BOOK NEWS
2013 Festival Tickets
The 2013 Vancouver Writers Fest ticket sales start Sept 9 (Sept 3 to members). Festival program guides are now available at bookstores, cafes and library branches around Vancouver. Complete Festival details including a downloadable PDF of the guide are available online at writersfest.bc.ca. You'll find an outstanding lineup of great writers from Canada and around the world in events for readers of all ages, including several non-fiction events on Granville Island and at UBC's Frederic Wood Theatre. We are especially thrilled to present two titans of Canadian theatre—Cree playwright and novelist Tomson Highway on stage with Québécois legend Michel Tremblay, in conversation with Bill Richardson. The Festival finale event at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage features the brilliant improv comedian Colin Mochrie in his first appearance at our festival.
Tickets will be on sale September 3 for members, September 9 for the general public. If you'd like to become a member ($35 for one year, two years for $60) and receive great benefits, please visit our website:
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/get-involved/joinus
VWF Writing Contests for Adults and Youth
Submit your finest prose and poetry to the 15th annual Vancouver Writers Fest Poetry & Short Story Contest. The top entries in poetry and fiction will be published in subTerrain magazine and receive cash prizes. New this year is our writing contest for BC students in grades 8-12 which also awards cash prizes.
Volunteer Registration for our 2013 festival is now open!
Information about volunteer jobs and benefits and how to register is posted on our website, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/volunteers/volunteers_needed.htm. We welcome new volunteers on a first-come first-served basis, after our returning volunteers are assigned and scheduled. We have about a 2/3 return rate, so the more availability and flexibility new volunteers have, the more likely they are to be assigned and scheduled. Please join us, it's a great way to have a insider's Festival experience!
Brenda Berck passes baton
After many years of tirelessly beating the bushes for book-related news every week, Brenda Berck is handing over Book News to Ellen Johnston. Thank you Brenda!
SPECIAL EVENTS
J.B. MacKinnon
The independent journalist and award-winning author of The 100-Mile Diet talks about his new book, The Once and Future World, providing an eye-opening account of nature as it was, as it is and as it could be. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jbmackinnon.
SPECIAL FOR BOOK CLUBS! $16 per person, minimum of 5 people, book by phone only at 604-629-8849.
Thursday, October 3 at 7:30pm
Frederic Wood Theatre
6354 Crescent Road, UBC
David Sedaris
The renowned NPR humorist comes to Vancouver's Chan Centre for an evening of cutting wit, social satire, riveting conversation and post-event book signing with his recent New York Times' bestseller release Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/davidsedaris.
SPECIAL WRITERS FEST OFFER! Use the code "VWF" to get $5 off your ticket.
Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30pm
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
6265 Crescent Road, UBC
AWARDS & LISTS
Here's the longlist for the Not the Booker prize. Vote for the shortlist from now until Wednesday, September 4.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/aug/05/not-the-booker-prize-longlist-shortlist
YOUNG READERS
Dahlia Sherman never wanted to go to Camp Arara, but longed to go to magic camp so she could learn new tricks. Ari Goelman's The Path of Names has vivid characters, plenty of suspense, some deeply creepy moments, and you don't have to be Jewish to follow the story, says Bernie Goedhart. For ages 10 and up.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Books+kids+Path+Names+Goelman/8773527/story.html
Michael Morpurgo's Shadow is a very touching story of a child, Aman, and his mother, who live in Afghanistan and suffered to get to England with their brave companion, an English Springer spaniel.
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/aug/26/review-shadow-michael-morpurgo
This year, publisher Tundra Books has added five more titles to the series: It's Not About the Ball!, It's Not About the Tiny Girl!, It's Not About the Diamonds!, It's Not About the Straw! and It's Not About the Beanstalk! Each of these paperbacks offer three versions of the tale. Ages 5 to 8.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/kids+from+Dick+Jane/8683693/story.html
NEWS & FEATURES
Elmore Leonard's son Peter plans to finish his late father's final book, Blue Dreams.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2013/08/catcher-in-the-rye-sequel-posthumous-jd-salinger-works-to-be-published-ap.html
Elmore Leonard's influence as a great American stylist extended beyond the boundaries of crime writing, writes Laura Miller. Even people who don't read crime fiction have felt Leonard's legacy, from the films of Quentin Tarantino to the novels of David Foster Wallace.
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/20/why_elmore_leonard_matters/
The British group Reprieve has accused authorities at Guantánamo Bay of blocking the delivery of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago to Aamer, a 44-year-old from Saudi Arabia, still left at the camp since 2002, even though cleared for release in 2007.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2013/08/21/shaker_aamer_lawyers_for_the_guantanamo_detainee_he_s_not_allowed_to_read.html
The authors of a new J.D. Salinger biography claim they have cracked one of publishing's greatest mysteries: what The Catcher in the Rye novelist was working on during the last half century of his life.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/feedarticle/10945152
A Quebec National Assembly committee is studying a proposal to prevent bookstores from selling new books at a discount. Writers, publishers and arts personalities are pushing for the measure as the only way to save independent bookstores, but critics say the proposal is both futile and would kill book sales.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Quebec+considers+fixing+prices+books+protect+small/8813061/story.html
Archeologists have unearthed charred remains of books from Canada's pre-Confederation parliament in Montreal.
http://www.theprovince.com/life/Archeologists+unearth+charred+remains+books+from+Canada+Confederation+parliament+Montreal/8835552/story.html
Margaret Atwood talks to Emma Brockes about zombies, bees–and why she had to finish her latest novel, MaddAddam, on a train.
http://www.theguardian.com/books
When downtown Lac-Megantic was destroyed in the deadly July 6 oil train derailment, the town also lost its library. An entire collection, estimated at 60,000 items, was lost, the only books that were saved were those that had been signed out by patrons. As Lac-Megantic's sister city since 1991, Farmington, Maine responded with firefighters and set up a fund to help the town rebuild.
http://www.sunjournal.com/news/franklin/2013/08/26/libraries-raise-funds-help-build-lac-megantic-libr/1412315
Designs for the replacement of the Iraq National Library will be put out to tender in September, ten years after the original was looted. An estimated 60% of archival materials–including records of the Ba'athist regime–and 25% of books, newspapers, rare books, historical photographs and maps were destroyed.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/22/baghdad-library-architects-design-tender
Chinese subway riders using Shanghai's Metro Line 2 will soon have their very own unofficial library. Pick up a book at one station, drop it off at any other. "Now you can read a real book, rather than staring at the cellphone through the metro ride," said Zou Shuxian, an Aizhi bookstore spokesperson.
http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-shanghai-metro-library-20130826,0,2592726.story
Plans are afoot to release a series of posthumous books by J.D. Salinger after 2015. One of the books would revolve around Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye. Other unreleased writing is believed to feature new stories about such famous Salinger characters as Franny and Zooey Glass.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2013/08/catcher-in-the-rye-sequel-posthumous-jd-salinger-works-to-be-published-ap.html
The 3rd Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest has been extended to September 30! Information re: entries can be found here:
http://www.geist.com/contests/erasure/erasure/
There are only two days left to enter the Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition, which offers both existing and aspiring writers the chance to showcase their work to a wider, international audience. For more information, visit www.aestheticamagazine.com/creativewriting.
BOOKS & WRITERS
Joe Wiebe reviews, and recommends, four spy stories: Philip Kerr's A Man Without Breath, Donald Downing's Masaryk Station, Joseph Kanon's Istanbul Passage, and John Le Carré's A Delicate Truth.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Edge+your+seat+reading/8829119/story.html
Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, first published in 1967, is a novel set in a bygone era of Colombian history without much technology to speak of. Now the book itself will enter the digital age and will soon be available as an e-book, from Blackstone Audio.
http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-four-gabriel-garcia-marquez-novels-become-audiobooks-20130826,0,1060176.story
It's a rare book or movie that doesn't glorify war and its combatants. How unlike the men journalist Charles Glass writes about in The Deserters, says Georgie Binks.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/08/23/the_deserters_by_charles_glass_review.html
In MaddAddam, the final novel in Atwood's trilogy that included Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood, Atwood spins the plot as elegantly as a tapestry, writes Jennifer Hunter. MaddAddam is, consequently, the most complex of her three novels about the devastation of life on Earth and the surprising rebirth that follows.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/08/27/maddaddam_by_margaret_atwood_review.html#
Ten authors you have to read if you are a Canadian student: Alice Munro, Michael Ondaatje, Margaret Atwood, Thomas King, Robert Kroetsch, Margaret Laurence, Stephen Leacock, Mordecai Richler, Eden Robinson, and Sinclair Ross.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/08/23/ten-authors-you-have-to-read-if-youre-a-canadian-student/
COMMUNITY EVENTS
CARMEN RODRIGUEZ AND CARMEN AGUIRRE
In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the military coup in Chile, the mother and daughter read from their books and discuss past and current events in Chile. Wednesday, September 11 at 6:30pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, Central Branch, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features Stephen Collis and David King with open mic. Wednesday, September 11 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
THE WOMEN OF OPENING DOORS IN VANCOUVER
Poet Daphne Marlatt and artist Carole Itter recall experiences and memories of the diverse women interviewed in the 1970s for their book. They will be joined by historian James Johnstone. Thursday, September 12 at 7:00pm, free. City of Vancouver Archives, 1150 Chestnut.
EMERGE 2013 FUNDRAISER
A night of incredible talent all in support of this year's emerge anthology that features work by all 36 writers of the Writer's Studio at SFU. Readings by Betsy Warland, Wayde Compton, Jen Currin and a special reading by the emerge publisher, Andrew Chesham, with musical guests Leanne Dunic and Ryan Ogg of Luck Commander. Thursday, September 12. Entrance by donation (suggested $15) so arrive early to ensure entry. Max 75 people. Calabash Bistro, 428 Carrall Street.
TO TIMBUKTU FOR A HAIRCUT
President and CEO of Tourism Vancouver Rick Antonson will regale you with tales of his epic journey by train, boat, four-wheel drive, camel and on foot. Monday, September 16 at 7:00pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
RAWI HAGE
Inaugural reading by VPLs 2013 Writer in Residence, award-winning Canadian author. Tuesday, September 17 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at vpl.ca.
SPOKEN INK READING SERIES
Features guest reader Daniela Elza with open mic. Tuesday, September 17 at 8:00pm. La Fontana Caffe, 101-3701 East Hastings Street (at Boundary Rd). More information at burnabywritersnews.blogspot.ca.
Upcoming
SMALLPOX AND THE TSILHQOT'IN WAR
Author Tom Swanky shows who, where, when, why and how smallpox featured in the Tsilhqot'in War, a pivotal event in B.C.'s history. Wednesday, September 18 at 7:00pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
HAPA-PALOOZA
In a talk on hybridity, identity, and creativity, Canadian poet laureate Fred Wah, author Yasuko Thanh, author David Chariandy, and UBC English prof Glenn Deer explore mixed cultural upbringing and its influence on creative work. Wednesday, September 18 at 7:00pm, free. Alice MacKay room, Central Branch, VPL, 350 W. Georgia Street. More information at 604-331-3603.
BOOK LAUNCH
Poet Bonnie Nish will launch her collection Love and Bones. Friday, September 20 at 7:00pm. St. Mark's Church, 1805 Larch S. Vancouver. For more information, contact blnish_pandoras@yahoo.ca.
ALLY CARTER
Author celebrates the release of the final book in the Gallagher Girls' series, United We Spy. Saturday, September 21 at 2:00pm. Chapters Granville, 2505 Granville Street.
THE MAYAN MYSTERIES
Sharon MacGougan will talk about her novel, The Mayan Mysteries. The real-life ancient mystery of the disappearance of the Mayan people converges with the inner transformation of a fifteen-year-old girl in this adventure story. Wednesday, September 25 at 7:30pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Celeste Snowber and Carl Leggo with open mic in collaboration with Word Vancouver. Thursday, September 26 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
VANCOUVER BOOK FAIR
The Vancouver Book Fair is the only antiquarian, collectible and rare book fair in Western Canada. A wide selection of exciting & unusual books, ephemera, maps, photographs & much more will be on offer at the fair. September 28-29, 2013. UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Vancouver. Complete information at www.vancouverbookfair.com.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Book News Vol. 8 No. 28
BOOK NEWS
2013 Festival
The 2013 Vancouver Writers Fest program guides are now available at bookstores, cafes and library branches around Vancouver. Complete Festival details including a downloadable PDF of the guide are available online at writersfest.bc.ca. You'll find 81 events-interviews, discussions, readings and performances-for readers of all interests, with 100 writers from around the world including Margaret Atwood, Joseph Boyden, Anne Carson, Michael Crummey, Sarah Dunant, Tomson Highway, Wayne Johnston, Rachel Kushner, Anne Michaels, Colin Mochrie, Lisa Moore, George Packer, Michel Tremblay, Scott Turow and many more. Please join us and experience our 26th annual celebration of exceptional writers and passionate readers.
Tickets will be on sale September 3 for members, September 9 for the general public. If you'd like to become a member ($35 for one year, two years for $60) and receive great benefits, please visit our website:
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/get-involved/joinus
VWF Poetry and Short Fiction Contest
Submit your finest prose and poetry to the 15th annual Vancouver Writers Fest Poetry & Short Story Contest. The top entries in poetry and fiction will be published in subTerrain magazine and receive cash prizes. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/writingcontest
SPECIAL EVENTS
J.B. MacKinnon
The independent journalist and award-winning author of The 100-Mile Diet talks about his new book, The Once and Future World, providing an eye-opening account of nature as it was, as it is and as it could be. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jbmackinnon.
SPECIAL FOR BOOK CLUBS! $16 per person, minimum of 5 people, book by phone only at 604-629-8849.
Thursday, October 3 at 7:30pm
Frederic Wood Theatre
6354 Crescent Road, UBC
David Sedaris
The renowned NPR humorist comes to Vancouver's Chan Centre for an evening of cutting wit, social satire, riveting conversation and post-event book signing with his recent New York Times' bestseller release Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/davidsedaris.
SPECIAL WRITERS FEST OFFER! Use the code "VWF" to get $5 off your ticket.
Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30pm
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
6265 Crescent Road, UBC
AWARDS & LISTS
Rawi Hage is the Vancouver Public Library's new writer in residence. The Montreal-based visual artist, photographer and award-winning author of three novels began his four-month tenure at the library this week, working with young writers at a camp.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Rawi+Hage+named+writer+residence+Vancouver+library/8791482/story.html
Frank Cottrell Boyce, last year's Guardian children's fiction prize winner, announced this year's shortlist at the Edinburgh International Festival. These include American authors John Green (The Fault in Our Stars) and Rebecca Stead (Liar & Spy), British author David Almond (The Boy Who Swam With Piranhas) and Katherine Rundell (Rooftoppers).
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/11/guardian-childrens-fiction-prize-2013-shortlist
A sprawling novel by Sergio de la Pava, about a Manhattan public defence lawyer that was originally self-published after failing to impress mainstream publishers, has scooped the $25,000 (£16,000) PEN/Robert W Bingham prize for debut fiction.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/a-naked-singularity-from-self-published-to-pen-award
A diverse group of finalists are contenders for the 39th Toronto Book Awards, which honours books of "literary or artistic merit that are evocative of Toronto." Presented by the City of Toronto and the Toronto Public Library, this year's list includes two novels, a memoir, and collections of photography and poetry.
http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/awards/toronto-book-awards-finalists-announced
Neil Gaiman leads the Not the Booker prize shortlist. "I'm thrilled to be on the list", says Gaiman "and, I suspect, much happier than if I were nominated for an actual Booker."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/aug/15/neil-gaiman-2013-not-booker-prize-shortlist
John Green is arguably the most popular young adult author in America today—three of the 10 spots on the current Y.A. list belong to his books, including the sweetly tragicomic cancer novel The Fault in Our Stars, at number 1 after 37 weeks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/books/review/inside-the-list.html
YOUNG READERS
Tom Pitzhugh is bored with his life. The 12-year-old in the short story by Avi "Bored Tom" isn't interested in school or sports. After he takes in Charley, Tom must then decide if a cat's life would be better than his own. Ages 10 to 12.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/2013/08/06/2f4c55d6-f498-11e2-a2f1-a7acf9bd5d3a_story.html
Duncan wants to draw, but instead, he finds a stack of letters listing the crayons' demands. In The Day the Crayons Quit, author Drew Daywait explains that Red is overworked, Gray is exhausted and Black wants to be considered a colour-in colour. Some colours are tired, others underutilized, and a few want official titles. Ages 3 to 7.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/drew-daywalt/day-crayons-quit/
NEWS & FEATURES
Crime novelist Elmore Leonard, whose louche characters, deadpan dialogue and immaculate prose style in Get Shorty, Freaky Deaky and Glitz established him as a modern master of American genre writing, died on Tuesday at his home at 87.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/21/books/elmore-leonard-master-of-crime-fiction-dies-at-87.html
Sales of Orwell's 1984 on Amazon increased by 6,021 per cent in a single day following Edward Snowden's recent NSA revelations, The New York Review of Books notes. The parallels between our own ostensibly liberal, democratic societies and Orwell's Oceania are stark.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/joe-bilsborough/snowden-fallout
Sweden's crime writers are too interested in love, says Maj Sjöwall, renowned as the architect of the modern Scandinavian crime thriller.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/14/sweden-crime-writers-interested-love
The English translation of Japanese writer Haruki Murakami's newest book won't be out until 2014, but it has inspired frenzied coverage in Japan, where it became the "fastest-selling book ever on Amazon Japan."
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/08/16/212529718/book-news-english-translation-of-new-murakami-novel-expected-in-2014
All 883 of Barbara Cartland's novels, including 57 previously unseen works, are to be published as a result of a new distribution agreement. The collection includes 160 manuscripts the prolific romance novelist left behind when she died 13 years ago.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23691203
A man using the British Library's wi-fi network was denied access to an online version of Shakespeare's Hamlet because the text contained "violent content". Author Mark Forsyth was writing his book in the library, and needed to check a line from the famous play.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23680689
Linwood Barclay's crime thrillers have sold five million copies and won him critical acclaim worldwide, yet he's still not a household name in Canada. A Tap on the Window, his newest novel, hit bookstores last week and a movie deal for his novel Trust Your Eyes was recently picked up by Warner Bros. for seven figures.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/08/14/linwood-barclay-video-national.html
As Inspector Wexford returns, Ruth Rendell talks about politics, her influences and the secret to keeping the reader intrigued. 'Withholding information from the reader should be part of any story', she says, in an interview with Vanessa Thorpe.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/18/meet-author-ruth-rendell-wexford
The inspiration for 21-year-old Samantha Shannon's The Bone Season, the ambitious first novel in a projected seven-part series to be published by Bloomsbury, came from an internship with literary agent David Godwin the
summer after her first year at Oxford.
http://www.vulture.com/2013/08/novelist-samantha-shannon-on-the-bone-season.html
The 3rd Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest is now underway! Information re: entries can be found here:
http://www.geist.com/contests/erasure/erasure/
There's only one week left to enter the Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition, which offers both existing and aspiring writers the chance to showcase their work to a wider, international audience. For more information, visit www.aestheticamagazine.com/creativewriting.
BOOKS & WRITERS
Rawi Hage‘s Carnival is a tale of a taxi driver's nocturnal meanderings, showing lyricism, compassion and great human spirit, says Edward Docx.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/03/carnival-rawi-hage-review-docx
Jimmy Rabbitte has pretty good cause for his mid-life crises in Roddy Doyle's The Guts. His online business dedicated to the revival of old Irish punk bands has seen modest success, but now Jimmy's forced to traffic in bogus Celtic-rock bombast.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Book+review+Guts+Roddy+Doyle/8773523/story.html
Mary Novik's MUSE takes us to the Avignon Papacy and the fiery love poetry of 14th-century writer Francesco Petrarch, while Solange trains for a future as a scribe.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Muse+Mary+Novik+Love+poetry+labour+lost/8806905/story.html
Are fewer women reaching the top in publishing in the digital age? 2012 Festival Author Kate Mosse discusses the role of women in publishing on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour. Listen online.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b038c0dp
COMMUNITY EVENTS
JANI KRULC, GILLIAN SAVIGNY, AND RAY HSU
An evening of hot literature and cool company in Vancouver. Hosted by Dina del Bucchia. Thursday, August 22 at 7:30pm, free. Pulp Fiction Books, 2422 Main Street.
PANDORA'S LITERARY AWARDS
Sean Cranbury hosts an awards gala with a musical performance by M'Girl and harpist Amanda Hartley, as well as award presenters Wayde Compton, Evelyn Lau, Steven R. Duncan, Dennis E. Bolen, and Jillian Christmas. This event kicks off the 10th annual Summer Dreams Literary Arts Festival. Friday, August 23 at 7:30pm, free. CBC Studio 700, 700 Hamilton Street, Vancouver.
KELLEY ARMSTRONG
Author launches a new adult series set in Cainsville with the first book in the series, Omens. Followed by a talk, Q&A and book signing. Monday, August 26 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. Complete information at 604-431-0463.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth poetry slam featuring Cathy Petch from Toronto. Monday, August 26 at 8:00pm. Cost: $4/$6. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
EMERGE 2013 FUNDRAISER
A night of incredible talent all in support of this year's emerge anthology that features work by all 36 writers of the Writer's Studio at SFU. Readings by Betsy Warland, Wayde Compton, Jen Currin and a special reading by the emerge publisher, Andrew Chesham, with musical guests Leanne Dunic and Ryan Ogg of Luck Commander. Thursday, September 12. Entrance by donation (suggested $15) so arrive early to ensure entry. Max 75 people. Calabash Bistro, 428 Carrall Street.
TO TIMBUKTU FOR A HAIRCUT
President and CEO of Tourism Vancouver Rick Antonson will regale you with tales of his epic journey by train, boat, four-wheel drive, camel and on foot. Monday, September 16 at 7:00pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
SMALLPOX AND THE TSILHQOT'IN WAR
Author Tom Swanky shows who, where, when, why and how smallpox featured in the Tsilhqot'in War, a pivotal event in B.C.'s history. Wednesday, September 18 at 7:00pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
Upcoming
THE MAYAN MYSTERIES
Sharon MacGougan will talk about her novel, The Mayan Mysteries. The real-life ancient mystery of the disappearance of the Mayan people converges with the inner transformation of a fifteen-year-old girl in this adventure story. Wednesday, September 25 at 7:30pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
VANCOUVER BOOK FAIR
The Vancouver Book Fair is the only antiquarian, collectible and rare book fair in Western Canada. A wide selection of exciting & unusual books, ephemera, maps, photographs & much more will be on offer at the fair. September 28-29, 2013. UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Vancouver. Complete information at www.vancouverbookfair.com.
NICHOLAS SPARKS
The bestselling author of blockbuster books and films such as Safe Haven, The Lucky One and The Notebook signs his new novel, The Longest Ride. Wednesday, October 2 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
SIDNEY LITERARY FESTIVAL
Sidney will host 14 award-winning local authors whose genres cover mystery, war, children's literature, poetry, short story whimsy and local life. October 4-6, 2013. Sidney, BC. Complete information at www.sidneyliteraryfestival.com.
SO WHERE DO YOU GO AT NIGHT?
Author, sailor and adventurer Patrick Hill will share adventure stories from his 14 month family sailing trip through the exotic islands of the South Seas, Hawaii and Glacier Bay. Wednesday, October 30 at 7:30pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
DAVID ZIEROTH
The Governor General Award-winning poet and author will read from The November Optimist and talk about working with Gaspereau Press and about his own initiative, The Alfred Gustav Press. Wednesday, November 20 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
F.G. BRESSANI LITERARY PRIZE
IL CENTRO Italian Cultural Centre is thrilled to announce the publication of the Rules & Regulations for the 2014 Edition of the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize. The literary prize honours and promotes the work of Canadian writers of Italian origin or Italian descent. Deadline: April 2, 2014. Complete details can be found here: http://italianculturalcentre.ca/blog/bressani-literary-prize/.
2013 Festival
The 2013 Vancouver Writers Fest program guides are now available at bookstores, cafes and library branches around Vancouver. Complete Festival details including a downloadable PDF of the guide are available online at writersfest.bc.ca. You'll find 81 events-interviews, discussions, readings and performances-for readers of all interests, with 100 writers from around the world including Margaret Atwood, Joseph Boyden, Anne Carson, Michael Crummey, Sarah Dunant, Tomson Highway, Wayne Johnston, Rachel Kushner, Anne Michaels, Colin Mochrie, Lisa Moore, George Packer, Michel Tremblay, Scott Turow and many more. Please join us and experience our 26th annual celebration of exceptional writers and passionate readers.
Tickets will be on sale September 3 for members, September 9 for the general public. If you'd like to become a member ($35 for one year, two years for $60) and receive great benefits, please visit our website:
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/get-involved/joinus
VWF Poetry and Short Fiction Contest
Submit your finest prose and poetry to the 15th annual Vancouver Writers Fest Poetry & Short Story Contest. The top entries in poetry and fiction will be published in subTerrain magazine and receive cash prizes. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/writingcontest
SPECIAL EVENTS
J.B. MacKinnon
The independent journalist and award-winning author of The 100-Mile Diet talks about his new book, The Once and Future World, providing an eye-opening account of nature as it was, as it is and as it could be. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jbmackinnon.
SPECIAL FOR BOOK CLUBS! $16 per person, minimum of 5 people, book by phone only at 604-629-8849.
Thursday, October 3 at 7:30pm
Frederic Wood Theatre
6354 Crescent Road, UBC
David Sedaris
The renowned NPR humorist comes to Vancouver's Chan Centre for an evening of cutting wit, social satire, riveting conversation and post-event book signing with his recent New York Times' bestseller release Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/davidsedaris.
SPECIAL WRITERS FEST OFFER! Use the code "VWF" to get $5 off your ticket.
Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30pm
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
6265 Crescent Road, UBC
AWARDS & LISTS
Rawi Hage is the Vancouver Public Library's new writer in residence. The Montreal-based visual artist, photographer and award-winning author of three novels began his four-month tenure at the library this week, working with young writers at a camp.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Rawi+Hage+named+writer+residence+Vancouver+library/8791482/story.html
Frank Cottrell Boyce, last year's Guardian children's fiction prize winner, announced this year's shortlist at the Edinburgh International Festival. These include American authors John Green (The Fault in Our Stars) and Rebecca Stead (Liar & Spy), British author David Almond (The Boy Who Swam With Piranhas) and Katherine Rundell (Rooftoppers).
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/11/guardian-childrens-fiction-prize-2013-shortlist
A sprawling novel by Sergio de la Pava, about a Manhattan public defence lawyer that was originally self-published after failing to impress mainstream publishers, has scooped the $25,000 (£16,000) PEN/Robert W Bingham prize for debut fiction.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/a-naked-singularity-from-self-published-to-pen-award
A diverse group of finalists are contenders for the 39th Toronto Book Awards, which honours books of "literary or artistic merit that are evocative of Toronto." Presented by the City of Toronto and the Toronto Public Library, this year's list includes two novels, a memoir, and collections of photography and poetry.
http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/awards/toronto-book-awards-finalists-announced
Neil Gaiman leads the Not the Booker prize shortlist. "I'm thrilled to be on the list", says Gaiman "and, I suspect, much happier than if I were nominated for an actual Booker."
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/aug/15/neil-gaiman-2013-not-booker-prize-shortlist
John Green is arguably the most popular young adult author in America today—three of the 10 spots on the current Y.A. list belong to his books, including the sweetly tragicomic cancer novel The Fault in Our Stars, at number 1 after 37 weeks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/books/review/inside-the-list.html
YOUNG READERS
Tom Pitzhugh is bored with his life. The 12-year-old in the short story by Avi "Bored Tom" isn't interested in school or sports. After he takes in Charley, Tom must then decide if a cat's life would be better than his own. Ages 10 to 12.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/2013/08/06/2f4c55d6-f498-11e2-a2f1-a7acf9bd5d3a_story.html
Duncan wants to draw, but instead, he finds a stack of letters listing the crayons' demands. In The Day the Crayons Quit, author Drew Daywait explains that Red is overworked, Gray is exhausted and Black wants to be considered a colour-in colour. Some colours are tired, others underutilized, and a few want official titles. Ages 3 to 7.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/drew-daywalt/day-crayons-quit/
NEWS & FEATURES
Crime novelist Elmore Leonard, whose louche characters, deadpan dialogue and immaculate prose style in Get Shorty, Freaky Deaky and Glitz established him as a modern master of American genre writing, died on Tuesday at his home at 87.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/21/books/elmore-leonard-master-of-crime-fiction-dies-at-87.html
Sales of Orwell's 1984 on Amazon increased by 6,021 per cent in a single day following Edward Snowden's recent NSA revelations, The New York Review of Books notes. The parallels between our own ostensibly liberal, democratic societies and Orwell's Oceania are stark.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/joe-bilsborough/snowden-fallout
Sweden's crime writers are too interested in love, says Maj Sjöwall, renowned as the architect of the modern Scandinavian crime thriller.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/14/sweden-crime-writers-interested-love
The English translation of Japanese writer Haruki Murakami's newest book won't be out until 2014, but it has inspired frenzied coverage in Japan, where it became the "fastest-selling book ever on Amazon Japan."
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/08/16/212529718/book-news-english-translation-of-new-murakami-novel-expected-in-2014
All 883 of Barbara Cartland's novels, including 57 previously unseen works, are to be published as a result of a new distribution agreement. The collection includes 160 manuscripts the prolific romance novelist left behind when she died 13 years ago.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23691203
A man using the British Library's wi-fi network was denied access to an online version of Shakespeare's Hamlet because the text contained "violent content". Author Mark Forsyth was writing his book in the library, and needed to check a line from the famous play.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23680689
Linwood Barclay's crime thrillers have sold five million copies and won him critical acclaim worldwide, yet he's still not a household name in Canada. A Tap on the Window, his newest novel, hit bookstores last week and a movie deal for his novel Trust Your Eyes was recently picked up by Warner Bros. for seven figures.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/08/14/linwood-barclay-video-national.html
As Inspector Wexford returns, Ruth Rendell talks about politics, her influences and the secret to keeping the reader intrigued. 'Withholding information from the reader should be part of any story', she says, in an interview with Vanessa Thorpe.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/18/meet-author-ruth-rendell-wexford
The inspiration for 21-year-old Samantha Shannon's The Bone Season, the ambitious first novel in a projected seven-part series to be published by Bloomsbury, came from an internship with literary agent David Godwin the
summer after her first year at Oxford.
http://www.vulture.com/2013/08/novelist-samantha-shannon-on-the-bone-season.html
The 3rd Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest is now underway! Information re: entries can be found here:
http://www.geist.com/contests/erasure/erasure/
There's only one week left to enter the Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition, which offers both existing and aspiring writers the chance to showcase their work to a wider, international audience. For more information, visit www.aestheticamagazine.com/creativewriting.
BOOKS & WRITERS
Rawi Hage‘s Carnival is a tale of a taxi driver's nocturnal meanderings, showing lyricism, compassion and great human spirit, says Edward Docx.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/03/carnival-rawi-hage-review-docx
Jimmy Rabbitte has pretty good cause for his mid-life crises in Roddy Doyle's The Guts. His online business dedicated to the revival of old Irish punk bands has seen modest success, but now Jimmy's forced to traffic in bogus Celtic-rock bombast.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Book+review+Guts+Roddy+Doyle/8773523/story.html
Mary Novik's MUSE takes us to the Avignon Papacy and the fiery love poetry of 14th-century writer Francesco Petrarch, while Solange trains for a future as a scribe.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Muse+Mary+Novik+Love+poetry+labour+lost/8806905/story.html
Are fewer women reaching the top in publishing in the digital age? 2012 Festival Author Kate Mosse discusses the role of women in publishing on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour. Listen online.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b038c0dp
COMMUNITY EVENTS
JANI KRULC, GILLIAN SAVIGNY, AND RAY HSU
An evening of hot literature and cool company in Vancouver. Hosted by Dina del Bucchia. Thursday, August 22 at 7:30pm, free. Pulp Fiction Books, 2422 Main Street.
PANDORA'S LITERARY AWARDS
Sean Cranbury hosts an awards gala with a musical performance by M'Girl and harpist Amanda Hartley, as well as award presenters Wayde Compton, Evelyn Lau, Steven R. Duncan, Dennis E. Bolen, and Jillian Christmas. This event kicks off the 10th annual Summer Dreams Literary Arts Festival. Friday, August 23 at 7:30pm, free. CBC Studio 700, 700 Hamilton Street, Vancouver.
KELLEY ARMSTRONG
Author launches a new adult series set in Cainsville with the first book in the series, Omens. Followed by a talk, Q&A and book signing. Monday, August 26 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. Complete information at 604-431-0463.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth poetry slam featuring Cathy Petch from Toronto. Monday, August 26 at 8:00pm. Cost: $4/$6. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
EMERGE 2013 FUNDRAISER
A night of incredible talent all in support of this year's emerge anthology that features work by all 36 writers of the Writer's Studio at SFU. Readings by Betsy Warland, Wayde Compton, Jen Currin and a special reading by the emerge publisher, Andrew Chesham, with musical guests Leanne Dunic and Ryan Ogg of Luck Commander. Thursday, September 12. Entrance by donation (suggested $15) so arrive early to ensure entry. Max 75 people. Calabash Bistro, 428 Carrall Street.
TO TIMBUKTU FOR A HAIRCUT
President and CEO of Tourism Vancouver Rick Antonson will regale you with tales of his epic journey by train, boat, four-wheel drive, camel and on foot. Monday, September 16 at 7:00pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
SMALLPOX AND THE TSILHQOT'IN WAR
Author Tom Swanky shows who, where, when, why and how smallpox featured in the Tsilhqot'in War, a pivotal event in B.C.'s history. Wednesday, September 18 at 7:00pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
Upcoming
THE MAYAN MYSTERIES
Sharon MacGougan will talk about her novel, The Mayan Mysteries. The real-life ancient mystery of the disappearance of the Mayan people converges with the inner transformation of a fifteen-year-old girl in this adventure story. Wednesday, September 25 at 7:30pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
VANCOUVER BOOK FAIR
The Vancouver Book Fair is the only antiquarian, collectible and rare book fair in Western Canada. A wide selection of exciting & unusual books, ephemera, maps, photographs & much more will be on offer at the fair. September 28-29, 2013. UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Vancouver. Complete information at www.vancouverbookfair.com.
NICHOLAS SPARKS
The bestselling author of blockbuster books and films such as Safe Haven, The Lucky One and The Notebook signs his new novel, The Longest Ride. Wednesday, October 2 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
SIDNEY LITERARY FESTIVAL
Sidney will host 14 award-winning local authors whose genres cover mystery, war, children's literature, poetry, short story whimsy and local life. October 4-6, 2013. Sidney, BC. Complete information at www.sidneyliteraryfestival.com.
SO WHERE DO YOU GO AT NIGHT?
Author, sailor and adventurer Patrick Hill will share adventure stories from his 14 month family sailing trip through the exotic islands of the South Seas, Hawaii and Glacier Bay. Wednesday, October 30 at 7:30pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
DAVID ZIEROTH
The Governor General Award-winning poet and author will read from The November Optimist and talk about working with Gaspereau Press and about his own initiative, The Alfred Gustav Press. Wednesday, November 20 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
F.G. BRESSANI LITERARY PRIZE
IL CENTRO Italian Cultural Centre is thrilled to announce the publication of the Rules & Regulations for the 2014 Edition of the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize. The literary prize honours and promotes the work of Canadian writers of Italian origin or Italian descent. Deadline: April 2, 2014. Complete details can be found here: http://italianculturalcentre.ca/blog/bressani-literary-prize/.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Book News Vol. 8 No. 27
BOOK NEWS
2013 Vancouver Writers Fest
Details of the 2013 Vancouver Writers Fest programming will be available at www.writersfest.bc.ca on August 16. In the meantime the Festival reading list can be found online now at http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/get-involved/membership.
The 2013 Vancouver Writers Fest program guides have arrived in our office (they look beautiful, thanks to our design team at Hangar 18) and will be available later this month at libraries, bookstore and cafés around town (or in your mailbox if you are a member). Tickets sales for VWF members start September 3, general public sales start September 9.
Check out Flickr for Festival photographer Chris Cameron's photos from our recent sold out event with Neil Gaiman.
VWF Poetry and Short Fiction Contest
Submit your finest prose and poetry to the 15th annual Vancouver Writers Fest Poetry & Short Story Contest. The top entries in poetry and fiction will be published in subTerrain magazine and receive cash prizes. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/writingcontest
FESTIVALS
The Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts Thursday night event with Alistair MacLeod is sold out but the Festival continues this Friday to Sunday in Sechelt. Canada's longest running summer gathering of Canadian writers and readers features established literary stars and exciting new voices including Jackson Davies, C.C. Humphreys, Lee Maracle, Donna Morrisey, Linda Spalding and Susan Swan, with a finale event featuring singer/songwriter David Essig. www.writersfestival.ca.
SPECIAL EVENTS
J.B. MacKinnon
The independent journalist and award-winning author of The 100-Mile Diet talks about his new book, The Once and Future World, providing an eye-opening account of nature as it was, as it is and as it could be. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jbmackinnon.
Thursday, October 3 at 7:30pm
Frederic Wood Theatre
6354 Crescent Road, UBC
David Sedaris
The renowned NPR humorist comes to Vancouver's Chan Centre for an evening of cutting wit, social satire, riveting conversation and post-event book signing with his recent New York Times' bestseller release Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/davidsedaris.
SPECIAL WRITERS FEST OFFER! Use the code "VWF" to get $5 off your ticket.
Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30pm
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
6265 Crescent Road, UBC
AWARDS & LISTS
British playwright Tom Stoppard has won the 2013 PEN/Pinter prize, established in memory of the late Nobel Laureate and fellow dramatist Harold Pinter, celebrating a lifetime of literary achievement and his campaigning work in the field of human rights.
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/jul/31/tom-stoppard-winner-pen-pinter
Renowned author Lawrence Hill (The Book of Negroes) is this year's Massey Lecturer. Beginning October 15 in Montreal, Hill will present individual lectures in five cities across Canada around the theme of Blood: The Stuff of Life. The lectures will air on Ideas from November 11–15 at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT).
http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/index.html
The Kentucky-based author, essayist and poet Wendell Berry was named winner Monday of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize's lifetime achievement award for his steadfast promotion of the need for people to live at peace with their environment.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/12/daytona-literary-peace-prize-_n_3742826.html
PEN announces winners of its 2013 awards.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-pen-announces-winners-of-its-2013-awards-20130814,0,5632674.story
YOUNG READERS
Life lessons come in various guises and sizes in The Meanest Birthday Girl, writes Bernie Goedhart. Ages 6 to 9.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+Meanest+Birthday+Girl/8653160/story.html
Meg Tilly's A Taste of Heaven features Madison, a Grade 5 student who lives in Oregon, where life is ordinary and uncomplicated. Until Alyssa Hawkins, a reticent, skinny blonde girl, moves to town from Malibu. Ages 8 to 12.
http://www.quillandquire.com/books_young/review.cfm?review_id=7954
NEWS & FEATURES
In addition to the Jane Austen ten-pound note, there is now a Jane Austen board game.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/09/books/on-austen-new-books-banknotes-and-board-games.html
A few weeks before he publishes Solo, his top-secret James Bond novel, William Boyd is under fire. Letters in the New York Times's books section last week criticized him for giving away too much in a review of Henning Mankell's A Treacherous Paradise. "I feel no need to [read it], since Boyd has revealed the entire plot," fumed a reader.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/aug/09/william-boyd-spoiled-henning-mankell
Phillip Lopate writes about how authors deal with recognition. John Steinbeck accepted his Nobel Prize in 1962, with a self-effacing note. Jean-Paul Sartre declined to accept his Nobel Prize in 1964, saying he didn't want to be "transformed into an institution." Austrian novelist Thomas Bernhard's My Prizes recounts the honors bestowed upon him, finding the prizes problematic, the rituals surrounding them even worse.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/books/review/thanks-but-no-thanks.html
By analyzing the handwriting of the "Additional Passages" in Thomas Kyd's play The Spanish Tragedy, a University of Texas professor claims to have proof William Shakespeare authored some 325 lines.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/13/arts/further-proof-of-shakespeares-hand-in-the-spanish-tragedy.html
Punk singer Patti Smith will pay tribute to poems of Robert Louis Stevenson on stage by reading some of her favourite verses—The Land of Nod, My Bed is a Boat, and Whole Duty of Children.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/aug/13/patti-smith-robert-louis-stevenson-poetry
Adelle Waldman's The Love Affairs of Nathanial P. and Gabriel Roth's The Unknowns, two debut novels about dating, are winning rave reviews. But what makes them literary and similar books "chick lit"?
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/07/jennifer_weiner_was_right_whats_the_difference_between_chick_lit_and_literary_fiction/
The 3rd Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest is now underway! Information re: entries can be found here:
http://www.geist.com/contests/erasure/erasure/
There's only one month left to enter the Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition, which offers both existing and aspiring writers the chance to showcase their work to a wider, international audience. For more information, visit www.aestheticamagazine.com/creativewriting.
BOOKS & WRITERS
Brain Power, a short story by Stieg Larsson, the creator of the best-selling Millennium crime fiction trilogy, will be published in English for the first time next year, promising to transport its readers into a fictional future.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/07/stieg-larsson-short-story-published-2014
Sequels are everywhere. Stephen King, Roddy Doyle, Neil Gaiman and Chuck Palahniuk are all in some way revisiting the works that helped them break out. Stephen King's Doctor Sleep, on Sept. 24, tells the story of Danny Torrance, last seen as a child in The Shining. The Guts by Irish writer Roddy Doyle comes out next week.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/roddy-doyle-meditates-on-middle-age-in-sequel-to-the-commitments/article13692156/
Linwood Barclay's latest novel A Tap on The Window prompts the question: Suppose the hitchhiker you picked up wasn't the same hitchhiker you dropped off? In her interview with Barclay, Tracy Sherlock asks about the impact of his work as a Toronto Star columnist on his fiction.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Novel+taps+into+people+ordinary+fears/8773286/story.html
Neil Gaiman is on the bestseller list with his latest novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. In September, he returns to comics with his most famous character in the series The Sandman: Overture. The Guts.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/08/02/sequels_in_store_for_best_selling_authors_of_the_commitments_the_shining_and_more.html
When Wayne Grady discovered his great-grandfather was black, he researched and wrote his first novel Emancipation Day to explore his discovery.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/08/09/emancipation_day_by_wayne_grady_review.html
Karen Joy Fowler's novel, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, explores the relationships in a family that for many years includes a chimp.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Rosemary+baby+sister/8773285/story.html
The ghost of J.D. Salinger hovers over David Gilbert's new novel, & Sons. Set amid the wealth and privilege of Manhattan's toniest neighbourhood, the novel centres on A.N. Dyer, a reclusive author best known for his coming-of-age story set in a boys' prep school.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Inventive+family+saga+explores+joys+sorrows+writer+father+life/8773288/story.html
Championship round in the Canada's most iconic book covers has begun! Choose between L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables and Robert Munsch's Love You Forever. Voting ends Sunday, August 18 at 11:59pm EDT.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2013/08/the-search-for-canadas-most-iconic-book-cover-championship-round.html
The Circle, a previously unannounced Dave Eggers novel, will be published in October.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-surprise-dave-eggers-novel-coming-in-oct-20130814,0,196768.story
COMMUNITY EVENTS
REDACTED READINGS
Join Sex Talk in the City exhibition research contributor Amber Dawn, Vancouver poet Liz Bachinsky, writer/performer Billeh Nickerson as they share readings from published works that explore sexuality, sex, and eroticism. Thursday, August 15 at 6:00pm. Museum of Vancouver, 1100 Chestnut. Tickets and information at http://redactedreadings.eventbrite.com/.
2 CITIES/5 POETS
Seattle poets Don Mee Choi and Melanie Noel mix it up with local talent: Rachel Rose, Renee Saklikar and Raoul Fernandes. Saturday, August 17 at 8:00pm. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.
VAN SLAM
Poetry open mic with featured poet Scott Thompson. Monday, August 19 at 7:45pm. Cost: $6-$10 sliding scale. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
JULIE EMERSON
Vancouver Island painter and author will be reading from her latest novel A Hundred Days: a Botanical Novel. Wednesday, August 21 at 12:00 noon. Chilcotin room (rm 256), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, UBC. More information at ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca.
PERSONAL TALES
How a country boy became a poet featuring George Bowering in conversation with Wayde Compton. Wednesday, August 21 at 7:00pm, free but reservations required. SFU Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/continuing-studies.
JANI KRULC, GILLIAN SAVIGNY, AND RAY HSU
An evening of hot literature and cool company in Vancouver. Hosted by Dina del Bucchia. Thursday, August 22 at 7:30pm, free. Pulp Fiction Books, 2422 Main Street.
PANDORA'S LITERARY AWARDS
Sean Cranbury hosts an awards gala with a musical performance by M'Girl and harpist Amanda Hartley, as well as award presenters Wayde Compton, Evelyn Lau, Steven R. Duncan, Dennis E. Bolen, and Jillian Christmas. This event kicks off the 10th annual Summer Dreams Literary Arts Festival. Friday, August 23 at 7:30pm, free. CBC Studio 700, 700 Hamilton Street, Vancouver.
KELLEY ARMSTRONG
Author launches a new adult series set in Cainsville with the first book in the series, Omens. Followed by a talk, Q&A and book signing. Monday, August 26 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. Complete information at 604-431-0463.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth poetry slam featuring Cathy Petch from Toronto. Monday, August 26 at 8:00pm. Cost: $4/$6. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
Upcoming
TO TIMBUKTU FOR A HAIRCUT
President and CEO of Tourism Vancouver Rick Antonson will regale you with tales of his epic journey by train, boat, four-wheel drive, camel and on foot. Monday, September 16 at 7:00pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
SMALLPOX AND THE TSILHQOT'IN WAR
Author Tom Swanky shows who, where, when, why and how smallpox featured in the Tsilhqot'in War, a pivotal event in B.C.'s history. Wednesday, September 18 at 7:00pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
THE MAYAN MYSTERIES
Sharon MacGougan will talk about her novel, The Mayan Mysteries. The real-life ancient mystery of the disappearance of the Mayan people converges with the inner transformation of a fifteen-year-old girl in this adventure story. Wednesday, September 25 at 7:30pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
VANCOUVER BOOK FAIR
The Vancouver Book Fair is the only antiquarian, collectible and rare book fair in Western Canada. A wide selection of exciting & unusual books, ephemera, maps, photographs & much more will be on offer at the fair. September 28-29, 2013. UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Vancouver. Complete information at www.vancouverbookfair.com.
NICHOLAS SPARKS
The bestselling author of blockbuster books and films such as Safe Haven, The Lucky One and The Notebook signs his new novel, The Longest Ride. Wednesday, October 2 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
SIDNEY LITERARY FESTIVAL
Sidney will host 14 award-winning local authors whose genres cover mystery, war, children’s literature, poetry, short story whimsy and local life. October 4-6, 2013. Sidney, BC. Complete information at www.sidneyliteraryfestival.com.
SO WHERE DO YOU GO AT NIGHT?
Author, sailor and adventurer Patrick Hill will share adventure stories from his 14 month family sailing trip through the exotic islands of the South Seas, Hawaii and Glacier Bay. Wednesday, October 30 at 7:30pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
DAVID ZIEROTH
The Governor General Award-winning poet and author will read from The November Optimist and talk about working with Gaspereau Press and about his own initiative, The Alfred Gustav Press. Wednesday, November 20 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
F.G. BRESSANI LITERARY PRIZE
IL CENTRO Italian Cultural Centre is thrilled to announce the publication of the Rules & Regulations for the 2014 Edition of the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize. The literary prize honours and promotes the work of Canadian writers of Italian origin or Italian descent. Deadline: April 2, 2014. Complete details can be found here: http://italianculturalcentre.ca/blog/bressani-literary-prize/.
2013 Vancouver Writers Fest
Details of the 2013 Vancouver Writers Fest programming will be available at www.writersfest.bc.ca on August 16. In the meantime the Festival reading list can be found online now at http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/get-involved/membership.
The 2013 Vancouver Writers Fest program guides have arrived in our office (they look beautiful, thanks to our design team at Hangar 18) and will be available later this month at libraries, bookstore and cafés around town (or in your mailbox if you are a member). Tickets sales for VWF members start September 3, general public sales start September 9.
Check out Flickr for Festival photographer Chris Cameron's photos from our recent sold out event with Neil Gaiman.
VWF Poetry and Short Fiction Contest
Submit your finest prose and poetry to the 15th annual Vancouver Writers Fest Poetry & Short Story Contest. The top entries in poetry and fiction will be published in subTerrain magazine and receive cash prizes. Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/writingcontest
FESTIVALS
The Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts Thursday night event with Alistair MacLeod is sold out but the Festival continues this Friday to Sunday in Sechelt. Canada's longest running summer gathering of Canadian writers and readers features established literary stars and exciting new voices including Jackson Davies, C.C. Humphreys, Lee Maracle, Donna Morrisey, Linda Spalding and Susan Swan, with a finale event featuring singer/songwriter David Essig. www.writersfestival.ca.
SPECIAL EVENTS
J.B. MacKinnon
The independent journalist and award-winning author of The 100-Mile Diet talks about his new book, The Once and Future World, providing an eye-opening account of nature as it was, as it is and as it could be. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jbmackinnon.
Thursday, October 3 at 7:30pm
Frederic Wood Theatre
6354 Crescent Road, UBC
David Sedaris
The renowned NPR humorist comes to Vancouver's Chan Centre for an evening of cutting wit, social satire, riveting conversation and post-event book signing with his recent New York Times' bestseller release Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/davidsedaris.
SPECIAL WRITERS FEST OFFER! Use the code "VWF" to get $5 off your ticket.
Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30pm
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
6265 Crescent Road, UBC
AWARDS & LISTS
British playwright Tom Stoppard has won the 2013 PEN/Pinter prize, established in memory of the late Nobel Laureate and fellow dramatist Harold Pinter, celebrating a lifetime of literary achievement and his campaigning work in the field of human rights.
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/jul/31/tom-stoppard-winner-pen-pinter
Renowned author Lawrence Hill (The Book of Negroes) is this year's Massey Lecturer. Beginning October 15 in Montreal, Hill will present individual lectures in five cities across Canada around the theme of Blood: The Stuff of Life. The lectures will air on Ideas from November 11–15 at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT).
http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/index.html
The Kentucky-based author, essayist and poet Wendell Berry was named winner Monday of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize's lifetime achievement award for his steadfast promotion of the need for people to live at peace with their environment.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/12/daytona-literary-peace-prize-_n_3742826.html
PEN announces winners of its 2013 awards.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-pen-announces-winners-of-its-2013-awards-20130814,0,5632674.story
YOUNG READERS
Life lessons come in various guises and sizes in The Meanest Birthday Girl, writes Bernie Goedhart. Ages 6 to 9.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+Meanest+Birthday+Girl/8653160/story.html
Meg Tilly's A Taste of Heaven features Madison, a Grade 5 student who lives in Oregon, where life is ordinary and uncomplicated. Until Alyssa Hawkins, a reticent, skinny blonde girl, moves to town from Malibu. Ages 8 to 12.
http://www.quillandquire.com/books_young/review.cfm?review_id=7954
NEWS & FEATURES
In addition to the Jane Austen ten-pound note, there is now a Jane Austen board game.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/09/books/on-austen-new-books-banknotes-and-board-games.html
A few weeks before he publishes Solo, his top-secret James Bond novel, William Boyd is under fire. Letters in the New York Times's books section last week criticized him for giving away too much in a review of Henning Mankell's A Treacherous Paradise. "I feel no need to [read it], since Boyd has revealed the entire plot," fumed a reader.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/aug/09/william-boyd-spoiled-henning-mankell
Phillip Lopate writes about how authors deal with recognition. John Steinbeck accepted his Nobel Prize in 1962, with a self-effacing note. Jean-Paul Sartre declined to accept his Nobel Prize in 1964, saying he didn't want to be "transformed into an institution." Austrian novelist Thomas Bernhard's My Prizes recounts the honors bestowed upon him, finding the prizes problematic, the rituals surrounding them even worse.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/books/review/thanks-but-no-thanks.html
By analyzing the handwriting of the "Additional Passages" in Thomas Kyd's play The Spanish Tragedy, a University of Texas professor claims to have proof William Shakespeare authored some 325 lines.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/13/arts/further-proof-of-shakespeares-hand-in-the-spanish-tragedy.html
Punk singer Patti Smith will pay tribute to poems of Robert Louis Stevenson on stage by reading some of her favourite verses—The Land of Nod, My Bed is a Boat, and Whole Duty of Children.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/aug/13/patti-smith-robert-louis-stevenson-poetry
Adelle Waldman's The Love Affairs of Nathanial P. and Gabriel Roth's The Unknowns, two debut novels about dating, are winning rave reviews. But what makes them literary and similar books "chick lit"?
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/07/jennifer_weiner_was_right_whats_the_difference_between_chick_lit_and_literary_fiction/
The 3rd Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest is now underway! Information re: entries can be found here:
http://www.geist.com/contests/erasure/erasure/
There's only one month left to enter the Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition, which offers both existing and aspiring writers the chance to showcase their work to a wider, international audience. For more information, visit www.aestheticamagazine.com/creativewriting.
BOOKS & WRITERS
Brain Power, a short story by Stieg Larsson, the creator of the best-selling Millennium crime fiction trilogy, will be published in English for the first time next year, promising to transport its readers into a fictional future.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/07/stieg-larsson-short-story-published-2014
Sequels are everywhere. Stephen King, Roddy Doyle, Neil Gaiman and Chuck Palahniuk are all in some way revisiting the works that helped them break out. Stephen King's Doctor Sleep, on Sept. 24, tells the story of Danny Torrance, last seen as a child in The Shining. The Guts by Irish writer Roddy Doyle comes out next week.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/roddy-doyle-meditates-on-middle-age-in-sequel-to-the-commitments/article13692156/
Linwood Barclay's latest novel A Tap on The Window prompts the question: Suppose the hitchhiker you picked up wasn't the same hitchhiker you dropped off? In her interview with Barclay, Tracy Sherlock asks about the impact of his work as a Toronto Star columnist on his fiction.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Novel+taps+into+people+ordinary+fears/8773286/story.html
Neil Gaiman is on the bestseller list with his latest novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. In September, he returns to comics with his most famous character in the series The Sandman: Overture. The Guts.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/08/02/sequels_in_store_for_best_selling_authors_of_the_commitments_the_shining_and_more.html
When Wayne Grady discovered his great-grandfather was black, he researched and wrote his first novel Emancipation Day to explore his discovery.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/08/09/emancipation_day_by_wayne_grady_review.html
Karen Joy Fowler's novel, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, explores the relationships in a family that for many years includes a chimp.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Rosemary+baby+sister/8773285/story.html
The ghost of J.D. Salinger hovers over David Gilbert's new novel, & Sons. Set amid the wealth and privilege of Manhattan's toniest neighbourhood, the novel centres on A.N. Dyer, a reclusive author best known for his coming-of-age story set in a boys' prep school.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Inventive+family+saga+explores+joys+sorrows+writer+father+life/8773288/story.html
Championship round in the Canada's most iconic book covers has begun! Choose between L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables and Robert Munsch's Love You Forever. Voting ends Sunday, August 18 at 11:59pm EDT.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2013/08/the-search-for-canadas-most-iconic-book-cover-championship-round.html
The Circle, a previously unannounced Dave Eggers novel, will be published in October.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-surprise-dave-eggers-novel-coming-in-oct-20130814,0,196768.story
COMMUNITY EVENTS
REDACTED READINGS
Join Sex Talk in the City exhibition research contributor Amber Dawn, Vancouver poet Liz Bachinsky, writer/performer Billeh Nickerson as they share readings from published works that explore sexuality, sex, and eroticism. Thursday, August 15 at 6:00pm. Museum of Vancouver, 1100 Chestnut. Tickets and information at http://redactedreadings.eventbrite.com/.
2 CITIES/5 POETS
Seattle poets Don Mee Choi and Melanie Noel mix it up with local talent: Rachel Rose, Renee Saklikar and Raoul Fernandes. Saturday, August 17 at 8:00pm. People's Co-op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.
VAN SLAM
Poetry open mic with featured poet Scott Thompson. Monday, August 19 at 7:45pm. Cost: $6-$10 sliding scale. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
JULIE EMERSON
Vancouver Island painter and author will be reading from her latest novel A Hundred Days: a Botanical Novel. Wednesday, August 21 at 12:00 noon. Chilcotin room (rm 256), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, UBC. More information at ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca.
PERSONAL TALES
How a country boy became a poet featuring George Bowering in conversation with Wayde Compton. Wednesday, August 21 at 7:00pm, free but reservations required. SFU Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/continuing-studies.
JANI KRULC, GILLIAN SAVIGNY, AND RAY HSU
An evening of hot literature and cool company in Vancouver. Hosted by Dina del Bucchia. Thursday, August 22 at 7:30pm, free. Pulp Fiction Books, 2422 Main Street.
PANDORA'S LITERARY AWARDS
Sean Cranbury hosts an awards gala with a musical performance by M'Girl and harpist Amanda Hartley, as well as award presenters Wayde Compton, Evelyn Lau, Steven R. Duncan, Dennis E. Bolen, and Jillian Christmas. This event kicks off the 10th annual Summer Dreams Literary Arts Festival. Friday, August 23 at 7:30pm, free. CBC Studio 700, 700 Hamilton Street, Vancouver.
KELLEY ARMSTRONG
Author launches a new adult series set in Cainsville with the first book in the series, Omens. Followed by a talk, Q&A and book signing. Monday, August 26 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. Complete information at 604-431-0463.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth poetry slam featuring Cathy Petch from Toronto. Monday, August 26 at 8:00pm. Cost: $4/$6. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
Upcoming
TO TIMBUKTU FOR A HAIRCUT
President and CEO of Tourism Vancouver Rick Antonson will regale you with tales of his epic journey by train, boat, four-wheel drive, camel and on foot. Monday, September 16 at 7:00pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
SMALLPOX AND THE TSILHQOT'IN WAR
Author Tom Swanky shows who, where, when, why and how smallpox featured in the Tsilhqot'in War, a pivotal event in B.C.'s history. Wednesday, September 18 at 7:00pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
THE MAYAN MYSTERIES
Sharon MacGougan will talk about her novel, The Mayan Mysteries. The real-life ancient mystery of the disappearance of the Mayan people converges with the inner transformation of a fifteen-year-old girl in this adventure story. Wednesday, September 25 at 7:30pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
VANCOUVER BOOK FAIR
The Vancouver Book Fair is the only antiquarian, collectible and rare book fair in Western Canada. A wide selection of exciting & unusual books, ephemera, maps, photographs & much more will be on offer at the fair. September 28-29, 2013. UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Vancouver. Complete information at www.vancouverbookfair.com.
NICHOLAS SPARKS
The bestselling author of blockbuster books and films such as Safe Haven, The Lucky One and The Notebook signs his new novel, The Longest Ride. Wednesday, October 2 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. More information at 604-431-0463.
SIDNEY LITERARY FESTIVAL
Sidney will host 14 award-winning local authors whose genres cover mystery, war, children’s literature, poetry, short story whimsy and local life. October 4-6, 2013. Sidney, BC. Complete information at www.sidneyliteraryfestival.com.
SO WHERE DO YOU GO AT NIGHT?
Author, sailor and adventurer Patrick Hill will share adventure stories from his 14 month family sailing trip through the exotic islands of the South Seas, Hawaii and Glacier Bay. Wednesday, October 30 at 7:30pm. West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. More information at 604-925-7403.
DAVID ZIEROTH
The Governor General Award-winning poet and author will read from The November Optimist and talk about working with Gaspereau Press and about his own initiative, The Alfred Gustav Press. Wednesday, November 20 at 7:00pm, free. Peter Kaye room, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street. More information at www.vpl.ca.
F.G. BRESSANI LITERARY PRIZE
IL CENTRO Italian Cultural Centre is thrilled to announce the publication of the Rules & Regulations for the 2014 Edition of the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize. The literary prize honours and promotes the work of Canadian writers of Italian origin or Italian descent. Deadline: April 2, 2014. Complete details can be found here: http://italianculturalcentre.ca/blog/bressani-literary-prize/.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Book News Vol. 8 No. 26
BOOK NEWS
While we're reveling in the glorious summer weather of the last few weeks, we can't help looking to the fall with great anticipation. The Writers Fest office is abuzz with excitement-books by Festival authors are arriving
daily and we're putting the final touches on the 26th Vancouver Writers Fest program guide. The guide will be on the street and online by the end of August. Stay tuned for details! In the meantime, pencil in the Festival
dates: October 22-27.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Just announced! - J.B. MacKinnon
The independent journalist and award-winning author of The 100-Mile Diet talks about his new book, The Once and Future World, providing an eye-opening account of nature as it was, as it is and as it could be. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jbmackinnon.
Thursday, October 3 at 7:30pm
Frederic Wood Theatre
6354 Crescent Road, UBC
David Sedaris
The renowned NPR humorist comes to Vancouver's Chan Centre for an evening of cutting wit, social satire, riveting conversation and post-event book signing with his recent New York Times' bestseller release Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/davidsedaris.
EXCLUSIVE ACCESS: GET THE BEST SEATS!
As a friend of the Writers Fest, use the code "WRITE" to buy tickets before the general public. Code valid July 31 to August 8. Click here for tickets, http://www.ticketmaster.ca/event/11004AFE9BCF69B1.
Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30pm
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
6265 Crescent Road, UBC
AWARDS & LISTS
A "playful and surreal" collection of poems has won a place on the Guardian first book award longlist after being nominated by readers, making it the second year running that their recommendations have propelled a debut poetry book onto the list.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/jul/31/guardian-first-book-award-nominations-longlist
Claire Trévien's The Shipwrecked House has been longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2013. Anchors, shipwrecks, whales and islands abound in this first collection by the Anglo-Breton poet.
http://www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk/index.php/2013/02/the-shipwrecked-house/
John Green's The Fault in Our Stars is one of the brilliant books in the running for the 2013 Guardian children's fiction prize.
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/aug/01/childrens-fiction-prize-book-club-fault-in-our-stars
Here is a long, longlist of seventy-four books eligible for the Not the Booker, including Neil Gaiman's latest. Readers can vote for the shortlist next Wednesday.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/aug/05/not-the-booker-prize-longlist-shortlist
YOUNG READERS
Not everyone loves summer—especially when temperatures feel like 40-plus. It helps if you cool off before heading to bed. During a recent heat wave, cooling off involved immersing myself in a tub of cold water and a series of novels about hockey, writes Bernie Goedhart. The newest title, Face Off at the Alamo, is the first of five new books Roy MacGregor is adding to the series. For 8 to 12.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Books+Kids+Screech+Owls+return+with+Face+Alamo/8742225/story.html
Clementine Beauvais' Sleuth on Skates is a very good adventurous book, writes Lady Sparkle. "It's full of mysteries to solve." One day a student called Jenna Jenkins goes missing and it's Sesame's job to solve the mystery. "I heartily recommend this book," says Lady Sparkle. For up to 7 years.
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/aug/02/review-sleuth-on-skates-clementine-beauvais
John Green's The Fault in Our Stars is an inspirational tale of two star-crossed lovers. When Hazel, just 17 but already a terminal cancer patient, meets Augustus at a support group, both their lives are about to change. She persuades him to read her favourite book, 'An Imperial Affliction', and together they set out to find the reclusive author. For teenagers. There are several teenage reviewers here:
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/aug/01/childrens-fiction-prize-book-club-fault-in-our-stars
NEWS & FEATURES
Craig Taylor is a Canadian writer living in London. This summer, he is rediscovering his homeland through the Canadiana collection of the Abbey Bookshop in Paris's Latin Quarter. This is the fifth instalment.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/in-letters-and-in-love-its-the-message-that-always-counts/article13575958/
There Was a Country, Chinua Achebe's lament for his native Biafra and the decline of Nigeria, is powerful and moving, writes Justin Cartwright. Chinua Achebe, who died in March, was a giant of African literature. His 1958 Anthills of the Savannah is undoubtedly one of the finest novels to come out of Africa, says Cartwright.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/04/there-was-country-chinua-achebe-review
Drew Gilpin Faust found her favorite childhood book in a rare-book store, after decades of searching. Terry Eicher reports that the best part of sixth grade at Houston's Grady Elementary School was after lunch when Mrs. Wise stood at the front of the classroom and read aloud a few pages of Giles of the Star. Mrs. Wise always stopped reading at the height of excitement: the best story I had ever heard, says Eicher.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/books/review/one-book-in.html?_r=0
The ugly controversy that has sprung up around the Jane Austen bank note tells us more about the Internet and current cultural habits than the author herself, says Katie Roiphe. After the Bank of England settled on Austen to replace Darwin as the face of the £10 note, critiques, angry blog posts, and bomb threats have unsettled the summer calm.
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/roiphe/2013/08/the_anger_over_jane_austen_on_a_10_pound_note_proves_people_can_rage_over.html
Random House has announced it will publish an expanded version of George Saunders' speech to graduates at Syracuse University. The book, Congratulations, by the Way, will be released in 2014. You can read the speech here:
http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/george-saunderss-advice-to-graduates/
The 3rd Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest is now underway! Information re: entries can be found here:
http://www.geist.com/contests/erasure/erasure/
There's only one month left to enter the Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition, which offers both existing and aspiring writers the chance to showcase their work to a wider, international audience. For more information, visit www.aestheticamagazine.com/creativewriting.
BOOKS & WRITERS
Jane Gardam's Lost Friends tells the story of an awkward, decades-long marriage told from the point of view of Betty Feathers who, as the novel opens, is dead. Martin Levin closes his review with a word of advice: by far the richest and most rewarding path is to begin with Old Filth and read the trilogy in order. It seems to me a surprisingly luminous literary achievement and deserves to be experienced as it was written, says Levin.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/filth-and-lucre-jane-gardams-masterful-trilogy-draws-to-a-close/article13575209/
Charles Glass, an ABC news correspondent and author of half a dozen books, exploits the little-known history of desertion during the Second World War. The Deserters probes the dark underbelly of the Allied war effort, eschewing the nostalgia surrounding what many have called The Good War. By war's end, about 150,000 American and British soldiers were known to have deserted from their units.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/the-ones-who-walked-away-from-the-greatest-generation/article13575481/
In a lot of good recent historical fiction, the male characters come across as far less compelling than their female counterparts, even when they are seemingly more important to the plot, writes J.C. Sutcliffe. Perhaps Sarah Dunant pondered this curious phenomenon while writing her latest novel, Blood and Beauty.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/sarah-dunant-puts-her-focus-on-powerful-men-in-saga-of-the-borgias/article13454676/
Written by the creator of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo when he was 17, a previously unseen Stieg Larsson short story to be published next year.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/07/stieg-larsson-short-story-published-2014
Only eight books remain in the third round of the search for Canada's most iconic book cover! Who will win? That's up to you.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2013/07/the-search-for-canadas-most-iconic-book-cover-round-three.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Poetry slam featuring Isaac Bond from Saskatchewan. Monday, August 12 at 8:00pm. Cost: $6-$10 sliding scale. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
GOING PLACES
A writerly perspective on travel featuring short story writer Marina Sonkina in conversation. Wednesday, August 14 at 7:00pm, free but reservations required. SFU Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/continuing-studies.
VINCENT LAM
Award-winning Canadian writer and medical doctor Vincent Lam will read from his newest novel, The Headmaster's Wager. Wednesday, August 14 at 7:30pm. City Centre Library, Surrey Public Library, 10350 University Drive, Surrey. More information at 604-598-7420.
JULIE EMERSON
Vancouver Island painter and author will be reading from her latest novel A Hundred Days: a Botanical Novel. Wednesday, August 21 at 12:00 noon. Chilcotin room (rm 256), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, UBC. More information at ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca.
PERSONAL TALES
How a country boy became a poet featuring George Bowering in conversation with Wayde Compton. Wednesday, August 21 at 7:00pm, free but reservations required. SFU Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/continuing-studies.
PANDORA'S LITERARY AWARDS
Sean Cranbury hosts an awards gala with a musical performance by M'Girl and harpist Amanda Hartley, as well as award presenters Wayde Compton, Evelyn Lau, Steven R. Duncan, Dennis E. Bolen, and Jillian Christmas. This event also serves as a kickoff party for the 10th annual Summer Dreams Literary Arts Festival. Friday, August 23 at 7:30pm, free. CBC Studio 700, 700 Hamilton Street, Vancouver.
KELLEY ARMSTRONG
Author launches a new adult series set in Cainsville with the first book in the series, Omens. Followed by a talk, Q&A and book signing. Monday, August 26 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. Complete information at 604-431-0463.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth poetry slam featuring Cathy Petch from Toronto. Monday, August 26 at 8:00pm. Cost: $4/$6. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
F.G. BRESSANI LITERARY PRIZE
IL CENTRO Italian Cultural Centre is thrilled to announce the publication of the Rules & Regulations for the 2014 Edition of the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize. The literary prize honours and promotes the work of Canadian writers of Italian origin or Italian descent. Deadline: April 2, 2014. Complete details can be found here: http://italianculturalcentre.ca/blog/bressani-literary-prize/.
While we're reveling in the glorious summer weather of the last few weeks, we can't help looking to the fall with great anticipation. The Writers Fest office is abuzz with excitement-books by Festival authors are arriving
daily and we're putting the final touches on the 26th Vancouver Writers Fest program guide. The guide will be on the street and online by the end of August. Stay tuned for details! In the meantime, pencil in the Festival
dates: October 22-27.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Just announced! - J.B. MacKinnon
The independent journalist and award-winning author of The 100-Mile Diet talks about his new book, The Once and Future World, providing an eye-opening account of nature as it was, as it is and as it could be. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/jbmackinnon.
Thursday, October 3 at 7:30pm
Frederic Wood Theatre
6354 Crescent Road, UBC
David Sedaris
The renowned NPR humorist comes to Vancouver's Chan Centre for an evening of cutting wit, social satire, riveting conversation and post-event book signing with his recent New York Times' bestseller release Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/davidsedaris.
EXCLUSIVE ACCESS: GET THE BEST SEATS!
As a friend of the Writers Fest, use the code "WRITE" to buy tickets before the general public. Code valid July 31 to August 8. Click here for tickets, http://www.ticketmaster.ca/event/11004AFE9BCF69B1.
Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30pm
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
6265 Crescent Road, UBC
AWARDS & LISTS
A "playful and surreal" collection of poems has won a place on the Guardian first book award longlist after being nominated by readers, making it the second year running that their recommendations have propelled a debut poetry book onto the list.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/jul/31/guardian-first-book-award-nominations-longlist
Claire Trévien's The Shipwrecked House has been longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2013. Anchors, shipwrecks, whales and islands abound in this first collection by the Anglo-Breton poet.
http://www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk/index.php/2013/02/the-shipwrecked-house/
John Green's The Fault in Our Stars is one of the brilliant books in the running for the 2013 Guardian children's fiction prize.
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/aug/01/childrens-fiction-prize-book-club-fault-in-our-stars
Here is a long, longlist of seventy-four books eligible for the Not the Booker, including Neil Gaiman's latest. Readers can vote for the shortlist next Wednesday.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/aug/05/not-the-booker-prize-longlist-shortlist
YOUNG READERS
Not everyone loves summer—especially when temperatures feel like 40-plus. It helps if you cool off before heading to bed. During a recent heat wave, cooling off involved immersing myself in a tub of cold water and a series of novels about hockey, writes Bernie Goedhart. The newest title, Face Off at the Alamo, is the first of five new books Roy MacGregor is adding to the series. For 8 to 12.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Books+Kids+Screech+Owls+return+with+Face+Alamo/8742225/story.html
Clementine Beauvais' Sleuth on Skates is a very good adventurous book, writes Lady Sparkle. "It's full of mysteries to solve." One day a student called Jenna Jenkins goes missing and it's Sesame's job to solve the mystery. "I heartily recommend this book," says Lady Sparkle. For up to 7 years.
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/aug/02/review-sleuth-on-skates-clementine-beauvais
John Green's The Fault in Our Stars is an inspirational tale of two star-crossed lovers. When Hazel, just 17 but already a terminal cancer patient, meets Augustus at a support group, both their lives are about to change. She persuades him to read her favourite book, 'An Imperial Affliction', and together they set out to find the reclusive author. For teenagers. There are several teenage reviewers here:
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/aug/01/childrens-fiction-prize-book-club-fault-in-our-stars
NEWS & FEATURES
Craig Taylor is a Canadian writer living in London. This summer, he is rediscovering his homeland through the Canadiana collection of the Abbey Bookshop in Paris's Latin Quarter. This is the fifth instalment.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/in-letters-and-in-love-its-the-message-that-always-counts/article13575958/
There Was a Country, Chinua Achebe's lament for his native Biafra and the decline of Nigeria, is powerful and moving, writes Justin Cartwright. Chinua Achebe, who died in March, was a giant of African literature. His 1958 Anthills of the Savannah is undoubtedly one of the finest novels to come out of Africa, says Cartwright.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/04/there-was-country-chinua-achebe-review
Drew Gilpin Faust found her favorite childhood book in a rare-book store, after decades of searching. Terry Eicher reports that the best part of sixth grade at Houston's Grady Elementary School was after lunch when Mrs. Wise stood at the front of the classroom and read aloud a few pages of Giles of the Star. Mrs. Wise always stopped reading at the height of excitement: the best story I had ever heard, says Eicher.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/books/review/one-book-in.html?_r=0
The ugly controversy that has sprung up around the Jane Austen bank note tells us more about the Internet and current cultural habits than the author herself, says Katie Roiphe. After the Bank of England settled on Austen to replace Darwin as the face of the £10 note, critiques, angry blog posts, and bomb threats have unsettled the summer calm.
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/roiphe/2013/08/the_anger_over_jane_austen_on_a_10_pound_note_proves_people_can_rage_over.html
Random House has announced it will publish an expanded version of George Saunders' speech to graduates at Syracuse University. The book, Congratulations, by the Way, will be released in 2014. You can read the speech here:
http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/george-saunderss-advice-to-graduates/
The 3rd Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest is now underway! Information re: entries can be found here:
http://www.geist.com/contests/erasure/erasure/
There's only one month left to enter the Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition, which offers both existing and aspiring writers the chance to showcase their work to a wider, international audience. For more information, visit www.aestheticamagazine.com/creativewriting.
BOOKS & WRITERS
Jane Gardam's Lost Friends tells the story of an awkward, decades-long marriage told from the point of view of Betty Feathers who, as the novel opens, is dead. Martin Levin closes his review with a word of advice: by far the richest and most rewarding path is to begin with Old Filth and read the trilogy in order. It seems to me a surprisingly luminous literary achievement and deserves to be experienced as it was written, says Levin.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/filth-and-lucre-jane-gardams-masterful-trilogy-draws-to-a-close/article13575209/
Charles Glass, an ABC news correspondent and author of half a dozen books, exploits the little-known history of desertion during the Second World War. The Deserters probes the dark underbelly of the Allied war effort, eschewing the nostalgia surrounding what many have called The Good War. By war's end, about 150,000 American and British soldiers were known to have deserted from their units.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/the-ones-who-walked-away-from-the-greatest-generation/article13575481/
In a lot of good recent historical fiction, the male characters come across as far less compelling than their female counterparts, even when they are seemingly more important to the plot, writes J.C. Sutcliffe. Perhaps Sarah Dunant pondered this curious phenomenon while writing her latest novel, Blood and Beauty.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/sarah-dunant-puts-her-focus-on-powerful-men-in-saga-of-the-borgias/article13454676/
Written by the creator of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo when he was 17, a previously unseen Stieg Larsson short story to be published next year.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/07/stieg-larsson-short-story-published-2014
Only eight books remain in the third round of the search for Canada's most iconic book cover! Who will win? That's up to you.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2013/07/the-search-for-canadas-most-iconic-book-cover-round-three.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Poetry slam featuring Isaac Bond from Saskatchewan. Monday, August 12 at 8:00pm. Cost: $6-$10 sliding scale. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
GOING PLACES
A writerly perspective on travel featuring short story writer Marina Sonkina in conversation. Wednesday, August 14 at 7:00pm, free but reservations required. SFU Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/continuing-studies.
VINCENT LAM
Award-winning Canadian writer and medical doctor Vincent Lam will read from his newest novel, The Headmaster's Wager. Wednesday, August 14 at 7:30pm. City Centre Library, Surrey Public Library, 10350 University Drive, Surrey. More information at 604-598-7420.
JULIE EMERSON
Vancouver Island painter and author will be reading from her latest novel A Hundred Days: a Botanical Novel. Wednesday, August 21 at 12:00 noon. Chilcotin room (rm 256), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, UBC. More information at ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca.
PERSONAL TALES
How a country boy became a poet featuring George Bowering in conversation with Wayde Compton. Wednesday, August 21 at 7:00pm, free but reservations required. SFU Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/continuing-studies.
PANDORA'S LITERARY AWARDS
Sean Cranbury hosts an awards gala with a musical performance by M'Girl and harpist Amanda Hartley, as well as award presenters Wayde Compton, Evelyn Lau, Steven R. Duncan, Dennis E. Bolen, and Jillian Christmas. This event also serves as a kickoff party for the 10th annual Summer Dreams Literary Arts Festival. Friday, August 23 at 7:30pm, free. CBC Studio 700, 700 Hamilton Street, Vancouver.
KELLEY ARMSTRONG
Author launches a new adult series set in Cainsville with the first book in the series, Omens. Followed by a talk, Q&A and book signing. Monday, August 26 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. Complete information at 604-431-0463.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth poetry slam featuring Cathy Petch from Toronto. Monday, August 26 at 8:00pm. Cost: $4/$6. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
F.G. BRESSANI LITERARY PRIZE
IL CENTRO Italian Cultural Centre is thrilled to announce the publication of the Rules & Regulations for the 2014 Edition of the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize. The literary prize honours and promotes the work of Canadian writers of Italian origin or Italian descent. Deadline: April 2, 2014. Complete details can be found here: http://italianculturalcentre.ca/blog/bressani-literary-prize/.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Book News Vol. 8 No. 25
BOOK NEWS
While we're reveling in the glorious summer weather of the last few weeks, we can't help looking to the fall with great anticipation. The Writers Fest office is abuzz with excitement-books by Festival authors are arriving
daily and we're putting the final touches on the 26th Vancouver Writers Fest program guide. The guide will be on the street and online by the end of August. Stay tuned for details! In the meantime, pencil in the Festival
dates: October 22-27.
SPECIAL EVENT
Just announced! - David Sedaris
The renowned NPR humorist comes to Vancouver's Chan Centre for an evening of cutting wit, social satire, riveting conversation and post-event book signing with his recent New York Times' bestseller release Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/davidsedaris.
EXCLUSIVE ACCESS: GET THE BEST SEATS!
As a friend of the Writers Fest, use the code "WRITE" to buy tickets before the general public. Code valid July 31 to August 8. Click here for tickets, http://www.ticketmaster.ca/event/11004AFE9BCF69B1.
Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30pm
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
6265 Crescent Road, UBC
In this interview with the Globe and Mail's Jared Bland, David Sedaris reflects on how his influences have shaped his work.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/summer-entertainment/david-sedaris-im-just-there-for-the-laughs/article12415593/
AWARDS & LISTS
The Writers' Trust has named a jury of three–Hal Niedzviecki, Andreas Schroeder and 2012 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize winner Candace Savage, to select the next winner of the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Non-Fiction, which comes with a $60,000 prize.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/07/22/writers_trust_names_jury_for_top_nonfiction_writing_prize.html
Carol Shaben wins the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction for her book Into the Abyss.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/07/30/carol_shaben_wins_edna_staebler_award_for_creative_nonfiction.html
YOUNG READERS
It's almost Clara's birthday. There is a magical mirror where magic exists, and a crumbling mansion in northern England in the backdrop of 2013 NEWBERY medalist Laura Amy Schlitz's Splendors and Glooms. Clara insists that her parents hire puppeteer Grisini to entertain at her 12th birthday. That night, Clara disappears from her home, then reappears as a tiny puppet, in a teeny, tiny box. For ages 9 to 13.
http://thebookwurrm.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/splendors-and-glooms-by-laura-amy-schlitz-review/
One of summer's great gifts is the chance to adapt ourselves to nature; to slow down in the heat, to swim when the tide comes in, and to find our place briefly, in the wild. In Hatsue Nakawaki's Wait! Wait! and Gerda Muller's A Year Around the Great Oak, two beautifully illustrated but very different books, children engage with animals and the outdoors in ways that are unpredictable, stimulating and ultimately confidence-inducing. Infant to age 3.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/24/books/wait-wait-and-a-year-around-the-great-oak.html?nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130726
It's been four years since Marie-Louise Gay gave us a new Stella picture book, but the one being published next week was worth waiting for, says Bernie Goedhart. In Read Me a Story, Stella celebrates reading in more ways than one, and Gay's colourful, distinctive watercolour illustrations create suitably evocative scenes for two characters whose familiar voices express the comfort of books. For ages 3 to 7.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+Stella+together+again/8711985/story.html
NEWS & FEATURES
Did you believe On the Road was a stand-alone novel? It's actually part of a 13-book Proustian memoir. As the first volume turns 50, David Barnett reads the lot. It seemed natural to assume that the Kerouac books published after On the Road were written after it became a bestseller in 1957. But many were written well before.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/24/jack-kerouac-13-volume-memoir
Duplicated many million times on the new £10 banknote will be a line in praise of reading–it's a shame it was uttered by an Austen character who had no genuine interest in reading at all, writes John Mullan.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/shortcuts/2013/jul/25/jane-austen-quotation-10-note
Margaret Atwood is set to make her debut as the author of an opera libretto, 15 years after she began work on the project, writes Liz Bury. Pauline, opening at the Vancouver City Opera House next May, dramatises the life of Pauline Johnson, the legendary Canadian writer, poet and actor. Atwood has been trying for more than a decade to bring the "operatic fireworks" of Johnson's life to the stage.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/26/margaret-atwood-opera-debut-libretto?INTCMP=SRCH
Tracy Sherlock's interview of Elsie Chapman about Dualed reveals a dystopian sci-fi novel focusing on a girl who lives in a gated city where teens must hunt down and kill their doubles, called Alts. There's a price to be paid for being able to live within the gate, safe from the constant war that's happening outside in the area known as the Surround. Book two has her facing a new challenge. For young adults.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Facing+self+future/8716552/story.html
U.S. President Barack Obama, who faithfully shops at independent bookstores when given the chance, has angered the American Booksellers Assn. with a planned appearance Tuesday at an Amazon warehouse.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-obama-amazon-warehouse-angers-booksellers-20130730,0,5881206.story
The 3rd Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest is now underway! Information re entries can be found here:
http://www.geist.com/contests/erasure/erasure/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Arturo Fontaine's La Vida Doble: A Novel demonstrates the extremes of human behaviour in the horror of life under Pinochet, writes Alberto Manguel. Homer states that the gods created suffering to give poets something to sing about. If that's the case, Latin America has contributed to the inspiration of its writers with a rarely broken succession of dictatorships, says Manguel. In the minds and bodies of those who lived through it, it was as close to hell as one could imagine, the title the only tranquil moment.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/27/vida-doble-arturo-fontaine-review
Audrey Niffenegger's Raven Girl is an illustrated fable for adults. Ian McGillis adds that level-headed kids should be more than able to handle it. Through a route learned by reading the book, a lonely postman falls in love with, and marries, a raven. What follows provides rich fodder for questioning: To what degree, in the end, can we transform ourselves?
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/transformation/8716550/story.html
In NoViolet Bulawayo's We Need New Names, the words are as mighty as any sword, writes John Freeman. In this debut novel, NoViolet Bulawayo creates a human scale narrative of the vast African diaspora. This is an anguished, angry, hilarious novel that uses language like a weapon. As the book begins, Darling is around 10 years old and living in Paradise, one of the worst slums in an unnamed African country.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/07/26/we_need_new_names_by_noviolet_bulawayo_review.html
Her husband was killed when Judith Tebbutt was kidnapped by Somali pirates, but she found that walking around the rooms in which she was held hostage helped keep her physically and mentally intact during her ordeal. Her survival strategies recall Mandela's disciplined prison regime in his memoir Long Walk to Freedom. A Long Walk Home becomes a clarion call to cherish whatever we might have left of life, says Anita Sethi.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/27/long-walk-home-tebbutt-review
COMMUNITY EVENTS
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Poetry slam featuring Doc Luben from Portland, OR. Monday, August 5 at 8:00pm. Cost: $6-$10 sliding scale. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
CITY CENTRE
A poetry reading and conversation about life in urban Vancouver featuring Vancouver's poet laureate, Evelyn Lau in conversation with Daniela Elza. Wednesday, August 7 at 7:00pm, free but reservations required. SFU Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/continuing-studies.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Poetry slam featuring Isaac Bond from Saskatchewan. Monday, August 12 at 8:00pm. Cost: $6-$10 sliding scale. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
GOING PLACES
A writerly perspective on travel featuring short story writer Marina Sonkina in conversation. Wednesday, August 14 at 7:00pm, free but reservations required. SFU Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/continuing-studies.
VINCENT LAM
Award-winning Canadian writer and medical doctor Vincent Lam will read from his newest novel, The Headmaster's Wager. Wednesday, August 14 at 7:30pm. City Centre Library, Surrey Public Library, 10350 University Drive, Surrey. More information at 604-598-7420.
JULIE EMERSON
Vancouver Island painter and author will be reading from her latest novel A Hundred Days: a Botanical Novel. Wednesday, August 21 at 12:00 noon. Chilcotin room (rm 256), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, UBC. More information at ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca.
PERSONAL TALES
How a country boy became a poet featuring George Bowering in conversation with Wayde Compton. Wednesday, August 21 at 7:00pm, free but reservations required. SFU Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/continuing-studies.
PANDORA'S LITERARY AWARDS
Sean Cranbury hosts an awards gala with a musical performance by M'Girl and harpist Amanda Hartley, as well as award presenters Wayde Compton, Evelyn Lau, Steven R. Duncan, Dennis E. Bolen, and Jillian Christmas. This event also serves as a kickoff party for the 10th annual Summer Dreams Literary Arts Festival. Friday, August 23 at 7:30pm, free. CBC Studio 700, 700 Hamilton Street, Vancouver.
KELLEY ARMSTRONG
Author launches a new adult series set in Cainsville with the first book in the series, Omens. Followed by a talk, Q&A and book signing. Monday, August 26 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. Complete information at 604-431-0463.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth poetry slam featuring Cathy Petch from Toronto. Monday, August 26 at 8:00pm. Cost: $4/$6. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
F.G. BRESSANI LITERARY PRIZE
IL CENTRO Italian Cultural Centre is thrilled to announce the publication of the Rules & Regulations for the 2014 Edition of the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize. The literary prize honours and promotes the work of Canadian writers of Italian origin or Italian descent. Deadline: April 2, 2014. Complete details can be found here: http://italianculturalcentre.ca/blog/bressani-literary-prize/.
While we're reveling in the glorious summer weather of the last few weeks, we can't help looking to the fall with great anticipation. The Writers Fest office is abuzz with excitement-books by Festival authors are arriving
daily and we're putting the final touches on the 26th Vancouver Writers Fest program guide. The guide will be on the street and online by the end of August. Stay tuned for details! In the meantime, pencil in the Festival
dates: October 22-27.
SPECIAL EVENT
Just announced! - David Sedaris
The renowned NPR humorist comes to Vancouver's Chan Centre for an evening of cutting wit, social satire, riveting conversation and post-event book signing with his recent New York Times' bestseller release Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls. Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/davidsedaris.
EXCLUSIVE ACCESS: GET THE BEST SEATS!
As a friend of the Writers Fest, use the code "WRITE" to buy tickets before the general public. Code valid July 31 to August 8. Click here for tickets, http://www.ticketmaster.ca/event/11004AFE9BCF69B1.
Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30pm
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
6265 Crescent Road, UBC
In this interview with the Globe and Mail's Jared Bland, David Sedaris reflects on how his influences have shaped his work.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/summer-entertainment/david-sedaris-im-just-there-for-the-laughs/article12415593/
AWARDS & LISTS
The Writers' Trust has named a jury of three–Hal Niedzviecki, Andreas Schroeder and 2012 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize winner Candace Savage, to select the next winner of the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Non-Fiction, which comes with a $60,000 prize.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/07/22/writers_trust_names_jury_for_top_nonfiction_writing_prize.html
Carol Shaben wins the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction for her book Into the Abyss.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/07/30/carol_shaben_wins_edna_staebler_award_for_creative_nonfiction.html
YOUNG READERS
It's almost Clara's birthday. There is a magical mirror where magic exists, and a crumbling mansion in northern England in the backdrop of 2013 NEWBERY medalist Laura Amy Schlitz's Splendors and Glooms. Clara insists that her parents hire puppeteer Grisini to entertain at her 12th birthday. That night, Clara disappears from her home, then reappears as a tiny puppet, in a teeny, tiny box. For ages 9 to 13.
http://thebookwurrm.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/splendors-and-glooms-by-laura-amy-schlitz-review/
One of summer's great gifts is the chance to adapt ourselves to nature; to slow down in the heat, to swim when the tide comes in, and to find our place briefly, in the wild. In Hatsue Nakawaki's Wait! Wait! and Gerda Muller's A Year Around the Great Oak, two beautifully illustrated but very different books, children engage with animals and the outdoors in ways that are unpredictable, stimulating and ultimately confidence-inducing. Infant to age 3.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/24/books/wait-wait-and-a-year-around-the-great-oak.html?nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130726
It's been four years since Marie-Louise Gay gave us a new Stella picture book, but the one being published next week was worth waiting for, says Bernie Goedhart. In Read Me a Story, Stella celebrates reading in more ways than one, and Gay's colourful, distinctive watercolour illustrations create suitably evocative scenes for two characters whose familiar voices express the comfort of books. For ages 3 to 7.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Kids+Stella+together+again/8711985/story.html
NEWS & FEATURES
Did you believe On the Road was a stand-alone novel? It's actually part of a 13-book Proustian memoir. As the first volume turns 50, David Barnett reads the lot. It seemed natural to assume that the Kerouac books published after On the Road were written after it became a bestseller in 1957. But many were written well before.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/24/jack-kerouac-13-volume-memoir
Duplicated many million times on the new £10 banknote will be a line in praise of reading–it's a shame it was uttered by an Austen character who had no genuine interest in reading at all, writes John Mullan.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/shortcuts/2013/jul/25/jane-austen-quotation-10-note
Margaret Atwood is set to make her debut as the author of an opera libretto, 15 years after she began work on the project, writes Liz Bury. Pauline, opening at the Vancouver City Opera House next May, dramatises the life of Pauline Johnson, the legendary Canadian writer, poet and actor. Atwood has been trying for more than a decade to bring the "operatic fireworks" of Johnson's life to the stage.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/26/margaret-atwood-opera-debut-libretto?INTCMP=SRCH
Tracy Sherlock's interview of Elsie Chapman about Dualed reveals a dystopian sci-fi novel focusing on a girl who lives in a gated city where teens must hunt down and kill their doubles, called Alts. There's a price to be paid for being able to live within the gate, safe from the constant war that's happening outside in the area known as the Surround. Book two has her facing a new challenge. For young adults.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Facing+self+future/8716552/story.html
U.S. President Barack Obama, who faithfully shops at independent bookstores when given the chance, has angered the American Booksellers Assn. with a planned appearance Tuesday at an Amazon warehouse.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-obama-amazon-warehouse-angers-booksellers-20130730,0,5881206.story
The 3rd Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest is now underway! Information re entries can be found here:
http://www.geist.com/contests/erasure/erasure/
BOOKS & WRITERS
Arturo Fontaine's La Vida Doble: A Novel demonstrates the extremes of human behaviour in the horror of life under Pinochet, writes Alberto Manguel. Homer states that the gods created suffering to give poets something to sing about. If that's the case, Latin America has contributed to the inspiration of its writers with a rarely broken succession of dictatorships, says Manguel. In the minds and bodies of those who lived through it, it was as close to hell as one could imagine, the title the only tranquil moment.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/27/vida-doble-arturo-fontaine-review
Audrey Niffenegger's Raven Girl is an illustrated fable for adults. Ian McGillis adds that level-headed kids should be more than able to handle it. Through a route learned by reading the book, a lonely postman falls in love with, and marries, a raven. What follows provides rich fodder for questioning: To what degree, in the end, can we transform ourselves?
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/transformation/8716550/story.html
In NoViolet Bulawayo's We Need New Names, the words are as mighty as any sword, writes John Freeman. In this debut novel, NoViolet Bulawayo creates a human scale narrative of the vast African diaspora. This is an anguished, angry, hilarious novel that uses language like a weapon. As the book begins, Darling is around 10 years old and living in Paradise, one of the worst slums in an unnamed African country.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/07/26/we_need_new_names_by_noviolet_bulawayo_review.html
Her husband was killed when Judith Tebbutt was kidnapped by Somali pirates, but she found that walking around the rooms in which she was held hostage helped keep her physically and mentally intact during her ordeal. Her survival strategies recall Mandela's disciplined prison regime in his memoir Long Walk to Freedom. A Long Walk Home becomes a clarion call to cherish whatever we might have left of life, says Anita Sethi.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/27/long-walk-home-tebbutt-review
COMMUNITY EVENTS
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Poetry slam featuring Doc Luben from Portland, OR. Monday, August 5 at 8:00pm. Cost: $6-$10 sliding scale. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
CITY CENTRE
A poetry reading and conversation about life in urban Vancouver featuring Vancouver's poet laureate, Evelyn Lau in conversation with Daniela Elza. Wednesday, August 7 at 7:00pm, free but reservations required. SFU Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/continuing-studies.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Poetry slam featuring Isaac Bond from Saskatchewan. Monday, August 12 at 8:00pm. Cost: $6-$10 sliding scale. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
GOING PLACES
A writerly perspective on travel featuring short story writer Marina Sonkina in conversation. Wednesday, August 14 at 7:00pm, free but reservations required. SFU Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/continuing-studies.
VINCENT LAM
Award-winning Canadian writer and medical doctor Vincent Lam will read from his newest novel, The Headmaster's Wager. Wednesday, August 14 at 7:30pm. City Centre Library, Surrey Public Library, 10350 University Drive, Surrey. More information at 604-598-7420.
JULIE EMERSON
Vancouver Island painter and author will be reading from her latest novel A Hundred Days: a Botanical Novel. Wednesday, August 21 at 12:00 noon. Chilcotin room (rm 256), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, UBC. More information at ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca.
PERSONAL TALES
How a country boy became a poet featuring George Bowering in conversation with Wayde Compton. Wednesday, August 21 at 7:00pm, free but reservations required. SFU Vancouver. More information at sfu.ca/continuing-studies.
PANDORA'S LITERARY AWARDS
Sean Cranbury hosts an awards gala with a musical performance by M'Girl and harpist Amanda Hartley, as well as award presenters Wayde Compton, Evelyn Lau, Steven R. Duncan, Dennis E. Bolen, and Jillian Christmas. This event also serves as a kickoff party for the 10th annual Summer Dreams Literary Arts Festival. Friday, August 23 at 7:30pm, free. CBC Studio 700, 700 Hamilton Street, Vancouver.
KELLEY ARMSTRONG
Author launches a new adult series set in Cainsville with the first book in the series, Omens. Followed by a talk, Q&A and book signing. Monday, August 26 at 7:00pm. Chapters Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. Complete information at 604-431-0463.
VANCOUVER POETRY SLAM
Youth poetry slam featuring Cathy Petch from Toronto. Monday, August 26 at 8:00pm. Cost: $4/$6. Cafe Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. More information at vancouverpoetryhouse.com.
F.G. BRESSANI LITERARY PRIZE
IL CENTRO Italian Cultural Centre is thrilled to announce the publication of the Rules & Regulations for the 2014 Edition of the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize. The literary prize honours and promotes the work of Canadian writers of Italian origin or Italian descent. Deadline: April 2, 2014. Complete details can be found here: http://italianculturalcentre.ca/blog/bressani-literary-prize/.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Book News Vol. 8 No. 24
BOOK NEWS
While we're reveling in the glorious summer weather of the last few weeks, we can't help looking to the fall with great anticipation. The Writers Fest office is abuzz with excitement-books by Festival authors are arriving
daily and we're putting the final touches on the 26th Vancouver Writers Fest program guide. The guide will be on the street and online by the end of August. Stay tuned for details! In the meantime, pencil in the Festival
dates: October 22-27.
FESTIVAL
2013 Vancouver Short Film Festival: Call for Submissions Announcement
BC short filmmakers! The 4th Annual Vancouver Short Film Festival is accepting entries until August 1. Students, recent grads, and professional filmmakers can submit films and videos, the shorter the better! Last year, 29 short films were screened, and over $15,000 in prizes were awarded to BC filmmakers. More info at www.vsff.com.
AWARDS & LISTS
British Columbia-based writer Ruth Ozeki and Canada authors Alison MacLeod and Eleanor Catton have been nominated for the prestigious Booker Prize.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2013/07/23/booker-long-list-authors-canadians.html
Poet and novelist Lavinia Greenlaw will chair the judging panel for a new literature prize open to English-language fiction from around the world. The Folio prize regards itself as a complement, rather than a rival, to the Booker. The new award, founded by literary agent Andrew Kidd and sponsored by the Folio Society, will be open to writers regardless of form, genre or where they are from.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2013/jul/16/lavinia-greenlaw-chairs-folio-prize
The Not the Booker prize is back, and you're a judge. Our pioneering attempt to create a truly democratic, reader-judged books prize, is returning for another year of high-toned brawling, writes Sam Jordison.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/jul/22/not-the-booker-prize-back-judge
Toronto's Mohan Srivastava is the winner of CBC's Canada Writes competition this year for his creative nonfiction piece about The Gods of Scrabble, an impromptu game of Scrabble with three Eastern European women learning English. Srivastava will be awarded $6,000 and a writing residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts for his story, The Gods of Scrabble. Read the story here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/2013/07/the-gods-of-scrabble-by-mohan-srivastava.html
YOUNG READERS
After Dick, Jane and their dog, Spot, there is Veronika Martenova Charles's Wonder Tales, with five slim volumes of fairy and folk tales from around the world. Based on traditional tales like The Frog Prince and Rumpelstiltskin, the paperbacks offer three versions of each tale. At the end of each book, an author's note adds information about the stories. For ages 6 to 8.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/kids+from+Dick+Jane/8683693/story.html
If warrior frogs don't appeal to you, what about a frog princess? In Vivian Vande Velde's Frogged, Imogene is a 12-year-old princess who doesn't feel particularly good or pretty. When a talking frog asks for a kiss to break a witch's spell, she agrees. But when Imogene is frognapped, she starts to believe she will never make it home. For ages 10 and up.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/frogged-tells-the-story-of-a-princess-who-becomes-a-frog/2013/07/16/061dd050-ea51-11e2-8f22-de4bd
NEWS & FEATURES
Independent booksellers striving to keep their shops profitable are paying attention to Belgian researchers who have discovered a simple, inexpensive way to keep customers in the store longer and possibly boost sales. They report shoppers are more likely to engage in leisurely browsing—and ultimately purchase books in certain popular genres, if the store is infused with the scent of chocolate.
http://www.psmag.com/blogs/news-blog/chocolate-the-scent-that-could-save-struggling-bookstores-62847/
Natalie Hanman offers 12 great reads to aid in the recovery from all the excitement of the birth and naming of the royal baby.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/22/royal-baby-12-read-instead
Literature Is Dead (According to Straight, White Guys, At Least). A controversial Harper's essay about the waning relevance of poetry is just the latest in a long history of similar writings—whose authors share a few particular characteristics.
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/07/literature-is-dead-according-to-straight-white-guys-at-least/277906/
Chinese authorities have a toolbox of phrases they use to guide website editors dealing with sensitive topics: harshest is "completely and immediately delete." For acceptable stories, the operative phrase is "first censor, then publish." We know this, thanks in part to Xiao Qiang, an adjunct professor at the School of Information at Berkeley, leading the world in piecing together how Chinese Internet censorship works.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2013/jul/10/censoring-news-before-happens-china/
The 3rd Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest is now underway! Information re entries can be found here:
http://www.geist.com/contests/erasure/erasure/
BOOKS & WRITERS
A.S.A. Harrison's The Silent Wife is reminiscent of Gillian Flynn's thriller Gone Girl, writes Robert J. Wiersema. While the characters are skillfully drawn, and the plotting tight and efficient, The Silent Wife reads more like an insightful, well-written, carefully annotated case file than it does a novel.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Intimacy+alienation/8686625/story.html
Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die; Cherish, Perish, David Rakoff's posthumous novel cements his reputation as a master of bittersweet comedy, writes Ian McGillis. Rakoff had established himself alongside a small group of eminent contemporary comic essayists, before he died last year, at 47. His final collection, 2010's Half Empty, bears a title summing up its author's world view: he was a self-described "life-affirming pessimist." McGillis adds that the ultimate effect is uplifting.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/David+Rakoff+Love+Dishonor+Marry+Cherish+Perish/8683690/story.html
From The Spy Who Came in From the Cold to The Constant Gardener, John le Carré's novels have been as concerned with the lies we tell ourselves as with the secrets we keep from each other. Now the ill-considered use of the BlackBerry in your own pocket can be your undoing, writes Michael Berry.
http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/A-Delicate-Truth-by-John-le-Carr-4547295.php
Philipp Meyer studied at Cornell University and produced two novels. Early works were rejected, but Meyer persevered, penning another book while on a writing fellowship. American Rust was published to huge critical acclaim in 2009 and the New Yorker rated him one of the 20 best novelists under 40 in 2010. His novel The Son, was greeted in the US as the big literary read of the summer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/21/philipp-meyer-interview-the-son
Jane Austen will be featured on the Bank of England £10 note, and will include the quotation from Pride and Prejudice: "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jul/24/bank-of-england-jane-austen
Round two in the search for Canada's most iconic book cover! Among this week's match ups, Roch Carrier's The Hockey Sweater takes on W.O. Mitchell's Who Has Seen the Wind.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2013/07/the-search-for-canadas-most-iconic-book-cover-round-two.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Miranda Pearson and Robert Martens with open mic. Thursday, July 25 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
SURREY MUSE
Arts and literary event features poet Kat Norris, author Siobhan "Mama says" Barker, and performer Daksh Kubba. Open microphone to follow. Friday, July 26 at 5:30pm, free. City Centre, Surrey Public Library, 10350 University Drive, Surrey.
OUTDOOR BBQ/OPEN MIC/POETRY READING
Bring a poem, a song, or other musings to read/sing/perform to the garden and the birds and the people. Please also bring something for the barbecue grill. Sunday, July 28 at 6:00pm. Admission by donation. Please RSVP to kogawahouse@yahoo.ca. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W.
F.G. BRESSANI LITERARY PRIZE
IL CENTRO Italian Cultural Centre is thrilled to announce the publication of the Rules & Regulations for the 2014 Edition of the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize. The literary prize honours and promotes the work of Canadian writers of Italian origin or Italian descent. Deadline: April 2, 2014. Complete details can be found here: http://italianculturalcentre.ca/blog/bressani-literary-prize/.
While we're reveling in the glorious summer weather of the last few weeks, we can't help looking to the fall with great anticipation. The Writers Fest office is abuzz with excitement-books by Festival authors are arriving
daily and we're putting the final touches on the 26th Vancouver Writers Fest program guide. The guide will be on the street and online by the end of August. Stay tuned for details! In the meantime, pencil in the Festival
dates: October 22-27.
FESTIVAL
2013 Vancouver Short Film Festival: Call for Submissions Announcement
BC short filmmakers! The 4th Annual Vancouver Short Film Festival is accepting entries until August 1. Students, recent grads, and professional filmmakers can submit films and videos, the shorter the better! Last year, 29 short films were screened, and over $15,000 in prizes were awarded to BC filmmakers. More info at www.vsff.com.
AWARDS & LISTS
British Columbia-based writer Ruth Ozeki and Canada authors Alison MacLeod and Eleanor Catton have been nominated for the prestigious Booker Prize.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/story/2013/07/23/booker-long-list-authors-canadians.html
Poet and novelist Lavinia Greenlaw will chair the judging panel for a new literature prize open to English-language fiction from around the world. The Folio prize regards itself as a complement, rather than a rival, to the Booker. The new award, founded by literary agent Andrew Kidd and sponsored by the Folio Society, will be open to writers regardless of form, genre or where they are from.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2013/jul/16/lavinia-greenlaw-chairs-folio-prize
The Not the Booker prize is back, and you're a judge. Our pioneering attempt to create a truly democratic, reader-judged books prize, is returning for another year of high-toned brawling, writes Sam Jordison.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/jul/22/not-the-booker-prize-back-judge
Toronto's Mohan Srivastava is the winner of CBC's Canada Writes competition this year for his creative nonfiction piece about The Gods of Scrabble, an impromptu game of Scrabble with three Eastern European women learning English. Srivastava will be awarded $6,000 and a writing residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts for his story, The Gods of Scrabble. Read the story here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/2013/07/the-gods-of-scrabble-by-mohan-srivastava.html
YOUNG READERS
After Dick, Jane and their dog, Spot, there is Veronika Martenova Charles's Wonder Tales, with five slim volumes of fairy and folk tales from around the world. Based on traditional tales like The Frog Prince and Rumpelstiltskin, the paperbacks offer three versions of each tale. At the end of each book, an author's note adds information about the stories. For ages 6 to 8.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/kids+from+Dick+Jane/8683693/story.html
If warrior frogs don't appeal to you, what about a frog princess? In Vivian Vande Velde's Frogged, Imogene is a 12-year-old princess who doesn't feel particularly good or pretty. When a talking frog asks for a kiss to break a witch's spell, she agrees. But when Imogene is frognapped, she starts to believe she will never make it home. For ages 10 and up.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/frogged-tells-the-story-of-a-princess-who-becomes-a-frog/2013/07/16/061dd050-ea51-11e2-8f22-de4bd
NEWS & FEATURES
Independent booksellers striving to keep their shops profitable are paying attention to Belgian researchers who have discovered a simple, inexpensive way to keep customers in the store longer and possibly boost sales. They report shoppers are more likely to engage in leisurely browsing—and ultimately purchase books in certain popular genres, if the store is infused with the scent of chocolate.
http://www.psmag.com/blogs/news-blog/chocolate-the-scent-that-could-save-struggling-bookstores-62847/
Natalie Hanman offers 12 great reads to aid in the recovery from all the excitement of the birth and naming of the royal baby.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/22/royal-baby-12-read-instead
Literature Is Dead (According to Straight, White Guys, At Least). A controversial Harper's essay about the waning relevance of poetry is just the latest in a long history of similar writings—whose authors share a few particular characteristics.
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/07/literature-is-dead-according-to-straight-white-guys-at-least/277906/
Chinese authorities have a toolbox of phrases they use to guide website editors dealing with sensitive topics: harshest is "completely and immediately delete." For acceptable stories, the operative phrase is "first censor, then publish." We know this, thanks in part to Xiao Qiang, an adjunct professor at the School of Information at Berkeley, leading the world in piecing together how Chinese Internet censorship works.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2013/jul/10/censoring-news-before-happens-china/
The 3rd Annual Geist Erasure Poetry Contest is now underway! Information re entries can be found here:
http://www.geist.com/contests/erasure/erasure/
BOOKS & WRITERS
A.S.A. Harrison's The Silent Wife is reminiscent of Gillian Flynn's thriller Gone Girl, writes Robert J. Wiersema. While the characters are skillfully drawn, and the plotting tight and efficient, The Silent Wife reads more like an insightful, well-written, carefully annotated case file than it does a novel.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Intimacy+alienation/8686625/story.html
Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die; Cherish, Perish, David Rakoff's posthumous novel cements his reputation as a master of bittersweet comedy, writes Ian McGillis. Rakoff had established himself alongside a small group of eminent contemporary comic essayists, before he died last year, at 47. His final collection, 2010's Half Empty, bears a title summing up its author's world view: he was a self-described "life-affirming pessimist." McGillis adds that the ultimate effect is uplifting.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/David+Rakoff+Love+Dishonor+Marry+Cherish+Perish/8683690/story.html
From The Spy Who Came in From the Cold to The Constant Gardener, John le Carré's novels have been as concerned with the lies we tell ourselves as with the secrets we keep from each other. Now the ill-considered use of the BlackBerry in your own pocket can be your undoing, writes Michael Berry.
http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/A-Delicate-Truth-by-John-le-Carr-4547295.php
Philipp Meyer studied at Cornell University and produced two novels. Early works were rejected, but Meyer persevered, penning another book while on a writing fellowship. American Rust was published to huge critical acclaim in 2009 and the New Yorker rated him one of the 20 best novelists under 40 in 2010. His novel The Son, was greeted in the US as the big literary read of the summer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/21/philipp-meyer-interview-the-son
Jane Austen will be featured on the Bank of England £10 note, and will include the quotation from Pride and Prejudice: "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jul/24/bank-of-england-jane-austen
Round two in the search for Canada's most iconic book cover! Among this week's match ups, Roch Carrier's The Hockey Sweater takes on W.O. Mitchell's Who Has Seen the Wind.
http://www.cbc.ca/books/2013/07/the-search-for-canadas-most-iconic-book-cover-round-two.html
COMMUNITY EVENTS
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Miranda Pearson and Robert Martens with open mic. Thursday, July 25 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
SURREY MUSE
Arts and literary event features poet Kat Norris, author Siobhan "Mama says" Barker, and performer Daksh Kubba. Open microphone to follow. Friday, July 26 at 5:30pm, free. City Centre, Surrey Public Library, 10350 University Drive, Surrey.
OUTDOOR BBQ/OPEN MIC/POETRY READING
Bring a poem, a song, or other musings to read/sing/perform to the garden and the birds and the people. Please also bring something for the barbecue grill. Sunday, July 28 at 6:00pm. Admission by donation. Please RSVP to kogawahouse@yahoo.ca. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W.
F.G. BRESSANI LITERARY PRIZE
IL CENTRO Italian Cultural Centre is thrilled to announce the publication of the Rules & Regulations for the 2014 Edition of the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize. The literary prize honours and promotes the work of Canadian writers of Italian origin or Italian descent. Deadline: April 2, 2014. Complete details can be found here: http://italianculturalcentre.ca/blog/bressani-literary-prize/.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Book News Vol. 8 No. 23
BOOK NEWS
SPECIAL EVENT
Neil Gaiman
There are still a few tickets for our August 8 event with Neil Gaiman! Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/neilgaiman
Neil Gaiman dives into the deep end of childhood memories lost and nightmares found in The Ocean at the End of the Lane, a fairy tale for adults. Gaiman is a master of creating worlds just a step to the left of our own. You'll be glad you took a dip in his immersive Ocean, says Brian Truitt.
http://books.usatoday.com/book/dive-into-neil-gaimans-%27ocean-at-the-end-of-the-lane/r851790
FESTIVAL
2013 Vancouver Short Film Festival: Call for Submissions Announcement
BC short filmmakers! The 4th Annual Vancouver Short Film Festival is accepting entries until August 1. Students, recent grads, and professional filmmakers can submit films and videos, the shorter the better! Last year, 29 short films were screened, and over $15,000 in prizes were awarded to BC filmmakers. More info at www.vsff.com.
AWARDS & LISTS
The CBC's Canada Writes has announced 10 finalists for its annual creative non-fiction writing prize, selected from more than 2,700 submitted stories. The shortlisted stories can be read here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/
YOUNG READERS
Daniel Wallace creates a magical world in The King and Queens of Roam, both scary and full of wonder. Set in a lush and rainy landscape reminiscent of the Pacific Northwest, populated with such fantastical figures as ghosts, lumberjacks, a haunted forest, and magical life-giving water. The King and Queens of Roam is like a darker The Princess Bride, says Laura Eggertson. Funny and ironic, both are morality tales.http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/07/12/the_kings_and_queens_of_roam_by_daniel_wallace_review.html
Pete Barrett's Tich Vampire Hunter is all about vampires and friendship. "It's adventurous and scary and the characters are really good. Two gangs fight against each other but when they see the real baddie they team up with a whole lot of garlic! The book is about vampires and friendship and I couldn't take my eyes off the page," writes Pen Devil. For ages 8 and up.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2013/jul/11/review-tich-the-vampire-hunter-by-pete-barrett
In Aaron Becker's Journey, a lonely little girl picks up a red marker, draws a door on her bedroom wall and walks through it. Floating and flying through a dramatic escapade, she returns home with a friend. Although that marker will make you think of Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon, Becker's book has a beauty distinctly its own. For ages 4 to 8.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/books/review/journey-by-aaron-becker-and-more.html?nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130712
NEWS & FEATURES
The Vancouver Sun includes reviews of four whodunits "with tween appeal": James Leck's The Further Adventures of Jack Lime; Kristen Kittscher's The Wig in the Window; Caroline Lawrence's P.K. Pinkerton and The Petrified Man; and Ari Goelman's The Path of Names perfect timing to replace already-read summer reading.
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Whodunits+with+tween+appeal/8656214/story.html
Sotheby's says the manuscript of Irish writer Samuel Beckett's first novel has sold at auction for almost 1 million pounds ($1.5 million). Britain's University of Reading bought Murphy, written in 1935-36, for 962,500 pounds ($1.4 million). The six exercise books contain the heavily reworked text of the novel as well as notes, doodles and sketches of figures including James Joyce and Charlie Chaplin. Its many revisions give insights into Beckett's creative process.
http://seattletimes.com/html/books/2021362581_apeubritainsamuelbeckett.html
"There's no limit to the creativity of crime fiction's practitioner," says Val McDermid. "I love crime fiction. I was a fan long before I was a published author." There are many other strands: thrillers rooted in technology, the inexorable rise of the history mystery, the transformation of the spy novel. There's no limit to the creativity of its practitioners."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/11/val-mcdermid-addicted-crime-fiction
Amazon is turning to comics and graphic novels publishing–both physical and digital–with the launch of the imprint Jet City Comics.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jul/10/amazon-jet-city-digital-comics
A federal judge ruled that Apple conspired with publishers to set the prices of e-books, finding that Apple "played a central role in facilitating and executing that conspiracy and will pay damages to be set at a future trial". Five publishers that had been defendants in the case have all previously settled with the Department of Justice, which brought the suit.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-judge-finds-apple-conspired-over-ebook-prices-20130710,0,6920311.story
In her late 80s and in failing health, Harper Lee was "duped" into assigning the copyright of her Pulitzer Prie-winning novel to her literary agent, signing away the rights to the only novel she ever wrote.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-harper-lee-tragic-lawsuit-to-kill-a-mockingbird-vanity-fair-20130709,0,6313195.story
"It's official," Alfred A. Knopf Sr. tweeted last week. "We're now #PenguinRandomHouse." The merger completed on July 1, after regulatory approval, shrinks the Big Six, which publish about two-thirds of books in the United States, down to the Big Five.
http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=creation+of+Penguin+Random+House
Goodreads reveals the "most abandoned" books: books by E.L. James and J.K. Rowling top the ranking of readers' most-shelved novels.
http://www.salon.com/2013/07/09/goodreads_reveals_the_most_abandoned_books/
Abandonment issue: when do you give up on a book? Too heavy going, too lightweight, just too long–what are the reasons to put a volume down?, asks Peter Wild. If you're like me, and 38.1% of you are, you'll read on no matter what, since abandoning a book is tantamount to heresy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/jul/11/give-up-on-book-why-when
Michael Chwe, an associate professor of political science, discovered that Jane Austen's novels are full of strategic thinking, decision analysis, and other tools that would later come to be prized by game theorists like those as the RAND Corporation just after World War II. And so, Chwe wrote a book called Jane Austen, Game Theorist.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/12/austen-game-theory-chwe-review?INTCMP=SRCH
Stored away in the rare-book library at Yale University is a late-medieval manuscript written in a cramped but punctilious script and illustrated with lively line drawings. These illustrations range from the fanciful to the bizarre. The manuscript's botanical drawings are no less strange. But perhaps the oddest thing about this book is that no one has ever read it.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/07/the-unread-the-mystery-of-the-voynich-manuscript.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
Iain Banks used to claim that the only word he wrote on the "interests" section of his university application form was "explosives". There could hardly be a more perfectly Banksian setting for The Quarry, his 27th and final novel. The book's element of compassion may account for the many readers now experiencing a keen grief for the loss of Banks, writes Jake Kerridge.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Final+book+darkly+funny+exploration+assessing+regrets/8656208/story.html
Canada is celebrated for its abundance of fresh water, yet it is estimated that 90,000 cases of illness, and 90 deaths, are caused by contaminated drinking water every year. Ralph Pentland and Chris Wood's Down the Drain: How we are failing to protect our water resources critiques Canada's management of its water supply and proposes a number of solutions to improve.
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Canada+plentiful+supply+fresh+water+decline/8656213/story.html
Before Joseph Heller satirized the madness of war in Catch-22, he told a serious tale about the tragedy of racism. Almost Like Christmas, appearing next week in Strand Magazine, is a grim short story about the stabbing of a Southern white man, the town's thirst for revenge and the black man who has resigned himself to blame. The story has rarely been seen and offers a peek at the early fiction of one of the 20th century's most famous writers, writes Hillel Italie.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Rare+early+heller+story+found/8656243/story.html#ixzz2Z3xbw0oJ
Carl Hiaasen's Bad Monkey reflects Hiaasen's award-winning tendency towards extremities of property development and political corruption in a state where both crime and climate were prone to violence. En route, Hiaasen invented a genre of crime fiction with a series of books, beginning in the mid-80s with Tourist Season and Double Whammy, set in his native Florida.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/10/bad-monkey-carl-hiaasen-review
COMMUNITY EVENTS
SKIN & BONE - SALTY SAILOR TALES
Evening of tall tales and history features Vancouver Maritime Museum curator Patricia Owen, tattoo artist Chris Hold, photographer and social biographer Kathryn Mussallem, and Charles H. Scott Gallery curator Cate Rimmer. Thursday, July 18 at 6:30pm. Tickets: $20 at eventbrite.ca. Vancouver Maritime Museum, 1905 Ogden, Vanier Park.
POETRY GABRIOLA SERIES
Daniela Elza will feature with open mic. Readings in the first half of the evening. Writing in the second half. Thursday, July 18 at 7:00pm. Old Crow Cafe, Gabriola Island. More information at altogetherlisa@yahoo.ca or 250-247-0117.
FAR EAST, MIDDLE EAST
Julia Lin, author of Miah (Tsar, 2012) joins Ava Homa for an evening of readings and discussion about immigration, displacement, and the complexities of lives divided between Taiwan and Canada, between Iran and Canada. Thursday, July 18 at 7:30pm. Admission by donation. To reserve a seat, please RSVP to kogawahouse@yahoo.ca. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W.
WOMEN, KURDS, AND BAHA'IS IN SEARCH OF EQUALITY IN IRAN
Join Farshid Samandari and Ava Homa for an afternoon of music and readings. Sunday, July 21 at 3:00pm. Admission by donation. To reserve a seat, please RSVP to kogawahouse@yahoo.ca. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W.
SHAKESPEARE'S REBEL
In partnership with Academie Duello, Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival presents an evening of words and swordplay in celebration of the Canadian release of C.C. Humphrey's latest novel Shakespeare's Rebel. Monday, July 22 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10. Bard on the Beach, Vanier Park, 1000 Chestnut.
SOUTHBANK WRITERS' PROGRAM READINGS
Students and alumni from SFU Southbank Writers' Program in Surrey join writer-in-residence Ava Homa for an evening of readings and discussion. Hosted by Writers' Studio director Wayde Compton. Monday, July 22 at 7:00pm. Admission by donation. To reserve a seat, please RSVP to kogawahouse@yahoo.ca. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Miranda Pearson and Robert Martens with open mic. Thursday, July 25 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
OUTDOOR BBQ/OPEN MIC/POETRY READING
Bring a poem, a song, or other musings to read/sing/perform to the garden and the birds and the people. Please also bring something for the barbecue grill. Sunday, July 28 at 6:00pm. Admission by donation. Please RSVP to kogawahouse@yahoo.ca. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W.
F.G. BRESSANI LITERARY PRIZE
IL CENTRO Italian Cultural Centre is thrilled to announce the publication of the Rules & Regulations for the 2014 Edition of the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize. The literary prize honours and promotes the work of Canadian writers of Italian origin or Italian descent. Deadline: April 2, 2014. Complete details can be found here: http://italianculturalcentre.ca/blog/bressani-literary-prize/.
SPECIAL EVENT
Neil Gaiman
There are still a few tickets for our August 8 event with Neil Gaiman! Event details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/neilgaiman
Neil Gaiman dives into the deep end of childhood memories lost and nightmares found in The Ocean at the End of the Lane, a fairy tale for adults. Gaiman is a master of creating worlds just a step to the left of our own. You'll be glad you took a dip in his immersive Ocean, says Brian Truitt.
http://books.usatoday.com/book/dive-into-neil-gaimans-%27ocean-at-the-end-of-the-lane/r851790
FESTIVAL
2013 Vancouver Short Film Festival: Call for Submissions Announcement
BC short filmmakers! The 4th Annual Vancouver Short Film Festival is accepting entries until August 1. Students, recent grads, and professional filmmakers can submit films and videos, the shorter the better! Last year, 29 short films were screened, and over $15,000 in prizes were awarded to BC filmmakers. More info at www.vsff.com.
AWARDS & LISTS
The CBC's Canada Writes has announced 10 finalists for its annual creative non-fiction writing prize, selected from more than 2,700 submitted stories. The shortlisted stories can be read here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/
YOUNG READERS
Daniel Wallace creates a magical world in The King and Queens of Roam, both scary and full of wonder. Set in a lush and rainy landscape reminiscent of the Pacific Northwest, populated with such fantastical figures as ghosts, lumberjacks, a haunted forest, and magical life-giving water. The King and Queens of Roam is like a darker The Princess Bride, says Laura Eggertson. Funny and ironic, both are morality tales.http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/07/12/the_kings_and_queens_of_roam_by_daniel_wallace_review.html
Pete Barrett's Tich Vampire Hunter is all about vampires and friendship. "It's adventurous and scary and the characters are really good. Two gangs fight against each other but when they see the real baddie they team up with a whole lot of garlic! The book is about vampires and friendship and I couldn't take my eyes off the page," writes Pen Devil. For ages 8 and up.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2013/jul/11/review-tich-the-vampire-hunter-by-pete-barrett
In Aaron Becker's Journey, a lonely little girl picks up a red marker, draws a door on her bedroom wall and walks through it. Floating and flying through a dramatic escapade, she returns home with a friend. Although that marker will make you think of Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon, Becker's book has a beauty distinctly its own. For ages 4 to 8.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/books/review/journey-by-aaron-becker-and-more.html?nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20130712
NEWS & FEATURES
The Vancouver Sun includes reviews of four whodunits "with tween appeal": James Leck's The Further Adventures of Jack Lime; Kristen Kittscher's The Wig in the Window; Caroline Lawrence's P.K. Pinkerton and The Petrified Man; and Ari Goelman's The Path of Names perfect timing to replace already-read summer reading.
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Whodunits+with+tween+appeal/8656214/story.html
Sotheby's says the manuscript of Irish writer Samuel Beckett's first novel has sold at auction for almost 1 million pounds ($1.5 million). Britain's University of Reading bought Murphy, written in 1935-36, for 962,500 pounds ($1.4 million). The six exercise books contain the heavily reworked text of the novel as well as notes, doodles and sketches of figures including James Joyce and Charlie Chaplin. Its many revisions give insights into Beckett's creative process.
http://seattletimes.com/html/books/2021362581_apeubritainsamuelbeckett.html
"There's no limit to the creativity of crime fiction's practitioner," says Val McDermid. "I love crime fiction. I was a fan long before I was a published author." There are many other strands: thrillers rooted in technology, the inexorable rise of the history mystery, the transformation of the spy novel. There's no limit to the creativity of its practitioners."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/11/val-mcdermid-addicted-crime-fiction
Amazon is turning to comics and graphic novels publishing–both physical and digital–with the launch of the imprint Jet City Comics.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jul/10/amazon-jet-city-digital-comics
A federal judge ruled that Apple conspired with publishers to set the prices of e-books, finding that Apple "played a central role in facilitating and executing that conspiracy and will pay damages to be set at a future trial". Five publishers that had been defendants in the case have all previously settled with the Department of Justice, which brought the suit.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-judge-finds-apple-conspired-over-ebook-prices-20130710,0,6920311.story
In her late 80s and in failing health, Harper Lee was "duped" into assigning the copyright of her Pulitzer Prie-winning novel to her literary agent, signing away the rights to the only novel she ever wrote.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-harper-lee-tragic-lawsuit-to-kill-a-mockingbird-vanity-fair-20130709,0,6313195.story
"It's official," Alfred A. Knopf Sr. tweeted last week. "We're now #PenguinRandomHouse." The merger completed on July 1, after regulatory approval, shrinks the Big Six, which publish about two-thirds of books in the United States, down to the Big Five.
http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=creation+of+Penguin+Random+House
Goodreads reveals the "most abandoned" books: books by E.L. James and J.K. Rowling top the ranking of readers' most-shelved novels.
http://www.salon.com/2013/07/09/goodreads_reveals_the_most_abandoned_books/
Abandonment issue: when do you give up on a book? Too heavy going, too lightweight, just too long–what are the reasons to put a volume down?, asks Peter Wild. If you're like me, and 38.1% of you are, you'll read on no matter what, since abandoning a book is tantamount to heresy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/jul/11/give-up-on-book-why-when
Michael Chwe, an associate professor of political science, discovered that Jane Austen's novels are full of strategic thinking, decision analysis, and other tools that would later come to be prized by game theorists like those as the RAND Corporation just after World War II. And so, Chwe wrote a book called Jane Austen, Game Theorist.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/12/austen-game-theory-chwe-review?INTCMP=SRCH
Stored away in the rare-book library at Yale University is a late-medieval manuscript written in a cramped but punctilious script and illustrated with lively line drawings. These illustrations range from the fanciful to the bizarre. The manuscript's botanical drawings are no less strange. But perhaps the oddest thing about this book is that no one has ever read it.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/07/the-unread-the-mystery-of-the-voynich-manuscript.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
Iain Banks used to claim that the only word he wrote on the "interests" section of his university application form was "explosives". There could hardly be a more perfectly Banksian setting for The Quarry, his 27th and final novel. The book's element of compassion may account for the many readers now experiencing a keen grief for the loss of Banks, writes Jake Kerridge.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Final+book+darkly+funny+exploration+assessing+regrets/8656208/story.html
Canada is celebrated for its abundance of fresh water, yet it is estimated that 90,000 cases of illness, and 90 deaths, are caused by contaminated drinking water every year. Ralph Pentland and Chris Wood's Down the Drain: How we are failing to protect our water resources critiques Canada's management of its water supply and proposes a number of solutions to improve.
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Canada+plentiful+supply+fresh+water+decline/8656213/story.html
Before Joseph Heller satirized the madness of war in Catch-22, he told a serious tale about the tragedy of racism. Almost Like Christmas, appearing next week in Strand Magazine, is a grim short story about the stabbing of a Southern white man, the town's thirst for revenge and the black man who has resigned himself to blame. The story has rarely been seen and offers a peek at the early fiction of one of the 20th century's most famous writers, writes Hillel Italie.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Rare+early+heller+story+found/8656243/story.html#ixzz2Z3xbw0oJ
Carl Hiaasen's Bad Monkey reflects Hiaasen's award-winning tendency towards extremities of property development and political corruption in a state where both crime and climate were prone to violence. En route, Hiaasen invented a genre of crime fiction with a series of books, beginning in the mid-80s with Tourist Season and Double Whammy, set in his native Florida.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/10/bad-monkey-carl-hiaasen-review
COMMUNITY EVENTS
SKIN & BONE - SALTY SAILOR TALES
Evening of tall tales and history features Vancouver Maritime Museum curator Patricia Owen, tattoo artist Chris Hold, photographer and social biographer Kathryn Mussallem, and Charles H. Scott Gallery curator Cate Rimmer. Thursday, July 18 at 6:30pm. Tickets: $20 at eventbrite.ca. Vancouver Maritime Museum, 1905 Ogden, Vanier Park.
POETRY GABRIOLA SERIES
Daniela Elza will feature with open mic. Readings in the first half of the evening. Writing in the second half. Thursday, July 18 at 7:00pm. Old Crow Cafe, Gabriola Island. More information at altogetherlisa@yahoo.ca or 250-247-0117.
FAR EAST, MIDDLE EAST
Julia Lin, author of Miah (Tsar, 2012) joins Ava Homa for an evening of readings and discussion about immigration, displacement, and the complexities of lives divided between Taiwan and Canada, between Iran and Canada. Thursday, July 18 at 7:30pm. Admission by donation. To reserve a seat, please RSVP to kogawahouse@yahoo.ca. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W.
WOMEN, KURDS, AND BAHA'IS IN SEARCH OF EQUALITY IN IRAN
Join Farshid Samandari and Ava Homa for an afternoon of music and readings. Sunday, July 21 at 3:00pm. Admission by donation. To reserve a seat, please RSVP to kogawahouse@yahoo.ca. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W.
SHAKESPEARE'S REBEL
In partnership with Academie Duello, Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival presents an evening of words and swordplay in celebration of the Canadian release of C.C. Humphrey's latest novel Shakespeare's Rebel. Monday, July 22 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $10. Bard on the Beach, Vanier Park, 1000 Chestnut.
SOUTHBANK WRITERS' PROGRAM READINGS
Students and alumni from SFU Southbank Writers' Program in Surrey join writer-in-residence Ava Homa for an evening of readings and discussion. Hosted by Writers' Studio director Wayde Compton. Monday, July 22 at 7:00pm. Admission by donation. To reserve a seat, please RSVP to kogawahouse@yahoo.ca. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W.
TWISTED POETS LITERARY SALON
Features poets Miranda Pearson and Robert Martens with open mic. Thursday, July 25 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation at the door: $5. The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main Street, Vancouver. More information at www.pandorascollective.com.
OUTDOOR BBQ/OPEN MIC/POETRY READING
Bring a poem, a song, or other musings to read/sing/perform to the garden and the birds and the people. Please also bring something for the barbecue grill. Sunday, July 28 at 6:00pm. Admission by donation. Please RSVP to kogawahouse@yahoo.ca. Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 64th Ave. W.
F.G. BRESSANI LITERARY PRIZE
IL CENTRO Italian Cultural Centre is thrilled to announce the publication of the Rules & Regulations for the 2014 Edition of the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize. The literary prize honours and promotes the work of Canadian writers of Italian origin or Italian descent. Deadline: April 2, 2014. Complete details can be found here: http://italianculturalcentre.ca/blog/bressani-literary-prize/.
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