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Uncategorized

BC BookWorld Needs Your Help

A message from Alan Twigg, Publisher of BC BookWorld:

*The provincial government has suddenly rescinded ALL funding to /BC
BookWorld/, *the most-read publication about books in Canada.

Notice of this pre-Olympics decision to break a 22-year-old relationship
with the newspaper came from Andrea Henning, executive director of Arts
& Culture, during a brisk phone call, without any explanation or paper
trail, and with less than a month’s notice.

On the same day, the BC publishers’ association and the BC magazine
publishers’ association similarly learned all their funding had been
removed. To avoid more bloodletting, literary arts groups have formed
the /Coalition for the Defence of Writing and Publishing in B.C/.

You’re a writer, so by all means, write a letter to the Premier or your
MLA—or to us—if the spirit moves you, to protest these draconian
measures. But, more importantly, if you want *B.C. BookWorld* to serve
authors for another 22 years, become a Supporter / Subscriber. If you
are willing to spare the cost of two movie tickets, we can save /B.C.
BookWorld/ as a public institution that serves 100,000 readers
throughout the province, via more than 900 outlets.

It’s not charity. It’s a good deal. Send a cheque for $25 made out to
*PACIFIC BOOKWORLD NEWS SOCIETY, *and we’ll mail /B.C. BookWorld/ to
your home or office address throughout 2010. In essence, I am asking one
thousand authors to collectively replace Gordon Campbell’s government.

It’s a case of double jeopardy. If we’re not making the newspaper, it’s
unlikely my colleague David Lester and I will be able to maintain our
free reference site—for and about more than 9,000 B.C. authors—at
www.abcbookworld.com <http://www.abcbookworld.com/> (for which we have
never received a penny).

That’s the gist of the situation. It’s up to you. Show us that Gordon
Campbell made the wrong decision. Send your Supporter / Subscriber
cheque ($25) today to *PACIFIC BOOKWORLD NEWS SOCIETY, 3516 West 13th
Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V6R 2S3. *

–Alan Twigg, Publisher

For info: Google the *Coalition for the Defence of Writing and
Publishing in British Columbia*. Or visit
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=148926547819

/Sent on behalf of Pacific BookWorld News Society; publisher Howard
White (president), historian Jean Barman, Simon Fraser University chief
librarian Lynn Copeland, Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing
director Rowland Lorimer, Association of Book Publishers of British
Columbia executive director Margaret Reynolds, author Andreas Schroeder,
bookseller Don Stewart and Vancouver Public Library chief librarian Paul
Whitney. In conjunction with the Coalition for the Defence of Writing
and Publishing in British Columbia./

Categories
Book Signing

Lorna Crozier (Small Beneath The Sky) & Brian Brett (Trauma Farm) Book Signing

Victoria’s Lorna Crozier and Salt Spring Island’s Brian Brett held a joint book signing at Munro’s Books. Crozier with her new book Small Beneath The Sky, a memoir and Brett with Trauma Farm, subtitled A Rebel History Of Rural Life. The two posed for a photo after sitting down and then realized their books were on the wrong side. They quickly switched them and then posed for another shot with writers and books in the right spot.

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Categories
Interview

Will Ferguson – Beyond Belfast – Interview

Will Ferguson, photographed by Don Denton
Will Ferguson, photographed by Don Denton

LP: You’ve got a new book out, a travel book, Beyond Belfast, published by Penguin. What’s it about?

WF: It’s about a two-month, 560 mile hike I did along the Ulster Way “the longest waymarked trail in the British Isles.” It was bogs, banshees and blood sausage. With sheer-drop coastlines, crumbling castles and many’s a pub.

LP: Why Northern Ireland?

WF: I was raised by the daughter of a Belfast orphan, and Northern Ireland has always been there, lurking in the background — not the least of which is due to family rumours of a lost inheritance and a possible castle of my own. My grandfather’s past is murky at the best of times, and a mystery lurks at the heart of the story.

LP: One of your first books was Hitching Rides with Buddha, where you hitchiked across Japan. As a slightly older person than you were then, were there any differences or challenges in the physical act of traveling?

WF: I’m certainly more creaky and less patient when it comes to bad meals and questionable sleeping arrangements. I camped on the trail several times in Northern Ireland, and I when I woke I always felt like I’d just come from the wrong end of a pummeling.
LP: What’s next? Are you working on another novel?

WF: The next book is a Christmas memoir with an illustrator. It’s a gift book about my own childhood in northern Alberta titled Coal Dust Kisses.

LP: Will we ever see another Canadian political/historical  book from you?

WF: It may be a while. I really feel I’ve said my piece — and anyway, my Canadiana usual springs out of anger and outrage, and lately I haven’t been angry enough to launch into another extended harangue. Irked, yes. Annoyed, certainly, But not really angry.

LP:  You’ll be on the road promoting this new book, do you bring reading material and if so, what for this trip?

WF: I’m reading a travel/political memoir titled Untapped. It’s about the scramble for Africa’s oil. It’s fascinating — and sobering. (Although I love writing fiction, I prefer reading nonfiction.)

Will Ferguson’s website is: www.willferguson.ca

Categories
Anonymous Bookshelf

Anonymous Bookshelf #7

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Categories
Anonymous Bookshelf

Anonymous Bookshelf #6

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Categories
Book Cover

Rowan The Strange Book Cover

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The cover for Julie Hearn’s book Rowan The Strange published by Oxford University Press is based on a photo I took several years ago of my youngest son.  It’s always great to get an image published somewhere different and while I’ve had my own books published and have had a number of writer portraits used for book covers this is the first book cover from a photograph of mine. The image was chosen from a British/Spanish agency I have some photos with, Arcangel. Here’s arecent review of the book from the Guardian. I’m not sure if a North American edition has been released but the British edition is easily available/ordered through your local bookstore.

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Another photo of my son was used on a Dutch version of a Hugo Hamilton book. I’m not sure what the English version was titled as my Dutch is nonexistent.

Categories
In The Newspapers

Malcolm Lowry Centenary

Writer Tom Hawthorn has a column in the Globe and Mail about the ongoing connection between the late Malcolm Lowry and British Columbia and a centenary conference celebrating the author at The University of British Columbia.

Categories
Book Launch Book Review Publisher's Announcement

New Books from Nightwood Editions – Bachinsky, Binks, Bowling, Rosnau and Scofield

The ever helpful Rachel at Nightwood Editions had sent me a number of their latest books and I thought it was about time I brought them to your attention. Four poetry volumes and one novel for you to check out. Great also to read on their site the news (that I had completely missed) that Brad Cran is now Vancouver’s new poet laureate.

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‘god of missed connections’ is Elizabeth Bachinsky’s third book of poems.

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‘The Book Collector’ from Tim Bowling. An amazing looking cover.

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Novelist and poet Laisha Rosnau with her new book of poems ‘lousy explorers’

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The latest from Metis poet Gregory Scofield ‘Kipocihkan’. Kipocihkan is a Cree slang for someone who is unable to talk, a mute.

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From Andrew Binks, his first novel ‘the Summer Between’

Categories
News

New Toronto Small Press Group Co-Organizers Announced

Details in press release below:

Dear TSPG community,

Thank you all for your help in creating a wonderful Spring TSPG Book Fair at the Toronto Reference Library. In our first e-mail, we said we would be working to the best of our abilities on your behalf, and judging by the highly supportive and positive feedback we received in the days and weeks after, we believe we succeeded in our objectives: by obtaining the best possible venue, we significantly raised the profile of the fair; funding from the TAC was reinstated, while OAC funding was continued; we also took the unprecedented step of adding an international component to the fair; seventeen of Toronto’s finest writers read from their work; and by accommodating 95 exhibitors in one space, we set a TSPG record. In addition to this, we showcased two highly successful off-site TSPG reading events at Ben McNally Books and Ireland Park.

We thoroughly enjoyed co-organizing the fair, but due to the fact we will be relocating to Mexico, we have decided to hand stewardship of the Toronto Small Press Group along to Sang Kim and Lisa Pasold. We did not take this decision lightly, but throughout an extended dinner meeting/interview, during which both displayed an impressive knowledge of small press matters, we became convinced that Sang and Lisa will do a great job in co-organizing the Fair.

Both Lisa Pasold and Sang Kim are published authors from the small press (see bios below). They bring a wealth of administrative and management expertise from a variety of industries. They are thrilled to be organizing the Fair and will continue to foster an inclusive culture while bringing artistic leadership and strategic vision to the organization.

SANG KIM:

Sang Kim has published two books, Ballad Of A Karaoke Cowboy (2007) and A Dream Called Laundry (2006), both by KCLF Press. Austin Clarke has written in the introduction to “A Dream Called Laundry”: “It is the voice, the posture, the majestic stature that makes it the successful entry onto the Canadian literary stage that it is.” His works have been produced, translated, and taught in two languages.

His novel, Driftwood Avenue, about a group of boys coming-of-age in the Jane-Finch housing projects during the late ’80s will be launched in late 2010; he is currently working on Letters To A Young Worker, reflections on aligning Money/Meaning and Work/Love for youth preparing to enter the workplace.

His literary and professional work has been profiled or reviewed in The Toronto Star; Globe and Mail; National Post; Toronto Life; Halifax Chronicle-Herald and has also been interviewed on CBC Television.

He is the founder and President of Bridge Canada, an industry-leading job placement company and training centre for international students based in Canada.

LISA PASOLD:

Lisa Pasold’s first book of poetry, Weave, appeared in 2004 from Frontenac House in Calgary. Stephen Osborne in Geist magazine called the book “quite simply a masterpiece: there is more in these eighty odd pages than in most novels.” Her second book of poetry from Frontenac, A Bad Year for Journalists, appeared in 2006; The Globe and Mail called this poetry collection “critical, darkly funny and painstakingly lyrical.”

Her literary work has appeared in magazines such as Fence, Exile, and New American Writing. Her poetry is included in anthologies from presses such as Short Fuse and littlefishcartpress. And she has spent many interesting hours making chapbooks on a variety of kitchen tables from Vancouver to Paris, France.

As a journalist, Lisa’s work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Chicago Tribune, Fence, The Calgary Herald, New York Living, and Time Out. She has also worked as a correspondent for Billboard Magazine.

In 2006, she taught Creative Writing at the American University in Paris; she has also led workshops in writing family history & memoir in France and in Canada. In 2007, Lisa spent three months in the Yukon, at the Berton House Writer’s Retreat in Dawson City. She is now based in Toronto and writes a blog called “elsewhere” (http://lisapasold.blogspot.com/). Her first novel, Rats of Las Vegas, is appearing with Enfield & Wizenty in September 2009.

Kind Regards,

Veronica Garza Flores & Colin Carberry

Categories
Photography Portraits

Timothy Findley – Portrait

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Sometimes you don’t need a face for a portrait.

I had photographed the late Timothy Findley for my first book First Chapter and following that photo session he sat down for an interview and lunch with then Calgary Herald books editor, now best selling author in his own right, Ken McGoogan. I joined the pair and Findley’s partner Bill Whitehead and continued to take a few photos but mainly listened in. What I was treated to was an entertaining hour and a half as Findley and Whitehead, the practiced tag team that they were, traded stories, memories, observations while eating, smoking and drinking wine. i think Ken just hung on and tried to get it all down.  It was an incredibly enjoyable lunch and I think this image showing Findley’s hand, glasses and wine remind me more of that encounter than the other, more traditional,  portraits I took that day.