BOOK NEWS
Incite: Mind-altering, metamorphic, twice-monthly!
Join us on Wednesday, January 30 as three celebrated authors explore the ideas behind their fascinating new books.
A titillating night of intrigue, with three authors who tackle taboos, seductions and a bit of mystery. Award-winning author Barbara Lambert reads from her latest novel, The Whirling Girl, C.P. Boyko delves into the scandalous world of psychology with his new collection Psychology and Other Stories, and Bradley Somer presents his first novel Imperfections. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite
A Georgia Straight interview with C.P. Boyko calls his new collection Psychology and Other Stories a rich and compelling collection that allows readers to enjoy its ambiguities and hidden secrets.
http://www.straight.com/life/344956/c-p-boyko-tackles-mental-health-psychology-and-other-stories
Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library, sponsored by the Vancouver Public Library Foundation and the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association.
SPECIAL EVENT
Sally Armstrong in conversation with Kathryn Gretsinger
The Vancouver Writers Fest presents its first special event of 2013, an evening with award-winning Canadian author, journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong. Armstrong is the author of three previous books, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. Her new book is Ascent of Women.
7:30 pm, Monday, March 25
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Burrard at Nelson
FESTIVALS
PuSh Festival January 15–February 3
This year PuSh presents two very different performances that take Shakespeare's King Lear as their inspiration.
Berlin-based performance collective She She Pop presents Testament—a frank, tender, and brutally honest deconstruction of King Lear. Chosen in 2011 as one of Germany's top ten productions for the prestigious Berliner Theatertreffen.
http://pushfestival.ca/shows/testament/
Contemporary Legend Theater's acclaimed production of King Lear fuses traditional Peking Opera with Shakespeare's classic tale of great power and cruel deception.
http://pushfestival.ca/shows/king-lear/
PuSh is offering a special discount for Book News subscribers-use the code "Bard" to receive $5 off both shows. Tickets at Tickets Tonight, http://www.ticketstonight.ca/.
AWARDS & LISTS
National Book Critics Circle has announced the finalists for awards in six categories. The list includes the late journalist Anthony Shadid, who died last year while on assignment in Syria for the New York Times. The winners will be announced Feb. 28 in New York City.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-national-book-critics-circle-finalists-20130114,0,816515,full.story
Westmount Mayor Peter Trent and Montreal writer Taras Grescoe are in the running for the 12th Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. The prize will be awarded in Ottawa on March 6. The complete list is here: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Peter+Trent+Taras+Grescoe+finalists+Shaughnessy+Cohen+Prize/7822858/story.html#ixzz2IBx2GIkr
An all-male shortlist for 2012 BSFA (British Science Fiction Award) best novel award puts well-established names in contention. The shortlisted authors for four categories are here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/18/british-science-fiction-awards-finalists-shortlists
The 2013 shortlist for the Marsh award celebrates the translators making foreign works accessible to English-speaking children.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2013/jan/17/marsh-award-shortlist-translation-2013
YOUNG READERS
Caroline Adderson showcases her subtle hilarity in Jasper John Dooley: Left Behind in which our hero discovers that every day is an adventure. Ages 6 to 9.
http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/in-the-magazine/spring-preview-2013-fiction-and-picture-books-for-young-people
All the Wrong Questions is the title of the first volume of Lemony Snicket's new series. It raises more questions than it answers, but might answer some questions you had at the end of the last series by this author. Age 9 and up.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Kids+Lemony+Snicket/7753619/story.html#ixzz2ICVPfr7K
Eleanor Updale's The Last Minute has sixty chapters, each of which covers one second in the life of a small town where a series of explosions are about to take place. However, there are no grand pyrotechnics. This is powerful stuff, says Philip Ardagh. Ages 12 and over.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/11/the-last-minute-eleanor-updale-review
NEWS & FEATURES
For decades, a shadowy figure left three roses and cognac at the grave of Edgar Allan Poe. The tradition ended four years ago, when the visitor failed to appear. However, Baltimore native Jeff Jerome says he might hold a vigil Saturday, in case the visitor returns.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/will-the-world-ever-know-who-was-the-mysterious-edgar-allan-poe-toaster/article7550871/
In Pudding: A Global History, Jeri Quinzio fills her slim volume with entertaining food facts, memoirs and clever illustrations, as well as historical and contemporary recipes. Just in time for Robbie Burns Day, Friday, January 25.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1316640--pudding-a-global-history-by-jeri-quinzio-book-review
In a bid to "broaden the reach and impact" of the National Book Awards, the National Book Foundation has announced two key changes to its selection process, following the example of Britain's Man Booker Prize's pattern of a longlist and a shortlist. As well, judges will be drawn from all walks of life.
http://www.salon.com/2013/01/15/national_book_awards_wise_up/
On January 27, the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice will be celebrated with an authentic re-creation of Jane Austen's Netherfield Ball, a turning point in the romance between Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/bbc-to-recreate-netherfield-ball-for-200th-anniversary-of-pride-and-prejudice-8453439.html
Paula Byrne's The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things describes a history of Jane Austen in everyday objects and paints a vivid picture of her life and times.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/17/real-jane-austen-byrne-review
The Brazilian government is anteing up over US$35 million to fund a program that aims to inject Brazilian literature into international markets by funding translations, grants to publishers outside of Brazil, and travel grants to send Brazilian authors on world publicity tours. Meanwhile, Brazil will be the Guest of Honor at the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair.
http://languagemagazine.com/
Kate Kellaway's interview with T.S. Eliot Poetry Prize-winner Sharon Olds is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/06/sharon-olds-interview-stags-leap
George Orwell died on 21 January 1950. The Orwell Estate, The Orwell Prize and the author's publisher Penguin have decided to launch an annual event on 21 January, in "recognition of one of Britain's greatest and most influential writers of the 20th century", and to "celebrate his writing in all its forms". January 21, 2013 was the inaugural Orwell Day.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/21/george-orwell-day-begins-annual-commemoration
Margaret Atwood writes that George Orwell was her hero. "To say I was horrified by this book (Animal Farm) would be an understatement. The thing that upset me most was that the pigs were so unjust."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/18/my-hero-george-orwell-atwood
Ted Hughes's sister Olwyn tells Sam Jordison how misrepresented she feels the story of her sister-in-law's death has been. Plath's friend Elizabeth Sigmund says Plath would never have let The Bell Jar be published under her own name while her mother was alive. Elizabeth Sigmund's side of the story is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/18/olwyn-hughes-sylvia-plath-literary-executor
We make so much of serious literary fiction that it's surprising to learn that we have a large number of writers who are champions in crime and mystery fiction, writes Greg Quill. "There are as many as 20 writers of crime and mystery novels in Canada who support themselves entirely on revenue from their writing," says Michael Levine.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1316504--canada-s-crime-novelists-a-critical-mass
A group of conservative Muslim clerics in India have called on the organisers of the annual Jaipur literary festival to drop speakers who were involved in a demonstration of support for Salman Rushdie. Sanjoy Roy, a director of the festival, told local television channels there would be no change in the schedule.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/21/salman-rushdie-jaipur-literary-festival
Leah McLaren writes that the independent story has a role to play outside the marketplace. All is good, she says, for the great bookstores.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/why-a-good-bookstore-is-not-a-money-maker
The deadline is fast approaching for the 9th Annual Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest! For your chance at literary fame and fortune, information on how the contest works and contest details is here:
http://www.geist.com/articles/postcard-contest/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Dan Brown's new novel Inferno is named for Dante's epic journey in verse. Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, the protagonist for the two prior novels, features in Inferno as well.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1315108--dan-brown-author-of-the-da-vinci-code-writing-novel-about-dante
Writing about Thomas King's An Inconvenient Indian, Jacqueline Windh describes it as 'a timely read'. While it is incomplete, unbalanced and opinionated, it is also founded upon a wealth of research, writes Windh.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Inconvenient+Indian+Unsettling+book+timely+must+read/7807343/story.html
Mo Yan's Nobel prize win last year thrilled the Chinese government, but outraged advocates of free speech as Yan defended, in his Nobel acceptance speech, "necessary" censorship. Mo Yan's Pow! may not be politically engaged but it is a highly enjoyable, absurdist romp of a novel, writes Chris Cox.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/19/pow-mo-yan-review-fiction
Sheila Heti has become a literary sensation in the US with How Should a Person Be? Dubbed HBO's Girls in book form, the novel draws heavily on her own life and philosophy. A "seriously strange but funny plunge into the quest for authenticity" writes Margaret Atwood; "nothing less than groundbreaking", says Miranda July.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/19/sheila-heti-how-should-a-person-be-interview
Cathy Marie Buchanan's The Painted Girls tells the story of Marie Van Goethem, who modeled for Degas's paintings and a statuette. The book deepens readers' understanding of la Belle Epoque, when it was believed that heredity largely determines ones fate. Buchanan takes real life and makes it more interesting, realistic and true, says Tracy Sherlock.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Historical+fiction+comes+alive+Cathy+Marie+Buchanan/7839090/story.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
LITANY: QUEER WRITERS READ
Litany is a quarterly reading series showcasing emerging and established queer writers. Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm. Free but donations welcome. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway, Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories. More information at rhizomecafe.ca.
MUSIC, POETRY & WORD WHIPS
Dennis E. Bolen will host the evening with music by singer/songwriter, Harriet Frost and poetry, inspired by the paintings by Judith Fischer in her exhibit Your People are My People. Featured poets include Timothy Shay, Mary Duffy, Diane Tucker, Heidi Greco, Renée Sarojini SakLikar and Taslim Jaffer. Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm, free. Jewish Community Centre, Gallery Room, 950 41st Ave. W. More information at pandorascollective.com.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Rachel Rose and Alan Hill with open mic. Thursday, January 24, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. In 2013 Twisted Poets will run the 2nd Wednesday and the 4th Thursday of every month. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Julie Devaney and Gary Geddes. Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, please visit http://rrs-jan2013-1.eventbrite.ca/.
SOMETIMES I THINK, I CAN SEE YOU
Marinao Pensotti's work places writers in public spaces and uses them as literary surveillance cameras. Performance is free and open to the public and happens simultaneously at three downtown locations. January 25-27 and February 1-3 from 12:00-4:00pm. For complete details, visit pushfestival.ca.
HUMAN LIBRARY
Enter the VPL's Central Branch and head up to the third floor where a special PuSh Festival circulation desk will register you with your own Human Library card and offer to lend you one of thirty possible human books. January 25-27 and February 1-3 from 12:00pm to 4:00pm. VPL Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street. For complete details, visit pushfestival.ca.
RAIN CITY CHRONICLES
First evening of live storytelling and song in 2013. Storytellers and special musical guest to be announced Jan 16. Friday, January 25 at 7:00pm. Orpheum Annex, 823 Seymour St., Vancouver. More information at raincitychronicles.com.
FAMILY LITERACY DAY
Raising awareness of the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. Sunday, January 27. For events in your area, visit abclifeliteracy.ca/fld/family-literacy-day.
BRIAN BRETT
Author reads from his extensive work. Sunday, January 27 at 7:00pm, free. The Reach, 32388 Veterans Way, Abbotsford. More information at fvrl.bc.ca.
TOM ANGLEBERGER
An entertaining evening with the author of the Origami Yoda series of books. Sunday, January 27 at 7:30pm. Tickets: $5. West Point Grey United Church, 4595 8th Ave. W., Vancouver. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
JACQUELINE DAVIES
Author presents her new book The Candy Smash. In Vancouver: Tuesday, January 29 at 7:00pm at West Point Grey United Church. In North Vancouver: Monday, January 28 at 7:00pm at Capilano Branch of North Van District Library. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
Upcoming
FIRESIDE CHAT
Harrison author Diane Wild will read from and chat about her debut novel, Forsaken Trust. Wednesday, February 6 at 7:00pm, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ERIC LITWIN
Part of the Children's Arts Festival, author shares his best-selling book Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes and other musical stories. Monday, February 11 at various times. Tickets: $10. Richmond Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond. More information at childrensartsfestival.ca.
BRANDON SANDERSON
Meet Brandon Sanderson as he signs the final book in Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light. Thursday, February 14 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
UNIQUE LIVES & EXPERIENCES
A lecture series featuring four outstanding women. First lecture will feature Valerie Plame Wilson, a former CIA spy and author of a bestselling autobiography, My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal By the White House, on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30pm. Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street. For complete season details and ticket information, visit www.uniquelives.com.
UBC ALUMNI BOOK CLUB
Choose between Timothy Taylor's Stanley Park and Lynn Coady's Mean Boy at this book club in which you can meet the facilitator and fellow alumni, and learn about the book before you read it. Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10. Cecil Green Park Coach House, 6323 Cecil Green Park Rd., UBC.
W.P. KINSELLA
Canadian author will read from, and chat about, his latest book, Butterfly Winter. Thursday, February 21 at 10:30am, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Walid Bitar and Missy Marston. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more informatin and to register, visit http://rrs-feb2013.eventbrite.ca/.
GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL
Fourth annual festival featuring John Belshaw, Kevin Chong, Pauline Holdstock, Nancy Richler and many others. February 22-24, 2013. Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, Galiano Island. For complete details, visit galianoliteraryfestival.com.
OLIVER JEFFERS
Oliver Jeffers, author/illustrator of This Moose Belongs to Me, to speak at the Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable's annual Author/Illustrator Breakfast February 23 at the University Golf Club. Early bird rates end January 31. For registration and information, go to www.vclr.ca.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Book News Vol. 7 No. 49
BOOK NEWS
Incite: Mind-altering, metamorphic, twice-monthly!
Join us on Wednesday, January 30 as three celebrated authors explore the ideas behind their fascinating new books.
A titillating night of intrigue, with three authors who tackle taboos, seductions and a bit of mystery. Award-winning author Barbara Lambert reads from her latest novel, The Whirling Girl, C.P. Boyko delves into the scandalous world of psychology with his new collection Psychology and Other Stories, and Bradley Somer presents his first novel Imperfections. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite
Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library, sponsored by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association.
SPECIAL EVENT
The Vancouver Writers Fest presents its first special event of 2013, an evening with award-winning Canadian author, journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong. Armstrong is the author of three previous books, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. Her new book is Ascent of Women.
7:30 pm, Monday, March 25
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Burrard at Nelson
The 2012 Vancouver Writers Fest Poetry and Short Story Contest have been announced:
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/get-involved/writingcontest
FESTIVALS
PuSh Festival January 15–February 3
This year PuSh presents two very different performances that take Shakespeare's King Lear as their inspiration.
Berlin-based performance collective She She Pop presents Testament—a frank, tender, and brutally honest deconstruction of King Lear. Chosen in 2011 as one of Germany's top ten productions for the prestigious Berliner Theatertreffen.
http://pushfestival.ca/shows/testament/
Contemporary Legend Theater's acclaimed production of King Lear fuses traditional Peking Opera with Shakespeare's classic tale of great power and cruel deception.
http://pushfestival.ca/shows/king-lear/
PuSh is offering a special discount for Book News subscribers-use the code "Bard" to receive $5 off both shows. Tickets at Tickets Tonight, http://www.ticketstonight.ca/.
AWARDS & LISTS
Sharon Olds has won the TS Eliot poetry prize for Stag's Leap, a collection on divorce. The New York poet was the unanimous winner of the £15,000 prize as judges praise 'grace and chivalry' in her writing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/14/sharon-olds-ts-eliot-poetry-prize
Indian poet Jeet Thayil and Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng, short listed for last year's Booker prize, are up against each other again on the short list for the Man Asian literary prize.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/01/09/man-asian-prize.html
Blue Peter, first broadcast in 1958, is the world's longest-running children's television programme. Three novels and three non-fiction books are short listed for the 2013 Blue Peter Book Award in two categories of books.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2013/jan/10/blue-peter-book-award-fiction-facts?INTCMP=SRCH
YOUNG READERS
Charlie is a little boy whose grandfather entertained him with fanciful tales that always ended with: "Really and truly, Charlie!" Émilie Rivard's Really and Truly touches on family members who are aging. Ages 4 to 9.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Kids+%c3%89milie+Rivard+Really+Truly
What's the name of a great read for fans of trivia and lovers of fun books? The answer is Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen by Donna Gephart. Age 8 and older.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/olivia-bean-trivia-queen-has-all-the-answers
This Is Not My Hat, by Jon Klassen focuses on much-loved hats and is a sequel to Klassen's I Want My Hat Back. Ages 4 to 7.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+Woolly+wild/7806841/story.html
NEWS & FEATURES
An overwhelming majority of Canadians believe arts and culture is worthy of government support, according to the results of a poll commissioned by Canadian Heritage.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/01/09/arts-poll.html
The Atlantic ran Jack London's first published story—and then asked him to write under his Christian name, "John seeming to us better suited than Jack to literary purposes."
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/01/the-editor-who-wanted-to-change-jack-londons-name-to-john/267073/
A celebration of Al Purdy's work, in music and poetry, will take place on Feb. 6th in Toronto. Margaret Atwood, Gordon Pinsent, and Dave Bidini (among others) hope to raise the money necessary to restore Al and Eurithe Purdy's famous A-frame house on Roblin Lake in Prince Edward County, and to turn it into a writer's retreat.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1313065--celebration-of-al-purdy-s-poetry-to-raise-money-for-a-writers-retreat
Many people who unwrapped iPads, Kindles or Nooks over the holidays might not realize how limited their rights are as their books' "owners," writes Michael Hiltzik. In fact, they won't be owners: they'll be licensees.
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/185941062.html
Winfried Fluck, a professor at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies at Berlin's Free University, says Mark Twain is often the first person to come to mind when Germans think of Americans. "He's the exemplary American for us," he says.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/germany/130108/mark-twain-germany-heidelberg-berlin-writer
The Nobel prize-winning novelist Imre Kertész has become one of Europe's most eloquent and respected literary witnesses to the Holocaust, making the paradoxical case that "the concentration camp is imaginable only and exclusively as literature."
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/01/the-hungarian-crackdown.html
The Poetry Foundation has bid adieu to its leader—in verse.
http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2013/01/07/roses-r-red-violets-r-blupoetrys-honchos-r-bidding-adieu
Turkey has lifted its ban on thousands of books. From communist works to a comic book, thousands of titles banned by Turkey over the decades were taken off the restricted list, thanks to a government reform.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article
Meanwhile, the writers' organization and free speech campaigner PEN Turkey is under investigation in Turkey for "insulting the state" after condemning the prosecution of a musician as a "fascist development".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/11/turkish-writers-group-investigated-insulting-state
Burnaby poet Daniel Zomparelli is the founder of Poetry is Dead, a poetry magazine that comes out twice a year in Metro Vancouver, focusing on young writers from across the country.
http://www.burnabynow.com/news/Local+poet+publishes+unique+literary+magazine/7794758/story.html
After a 2012 pilot program that distributed nine million Michael Morpurgo books, McDonald's (UK) has committed to giving away 15m books with its Happy Meals over the next two years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/09/mcdonalds-give-away-15m-children-books
In North America, the fourth edition of the Kids & Family Reading Report™, a national survey released January 14, kids age 6-17 and their parents share their views on reading and the influences that impact kids' reading frequency and attitudes toward reading.
http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/press-release/new-study-kids-reading-digital-age-number-kids-reading-ebooks-has-nearly-doubled-2010
Sophia al-Maria's memoir, The Girl Who Fell to Earth, is part of a growing literature by children of bicultural marriages, writes Marie Arana, describing the singular bridge so many children of mixed heritage inhabit.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-girl-who-fell-to-earth-by-sophia-al-maria/2012/12/28/cc034a7a-4916-11e2-820e-17eefac2f939_story.html
Most Canadians know that the Prime Minister lives at 24 Sussex Drive while Parliament is in session, but they probably couldn't tell you what the inside of the first house looks like, writes Dan McPeake. Linda Svendsen can... sort of. Her new novel, Sussex Drive, centers on a fictional First Lady of Canada and her political frenemy, the female Governor General.
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/culture/books/linda-svendsen-imagines-life-24-sussex
If you think writers and publishers today are dodgy, get a load of the crooks and scoundrels of 18th-century London in An Author to be Lett, written by the English poet Richard Savage in 1729.
http://www.salon.com/2013/01/10/the_worst_publisher_of_all_time/
The deadline is fast approaching for the 9th Annual Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest! For your chance at literary fame and fortune, information on how the contest works and contest details is here:
http://www.geist.com/articles/postcard-contest/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Dany Laferrière's The World Is Moving Around Me: A Memoir of the Haiti Earthquake, presents readers with an opportunity to better understand and see the 2010 Haitian earthquake disaster through Laferrière's eyes, writes Madison Smartt Bell.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/books/2013/01/dany_laferri_re_s_the_world_is_moving_around_me_haitian_earthquake_memoir.html
Novelist Thomas King describes his book The Inconvenient Indian not as history, but as storytelling "fraught with history." Personal experience is often injected into the mix, much of it tinged with King's trademark humour, says Emily Donaldson.
http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=7890
Stephen Reid, Canada's most infamous bank robber, has published a collection of harsh, honest stories about his life in prison. It is both a gripping read and an intellectual exploration of our flawed penal system, writes Emily Pohl-Weary.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/prison-memoir-tackles-authors-failings-with-insight-and-wit/article7210697/
Ways of Going Home, Alejandro Zambra's third novel, is a literary foray into Chile's troubled past by a writer who lived during the Pinochet regime but doesn't consider himself one of its primary victims.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/13/ways-going-home-zambra-review
Eoin Colfer, the author of the bestselling Artemis Fowl books, kicks off a new series of Doctor Who stories with an adventure set in early 20th-century London and featuring the First Doctor. Here is an extract from A Big Hand for the Doctor:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/interactive/2013/jan/07/doctor-who-a-big-hand-eoin-colfer-extract
Larissa MacFarquhar writes about Hilary Mantel, her capacity to write fiction about the past and her family life. Read the in-depth profile of Mantel here:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/10/15/121015fa_fact_macfarquhar
COMMUNITY EVENTS
KIDSBOOKS ANNUAL SALE
Three day annual sale, January 17 to January 20. For complete details, call your nearest store. Information: kidsbooks.ca.
OPEN TEXT READING SERIES
Readings by Jon Paul Fiorentino and Gary Barwin. Thursday, January 17 at 11:30am, free. LB322, Capilano University, North Vancouver. More information at capilanocreativewriting.blogspot.ca.
ZSUZSI GARTNER
Zsuzsi Gartner discusses her short story collection Better Living Through Plastic Explosives. Thursday, January 17 at 7:00 PM. Christianne's Lyceum. 3696 W. 8th Ave. $20 (includes refreshments). To reserve your space call 604.733.1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com. More information at: www.christiannehayward.com.
SOMETIMES I THINK, I CAN SEE YOU
Marinao Pensotti's work places writers in public spaces and uses them as literary surveillance cameras. Performance is free and open to the public and happens simultaneously at three downtown locations. January 18-20, 25-27 and February 1-3 from 12:00-4:00pm. For complete details, visit pushfestival.ca.
HUMAN LIBRARY
Enter the VPL's Central Branch and head up to the third floor where a special PuSh Festival circulation desk will register you with your own Human Library card and offer to lend you one of thirty possible human books. January 18-20, 25-27 and February 1-3 from 12:00pm to 4:00pm. VPL Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street. For complete details, visit pushfestival.ca.
BOOK READING
Appearance by poets Gary Barwin and Garry Thomas Morse. Friday, January 18 at 8:00pm. People's Co-Op Books, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.
INSINUENDO
Launch of Miriam Clavir's first novel, Insinuendo: Murder in the Museum. Sunday, January 20 at 2:00pm. Museum of Anthropology, 6393 NW Marine Drive, UBC. More information at moa.ubc.ca.
EMPIRE OF ICE
Author Craig Bowlsby presents his new book on hockey history. Monday, January 21 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St., Vancouver. More information at www.vpl.ca.
PEN-IN-HAND POETRY/PROSE READING SERIES
Featuring readings by poets John Barton and Susan Stenson. Monday, January 21 at 7:15pm. Suggested donation: $3. Serious Coffee, Cook St. Village, 230 Cook Street, Victoria.
POETRY & POLITICS: BEYOND CHICK LIT
Linda Svendsen reads from her satirical novel Sussex Drive and Rhea Tregebov reads selections from her new poetry collection All Souls'. Tuesday, January 22 at 7:00pm, free. Central Branch, VPL, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.
LITANY: QUEER WRITERS READ
Litany is a quarterly reading series showcasing emerging and established queer writers. Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm. Free but donations welcome. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway, Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories. More information at rhizomecafe.ca.
MUSIC, POETRY & WORD WHIPS
Dennis E. Bolen will host the evening with music by singer/songwriter, Harriet Frost and poetry, inspired by the paintings by Judith Fischer in her exhibit Your People are My People. Featured poets include Timothy Shay, Mary Duffy, Diane Tucker, Heidi Greco, Renée Sarojini SakLikar and Taslim Jaffer. Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm, free. Jewish Community Centre, Gallery Room, 950 41st Ave. W. More information at pandorascollective.com.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Rachel Rose and Alan Hill with open mic. Thursday, January 24, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. In 2013 Twisted Poets will run the 2nd Wednesday and the 4th Thursday of every month. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Julie Devaney and Gary Geddes. Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, please visit http://rrs-jan2013-1.eventbrite.ca/.
RAIN CITY CHRONICLES
First evening of live storytelling and song in 2013. Storytellers and special musical guest to be announced Jan 16. Friday, January 25 at 7:00pm. Orpheum Annex, 823 Seymour St., Vancouver. More information at raincitychronicles.com.
FAMILY LITERACY DAY
Raising awareness of the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. Sunday, January 27. For events in your area, visit abclifeliteracy.ca/fld/family-literacy-day.
BRIAN BRETT
Author reads from his extensive work. Sunday, January 27 at 7:00pm, free. The Reach, 32388 Veterans Way, Abbotsford. More information at fvrl.bc.ca.
TOM ANGLEBERGER
An entertaining evening with the author of the Origami Yoda series of books. Sunday, January 27 at 7:30pm. Tickets: $5. West Point Grey United Church, 4595 8th Ave. W., Vancouver. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
Upcoming
JACQUELINE DAVIES
Author presents her new book The Candy Smash. In Vancouver: Tuesday, January 29 at 7:00pm at West Point Grey United Church. In North Vancouver: Monday, January 28 at 7:00pm at Capilano Branch of North Van District Library. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
FIRESIDE CHAT
Harrison author Diane Wild will read from and chat about her debut novel, Forsaken Trust. Wednesday, February 6 at 7:00pm, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ERIC LITWIN
Part of the Children's Arts Festival, author shares his best-selling book Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes and other musical stories. Monday, February 11 at various times. Tickets: $10. Richmond Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond. More information at childrensartsfestival.ca.
BRANDON SANDERSON
Meet Brandon Sanderson as he signs the final book in Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light. Thursday, February 14 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
UNIQUE LIVES & EXPERIENCES
A lecture series featuring four outstanding women. First lecture will feature Valerie Plame Wilson, a former CIA spy and author of a bestselling autobiography, My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal By the White House, on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30pm. Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street. For complete season details and ticket information, visit www.uniquelives.com.
UBC ALUMNI BOOK CLUB
Choose between Timothy Taylor's Stanley Park and Lynn Coady's Mean Boy at this book club in which you can meet the facilitator and fellow alumni, and learn about the book before you read it. Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10. Cecil Green Park Coach House, 6323 Cecil Green Park Rd., UBC.
W.P. KINSELLA
Canadian author will read from, and chat about, his latest book, Butterfly Winter. Thursday, February 21 at 10:30am, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Walid Bitar and Missy Marston. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more informatin and to register, visit http://rrs-feb2013.eventbrite.ca/.
GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL
Fourth annual festival featuring John Belshaw, Kevin Chong, Pauline Holdstock, Nancy Richler and many others. February 22-24, 2013. Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, Galiano Island. For complete details, visit galianoliteraryfestival.com.
OLIVER JEFFERS
Oliver Jeffers to speak at the Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable's annual Author/Illustrator Breakfast February 23 at the University Golf Club. Learn How to Catch a Star from the creator of This Moose Belongs to Me, Lost and Found, and The Incredible Book Eating Boy. It'll be a Great Paper Caper as we follow Up and Down the career of this amazing artist and writer. Early bird rates end January 31. For registration and information, go to www.vclr.ca.
Incite: Mind-altering, metamorphic, twice-monthly!
Join us on Wednesday, January 30 as three celebrated authors explore the ideas behind their fascinating new books.
A titillating night of intrigue, with three authors who tackle taboos, seductions and a bit of mystery. Award-winning author Barbara Lambert reads from her latest novel, The Whirling Girl, C.P. Boyko delves into the scandalous world of psychology with his new collection Psychology and Other Stories, and Bradley Somer presents his first novel Imperfections. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite
Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library, sponsored by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association.
SPECIAL EVENT
The Vancouver Writers Fest presents its first special event of 2013, an evening with award-winning Canadian author, journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong. Armstrong is the author of three previous books, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. Her new book is Ascent of Women.
7:30 pm, Monday, March 25
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Burrard at Nelson
The 2012 Vancouver Writers Fest Poetry and Short Story Contest have been announced:
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/get-involved/writingcontest
FESTIVALS
PuSh Festival January 15–February 3
This year PuSh presents two very different performances that take Shakespeare's King Lear as their inspiration.
Berlin-based performance collective She She Pop presents Testament—a frank, tender, and brutally honest deconstruction of King Lear. Chosen in 2011 as one of Germany's top ten productions for the prestigious Berliner Theatertreffen.
http://pushfestival.ca/shows/testament/
Contemporary Legend Theater's acclaimed production of King Lear fuses traditional Peking Opera with Shakespeare's classic tale of great power and cruel deception.
http://pushfestival.ca/shows/king-lear/
PuSh is offering a special discount for Book News subscribers-use the code "Bard" to receive $5 off both shows. Tickets at Tickets Tonight, http://www.ticketstonight.ca/.
AWARDS & LISTS
Sharon Olds has won the TS Eliot poetry prize for Stag's Leap, a collection on divorce. The New York poet was the unanimous winner of the £15,000 prize as judges praise 'grace and chivalry' in her writing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/14/sharon-olds-ts-eliot-poetry-prize
Indian poet Jeet Thayil and Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng, short listed for last year's Booker prize, are up against each other again on the short list for the Man Asian literary prize.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/01/09/man-asian-prize.html
Blue Peter, first broadcast in 1958, is the world's longest-running children's television programme. Three novels and three non-fiction books are short listed for the 2013 Blue Peter Book Award in two categories of books.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2013/jan/10/blue-peter-book-award-fiction-facts?INTCMP=SRCH
YOUNG READERS
Charlie is a little boy whose grandfather entertained him with fanciful tales that always ended with: "Really and truly, Charlie!" Émilie Rivard's Really and Truly touches on family members who are aging. Ages 4 to 9.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Kids+%c3%89milie+Rivard+Really+Truly
What's the name of a great read for fans of trivia and lovers of fun books? The answer is Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen by Donna Gephart. Age 8 and older.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/olivia-bean-trivia-queen-has-all-the-answers
This Is Not My Hat, by Jon Klassen focuses on much-loved hats and is a sequel to Klassen's I Want My Hat Back. Ages 4 to 7.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+Woolly+wild/7806841/story.html
NEWS & FEATURES
An overwhelming majority of Canadians believe arts and culture is worthy of government support, according to the results of a poll commissioned by Canadian Heritage.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/01/09/arts-poll.html
The Atlantic ran Jack London's first published story—and then asked him to write under his Christian name, "John seeming to us better suited than Jack to literary purposes."
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/01/the-editor-who-wanted-to-change-jack-londons-name-to-john/267073/
A celebration of Al Purdy's work, in music and poetry, will take place on Feb. 6th in Toronto. Margaret Atwood, Gordon Pinsent, and Dave Bidini (among others) hope to raise the money necessary to restore Al and Eurithe Purdy's famous A-frame house on Roblin Lake in Prince Edward County, and to turn it into a writer's retreat.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1313065--celebration-of-al-purdy-s-poetry-to-raise-money-for-a-writers-retreat
Many people who unwrapped iPads, Kindles or Nooks over the holidays might not realize how limited their rights are as their books' "owners," writes Michael Hiltzik. In fact, they won't be owners: they'll be licensees.
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/185941062.html
Winfried Fluck, a professor at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies at Berlin's Free University, says Mark Twain is often the first person to come to mind when Germans think of Americans. "He's the exemplary American for us," he says.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/germany/130108/mark-twain-germany-heidelberg-berlin-writer
The Nobel prize-winning novelist Imre Kertész has become one of Europe's most eloquent and respected literary witnesses to the Holocaust, making the paradoxical case that "the concentration camp is imaginable only and exclusively as literature."
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/01/the-hungarian-crackdown.html
The Poetry Foundation has bid adieu to its leader—in verse.
http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2013/01/07/roses-r-red-violets-r-blupoetrys-honchos-r-bidding-adieu
Turkey has lifted its ban on thousands of books. From communist works to a comic book, thousands of titles banned by Turkey over the decades were taken off the restricted list, thanks to a government reform.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article
Meanwhile, the writers' organization and free speech campaigner PEN Turkey is under investigation in Turkey for "insulting the state" after condemning the prosecution of a musician as a "fascist development".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/11/turkish-writers-group-investigated-insulting-state
Burnaby poet Daniel Zomparelli is the founder of Poetry is Dead, a poetry magazine that comes out twice a year in Metro Vancouver, focusing on young writers from across the country.
http://www.burnabynow.com/news/Local+poet+publishes+unique+literary+magazine/7794758/story.html
After a 2012 pilot program that distributed nine million Michael Morpurgo books, McDonald's (UK) has committed to giving away 15m books with its Happy Meals over the next two years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/09/mcdonalds-give-away-15m-children-books
In North America, the fourth edition of the Kids & Family Reading Report™, a national survey released January 14, kids age 6-17 and their parents share their views on reading and the influences that impact kids' reading frequency and attitudes toward reading.
http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/press-release/new-study-kids-reading-digital-age-number-kids-reading-ebooks-has-nearly-doubled-2010
Sophia al-Maria's memoir, The Girl Who Fell to Earth, is part of a growing literature by children of bicultural marriages, writes Marie Arana, describing the singular bridge so many children of mixed heritage inhabit.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-girl-who-fell-to-earth-by-sophia-al-maria/2012/12/28/cc034a7a-4916-11e2-820e-17eefac2f939_story.html
Most Canadians know that the Prime Minister lives at 24 Sussex Drive while Parliament is in session, but they probably couldn't tell you what the inside of the first house looks like, writes Dan McPeake. Linda Svendsen can... sort of. Her new novel, Sussex Drive, centers on a fictional First Lady of Canada and her political frenemy, the female Governor General.
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/culture/books/linda-svendsen-imagines-life-24-sussex
If you think writers and publishers today are dodgy, get a load of the crooks and scoundrels of 18th-century London in An Author to be Lett, written by the English poet Richard Savage in 1729.
http://www.salon.com/2013/01/10/the_worst_publisher_of_all_time/
The deadline is fast approaching for the 9th Annual Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest! For your chance at literary fame and fortune, information on how the contest works and contest details is here:
http://www.geist.com/articles/postcard-contest/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Dany Laferrière's The World Is Moving Around Me: A Memoir of the Haiti Earthquake, presents readers with an opportunity to better understand and see the 2010 Haitian earthquake disaster through Laferrière's eyes, writes Madison Smartt Bell.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/books/2013/01/dany_laferri_re_s_the_world_is_moving_around_me_haitian_earthquake_memoir.html
Novelist Thomas King describes his book The Inconvenient Indian not as history, but as storytelling "fraught with history." Personal experience is often injected into the mix, much of it tinged with King's trademark humour, says Emily Donaldson.
http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=7890
Stephen Reid, Canada's most infamous bank robber, has published a collection of harsh, honest stories about his life in prison. It is both a gripping read and an intellectual exploration of our flawed penal system, writes Emily Pohl-Weary.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/prison-memoir-tackles-authors-failings-with-insight-and-wit/article7210697/
Ways of Going Home, Alejandro Zambra's third novel, is a literary foray into Chile's troubled past by a writer who lived during the Pinochet regime but doesn't consider himself one of its primary victims.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/13/ways-going-home-zambra-review
Eoin Colfer, the author of the bestselling Artemis Fowl books, kicks off a new series of Doctor Who stories with an adventure set in early 20th-century London and featuring the First Doctor. Here is an extract from A Big Hand for the Doctor:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/interactive/2013/jan/07/doctor-who-a-big-hand-eoin-colfer-extract
Larissa MacFarquhar writes about Hilary Mantel, her capacity to write fiction about the past and her family life. Read the in-depth profile of Mantel here:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/10/15/121015fa_fact_macfarquhar
COMMUNITY EVENTS
KIDSBOOKS ANNUAL SALE
Three day annual sale, January 17 to January 20. For complete details, call your nearest store. Information: kidsbooks.ca.
OPEN TEXT READING SERIES
Readings by Jon Paul Fiorentino and Gary Barwin. Thursday, January 17 at 11:30am, free. LB322, Capilano University, North Vancouver. More information at capilanocreativewriting.blogspot.ca.
ZSUZSI GARTNER
Zsuzsi Gartner discusses her short story collection Better Living Through Plastic Explosives. Thursday, January 17 at 7:00 PM. Christianne's Lyceum. 3696 W. 8th Ave. $20 (includes refreshments). To reserve your space call 604.733.1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com. More information at: www.christiannehayward.com.
SOMETIMES I THINK, I CAN SEE YOU
Marinao Pensotti's work places writers in public spaces and uses them as literary surveillance cameras. Performance is free and open to the public and happens simultaneously at three downtown locations. January 18-20, 25-27 and February 1-3 from 12:00-4:00pm. For complete details, visit pushfestival.ca.
HUMAN LIBRARY
Enter the VPL's Central Branch and head up to the third floor where a special PuSh Festival circulation desk will register you with your own Human Library card and offer to lend you one of thirty possible human books. January 18-20, 25-27 and February 1-3 from 12:00pm to 4:00pm. VPL Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street. For complete details, visit pushfestival.ca.
BOOK READING
Appearance by poets Gary Barwin and Garry Thomas Morse. Friday, January 18 at 8:00pm. People's Co-Op Books, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.
INSINUENDO
Launch of Miriam Clavir's first novel, Insinuendo: Murder in the Museum. Sunday, January 20 at 2:00pm. Museum of Anthropology, 6393 NW Marine Drive, UBC. More information at moa.ubc.ca.
EMPIRE OF ICE
Author Craig Bowlsby presents his new book on hockey history. Monday, January 21 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St., Vancouver. More information at www.vpl.ca.
PEN-IN-HAND POETRY/PROSE READING SERIES
Featuring readings by poets John Barton and Susan Stenson. Monday, January 21 at 7:15pm. Suggested donation: $3. Serious Coffee, Cook St. Village, 230 Cook Street, Victoria.
POETRY & POLITICS: BEYOND CHICK LIT
Linda Svendsen reads from her satirical novel Sussex Drive and Rhea Tregebov reads selections from her new poetry collection All Souls'. Tuesday, January 22 at 7:00pm, free. Central Branch, VPL, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.
LITANY: QUEER WRITERS READ
Litany is a quarterly reading series showcasing emerging and established queer writers. Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm. Free but donations welcome. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway, Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories. More information at rhizomecafe.ca.
MUSIC, POETRY & WORD WHIPS
Dennis E. Bolen will host the evening with music by singer/songwriter, Harriet Frost and poetry, inspired by the paintings by Judith Fischer in her exhibit Your People are My People. Featured poets include Timothy Shay, Mary Duffy, Diane Tucker, Heidi Greco, Renée Sarojini SakLikar and Taslim Jaffer. Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm, free. Jewish Community Centre, Gallery Room, 950 41st Ave. W. More information at pandorascollective.com.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Rachel Rose and Alan Hill with open mic. Thursday, January 24, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. In 2013 Twisted Poets will run the 2nd Wednesday and the 4th Thursday of every month. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Julie Devaney and Gary Geddes. Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, please visit http://rrs-jan2013-1.eventbrite.ca/.
RAIN CITY CHRONICLES
First evening of live storytelling and song in 2013. Storytellers and special musical guest to be announced Jan 16. Friday, January 25 at 7:00pm. Orpheum Annex, 823 Seymour St., Vancouver. More information at raincitychronicles.com.
FAMILY LITERACY DAY
Raising awareness of the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. Sunday, January 27. For events in your area, visit abclifeliteracy.ca/fld/family-literacy-day.
BRIAN BRETT
Author reads from his extensive work. Sunday, January 27 at 7:00pm, free. The Reach, 32388 Veterans Way, Abbotsford. More information at fvrl.bc.ca.
TOM ANGLEBERGER
An entertaining evening with the author of the Origami Yoda series of books. Sunday, January 27 at 7:30pm. Tickets: $5. West Point Grey United Church, 4595 8th Ave. W., Vancouver. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
Upcoming
JACQUELINE DAVIES
Author presents her new book The Candy Smash. In Vancouver: Tuesday, January 29 at 7:00pm at West Point Grey United Church. In North Vancouver: Monday, January 28 at 7:00pm at Capilano Branch of North Van District Library. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
FIRESIDE CHAT
Harrison author Diane Wild will read from and chat about her debut novel, Forsaken Trust. Wednesday, February 6 at 7:00pm, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ERIC LITWIN
Part of the Children's Arts Festival, author shares his best-selling book Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes and other musical stories. Monday, February 11 at various times. Tickets: $10. Richmond Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond. More information at childrensartsfestival.ca.
BRANDON SANDERSON
Meet Brandon Sanderson as he signs the final book in Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light. Thursday, February 14 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
UNIQUE LIVES & EXPERIENCES
A lecture series featuring four outstanding women. First lecture will feature Valerie Plame Wilson, a former CIA spy and author of a bestselling autobiography, My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal By the White House, on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30pm. Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street. For complete season details and ticket information, visit www.uniquelives.com.
UBC ALUMNI BOOK CLUB
Choose between Timothy Taylor's Stanley Park and Lynn Coady's Mean Boy at this book club in which you can meet the facilitator and fellow alumni, and learn about the book before you read it. Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10. Cecil Green Park Coach House, 6323 Cecil Green Park Rd., UBC.
W.P. KINSELLA
Canadian author will read from, and chat about, his latest book, Butterfly Winter. Thursday, February 21 at 10:30am, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Walid Bitar and Missy Marston. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more informatin and to register, visit http://rrs-feb2013.eventbrite.ca/.
GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL
Fourth annual festival featuring John Belshaw, Kevin Chong, Pauline Holdstock, Nancy Richler and many others. February 22-24, 2013. Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, Galiano Island. For complete details, visit galianoliteraryfestival.com.
OLIVER JEFFERS
Oliver Jeffers to speak at the Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable's annual Author/Illustrator Breakfast February 23 at the University Golf Club. Learn How to Catch a Star from the creator of This Moose Belongs to Me, Lost and Found, and The Incredible Book Eating Boy. It'll be a Great Paper Caper as we follow Up and Down the career of this amazing artist and writer. Early bird rates end January 31. For registration and information, go to www.vclr.ca.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Book News Vol. 7 No. 48
BOOK NEWS
Incite: Mind-altering, metamorphic, twice-monthly!
Join us on Wednesday, January 16 as three celebrated authors explore the ideas behind their fascinating new books.
Tim Bowling's latest novel, The Tinsmith, is set during the bloodiest single-day battle in American history. Siege 13 is Tamas Dobozy's collection of thirteen linked stories set during the siege of Budapest, one of the fiercest battles of the Second World War. Joining them is Candace Savage, whose new memoir, history and travelogue, A Geography of Blood, is a journey through the eloquent landscape of southwestern Saskatchewan. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite
Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library, sponsored by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association.
SPECIAL EVENT
The Vancouver Writers Fest presents its first special event of 2013, an evening with award-winning Canadian author, journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong. Armstrong is the author of three previous books, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. Her new book is Ascent of Women.
7:30 pm, Monday, March 25
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Burrard at Nelson
FESTIVALS
PuSh Festival January 15–February 3
This year PuSh presents two very different performances that take Shakespeare's King Lear as their inspiration.
Berlin-based performance collective She She Pop presents Testament—a frank, tender, and brutally honest deconstruction of King Lear. Chosen in 2011 as one of Germany’s top ten productions for the prestigious Berliner Theatertreffen.
http://pushfestival.ca/shows/testament/
Contemporary Legend Theater's acclaimed production of King Lear fuses traditional Peking Opera with Shakespeare's classic tale of great power and cruel deception.
http://pushfestival.ca/shows/king-lear/
PuSh is offering a special discount for Book News subscribers-use the code "Bard" to receive $5 off both shows. Tickets at Tickets Tonight, http://www.ticketstonight.ca/.
AWARDS & LISTS
The 2012 Costa book awards include two firsts: a graphic work has been named as the winner of the biography section; and women swept the board in the five award categories. These include Mary Talbot, Hilary Mantel, Francesca Segal, Kathleen Jamie, and Sally Gardner.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/02/costa-awards-graphic-novel-biography
Noreen Taylor, head of the Charles Taylor Foundation, announced this week the shortlist for the $25,000 Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2013/01/09/charles-taylor-prize.html
Explore this year's shortlisted books and authors and listen to CBC interviews.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/the-charles-taylor-prize-2013-shortlist.html
YOUNG READERS
Mr. Zinger's Hat is a wonderful story about the shared process of creating... a story, writes Saeyong Kim. Leo is bored with playing catch with the brick wall in his courtyard–until one day his ball knocks the hat off the head of Mr. Zinger, who "made up stories…published in magazines and in books, too." Mr. Zinger invites Leo to sit with him and look into his hat to see what story is inside trying to get out. For ages 6 to 9.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol19/no5/mrzingershat.html
Sally Gardner's Maggot Moon, an unusual teen tale of a 15-year-old dyslexic boy living in a violent, dystopian 1950s England, is this year's Costa children's award winner. Gardner herself is dyslexic. Here is an excerpt from Maggot Moon:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/interactive/2013/jan/02/maggot-moon-sally-gardner-extract
Few young adult novels are tragedies, but The Lynching of Louie Sam is the exception, writes Ruth Latta. Elizabeth Stewart has taken as subject matter two terrible murders that really happened. No happy ending is possible, only an uneasy closure in which her central character, 15-year-old George Gillies, emerges sadder and wiser. This compelling work acknowledges the sophistication of today's teenagers who are well aware of wrongdoing in the world. For grades 7 and up; for ages 12 and up.
http://umanitoba.ca/cm/vol19/no4/thelynchingoflouiesam.html
NEWS & FEATURES
Roald Dahl was many things-a twisted literary genius, a bestselling author and a creator of enduring characters. But did he pay close attention to the realities of science and nature? No, he did not. His lack of adherence to the facts of life has now been uncovered by a group of Leicester University physics students. It would have taken 2.5m seagulls to lift James's giant peach into the air–not 501, as the children's author had it, find the students.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/04/roald-dahl-scientists-giant-peach
The Swedish Academy keeps secret for 50 years all information about the authors nominated for the Nobel. The names of 66 authors were put forward for the 1962 prize for literature, with the shortlist consisting of Steinbeck, Graves, Durrell, French dramatist Jean Anouilh and Danish author Karen Blixen. Steinbeck won the Nobel prize. The newly declassified documents show he was actually chosen as the best of a bad lot.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/03/swedish-academy-controversy-steinbeck-nobel
Ambitious young New York writers and editors are shaking up the publishing world, writing for one another and creating new publications including Triple Canopy, a digital journal of arts and culture, and the radical online magazine, the New Inquiry. The newest title is the American Reader, which has already been hailed as "the New Yorker's younger, cooler sister".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/06/new-york-literary-magazines-publishing
Fifty years after he first materialized on British television screens, Doctor Who is set to appear in a series of new short stories to be written by a series of well-known children's authors, with each story written by a different children's author. Eoin Colfer is the first of eleven authors to publish a Doctor Who short story to mark the Time Lord's 50th anniversary. Puffin is publishing the series in conjunction with BBC Worldwide.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/07/doctor-who-ebooks-eoin-colfer
Dennis Lehane continues to seek the return of Tessa, his lost rescue beagle, and reiterates his offer of a spot in his next book as a reward. Lehane says he only cares about a happy ending.
http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Dennis-Lehane-s-novel-idea-for-finding-dog-4169067.php
BOOKS & WRITERS
Published posthumously after Maeve Binchy's death last July, A Week in Winter reads almost like a short story collection. It's a technique the veteran Irish novelist has used: arranging the stories of a handful of characters around a unifying event, in this case the opening of a resort in a small town on Ireland's windswept Atlantic coast. Binchy's insight into human nature is what holds Winter together, writes Anne Sutherland.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Maeve+Binchy+last+book+delightful+gift/7700763/story.html
The celebrated American poet Sharon Olds speaks in an interview of her abusive childhood, the end of her marriage and writing about pain. She has always written about her life. Still, when her marriage ended, she told her adult children she would not publish anything about the divorce for 10 years. Asked "What do you want most from poetry?" Olds responds: "I want a poem to be useful".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/06/sharon-olds-interview-stags-leap
Ben Fountain's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk: A Novel, hailed as an instant classic of war literature, is one of an emerging wave of American fiction tackling the impact, legacy and experience of the Iraq war. A short story collection, written by veterans, and Lea Carpenter's Eleven Days, will be added to the growing body of work next year, all helping Americans understand the war, says Kevin Powers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/03/iraq-fiction-us-military-war
In his review of George Saunders' Tenth of December, Hari Kunzru writes that Saunders' fictions often present powerless characters trapped in a sort of chirpy, totalitarian Disneyland. In so doing, they give a more acute sense of what it feels like to live and work in post-industrial, post-crash western economies than much journalism.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/03/tenth-of-december-george-saunders-review
Here in the West we don't receive many English-language novels by Pakistani women authors, so when we do we should pay attention, writes Marcia Kaye, especially when a novel is set in the Swat Valley, often in the news for all the wrong reasons. This is the stunningly beautiful but staggeringly frustrating region where the Taliban shot 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai in October for promoting education for girls. Thinner Than Skin is the fourth novel from Uzma Aslam Khan, and in the running for the Man Asian Literary Prize.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1309792--thinner-than-skin-by-uzma-aslam-khan
Given, Susan Musgrave's sequel to Cargo of Orchids, oozes with her beautiful but terrifying vision of humanity, writes M.A.C. Farrant. Sex, sorrow and death are Musgrave's beat, writes Farrant, adding that she writes about these subjects with warmth, grief and outrageous humour in her new book. Somehow, miraculously, love in this world survives and even triumphs, says Farrant.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Susan+Musgrave+dark+vision+soothed+humour/7776038/story.html
Jeff VanderMeer writes that even within the wild and tangled menagerie that comprises our literary landscape, Joyce Carol Oates is a startling creature, possessed of a speed and talent that hints at the uncanny. Oates's The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares is a virtuoso performance in a tale of teens gone bad, says VanderMeer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/27/corn-maiden-joyce-carol-oates-review?CMP=EMCNEWEML1355
There is only one thing wrong with Ayana Mathis's debut novel, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie: it ends, says Monique Polak. Hattie Shepherd and her family, beginning in 1925, have fled the Jim Crow laws of the U.S. South for a better life in Philadelphia. Although many sad things will happen in this novel, this is not a sad book, says Polak. Rather, it glistens with a quiet, hopeful beauty.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Twelve+Tribes+Hattie+vivid+history+family+black+America/7776295/story.html
I have a friend, writes James Wood, who became so obsessed by the Norwegian novelist Per Petterson's I Curse the River of Time that he copied it out, word for word—perhaps hoping this might unlock the secrets of that mysterious book. When he told me this, I had not read anything by Petterson. But how could anyone resist such a recommendation? As soon as I opened "I Curse the River of Time", I understood the dementing lure.
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2012/12/10/121210crat_atlarge_wood#ixzz2HQopleGS
Hard Twisted, C. Joseph Greaves' tale of Okie noir, grew out of the author's accidental discovery of two human skulls in a Utah canyon, writes Jenny Hendrix. The discovery provoked an investigation into the story of the Depression-era drifter Clint Palmer and Lucile (Lottie) Garrett, the 13-year-old girl who became his mistress and companion. The novel reads like a kind of Dust Bowl "Lolita" with prose borrowed from the likes of Cormac McCarthy.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-joseph-greaves-20130106,0,5396948.story
Two fellas walk into a bar... That might seem like the set-up to a joke, but it's the premise of Two Pints, the new and hilarious book from Booker Prize-winning Irish writer Roddy Doyle, writes Robert J. Wiersema. In fact, Doyle has been working on The Guts, a sequel to the Barrytown Trilogy, and revisiting The Commitments, working on a musical adaptation of the novel.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Interview+Irish+author+Roddy+Doyle+hands+never+idle/7753069/story.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
EXTRACT: THE PIPELINE WARS
Launch of Extract: The Pipeline Wars, Vol. 1 Enbridge. Featured speakers: Tzeporah Berman, Carrie Saxifrage, Andrew S. Wright. Saturday, January 12 at 6:30pm. Ceili's Irish Pub and Bar, 670 Smithe St., Vancouver. More information and tickets at vanobserver.eventbrite.com.
WOMEN OF THE WORLD POETRY SLAM
Top 8 female poets compete for the chance to be sent to Minneapolis for the WOWps. Featuring Vancouver's poet laureate Evelyn Lau. Saturday, January 12 at 8:00p. Cost: $6-10 sliding scale. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
THE DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Presenting Adrienne Rich,(read by Betsy Warland) Elizabeth Bishop (Martha Roth); Kenneth Rexroth (Dennis Bolen); Anna Akhmatova (Diane Tucker); and a special introduction by his son, Brian Donat, to the poetry readings of British film and theatre actor, Robert Donat. Sunday, January 13 at 3:00pm. Admission by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia. For more details, visit deadpoetslive.com.
SPOKEN INK
Reading by poet Rhea Tregebov from her latest collection, All Souls'. Tuesday, January 15 at 8:00pm. La Fontana Caffe, 101-3701 East Hastings, Burnaby. For more information, email bwscafe@gmail.com.
LUNCH POEMS @ SFU
Featuring Elizabeth Bachinski and Daniel Zomperelli. Wednesday, January 16 at 12:00 noon., free. Teck Gallery, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings, Vancouver.
PLAY CHTHONICS
Readings by Jamie Reid and W.H. New. Wednesday, January 16 at 5:00pm. Piano Lounge, Green College, UBC. More information at greencollege.ubc.ca.
IRISH POETRY NIGHT
Jack Sixsmith kicks off an evening dedicated to his favourite Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh. Wednesday, January 16 at 7:30pm. Slainte by the Pier, 15057 Marine Dr., White Rock.
CLAIRE EAMER
Appearance by YA author of The World in Your Lunchbox and Lizards in the Sky. Thursday, January 17 at 1:00pm. Fleetwood Library, 15996 84 Ave., Surrey. For more information and to register, phone 604-598-7347.
ZSUZSI GARTNER
Zsuzsi Gartner discusses her short story collection Better Living Through Plastic Explosives. Thursday, January 17 at 7:00 PM. Christianne's Lyceum. 3696 W. 8th Ave. $20 (includes refreshments). To reserve your space call 604.733.1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com. More information at: www.christiannehayward.com.
BOOK READING
Appearance by poets Gary Barwin and Garry Thomas Morse. Friday, January 18 at 8:00pm. People's Co-Op Books, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.
INSINUENDO
Launch of Miriam Clavir's virst novel, Insinuendo: Murder in the Museum. Sunday, January 20 at 2:00pm. Museum of Anthropology, 6393 NW Marine Drive, UBC. More information at moa.ubc.ca.
EMPIRE OF ICE
Author Craig Bowlsby presents his new book on hockey history. Monday, January 21 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St., Vancouver. More information at www.vpl.ca.
Upcoming
POETRY & POLITICS: BEYOND CHICK LIT
Linda Svendsen reads from her satirical novel Sussex Drive and Rhea Tregebov reads selections from her new poetry collection All Souls'. Tuesday, January 22 at 7:00pm, free. Central Branch, VPL, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.
LITANY: QUEER WRITERS READ
Litany is a quarterly reading series showcasing emerging and established queer writers. Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm. Free but donations welcome. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway, Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories. More information at rhizomecafe.ca.
MUSIC, POETRY & WORD WHIPS
Dennis E. Bolen will host the evening with music by singer/songwriter, Harriet Frost and poetry, inspired by the paintings by Judith Fischer in her exhibit Your People are My People. Featured poets include Timothy Shay, Mary Duffy, Diane Tucker, Heidi Greco, Renée Sarojini SakLikar and Taslim Jaffer. Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm, free. Jewish Community Centre, Gallery Room, 950 41st Ave. W. More information at pandorascollective.com.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Julie Devaney and Gary Geddes. Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, please visit http://rrs-jan2013-1.eventbrite.ca/.
RAIN CITY CHRONICLES
First evening of live storytelling and song in 2013. Storytellers and special musical guest to be announced Jan 16. Friday, January 25 at 7:00pm. Orpheum Annex, 823 Seymour St., Vancouver. More information at raincitychronicles.com.
FAMILY LITERACY DAY
Raising awareness of the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. Sunday, January 27. For events in your area, visit abclifeliteracy.ca/fld/family-literacy-day.
BRIAN BRETT
Author reads from his extensive work. Sunday, January 27 at 7:00pm, free. The Reach, 32388 Veterans Way, Abbotsford. More information at fvrl.bc.ca.
JACQUELINE DAVIES
Author presents her new book The Candy Smash. In Vancouver: Tuesday, January 29 at 7:00pm at West Point Grey United Church. In North Vancouver: Monday, January 28 at 7:00pm at Capilano Branch of North Van District Library. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
FIRESIDE CHAT
Harrison author Diane Wild will read from and chat about her debut novel, Forsaken Trust. Wednesday, February 6 at 7:00pm, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
BRANDON SANDERSON
Meet Brandon Sanderson as he signs the final book in Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light. Thursday, February 14 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
UNIQUE LIVES & EXPERIENCES
A lecture series featuring four outstanding women. First lecture will feature Valerie Plame Wilson, a former CIA spy and author of a bestselling autobiography, My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal By the White House, on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30pm. Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street. For complete season details and ticket information, visit www.uniquelives.com.
UBC ALUMNI BOOK CLUB
Choose between Timothy Taylor's Stanley Park and Lynn Coady's Mean Boy at this book club in which you can meet the facilitator and fellow alumni, and learn about the book before you read it. Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10. Cecil Green Park Coach House, 6323 Cecil Green Park Rd., UBC.
W.P. KINSELLA
Canadian author will read from, and chat about, his latest book, Butterfly Winter. Thursday, February 21 at 10:30am, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Walid Bitar and Missy Marston. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more informatin and to register, visit http://rrs-feb2013.eventbrite.ca/.
GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL
Fourth annual festival featuring John Belshaw, Kevin Chong, Pauline Holdstock, Nancy Richler and many others. February 22-24, 2013. Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, Galiano Island. For complete details, visit galianoliteraryfestival.com.
Incite: Mind-altering, metamorphic, twice-monthly!
Join us on Wednesday, January 16 as three celebrated authors explore the ideas behind their fascinating new books.
Tim Bowling's latest novel, The Tinsmith, is set during the bloodiest single-day battle in American history. Siege 13 is Tamas Dobozy's collection of thirteen linked stories set during the siege of Budapest, one of the fiercest battles of the Second World War. Joining them is Candace Savage, whose new memoir, history and travelogue, A Geography of Blood, is a journey through the eloquent landscape of southwestern Saskatchewan. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite
Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library, sponsored by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association.
SPECIAL EVENT
The Vancouver Writers Fest presents its first special event of 2013, an evening with award-winning Canadian author, journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong. Armstrong is the author of three previous books, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. Her new book is Ascent of Women.
7:30 pm, Monday, March 25
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Burrard at Nelson
FESTIVALS
PuSh Festival January 15–February 3
This year PuSh presents two very different performances that take Shakespeare's King Lear as their inspiration.
Berlin-based performance collective She She Pop presents Testament—a frank, tender, and brutally honest deconstruction of King Lear. Chosen in 2011 as one of Germany’s top ten productions for the prestigious Berliner Theatertreffen.
http://pushfestival.ca/shows/testament/
Contemporary Legend Theater's acclaimed production of King Lear fuses traditional Peking Opera with Shakespeare's classic tale of great power and cruel deception.
http://pushfestival.ca/shows/king-lear/
PuSh is offering a special discount for Book News subscribers-use the code "Bard" to receive $5 off both shows. Tickets at Tickets Tonight, http://www.ticketstonight.ca/.
AWARDS & LISTS
The 2012 Costa book awards include two firsts: a graphic work has been named as the winner of the biography section; and women swept the board in the five award categories. These include Mary Talbot, Hilary Mantel, Francesca Segal, Kathleen Jamie, and Sally Gardner.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/02/costa-awards-graphic-novel-biography
Noreen Taylor, head of the Charles Taylor Foundation, announced this week the shortlist for the $25,000 Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2013/01/09/charles-taylor-prize.html
Explore this year's shortlisted books and authors and listen to CBC interviews.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/the-charles-taylor-prize-2013-shortlist.html
YOUNG READERS
Mr. Zinger's Hat is a wonderful story about the shared process of creating... a story, writes Saeyong Kim. Leo is bored with playing catch with the brick wall in his courtyard–until one day his ball knocks the hat off the head of Mr. Zinger, who "made up stories…published in magazines and in books, too." Mr. Zinger invites Leo to sit with him and look into his hat to see what story is inside trying to get out. For ages 6 to 9.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol19/no5/mrzingershat.html
Sally Gardner's Maggot Moon, an unusual teen tale of a 15-year-old dyslexic boy living in a violent, dystopian 1950s England, is this year's Costa children's award winner. Gardner herself is dyslexic. Here is an excerpt from Maggot Moon:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/interactive/2013/jan/02/maggot-moon-sally-gardner-extract
Few young adult novels are tragedies, but The Lynching of Louie Sam is the exception, writes Ruth Latta. Elizabeth Stewart has taken as subject matter two terrible murders that really happened. No happy ending is possible, only an uneasy closure in which her central character, 15-year-old George Gillies, emerges sadder and wiser. This compelling work acknowledges the sophistication of today's teenagers who are well aware of wrongdoing in the world. For grades 7 and up; for ages 12 and up.
http://umanitoba.ca/cm/vol19/no4/thelynchingoflouiesam.html
NEWS & FEATURES
Roald Dahl was many things-a twisted literary genius, a bestselling author and a creator of enduring characters. But did he pay close attention to the realities of science and nature? No, he did not. His lack of adherence to the facts of life has now been uncovered by a group of Leicester University physics students. It would have taken 2.5m seagulls to lift James's giant peach into the air–not 501, as the children's author had it, find the students.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/04/roald-dahl-scientists-giant-peach
The Swedish Academy keeps secret for 50 years all information about the authors nominated for the Nobel. The names of 66 authors were put forward for the 1962 prize for literature, with the shortlist consisting of Steinbeck, Graves, Durrell, French dramatist Jean Anouilh and Danish author Karen Blixen. Steinbeck won the Nobel prize. The newly declassified documents show he was actually chosen as the best of a bad lot.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/03/swedish-academy-controversy-steinbeck-nobel
Ambitious young New York writers and editors are shaking up the publishing world, writing for one another and creating new publications including Triple Canopy, a digital journal of arts and culture, and the radical online magazine, the New Inquiry. The newest title is the American Reader, which has already been hailed as "the New Yorker's younger, cooler sister".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/06/new-york-literary-magazines-publishing
Fifty years after he first materialized on British television screens, Doctor Who is set to appear in a series of new short stories to be written by a series of well-known children's authors, with each story written by a different children's author. Eoin Colfer is the first of eleven authors to publish a Doctor Who short story to mark the Time Lord's 50th anniversary. Puffin is publishing the series in conjunction with BBC Worldwide.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/07/doctor-who-ebooks-eoin-colfer
Dennis Lehane continues to seek the return of Tessa, his lost rescue beagle, and reiterates his offer of a spot in his next book as a reward. Lehane says he only cares about a happy ending.
http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Dennis-Lehane-s-novel-idea-for-finding-dog-4169067.php
BOOKS & WRITERS
Published posthumously after Maeve Binchy's death last July, A Week in Winter reads almost like a short story collection. It's a technique the veteran Irish novelist has used: arranging the stories of a handful of characters around a unifying event, in this case the opening of a resort in a small town on Ireland's windswept Atlantic coast. Binchy's insight into human nature is what holds Winter together, writes Anne Sutherland.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Maeve+Binchy+last+book+delightful+gift/7700763/story.html
The celebrated American poet Sharon Olds speaks in an interview of her abusive childhood, the end of her marriage and writing about pain. She has always written about her life. Still, when her marriage ended, she told her adult children she would not publish anything about the divorce for 10 years. Asked "What do you want most from poetry?" Olds responds: "I want a poem to be useful".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/06/sharon-olds-interview-stags-leap
Ben Fountain's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk: A Novel, hailed as an instant classic of war literature, is one of an emerging wave of American fiction tackling the impact, legacy and experience of the Iraq war. A short story collection, written by veterans, and Lea Carpenter's Eleven Days, will be added to the growing body of work next year, all helping Americans understand the war, says Kevin Powers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/03/iraq-fiction-us-military-war
In his review of George Saunders' Tenth of December, Hari Kunzru writes that Saunders' fictions often present powerless characters trapped in a sort of chirpy, totalitarian Disneyland. In so doing, they give a more acute sense of what it feels like to live and work in post-industrial, post-crash western economies than much journalism.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/03/tenth-of-december-george-saunders-review
Here in the West we don't receive many English-language novels by Pakistani women authors, so when we do we should pay attention, writes Marcia Kaye, especially when a novel is set in the Swat Valley, often in the news for all the wrong reasons. This is the stunningly beautiful but staggeringly frustrating region where the Taliban shot 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai in October for promoting education for girls. Thinner Than Skin is the fourth novel from Uzma Aslam Khan, and in the running for the Man Asian Literary Prize.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1309792--thinner-than-skin-by-uzma-aslam-khan
Given, Susan Musgrave's sequel to Cargo of Orchids, oozes with her beautiful but terrifying vision of humanity, writes M.A.C. Farrant. Sex, sorrow and death are Musgrave's beat, writes Farrant, adding that she writes about these subjects with warmth, grief and outrageous humour in her new book. Somehow, miraculously, love in this world survives and even triumphs, says Farrant.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Susan+Musgrave+dark+vision+soothed+humour/7776038/story.html
Jeff VanderMeer writes that even within the wild and tangled menagerie that comprises our literary landscape, Joyce Carol Oates is a startling creature, possessed of a speed and talent that hints at the uncanny. Oates's The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares is a virtuoso performance in a tale of teens gone bad, says VanderMeer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/27/corn-maiden-joyce-carol-oates-review?CMP=EMCNEWEML1355
There is only one thing wrong with Ayana Mathis's debut novel, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie: it ends, says Monique Polak. Hattie Shepherd and her family, beginning in 1925, have fled the Jim Crow laws of the U.S. South for a better life in Philadelphia. Although many sad things will happen in this novel, this is not a sad book, says Polak. Rather, it glistens with a quiet, hopeful beauty.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Twelve+Tribes+Hattie+vivid+history+family+black+America/7776295/story.html
I have a friend, writes James Wood, who became so obsessed by the Norwegian novelist Per Petterson's I Curse the River of Time that he copied it out, word for word—perhaps hoping this might unlock the secrets of that mysterious book. When he told me this, I had not read anything by Petterson. But how could anyone resist such a recommendation? As soon as I opened "I Curse the River of Time", I understood the dementing lure.
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2012/12/10/121210crat_atlarge_wood#ixzz2HQopleGS
Hard Twisted, C. Joseph Greaves' tale of Okie noir, grew out of the author's accidental discovery of two human skulls in a Utah canyon, writes Jenny Hendrix. The discovery provoked an investigation into the story of the Depression-era drifter Clint Palmer and Lucile (Lottie) Garrett, the 13-year-old girl who became his mistress and companion. The novel reads like a kind of Dust Bowl "Lolita" with prose borrowed from the likes of Cormac McCarthy.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-joseph-greaves-20130106,0,5396948.story
Two fellas walk into a bar... That might seem like the set-up to a joke, but it's the premise of Two Pints, the new and hilarious book from Booker Prize-winning Irish writer Roddy Doyle, writes Robert J. Wiersema. In fact, Doyle has been working on The Guts, a sequel to the Barrytown Trilogy, and revisiting The Commitments, working on a musical adaptation of the novel.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Interview+Irish+author+Roddy+Doyle+hands+never+idle/7753069/story.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
EXTRACT: THE PIPELINE WARS
Launch of Extract: The Pipeline Wars, Vol. 1 Enbridge. Featured speakers: Tzeporah Berman, Carrie Saxifrage, Andrew S. Wright. Saturday, January 12 at 6:30pm. Ceili's Irish Pub and Bar, 670 Smithe St., Vancouver. More information and tickets at vanobserver.eventbrite.com.
WOMEN OF THE WORLD POETRY SLAM
Top 8 female poets compete for the chance to be sent to Minneapolis for the WOWps. Featuring Vancouver's poet laureate Evelyn Lau. Saturday, January 12 at 8:00p. Cost: $6-10 sliding scale. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
THE DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Presenting Adrienne Rich,(read by Betsy Warland) Elizabeth Bishop (Martha Roth); Kenneth Rexroth (Dennis Bolen); Anna Akhmatova (Diane Tucker); and a special introduction by his son, Brian Donat, to the poetry readings of British film and theatre actor, Robert Donat. Sunday, January 13 at 3:00pm. Admission by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia. For more details, visit deadpoetslive.com.
SPOKEN INK
Reading by poet Rhea Tregebov from her latest collection, All Souls'. Tuesday, January 15 at 8:00pm. La Fontana Caffe, 101-3701 East Hastings, Burnaby. For more information, email bwscafe@gmail.com.
LUNCH POEMS @ SFU
Featuring Elizabeth Bachinski and Daniel Zomperelli. Wednesday, January 16 at 12:00 noon., free. Teck Gallery, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings, Vancouver.
PLAY CHTHONICS
Readings by Jamie Reid and W.H. New. Wednesday, January 16 at 5:00pm. Piano Lounge, Green College, UBC. More information at greencollege.ubc.ca.
IRISH POETRY NIGHT
Jack Sixsmith kicks off an evening dedicated to his favourite Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh. Wednesday, January 16 at 7:30pm. Slainte by the Pier, 15057 Marine Dr., White Rock.
CLAIRE EAMER
Appearance by YA author of The World in Your Lunchbox and Lizards in the Sky. Thursday, January 17 at 1:00pm. Fleetwood Library, 15996 84 Ave., Surrey. For more information and to register, phone 604-598-7347.
ZSUZSI GARTNER
Zsuzsi Gartner discusses her short story collection Better Living Through Plastic Explosives. Thursday, January 17 at 7:00 PM. Christianne's Lyceum. 3696 W. 8th Ave. $20 (includes refreshments). To reserve your space call 604.733.1356 or email lyceum@christiannehayward.com. More information at: www.christiannehayward.com.
BOOK READING
Appearance by poets Gary Barwin and Garry Thomas Morse. Friday, January 18 at 8:00pm. People's Co-Op Books, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.
INSINUENDO
Launch of Miriam Clavir's virst novel, Insinuendo: Murder in the Museum. Sunday, January 20 at 2:00pm. Museum of Anthropology, 6393 NW Marine Drive, UBC. More information at moa.ubc.ca.
EMPIRE OF ICE
Author Craig Bowlsby presents his new book on hockey history. Monday, January 21 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St., Vancouver. More information at www.vpl.ca.
Upcoming
POETRY & POLITICS: BEYOND CHICK LIT
Linda Svendsen reads from her satirical novel Sussex Drive and Rhea Tregebov reads selections from her new poetry collection All Souls'. Tuesday, January 22 at 7:00pm, free. Central Branch, VPL, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.
LITANY: QUEER WRITERS READ
Litany is a quarterly reading series showcasing emerging and established queer writers. Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm. Free but donations welcome. Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway, Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories. More information at rhizomecafe.ca.
MUSIC, POETRY & WORD WHIPS
Dennis E. Bolen will host the evening with music by singer/songwriter, Harriet Frost and poetry, inspired by the paintings by Judith Fischer in her exhibit Your People are My People. Featured poets include Timothy Shay, Mary Duffy, Diane Tucker, Heidi Greco, Renée Sarojini SakLikar and Taslim Jaffer. Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm, free. Jewish Community Centre, Gallery Room, 950 41st Ave. W. More information at pandorascollective.com.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Julie Devaney and Gary Geddes. Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, please visit http://rrs-jan2013-1.eventbrite.ca/.
RAIN CITY CHRONICLES
First evening of live storytelling and song in 2013. Storytellers and special musical guest to be announced Jan 16. Friday, January 25 at 7:00pm. Orpheum Annex, 823 Seymour St., Vancouver. More information at raincitychronicles.com.
FAMILY LITERACY DAY
Raising awareness of the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. Sunday, January 27. For events in your area, visit abclifeliteracy.ca/fld/family-literacy-day.
BRIAN BRETT
Author reads from his extensive work. Sunday, January 27 at 7:00pm, free. The Reach, 32388 Veterans Way, Abbotsford. More information at fvrl.bc.ca.
JACQUELINE DAVIES
Author presents her new book The Candy Smash. In Vancouver: Tuesday, January 29 at 7:00pm at West Point Grey United Church. In North Vancouver: Monday, January 28 at 7:00pm at Capilano Branch of North Van District Library. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
FIRESIDE CHAT
Harrison author Diane Wild will read from and chat about her debut novel, Forsaken Trust. Wednesday, February 6 at 7:00pm, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
BRANDON SANDERSON
Meet Brandon Sanderson as he signs the final book in Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light. Thursday, February 14 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
UNIQUE LIVES & EXPERIENCES
A lecture series featuring four outstanding women. First lecture will feature Valerie Plame Wilson, a former CIA spy and author of a bestselling autobiography, My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal By the White House, on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30pm. Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street. For complete season details and ticket information, visit www.uniquelives.com.
UBC ALUMNI BOOK CLUB
Choose between Timothy Taylor's Stanley Park and Lynn Coady's Mean Boy at this book club in which you can meet the facilitator and fellow alumni, and learn about the book before you read it. Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10. Cecil Green Park Coach House, 6323 Cecil Green Park Rd., UBC.
W.P. KINSELLA
Canadian author will read from, and chat about, his latest book, Butterfly Winter. Thursday, February 21 at 10:30am, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Walid Bitar and Missy Marston. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more informatin and to register, visit http://rrs-feb2013.eventbrite.ca/.
GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL
Fourth annual festival featuring John Belshaw, Kevin Chong, Pauline Holdstock, Nancy Richler and many others. February 22-24, 2013. Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, Galiano Island. For complete details, visit galianoliteraryfestival.com.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Book News Vol. 7 No. 47
BOOK NEWS
Incite
Some people start the New Year with a fast. We suggest the opposite. Indulge, if only in your passion for fine literature. Don’t miss the first Incite event of 2013. Join us on Wednesday, January 16th for a night of readings from award-winning authors Tim Bowling (five-time Alberta Book Award winner), Tamas Dobozy (Rogers Writers' Trust Award for Fiction 2012) and Candace Savage (Hilary Weston Prize for Non-Fiction 2012).Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite
AWARDS & LISTS
Candace Savage's A Geography of Blood: Unearthing Memory from a Prairie Landscape was recently announced as one of the shortlisted titles for the 2013 BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, one of the largest non-fiction book prizes in the country. The other shortlisted books are noted here:
http://www.bcachievement.com/nonfiction/finalists.php
Canadian Women in the Literary Arts, an organization mandated to encourage more book reviews by women, has appointed the organization's first resident critic, Montreal poet Sue Sinclair.
http://www.vancouversun.com/search/search.html?q=CWILA+appoints+first+resident+critic
Hilary Mantel’s Bring up the Bodies has won the Costa best novel award and is eligible for book of the year. The Costa, formerly known as the Whitbread Award, chooses the best books written in the U.K. or Ireland in the past year. Female authors dominated all the categories this year and for the first time, a graphic novel took the biography category.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2013/01/02/costa-book-award.html
YOUNG READERS
Ellen Bryan Obed's Twelve Kinds of Ice is a beautiful slim volume about a rural family's experiences as winter arrives and ice forms on fields and backyard rinks. Aimed by the publisher at ages 6 to 9, I believe this book has much wider appeal, since it is bound to revive some nostalgia in older readers as well as raise a sense of wonder in the young ones, writes Bernie Goedhart. For all ages.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+Twelve+Kinds+paean+joys+winter/7734369/story.html
Jo Nesbø, Norwegian author of detective novels, has written Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder: Who Cut the Cheese? in his first series for children. Nilly and Lisa solve the mystery of the moon chameleons and alien creatures lurking in Oslo's sewer system. Nesbø is adept at humour and satire, using the Norovision Choral Throwdown (think Norway's equivalent of American Idol) as a crucial plot element, writes Bernie Goedhart. For ages 8 to 12.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Kids+Stuff+stocking+with+Capt+Underpants/7667119/story.html#ixzz2G8NUH2PU
Who Could That Be at This Hour? Is the first of a new four-volume Lemony Snicket series: All the Wrong Questions. Snicket, almost 13, is apprenticed to S. Theodora Markson, a none-too-clever investigator hired to recover a statue of the Bombinating Beast and to bring it to its rightful owner. Right from the start, things are not as they appear to be. Age 9 and up.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Kids+Lemony+Snicket/7753619/story.html#ixzz2GaIN1jLs
NEWS & FEATURES
Salman Rushdie defends his right to call Mo Yan, the literature laureate, a 'patsy'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/17/salman-rushdie-mo-yan-pankaj-mishra
Perry Link's argument, Why We Should Criticize Mo Yan can be found in the most recent issue of the New York Review of Books.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/dec/24/why-criticize-mo-yan/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nybooks+%28The+New+York+Review+of+Books%29
Anne of Green Gables is one of the 50 most influential novels in China this year, according to the country's national publishers association. Lucy Maud Montgomery's classic tale of turn of the 20th century P.E.I. is still in the running for the top prize.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/12/20/pei-anne-green-gables-china-influential-584.html
The proprietor of a Twitter page identifying itself as the official account of Philip Roth could well be Nathan Zuckerman, his alter ego from novels like The Ghost Writer, but “that is not Mr. Roth posting on Twitter,” said a press representative for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which publishes Mr. Roth's books.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/author-of-twitter-account-isnt-philip-roth-publisher-says/
A new Norwegian translation of the Bible is one of the top 15 bestsellers in the country, jostling for position with the likes of EL James, Jo Nesbø, Ken Follett and Per Petterson. It has spent more time in the charts than both Fifty Shades of Grey and Justin Bieber's autobiography, says Alison Flood.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/20/bible-outsells-50-shades-of-grey
Philip Pullman focuses on the craft of storytelling, its rhythms and dramatic timing, in his translation of 'Fairy Tales From the Brothers Grimm'. The craft of storytelling, and not the deeper mystery of these stories, informs Pullman's new translation of Fairy Tales From the Brothers Grimm, retold with an ear for rhythm and dramatic timing.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-philip-pullman-20121202,0,7292897.story
This year marks the 50th anniversary of The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath's only novel—a great opportunity to revisit it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/01/sylviaplath
Jesse Emspak, a longtime reader of science fiction, has examined how the visions of such writers as Arthur C. Clark and Ray Bradbury, eventually become real.
http://news.discovery.com/tech/2012-science-fiction-became-fact-121226.html
Michigan's Lake Superior State University has issued its list of "Words to be Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness" for the 38th year in a row. LSSU releases its list of banished words every New Year's Eve. “Fiscal cliff” topped the 38th annual List of Words to Be Banished. “This phrase received the most nominations this year,” according to Lake Superior State University. The complete list is here:
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/spoiler_alert_banished_words_list_of_2013_20121231/?ln
A seasoned visitor to the World of Sendak was accustomed to hearing its resident magician relate extraordinary events with such fluency and fervency that unless the story involved a German-speaking bat, its mere improbability never seemed a reliable standard by which to assess whether or not it had actually happened.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/22/maurice-sendak-obituary-tony-kushner
Author Dennis Lehane is offering a reward for the person who finds his family's beloved missing beagle. Lehane says he'll name a character in his next book after whoever finds Tessa, who disappeared from the family's home in Brookline, Mass., Christmas week.
http://news.yahoo.com/lehane-ill-name-character-finds-dog-165533951.html
The World Is Moving Around Me, Dany Laferrière's account of living through the cataclysmic 2010 earthquake in Haiti, will be published in English in early January, 2013. The French account was published in March, 2010.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Turning+page+2013/7753582/story.html#ixzz2GaFqMWO6
The Star lists the 100 best-selling books of 2012 here:
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1307894--100-bestselling-books-of-2012
Some people travel the US to see the sights and bright lights. Simon Goode, on the other hand, roamed the country to explore the joys of papermaking, typesetting and bookbinding. "The trip was like a holy grail," he said, rhapsodizing over three months traveling on a mission that has helped result in Britain's first ever centre for a craft that is in danger of disappearing: book arts.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2013/jan/01/new-chapter-centre-book-arts
BOOKS & WRITERS
In Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child, the long nights' darkness of Alaskan winter brings both fear and comfort, writes Keren Levy. The coming of each spring heralds the loss of the snow child, little by little, but in the last moments of the novel, light and darkness combine in a moment of hope.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/dec/27/darkness-the-snow-child-eowyn-ivey
Kate Braid's new memoir Journeywoman: Swinging a Hammer in a Man's World recounts her tumultuous love affair with construction work. Here is an excerpt:
http://thetyee.ca/Books/2012/12/20/Kate-Braid-Journeywoman/?utm_source=mondayheadlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=241212
In his new book The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? geographer Jared Diamond writes that while there are reasons to be thankful for our modern lifestyles, there are also practical lessons to be gleaned from the traditional societies that still dot the globe.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1307467--the-world-until-yesterday-what-can-we-learn-from-traditional-societies-by-jared-diamond-review
Jeff VanderMeer writes that even within the wild and tangled menagerie that comprises our literary landscape, Joyce Carol Oates is a startling creature, possessed of a speed and talent that hints at the uncanny. Oates‘s The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares is a virtuoso performance in a tale of teens gone bad, says VanderMeer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/27/corn-maiden-joyce-carol-oates-review?CMP=EMCNEWEML1355
Hallucinations, writes Oliver Sacks, in his new book of the same name, fall into a special category of consciousness in which people see and hear things that are not there. Written with both grace and erudition, Hallucinations taps into the mysteries of the human brain, writes Elaine Kalman Naves.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/evil+hear+evil/7736951/story.html
The famine that killed up to 45 million people remains a taboo subject in China 50 years on. Yang Jisheng's Tombstone: The Untold Story of Mao's Great Famine remains banned in China, but its 2008 publication in English serves as a memorial to the lives (at least 36 million, including Yang's father) lost.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/07/tombstone-mao-great-famine-yeng-jisheng-review
COMMUNITY EVENTS
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features George Stanley and Dorothy Trujillo Lusk, with Open Mic. Wednesday, January 9th, 7 to 9:30 pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. In 2013
Twisted Poets will run the 2nd Wednesday and the 4th Thursday of every month. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
THE DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Presenting Adrienne Rich,(read by Betsy Warland) Elizabeth Bishop (Martha Roth); Kenneth Rexroth (Dennis Bolen); Anna Akhmatova (Diane Tucker); and a special introduction by his son, Brian Donat, to the poetry readings of British film and theatre actor, Robert Donat. Sunday, January 13 at 3:00pm. Admission by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia. For more details, visit deadpoetslive.com.
Upcoming
POETRY & POLITICS: BEYOND CHICK LIT
Linda Svendsen reads from her satirical novel Sussex Drive and Rhea Tregebov reads selections from her new poetry collection All Souls'. Tuesday, January 22 at 7:00pm, free. Central Branch, VPL, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
REadings by Julie Devaney and Gary Geddes. Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, please visit http://rrs-jan2013-1.eventbrite.ca/.
FAMILY LITERACY DAY
Raising awareness of the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. Sunday, January 27. For events in your area, visit abclifeliteracy.ca/fld/family-literacy-day.
BRIAN BRETT
Author reads from his extensive work. Sunday, January 27 at 7:00pm, free. The Reach, 32388 Veterans Way, Abbotsford. More information at fvrl.bc.ca.
JACQUELINE DAVIES
Author presents her new book The Candy Smash. In Vancouver: Tuesday, January 29 at 7:00pm at West Point Grey United Church. In North Vancouver: Monday, January 28 at 7:00pm at Capilano Branch of North Van District Library. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
FIRESIDE CHAT
Harrison author Diane Wild will read from and chat about her debut novel, Forsaken Trust. Wednesday, February 6 at 7:00pm, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
BRANDON SANDERSON
Meet Brandon Sanderson as he signs the final book in Robert Jordan’s epic Wheel of Time series. Thursday, February 14 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
UNIQUE LIVES & EXPERIENCES
A lecture series featuring four outstanding women. First lecture will feature Valerie Plame Wilson, a former CIA spy and author of a bestselling autobiography, My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal By the White House, on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30pm. Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street. For complete season details and ticket information, visit www.uniquelives.com.
UBC ALUMNI BOOK CLUB
Choose between Timothy Taylor's Stanley Park and Lynn Coady's Mean Boy at this book club in which you can meet the facilitator and fellow alumni, and learn about the book before you read it. Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10. Cecil Green Park Coach House, 6323 Cecil Green Park Rd., UBC.
W.P. KINSELLA
Canadian author will read from, and chat about, his latest book, Butterfly Winter. Thursday, February 21 at 10:30am, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Walid Bitar and Missy Marston. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more informatin and to register, visit http://rrs-feb2013.eventbrite.ca/.
Incite
Some people start the New Year with a fast. We suggest the opposite. Indulge, if only in your passion for fine literature. Don’t miss the first Incite event of 2013. Join us on Wednesday, January 16th for a night of readings from award-winning authors Tim Bowling (five-time Alberta Book Award winner), Tamas Dobozy (Rogers Writers' Trust Award for Fiction 2012) and Candace Savage (Hilary Weston Prize for Non-Fiction 2012).Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite
AWARDS & LISTS
Candace Savage's A Geography of Blood: Unearthing Memory from a Prairie Landscape was recently announced as one of the shortlisted titles for the 2013 BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, one of the largest non-fiction book prizes in the country. The other shortlisted books are noted here:
http://www.bcachievement.com/nonfiction/finalists.php
Canadian Women in the Literary Arts, an organization mandated to encourage more book reviews by women, has appointed the organization's first resident critic, Montreal poet Sue Sinclair.
http://www.vancouversun.com/search/search.html?q=CWILA+appoints+first+resident+critic
Hilary Mantel’s Bring up the Bodies has won the Costa best novel award and is eligible for book of the year. The Costa, formerly known as the Whitbread Award, chooses the best books written in the U.K. or Ireland in the past year. Female authors dominated all the categories this year and for the first time, a graphic novel took the biography category.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2013/01/02/costa-book-award.html
YOUNG READERS
Ellen Bryan Obed's Twelve Kinds of Ice is a beautiful slim volume about a rural family's experiences as winter arrives and ice forms on fields and backyard rinks. Aimed by the publisher at ages 6 to 9, I believe this book has much wider appeal, since it is bound to revive some nostalgia in older readers as well as raise a sense of wonder in the young ones, writes Bernie Goedhart. For all ages.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+Twelve+Kinds+paean+joys+winter/7734369/story.html
Jo Nesbø, Norwegian author of detective novels, has written Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder: Who Cut the Cheese? in his first series for children. Nilly and Lisa solve the mystery of the moon chameleons and alien creatures lurking in Oslo's sewer system. Nesbø is adept at humour and satire, using the Norovision Choral Throwdown (think Norway's equivalent of American Idol) as a crucial plot element, writes Bernie Goedhart. For ages 8 to 12.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Kids+Stuff+stocking+with+Capt+Underpants/7667119/story.html#ixzz2G8NUH2PU
Who Could That Be at This Hour? Is the first of a new four-volume Lemony Snicket series: All the Wrong Questions. Snicket, almost 13, is apprenticed to S. Theodora Markson, a none-too-clever investigator hired to recover a statue of the Bombinating Beast and to bring it to its rightful owner. Right from the start, things are not as they appear to be. Age 9 and up.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Kids+Lemony+Snicket/7753619/story.html#ixzz2GaIN1jLs
NEWS & FEATURES
Salman Rushdie defends his right to call Mo Yan, the literature laureate, a 'patsy'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/17/salman-rushdie-mo-yan-pankaj-mishra
Perry Link's argument, Why We Should Criticize Mo Yan can be found in the most recent issue of the New York Review of Books.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/dec/24/why-criticize-mo-yan/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nybooks+%28The+New+York+Review+of+Books%29
Anne of Green Gables is one of the 50 most influential novels in China this year, according to the country's national publishers association. Lucy Maud Montgomery's classic tale of turn of the 20th century P.E.I. is still in the running for the top prize.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/12/20/pei-anne-green-gables-china-influential-584.html
The proprietor of a Twitter page identifying itself as the official account of Philip Roth could well be Nathan Zuckerman, his alter ego from novels like The Ghost Writer, but “that is not Mr. Roth posting on Twitter,” said a press representative for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which publishes Mr. Roth's books.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/author-of-twitter-account-isnt-philip-roth-publisher-says/
A new Norwegian translation of the Bible is one of the top 15 bestsellers in the country, jostling for position with the likes of EL James, Jo Nesbø, Ken Follett and Per Petterson. It has spent more time in the charts than both Fifty Shades of Grey and Justin Bieber's autobiography, says Alison Flood.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/20/bible-outsells-50-shades-of-grey
Philip Pullman focuses on the craft of storytelling, its rhythms and dramatic timing, in his translation of 'Fairy Tales From the Brothers Grimm'. The craft of storytelling, and not the deeper mystery of these stories, informs Pullman's new translation of Fairy Tales From the Brothers Grimm, retold with an ear for rhythm and dramatic timing.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-philip-pullman-20121202,0,7292897.story
This year marks the 50th anniversary of The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath's only novel—a great opportunity to revisit it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jan/01/sylviaplath
Jesse Emspak, a longtime reader of science fiction, has examined how the visions of such writers as Arthur C. Clark and Ray Bradbury, eventually become real.
http://news.discovery.com/tech/2012-science-fiction-became-fact-121226.html
Michigan's Lake Superior State University has issued its list of "Words to be Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness" for the 38th year in a row. LSSU releases its list of banished words every New Year's Eve. “Fiscal cliff” topped the 38th annual List of Words to Be Banished. “This phrase received the most nominations this year,” according to Lake Superior State University. The complete list is here:
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/spoiler_alert_banished_words_list_of_2013_20121231/?ln
A seasoned visitor to the World of Sendak was accustomed to hearing its resident magician relate extraordinary events with such fluency and fervency that unless the story involved a German-speaking bat, its mere improbability never seemed a reliable standard by which to assess whether or not it had actually happened.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/22/maurice-sendak-obituary-tony-kushner
Author Dennis Lehane is offering a reward for the person who finds his family's beloved missing beagle. Lehane says he'll name a character in his next book after whoever finds Tessa, who disappeared from the family's home in Brookline, Mass., Christmas week.
http://news.yahoo.com/lehane-ill-name-character-finds-dog-165533951.html
The World Is Moving Around Me, Dany Laferrière's account of living through the cataclysmic 2010 earthquake in Haiti, will be published in English in early January, 2013. The French account was published in March, 2010.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Turning+page+2013/7753582/story.html#ixzz2GaFqMWO6
The Star lists the 100 best-selling books of 2012 here:
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1307894--100-bestselling-books-of-2012
Some people travel the US to see the sights and bright lights. Simon Goode, on the other hand, roamed the country to explore the joys of papermaking, typesetting and bookbinding. "The trip was like a holy grail," he said, rhapsodizing over three months traveling on a mission that has helped result in Britain's first ever centre for a craft that is in danger of disappearing: book arts.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2013/jan/01/new-chapter-centre-book-arts
BOOKS & WRITERS
In Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child, the long nights' darkness of Alaskan winter brings both fear and comfort, writes Keren Levy. The coming of each spring heralds the loss of the snow child, little by little, but in the last moments of the novel, light and darkness combine in a moment of hope.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/dec/27/darkness-the-snow-child-eowyn-ivey
Kate Braid's new memoir Journeywoman: Swinging a Hammer in a Man's World recounts her tumultuous love affair with construction work. Here is an excerpt:
http://thetyee.ca/Books/2012/12/20/Kate-Braid-Journeywoman/?utm_source=mondayheadlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=241212
In his new book The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? geographer Jared Diamond writes that while there are reasons to be thankful for our modern lifestyles, there are also practical lessons to be gleaned from the traditional societies that still dot the globe.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1307467--the-world-until-yesterday-what-can-we-learn-from-traditional-societies-by-jared-diamond-review
Jeff VanderMeer writes that even within the wild and tangled menagerie that comprises our literary landscape, Joyce Carol Oates is a startling creature, possessed of a speed and talent that hints at the uncanny. Oates‘s The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares is a virtuoso performance in a tale of teens gone bad, says VanderMeer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/27/corn-maiden-joyce-carol-oates-review?CMP=EMCNEWEML1355
Hallucinations, writes Oliver Sacks, in his new book of the same name, fall into a special category of consciousness in which people see and hear things that are not there. Written with both grace and erudition, Hallucinations taps into the mysteries of the human brain, writes Elaine Kalman Naves.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/evil+hear+evil/7736951/story.html
The famine that killed up to 45 million people remains a taboo subject in China 50 years on. Yang Jisheng's Tombstone: The Untold Story of Mao's Great Famine remains banned in China, but its 2008 publication in English serves as a memorial to the lives (at least 36 million, including Yang's father) lost.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/07/tombstone-mao-great-famine-yeng-jisheng-review
COMMUNITY EVENTS
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features George Stanley and Dorothy Trujillo Lusk, with Open Mic. Wednesday, January 9th, 7 to 9:30 pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. In 2013
Twisted Poets will run the 2nd Wednesday and the 4th Thursday of every month. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
THE DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Presenting Adrienne Rich,(read by Betsy Warland) Elizabeth Bishop (Martha Roth); Kenneth Rexroth (Dennis Bolen); Anna Akhmatova (Diane Tucker); and a special introduction by his son, Brian Donat, to the poetry readings of British film and theatre actor, Robert Donat. Sunday, January 13 at 3:00pm. Admission by donation. Project Space, 222 East Georgia. For more details, visit deadpoetslive.com.
Upcoming
POETRY & POLITICS: BEYOND CHICK LIT
Linda Svendsen reads from her satirical novel Sussex Drive and Rhea Tregebov reads selections from her new poetry collection All Souls'. Tuesday, January 22 at 7:00pm, free. Central Branch, VPL, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.
ROBSON READING SERIES
REadings by Julie Devaney and Gary Geddes. Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more information and to register, please visit http://rrs-jan2013-1.eventbrite.ca/.
FAMILY LITERACY DAY
Raising awareness of the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. Sunday, January 27. For events in your area, visit abclifeliteracy.ca/fld/family-literacy-day.
BRIAN BRETT
Author reads from his extensive work. Sunday, January 27 at 7:00pm, free. The Reach, 32388 Veterans Way, Abbotsford. More information at fvrl.bc.ca.
JACQUELINE DAVIES
Author presents her new book The Candy Smash. In Vancouver: Tuesday, January 29 at 7:00pm at West Point Grey United Church. In North Vancouver: Monday, January 28 at 7:00pm at Capilano Branch of North Van District Library. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit kidsbooks.ca.
FIRESIDE CHAT
Harrison author Diane Wild will read from and chat about her debut novel, Forsaken Trust. Wednesday, February 6 at 7:00pm, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
BRANDON SANDERSON
Meet Brandon Sanderson as he signs the final book in Robert Jordan’s epic Wheel of Time series. Thursday, February 14 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
UNIQUE LIVES & EXPERIENCES
A lecture series featuring four outstanding women. First lecture will feature Valerie Plame Wilson, a former CIA spy and author of a bestselling autobiography, My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal By the White House, on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30pm. Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street. For complete season details and ticket information, visit www.uniquelives.com.
UBC ALUMNI BOOK CLUB
Choose between Timothy Taylor's Stanley Park and Lynn Coady's Mean Boy at this book club in which you can meet the facilitator and fellow alumni, and learn about the book before you read it. Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10. Cecil Green Park Coach House, 6323 Cecil Green Park Rd., UBC.
W.P. KINSELLA
Canadian author will read from, and chat about, his latest book, Butterfly Winter. Thursday, February 21 at 10:30am, free. Hope Library, 1005A - 6th Ave., Hope. More information at 604-869-2313.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Walid Bitar and Missy Marston. Thursday, February 21 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square. For more informatin and to register, visit http://rrs-feb2013.eventbrite.ca/.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Book News Vol. 7 No. 46
BOOK NEWS
The Vancouver Writers Fest and the entire arts community in Vancouver lost a dear friend this week with the passing of Diane Loomer, the Director of the men's choir Chor Leoni. Over the past five years Chor Leoni performed in events at the Festival with Alistair MacLeod, Jack Hodgins and Jane Urquhart. Diane's consummate skill in choosing the right songs and the choir's flawless execution under her direction helped make those events some of the most popular presentations in Festival history.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/12/11/diane-loomer-obit.html
Holiday Giving
The season is officially upon us! But don't panic-there's still time to order great gifts for the readers on your holiday list. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/content/perfect-gifts-book-lovers
AWARDS & LISTS
The finalists for the B.C. National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction were announced today in Vancouver, while a long list of titles for the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction was announced in Toronto.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Finalists+named_National+award+Canadian+Fiction/7650237/story.html
The late Angela Carter has been named the best ever winner of James Tait Black award. The James Tait Black award has chosen the 1984 novel Nights at the Circus from nearly a century's worth of great names.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/06/angela-carter-uk-oldest-literary-prize
The Costa short story prize is to be decided by an online vote. Judges sifted through more than 1,800 anonymous entries to decide their final six short stories by six anonymous writers. The public will decide by online vote which of the six stories will take the £3,500 prize on 29 January.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/nov/28/costa-short-story-prize-public-vote
The stories can be read online and listened to here:
www.costabookawards.com/short-stories/shortlist
The long list of titles for the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction include works by George Bowering, Tim Cook, Modris Eksteins, Robert R. Fowler, Ross King, Noah Richler and Candace Savage. The short list will be announced January 9, 2013.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Finalists+named+National+award+Canadian+Fiction/7650237/story.html
Nine poets are on the short list for the Second Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest. The winning entries will be announced in Geist 87, in mailboxes and on
newsstands January 2013.
http://www.geist.com/articles/announcing-the-short-list-for-the-2nd-annual-geist-erasure-poetry-contest!/
YOUNG READERS
Mr. Zinger's Hat is a wonderful story about the shared process of creating...a story! Leo is bored with playing catch with the brick wall in his courtyard–until one day his ball knocks the hat off the head of Mr. Zinger, who "made up stories...published in magazines and in books, too." Mr. Zinger invites Leo to sit with him and look into his hat to see what story is inside trying to get out, writes Saeyong Kim. For ages 6 to 9.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol19/no5/mrzingershat.html
Faulkner's little-known, odd children's book, the genesis for The Sound and the Fury, is my kids' bedtime story, writes Nichole Bernier. In academic journals, The Wishing Tree is described as Alice in Wonderland. It was originally written in 1927 but not published until 1964, when one of the children for whom it had been handmade offered it for publication. For ages 8 to 11.
http://www.salon.com/2012/12/03/i_got_my_children_hooked_on_faulkner/
Fifteen year-old Parvana, the heroine of Deborah Ellis's most famous books, The Breadwinner Trilogy, is forced to do whatever it takes, including dressing up as a boy, to help her family survive the Taliban's brutal rule. The book is based on a true story that Ellis was told. Remaining hopeful in the face of what appears hopeless is a way of honoring the people she meets, says Ellis, who donates much of her royalty income to worthy causes. For young adults.
http://publishingperspectives.com/2012/05/canadian-ya-author-deborah-ellis-on-telling-stories-and-giving-back/
NEWS & FEATURES
One of the greatest books written about science in the past century, hailed as a work that combines the plot line of a racy novel with deep insights about the nature of modern research, came close to being suppressed. James Watson, author of The Double Helix, has revealed that the intervention of Lady Alice Bragg saved The Double Helix.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/dec/09/dna-james-watson-helix-nobel-50
As part of a campaign with the Folio Society to celebrate beautiful books, writers and artists describe the illustration that means the most to them. From Will Self's childhood fascination with John Tenniel's depiction of Alice in Wonderland to the terror and enchantment Ros Asquith found in Arthur Rackham's depiction of Grimm's Fairy Tales, take a tour through some of literature's most potent visions, here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2012/dec/07/writers-favourite-classic-book-illustrations
Censorship is a must, says China's Nobel winner. Mo Yan, who has won this year's Nobel Prize in literature, says censorship is as necessary as checks at airport security.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/07/mo-yan-censorship-nobell
Salman Rushdie offers a withering rebuke.
http://www.salon.com/2012/12/07/rushdie_mo_yan_is_a_patsy_of_the_regime/
A new school curriculum that will affect 46 out of 50 states will make it compulsory for at least 70 per cent of books studied to be non-fiction, in an effort to ready pupils for the workplace.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9729383/Catcher-in-the-Rye-dropped-from-US-school-curriculum.html
Reading in general seems to be on the rise as a result of ebooks and ereaders. And statistics show that 88% of people who read ebooks also read printed books. The rise of the ebook has also seen a rise in self-published material. What we can take away from this is that the traditional book industry is not dying–it is simply evolving.
http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/2012/11/27/the-rise-of-the-e-book/
Lydia Syson has identified the top 10 historical novels that inspired her to set A World Between Us, her first teen novel, in the past. Her recommended titles of particular interest to teens include: E Nesbit's The House of Arden; Alison Uttley's A Traveller in Time; Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love; Barbara Leonie Picard's The Young Pretenders.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/nov/29/teen-book-club-lydia-sysons-top-10-historical-novels?CMP=EMCNEWEML1355
In an interview with Vanessa Thorpe, Rick Riordan, the bestselling Texan author of children's fantasy adventures talks about the magic of myths and legends and their relevance to children and the modern world. "Myths are universal and are totally ingrained in our culture," says Riordan.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/09/rick-riordan-interview-heroes-olympus
W.T. Stead is considered to be the founding father of investigative journalism and the inventor of the sensationalism that gave rise to tabloid newspapers. His famous investigation into the trafficking of young girls in 1885 landed him in jail, but it helped to ensure a law was passed that raised the age of consent. To mark the centenary of Stead's death aboard the Titanic, the British Library has published W.T. Stead: Newspaper Revolutionary.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2012/dec/05/investigative-journalism-irish-independent
A rare copy of the Bay Psalm, the first book ever printed in what is now the United States, is set to be sold by a Boston church, amidst controversy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/05/america-first-book-sold-row
A bookshop has collected some of the odd, intriguing personal treasures left within the pages of 'pre-loved' volumes. These include pressed flowers, bookmarks, dog photos, tickets, postcards, tickets and photos.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/05/secret-contents-secondhand-books?CMP=EMCNEWEML1355
"Bravely and willingly we bear our share of the world's burdens. Why then deny us the right to vote which would dignify our labour and increase our power of service?" writes suffragette and feminist icon Sylvia Pankhurst. A rare autograph album collecting the thoughts of dozens of her fellow suffragettes is set to go up for auction next week.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2012/dec/06/suffragette-autograph-album-pictures
Acacia O'Connor, project coordinator for the Kids' Right to Read Project, said of the removal of Alan Moore's horror comic Neonomicon from a South Carolina library "they may be calling it 'deselection' but we have another name for it: censorship". The row began when a 14-year-old borrowed the novel and her mother objected.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/alan-moore
The Sydney Writers Festival featured Ian Rankin who spoke about his latest work, Edinburgh and the return of his protagonist, Rebus. The audio of the event is available here:
http://www.swf.org.au/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Ian+Rankin+talks+to+SWF+Christmas+Gift+Certificates+WIN+Sydney+Festival+tickets+and+more&utm_content=Ian+Rankin+talks+to+SWF+Christmas+Gift+Certificates+WIN+Sydney+Festival+tickets+and+more+CID_22f8e812a4c369461063cfac6f0a715e&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=Click%20here
While the average Canadian worker retires at around 62, many professional writers continue to produce award-winning work well into their 80s. These include Elmore Leonard, 87, who received the National Book Award Medal for Distinguished Contribution this month. Poet David Ferry also won a National Book Award this year, at 88. Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Toni Morrison's, 81, is working on a new book.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2012/11/writers-aging-like-fine-wines.html
Michael Posner interviews Gordon Pinsent, now 82, on his charmed life—a play on words since Pinsent always referred to his wife Charmion King as Charm—and his new autobiography, Next, deftly ghosted by CBC programmer George Anthony, writes Posner.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/celebrity-news/gordon-pinsent-reflects-on-a-charm-ed-life/article6030196/
Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels grounded my economics, writes Paul Krugman. My Book–the one that has stayed with me for four-and-a-half decades–is Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, written when Asimov was barely out of his teens himself. The fantastical tale offers a still-inspiring dream of a social science that could save civilization.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/04/paul-krugman-asimov-economics
Hilary Mantel describes how she came to write Wolf Hall, declaring that "It wasn't that I wanted to rehabilitate him (Thomas Cromwell). I do not run a Priory clinic for the dead."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/07/bookclub-hilary-mantel-wolf-hall
The New York Times Book Review has made its selection of the ten best books of 2012: five fiction, five non-fiction.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/books/review/10-best-books-of-2012.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, considered by many the most important environmental book of the 20th century, has been reissued after 50 years. In Margaret Atwood's 2009 novel, The Year of the Flood–set in the Near Future–Rachel Carson is a saint. Of course, many people think she's a saint anyway, but in this book, it's official, says Atwood.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/may/27/rachel-carson-silent-spring-anniversary
Esther Freud is enchanted by Tove Jansson's The Moomins and the Great Flood, Jansson's very first picture book. Jansson's own drawings, printed in their original hues, with all their humour and mystery shining through, took six years, until the end of the war, for The Moomins and the Great Flood to be published. When it was, Jansson described it as her "very first happy ending".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/07/moomins-great-flood-tove-jansson-review
A Week in Winter is Irish writer Maeve Binchy's final book, completed a few weeks prior to her death in July, writes Deborah Dundas. Binchy is known for her hopeful, if not always entirely happy, endings. Still, we all make the choice, ultimately, as to who we want to be. It's a philosophy of common sense and wisdom, both of which we've come to expect from Binchy.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1295107--a-week-in-winter-by-maeve-binchy-review
An elegant crime boss, a mild-mannered detective and the world's most valuable necklace make for a ripping yarn, writes Laura Miller. Why is The Great Pearl Heist: True Crime in Edwardian London the first book to appear on the crime in over 80 years? asks Miller.
http://www.salon.com/2012/12/02/the_great_pearl_heist_true_crime_in_edwardian_london/
Susan Swan's The Western Light includes a soupçon of an adolescent Huck Finn and his friendship with the escaped slave Jim. Swan's portrayal of the spunky, fearless, young Mouse Bradford is a character as captivating as Huck, writes Jennifer Hunter. The character in Swan's book is a gallivanting read bound to become a classic, at least on Canadian shelves and in computers, says Hunter.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1298085--the-western-light-by-susan-swan-review
Ian McGillis didn't read fairy tales as a child. Now reading Phllip Pullman's Grimm collection, he writes of his discovery that the stories tap into something deep in the collective DNA, dramatizing primal fears, hopes and impulses of which we're not always necessarily aware. Who are these stories for? The question hangs over the collection, says McGillis.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Once+upon+time+Grimms+right/7667117/story.html
A new translation of The Outsider, Albert Camus's 1942 masterpiece, deserves to become the standard English text, writes Lucian Robinson.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/09/outsider-albert-camus-smith-review
A Poet and Bin-Laden, Hamid Ismailov's picaresque novel mixes genres and viewpoints to provide a fascinating commentary on Islam and central Asia, writes Kate Kellaway. An extraordinary book and a difficult read, worth persevering because it takes one deep into Islamic fundamentalism in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Hamid Ismailov, Uzbek writer in residence of the BBC World Service, calls it a "reality novel".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/09/poet-bin-laden-ismailov-review
COMMUNITY EVENTS
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Nyla Matuk, Alix Ohlin and Matthew Tierney. Thursday, December 13 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Plaza level. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
BOOK LAUNCH
Launch of Jan Zwicky's The Book of Frog. Thursday, December 13 at 7:00pm. Our Town, 245 East Broadway.
POETRY OF SCIENCE
What happens when you have 5 scientists, and 5 poets, and ask them to write poems together? Featured readers include Olive Dempsey, Adrienne Drobnies, Leanne Dunic, Jonina Kirton, Pamela Lincez, Kelty McKinnon, Ben Paylor, Lynne Quarmby, Carol Shillibeer and Meg Torwl. Friday, December 14 at 7:00pm. 1695 Gallery, 1695 Main Street.
THE ART OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
Talk by Vancouver city councillor Geoff Meggs and journalist Rod Mickleburgh, authors of The Art of the Impossible: Dave Barrett and the NDP in Power 1972-1975. Friday, December 14 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $25. Marpole Place Neighbourhood house, 1305 70th Ave. W.
SURVIVING SAMSARA
A spoken word performance recounting the author Kagan Goh's struggles with manic depression as he tries to survive the highs of mania and the lows of depression. Friday, December 14 at 8:00pm. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave.
TALK AND BOOK LAUNCH
Inspector Ken Burton will discuss his recreation of the historic voyages of the St. Roch and will discuss the challenges facing Canada and the "ice free" northern passage. Also features a launch of Kenneth John Haycock's new book The History of the RCMP Marine Services. Sunday, December 16 at 2:00pm, free. Vancouver Maritime Museum - TK Gallery, 1905 Ogden Avenue. More information at vancouvermaritimemuseum.com.
LISTEN! LAUGH! ENJOY! STORIES!
Seasonal stories by Vancouver storytellers Abegael Fisher-Lang, Jennifer Martin, Kira Van Deusen, and Mariella Bertelli. Sunday, December 16 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $6. St. Mark's Anglican Church, 1805 Larch St.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Fiona Lam and Raoul Fernandes, Sunday, December 16, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street Vancouver. This will be a special evening. No open mic that night. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. In 2013 Twisted Poets will run the 2nd Wednesday and the 4th Thursday of every month. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
YOUTH POETRY SLAM
Youth slam featuring roving poets known as 2 Dope Boys and a Cadillac. Monday, December 17 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $4/$6. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive.
LUNCH POEMS @ SFU
Reading by poet Garry Thomas Morse. Wednesday, December 19 at 12:00 noon. Teck Gallery in SFU's Harbour Centre campus, 515 West Hastings Street. Vancouver.
LIQUOR, LUST AND THE LAW
Book-signing and meet-and-greet session with author Aaron Chapman and nightclub owner Danny Filippone. Thursday, December 20 at 6:00pm. Edgewater Casino, 311-750 Pacific Blvd. S.
MINIMALISM: LIVE A MEANINGFUL LIFE
Talk/reading, Q&A, and book signing by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. Saturday, December 22 at 7:00pm, free. Our Town Cafe, 245 E. Broadway.
Upcoming
UNIQUE LIVES & EXPERIENCES
A lecture series featuring four outstanding women. First lecture will feature Valerie Plame Wilson, a former CIA spy and author of a bestselling autobiography, My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal By the White House, on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30pm. Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street. For complete season details and ticket information, visit www.uniquelives.com.
The Vancouver Writers Fest and the entire arts community in Vancouver lost a dear friend this week with the passing of Diane Loomer, the Director of the men's choir Chor Leoni. Over the past five years Chor Leoni performed in events at the Festival with Alistair MacLeod, Jack Hodgins and Jane Urquhart. Diane's consummate skill in choosing the right songs and the choir's flawless execution under her direction helped make those events some of the most popular presentations in Festival history.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/12/11/diane-loomer-obit.html
Holiday Giving
The season is officially upon us! But don't panic-there's still time to order great gifts for the readers on your holiday list. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/content/perfect-gifts-book-lovers
AWARDS & LISTS
The finalists for the B.C. National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction were announced today in Vancouver, while a long list of titles for the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction was announced in Toronto.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Finalists+named_National+award+Canadian+Fiction/7650237/story.html
The late Angela Carter has been named the best ever winner of James Tait Black award. The James Tait Black award has chosen the 1984 novel Nights at the Circus from nearly a century's worth of great names.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/06/angela-carter-uk-oldest-literary-prize
The Costa short story prize is to be decided by an online vote. Judges sifted through more than 1,800 anonymous entries to decide their final six short stories by six anonymous writers. The public will decide by online vote which of the six stories will take the £3,500 prize on 29 January.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/nov/28/costa-short-story-prize-public-vote
The stories can be read online and listened to here:
www.costabookawards.com/short-stories/shortlist
The long list of titles for the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction include works by George Bowering, Tim Cook, Modris Eksteins, Robert R. Fowler, Ross King, Noah Richler and Candace Savage. The short list will be announced January 9, 2013.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Finalists+named+National+award+Canadian+Fiction/7650237/story.html
Nine poets are on the short list for the Second Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest. The winning entries will be announced in Geist 87, in mailboxes and on
newsstands January 2013.
http://www.geist.com/articles/announcing-the-short-list-for-the-2nd-annual-geist-erasure-poetry-contest!/
YOUNG READERS
Mr. Zinger's Hat is a wonderful story about the shared process of creating...a story! Leo is bored with playing catch with the brick wall in his courtyard–until one day his ball knocks the hat off the head of Mr. Zinger, who "made up stories...published in magazines and in books, too." Mr. Zinger invites Leo to sit with him and look into his hat to see what story is inside trying to get out, writes Saeyong Kim. For ages 6 to 9.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol19/no5/mrzingershat.html
Faulkner's little-known, odd children's book, the genesis for The Sound and the Fury, is my kids' bedtime story, writes Nichole Bernier. In academic journals, The Wishing Tree is described as Alice in Wonderland. It was originally written in 1927 but not published until 1964, when one of the children for whom it had been handmade offered it for publication. For ages 8 to 11.
http://www.salon.com/2012/12/03/i_got_my_children_hooked_on_faulkner/
Fifteen year-old Parvana, the heroine of Deborah Ellis's most famous books, The Breadwinner Trilogy, is forced to do whatever it takes, including dressing up as a boy, to help her family survive the Taliban's brutal rule. The book is based on a true story that Ellis was told. Remaining hopeful in the face of what appears hopeless is a way of honoring the people she meets, says Ellis, who donates much of her royalty income to worthy causes. For young adults.
http://publishingperspectives.com/2012/05/canadian-ya-author-deborah-ellis-on-telling-stories-and-giving-back/
NEWS & FEATURES
One of the greatest books written about science in the past century, hailed as a work that combines the plot line of a racy novel with deep insights about the nature of modern research, came close to being suppressed. James Watson, author of The Double Helix, has revealed that the intervention of Lady Alice Bragg saved The Double Helix.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/dec/09/dna-james-watson-helix-nobel-50
As part of a campaign with the Folio Society to celebrate beautiful books, writers and artists describe the illustration that means the most to them. From Will Self's childhood fascination with John Tenniel's depiction of Alice in Wonderland to the terror and enchantment Ros Asquith found in Arthur Rackham's depiction of Grimm's Fairy Tales, take a tour through some of literature's most potent visions, here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2012/dec/07/writers-favourite-classic-book-illustrations
Censorship is a must, says China's Nobel winner. Mo Yan, who has won this year's Nobel Prize in literature, says censorship is as necessary as checks at airport security.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/07/mo-yan-censorship-nobell
Salman Rushdie offers a withering rebuke.
http://www.salon.com/2012/12/07/rushdie_mo_yan_is_a_patsy_of_the_regime/
A new school curriculum that will affect 46 out of 50 states will make it compulsory for at least 70 per cent of books studied to be non-fiction, in an effort to ready pupils for the workplace.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9729383/Catcher-in-the-Rye-dropped-from-US-school-curriculum.html
Reading in general seems to be on the rise as a result of ebooks and ereaders. And statistics show that 88% of people who read ebooks also read printed books. The rise of the ebook has also seen a rise in self-published material. What we can take away from this is that the traditional book industry is not dying–it is simply evolving.
http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/2012/11/27/the-rise-of-the-e-book/
Lydia Syson has identified the top 10 historical novels that inspired her to set A World Between Us, her first teen novel, in the past. Her recommended titles of particular interest to teens include: E Nesbit's The House of Arden; Alison Uttley's A Traveller in Time; Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love; Barbara Leonie Picard's The Young Pretenders.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/nov/29/teen-book-club-lydia-sysons-top-10-historical-novels?CMP=EMCNEWEML1355
In an interview with Vanessa Thorpe, Rick Riordan, the bestselling Texan author of children's fantasy adventures talks about the magic of myths and legends and their relevance to children and the modern world. "Myths are universal and are totally ingrained in our culture," says Riordan.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/09/rick-riordan-interview-heroes-olympus
W.T. Stead is considered to be the founding father of investigative journalism and the inventor of the sensationalism that gave rise to tabloid newspapers. His famous investigation into the trafficking of young girls in 1885 landed him in jail, but it helped to ensure a law was passed that raised the age of consent. To mark the centenary of Stead's death aboard the Titanic, the British Library has published W.T. Stead: Newspaper Revolutionary.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2012/dec/05/investigative-journalism-irish-independent
A rare copy of the Bay Psalm, the first book ever printed in what is now the United States, is set to be sold by a Boston church, amidst controversy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/05/america-first-book-sold-row
A bookshop has collected some of the odd, intriguing personal treasures left within the pages of 'pre-loved' volumes. These include pressed flowers, bookmarks, dog photos, tickets, postcards, tickets and photos.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/05/secret-contents-secondhand-books?CMP=EMCNEWEML1355
"Bravely and willingly we bear our share of the world's burdens. Why then deny us the right to vote which would dignify our labour and increase our power of service?" writes suffragette and feminist icon Sylvia Pankhurst. A rare autograph album collecting the thoughts of dozens of her fellow suffragettes is set to go up for auction next week.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2012/dec/06/suffragette-autograph-album-pictures
Acacia O'Connor, project coordinator for the Kids' Right to Read Project, said of the removal of Alan Moore's horror comic Neonomicon from a South Carolina library "they may be calling it 'deselection' but we have another name for it: censorship". The row began when a 14-year-old borrowed the novel and her mother objected.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/alan-moore
The Sydney Writers Festival featured Ian Rankin who spoke about his latest work, Edinburgh and the return of his protagonist, Rebus. The audio of the event is available here:
http://www.swf.org.au/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Ian+Rankin+talks+to+SWF+Christmas+Gift+Certificates+WIN+Sydney+Festival+tickets+and+more&utm_content=Ian+Rankin+talks+to+SWF+Christmas+Gift+Certificates+WIN+Sydney+Festival+tickets+and+more+CID_22f8e812a4c369461063cfac6f0a715e&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=Click%20here
While the average Canadian worker retires at around 62, many professional writers continue to produce award-winning work well into their 80s. These include Elmore Leonard, 87, who received the National Book Award Medal for Distinguished Contribution this month. Poet David Ferry also won a National Book Award this year, at 88. Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Toni Morrison's, 81, is working on a new book.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2012/11/writers-aging-like-fine-wines.html
Michael Posner interviews Gordon Pinsent, now 82, on his charmed life—a play on words since Pinsent always referred to his wife Charmion King as Charm—and his new autobiography, Next, deftly ghosted by CBC programmer George Anthony, writes Posner.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/celebrity-news/gordon-pinsent-reflects-on-a-charm-ed-life/article6030196/
Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels grounded my economics, writes Paul Krugman. My Book–the one that has stayed with me for four-and-a-half decades–is Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, written when Asimov was barely out of his teens himself. The fantastical tale offers a still-inspiring dream of a social science that could save civilization.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/04/paul-krugman-asimov-economics
Hilary Mantel describes how she came to write Wolf Hall, declaring that "It wasn't that I wanted to rehabilitate him (Thomas Cromwell). I do not run a Priory clinic for the dead."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/07/bookclub-hilary-mantel-wolf-hall
The New York Times Book Review has made its selection of the ten best books of 2012: five fiction, five non-fiction.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/books/review/10-best-books-of-2012.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, considered by many the most important environmental book of the 20th century, has been reissued after 50 years. In Margaret Atwood's 2009 novel, The Year of the Flood–set in the Near Future–Rachel Carson is a saint. Of course, many people think she's a saint anyway, but in this book, it's official, says Atwood.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/may/27/rachel-carson-silent-spring-anniversary
Esther Freud is enchanted by Tove Jansson's The Moomins and the Great Flood, Jansson's very first picture book. Jansson's own drawings, printed in their original hues, with all their humour and mystery shining through, took six years, until the end of the war, for The Moomins and the Great Flood to be published. When it was, Jansson described it as her "very first happy ending".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/07/moomins-great-flood-tove-jansson-review
A Week in Winter is Irish writer Maeve Binchy's final book, completed a few weeks prior to her death in July, writes Deborah Dundas. Binchy is known for her hopeful, if not always entirely happy, endings. Still, we all make the choice, ultimately, as to who we want to be. It's a philosophy of common sense and wisdom, both of which we've come to expect from Binchy.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1295107--a-week-in-winter-by-maeve-binchy-review
An elegant crime boss, a mild-mannered detective and the world's most valuable necklace make for a ripping yarn, writes Laura Miller. Why is The Great Pearl Heist: True Crime in Edwardian London the first book to appear on the crime in over 80 years? asks Miller.
http://www.salon.com/2012/12/02/the_great_pearl_heist_true_crime_in_edwardian_london/
Susan Swan's The Western Light includes a soupçon of an adolescent Huck Finn and his friendship with the escaped slave Jim. Swan's portrayal of the spunky, fearless, young Mouse Bradford is a character as captivating as Huck, writes Jennifer Hunter. The character in Swan's book is a gallivanting read bound to become a classic, at least on Canadian shelves and in computers, says Hunter.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1298085--the-western-light-by-susan-swan-review
Ian McGillis didn't read fairy tales as a child. Now reading Phllip Pullman's Grimm collection, he writes of his discovery that the stories tap into something deep in the collective DNA, dramatizing primal fears, hopes and impulses of which we're not always necessarily aware. Who are these stories for? The question hangs over the collection, says McGillis.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Once+upon+time+Grimms+right/7667117/story.html
A new translation of The Outsider, Albert Camus's 1942 masterpiece, deserves to become the standard English text, writes Lucian Robinson.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/09/outsider-albert-camus-smith-review
A Poet and Bin-Laden, Hamid Ismailov's picaresque novel mixes genres and viewpoints to provide a fascinating commentary on Islam and central Asia, writes Kate Kellaway. An extraordinary book and a difficult read, worth persevering because it takes one deep into Islamic fundamentalism in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Hamid Ismailov, Uzbek writer in residence of the BBC World Service, calls it a "reality novel".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/09/poet-bin-laden-ismailov-review
COMMUNITY EVENTS
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Nyla Matuk, Alix Ohlin and Matthew Tierney. Thursday, December 13 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Plaza level. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
BOOK LAUNCH
Launch of Jan Zwicky's The Book of Frog. Thursday, December 13 at 7:00pm. Our Town, 245 East Broadway.
POETRY OF SCIENCE
What happens when you have 5 scientists, and 5 poets, and ask them to write poems together? Featured readers include Olive Dempsey, Adrienne Drobnies, Leanne Dunic, Jonina Kirton, Pamela Lincez, Kelty McKinnon, Ben Paylor, Lynne Quarmby, Carol Shillibeer and Meg Torwl. Friday, December 14 at 7:00pm. 1695 Gallery, 1695 Main Street.
THE ART OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
Talk by Vancouver city councillor Geoff Meggs and journalist Rod Mickleburgh, authors of The Art of the Impossible: Dave Barrett and the NDP in Power 1972-1975. Friday, December 14 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $25. Marpole Place Neighbourhood house, 1305 70th Ave. W.
SURVIVING SAMSARA
A spoken word performance recounting the author Kagan Goh's struggles with manic depression as he tries to survive the highs of mania and the lows of depression. Friday, December 14 at 8:00pm. The Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Ave.
TALK AND BOOK LAUNCH
Inspector Ken Burton will discuss his recreation of the historic voyages of the St. Roch and will discuss the challenges facing Canada and the "ice free" northern passage. Also features a launch of Kenneth John Haycock's new book The History of the RCMP Marine Services. Sunday, December 16 at 2:00pm, free. Vancouver Maritime Museum - TK Gallery, 1905 Ogden Avenue. More information at vancouvermaritimemuseum.com.
LISTEN! LAUGH! ENJOY! STORIES!
Seasonal stories by Vancouver storytellers Abegael Fisher-Lang, Jennifer Martin, Kira Van Deusen, and Mariella Bertelli. Sunday, December 16 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $6. St. Mark's Anglican Church, 1805 Larch St.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Fiona Lam and Raoul Fernandes, Sunday, December 16, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street Vancouver. This will be a special evening. No open mic that night. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. In 2013 Twisted Poets will run the 2nd Wednesday and the 4th Thursday of every month. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
YOUTH POETRY SLAM
Youth slam featuring roving poets known as 2 Dope Boys and a Cadillac. Monday, December 17 at 8:00pm. Tickets: $4/$6. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive.
LUNCH POEMS @ SFU
Reading by poet Garry Thomas Morse. Wednesday, December 19 at 12:00 noon. Teck Gallery in SFU's Harbour Centre campus, 515 West Hastings Street. Vancouver.
LIQUOR, LUST AND THE LAW
Book-signing and meet-and-greet session with author Aaron Chapman and nightclub owner Danny Filippone. Thursday, December 20 at 6:00pm. Edgewater Casino, 311-750 Pacific Blvd. S.
MINIMALISM: LIVE A MEANINGFUL LIFE
Talk/reading, Q&A, and book signing by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. Saturday, December 22 at 7:00pm, free. Our Town Cafe, 245 E. Broadway.
Upcoming
UNIQUE LIVES & EXPERIENCES
A lecture series featuring four outstanding women. First lecture will feature Valerie Plame Wilson, a former CIA spy and author of a bestselling autobiography, My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal By the White House, on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30pm. Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street. For complete season details and ticket information, visit www.uniquelives.com.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Book News Vol. 7 No. 45
BOOK NEWS
Holiday Giving
The season is officially upon us! But don't panic-there's still time to order great gifts for the readers on your holiday list. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/content/perfect-gifts-book-lovers
AWARDS & LISTS
The Guardian first book award 2012 went to Kevin Powers for The Yellow Birds, a novel based on the author's time as a gunner in Iraq, with the book's title based on a US army marching song. The judging panel commended the book for 'extraordinary promise'. The Guardian first book award is for new writing in any genre.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/nov/29/guardian-first-book-award-2012-kevin-powers
Poet and playwright George Elliot Clarke has been named Toronto's Poet Laureate.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/11/29/toronto-poet-laureate.html
The 86-year-old Spanish poet, novelist and essayist Jose Manuel Caballero Bonald has won the Cervantes Prize, the most prestigious literary award in the Spanish-speaking world, for helping to "enrich the Hispanic literary legacy."
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/spanish-writer-wins-cervantes-prize/?pagewanted=all
The novelist Andrew Krivak, who wrote The Sojourn and Adam Hochschild, the author of To End All Wars, have won the 2012 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for fiction and nonfiction. The awards were created in 2006 to honour writers whose work advances peace and promotes understanding.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/winners-named-for-dayton-literary-peace-prize/
Nancy Huston's Infrared has won the Bad Sex in Fiction Award.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/04/bad-sex-award-nancy-huston
An extract from the novel is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/04/bad-sex-award-2012-extract
Sarah Hall has won the Portico Prize for the second time running, this time with The Beautiful Indifference, short stories described in the Guardian as dark, fierce, and sensual.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/24/beautiful-indifference-sarah-hall-review
Two memoirs and two historical investigations will vie for one of Canada's top non-fiction literary honours. George Bowering and Robert Fowler are two of the authors on the short list of four titles vying for the $40,000 B.C. National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/12/04/bc-non-fiction-prize-short-list.html
Ross King's Leonardo and the Last Supper, which recently won the Governor General's Literary Award for Non-Fiction, is one of 15 titles that made the long list for the $25,000 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non Fiction.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1297217--charles-taylor-prize-long-list-for-literary-non-fiction-announced
The regional battle of the books continues as CBC's Canada Reads: Turf Wars releases the names of its panellists and book choices for 2013. Each panelist chose a book from among the top five selected by Canada Reads fans in their region. Q host Jian Ghomeshi will once again host the book debate. The Canada Reads debates will take place before a live audience in Toronto and on CBC Radio One, February 11 to 14, 2013.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/
YOUNG READERS
Barbara Smucker's Underground to Canada has all the qualities that you could want: adventure, tragedy, excitement and suspense, writes Petrova Fossil. This heart-warming tale of a slave's journey to freedom includes the Underground Railway, slave catchers, dogs, excitement and suspense. This heart-warming tale of a slave's journey to freedom describes how hard life was then. For ages 7 to 14.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/nov/28/review-underground-to-canada-barbara-smucker
R.L. Stine's Goosebumps celebrated its 20th anniversary in July. Stine writes six Goosebumps books a year. When Stine first began the Goosebumps series, the books were for girls. Now there is a boy and a girl in every book. The most recent book is Goosebumps: Hall of Horrors. Don't Scream! For ages 7 to 12.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/goosebumps-writer-rl-stine-looks-to-his-childhood-for-book-ideas/2012/09/04/1e5db00c-dcb2-11e1-af1d-753c613ff6d8_story.html
Bear Despair, by Gaëtan Dorémus, a wordless book first published in France and one of this year's New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books, opens with an endpaper map that showcases all the story's characters. I've gone through this wordless tale dozens of times and still can't frame an exact story line, writes Anita Silvey. I just run my hands over each page and say, "This is so beautiful."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/books/review/bear-despair-by-gaetan-doremus-and-more.html
NEWS & FEATURES
Robert Mankoff writes about Abraham Lincoln's sense of humor, suggesting "As far as I can tell, he's the first American President to have one". The term "sense of humor" wasn't in common usage until the eighteen-sixties and seventies. Earlier, it was "the sense of the ridiculous." And what was ridiculous was what invited ridicule. Funniness and cruelty went hand in hand.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/cartoonists/2012/11/lincolns-smile.html#ixzz2Dk3vrLq2
Carol Anne Duffy has written a new poem to mark the close of this year's World Shakespeare Festival. The poem is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/nov/30/shakespeare-carol-ann-duffy-poem
Writing in the Harvard Business Review, John Coleman argues that poetry teaches us to wrestle with and simplify complexity and develop a more acute sense of empathy. To those open to it, reading and writing poetry can be a valuable component of leadership development, writes Coleman.
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/11/the_benefits_of_poetry_for_pro.html
My Last Empress, the new novel by Nobel laureate Da Chen, is a Nabokovian romp that extends from the Connecticut coast to the lantern-lit passageways of the Forbidden City during the waning days of the Qing Dynasty. The story is recounted by Pickens, a New England aristocrat whose destiny is derailed when, at the age of 18, he falls for Annabelle, the 19-year-old, China-born daughter of a missionary.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1296108--my-last-empress-by-da-chen-review
Lorna Crozier, Susan McCaslin, Don Domanski, and David Zieroth, among others, have tied a poem to a tree with a piece of string or ribbon, in the hope of raising public awareness about what's known locally as the McLellan Park Forest. Last weekend, 140 poems were strung up; more are to be added this weekend. The hope is to pressure the local council to make the area a park, instead of selling it to developers.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/writers-hang-poems-in-trees-in-bid-to-save-langley-land-parcel/article5983994/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Many of the world's best novels have bad endings, writes Joan Acocella. It's not that they end sadly, but that the ending is actually inartistic—a betrayal of what came before. This is true not just of good novels but also of books on which the reputation of Western fiction rests. The first half of "David Copperfield" leaves you gasping. But in the last chapters of the novel, you die of boredom. Willa Cather's "Song of the Lark" is a similar case.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/11/on-great-novels-with-bad-endings.html
The story of Canada is the story of her relationship with native people, writes Richard Wagamese. Since 1492, the history of the continent has been interpreted through settler eyes, with the relationship between indigenous people and settlers focused on the struggle for land. Thomas King's Inconvenient Indian is a powerful, important book, writes Wagamese.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/the-true-story-of-native-north-americans-whites-want-land/article5841075/
George Bowering has received nearly every accolade possible in a distinguished career: Canada's first poet laureate, Order of Canada, Order of British Columbia, fiction, poetry, plays, history, criticism. Now he's written a memoir of an early 1950s Okanagan Valley youth. Steven Brown writes that there's a great deal of gentle humour in the book, and no overt sentimentality.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Pinboy+George+Bowering+Nostalgia+runs+wild+minus/7634212/story.html
Michael Connelly's Bosch is back with The Black Box harking to the '92 L.A. riots. Together with his partner Jerry Edgar, Hieronymous (Harry) Bosch becomes part of a roving homicide team following the beating of Rodney King and the murder of a freelance Danish journalist. As usual, Michael Connelly gives us a genuine feeling of the politics of policing in Los Angeles.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/michael-connellys-latest-keeps-crime-writers-streak-alive/article5839925/
Guardian columnist Oliver Burkeman's The Antidote begins with thousands of people trying to think positive thoughts together at a "Get Motivated!" session in a Texas baseball stadium, where they hear President George W. Bush talk on the power of optimism. The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking takes every self-help book you've ever read and turns it inside out, writes Hector Tobar.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-oliver-burkeman-20121202,0,6389186.story
Hallucinations, writes Oliver Sacks, fall into a unique and special category of consciousness in which they see and hear things that are not there. Although hallucinations are, according to Sacks, "an essential part of the human condition," Western society links them to madness.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Review+Oliver+Sacks+Hallucinations+evil+hear+evil/7600303/story.html
Colm Toibin's The Testament of Mary isn't your mother's Mother Mary, writes Ron Charles. Forget the Annunciation. The only Assumption here is that Mary is a troubled woman, haunted by Golgotha, hunted by assassins, waiting for death. It's not so much a testament of faith as a confession of guilt. Her insistence on the truth becomes the book's central concern, says Charles.
http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/more_medea_than_madonna_20121127/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
GLEN CHILTON
Reading by internationally-recognized ornithologist and author of The Curse of the Labrador Duck. Will talk about his new book, Attack of the Killer Rhododendrons. Saturday, December 8 at 2:00pm, free. Semiahmoo Library, 1815 - 152 152nd Street, Surrey.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Nyla Matuk, Alix Ohlin and Matthew Tierney. Thursday, December 13 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Plaza level. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
TALK AND BOOK LAUNCH
Inspector Ken Burton will discuss his recreation of the historic voyages of the St. Roch and will discuss the challenges facing Canada and the "ice free" northern passage. Also features a launch of Kenneth John Haycock's new book The History of the RCMP Marine Services. Sunday, December 16 at 2:00pm, free. Vancouver Maritime Museum - TK Gallery, 1905 Ogden Avenue. More information at vancouvermaritimemuseum.com.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Fiona Lam and Raoul Fernandes, Sunday, December 16, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street Vancouver. This will be a special evening. No open mic that night. Suggested donation at the door:
$5. All are welcome. In 2013 Twisted Poets will run the 2nd Wednesday and the 4th Thursday of
every month. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
Upcoming
LUNCH POEMS @ SFU
Reading by poet Garry Thomas Morse. Wednesday, December 19 at 12:00 noon. Teck Gallery in SFU's Harbour Centre campus, 515 West Hastings Street. Vancouver.
MINIMALISM: LIVE A MEANINGFUL LIFE
Talk/reading, Q&A, and book signing by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. Saturday, December 22 at 7:00pm, free. Our Town Cafe, 245 E. Broadway.
UNIQUE LIVES & EXPERIENCES
A lecture series featuring four outstanding women. First lecture will feature Valerie Plame Wilson, a former CIA spy and author of a bestselling autobiography, My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal By the White House, on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30pm. Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street. For complete season details and ticket information, visit www.uniquelives.com.
Holiday Giving
The season is officially upon us! But don't panic-there's still time to order great gifts for the readers on your holiday list. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/content/perfect-gifts-book-lovers
AWARDS & LISTS
The Guardian first book award 2012 went to Kevin Powers for The Yellow Birds, a novel based on the author's time as a gunner in Iraq, with the book's title based on a US army marching song. The judging panel commended the book for 'extraordinary promise'. The Guardian first book award is for new writing in any genre.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/nov/29/guardian-first-book-award-2012-kevin-powers
Poet and playwright George Elliot Clarke has been named Toronto's Poet Laureate.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/11/29/toronto-poet-laureate.html
The 86-year-old Spanish poet, novelist and essayist Jose Manuel Caballero Bonald has won the Cervantes Prize, the most prestigious literary award in the Spanish-speaking world, for helping to "enrich the Hispanic literary legacy."
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/spanish-writer-wins-cervantes-prize/?pagewanted=all
The novelist Andrew Krivak, who wrote The Sojourn and Adam Hochschild, the author of To End All Wars, have won the 2012 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for fiction and nonfiction. The awards were created in 2006 to honour writers whose work advances peace and promotes understanding.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/winners-named-for-dayton-literary-peace-prize/
Nancy Huston's Infrared has won the Bad Sex in Fiction Award.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/04/bad-sex-award-nancy-huston
An extract from the novel is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/04/bad-sex-award-2012-extract
Sarah Hall has won the Portico Prize for the second time running, this time with The Beautiful Indifference, short stories described in the Guardian as dark, fierce, and sensual.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/24/beautiful-indifference-sarah-hall-review
Two memoirs and two historical investigations will vie for one of Canada's top non-fiction literary honours. George Bowering and Robert Fowler are two of the authors on the short list of four titles vying for the $40,000 B.C. National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/12/04/bc-non-fiction-prize-short-list.html
Ross King's Leonardo and the Last Supper, which recently won the Governor General's Literary Award for Non-Fiction, is one of 15 titles that made the long list for the $25,000 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non Fiction.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1297217--charles-taylor-prize-long-list-for-literary-non-fiction-announced
The regional battle of the books continues as CBC's Canada Reads: Turf Wars releases the names of its panellists and book choices for 2013. Each panelist chose a book from among the top five selected by Canada Reads fans in their region. Q host Jian Ghomeshi will once again host the book debate. The Canada Reads debates will take place before a live audience in Toronto and on CBC Radio One, February 11 to 14, 2013.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/
YOUNG READERS
Barbara Smucker's Underground to Canada has all the qualities that you could want: adventure, tragedy, excitement and suspense, writes Petrova Fossil. This heart-warming tale of a slave's journey to freedom includes the Underground Railway, slave catchers, dogs, excitement and suspense. This heart-warming tale of a slave's journey to freedom describes how hard life was then. For ages 7 to 14.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/nov/28/review-underground-to-canada-barbara-smucker
R.L. Stine's Goosebumps celebrated its 20th anniversary in July. Stine writes six Goosebumps books a year. When Stine first began the Goosebumps series, the books were for girls. Now there is a boy and a girl in every book. The most recent book is Goosebumps: Hall of Horrors. Don't Scream! For ages 7 to 12.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/goosebumps-writer-rl-stine-looks-to-his-childhood-for-book-ideas/2012/09/04/1e5db00c-dcb2-11e1-af1d-753c613ff6d8_story.html
Bear Despair, by Gaëtan Dorémus, a wordless book first published in France and one of this year's New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books, opens with an endpaper map that showcases all the story's characters. I've gone through this wordless tale dozens of times and still can't frame an exact story line, writes Anita Silvey. I just run my hands over each page and say, "This is so beautiful."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/books/review/bear-despair-by-gaetan-doremus-and-more.html
NEWS & FEATURES
Robert Mankoff writes about Abraham Lincoln's sense of humor, suggesting "As far as I can tell, he's the first American President to have one". The term "sense of humor" wasn't in common usage until the eighteen-sixties and seventies. Earlier, it was "the sense of the ridiculous." And what was ridiculous was what invited ridicule. Funniness and cruelty went hand in hand.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/cartoonists/2012/11/lincolns-smile.html#ixzz2Dk3vrLq2
Carol Anne Duffy has written a new poem to mark the close of this year's World Shakespeare Festival. The poem is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/nov/30/shakespeare-carol-ann-duffy-poem
Writing in the Harvard Business Review, John Coleman argues that poetry teaches us to wrestle with and simplify complexity and develop a more acute sense of empathy. To those open to it, reading and writing poetry can be a valuable component of leadership development, writes Coleman.
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/11/the_benefits_of_poetry_for_pro.html
My Last Empress, the new novel by Nobel laureate Da Chen, is a Nabokovian romp that extends from the Connecticut coast to the lantern-lit passageways of the Forbidden City during the waning days of the Qing Dynasty. The story is recounted by Pickens, a New England aristocrat whose destiny is derailed when, at the age of 18, he falls for Annabelle, the 19-year-old, China-born daughter of a missionary.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/1296108--my-last-empress-by-da-chen-review
Lorna Crozier, Susan McCaslin, Don Domanski, and David Zieroth, among others, have tied a poem to a tree with a piece of string or ribbon, in the hope of raising public awareness about what's known locally as the McLellan Park Forest. Last weekend, 140 poems were strung up; more are to be added this weekend. The hope is to pressure the local council to make the area a park, instead of selling it to developers.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/writers-hang-poems-in-trees-in-bid-to-save-langley-land-parcel/article5983994/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Many of the world's best novels have bad endings, writes Joan Acocella. It's not that they end sadly, but that the ending is actually inartistic—a betrayal of what came before. This is true not just of good novels but also of books on which the reputation of Western fiction rests. The first half of "David Copperfield" leaves you gasping. But in the last chapters of the novel, you die of boredom. Willa Cather's "Song of the Lark" is a similar case.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/11/on-great-novels-with-bad-endings.html
The story of Canada is the story of her relationship with native people, writes Richard Wagamese. Since 1492, the history of the continent has been interpreted through settler eyes, with the relationship between indigenous people and settlers focused on the struggle for land. Thomas King's Inconvenient Indian is a powerful, important book, writes Wagamese.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/the-true-story-of-native-north-americans-whites-want-land/article5841075/
George Bowering has received nearly every accolade possible in a distinguished career: Canada's first poet laureate, Order of Canada, Order of British Columbia, fiction, poetry, plays, history, criticism. Now he's written a memoir of an early 1950s Okanagan Valley youth. Steven Brown writes that there's a great deal of gentle humour in the book, and no overt sentimentality.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Pinboy+George+Bowering+Nostalgia+runs+wild+minus/7634212/story.html
Michael Connelly's Bosch is back with The Black Box harking to the '92 L.A. riots. Together with his partner Jerry Edgar, Hieronymous (Harry) Bosch becomes part of a roving homicide team following the beating of Rodney King and the murder of a freelance Danish journalist. As usual, Michael Connelly gives us a genuine feeling of the politics of policing in Los Angeles.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/michael-connellys-latest-keeps-crime-writers-streak-alive/article5839925/
Guardian columnist Oliver Burkeman's The Antidote begins with thousands of people trying to think positive thoughts together at a "Get Motivated!" session in a Texas baseball stadium, where they hear President George W. Bush talk on the power of optimism. The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking takes every self-help book you've ever read and turns it inside out, writes Hector Tobar.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-oliver-burkeman-20121202,0,6389186.story
Hallucinations, writes Oliver Sacks, fall into a unique and special category of consciousness in which they see and hear things that are not there. Although hallucinations are, according to Sacks, "an essential part of the human condition," Western society links them to madness.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Review+Oliver+Sacks+Hallucinations+evil+hear+evil/7600303/story.html
Colm Toibin's The Testament of Mary isn't your mother's Mother Mary, writes Ron Charles. Forget the Annunciation. The only Assumption here is that Mary is a troubled woman, haunted by Golgotha, hunted by assassins, waiting for death. It's not so much a testament of faith as a confession of guilt. Her insistence on the truth becomes the book's central concern, says Charles.
http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/more_medea_than_madonna_20121127/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
GLEN CHILTON
Reading by internationally-recognized ornithologist and author of The Curse of the Labrador Duck. Will talk about his new book, Attack of the Killer Rhododendrons. Saturday, December 8 at 2:00pm, free. Semiahmoo Library, 1815 - 152 152nd Street, Surrey.
ROBSON READING SERIES
Readings by Nyla Matuk, Alix Ohlin and Matthew Tierney. Thursday, December 13 at 7:00pm, free. UBC Bookstore at Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Plaza level. More information at www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca.
TALK AND BOOK LAUNCH
Inspector Ken Burton will discuss his recreation of the historic voyages of the St. Roch and will discuss the challenges facing Canada and the "ice free" northern passage. Also features a launch of Kenneth John Haycock's new book The History of the RCMP Marine Services. Sunday, December 16 at 2:00pm, free. Vancouver Maritime Museum - TK Gallery, 1905 Ogden Avenue. More information at vancouvermaritimemuseum.com.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Fiona Lam and Raoul Fernandes, Sunday, December 16, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street Vancouver. This will be a special evening. No open mic that night. Suggested donation at the door:
$5. All are welcome. In 2013 Twisted Poets will run the 2nd Wednesday and the 4th Thursday of
every month. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
Upcoming
LUNCH POEMS @ SFU
Reading by poet Garry Thomas Morse. Wednesday, December 19 at 12:00 noon. Teck Gallery in SFU's Harbour Centre campus, 515 West Hastings Street. Vancouver.
MINIMALISM: LIVE A MEANINGFUL LIFE
Talk/reading, Q&A, and book signing by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. Saturday, December 22 at 7:00pm, free. Our Town Cafe, 245 E. Broadway.
UNIQUE LIVES & EXPERIENCES
A lecture series featuring four outstanding women. First lecture will feature Valerie Plame Wilson, a former CIA spy and author of a bestselling autobiography, My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal By the White House, on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30pm. Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street. For complete season details and ticket information, visit www.uniquelives.com.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
