The Vancouver International Writers Festival and the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad present
Spoken World
Spoken word stars from three continents. Featuring Regie Cabico (US), Morganics (AUS), Lemn Sissay (UK) and Kinnie Starr (CAN) and the improvised grooves of Sal Ferreras and his band, Poetic License. Regie Cabico won the 1993 Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam and top prize in three National Poetry Slams. Morganics is an award-winning Sydney based hip hop artist, performer and director. Lemn Sissay is a performer and playwright and the author of four poetry collections. Kinnie Starr has produced four critically acclaimed records and was nominated for a Juno Award for New Artist of the Year.
7:30 pm February 18 & 20
Performance Works
1218 Cartwright Street, Vancouver
Tickets: $20/$18 students & seniors (Vancouver Tix surcharges will apply). Tickets available through Vancouver Tix: 604.629.8849 or online at www.vancouvertix.com. More information: www.writersfest.bc.ca.
plus:
Spoken World workshop
A one day spoken word workshop for students in grades 9 – 12 with Regie Cabico, Morganics, Lemn Sissay and Kinnie Starr.
9 – 4:30 pm, Saturday February 20
$35 (lunch included)
Register today!
Registration: 604 681 6330 or www.writersfest.bc.ca
About the Cultural Olympiad
The Cultural Olympiad is a series of multi-disciplinary festivals and digital programs showcasing the best in Canadian and international arts and popular culture.
http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/culture-and-education/cultural-festival-and-events/-/33968/1wly9jd/index.html
The Globe & Mail offers a re-cap of the year in publishing and reassures us that despite the economic downturn, writers will continue to write.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090102.waheadbooks0103/BNStory/Entertainment/Books
This assessment of the publishing world in The NY Times is a little bleaker.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/books/05publ.html?ref=books
Russell Smith writes that despite all the “disadvantages of reading,” the activity is alive and well.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090107.wrussell0108/EmailBNStory
An agreement between the Cuban national heritage authorities and the New York-based Social Science Research Council has allowed for the digitization of thousands documents that writer Ernest Hemingway kept at his Cuban home.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2009/01/06/hemingway-archive.html
Calgary poet Dennis Bok’s 2002 collection of poetry, Eunoia, released in Britain in October, became the No. 8 seller on Amazon U.K. Christmas week, made the Times of London‘s list of the year’s top 10 books and remains the top-selling book of poetry in Britain.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2009/01/05/eunoia-poet.html
AWARDS
The nominees for the Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction have been announced.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2009/01/06/charles-taylor.html
And here are the winners of the Costa Book Awards, among them 91-year-old Diana Athill in the biography category for her memoir Somewhere Towards the End.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2009/01/06/costa-category-winners.html
BOOKS & WRITERS
Jayne Anne Phillips’s new novel Lark and Termite is “incandescent and utterly original” writes The NY Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/books/06kaku.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
Azar Nafisi’s second memoir, Things I’ve Been Silent About, is much more intimate than her first, Reading Lolita in Tehran.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/books/review/Sciolino-t.html?ref=books
Louise Erdrich’s latest collection of short stories, The Red Convertible, comprises 36 stories and is “a keepsake of the American experience.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/books/review/Schillinger-t.html?ref=books
Michel Faber’s The Fire Gospel is the author’s contribution to Canongate’s series of short novels based on myths, this one nominally linked to the story of Prometheus.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/books/08maslin.html?ref=books
In this interview with Norwegian writer Per Petterson, winner of the 2007 Dublin IMPAC Award for his novel Out Stealing Horses, the author discusses the toll of success, the ferry disaster that took his parents, and his life on a farmstead outside Oslo.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/jan/03/per-petterson-interview
Mystery writer Dennis Lehane talks with the Globe & Mail about seeing his books made into films, why Boston is his spiritual home and what his plans are for his next book.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081228.wlehane1229/BNStory/Entertainment/Books
EVENTS
NANCY FLIGHT
Associate publisher at Greystone Books discusses what is happening in the industry, what publishers are looking for, and what a successful publication pitch includes. Wednesday, January 14 at 7:00pm. CAA member free, non-members $5. Alliance for Arts and Culture (100-938 Howe).
ROB KAPILOW
Win tickets to be in the audience of the CBC Radio Studio One Book Club on Friday, January 16th with Rob Kapilow from What Makes It Great on NPR. With his new book All You Have to Do is Listen, Rob gives the reader and listener a set of tools to use when listening to any piece of music in order to hear its “plot” – its story told in notes. To win tickets to the dynamically entertaining Rob Kapilow go to www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub.
Upcoming
DREW HAYDEN TAYLOR
Award-winning author reads from his novel The Night Wanderer: A Native Gothic Novel, a teen story about an Ojibway vampire. Monday, January 19 at 7:30pm, free. Alice MacKay Room (Vancouver Public Library, 350 W. Georgia).
EVELYN LAU
Author will read from her latest collection of poetry, Treble. Thursday, January 22 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $35. Wine, non-alcoholic beverages & snacks will be provided and the author will autograph your copy of her book. Christianne’s Lyceum of Literature and Art (3696 8th Ave. W.). For more information phone 604-733-1356 or visit www.christiannehayward.com.
WICKANINNISH INN WRITER INN RESIDENCE SERIES
Writer and DaVinci’s Inquest actor Stephen Miller is writer in residence at the Wickaninnish Inn from January 30 to February 1. Stephen is the author of historical thrillers including Field of Mars and its sequel, The Last Train to Kazan. Morning and afternoon workshops on Saturday, January 31, reading and discussion 5:30 – 7:00pm. Fireside chat with Stephen on Sunday, February 1 from noon – 3pm. Tickets available for sale at Tofino’s Wildside Booksellers (1-800-863-4664 or http://tofino-kayaking.com/store-accommodations.html). Events are free of charge for guests of the Inn. www.wickinn.com.
Produced by the Book News Collective: Hal Wake, Brenda Berck, Clea Young, Ann McDonell and Sandra Millard.
To unsubscribe, please visit http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/community/booknews.
Hal Wake
Artistic Director
* * * * * * * * * * *
2009 Festival – 20-25 October inclusive
Vancouver International Writers Festival
Suite 202, 1398 Cartwright Street
Vancouver, BC V6H 3R8
Canada
p: 604 681 6330 x102
f: 604 681 8400
e: hw***@wr*********.ca
w: www.writersfest.bc.ca
……………………………………………………….