BOOK NEWS
Just announced! - An Evening with David Mitchell
An elegant conjurer of interconnected tales, a genre-bending daredevil, and master prose stylist, Cloug Atlas author David Mitchell talks to Hal Wake, the Vancouver Writers Fest's Artistic Director, and reads from his new novel, The Bone Clocks.
Saturday, September 27 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Purchase tickets online: http://vancouvertix.artsclub.com/tickets/reserve.aspx?performanceNumber=12382&type=rentals
Click here (http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/davidmitchell) for event details and to find out more about our special offer for bookclubs.
An Evening with Louise Penny
New York Times bestselling author, Louise Penny is back with her latest Chief Inspector Gamache book, A Long Way Home. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/louisepenny.
Wednesday, September 3 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Purchase tickets online: http://vancouvertix.artsclub.com/tickets/reserve.aspx?performanceNumber=12377&type=rentals
Click here (http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/louisepenny) for event details and to find out more about our special offer for bookclubs.
FESTIVALS
The TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival continues with concerts around town, and the free David Lam Park Jazz weekend, June 28 & 29 with music starting at noon and continuing until 10 PM. It's a huge, spectacular, international celebration of music, food, and culture. Don't miss bands like the Belle Game, Deli 2 Dublin, Jon Ballantyne and more. Vanjazzfest.ca.
The Indian Summer Festival returns from July 3–12 with its multidisciplinary celebration of arts, ideas and diversity. The scintillating Ideas Series features writers, thinkers and performers from Canada, India and around the world including Priscila Uppal, Renee Saklikar, David Wong, Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas and Orijit Sen, as well as the Lit and Sound Cabaret.
AWARDS & LISTS
Tamai Kobayashi has won The Writer's Trust of Canada's $4,000 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT Emerging Writers. Her newest work, a first novel, is called Prairie Ostrich.
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2014/06/24/tamai-kobayashi-wins-2014-dayne-ogilvie-prize-for-lgbt-emerging-writers/
The Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medals have been announced. The UK's most prestigious awards for children's writing and illustration went to Kevin Brooks and Canada's own Jon Klassen.
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/jun/23/carnegie-medal-kate-greenaway-2014-kevin-brooks-jon-klassen
It was a big week for Evie Wyld! She won the £10,000 Encore second-novel award for her book All the Birds, Singing. The next day she was proclaimed one of the eight winners of the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered prize, which aims to promote authors "of outstanding work, looking beyond the debut novelists and the bestsellers".
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/20/evie-wyld-wins-prize-double-encore-jerwood-fiction-uncovered
The 2014 Rainbow Caterpillar Multilingual Kid Lit Award winner has also been announced. This year, submissions were received in eight languages, with the winning being Yulia Kapridov's Russian-language story Giant's Granny!
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2014/06/19/2014-rainbow-caterpillar-multilingual-kid-lit-award-winner-announced/
YOUNG READERS
Sarah Ellis is a prolific writer of young adult fiction, and her newest novel, Outside In, is one of three YA books recommended by the Globe and Mail this week. Read more, here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/three-young-adult-fiction-reads-worth-checking-out/article19266657/
Ten years ago, David Levithan wrote Boy Meets Boy, "a romantic teen comedy where the homecoming queen was once a guy and the gay-straight alliance was aimed at helping the straight kids learn how to dance." In this interview, Levithan (now the publisher and editorial director at Scholastic) discusses the amazing "burst of books" about LGBT youth:
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Meets+author+David+Levithan+parenting+LGBT+books+young/9946391/story.html#ixzz35XKMSyEl
NEWS & FEATURES
More than twenty unseen Pablo Neruda poems have been discovered among the late writer's papers in Chile. His publisher says that the discovery amounts to "a literary event of universal significance."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/19/pablo-neruda-poems-20-unseen
What does it mean to swear an oath on a book if that book is actually on a Kindle? Learn more about the history of oaths and books, here:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/06/a-brief-history-of-oaths-and-books.html
On that note, how does technology rewrite literature? "Writers including Tom McCarthy and Joe Dunthorne consider whether the coming of computers and the net has changed the way they write."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/23/technology-rewrites-literature-tom-mccarthy-internet
What about our digital reading habits? What does e-reading look like in Canada? BookNet Canada's research study is asking (and answering) just those questions.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2014/06/infographic-digital-reading-habits-in-canada.html
Friends don't let friends read Ayn Rand, or so advised Flannery O'Connor in a 1960 letter to her friend, playwright Maryat Lee! You can read the letter, and find out more about Flannery O'Connor's literary preferences, here:
http://www.openculture.com/2014/06/flannery-oconnor-friends-dont-let-friends-read-ayn-rand-1960.html
"A novelist scrawling away in a notebook in seclusion may not seem to have much in common with an NBA player doing a reverse layup on a basketball court before a screaming crowd. But if you could peer inside their heads, you might see some striking similarities in how their brains were churning". This is your brain "on writing":
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/19/science/researching-the-brain-of-writers.html
When it comes to book launches, there are eight constant truths to observe! Find out what they are, here:
http://www.openbooktoronto.com/video/shall_we_launch_or_keep_moping_8_truths_about_book_launches
Have you ever heard of Campbell River's Haig-Brown Library? In the 1950's, writer and conservation Roderick Haig-Brown and his wife Ann began to "grow" a library in their home, a "wordy paradise" that makes for an excellent place to go "book fishing" to this day!
http://thetyee.ca/Books/2014/05/31/Haig-Brown-Library/
There are several even more-local libraries worth knowing about too! The "B is for Book Box" community book station has just opened on the 3100-block of East 8th Avenue, aimed at the "many children attending East Vancouver's Thunderbird Elementary school [who] have never been inside a public library."
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Book+brings+reading+east+side+Vancouver+childen/9951988/story.html#ixzz35XNrV6me
BOOKS & WRITERS
Teju Cole is one of a few authors (Joyce Carol Oates and Margaret Atwood among them) who sees Twitter as "an extension of, rather than a distraction from, his work." In this interview, he discusses his early life in Lagos, his new life in New York, and how Nigeria (and Twitter) have influenced his writing style.
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/jun/21/teju-cole-every-day-thief-interview
Are you a fan of crime fiction? Here are the top ten summer crime fiction reads:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/top-ten-picks-in-summer-crime-fiction/article19263173/
If small press fiction is more your thing, you might want to check out this list (and collection of reviews), which features the newest book by Writers Fest fave Ivan E. Coyote.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/the-best-in-small-press-three-books-to-check-out-now/article19159918/
Christopher Moore's new novel, The Serpent of Venice, owes "as much to Blackadder as it does to William Shakespeare." He's interviewed about his inspiration, favourite sentences, historical periods and more, here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/author-christopher-moore-on-his-new-book-his-favourite-sentences-and-more/article19267963/
Censorship is the topic of choice in Kevin Birmingham's newest book, The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's ‘Ulysses.' It is the fullest recounting written so far about the struggle to publish the seminal 20th century novel.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/25/books/kevin-birminghams-book-on-ulysses-and-censorship.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
PASSFIELD PRESS BOOK LAUNCH
Launch of Michael Hetherington's second novel Halving the Orange. Thursday, June 26 at 6:00pm. The Paper Hound, 344 W. Pender.
MOIRA YOUNG
Reading, Q&A and book signing by the author of Raging Star. Thursday, June 26 at 7:00pm. Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-879-7737.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Susan McCaslin and Lee Johnson plus open mic. Thursday, June 26, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. Sign up for open mic at 7pm. More information at pandorascollective.com.
TRAITOR'S BLADE
Reading by Sebastien de Castell from the first book in his new fantasy series. Friday, June 27 at 7:00pm, free. McGill branch, Burnaby Public Library. More information and register online at 604-299-8955.
RAIN CITY CHRONICLES
Evening of stories and songs featuring David Moscrop, Adrienne Matei, Ollie Rankin, Tania Quiroz, Jeff Lawrence, Emily Elias, Cole Nowicki, Rommy Ghaly, and Beaucoup Bakery's Jackie Ellis. Friday, June 27 at 7:30pm. Rio Theatre, 1660 E. Broadway.
PEACH GIRL
Raymond Nakamura launches his children's book about the adventures of Momoko, a girl who was born inside a ripe peach. Saturday, June 28 at 12:30pm. Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre, 100-6688 Southoaks Cres., Burnaby.
Upcoming
DES KENNEDY
Canadian writer, environmentalist, and journalist Des Kennedy personalizes copies of his new book Heart & Soil: The Revolutionary Good of Gardens. Thursday, July 10 at 1:00pm. Book Warehouse, 632 W. Broadway.
BE NOBODY
Three Jewels Vancouver presents a book signing and public talk with Be Nobody author Lama Marut. Friday, July 11 at 6:30pm. Banyen Books and Sound, 3608 W. 4th Ave.
BOOK LAUNCH
Candice James and Manolis launch new books Purple Haze and Autumn Leaves. Saturday, July 12 at 1:30pm. New Westminster Arts Council Gallery, Queens Park, New Westminster.
DEAD POETS READING SERIES
Five poets/readers/poetry-lovers/writers with extensive public reading experience read poems from one of their favourite dead poet's work. Sunday, July 13 at 3:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central branch, VPL, 350 W. Georgia. More information at vpl.ca.
BOOK LAUNCH
C.C. Humphreys launches his new novel, Plague. Monday, July 14 at 5:00pm. The Fringe Cafe, 3124 West Broadway. More information at 604-738-6977.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Micheal Heatherington, Susan Musgrave and Steve Noyes plus open mic. Wednesday, July 16, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. Sign up for open mic at 7pm. More information at pandorascollective.com.
KATIE CROUCH
Author reads from her new book Abroad. Thursday, July 17 at 7:00pm. Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-879-7737.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Book News Vol. 9 No. 16
BOOK NEWS
Just announced! - An Evening with Louise Penny
New York Times bestselling author, Louise Penny is back with her latest Chief Inspector Gamache book, A Long Way Home. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/louisepenny.
Wednesday, September 3 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Purchase tickets online: http://vancouvertix.artsclub.com/tickets/reserve.aspx?performanceNumber=12377&type=rentals
Click here (http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/louisepenny) for event details and to find out more about our special offer for bookclubs.
FESTIVALS
The TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival launches this weekend. From June 20-July 1 check out concerts with the 1800 of the world's best jazz, funk, Latin, fusion, and world music artists. The many free events include Downtown Jazz at Robson Square, David Lam Park Jazz Weekend, and Canada Day on Granville Island. www.coastaljazz.ca.
The Indian Summer Festival returns from July 3–12 with its multidisciplinary celebration of arts, ideas and diversity. The scintillating Ideas Series features writers, thinkers and performers from Canada, India and around the world including Priscila Uppal, Renee Saklikar, David Wong, Michael Yahgulanaas and Orijit Sen, as well as the Lit and Sound Cabaret.
AWARDS & LISTS
The Colombian novelist Juan Gabriel Vásquez has been awarded the Impac Dublin literary award for his novel, The Sound of Things Falling. As an exploration of the Colombian drug trade, it "reveals how intimate lives are overshadowed by history; how the past preys on the present; and how the fate of individuals as well as countries is moulded by distant, or covert, events."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/12/impac-dublin-award-juan-gabriel-vasquez-the-sound-of-things-falling
YOUNG READERS
The number of children reading for pleasure has dropped significantly in the past few years. Can apps that force them to read reverse the trend? According to Salon, "this is the absolute worst way to teach your kids to read."
http://www.salon.com/2014/06/12/this_is_the_absolute_worst_way_to_teach_your_kids_to_read/
NEWS & FEATURES
2013 was a good year for self-publishing. Sales rose by 79%, along with those of e-books in general—a further sign of the decline of print.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/13/self-publishing-boom-lifts-sales-18m-titles-300m
What are the top 10 feminist books? Rachel Holmes (biographer of Eleanor Marx) has picked works "from Jeanette Winterson to George Bernard Shaw, that address 'the greatest global injustice.'"
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/11/top-10-feminist-books-rachel-holmes-eleanor-marx
Can you identify classic crime novels by their covers? Try your luck at The Guardian's quiz, here:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/quiz/2014/jun/17/quiz-identify-crime-novels-books-by-covers-jackets
A "literary map to end all literary maps" has been created. "Charles Dickens would recognize the curve of the river and the placement of the streets -- but he would be surprised to learn that his ‘Bleak House' is right across the street from something called ‘Fight Club.'"
http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-a-literary-map-to-end-all-literary-maps-20140617-story.html
Working-class fiction has slowly been written out of publishing, or at least that's what seems to be the case in Britain. "Publishing is in dire need of readers and yet, because of ingrained perceptions, millions of readers are unable to read about their experiences because those who commission and market new writing feel uncomfortable with something they know so little about."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/jun/17/working-class-fiction-publishing-assumption
How do writers achieve success? A recent survey sent to writers participating in the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books asked: Did they keep a diary as a child? Did they ever have a book rejected? Did they earn a living from writing? With answers from more than 200 authors, a literary board game was created. Try it here:
http://graphics.latimes.com/how-to-be-a-writer/
How do you move 500,000 books? The Foyles' flagship bookshop in central London was recently relocated to the former St Martins School of Arts building, less than 100 metres down Charing Cross Road. This timelapse video will show you how they did it!
http://www.theguardian.com/books/video/2014/jun/06/foyles-london-charing-cross-road-timelapse-video
BOOKS & WRITERS
J.K. Rowling has written a new novel using the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The Silkworm features the same gumshoe team as The Cuckoo's Calling, and takes place in the "rarefied world of literary London, sending up the swollen egos and clashing ambitions of writers, editors and publishers vying for fame and top-dog standing."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/books/j-k-rowlings-new-crime-novel-the-silkworm.html
Neil Gaiman is relentlessly busy, with a full slate of projects for the coming year. He was interviewed recently about his upcoming Carnegie Hall appearance, his take on "Hansel and Gretel" and the time he spent in a Jordanian refugee camp.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/14/books/neil-gaiman-follows-the-guiding-light-of-instinct.html
Stephen King's novel Joyland and an Amazon glitch have created an unexpected windfall for writer Emily Schultz.
http://observer.com/2014/06/novelist-emily-schultz-scores-stephen-king-windfall/#ixzz357bVC5Rj
Mary Byrd Thornton has been a fixture in American literary circles for a very long time. She's one of the founders of Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, "a nerve center for contemporary American fiction, and a second home for a long list of Southern writers." At 63, she's finally written her first novel, called Flying Shoes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/18/books/a-bookstore-owner-taps-a-wound-to-write-a-first-novel.html
Robert Frost is often thought to be the simplest of the great English-language modernist, though he's also one of the least understood. "Critics have looked past him because of his lack of ostensible difficulty, and we misunderstand him because of his difficulties. It is difficult even to say what they are."
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118046/art-robert-frost-tim-kendall-reviewed-adam-plunkett
The Luminato Festival is wrapping up in Toronto, all themed around the idea of "unseen" Toronto. To mark the occasion, The Globe and Mail asked five participants which books, for them, capture the city best. Here are their answers:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/luminato-2014-toronto-shines-through-these-five-books/article19161484/
Speaking of Canadian cities, there's a new book out called Sensational Vancouver, which analyzes the interplay of cops, crooks and civic politicians in the city's history. "In a city whose material features are constantly changing, there's a certain comfort in knowing that, despite the fads and fashions of successive generations, Vancouver's rich and colourful criminal life is as rich and colourful as ever!"
http://www.straight.com/life/663811/crime-and-high-society-mingle-eve-lazaruss-sensational-vancouver
Maile Meloy's Madame Lazarus is the short story featured in this week's New Yorker. Read the tale, and an interview with the author, here:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/06/this-week-in-fiction-maile-meloy-1.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
A Proclamation and Reading honoring Jean Barman, B.C.'s most active historian, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, as the 21st recipient of the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award. Thursday, June 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
EUROPEAN BOOK CLUB
Features Portuguese novel The True Actor (O verdadeiro ator) by Jacinto Lucas Pires. Saturday, June 21 at 4:00pm. Free but register at eubookclub.vancouver@shaw.ca. Istituto Italiano di Cultura, 500-510 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at www.alliancefrancaise.ca.
POETIC FORM AND THE MYSTICAL MUSE
Readings by poets Lee Johnson and Susan McCaslin. Tuesday, June 24 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
GEOFFREY TIGG
The Painting is the second book in the Detective Kelly O'Brian series by Geoffrey Tigg. Wednesday, June 25 at 7:00pm. Welsh Hall West, West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at westvanlibrary.ca.
MOIRA YOUNG
Reading, Q&A and book Signing by the author of Raging Star. Thursday, June 26 at 7:00pm. Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-879-7737.
Upcoming
BOOK LAUNCH
C.C. Humphreys launches his new novel, Plague. Monday, July 14 at 5:00pm. The Fringe Cafe, 3124 West Broadway. More information at 604-738-6977.
KATIE CROUCH
Author reads from her new book Abroad. Thursday, July 17 at 7:00pm. Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-879-7737.
Just announced! - An Evening with Louise Penny
New York Times bestselling author, Louise Penny is back with her latest Chief Inspector Gamache book, A Long Way Home. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/louisepenny.
Wednesday, September 3 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
Purchase tickets online: http://vancouvertix.artsclub.com/tickets/reserve.aspx?performanceNumber=12377&type=rentals
Click here (http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/louisepenny) for event details and to find out more about our special offer for bookclubs.
FESTIVALS
The TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival launches this weekend. From June 20-July 1 check out concerts with the 1800 of the world's best jazz, funk, Latin, fusion, and world music artists. The many free events include Downtown Jazz at Robson Square, David Lam Park Jazz Weekend, and Canada Day on Granville Island. www.coastaljazz.ca.
The Indian Summer Festival returns from July 3–12 with its multidisciplinary celebration of arts, ideas and diversity. The scintillating Ideas Series features writers, thinkers and performers from Canada, India and around the world including Priscila Uppal, Renee Saklikar, David Wong, Michael Yahgulanaas and Orijit Sen, as well as the Lit and Sound Cabaret.
AWARDS & LISTS
The Colombian novelist Juan Gabriel Vásquez has been awarded the Impac Dublin literary award for his novel, The Sound of Things Falling. As an exploration of the Colombian drug trade, it "reveals how intimate lives are overshadowed by history; how the past preys on the present; and how the fate of individuals as well as countries is moulded by distant, or covert, events."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/12/impac-dublin-award-juan-gabriel-vasquez-the-sound-of-things-falling
YOUNG READERS
The number of children reading for pleasure has dropped significantly in the past few years. Can apps that force them to read reverse the trend? According to Salon, "this is the absolute worst way to teach your kids to read."
http://www.salon.com/2014/06/12/this_is_the_absolute_worst_way_to_teach_your_kids_to_read/
NEWS & FEATURES
2013 was a good year for self-publishing. Sales rose by 79%, along with those of e-books in general—a further sign of the decline of print.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/13/self-publishing-boom-lifts-sales-18m-titles-300m
What are the top 10 feminist books? Rachel Holmes (biographer of Eleanor Marx) has picked works "from Jeanette Winterson to George Bernard Shaw, that address 'the greatest global injustice.'"
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/11/top-10-feminist-books-rachel-holmes-eleanor-marx
Can you identify classic crime novels by their covers? Try your luck at The Guardian's quiz, here:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/quiz/2014/jun/17/quiz-identify-crime-novels-books-by-covers-jackets
A "literary map to end all literary maps" has been created. "Charles Dickens would recognize the curve of the river and the placement of the streets -- but he would be surprised to learn that his ‘Bleak House' is right across the street from something called ‘Fight Club.'"
http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-a-literary-map-to-end-all-literary-maps-20140617-story.html
Working-class fiction has slowly been written out of publishing, or at least that's what seems to be the case in Britain. "Publishing is in dire need of readers and yet, because of ingrained perceptions, millions of readers are unable to read about their experiences because those who commission and market new writing feel uncomfortable with something they know so little about."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/jun/17/working-class-fiction-publishing-assumption
How do writers achieve success? A recent survey sent to writers participating in the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books asked: Did they keep a diary as a child? Did they ever have a book rejected? Did they earn a living from writing? With answers from more than 200 authors, a literary board game was created. Try it here:
http://graphics.latimes.com/how-to-be-a-writer/
How do you move 500,000 books? The Foyles' flagship bookshop in central London was recently relocated to the former St Martins School of Arts building, less than 100 metres down Charing Cross Road. This timelapse video will show you how they did it!
http://www.theguardian.com/books/video/2014/jun/06/foyles-london-charing-cross-road-timelapse-video
BOOKS & WRITERS
J.K. Rowling has written a new novel using the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The Silkworm features the same gumshoe team as The Cuckoo's Calling, and takes place in the "rarefied world of literary London, sending up the swollen egos and clashing ambitions of writers, editors and publishers vying for fame and top-dog standing."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/books/j-k-rowlings-new-crime-novel-the-silkworm.html
Neil Gaiman is relentlessly busy, with a full slate of projects for the coming year. He was interviewed recently about his upcoming Carnegie Hall appearance, his take on "Hansel and Gretel" and the time he spent in a Jordanian refugee camp.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/14/books/neil-gaiman-follows-the-guiding-light-of-instinct.html
Stephen King's novel Joyland and an Amazon glitch have created an unexpected windfall for writer Emily Schultz.
http://observer.com/2014/06/novelist-emily-schultz-scores-stephen-king-windfall/#ixzz357bVC5Rj
Mary Byrd Thornton has been a fixture in American literary circles for a very long time. She's one of the founders of Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, "a nerve center for contemporary American fiction, and a second home for a long list of Southern writers." At 63, she's finally written her first novel, called Flying Shoes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/18/books/a-bookstore-owner-taps-a-wound-to-write-a-first-novel.html
Robert Frost is often thought to be the simplest of the great English-language modernist, though he's also one of the least understood. "Critics have looked past him because of his lack of ostensible difficulty, and we misunderstand him because of his difficulties. It is difficult even to say what they are."
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118046/art-robert-frost-tim-kendall-reviewed-adam-plunkett
The Luminato Festival is wrapping up in Toronto, all themed around the idea of "unseen" Toronto. To mark the occasion, The Globe and Mail asked five participants which books, for them, capture the city best. Here are their answers:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/luminato-2014-toronto-shines-through-these-five-books/article19161484/
Speaking of Canadian cities, there's a new book out called Sensational Vancouver, which analyzes the interplay of cops, crooks and civic politicians in the city's history. "In a city whose material features are constantly changing, there's a certain comfort in knowing that, despite the fads and fashions of successive generations, Vancouver's rich and colourful criminal life is as rich and colourful as ever!"
http://www.straight.com/life/663811/crime-and-high-society-mingle-eve-lazaruss-sensational-vancouver
Maile Meloy's Madame Lazarus is the short story featured in this week's New Yorker. Read the tale, and an interview with the author, here:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/06/this-week-in-fiction-maile-meloy-1.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
A Proclamation and Reading honoring Jean Barman, B.C.'s most active historian, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, as the 21st recipient of the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award. Thursday, June 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
EUROPEAN BOOK CLUB
Features Portuguese novel The True Actor (O verdadeiro ator) by Jacinto Lucas Pires. Saturday, June 21 at 4:00pm. Free but register at eubookclub.vancouver@shaw.ca. Istituto Italiano di Cultura, 500-510 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at www.alliancefrancaise.ca.
POETIC FORM AND THE MYSTICAL MUSE
Readings by poets Lee Johnson and Susan McCaslin. Tuesday, June 24 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
GEOFFREY TIGG
The Painting is the second book in the Detective Kelly O'Brian series by Geoffrey Tigg. Wednesday, June 25 at 7:00pm. Welsh Hall West, West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at westvanlibrary.ca.
MOIRA YOUNG
Reading, Q&A and book Signing by the author of Raging Star. Thursday, June 26 at 7:00pm. Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-879-7737.
Upcoming
BOOK LAUNCH
C.C. Humphreys launches his new novel, Plague. Monday, July 14 at 5:00pm. The Fringe Cafe, 3124 West Broadway. More information at 604-738-6977.
KATIE CROUCH
Author reads from her new book Abroad. Thursday, July 17 at 7:00pm. Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-879-7737.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Book News Vol. 9 No. 15
BOOK NEWS
SALT SPRING GETAWAY RAFFLE
Announcing the VWF's fabulous Salt Spring Getaway raffle-what could be better than a deluxe Gulf Island holiday? Enjoy a luxurious weekend at historic Hasting House and Spa-and avoid those ferry lineups by hopping onboard a SeaAir flight. In the blink of an eye you'll be relaxing on an island paradise. Aahh-feel that stress evaporate! Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/supportus/saltspring-getaway
AWARDS & LISTS
The winners of the Griffin Poetry Prize have been announced. 2013 Festival author Anne Carson, who won in the Canadian category, and Brenda Hillman, who won in the international one, were awarded $65,000 each.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2014/06/who-will-win-the-2014-griffin-poetry-prize.html
The National Magazine Awards were announced a few nights ago in Toronto. Among the literary winners were Jess Taylor for her story, Paul, and Karen Solie for her poem, Conversion.
http://www.randomhouse.ca/hazlitt/poetry/conversion
The League of Canadian Poets has also announced the winner of its annual awards. Murray Reiss, Alexandra Oliver and Anne Compton all won prizes worth $1,000.
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2014/06/09/anne-compton-alexandra-oliver-murray-reiss-win-league-of-canadian-poets-awards/
YOUNG READERS
The Wind in the Willows is being featured this week in The Guardian's countdown of the 100 best novels. "Like the other books for children selected for this series…The Wind in the Willows deserves recognition as a novel in which adult readers will find wisdom, humour, entertainment and meaning, as well as many passages of great literary power."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/09/100-best-novels-the-wind-in-the-willows-kenneth-grahame
Can YA Books be complex? Of course, argues Noah Berlatsky for The Atlantic, in response to a recently published article that described them as mere "maudlin teen dramas."
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/06/of-course-ya-books-can-be-complex/372340/
NEWS & FEATURES
A movement that calls attention to the marginalization of female writers, called #ReadWomen2014, has found a new defender: Canada's own House of Anansi Press. The publishing house, run mostly by women, has launched its own initiative to celebrate female authors.
http://www.quillandquire.com/book-news/2014/06/05/anansi-launches-readwomen2014-campaign/
The manuscript of Samuel Beckett's first published novel is set to go on display. It "will be on show at Reading University for just one day, before returning to the Beckett scholar who is painstakingly transcribing every crossed-out word, dash and comma."
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/jun/09/samuel-beckett-manuscript-first-novel-on-display
The New York Review of Books has slammed the CIA with a Twitter attack! Upon the CIA's entrance into the twitterverse, the "august and technophobic" literary journal released a barrage of reminders about the agency's controversial interrogation techniques.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/07/cia-twitter-new-york-review-books-attack
Whose writing career do you envy most? From George Eliot to Sophocles, Zoë Heller and Daniel Mendelsohn discuss.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/08/books/review/whose-writing-career-do-you-most-envy.html
Speaking of long literary careers, the late Maya Angelou was iconoclastic in many ways. For one, she disliked modesty. "As I learned when I met her, the late author believed that true arrogance lay in denying one's own specialness—and denying the specialness of others."
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/06/why-maya-angelou-didnt-believe-in-modesty/371965/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Bill Gaston's new short story collection, Juliet Was a Surprise, is his first in eight years. "There is nothing heavy-handed about this approach...the stories are poised, always, at the cusp of laughter, heartbreak and mystery. To read them is a heart-opening experience."
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/writer+Bill+Gaston+collection+celebrates+strange+daily+life/9915604/story.html#ixzz34BKRvULz
Another B.C. writer, Gary Geddes, has released a new book of poetry called What Does a House Want?–Selected Poems. The over-arching theme of the book "could be summed up nicely by the Milan Kundera quote that opens Section One: ‘It takes so little, so infinitely little, for a person to cross that border beyond which everything loses meaning: love, conviction, faith, history.'"
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Poignant+poet+Gary+Geddes+shatters+illusions/9915601/story.html
What do famous writers do when they're not writing? "When he wasn't writing, Kurt Vonnegut doodled. A new book, introduced by his daughter Nanette, brings together some of his finest drawings and his own musings about his art."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/gallery/2014/may/05/kurt-vonnegut-the-drawings-of-science-fictions-master-artist-in-pictures
Coinciding with the anniversary of D-Day, this week's Guardian Poem of the Week is Desert Flowers by Keith Douglas. "Succinct but mysterious, Desert Flowers belongs to a liminal state between sleeping and waking, night and day."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/09/poem-of-the-week-keith-douglas-war
Ramona Ausubel's story, You Can Find Love Now, is about a Cyclops looking for love. It appears in The New Yorker's Summer Fiction Issue, and the author is interviewed here:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/06/this-week-in-fiction-ramona-ausubel.html
When it comes to fear (of writing), Ted Thompson considers it a "self-fulfilling prophesy!" The acclaimed debut novelist says the only way to carry on is to "ignore the inner demon that tells you you'll never be as good as Zadie Smith."
http://www.salon.com/2014/06/06/ignore_the_inner_demon_that_tells_you_you%E2%80%99ll_never_be_as_good_as_zadie_smith/
In what ways can successful literary fiction contain a sense of political purpose? "For Molly Antopol, author of The UnAmericans, Grace Paley's short, generous stories manage to concern politics, and achieve a broadly activist spirit, without ever preaching."
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/05/the-writing-almost-feels-like-method-acting/371691/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
DIANE TUCKER
The Burnaby Writers' Society presents a special poetry workshop evening. Thursday, June 12 at 7:30pm. By donation. Studio 104, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.
VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING FESTIVAL
A weekend of enlivening encounters with many passionate storytellers, including Naveen Girn, Naomi Steinberg, Todd Wong, Lizzy Karp, Victor Guerin, Magpie Ulysses and Deborah Williams. June 13-15, 2014. Various locations. Compete details at vancouverstorytelling.org.
LUNCH POEMS AT SFU
Featuring Billeh Nickerson and Heather Haley. Wednesday, June 18 at 12:00 noon, free. Teck Gallery in SFU's Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.
A SPECIAL NIGHT FOR A SPECIAL MAN
On Wednesday, June 18, 2014, Pandora's Collective Presents A Special Night for A Special Man Benefit for Timothy Shay at The Cottage Bistro 4468 Main St, Vancouver. Doors open at 6pm-11pm. $10 suggested donation. Host: RC Weslowski. More information at pandorascollective.com.
GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
A Proclamation and Reading honoring Jean Barman, B.C.'s most active historian, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, as the 21st recipient of the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award. Thursday, June 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
EUROPEAN BOOK CLUB
Features Portuguese novel The True Actor (O verdadeiro ator) by Jacinto Lucas Pires. Saturday, June 21 at 4:00pm. Free but register at eubookclub.vancouver@shaw.ca. Istituto Italiano di Cultura, 500-510 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at www.alliancefrancaise.ca.
Upcoming
POETIC FORM AND THE MYSTICAL MUSE
Readings by poets Lee Johnson and Susan McCaslin. Tuesday, June 24 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
GEOFFREY TIGG
The Painting is the second book in the Detective Kelly O'Brian series by Geoffrey Tigg. Wednesday, June 25 at 7:00pm. Welsh Hall West, West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at westvanlibrary.ca.
MOIRA YOUNG
Reading, Q&A and book Signing by the author of Raging Star. Thursday, June 26 at 7:00pm. Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-879-7737.
BOOK LAUNCH
C.C. Humphreys launches his new novel, Plague. Monday, July 14 at 5:00pm. The Fringe Cafe, 3124 West Broadway. More information at 604-738-6977.
KATIE CROUCH
Author reads from her new book Abroad. Thursday, July 17 at 7:00pm. Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-879-7737.
SALT SPRING GETAWAY RAFFLE
Announcing the VWF's fabulous Salt Spring Getaway raffle-what could be better than a deluxe Gulf Island holiday? Enjoy a luxurious weekend at historic Hasting House and Spa-and avoid those ferry lineups by hopping onboard a SeaAir flight. In the blink of an eye you'll be relaxing on an island paradise. Aahh-feel that stress evaporate! Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/supportus/saltspring-getaway
AWARDS & LISTS
The winners of the Griffin Poetry Prize have been announced. 2013 Festival author Anne Carson, who won in the Canadian category, and Brenda Hillman, who won in the international one, were awarded $65,000 each.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2014/06/who-will-win-the-2014-griffin-poetry-prize.html
The National Magazine Awards were announced a few nights ago in Toronto. Among the literary winners were Jess Taylor for her story, Paul, and Karen Solie for her poem, Conversion.
http://www.randomhouse.ca/hazlitt/poetry/conversion
The League of Canadian Poets has also announced the winner of its annual awards. Murray Reiss, Alexandra Oliver and Anne Compton all won prizes worth $1,000.
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2014/06/09/anne-compton-alexandra-oliver-murray-reiss-win-league-of-canadian-poets-awards/
YOUNG READERS
The Wind in the Willows is being featured this week in The Guardian's countdown of the 100 best novels. "Like the other books for children selected for this series…The Wind in the Willows deserves recognition as a novel in which adult readers will find wisdom, humour, entertainment and meaning, as well as many passages of great literary power."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/09/100-best-novels-the-wind-in-the-willows-kenneth-grahame
Can YA Books be complex? Of course, argues Noah Berlatsky for The Atlantic, in response to a recently published article that described them as mere "maudlin teen dramas."
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/06/of-course-ya-books-can-be-complex/372340/
NEWS & FEATURES
A movement that calls attention to the marginalization of female writers, called #ReadWomen2014, has found a new defender: Canada's own House of Anansi Press. The publishing house, run mostly by women, has launched its own initiative to celebrate female authors.
http://www.quillandquire.com/book-news/2014/06/05/anansi-launches-readwomen2014-campaign/
The manuscript of Samuel Beckett's first published novel is set to go on display. It "will be on show at Reading University for just one day, before returning to the Beckett scholar who is painstakingly transcribing every crossed-out word, dash and comma."
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/jun/09/samuel-beckett-manuscript-first-novel-on-display
The New York Review of Books has slammed the CIA with a Twitter attack! Upon the CIA's entrance into the twitterverse, the "august and technophobic" literary journal released a barrage of reminders about the agency's controversial interrogation techniques.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/07/cia-twitter-new-york-review-books-attack
Whose writing career do you envy most? From George Eliot to Sophocles, Zoë Heller and Daniel Mendelsohn discuss.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/08/books/review/whose-writing-career-do-you-most-envy.html
Speaking of long literary careers, the late Maya Angelou was iconoclastic in many ways. For one, she disliked modesty. "As I learned when I met her, the late author believed that true arrogance lay in denying one's own specialness—and denying the specialness of others."
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/06/why-maya-angelou-didnt-believe-in-modesty/371965/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Bill Gaston's new short story collection, Juliet Was a Surprise, is his first in eight years. "There is nothing heavy-handed about this approach...the stories are poised, always, at the cusp of laughter, heartbreak and mystery. To read them is a heart-opening experience."
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/writer+Bill+Gaston+collection+celebrates+strange+daily+life/9915604/story.html#ixzz34BKRvULz
Another B.C. writer, Gary Geddes, has released a new book of poetry called What Does a House Want?–Selected Poems. The over-arching theme of the book "could be summed up nicely by the Milan Kundera quote that opens Section One: ‘It takes so little, so infinitely little, for a person to cross that border beyond which everything loses meaning: love, conviction, faith, history.'"
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Poignant+poet+Gary+Geddes+shatters+illusions/9915601/story.html
What do famous writers do when they're not writing? "When he wasn't writing, Kurt Vonnegut doodled. A new book, introduced by his daughter Nanette, brings together some of his finest drawings and his own musings about his art."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/gallery/2014/may/05/kurt-vonnegut-the-drawings-of-science-fictions-master-artist-in-pictures
Coinciding with the anniversary of D-Day, this week's Guardian Poem of the Week is Desert Flowers by Keith Douglas. "Succinct but mysterious, Desert Flowers belongs to a liminal state between sleeping and waking, night and day."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/09/poem-of-the-week-keith-douglas-war
Ramona Ausubel's story, You Can Find Love Now, is about a Cyclops looking for love. It appears in The New Yorker's Summer Fiction Issue, and the author is interviewed here:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/06/this-week-in-fiction-ramona-ausubel.html
When it comes to fear (of writing), Ted Thompson considers it a "self-fulfilling prophesy!" The acclaimed debut novelist says the only way to carry on is to "ignore the inner demon that tells you you'll never be as good as Zadie Smith."
http://www.salon.com/2014/06/06/ignore_the_inner_demon_that_tells_you_you%E2%80%99ll_never_be_as_good_as_zadie_smith/
In what ways can successful literary fiction contain a sense of political purpose? "For Molly Antopol, author of The UnAmericans, Grace Paley's short, generous stories manage to concern politics, and achieve a broadly activist spirit, without ever preaching."
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/05/the-writing-almost-feels-like-method-acting/371691/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
DIANE TUCKER
The Burnaby Writers' Society presents a special poetry workshop evening. Thursday, June 12 at 7:30pm. By donation. Studio 104, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.
VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING FESTIVAL
A weekend of enlivening encounters with many passionate storytellers, including Naveen Girn, Naomi Steinberg, Todd Wong, Lizzy Karp, Victor Guerin, Magpie Ulysses and Deborah Williams. June 13-15, 2014. Various locations. Compete details at vancouverstorytelling.org.
LUNCH POEMS AT SFU
Featuring Billeh Nickerson and Heather Haley. Wednesday, June 18 at 12:00 noon, free. Teck Gallery in SFU's Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.
A SPECIAL NIGHT FOR A SPECIAL MAN
On Wednesday, June 18, 2014, Pandora's Collective Presents A Special Night for A Special Man Benefit for Timothy Shay at The Cottage Bistro 4468 Main St, Vancouver. Doors open at 6pm-11pm. $10 suggested donation. Host: RC Weslowski. More information at pandorascollective.com.
GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
A Proclamation and Reading honoring Jean Barman, B.C.'s most active historian, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, as the 21st recipient of the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award. Thursday, June 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
EUROPEAN BOOK CLUB
Features Portuguese novel The True Actor (O verdadeiro ator) by Jacinto Lucas Pires. Saturday, June 21 at 4:00pm. Free but register at eubookclub.vancouver@shaw.ca. Istituto Italiano di Cultura, 500-510 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at www.alliancefrancaise.ca.
Upcoming
POETIC FORM AND THE MYSTICAL MUSE
Readings by poets Lee Johnson and Susan McCaslin. Tuesday, June 24 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
GEOFFREY TIGG
The Painting is the second book in the Detective Kelly O'Brian series by Geoffrey Tigg. Wednesday, June 25 at 7:00pm. Welsh Hall West, West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at westvanlibrary.ca.
MOIRA YOUNG
Reading, Q&A and book Signing by the author of Raging Star. Thursday, June 26 at 7:00pm. Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-879-7737.
BOOK LAUNCH
C.C. Humphreys launches his new novel, Plague. Monday, July 14 at 5:00pm. The Fringe Cafe, 3124 West Broadway. More information at 604-738-6977.
KATIE CROUCH
Author reads from her new book Abroad. Thursday, July 17 at 7:00pm. Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-879-7737.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Book News Vol. 9 No. 14
BOOK NEWS
AWARDS & LISTS
The Lambda Literary Awards, which honour the best lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender books of the previous year, have been announced. Canadian playwright Michel Marc Bouchard won for his LGBT drama Tom at the Farm (recently adapted into a prize-winning film by Xavier Dolan.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/06/02/lambda-literary-awards/
First-time novelist Eimear McBride is the winner of the 2014 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize for her book A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing). One judge commented that "this an extraordinary new voice-this novel will move and astonish the reader."
http://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/2014/eimear-mcbride-wins-the-2014-baileys-womens-prize-for-fiction
YOUNG READERS
Do you prefer your books in 3D? Here's a list of ten great pop-up children's books!
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/jun/01/top-10-pop-up-books-robert-sabuda
NEWS & FEATURES
"Goodbye, Steinbeck; All Hail, Shelley!" The British government has released a new syllabus that eliminates several American literary classics, including To Kill a Mockingbird, The Crucible, and Of Mice and Men.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/31/books/goodbye-steinbeck-all-hail-shelley.html
The tributes for Maya Angelou have begun to pour in. In our age of instant communication, that means that many of them were via social media. Check out some of the most significant tweets, facebook tributes and instagram posts, here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/life-is-pure-adventure-tributes-pour-in-for-maya-angelou/article18883974/
For something more lengthy, here's a tribute written by her editor Lennie Goodings, who describes Angelou as her "hero."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/29/my-hero-maya-angelou-by-lennie-goodings
Mountains have often inspired literary inspiration, especially among the Beat Poets. Here's a celebration of Gary Snyder's poem Meeting the Mountains, and a link to recently unpublished photos of "poets on the peaks."
http://www.blogcitylights.com/2014/06/02/poetry-on-a-monday-poets-on-the-peaks/
Is poetry inaccessible? A British television presenter and poetry prize judge recently made this claim, stating that there was a need for an "inquisition" in which "poets [would be] called to account for their poetry!"
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/jun/02/is-jeremy-paxman-right-new-poetry-inaccessibilty
What's the best "bad" book that you have ever read? Leslie Jamison (novelist and non-fiction writer) and James Parker (contributing editor at The Atlantic) discuss.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/books/review/whats-the-best-bad-book-youve-ever-read.html
"It's Too Late. Exclamation Marks Are Unstoppable Now!" Or so claims New York Magazine, in this piece on the current "tidal shift in grammatical norms."
http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2014/05/even-grammarians-are-misusing-exclamation-marks.html
What are the best literary putdowns? From The Murder on the Orient Express to Revolutionary Road, here are twelve books that feature insults intended to make you weep!
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/gallery/2014/jun/02/-12-literary-insults-to-make-you-weep
A cache of Marcel Proust's letters was recently discovered, containing notes he sent to his noisy upstairs neighbours from 1906-1919. "Proust, we now realize, was, along with everything else, a neighbor, too. We who toss and turn, fantasizing about the exquisitely cutting emails we'll never have the guts to send to the invisible others keeping us awake, are happy to have him on our team."
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/06/the-sympathetic-spy-downstairs.html
Do bookshops need rethinking for the electronic age? Four firms of architects and designers were asked to create the bookshop of their dreams. Here's how they responded:
http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/lifestyle/rosanna-de-lisle/bookshop-design
BOOKS & WRITERS
What are some newly released books worth checking out? Here's the New York Times' roundup:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/books/smith-hendersons-fourth-of-july-creek-and-more.html
"In the decades between the two world wars, no writer was more widely translated or read than the Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig, and in the years after, few writers fell more precipitously into obscurity, at least in the English-speaking world." Thanks to the success of Wes Anderson's latest film, Zweig is set to rise again.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/books/stefan-zweig-austrian-novelist-rises-again.html
Patricia Lockwood's new collection of poetry, Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals, has been described as "surreal and mostly sublime", with poems that "scatter lightning and lawn debris across your psyche." But be warned: this collection contains a lot of "zoombinating."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/books/patricia-lockwoods-motherland-fatherland-homelandsexuals.html
Chinese ex-pat and Writers Fest author Xiaolu Guo is releasing her new book, I am China, to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. In this interview, she discusses the historical events of that day, how they affected her writing, notions of political martyrdom, and what it means to live outside China.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/30/xiaolu-guo-communist-china-interview
Helen Oyeyemi was recently featured on CBC's Writers and Company. Her new book Boy, Snow, Bird is a rewriting of the fairy tale Snow White. You can listen to the interview here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2014/06/helen-oyeyemi-on-her-new-novel-boy-snow-bird.html
Tove Jansson should have won the Nobel Prize for literature, claims Philip Pullman of His Dark Materials fame. The Finnish writer and artist, who died in 2001, "responded to the world with a freshness and originality that have hardly ever been matched in the field of children's books."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/02/tove-jansson-nobel-prize-philip-pullman
COMMUNITY EVENTS
KELLEY ARMSTRONG
Meet the author of the teen series Darkest Powers and Darkness Rising. Friday, June 6 at 1:00pm. Cloverdale Library, 5642 - 176A Street, Surrey. More information at surreylibraries.ca.
PAULA WILD
Author presents her latest book, The Cougar: Beautiful, Wild and Dangerous. Saturday, June 7 at 7:00pm, free. Village Books, 1200 11th Street, Bellingham. More information at villagebooks.com.
A GATHERING OF POETS
The winner and finalist for the 2014 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize read from their nominated works. The evening will be hosted by Heidi Greco, Surrey's 2012 Resident Poet. Monday, June 9 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
KATE PULLINGER
Reading, Q&A and book signing by the author of Landing Gear. Tuesday, June 10 at 7:00pm. Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-879-7737.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Yvonne Blomer and Onjana Yownghwe plus open Mic. Wednesday, June 11, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. Sign up for open mic at 7pm. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
DIANE TUCKER
The Burnaby Writers' Society presents a special poetry workshop evening. Thursday, June 12 at 7:30pm. By donation. Studio 104, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.
VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING FESTIVAL
A weekend of enlivening encounters with many passionate storytellers, including Naveen Girn, Naomi Steinberg, Todd Wong, Lizzy Karp, Victor Guerin, Magpie Ulysses and Deborah Williams. June 13-15, 2014. Various locations. Compete details at vancouverstorytelling.org.
Upcoming
LUNCH POEMS AT SFU
Featuring Billeh Nickerson and Heather Haley. Wednesday, June 18 at 12:00 noon, free. Teck Gallery in SFU's Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.
A SPECIAL NIGHT FOR A SPECIAL MAN
On Wednesday, June 18, 2014, Pandora's Collective Presents A Special Night for A Special Man Benefit for Timothy Shay at The Cottage Bistro 4468 Main St, Vancouver. Doors open at 6pm-11pm. $10 suggested donation. Host: RC Weslowski. More information at pandorascollective.com.
GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
A Proclamation and Reading honoring Jean Barman, B.C.'s most active historian, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, as the 21st recipient of the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award. Thursday, June 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
EUROPEAN BOOK CLUB
Features Portuguese novel The True Actor (O verdadeiro ator) by Jacinto Lucas Pires. Saturday, June 21 at 4:00pm. Free but register at eubookclub.vancouver@shaw.ca. Istituto Italiano di Cultura, 500-510 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at www.alliancefrancaise.ca.
POETIC FORM AND THE MYSTICAL MUSE
Readings by poets Lee Johnson and Susan McCaslin. Tuesday, June 24 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
GEOFFREY TIGG
The Painting is the second book in the Detective Kelly O'Brian series by Geoffrey Tigg. Wednesday, June 25 at 7:00pm. Welsh Hall West, West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at westvanlibrary.ca.
MOIRA YOUNG
Reading, Q&A and book Signing by the author of Raging Star. Thursday, June 26 at 7:00pm. Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-879-7737.
AWARDS & LISTS
The Lambda Literary Awards, which honour the best lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender books of the previous year, have been announced. Canadian playwright Michel Marc Bouchard won for his LGBT drama Tom at the Farm (recently adapted into a prize-winning film by Xavier Dolan.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/06/02/lambda-literary-awards/
First-time novelist Eimear McBride is the winner of the 2014 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize for her book A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing). One judge commented that "this an extraordinary new voice-this novel will move and astonish the reader."
http://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/2014/eimear-mcbride-wins-the-2014-baileys-womens-prize-for-fiction
YOUNG READERS
Do you prefer your books in 3D? Here's a list of ten great pop-up children's books!
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/jun/01/top-10-pop-up-books-robert-sabuda
NEWS & FEATURES
"Goodbye, Steinbeck; All Hail, Shelley!" The British government has released a new syllabus that eliminates several American literary classics, including To Kill a Mockingbird, The Crucible, and Of Mice and Men.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/31/books/goodbye-steinbeck-all-hail-shelley.html
The tributes for Maya Angelou have begun to pour in. In our age of instant communication, that means that many of them were via social media. Check out some of the most significant tweets, facebook tributes and instagram posts, here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/life-is-pure-adventure-tributes-pour-in-for-maya-angelou/article18883974/
For something more lengthy, here's a tribute written by her editor Lennie Goodings, who describes Angelou as her "hero."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/29/my-hero-maya-angelou-by-lennie-goodings
Mountains have often inspired literary inspiration, especially among the Beat Poets. Here's a celebration of Gary Snyder's poem Meeting the Mountains, and a link to recently unpublished photos of "poets on the peaks."
http://www.blogcitylights.com/2014/06/02/poetry-on-a-monday-poets-on-the-peaks/
Is poetry inaccessible? A British television presenter and poetry prize judge recently made this claim, stating that there was a need for an "inquisition" in which "poets [would be] called to account for their poetry!"
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/jun/02/is-jeremy-paxman-right-new-poetry-inaccessibilty
What's the best "bad" book that you have ever read? Leslie Jamison (novelist and non-fiction writer) and James Parker (contributing editor at The Atlantic) discuss.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/books/review/whats-the-best-bad-book-youve-ever-read.html
"It's Too Late. Exclamation Marks Are Unstoppable Now!" Or so claims New York Magazine, in this piece on the current "tidal shift in grammatical norms."
http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2014/05/even-grammarians-are-misusing-exclamation-marks.html
What are the best literary putdowns? From The Murder on the Orient Express to Revolutionary Road, here are twelve books that feature insults intended to make you weep!
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/gallery/2014/jun/02/-12-literary-insults-to-make-you-weep
A cache of Marcel Proust's letters was recently discovered, containing notes he sent to his noisy upstairs neighbours from 1906-1919. "Proust, we now realize, was, along with everything else, a neighbor, too. We who toss and turn, fantasizing about the exquisitely cutting emails we'll never have the guts to send to the invisible others keeping us awake, are happy to have him on our team."
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/06/the-sympathetic-spy-downstairs.html
Do bookshops need rethinking for the electronic age? Four firms of architects and designers were asked to create the bookshop of their dreams. Here's how they responded:
http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/lifestyle/rosanna-de-lisle/bookshop-design
BOOKS & WRITERS
What are some newly released books worth checking out? Here's the New York Times' roundup:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/books/smith-hendersons-fourth-of-july-creek-and-more.html
"In the decades between the two world wars, no writer was more widely translated or read than the Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig, and in the years after, few writers fell more precipitously into obscurity, at least in the English-speaking world." Thanks to the success of Wes Anderson's latest film, Zweig is set to rise again.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/books/stefan-zweig-austrian-novelist-rises-again.html
Patricia Lockwood's new collection of poetry, Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals, has been described as "surreal and mostly sublime", with poems that "scatter lightning and lawn debris across your psyche." But be warned: this collection contains a lot of "zoombinating."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/books/patricia-lockwoods-motherland-fatherland-homelandsexuals.html
Chinese ex-pat and Writers Fest author Xiaolu Guo is releasing her new book, I am China, to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. In this interview, she discusses the historical events of that day, how they affected her writing, notions of political martyrdom, and what it means to live outside China.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/30/xiaolu-guo-communist-china-interview
Helen Oyeyemi was recently featured on CBC's Writers and Company. Her new book Boy, Snow, Bird is a rewriting of the fairy tale Snow White. You can listen to the interview here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2014/06/helen-oyeyemi-on-her-new-novel-boy-snow-bird.html
Tove Jansson should have won the Nobel Prize for literature, claims Philip Pullman of His Dark Materials fame. The Finnish writer and artist, who died in 2001, "responded to the world with a freshness and originality that have hardly ever been matched in the field of children's books."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/02/tove-jansson-nobel-prize-philip-pullman
COMMUNITY EVENTS
KELLEY ARMSTRONG
Meet the author of the teen series Darkest Powers and Darkness Rising. Friday, June 6 at 1:00pm. Cloverdale Library, 5642 - 176A Street, Surrey. More information at surreylibraries.ca.
PAULA WILD
Author presents her latest book, The Cougar: Beautiful, Wild and Dangerous. Saturday, June 7 at 7:00pm, free. Village Books, 1200 11th Street, Bellingham. More information at villagebooks.com.
A GATHERING OF POETS
The winner and finalist for the 2014 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize read from their nominated works. The evening will be hosted by Heidi Greco, Surrey's 2012 Resident Poet. Monday, June 9 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
KATE PULLINGER
Reading, Q&A and book signing by the author of Landing Gear. Tuesday, June 10 at 7:00pm. Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-879-7737.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Yvonne Blomer and Onjana Yownghwe plus open Mic. Wednesday, June 11, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. Sign up for open mic at 7pm. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
DIANE TUCKER
The Burnaby Writers' Society presents a special poetry workshop evening. Thursday, June 12 at 7:30pm. By donation. Studio 104, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.
VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING FESTIVAL
A weekend of enlivening encounters with many passionate storytellers, including Naveen Girn, Naomi Steinberg, Todd Wong, Lizzy Karp, Victor Guerin, Magpie Ulysses and Deborah Williams. June 13-15, 2014. Various locations. Compete details at vancouverstorytelling.org.
Upcoming
LUNCH POEMS AT SFU
Featuring Billeh Nickerson and Heather Haley. Wednesday, June 18 at 12:00 noon, free. Teck Gallery in SFU's Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.
A SPECIAL NIGHT FOR A SPECIAL MAN
On Wednesday, June 18, 2014, Pandora's Collective Presents A Special Night for A Special Man Benefit for Timothy Shay at The Cottage Bistro 4468 Main St, Vancouver. Doors open at 6pm-11pm. $10 suggested donation. Host: RC Weslowski. More information at pandorascollective.com.
GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
A Proclamation and Reading honoring Jean Barman, B.C.'s most active historian, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, as the 21st recipient of the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award. Thursday, June 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
EUROPEAN BOOK CLUB
Features Portuguese novel The True Actor (O verdadeiro ator) by Jacinto Lucas Pires. Saturday, June 21 at 4:00pm. Free but register at eubookclub.vancouver@shaw.ca. Istituto Italiano di Cultura, 500-510 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at www.alliancefrancaise.ca.
POETIC FORM AND THE MYSTICAL MUSE
Readings by poets Lee Johnson and Susan McCaslin. Tuesday, June 24 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
GEOFFREY TIGG
The Painting is the second book in the Detective Kelly O'Brian series by Geoffrey Tigg. Wednesday, June 25 at 7:00pm. Welsh Hall West, West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at westvanlibrary.ca.
MOIRA YOUNG
Reading, Q&A and book Signing by the author of Raging Star. Thursday, June 26 at 7:00pm. Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at 604-879-7737.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Book News Vol. 9 No. 13
BOOK NEWS
SPECIAL EVENT
A Dram Come True
There are a handful of tickets left for A Dram Come True Scotch tasting and the VIP pre-event tasting (tickets will not be available at the door).
Friday, May 30, 2014
7:30–9:30pm
Tickets: $120
VIP Tasting 6:30–7:30pm; Tickets: $75 (limited quantities, only available with a main event ticket)
Hycroft
1489 McRae Avenue, Vancouver
Click here for details and to purchase tickets, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.
A Dram Come True is a fundraiser for the Vancouver Writers Fest.
AWARDS & LISTS
The results of the Atlantic Book Awards have been announced. The winners come from all over the Maritime provinces, with books about Mi'kmaq culture, Black Loyalists, the Halifax Explosion, and (of course) the fishing industry!
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2014/05/22/atlantic-book-award-winners-announced-2/
Hassan Blasim, an exiled Iraqi writer, is the first Arab winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the UK's top prize for foreign fiction. His book, The Iraqi Christ, is a collection of short stories that portray Iraq as a "surrealist inferno."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/22/exiled-iraq-first-arab-winner-uk-foreign-fiction-prize
PEN Canada has nominated poet Emily Izsak for the PEN International New Voices Award. The award "aims to encourage new writing and to provide a space where young, unpublished writers can submit their work."
http://pencanada.ca/news/pen-canada-announces-2014-new-voices-award-nominee/
Jan and Crispin Elsted, founders of Barbarian Press, are the the winners of the seventh Robert R. Reid Award and Medal for lifetime achievement in the book arts in Canada.
http://alcuinsociety.com/jan-and-crispin-elsted-recipients-of-the-7th-robert-r-reid-award/
Erin Frances Fisher, a 31-year-old author from Vancouver, has won the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers for her short story Girl.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2014/05/28/erin_frances_fisher_wins_rbc_bronwen_wallace_award.html
YOUNG READERS
How does Jo Nesbø decide whether to write crime or children's fiction? The Writers Fest author was recently interviewed about his Doctor Proctor books, how he dealt with bullies as a child, how to pronounce his name, and why he enjoys writing children's books more than writing books for adults!
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/audio/2014/may/21/jo-nesbo-doctor-proctor-podcast
NEWS & FEATURES
Celebrated American poet, author and civil rights activist Maya Angelou, the cultural force known for her autobiographical book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, has died at the age of 86.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/maya-angelou-poet-author-and-activist-dead-at-86-1.2656694
Should literature come with "trigger warnings"? Some universities are considering placing them "in front of works of art and literature that may cause a student to relive a traumatic experience."
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/05/trigger-warnings-and-the-novelists-mind.html
Remember that old adage about not judging a book by its cover? A new exhibition of First Editions at the Morgan Library in New York is reminding us that sometimes judging a book by its cover can be a truly joyful experience.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/23/books/gatsby-to-garp-a-feast-of-first-editions-at-the-morgan.html
Are the demands of book promotion frivolous or necessary? James Parker and Anna Holmes discuss the place of author photos, Twitter feeds and media campaigns in selling books.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/books/review/the-demands-of-book-promotion-frivolous-or-necessary.html
Who are today's literary bad girls? "Goodbye Carrie Bradshaw...this is an age of man-chasing, full-blooded heroines in the same vein as Lena Dunham's Girls."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/25/books-literary-bad-girls-lena-dunham
What are the best gardens in literary history? From Ovid's The Art of Love to Elizabeth Gilbert's The Signature of All Things, here are ten literary texts that will enliven your botanical senses.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/24/ten-best-literary-gardens
Philip Roth's recent announcement of retirement has left many asking: "Why are literary novelists so bad at killing off their careers?" "When novelists say they are retiring, experience suggests it's best to nod politely and not believe them."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/23/why-literary-novelists-bad-killing-off-careers
If your idea of a hot night out involves reading a book and not having to talk to anyone else, then you might be interested in this new nightlife trend: silent reading, in a bar!
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/05/readers-night-out.html
Giovanni's Room, America's oldest gay bookstore has closed. "For more than 40 years, Philadelphia's Giovanni's Room has been a focal point of LGBTQ life. What does its closure mean for the future of the community?"
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-last-day-at-giovannis-room-americas-oldest-gay-bookstore-20140521#ixzz32fpJ3FVg
Many authors claim to never read reviews. "And then there's Jane Austen. Who not only, it turns out, listened to what her friends and acquaintances had to say about her books, both positive and negative, but also took notes on it."
http://www.mhpbooks.com/jane-austen-read-her-reviews-and-kept-notes-on-them/
Is the short story the perfect literary form for the 21st century? "There's no doubt about it, the short story is having ‘a moment.'"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10831961/The-irresistible-rise-of-the-short-story.html
That doesn't mean that novels are any less important, however. In fact, this piece puts forward the argument that novels made the modern world!
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/how-the-novel-made-the-modern-world/361611/
Margaret Atwood's prolific creativity has reached out in a new direction: beer! She's teamed up with Beau's Brewing Company to create a new gruit ale. Sales will raise funds for the Pelee Island Bird Observatory.
http://vimeo.com/95970832
Why do some authors use pen names? According to writer John Wray, "I'd recommend a pseudonym to everyone, if only temporarily, as a kind of exercise in self-escape."
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/05/whats-in-a-pen-name.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
Jack Kerouac kept a journal for almost all his life–from the age of fourteen until his death at forty-seven. Here's a chance to read two entries written during the years in "which Kerouac first conceived of "On the Road"—and they are delightful. They reveal an uncertain, ambitious, restless, naïve, and funny Kerouac."
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/backissues/2014/05/letter-from-the-archive-jack-kerouacs-journals.html
City Lights is reprinting Frank O'Hara's Lunch Poems in a 50th anniversary edition. The book was recently chosen as one of the 10 objects that "best tell New York's story," and despite its age, can be read as a "very 21st-century book."
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/05/frank-oharas-lunch-poems-21st-century-poetry-written-in-1964/371276/
Steven Galloway's new novel, The Confabulist, is a "tale of two men separately longing for affirmation while ensnared by their own recklessness and imagination." The first is the Harry Houdini, and the second, a man who believes he has killed the famed magician.
http://www.straight.com/life/647896/illusion-and-reality-mingle-confabulist
In this month's New Yorker Poetry Podcast, Anna McDonald reads Kathleen Graber's ‘The Magic Kingdom.' "Spanning a diverse range of subjects and images—from children's snacks to medical terms to fairy-tale references—"The Magic Kingdom" charts the disorienting experience of outliving the people and objects that constitute a life."
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/05/poetry-podcast-anna-mcdonald-reads-kathleen-graber.html
This week's New Yorker short story is also available online. It's called ‘Ba Baboon', and can be read along with an author interview, here:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/05/this-week-in-fiction-thomas-pierce-1.html
The time for summer reading is fast approaching! Here's a list of recommended books (and a collection of mini reviews) by the Daily Climate, all with environmental themes:
http://www.straight.com/life/650896/summer-reading-climate-crowd
Rivka Galchen may have been born in Canada, but her story collection American Innovations is all about life south of the border. "American Innovations has a literary genealogy traceable from U.S. short-story doyenne Ann Beattie through Lorrie Moore...add a splash of David Foster Wallace, shake well (don't stir), and you have a thoroughly Galchean concoction–funny, intellectual, and playfully dark."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/american-innovations-canadian-born-rivka-galchen-hits-it-out-of-the-park-again-and-again/article18720362/
Speaking of border crossings, Nadia Bozak's second novel, El Nino, takes place worlds away from the Ontario backwoods setting of her first novel, Orphan Love. Set in the American southwest, its dreamlike geography is "rooted in the real but situated between realism and myth, between naturalism and allegory."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/el-nino-nadia-bozaks-second-novel-leaves-the-ontario-backwoods-for-the-american-southwest/article18830255/
The Snow Queen, by Michael Cunningham, has several questions at its heart (none of them easy): "What if you saw a light in the sky? What if, on a normal night, out for a jog, the eye of God opened and saw you? Would you change your life? How?"
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/michael-cunninghams-the-snow-queen-and-the-varieties-of-religious-experience/article18830344/
David Adams Richards' new novel, Crimes Against My Brother, also tackles religious themes. It tells the story of "three impoverished young men in rural New Brunswick, who 'cut for blood' and scoff at divine law", and their link to the destruction of land on which their families have lived for generations.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/crimes-against-my-brother-a-powerful-work-that-issues-a-call-to-spiritual-brotherhood/article18829273/
Tom Robbins has written a new memoir, called Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life. It details his early life growing up in the south, and the escape he made to the Pacific Northwest, "where he slowly morphed into a moonbeam of the counterculture."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/21/books/tibetan-peach-pie-a-tom-robbins-memoir.html
Robbins' has also been interviewed by The New York Times. "Like many, if not most, of the follies I've committed in my life," he claims he wrote Tibetan Peach Pie to "please women."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/tom-robbins-cosmic-lounge-lizard.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
GEORGE BOWERING
George Bowering reads from bill bissetts's groundbreaking body of work in prose and poetry. Thursday, May 29 at 6:30pm, free. The Reach Gallery Museum, 32388 Veterans Way, Abbotsford. More information at 604-864-8087.
DIANE TUCKER
Author reads from her new poetry collection, Bonsai Love. Sunday, June 1 at 3:00pm. The Heritage Grill, 447 Columbia Street, New Westminster.
KELLEY ARMSTRONG
Meet the author of the teen series Darkest Powers and Darkness Rising. Friday, June 6 at 1:00pm. Cloverdale Library, 5642 - 176A Street, Surrey. More information at surreylibraries.ca.
PAULA WILD
Author presents her latest book, The Cougar: Beautiful, Wild and Dangerous. Saturday, June 7 at 7:00pm, free. Village Books, 1200 11th Street, Bellingham. More information at villagebooks.com.
A GATHERING OF POETS
The winner and finalist for the 2014 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize read from their nominated works. The evening will be hosted by Heidi Greco, Surrey's 2012 Resident Poet. Monday, June 9 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Yvonne Blomer and Onjana Yownghwe plus open Mic. Wednesday, June 11, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. Sign up for open mic at 7pm. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
Upcoming
LUNCH POEMS AT SFU
Featuring Billeh Nickerson and Heather Haley. Wednesday, June 18 at 12:00 noon, free. Teck Gallery in SFU's Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.
GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
A Proclamation and Reading honoring Jean Barman, B.C.'s most active historian, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, as the 21st recipient of the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award. Thursday, June 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
EUROPEAN BOOK CLUB
Features Portuguese novel The True Actor (O verdadeiro ator) by Jacinto Lucas Pires. Saturday, June 21 at 4:00pm. Free but register at eubookclub.vancouver@shaw.ca. Istituto Italiano di Cultura, 500-510 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at www.alliancefrancaise.ca.
POETIC FORM AND THE MYSTICAL MUSE
Readings by poets Lee Johnson and Susan McCaslin. Tuesday, June 24 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
GEOFFREY TIGG
The Painting is the second book in the Detective Kelly O'Brian series by Geoffrey Tigg. Wednesday, June 25 at 7:00pm. Welsh Hall West, West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at westvanlibrary.ca.
SPECIAL EVENT
A Dram Come True
There are a handful of tickets left for A Dram Come True Scotch tasting and the VIP pre-event tasting (tickets will not be available at the door).
Friday, May 30, 2014
7:30–9:30pm
Tickets: $120
VIP Tasting 6:30–7:30pm; Tickets: $75 (limited quantities, only available with a main event ticket)
Hycroft
1489 McRae Avenue, Vancouver
Click here for details and to purchase tickets, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.
A Dram Come True is a fundraiser for the Vancouver Writers Fest.
AWARDS & LISTS
The results of the Atlantic Book Awards have been announced. The winners come from all over the Maritime provinces, with books about Mi'kmaq culture, Black Loyalists, the Halifax Explosion, and (of course) the fishing industry!
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2014/05/22/atlantic-book-award-winners-announced-2/
Hassan Blasim, an exiled Iraqi writer, is the first Arab winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the UK's top prize for foreign fiction. His book, The Iraqi Christ, is a collection of short stories that portray Iraq as a "surrealist inferno."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/22/exiled-iraq-first-arab-winner-uk-foreign-fiction-prize
PEN Canada has nominated poet Emily Izsak for the PEN International New Voices Award. The award "aims to encourage new writing and to provide a space where young, unpublished writers can submit their work."
http://pencanada.ca/news/pen-canada-announces-2014-new-voices-award-nominee/
Jan and Crispin Elsted, founders of Barbarian Press, are the the winners of the seventh Robert R. Reid Award and Medal for lifetime achievement in the book arts in Canada.
http://alcuinsociety.com/jan-and-crispin-elsted-recipients-of-the-7th-robert-r-reid-award/
Erin Frances Fisher, a 31-year-old author from Vancouver, has won the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers for her short story Girl.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2014/05/28/erin_frances_fisher_wins_rbc_bronwen_wallace_award.html
YOUNG READERS
How does Jo Nesbø decide whether to write crime or children's fiction? The Writers Fest author was recently interviewed about his Doctor Proctor books, how he dealt with bullies as a child, how to pronounce his name, and why he enjoys writing children's books more than writing books for adults!
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/audio/2014/may/21/jo-nesbo-doctor-proctor-podcast
NEWS & FEATURES
Celebrated American poet, author and civil rights activist Maya Angelou, the cultural force known for her autobiographical book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, has died at the age of 86.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/maya-angelou-poet-author-and-activist-dead-at-86-1.2656694
Should literature come with "trigger warnings"? Some universities are considering placing them "in front of works of art and literature that may cause a student to relive a traumatic experience."
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/05/trigger-warnings-and-the-novelists-mind.html
Remember that old adage about not judging a book by its cover? A new exhibition of First Editions at the Morgan Library in New York is reminding us that sometimes judging a book by its cover can be a truly joyful experience.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/23/books/gatsby-to-garp-a-feast-of-first-editions-at-the-morgan.html
Are the demands of book promotion frivolous or necessary? James Parker and Anna Holmes discuss the place of author photos, Twitter feeds and media campaigns in selling books.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/books/review/the-demands-of-book-promotion-frivolous-or-necessary.html
Who are today's literary bad girls? "Goodbye Carrie Bradshaw...this is an age of man-chasing, full-blooded heroines in the same vein as Lena Dunham's Girls."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/25/books-literary-bad-girls-lena-dunham
What are the best gardens in literary history? From Ovid's The Art of Love to Elizabeth Gilbert's The Signature of All Things, here are ten literary texts that will enliven your botanical senses.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/24/ten-best-literary-gardens
Philip Roth's recent announcement of retirement has left many asking: "Why are literary novelists so bad at killing off their careers?" "When novelists say they are retiring, experience suggests it's best to nod politely and not believe them."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/23/why-literary-novelists-bad-killing-off-careers
If your idea of a hot night out involves reading a book and not having to talk to anyone else, then you might be interested in this new nightlife trend: silent reading, in a bar!
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/05/readers-night-out.html
Giovanni's Room, America's oldest gay bookstore has closed. "For more than 40 years, Philadelphia's Giovanni's Room has been a focal point of LGBTQ life. What does its closure mean for the future of the community?"
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-last-day-at-giovannis-room-americas-oldest-gay-bookstore-20140521#ixzz32fpJ3FVg
Many authors claim to never read reviews. "And then there's Jane Austen. Who not only, it turns out, listened to what her friends and acquaintances had to say about her books, both positive and negative, but also took notes on it."
http://www.mhpbooks.com/jane-austen-read-her-reviews-and-kept-notes-on-them/
Is the short story the perfect literary form for the 21st century? "There's no doubt about it, the short story is having ‘a moment.'"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10831961/The-irresistible-rise-of-the-short-story.html
That doesn't mean that novels are any less important, however. In fact, this piece puts forward the argument that novels made the modern world!
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/how-the-novel-made-the-modern-world/361611/
Margaret Atwood's prolific creativity has reached out in a new direction: beer! She's teamed up with Beau's Brewing Company to create a new gruit ale. Sales will raise funds for the Pelee Island Bird Observatory.
http://vimeo.com/95970832
Why do some authors use pen names? According to writer John Wray, "I'd recommend a pseudonym to everyone, if only temporarily, as a kind of exercise in self-escape."
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/05/whats-in-a-pen-name.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
Jack Kerouac kept a journal for almost all his life–from the age of fourteen until his death at forty-seven. Here's a chance to read two entries written during the years in "which Kerouac first conceived of "On the Road"—and they are delightful. They reveal an uncertain, ambitious, restless, naïve, and funny Kerouac."
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/backissues/2014/05/letter-from-the-archive-jack-kerouacs-journals.html
City Lights is reprinting Frank O'Hara's Lunch Poems in a 50th anniversary edition. The book was recently chosen as one of the 10 objects that "best tell New York's story," and despite its age, can be read as a "very 21st-century book."
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/05/frank-oharas-lunch-poems-21st-century-poetry-written-in-1964/371276/
Steven Galloway's new novel, The Confabulist, is a "tale of two men separately longing for affirmation while ensnared by their own recklessness and imagination." The first is the Harry Houdini, and the second, a man who believes he has killed the famed magician.
http://www.straight.com/life/647896/illusion-and-reality-mingle-confabulist
In this month's New Yorker Poetry Podcast, Anna McDonald reads Kathleen Graber's ‘The Magic Kingdom.' "Spanning a diverse range of subjects and images—from children's snacks to medical terms to fairy-tale references—"The Magic Kingdom" charts the disorienting experience of outliving the people and objects that constitute a life."
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/05/poetry-podcast-anna-mcdonald-reads-kathleen-graber.html
This week's New Yorker short story is also available online. It's called ‘Ba Baboon', and can be read along with an author interview, here:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/05/this-week-in-fiction-thomas-pierce-1.html
The time for summer reading is fast approaching! Here's a list of recommended books (and a collection of mini reviews) by the Daily Climate, all with environmental themes:
http://www.straight.com/life/650896/summer-reading-climate-crowd
Rivka Galchen may have been born in Canada, but her story collection American Innovations is all about life south of the border. "American Innovations has a literary genealogy traceable from U.S. short-story doyenne Ann Beattie through Lorrie Moore...add a splash of David Foster Wallace, shake well (don't stir), and you have a thoroughly Galchean concoction–funny, intellectual, and playfully dark."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/american-innovations-canadian-born-rivka-galchen-hits-it-out-of-the-park-again-and-again/article18720362/
Speaking of border crossings, Nadia Bozak's second novel, El Nino, takes place worlds away from the Ontario backwoods setting of her first novel, Orphan Love. Set in the American southwest, its dreamlike geography is "rooted in the real but situated between realism and myth, between naturalism and allegory."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/el-nino-nadia-bozaks-second-novel-leaves-the-ontario-backwoods-for-the-american-southwest/article18830255/
The Snow Queen, by Michael Cunningham, has several questions at its heart (none of them easy): "What if you saw a light in the sky? What if, on a normal night, out for a jog, the eye of God opened and saw you? Would you change your life? How?"
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/michael-cunninghams-the-snow-queen-and-the-varieties-of-religious-experience/article18830344/
David Adams Richards' new novel, Crimes Against My Brother, also tackles religious themes. It tells the story of "three impoverished young men in rural New Brunswick, who 'cut for blood' and scoff at divine law", and their link to the destruction of land on which their families have lived for generations.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/crimes-against-my-brother-a-powerful-work-that-issues-a-call-to-spiritual-brotherhood/article18829273/
Tom Robbins has written a new memoir, called Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life. It details his early life growing up in the south, and the escape he made to the Pacific Northwest, "where he slowly morphed into a moonbeam of the counterculture."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/21/books/tibetan-peach-pie-a-tom-robbins-memoir.html
Robbins' has also been interviewed by The New York Times. "Like many, if not most, of the follies I've committed in my life," he claims he wrote Tibetan Peach Pie to "please women."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/tom-robbins-cosmic-lounge-lizard.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
GEORGE BOWERING
George Bowering reads from bill bissetts's groundbreaking body of work in prose and poetry. Thursday, May 29 at 6:30pm, free. The Reach Gallery Museum, 32388 Veterans Way, Abbotsford. More information at 604-864-8087.
DIANE TUCKER
Author reads from her new poetry collection, Bonsai Love. Sunday, June 1 at 3:00pm. The Heritage Grill, 447 Columbia Street, New Westminster.
KELLEY ARMSTRONG
Meet the author of the teen series Darkest Powers and Darkness Rising. Friday, June 6 at 1:00pm. Cloverdale Library, 5642 - 176A Street, Surrey. More information at surreylibraries.ca.
PAULA WILD
Author presents her latest book, The Cougar: Beautiful, Wild and Dangerous. Saturday, June 7 at 7:00pm, free. Village Books, 1200 11th Street, Bellingham. More information at villagebooks.com.
A GATHERING OF POETS
The winner and finalist for the 2014 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize read from their nominated works. The evening will be hosted by Heidi Greco, Surrey's 2012 Resident Poet. Monday, June 9 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Yvonne Blomer and Onjana Yownghwe plus open Mic. Wednesday, June 11, 7-9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. Sign up for open mic at 7pm. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
Upcoming
LUNCH POEMS AT SFU
Featuring Billeh Nickerson and Heather Haley. Wednesday, June 18 at 12:00 noon, free. Teck Gallery in SFU's Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.
GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
A Proclamation and Reading honoring Jean Barman, B.C.'s most active historian, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, as the 21st recipient of the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award. Thursday, June 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
EUROPEAN BOOK CLUB
Features Portuguese novel The True Actor (O verdadeiro ator) by Jacinto Lucas Pires. Saturday, June 21 at 4:00pm. Free but register at eubookclub.vancouver@shaw.ca. Istituto Italiano di Cultura, 500-510 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at www.alliancefrancaise.ca.
POETIC FORM AND THE MYSTICAL MUSE
Readings by poets Lee Johnson and Susan McCaslin. Tuesday, June 24 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
GEOFFREY TIGG
The Painting is the second book in the Detective Kelly O'Brian series by Geoffrey Tigg. Wednesday, June 25 at 7:00pm. Welsh Hall West, West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at westvanlibrary.ca.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Book News Vol. 9 No. 12
BOOK NEWS
SPECIAL EVENT
A Dram Come True
Join us at the legendary Hycroft and enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts, plus offerings from Pemberton Distillery and Tinhorn Creek Vineyard. New this year: Heighten your experience at an exclusive VIP reception before the main event-a private tasting tour of some of the special malts, guided by whisky experts.
Friday, May 30, 2014
7:30–9:30pm
Tickets: $120
VIP Tasting 6:30–7:30pm; Tickets: $75 (limited quantities, only available with a main event ticket)
Hycroft
1489 McRae Avenue, Vancouver
Click here for details and to purchase tickets, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.
A Dram Come True is a fundraiser for the Vancouver Writers Fest.
And in case you want to practice pronouncing Gaelic single malt names before A Dram Come True:
http://www.esquire.com/features/drinking/scotch-pronunciation-guide-5836909?src=soc_fcbks
ABOUT TOWN
The Vancouver edition of Spur, a national festival of politics, art and ideas (May 22-25) features events at SFU Woodwards. Here are three events with a literary focus:
Books and Brunch
The Confabulist author Steven Galloway reads and discusses his latest novel with lawyer, author, and incoming SFU Chancellor Anne Giardini.
Books and Brunch
Join Shani Mootoo for brunch as she reads from and discusses her newest novel, Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab.
In Conversation: Signal&Noise.com
Join Paul Holdengraber, writer, curator, and literary programmer at the New York Public Library, and Evgeny Morozov, author of The Net Delusion and To Save Everything, as they discuss how new technologies are changing the way we think.
http://spurfestival.ca/vancouver/events/
AWARDS & LISTS
This Boy, Alan Johnson's memoir of his London slum childhood, has won the £10,000 Ondaatje prize, an award "which goes to the book that best evokes the spirit of a place."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/20/alan-johnson-mp-wins-ondaatje-prize-memoir-this-boy
In a case of life imitating fiction, Edward St. Aubyn's novel Lost for Words, a satire of literary awards, has won the 2014 Wodehouse Prize. The prize is awarded to a novel which best "captures the comic spirit."
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/may/19/edward-st-aubyn-wins-wodehouse-prize
Unsettling news in the world of children's books awards: Rush Limbaugh has beaten kid lit superstars to win the Children's Choice Book Award for Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims. The prize is ostensibly chosen by children, though it has been acknowledged that "adults could easily vote and vote multiple times, a problem not uncommon for Internet competitions."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/rush-limbaugh-wins-children-s-choice-book-award-1.2645219
In more positive children's literature news, the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading festival has announced the winners of its signature kids book prizes (and none of them went to Rush Limbaugh!) Check out the winners, here:
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2014/05/16/forest-of-reading-announces-winners/
YOUNG READERS
There's a whole cornucopia of illustrated books out for kids this spring. Among the titles are works by past Writers Fest authors Caroline Adderson and Dan Bar-El.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Picture+this+cornucopia+illustrated+books+kids/9842958/story.html
NEWS & FEATURES
What makes a novel 'classic'? When does it gain this status? "Sitting on this privileged shelf in a bookshop confers a lot of kudos, but close examination leaves you wondering why."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/12/classics-novel-status-shelf-bookshop-status
Ian McEwan's literary archive has been bought by the University of Texas. The archive includes abandoned stories, letters from other writers, early novel drafts and seventeen years worth of emails! "This acquisition represents a rare opportunity to share the work of a living, internationally-acclaimed author whose works are of strong interest to readers everywhere."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/15/ian-mcewan-literary-archive-harry-ransom-center-2m-dollars
How do university presses fit into the world of publishing? With many currently existing on the edge, "a crucial question faces university presses and the universities themselves: Who will pay for the dissemination of scholarship?"
http://www.thenation.com/article/179712/university-presses-under-fire
Why does every book about Africa have the same cover? A current survey has found that practically all feature "an acacia tree, an orange sunset over the veld, or both." In short, "the covers of most novels 'about Africa' seem to have been designed by someone whose principal idea of the continent comes from The Lion King."
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/05/why-every-book-about-africa-has-the-same-cover/362101/
The internet may make the dissemination of writing easier, but according to George R.R. Martin, author of the Game of Thrones series, it's far too distracting to get any work done. That's why he uses a "secret weapon": a DOS machine not connected to the Internet, with the veritably ancient WordStar 4.0 as his word processor.
http://www.salon.com/2014/05/14/george_r_r_martin_tells_conan_why_he_writes_on_a_dos_word_processor/
On the other hand, all this new-fangled technology may indeed have its uses! Here are some reasons why the iPhone just might be saving literature:
http://www.salon.com/2014/05/14/war_and_peace_on_the_subway_how_your_iphone_is_saving_literature/
Amazon is currently engaged in a "bitter publishing war" and Malcolm Gladwell, Stephen Colbert and J.D. Salinger are just a few of its victims. "Publishers say the bookseller, whose shares have tumbled 25 percent this year as investors itch for profits, is determined to squeeze as much margin out of its suppliers as possible."
http://www.salon.com/2014/05/09/amazon_takes_shot_at_colbert_gladwell_in_bitter_publishing_war/
Meanwhile, in the UK, a Member of Parliament is trying to organize a boycott against the internet book giant. Amazon currently pays only £4.2m in taxes. "Margaret Hodge says consumer action forced Starbucks to pay tax in UK and could persuade Amazon to follow suit."
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/may/09/margaret-hodge-urges-boycott-amazon-uk-tax-starbucks
British novelist Linda Grant has done something truly terrible. "I have killed my books," she says! "Books have always been Linda Grant's friends; they made her the writer she is. So why did she decide to murder her library?"
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/17/linda-grant-author-killed-books-library-murder
Where do conscientious objectors fit in war literature? "There are many references to conscience: to soldiers who signed up but later doubted the rightness of the cause and to deserters, to those who were, by our standards, wrongly accused of cowardice. But references to actual conchies, as they were (not always affectionately) known, are thin on the ground."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/15/conscientious-objectors-in-literature-first-world-war
The Chicago Public Library has a new addition to its collection: robots! "Thanks to a donation of 500 Finch Robots, which help users learn the basics of computer coding, from Google Chicago, adult patrons of Chicago Public Libraries can now check out a robot at six different CPL locations."
http://chicagoist.com/2014/05/18/you_can_now_check_out_a_robot_from.php
Are you looking for the latest writing by Jonathan Safran Foer, Malcolm Gladwell, Toni Morrison, George Saunders and Michael Lewis? Then you better head over to your neighbourhood Chipotle restaurant, because their work is now being featured on their cups and takeout bags. Or you can just check them out here:
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/05/chipotle-cups-will-now-have-stories-by-jonathan-safran-foer-toni-morrison-and-other-authors
Hong Kong publisher Yao Wentian has been sentenced to ten years in prison for "smuggling prohibited items." The trial and conviction appear to be politically motivated. "At the time of his arrest he was preparing to publish a book by U.S.-based dissident writer Yu Jie entitled Chinese Godfather Xi Jinping." Read more and take action, here:
http://www.pen.org/rapid-action/2014/05/12/publisher-yao-wentian-aka-yiu-mantin-sentenced-10-years-prison
Junot Díaz's condemnation of creative writing programs for their "unbearable too-whiteness" has been taken up by Aminatta Forna and Daljit Nagra (among other authors). Diaz's goal has been to create a space "where our contributions were not an adjunct to Literature but its core."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/19/junot-diaz-attack-creative-writing-unbearable-too-whiteness
BOOKS & WRITERS
Downtown Eastside poet and activist Bud Osborn passed away on May 6th. He wrote his poem '1,000 Crosses in Oppenheimer Park' to commemorate a protest that highlighted the health crisis occurring in his neighbourhood. Here's a chance to see and hear him read that poem:
http://www.straight.com/blogra/642126/remembering-bud-osborn-reading-1000-crosses-oppenheimer-park-video
Do you consider yourself a prankster, hacker or mischief-maker? Then you might enjoy Kembrew McLeod's new book, Pranksters: Making Mischief in the Modern World. It tells the story of four centuries of mischief, and features appearances from Jonathan Swift, Benjamin Franklin, the Merry Pranksters, and Steve Jobs, among others.
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2014/05/kembrew_mcleod_s_pranksters_reviewed.html
To prepare for his upcoming third novel, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, Joshua Ferris and his editor Reagan Arthur "emailed about how nervous he gets to let her into the room, about the 200 pages lost from the novel, and about learning the work practices of his dentist hero from YouTube videos." They discuss their working process, here:
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2014/05/author_joshua_ferris_and_his_book_editor_reagan_arthur_of_little_brown.html
"We're all open books now. Literally," says Montreal writer Arjun Basu, discussing the "brave new world of social media and the role it plays in his new novel." His latest book is called Waiting for the Man.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Books+publishers/9842964/story.html
A story called 'A Noise in the World" is being featured in this month's Geist Magazine. You can read M.A.C. Farrant's tale online, here:
http://www.geist.com/fiction/short-stories/a-noise-in-the-world/
Philip Roth is quitting public life. "I set out upon the great task of doing nothing...I'll do my best to stay alive 'til 2020, but don't push me. Now that I don't write, I just want to chatter away. Bye, bye."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/17/philip-roth-retires-imagine-interview
J.R.R. Tolkien's translation of Beowulf has finally been published. He completed a prose translation in 1926, despite skepticism that turning the poem into modern "plain prose" could be "abuse."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/19/books/jrr-tolkiens-translation-of-beowulf-is-published.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
FAUJI BANTA SINGH
Hear riveting stories from the heart of the Vancouver Sikh experience as author Sadhu Binning reads from his new book. Thursday, May 22 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
MEET THE AUTHOR: GEORGE BOWERING
George Bowering discuses his memoir Pinboy. Thursday, May 22 at 7:00pm. 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.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Linda King and Sue Cormier with open mic. Thursday, May 22, 7–9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. Sign up for open mic at 7pm. More information at
www.pandorascollective.com.
SURREY INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL
Three days of professional local, national and international performing and visual artists. May 22-24, 2014. Surrey Arts Centre and Bear Creek Park. More information at www.surrey.ca/childrensfestival.
D.B. CAREW
Local author signs his debut novel The Killer Trail. Friday, May 23 at 4:00pm. Black Bond Books, Haney PLace Mall, Maple Ridge. More information at blackbondbooks.com.
HEARTBREAKING WORKS OF STAGGERING. AND GENIUS
Join authors Trevor Clark, C.P. Boyko, Andrea Routley and Brett Josef Grubisic as they share from new works that explore the strange geographies of the human condition. Saturday, May 24 at 1:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
MOIRA YOUNG
Author introduces her latest book, Raging Star, the much-anticipated, thrilling conclusion to the Dust Lands trilogy. Saturday, May 24 at 2:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
POETIC JUSTICE
Reading by poets Russell Thornton, Susan McCaslin, and Lee Johnson. Sunday, May 25 at 3:00pm. Renaissance Bookstore, 43 Sixth Street, New Westminster. More information at poeticjustice.ca.
PLACES BEYOND
An evening of poetry, music and dance featuring poets Jude Neale and Daniela Elza, musicians Jared Burrows (Guitar), Clyde Reed (Bass) and Chris Corrigan (Celtic Flute) and dance by Su-Lin Tseng. Sunday, May 25th, 7pm, Presentation House Gallery, 333 Chesterfield Ave., North Vancouver. Tickets $20.
ANN ERIKSSON
Author reads from her new novel High Clear Bell of Morning. Tuesday, May 27 at 7:00pm, free. Bolen Books, 111-1644 Hillside Ave., Victoria. For more information, visit bolen.bc.ca.
CHRIS HUTCHINSON
Join author Chris Hutchinson for the launching of his new book, Jonas in Frames, a collection of poetry disguised as a novel. Wednesday, May 28 at 7:00pm, free. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive.
GOLD MAD
A gripping historical thriller told by former geologist and gold prospector Michael Maser. Wednesday, May 28 at 7:00pm. Welsh Hall West, West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
SHORT SUITES READING SERIES
Sample new and forthcoming work from Brett Josef Grubisic, Janine Alyson Young, Grant Buday, Chelsea Rooney, and hosted by Dina Del Bucchia. Wednesday, May 28 at 8:00pm, free. Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at anvilpress.com.
GEORGE BOWERING
George Bowering reads from bill bissetts's groundbreaking body of work in prose and poetry. Thursday, May 29 at 6:30pm, free. The Reach Gallery Museum, 32388 Veterans Way, Abbotsford. More information at 604-864-8087.
Upcoming
DIANE TUCKER
Author reads from her new poetry collection, Bonsai Love. Sunday, June 1 at 3:00pm. The Heritage Grill, 447 Columbia Street, New Westminster.
KELLEY ARMSTRONG
Meet the author of the teen series Darkest Powers and Darkness Rising. Friday, June 6 at 1:00pm. Cloverdale Library, 5642 - 176A Street, Surrey. More information at surreylibraries.ca.
PAULA WILD
Author presents her latest book, The Cougar: Beautiful, Wild and Dangerous. Saturday, June 7 at 7:00pm, free. Village Books, 1200 11th Street, Bellingham. More information at villagebooks.com.
A GATHERING OF POETS
The winner and finalist for the 2014 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize read from their nominated works. The evening will be hosted by Heidi Greco, Surrey's 2012 Resident Poet. Monday, June 9 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
LUNCH POEMS AT SFU
Featuring Billeh Nickerson and Heather Haley. Wednesday, June 18 at 12:00 noon, free. Teck Gallery in SFU's Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.
GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
A Proclamation and Reading honoring Jean Barman, B.C.'s most active historian, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, as the 21s recipient of the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award. Thursday, June 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
EUROPEAN BOOK CLUB
Features Portuguese novel The True Actor (O verdadeiro ator) by Jacinto Lucas Pires. Saturday, June 21 at 4:00pm. Free but register at eubookclub.vancouver@shaw.ca. Istituto Italiano di Cultura, 500-510 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at www.alliancefrancaise.ca.
POETIC FORM AND THE MYSTICAL MUSE
Readings by poets Lee Johnson and Susan McCaslin. Tuesday, June 24 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
GEOFFREY TIGG
The Painting is the second book in the Detective Kelly O'Brian series by Geoffrey Tigg. Wednesday, June 25 at 7:00pm. Welsh Hall West, West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at westvanlibrary.ca.
SPECIAL EVENT
A Dram Come True
Join us at the legendary Hycroft and enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts, plus offerings from Pemberton Distillery and Tinhorn Creek Vineyard. New this year: Heighten your experience at an exclusive VIP reception before the main event-a private tasting tour of some of the special malts, guided by whisky experts.
Friday, May 30, 2014
7:30–9:30pm
Tickets: $120
VIP Tasting 6:30–7:30pm; Tickets: $75 (limited quantities, only available with a main event ticket)
Hycroft
1489 McRae Avenue, Vancouver
Click here for details and to purchase tickets, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.
A Dram Come True is a fundraiser for the Vancouver Writers Fest.
And in case you want to practice pronouncing Gaelic single malt names before A Dram Come True:
http://www.esquire.com/features/drinking/scotch-pronunciation-guide-5836909?src=soc_fcbks
ABOUT TOWN
The Vancouver edition of Spur, a national festival of politics, art and ideas (May 22-25) features events at SFU Woodwards. Here are three events with a literary focus:
Books and Brunch
The Confabulist author Steven Galloway reads and discusses his latest novel with lawyer, author, and incoming SFU Chancellor Anne Giardini.
Books and Brunch
Join Shani Mootoo for brunch as she reads from and discusses her newest novel, Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab.
In Conversation: Signal&Noise.com
Join Paul Holdengraber, writer, curator, and literary programmer at the New York Public Library, and Evgeny Morozov, author of The Net Delusion and To Save Everything, as they discuss how new technologies are changing the way we think.
http://spurfestival.ca/vancouver/events/
AWARDS & LISTS
This Boy, Alan Johnson's memoir of his London slum childhood, has won the £10,000 Ondaatje prize, an award "which goes to the book that best evokes the spirit of a place."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/20/alan-johnson-mp-wins-ondaatje-prize-memoir-this-boy
In a case of life imitating fiction, Edward St. Aubyn's novel Lost for Words, a satire of literary awards, has won the 2014 Wodehouse Prize. The prize is awarded to a novel which best "captures the comic spirit."
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/may/19/edward-st-aubyn-wins-wodehouse-prize
Unsettling news in the world of children's books awards: Rush Limbaugh has beaten kid lit superstars to win the Children's Choice Book Award for Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims. The prize is ostensibly chosen by children, though it has been acknowledged that "adults could easily vote and vote multiple times, a problem not uncommon for Internet competitions."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/rush-limbaugh-wins-children-s-choice-book-award-1.2645219
In more positive children's literature news, the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading festival has announced the winners of its signature kids book prizes (and none of them went to Rush Limbaugh!) Check out the winners, here:
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2014/05/16/forest-of-reading-announces-winners/
YOUNG READERS
There's a whole cornucopia of illustrated books out for kids this spring. Among the titles are works by past Writers Fest authors Caroline Adderson and Dan Bar-El.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Picture+this+cornucopia+illustrated+books+kids/9842958/story.html
NEWS & FEATURES
What makes a novel 'classic'? When does it gain this status? "Sitting on this privileged shelf in a bookshop confers a lot of kudos, but close examination leaves you wondering why."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/12/classics-novel-status-shelf-bookshop-status
Ian McEwan's literary archive has been bought by the University of Texas. The archive includes abandoned stories, letters from other writers, early novel drafts and seventeen years worth of emails! "This acquisition represents a rare opportunity to share the work of a living, internationally-acclaimed author whose works are of strong interest to readers everywhere."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/15/ian-mcewan-literary-archive-harry-ransom-center-2m-dollars
How do university presses fit into the world of publishing? With many currently existing on the edge, "a crucial question faces university presses and the universities themselves: Who will pay for the dissemination of scholarship?"
http://www.thenation.com/article/179712/university-presses-under-fire
Why does every book about Africa have the same cover? A current survey has found that practically all feature "an acacia tree, an orange sunset over the veld, or both." In short, "the covers of most novels 'about Africa' seem to have been designed by someone whose principal idea of the continent comes from The Lion King."
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/05/why-every-book-about-africa-has-the-same-cover/362101/
The internet may make the dissemination of writing easier, but according to George R.R. Martin, author of the Game of Thrones series, it's far too distracting to get any work done. That's why he uses a "secret weapon": a DOS machine not connected to the Internet, with the veritably ancient WordStar 4.0 as his word processor.
http://www.salon.com/2014/05/14/george_r_r_martin_tells_conan_why_he_writes_on_a_dos_word_processor/
On the other hand, all this new-fangled technology may indeed have its uses! Here are some reasons why the iPhone just might be saving literature:
http://www.salon.com/2014/05/14/war_and_peace_on_the_subway_how_your_iphone_is_saving_literature/
Amazon is currently engaged in a "bitter publishing war" and Malcolm Gladwell, Stephen Colbert and J.D. Salinger are just a few of its victims. "Publishers say the bookseller, whose shares have tumbled 25 percent this year as investors itch for profits, is determined to squeeze as much margin out of its suppliers as possible."
http://www.salon.com/2014/05/09/amazon_takes_shot_at_colbert_gladwell_in_bitter_publishing_war/
Meanwhile, in the UK, a Member of Parliament is trying to organize a boycott against the internet book giant. Amazon currently pays only £4.2m in taxes. "Margaret Hodge says consumer action forced Starbucks to pay tax in UK and could persuade Amazon to follow suit."
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/may/09/margaret-hodge-urges-boycott-amazon-uk-tax-starbucks
British novelist Linda Grant has done something truly terrible. "I have killed my books," she says! "Books have always been Linda Grant's friends; they made her the writer she is. So why did she decide to murder her library?"
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/17/linda-grant-author-killed-books-library-murder
Where do conscientious objectors fit in war literature? "There are many references to conscience: to soldiers who signed up but later doubted the rightness of the cause and to deserters, to those who were, by our standards, wrongly accused of cowardice. But references to actual conchies, as they were (not always affectionately) known, are thin on the ground."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/15/conscientious-objectors-in-literature-first-world-war
The Chicago Public Library has a new addition to its collection: robots! "Thanks to a donation of 500 Finch Robots, which help users learn the basics of computer coding, from Google Chicago, adult patrons of Chicago Public Libraries can now check out a robot at six different CPL locations."
http://chicagoist.com/2014/05/18/you_can_now_check_out_a_robot_from.php
Are you looking for the latest writing by Jonathan Safran Foer, Malcolm Gladwell, Toni Morrison, George Saunders and Michael Lewis? Then you better head over to your neighbourhood Chipotle restaurant, because their work is now being featured on their cups and takeout bags. Or you can just check them out here:
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/05/chipotle-cups-will-now-have-stories-by-jonathan-safran-foer-toni-morrison-and-other-authors
Hong Kong publisher Yao Wentian has been sentenced to ten years in prison for "smuggling prohibited items." The trial and conviction appear to be politically motivated. "At the time of his arrest he was preparing to publish a book by U.S.-based dissident writer Yu Jie entitled Chinese Godfather Xi Jinping." Read more and take action, here:
http://www.pen.org/rapid-action/2014/05/12/publisher-yao-wentian-aka-yiu-mantin-sentenced-10-years-prison
Junot Díaz's condemnation of creative writing programs for their "unbearable too-whiteness" has been taken up by Aminatta Forna and Daljit Nagra (among other authors). Diaz's goal has been to create a space "where our contributions were not an adjunct to Literature but its core."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/19/junot-diaz-attack-creative-writing-unbearable-too-whiteness
BOOKS & WRITERS
Downtown Eastside poet and activist Bud Osborn passed away on May 6th. He wrote his poem '1,000 Crosses in Oppenheimer Park' to commemorate a protest that highlighted the health crisis occurring in his neighbourhood. Here's a chance to see and hear him read that poem:
http://www.straight.com/blogra/642126/remembering-bud-osborn-reading-1000-crosses-oppenheimer-park-video
Do you consider yourself a prankster, hacker or mischief-maker? Then you might enjoy Kembrew McLeod's new book, Pranksters: Making Mischief in the Modern World. It tells the story of four centuries of mischief, and features appearances from Jonathan Swift, Benjamin Franklin, the Merry Pranksters, and Steve Jobs, among others.
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2014/05/kembrew_mcleod_s_pranksters_reviewed.html
To prepare for his upcoming third novel, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, Joshua Ferris and his editor Reagan Arthur "emailed about how nervous he gets to let her into the room, about the 200 pages lost from the novel, and about learning the work practices of his dentist hero from YouTube videos." They discuss their working process, here:
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2014/05/author_joshua_ferris_and_his_book_editor_reagan_arthur_of_little_brown.html
"We're all open books now. Literally," says Montreal writer Arjun Basu, discussing the "brave new world of social media and the role it plays in his new novel." His latest book is called Waiting for the Man.
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/Books+publishers/9842964/story.html
A story called 'A Noise in the World" is being featured in this month's Geist Magazine. You can read M.A.C. Farrant's tale online, here:
http://www.geist.com/fiction/short-stories/a-noise-in-the-world/
Philip Roth is quitting public life. "I set out upon the great task of doing nothing...I'll do my best to stay alive 'til 2020, but don't push me. Now that I don't write, I just want to chatter away. Bye, bye."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/17/philip-roth-retires-imagine-interview
J.R.R. Tolkien's translation of Beowulf has finally been published. He completed a prose translation in 1926, despite skepticism that turning the poem into modern "plain prose" could be "abuse."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/19/books/jrr-tolkiens-translation-of-beowulf-is-published.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
FAUJI BANTA SINGH
Hear riveting stories from the heart of the Vancouver Sikh experience as author Sadhu Binning reads from his new book. Thursday, May 22 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
MEET THE AUTHOR: GEORGE BOWERING
George Bowering discuses his memoir Pinboy. Thursday, May 22 at 7:00pm. 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.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Linda King and Sue Cormier with open mic. Thursday, May 22, 7–9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. Sign up for open mic at 7pm. More information at
www.pandorascollective.com.
SURREY INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL
Three days of professional local, national and international performing and visual artists. May 22-24, 2014. Surrey Arts Centre and Bear Creek Park. More information at www.surrey.ca/childrensfestival.
D.B. CAREW
Local author signs his debut novel The Killer Trail. Friday, May 23 at 4:00pm. Black Bond Books, Haney PLace Mall, Maple Ridge. More information at blackbondbooks.com.
HEARTBREAKING WORKS OF STAGGERING. AND GENIUS
Join authors Trevor Clark, C.P. Boyko, Andrea Routley and Brett Josef Grubisic as they share from new works that explore the strange geographies of the human condition. Saturday, May 24 at 1:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
MOIRA YOUNG
Author introduces her latest book, Raging Star, the much-anticipated, thrilling conclusion to the Dust Lands trilogy. Saturday, May 24 at 2:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
POETIC JUSTICE
Reading by poets Russell Thornton, Susan McCaslin, and Lee Johnson. Sunday, May 25 at 3:00pm. Renaissance Bookstore, 43 Sixth Street, New Westminster. More information at poeticjustice.ca.
PLACES BEYOND
An evening of poetry, music and dance featuring poets Jude Neale and Daniela Elza, musicians Jared Burrows (Guitar), Clyde Reed (Bass) and Chris Corrigan (Celtic Flute) and dance by Su-Lin Tseng. Sunday, May 25th, 7pm, Presentation House Gallery, 333 Chesterfield Ave., North Vancouver. Tickets $20.
ANN ERIKSSON
Author reads from her new novel High Clear Bell of Morning. Tuesday, May 27 at 7:00pm, free. Bolen Books, 111-1644 Hillside Ave., Victoria. For more information, visit bolen.bc.ca.
CHRIS HUTCHINSON
Join author Chris Hutchinson for the launching of his new book, Jonas in Frames, a collection of poetry disguised as a novel. Wednesday, May 28 at 7:00pm, free. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive.
GOLD MAD
A gripping historical thriller told by former geologist and gold prospector Michael Maser. Wednesday, May 28 at 7:00pm. Welsh Hall West, West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
SHORT SUITES READING SERIES
Sample new and forthcoming work from Brett Josef Grubisic, Janine Alyson Young, Grant Buday, Chelsea Rooney, and hosted by Dina Del Bucchia. Wednesday, May 28 at 8:00pm, free. Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at anvilpress.com.
GEORGE BOWERING
George Bowering reads from bill bissetts's groundbreaking body of work in prose and poetry. Thursday, May 29 at 6:30pm, free. The Reach Gallery Museum, 32388 Veterans Way, Abbotsford. More information at 604-864-8087.
Upcoming
DIANE TUCKER
Author reads from her new poetry collection, Bonsai Love. Sunday, June 1 at 3:00pm. The Heritage Grill, 447 Columbia Street, New Westminster.
KELLEY ARMSTRONG
Meet the author of the teen series Darkest Powers and Darkness Rising. Friday, June 6 at 1:00pm. Cloverdale Library, 5642 - 176A Street, Surrey. More information at surreylibraries.ca.
PAULA WILD
Author presents her latest book, The Cougar: Beautiful, Wild and Dangerous. Saturday, June 7 at 7:00pm, free. Village Books, 1200 11th Street, Bellingham. More information at villagebooks.com.
A GATHERING OF POETS
The winner and finalist for the 2014 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize read from their nominated works. The evening will be hosted by Heidi Greco, Surrey's 2012 Resident Poet. Monday, June 9 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
LUNCH POEMS AT SFU
Featuring Billeh Nickerson and Heather Haley. Wednesday, June 18 at 12:00 noon, free. Teck Gallery in SFU's Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.
GEORGE WOODCOCK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
A Proclamation and Reading honoring Jean Barman, B.C.'s most active historian, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, as the 21s recipient of the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award. Thursday, June 19 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
EUROPEAN BOOK CLUB
Features Portuguese novel The True Actor (O verdadeiro ator) by Jacinto Lucas Pires. Saturday, June 21 at 4:00pm. Free but register at eubookclub.vancouver@shaw.ca. Istituto Italiano di Cultura, 500-510 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. More information at www.alliancefrancaise.ca.
POETIC FORM AND THE MYSTICAL MUSE
Readings by poets Lee Johnson and Susan McCaslin. Tuesday, June 24 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
GEOFFREY TIGG
The Painting is the second book in the Detective Kelly O'Brian series by Geoffrey Tigg. Wednesday, June 25 at 7:00pm. Welsh Hall West, West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at westvanlibrary.ca.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Book News Vol. 9 No. 11
BOOK NEWS
INCITE
Join us on May 21 for the final event of the Spring 2014 season of Incite, featuring readings by Lynn Coady (Hellgoing), Eufemia Fantetti (A Recipe for Disaster & Other Unlikely Tales of Love), and Nancy Lee (The Age). Details on this event can be found here, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite.
ABOUT TOWN
The Vancouver edition of Spur, a national festival of politics, art and ideas (May 22-25) features events at SFU Woodwards. Here are three events with a literary focus:
Books and Brunch
The Confabulist author Steven Galloway reads and discusses his latest novel with lawyer, author, and incoming SFU Chancellor Anne Giardini.
Books and Brunch
Join Shani Mootoo for brunch as she reads from and discusses her newest novel, Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab.
In Conversation: Signal&Noise.com
Join Paul Holdengraber, writer, curator, and literary programmer at the New York Public Library, and Evgeny Morozov, author of The Net Delusion and To Save Everything, as they discuss how new technologies are changing the way we think.
http://spurfestival.ca/vancouver/events/
SPECIAL EVENT
A Dram Come True
Join us at the legendary Hycroft-a magnificent Edwardian mansion in the heart of Shaughnessy-and enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts. New this year: Heighten your experience at an exclusive VIP reception before the main event-a private tasting tour of some of the special malts, guided by whisky experts.
Friday, May 30, 2014
7:30–9:30pm
Tickets: $120
VIP Tasting 6:30–7:30pm; Tickets: $75 (limited quantities, only available with a main event ticket)
Hycroft
1489 McRae Avenue, Vancouver
Click here for details and to purchase tickets, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.
A Dram Come True is a fundraiser for the Vancouver Writers Fest.
AWARDS & LISTS
Nathaniel Mackey has won the $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. The award recognizes a lifetime of achievement that includes decades of published poetry and prose. "The poetry of Nathaniel Mackey continues an American bardic line that unfolds from Whitman's 'Leaves of Grass'...Mackey's words always go where music goes: a brilliant and major accomplishment."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/05/07/nathaniel-mackey-wins-100000-ruth-lilly-poetry-prize/
Seven mid-career Canadian artists have received $15,000 each from the Canada Council for the Arts. Known as the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Prizes, they are awarded to people in seven different artistic disciplines. The winner this year in the Writing and Publishing category is Robert Anthony Wright.
http://canadacouncil.ca/en/council/news-room/news/2014/victor-martyn-lynch-staunton
Eufemia Fanetti, appearing at Incite on May 21, is one of five finalists for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award. The Award recognizes the best first English-language collection of short fiction by a Canadian author.
http://www.writersunion.ca/news/short-list-announced-2013-danuta-gleed-literary-award
YOUNG READERS
What are the best LGBT books for children, teenagers and young adults? Here are some recommendations for the "most brilliant books which challenge homophobia and discrimination against people's sexuality."
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/may/12/best-lgbt-books-children-teenagers-yas
NEWS & FEATURES
Farley Mowat's death last week has brought about many eulogies. He "was a trickster, a ferocious imp with a silver pen, an ardent environmentalist who opened up the idea of the North to curious southerners...and a passionate polemicist who blurred the lines between fiction and facts to dramatize his cause."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/scarred-by-war-acclaimed-author-farley-mowat-spent-his-life-trying-to-save-animals-nature-and-first-nations/article18548467/
Who's your literary heroine? "Move over Lizzie Bennet–let's hear it for the unsung heroine!"
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/10/mansfield-park-unsung-literary-heroines
A new society in New York is changing what it means to be in a book club. Welcome to the 'Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society', which loves "good books and sunny days and enjoying both as nearly in the altogether as the law allows."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/08/topless-pulp-fiction-appreciation-society-book-club
Scott Griffin is one of the biggest names in Canadian literary philanthropy. He's the founder of the Griffin Poetry Prize, as well as 'Poetry in Voice', a recitation competition for Canadian high school students. This year, the competition will be held in Vancouver. The Globe and Mail interviews Griffin, here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/scott-griffin-brings-poetry-back-into-the-mainstream-of-cultural-life/article18578055/
The New York Public Library has abandoned its disputed plan to turn part of its research flagship on Fifth Avenue into a circulating library. The nearby Mid-Manhattan Library will be refurbished instead.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/arts/design/public-library-abandons-plan-to-revamp-42nd-street-building.html
While libraries may succeed in being preserved, bookstores are still facing very tough times. Here's an elegiac account of the "Lost Booksellers of New York."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/opinion/sunday/lost-booksellers-of-new-york.html
"If Vladimir Putin gets his way–and he tends to–any book published in Russia that contains "foul language" will soon have to be sold in a sealed package and marked with a warning." The Guardian explores swearing in literature, and also opens up the conversation, here:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/08/swearing-in-literature-share-examples-of-bad-language-in-good-books
BOOKS & WRITERS
Local writers Claudia Casper and Anne Giardini recently travelled to Reykjavik for the inaugural Iceland Writers Retreat, a series of workshops and panels led by a team of international writers including Pulitzer Prize winning author Geraldine Brooks, New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean and Scotiabank Giller prize winner Joseph Boyden. The retreat was the theme of travel and journeys. Casper and Giardini blogged about their travel experience in the land of fire and ice.
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/blog/tavia/claudia-casper-first-impressions-iceland
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/blog/tavia/anne-giardini-rotten-shark-and-writing-iceland
In last week's Book News, we featured Will Self's article on the death of the novel. Here's Russell Smith's response: The novel-is-dead article is dead. (This time for real.)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/the-novel-is-dead-article-is-dead-this-time-for-real/article18566439/
Allen Crawford's much anticipated illustrated and land lettered book version of Walt Whitman's 'Song of Myself' has finally been released. Created over the course of a year, Crawford tried "to treat the poem as almost a landscape, in the sense that I'm exploring this unknown territory and I'm taking field notes from the mind of Whitman."
http://beautifuldecay.com/2014/05/08/walt-whitman/
This past week's New York Times Sunday Book Review features a myriad of articles about Indian writing. Among the reviewed is Bombay Stories, by Saadat Hasan Manto. Most of the stories collected here were written after the author's move to Pakistan post-partition, "out of an aching longing for the city he had just left."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/books/review/bombay-stories-by-saadat-hasan-manto.html
Should I go to grad school? Can writing really be taught? These are questions that many young writers ask themselves, and now there's an anthology to address the issue. Here's an excerpt from a New Yorker interview with Sheila Heti.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/05/should-i-go-to-grad-school-an-interview-with-sheila-heti.html
If the current Russian political situation has piqued your interest in stories featuring characters with names like Captain Popov and Boris Ivanovich Muratov, then you might enjoy this week's New York Times fiction piece: The Fugitive, by Lyudmila Ulitskaya.
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2014/05/12/140512fi_fiction_ulitskaya
What does it mean to be "well read"? John Sutherland's book, How to be Well Read, addresses that very issue. It is a "guide to 500 great novels and handful of literary curiosities!"
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/11/how-be-be-well-read-john-sutherland-literary-list
People who like Céline Dion are people, too! Or so claims Carl Wilson in "Let's Talk About Love", a book-length critical essay which discusses why you should be "more tolerant of other people's musical preferences, more attuned to why they like what they like (and why you might not), more sympathetic to differences of opinion, and less grouchy about matters of taste."
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/05/people-who-like-celine-dion-are-people-too.html
What are you favourite John Updike short stories? His biographer chooses ten, "the best of the great American author's short fiction, 'the chief glory' of his prolific work", here:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/07/top-10-john-updike-short-stories
Roxane Gay's debut novel, An Untamed State, is told like a fairy tale, with a "complex and fragile moral arrived at through great pain and high cost." Taking place in Haiti, it is the story of an American-born heiress to a Haitian construction magnate, who is kidnapped for thirteen days.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/books/review/an-untamed-state-by-roxane-gay.html
Speaking of fairy tales, the title of Michael Cunningham's new novel, The Snow Queen, is "lifted straight from Hans Christian Andersen". Though the tale is grounded in reality, Cunningham "also plunders the fairy tale for a sharp little snow crystal that blows into Barrett's brother's eye that morning, blearing his vision" (the book begins with morning snow blowing into a bedroom window.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/books/review/the-snow-queen-by-michael-cunningham.html
If you're planning on getting some sleep anytime soon, you might not want to read Anthony Doerr's new novel, All the Light We Cannot See. "Told mostly in the present tense, in short and usually pointed chapters, the story moves briskly and efficiently toward its climactic encounter during the Allied bombing of St.-Malo, France, a couple of months after D-Day."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/books/review/all-the-light-we-cannot-see-by-anthony-doerr.html
Eva Stachniak's new book, The Empress of the Night, is about "power, betrayal and love in the court of Catherine the Great." She discusses her new book, her favourite sentences in literature, the best advice she's ever received, and more, here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/author-eva-stachniaks-advice-for-writing-write-books-you-would-love-to-read/article18586979/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
MOTHER TONGUE
Two of Canada's finest poets, Lorna Crozier and Erín Moure, lend their work to choreographer and director Conrad Alexandrowicz, whose Wild Excursions Performance presents two works of physical theatre for actors, dancers and musicians. May 14-18, 2014. Tickets: $20 plus service charges. Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie Street. More information at wildexcursions.ca.
POETRY AND THE MYSTICAL MUSE
Poets Susan McCaslin and Lee Johnson reading from their new volumes of poetry, The Disarmed Heart and Poetria Nova, Thurs. May 15, 7-9 pm, the Wired Monk Cafe, 2610 W. 4th Ave., sponsored by the Thomas Merton Society of Canada. http://www.merton.ca/.
SKAGIT RIVER POETRY FESTIVAL
A celebration of poetry featuring readings, workshops, and storytelling. Access to internationally famous poets through intimate venues and workshop sessions. May 15-18, 2014. Various venues throughout La Conner, WA. More information at www.skagitriverpoetry.org.
CANADIAN WRITING CONFERENCE
The CCWWP (Canadian Creative Writers & Writing Programs) presents readings from three fantastic writers on the UBC Campus as part of their biennial Canadian Writing Conference. Readings and conversations with: Joseph Boyden, Amy Bloom and Lisa Moore. May 15-17, 2014. Frederic Wood Theatre, 6354 Crescent Rd., UBC. Tickets (free) can be reserved at: http://www.eventbrite.ca/o/canadian-creative-writers-amp-writing-programs-6505823193.
TREASURES OF LIGHT & DARKNESS
Author reveals her book first book of poetry, Treasures of Light & Darkness. Copies of the book will be availale for purchase for $20. Saturday, May 17 at 10:00am, free. Tommy Douglas branch, Burnaby Public Library, 7311 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at bpl.bc.ca.
125 POETRY READINGS
Stop #95 in Kevin Spenst's Small Books, Big Country, a chapbook tour of Canada. Saturday, May 17 at 2:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.
A COLLABORATION OF POETRY AND THE VISUAL ARTS IN FORT LANGLEY
Poets Susan McCaslin and Lee Johnson reading from their new works in collaboration with visual artists Susan J. Falk and Kristin Krimmel, Sat. May 17, 7-9 pm, The Fort Gallery, 9048 Glover road, Fort Langley, BC., free, refreshments. http://www.fortgallery.ca/artists-events.html
Upcoming
ANN ERIKSSON
Author reads from her new novel High Clear Bell of Morning. Also featuring Garry Geddes reading from his new book of selected poems, What Does a House Want?. Tuesday, May 20 at 7:00pm, free. Capilano Branch, North Vancouver Library, 3045 Highland Blvd., North Vancouver. More information at 604-987-4471.
SPOKEN INK
Bowen Island poet Jude Neale is the featured author. Tuesday, May 20 at 8:00pm. La Fontana Caffe, 101-3701 East Hastings, Burnaby.
LUNCH POEMS AT SFU
Readings by Phinder Dulai and Kim Minkus. Wednesday, May 21 at 12:00 noon. Teck Gallery, Main floor, SFU Vancouver Harbour Center, 515 W. Hastings. More information at sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.
FAUJI BANTA SINGH
Hear riveting stories from the heart of the Vancouver Sikh experience as author Sadhu Binning reads from his new book. Thursday, May 22 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
MEET THE AUTHOR: GEORGE BOWERING
George Bowering discuses his memoir Pinboy. Thursday, May 22 at 7:00pm. 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.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Linda King and Sue Cormier with open mic. Thursday, May 22, 7–9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. Sign up for open mic at 7pm. More information at
www.pandorascollective.com.
SURREY INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL
Three days of professional local, national and international performing and visual artists. May 22-24, 2014. Surrey Arts Centre and Bear Creek Park. More information at www.surrey.ca/childrensfestival.
D.B. CAREW
Local author signs his debut novel The Killer Trail. Friday, May 23 at 4:00pm. Black Bond Books, Haney PLace Mall, Maple Ridge. More information at blackbondbooks.com.
HEARTBREAKING WORKS OF STAGGERING. AND GENIUS
Join authors Trevor Clark, C.P. Boyko, Andrea Routley and Brett Josef Grubisic as they share from new works that explore the strange geographies of the human condition. Saturday, May 24 at 1:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
MOIRA YOUNG
Author introduces her latest book, Raging Star, the much-anticipated, thrilling conclusion to the Dust Lands trilogy. Saturday, May 24 at 2:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
POETIC JUSTICE
Reading by poets Russell Thornton, Susan McCaslin, and Lee Johnson. Sunday, May 25 at 3:00pm. Renaissance Bookstore, 43 Sixth Street, New Westminster. More information at poeticjustice.ca.
PLACES BEYOND
An evening of poetry, music and dance featuring poets Jude Neale and Daniela Elza, musicians Jared Burrows (Guitar), Clyde Reed (Bass) and Chris Corrigan (Celtic Flute) and dance by Su-Lin Tseng. Sunday, May 25th, 7pm, Presentation House Gallery, 333 Chesterfield Ave., North Vancouver. Tickets $20.
GOLD MAD
A gripping historical thriller told by former geologist and gold prospector Michael Maser. Wednesday, May 28 at 7:00pm. Welsh Hall West, West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
SHORT SUITES READING SERIES
Sample new and forthcoming work from Brett Josef Grubisic, Janine Alyson Young, Grant Buday, Chelsea Rooney, and hosted by Dina Del Bucchia. Wednesday, May 28 at 8:00pm, free. Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at anvilpress.com.
INCITE
Join us on May 21 for the final event of the Spring 2014 season of Incite, featuring readings by Lynn Coady (Hellgoing), Eufemia Fantetti (A Recipe for Disaster & Other Unlikely Tales of Love), and Nancy Lee (The Age). Details on this event can be found here, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/incite.
ABOUT TOWN
The Vancouver edition of Spur, a national festival of politics, art and ideas (May 22-25) features events at SFU Woodwards. Here are three events with a literary focus:
Books and Brunch
The Confabulist author Steven Galloway reads and discusses his latest novel with lawyer, author, and incoming SFU Chancellor Anne Giardini.
Books and Brunch
Join Shani Mootoo for brunch as she reads from and discusses her newest novel, Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab.
In Conversation: Signal&Noise.com
Join Paul Holdengraber, writer, curator, and literary programmer at the New York Public Library, and Evgeny Morozov, author of The Net Delusion and To Save Everything, as they discuss how new technologies are changing the way we think.
http://spurfestival.ca/vancouver/events/
SPECIAL EVENT
A Dram Come True
Join us at the legendary Hycroft-a magnificent Edwardian mansion in the heart of Shaughnessy-and enjoy the superb, complex flavours of a variety of rare and distinguished single malts. New this year: Heighten your experience at an exclusive VIP reception before the main event-a private tasting tour of some of the special malts, guided by whisky experts.
Friday, May 30, 2014
7:30–9:30pm
Tickets: $120
VIP Tasting 6:30–7:30pm; Tickets: $75 (limited quantities, only available with a main event ticket)
Hycroft
1489 McRae Avenue, Vancouver
Click here for details and to purchase tickets, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/dram-come-true.
A Dram Come True is a fundraiser for the Vancouver Writers Fest.
AWARDS & LISTS
Nathaniel Mackey has won the $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. The award recognizes a lifetime of achievement that includes decades of published poetry and prose. "The poetry of Nathaniel Mackey continues an American bardic line that unfolds from Whitman's 'Leaves of Grass'...Mackey's words always go where music goes: a brilliant and major accomplishment."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/05/07/nathaniel-mackey-wins-100000-ruth-lilly-poetry-prize/
Seven mid-career Canadian artists have received $15,000 each from the Canada Council for the Arts. Known as the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Prizes, they are awarded to people in seven different artistic disciplines. The winner this year in the Writing and Publishing category is Robert Anthony Wright.
http://canadacouncil.ca/en/council/news-room/news/2014/victor-martyn-lynch-staunton
Eufemia Fanetti, appearing at Incite on May 21, is one of five finalists for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award. The Award recognizes the best first English-language collection of short fiction by a Canadian author.
http://www.writersunion.ca/news/short-list-announced-2013-danuta-gleed-literary-award
YOUNG READERS
What are the best LGBT books for children, teenagers and young adults? Here are some recommendations for the "most brilliant books which challenge homophobia and discrimination against people's sexuality."
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/may/12/best-lgbt-books-children-teenagers-yas
NEWS & FEATURES
Farley Mowat's death last week has brought about many eulogies. He "was a trickster, a ferocious imp with a silver pen, an ardent environmentalist who opened up the idea of the North to curious southerners...and a passionate polemicist who blurred the lines between fiction and facts to dramatize his cause."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/scarred-by-war-acclaimed-author-farley-mowat-spent-his-life-trying-to-save-animals-nature-and-first-nations/article18548467/
Who's your literary heroine? "Move over Lizzie Bennet–let's hear it for the unsung heroine!"
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/10/mansfield-park-unsung-literary-heroines
A new society in New York is changing what it means to be in a book club. Welcome to the 'Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society', which loves "good books and sunny days and enjoying both as nearly in the altogether as the law allows."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/08/topless-pulp-fiction-appreciation-society-book-club
Scott Griffin is one of the biggest names in Canadian literary philanthropy. He's the founder of the Griffin Poetry Prize, as well as 'Poetry in Voice', a recitation competition for Canadian high school students. This year, the competition will be held in Vancouver. The Globe and Mail interviews Griffin, here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/scott-griffin-brings-poetry-back-into-the-mainstream-of-cultural-life/article18578055/
The New York Public Library has abandoned its disputed plan to turn part of its research flagship on Fifth Avenue into a circulating library. The nearby Mid-Manhattan Library will be refurbished instead.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/arts/design/public-library-abandons-plan-to-revamp-42nd-street-building.html
While libraries may succeed in being preserved, bookstores are still facing very tough times. Here's an elegiac account of the "Lost Booksellers of New York."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/opinion/sunday/lost-booksellers-of-new-york.html
"If Vladimir Putin gets his way–and he tends to–any book published in Russia that contains "foul language" will soon have to be sold in a sealed package and marked with a warning." The Guardian explores swearing in literature, and also opens up the conversation, here:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/08/swearing-in-literature-share-examples-of-bad-language-in-good-books
BOOKS & WRITERS
Local writers Claudia Casper and Anne Giardini recently travelled to Reykjavik for the inaugural Iceland Writers Retreat, a series of workshops and panels led by a team of international writers including Pulitzer Prize winning author Geraldine Brooks, New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean and Scotiabank Giller prize winner Joseph Boyden. The retreat was the theme of travel and journeys. Casper and Giardini blogged about their travel experience in the land of fire and ice.
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/blog/tavia/claudia-casper-first-impressions-iceland
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/blog/tavia/anne-giardini-rotten-shark-and-writing-iceland
In last week's Book News, we featured Will Self's article on the death of the novel. Here's Russell Smith's response: The novel-is-dead article is dead. (This time for real.)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/the-novel-is-dead-article-is-dead-this-time-for-real/article18566439/
Allen Crawford's much anticipated illustrated and land lettered book version of Walt Whitman's 'Song of Myself' has finally been released. Created over the course of a year, Crawford tried "to treat the poem as almost a landscape, in the sense that I'm exploring this unknown territory and I'm taking field notes from the mind of Whitman."
http://beautifuldecay.com/2014/05/08/walt-whitman/
This past week's New York Times Sunday Book Review features a myriad of articles about Indian writing. Among the reviewed is Bombay Stories, by Saadat Hasan Manto. Most of the stories collected here were written after the author's move to Pakistan post-partition, "out of an aching longing for the city he had just left."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/books/review/bombay-stories-by-saadat-hasan-manto.html
Should I go to grad school? Can writing really be taught? These are questions that many young writers ask themselves, and now there's an anthology to address the issue. Here's an excerpt from a New Yorker interview with Sheila Heti.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/05/should-i-go-to-grad-school-an-interview-with-sheila-heti.html
If the current Russian political situation has piqued your interest in stories featuring characters with names like Captain Popov and Boris Ivanovich Muratov, then you might enjoy this week's New York Times fiction piece: The Fugitive, by Lyudmila Ulitskaya.
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2014/05/12/140512fi_fiction_ulitskaya
What does it mean to be "well read"? John Sutherland's book, How to be Well Read, addresses that very issue. It is a "guide to 500 great novels and handful of literary curiosities!"
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/11/how-be-be-well-read-john-sutherland-literary-list
People who like Céline Dion are people, too! Or so claims Carl Wilson in "Let's Talk About Love", a book-length critical essay which discusses why you should be "more tolerant of other people's musical preferences, more attuned to why they like what they like (and why you might not), more sympathetic to differences of opinion, and less grouchy about matters of taste."
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/05/people-who-like-celine-dion-are-people-too.html
What are you favourite John Updike short stories? His biographer chooses ten, "the best of the great American author's short fiction, 'the chief glory' of his prolific work", here:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/07/top-10-john-updike-short-stories
Roxane Gay's debut novel, An Untamed State, is told like a fairy tale, with a "complex and fragile moral arrived at through great pain and high cost." Taking place in Haiti, it is the story of an American-born heiress to a Haitian construction magnate, who is kidnapped for thirteen days.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/books/review/an-untamed-state-by-roxane-gay.html
Speaking of fairy tales, the title of Michael Cunningham's new novel, The Snow Queen, is "lifted straight from Hans Christian Andersen". Though the tale is grounded in reality, Cunningham "also plunders the fairy tale for a sharp little snow crystal that blows into Barrett's brother's eye that morning, blearing his vision" (the book begins with morning snow blowing into a bedroom window.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/books/review/the-snow-queen-by-michael-cunningham.html
If you're planning on getting some sleep anytime soon, you might not want to read Anthony Doerr's new novel, All the Light We Cannot See. "Told mostly in the present tense, in short and usually pointed chapters, the story moves briskly and efficiently toward its climactic encounter during the Allied bombing of St.-Malo, France, a couple of months after D-Day."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/books/review/all-the-light-we-cannot-see-by-anthony-doerr.html
Eva Stachniak's new book, The Empress of the Night, is about "power, betrayal and love in the court of Catherine the Great." She discusses her new book, her favourite sentences in literature, the best advice she's ever received, and more, here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/author-eva-stachniaks-advice-for-writing-write-books-you-would-love-to-read/article18586979/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
MOTHER TONGUE
Two of Canada's finest poets, Lorna Crozier and Erín Moure, lend their work to choreographer and director Conrad Alexandrowicz, whose Wild Excursions Performance presents two works of physical theatre for actors, dancers and musicians. May 14-18, 2014. Tickets: $20 plus service charges. Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie Street. More information at wildexcursions.ca.
POETRY AND THE MYSTICAL MUSE
Poets Susan McCaslin and Lee Johnson reading from their new volumes of poetry, The Disarmed Heart and Poetria Nova, Thurs. May 15, 7-9 pm, the Wired Monk Cafe, 2610 W. 4th Ave., sponsored by the Thomas Merton Society of Canada. http://www.merton.ca/.
SKAGIT RIVER POETRY FESTIVAL
A celebration of poetry featuring readings, workshops, and storytelling. Access to internationally famous poets through intimate venues and workshop sessions. May 15-18, 2014. Various venues throughout La Conner, WA. More information at www.skagitriverpoetry.org.
CANADIAN WRITING CONFERENCE
The CCWWP (Canadian Creative Writers & Writing Programs) presents readings from three fantastic writers on the UBC Campus as part of their biennial Canadian Writing Conference. Readings and conversations with: Joseph Boyden, Amy Bloom and Lisa Moore. May 15-17, 2014. Frederic Wood Theatre, 6354 Crescent Rd., UBC. Tickets (free) can be reserved at: http://www.eventbrite.ca/o/canadian-creative-writers-amp-writing-programs-6505823193.
TREASURES OF LIGHT & DARKNESS
Author reveals her book first book of poetry, Treasures of Light & Darkness. Copies of the book will be availale for purchase for $20. Saturday, May 17 at 10:00am, free. Tommy Douglas branch, Burnaby Public Library, 7311 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at bpl.bc.ca.
125 POETRY READINGS
Stop #95 in Kevin Spenst's Small Books, Big Country, a chapbook tour of Canada. Saturday, May 17 at 2:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St. More information at vpl.ca.
A COLLABORATION OF POETRY AND THE VISUAL ARTS IN FORT LANGLEY
Poets Susan McCaslin and Lee Johnson reading from their new works in collaboration with visual artists Susan J. Falk and Kristin Krimmel, Sat. May 17, 7-9 pm, The Fort Gallery, 9048 Glover road, Fort Langley, BC., free, refreshments. http://www.fortgallery.ca/artists-events.html
Upcoming
ANN ERIKSSON
Author reads from her new novel High Clear Bell of Morning. Also featuring Garry Geddes reading from his new book of selected poems, What Does a House Want?. Tuesday, May 20 at 7:00pm, free. Capilano Branch, North Vancouver Library, 3045 Highland Blvd., North Vancouver. More information at 604-987-4471.
SPOKEN INK
Bowen Island poet Jude Neale is the featured author. Tuesday, May 20 at 8:00pm. La Fontana Caffe, 101-3701 East Hastings, Burnaby.
LUNCH POEMS AT SFU
Readings by Phinder Dulai and Kim Minkus. Wednesday, May 21 at 12:00 noon. Teck Gallery, Main floor, SFU Vancouver Harbour Center, 515 W. Hastings. More information at sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems.
FAUJI BANTA SINGH
Hear riveting stories from the heart of the Vancouver Sikh experience as author Sadhu Binning reads from his new book. Thursday, May 22 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
MEET THE AUTHOR: GEORGE BOWERING
George Bowering discuses his memoir Pinboy. Thursday, May 22 at 7:00pm. 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.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Linda King and Sue Cormier with open mic. Thursday, May 22, 7–9:30pm, at The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. Suggested donation at the door: $5. Sign up for open mic at 7pm. More information at
www.pandorascollective.com.
SURREY INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL
Three days of professional local, national and international performing and visual artists. May 22-24, 2014. Surrey Arts Centre and Bear Creek Park. More information at www.surrey.ca/childrensfestival.
D.B. CAREW
Local author signs his debut novel The Killer Trail. Friday, May 23 at 4:00pm. Black Bond Books, Haney PLace Mall, Maple Ridge. More information at blackbondbooks.com.
HEARTBREAKING WORKS OF STAGGERING. AND GENIUS
Join authors Trevor Clark, C.P. Boyko, Andrea Routley and Brett Josef Grubisic as they share from new works that explore the strange geographies of the human condition. Saturday, May 24 at 1:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
MOIRA YOUNG
Author introduces her latest book, Raging Star, the much-anticipated, thrilling conclusion to the Dust Lands trilogy. Saturday, May 24 at 2:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
POETIC JUSTICE
Reading by poets Russell Thornton, Susan McCaslin, and Lee Johnson. Sunday, May 25 at 3:00pm. Renaissance Bookstore, 43 Sixth Street, New Westminster. More information at poeticjustice.ca.
PLACES BEYOND
An evening of poetry, music and dance featuring poets Jude Neale and Daniela Elza, musicians Jared Burrows (Guitar), Clyde Reed (Bass) and Chris Corrigan (Celtic Flute) and dance by Su-Lin Tseng. Sunday, May 25th, 7pm, Presentation House Gallery, 333 Chesterfield Ave., North Vancouver. Tickets $20.
GOLD MAD
A gripping historical thriller told by former geologist and gold prospector Michael Maser. Wednesday, May 28 at 7:00pm. Welsh Hall West, West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
SHORT SUITES READING SERIES
Sample new and forthcoming work from Brett Josef Grubisic, Janine Alyson Young, Grant Buday, Chelsea Rooney, and hosted by Dina Del Bucchia. Wednesday, May 28 at 8:00pm, free. Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at anvilpress.com.
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