla Gibbs' The Beauty of Humanity Movement as "a rich soup of memory and loss”.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-beauty-of-humanity-movement-by-camilla-gibb-2278001.html
Brad MacKay writes that Chester Brown's Paying For It is about more than just its author's journey into john-dom. Paying For It is a defiant work of truth telling, writes MacKay.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/paying-for-it-by-chester-brown/article2003879/
Vit Wagner combines a review of Chester Brown's Paying for It: A Comic-Strip Memoir About Being a John with information about Brown's election campaign for The Libertarian Party.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/982927--paying-for-it-a-comic-strip-memoir-about-being-a-john-by-chester-brown
American author Cara Black has situated her eleven novels, including her latest, Murder in Passey, in different Paris arrondissements. Paris makes even murder most foul somehow more pleasurable, says Jack Batten.
http://www.thestar.com/news/books/article/983310--murder-in-passy-by-cara-black
COMMUNITY EVENTS
AN EVENING WITH COACH HOUSE BOOKS
Readings by poet Helen Guri, author of Match and Alan Reid, author of Isobel & Emile. Thursday, May 5 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Library/Bookstore at Robson Square, Plaza Level, 800 Robson St. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
FRASER NIXON AND ANGIE ABDOU
John Burns hosts the Canadian writers reading from their new books The Man Who Killed and The Canterbury Trail. Thursday, May 5 at 7:00pm, free. Montmartre Cafe, 4362 Main Street.
CHAMPAGNE AND MEATBALLS
Historian Larry Hannant speaks about Bert Whyte's new memoir. Friday, May 6 at 7:00pm, free. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive. More information at www.peoplescoopbookstore.com.
MOTHER'S DAY TEA
Readings that celebrate women supporting women by Mette Bach, Shana Myara, Maddy Van Beek, Lorrie Miller, Cathleen With, and Fiona Tinwei Lam. Saturday, May 7 at 2:00pm. Tickets $10 and includes tea and goodies. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W. More information at kogawahouse@yahoo.ca.
SUSAN MCCASLIN
Poet launches her new volume Demeter Goes Skydiving. With host Liz Bachinsky and soprano Rachel Landrecht. Saturday, May 7 at 7:00pm. Canadian Memorial Centre for Peace, 1825 W. 16th Ave., Vancouver. More information: Vivian@canadianmemorial.org.
ALMOST-ANYTHING-GOES ANARCHY SLAM
The Anarchy/Chaos Poetry Slam is your chance to put on a costume, use your props or break out that ukelele collecting dust in your closet. Monday, May 9 at 8:00pm. Admission: $6. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
THIS INNOCENT CORNER
Peggy Herring reads from her debut novel set in Bangladesh and Salt Spring Island. The reading will be accompanied by a slide show by international development photographer Shehzad Noorani. Tuesday, May 10 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3691.
EVERYDAY EDEN
Join food and lifestyle writer Christina Symons and horticulturalist and landscaper John Gillespie for a book signing, featuring refreshments and a demonstration from their new book Everyday Eden: 100+ Fun, Green Garden Projects for the Whole Family to Enjoy. Saturday, May 14 at 2:00pm, free. Barbara Jo's Books to Cooks, 1740 2nd Ave. W. Pre-register at 604-688-6755 or visit www.bookstocooks.com.
CROSS BORDER POLLINATION SERIES
Readings by Roberta Rich, Sheryda Warrener, Catherine Owen, Michael Dylan Welch, and Jericho Brown. Saturday, May 14 at 5:00pm, free. SFU Harbour Centre. room 7000 Earl and Jennie Lohn Policy Room.
ROB TAYLOR
Author launches his debut collection of poetry, The Other Side of Ourselves. Saturday, May 14 at 7:00pm, free. Rowan's Roof Restaurant and Lounge, 2340 4th Ave. W.
AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL NICOLL YAHGULANAAS
Join the author, illustrator and creator of Haida Manga for a discussion about his graphic novel Red: A Haida Manga. Saturday, May 14 at 7:00pm. Tickets are $20, call 604-733-1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com to register. Christianne's Lyceum, 3696 8th Ave. W. www.christiannehayward.com.
ROBERT W. MACKAY AND BEN NUTTALL-SMITH
Two Vancouver authors will give dynamic presentations from historical novels set 1000 years apart. Monday, May 16 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3691.
ROBERT WHITAKER
Award-winning science and history writer Robert Whitaker reads. Monday, May 16 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
Upcoming
BRUCE FRASER
The author will read from his book On Potato Mountain: a Chilcotin Mystery. Wednesday, May 18 at 6:30pm, free. Firehall Meeting Room, Firehall Branch, 1455 10th Ave. W. For more information please contact Firehall Branch at 604-665-3970.
THE CUCUMBER TREE
Author Bob Ross discusses his book The Cucumber Tree: Memories of a Vancouver Boyhood in celebration of the 14th Annual Dunbar Salmonberry Days festival. Wednesday, May 18 at 6:30pm, free. Dunbar Branch, 4515 Dunbar Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-665-3968.
CHESTER BROWN
Author reads from his new graphic novel, Paying For It, a contemporary defense of the world's oldest profession. Wednesday, May 18 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
ORCA BOOK LAUNCH
Six Orca authors celebrate the release of their books for young readers. Wednesday, May 18 at 7:00pm, free. Ardea Books & Art, 2025 4th Ave. W. More information at 604-734-2025.
I FEEL GREAT ABOUT MY HANDS
Join Shari Graydon and other contributors to the new anthology, I Feel Great About My Hands, a collection of stories from remarkable women who revel in the joys of aging. Wednesday, May 18 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
CBC STUDIO ONE BOOK CLUB
The CBC Studio One Book Club presents three of B.C.'s hottest garden bloggers with new books - Andrea Bellamy with Sugar Snaps and Strawberries and Christina Symons & John Gillespie with Everyday Eden. Thursday, May 19th, 6:30 pm, at the CBC Broadcast Centre. Free tickets www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub.
MARC KAUFMAN
Reading and discussion by the author of First Contact. Thursday, May 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603.
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