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LATEST Feature Articles
TD National Reading Summit 2012: Vancouver
by - Friday, May 04, 2012
The TD National Reading Summit III gathered in Vancouver May 2-4 to refine, discuss, brainstorm and generally formulate a strategy, building upon the last two summits, that gets people reading across the country. Reading for pleasure, reading for information, reading for inspiration. We want Canada's cultural identity to be one of hockey AND reading, ok, maybe in reverse order. Just how this story plays out TBC'd! In the meanwhile, check out the organization, think about why you love reading and how to instill the passion of reading for all. Patsy Aldana, founder of Groundwood Books and Rick Wilks, founder of Annick Press are both founding members of the National Reading Campaign steering committee. Patsy is also President of the International Board on Schools for Young People (IBBY) and Canada's representative to the American Publishers Group, among other accolades. Thursday we heard from singer, songwriter and Canadian icon Steven Page, of Bare Naked Ladies and Max Wyman writer, cultural commentator and former Director for the Canada Arts Council for 6 years (2002-2006) who also led the Canadian delegation to the UNESCO World Conference on Arts and Education in Portugal (2006). Max has been anointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada among other honorary degrees. Between stimulating talks, the group discuss the mission, vision, principles and strategy to put together a national reading plan. It's hard work. Frequent doses of caffeine and hi-carb brain treats were injected into our veins between sessions. Satellite groups across the country tuned in via video link and sent their participant sheets which were read out loud and included in the collaborative process. Translators with headphones sat typing and talking into microphones at laptops. Great ideas came forth. Look for these tweets #NRS12 on Twitter.
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LATEST Author Interviews
Vincent Lam's Debut Novel: The Headmaster's Wager
by - Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Giller Prize winner Vincent Lam has today released his first novel titled, The Headmaster's Wager (Doubleday, 2012 Canada and Hogarth Press in America) based on his own grandfather who was "a drinker, womanizer and man-about-town" and the headmaster at an English school in Vietnam. Interviewed today on CTV news, Vincent explains the space between this novel and his last published work - due to the sensitive nature of writing about close family members, the emotions he felt and the care he wished to take with the writing. The premise of the novel is below. Lam won the Giller for his collection of short stories titled Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures (2006). That book was adapted for television as a series that aired in 2010 produced by Shaftsbury Films. In addition to being an author, Lam is an emergency physician who works at the Toronto General Hospital, as well as being a devoted husband and father. Last, Vincent is a passionate advocate for the Toronto Public Library and the value of public spaces that nurture thought, creativity and social capital. Click for CTV Interview
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Feature Articles >>
No Pulitzer Prize Awarded - Scandal or Indictment?
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Sunday, April 22, 2012
My PW bulletin arrived with a great debate on the blowback after America's Pulitzer Prize committee decided NOT to award any of the short-listed nominated books. Response to the decision has been interesting. Anne Patchett wrote a scathing piece that appeared in the NYT and felt that readers are the ones missing out, in addition to the finalists who deserved losing to someone. Is it an indictment of the quality of fiction, a faulty committee process or a justified stance? Despite a jury’s selection of three titles beloved by many—David Foster Wallace’s The Pale King, Denis Johnson’s Train Dreams, and Karen Russell’s Swamplandia!—the award selection committee (a separate body) declined to pick a winner. Read details of the PW report and let us know your thoughts on our blog.
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Book Reviews >>
Who Killed Mom by Steve Burgess
by
Monday, May 07, 2012
The cover design of Who Killed Mom? (Greystone Press) has a black and white photo of a beautiful young woman seated on a picnic blanket holding a scrappy puppy with her three babies seated directly in front of her. The children have that look children get when you are taking their picture at this age of minimal awareness of the importance of holding still for something that remains bafflingly obscure to their immediate need. The mother, Joan Burgess has a look of serenity and fragility at once. Fine bone structure and a side-parted short hairstyle with her trim figure in a practical dress speak volumes. The book has been sent to me by the author's publicist. From my first e-mail exchange with Steve, I am treated to his wit. He jokes, "Guess which one is me in the photo? Two are girls so be careful who you insult".
I guess correctly, "You're the toe-head on the right looking off to the side instead of at the photographer, " I say describing the baby with no shirt and a roly-poly stomach.
Right!" he answers.
"Somehow I feel you have always been a man of distraction and drool." I quip.
Next I study the author's website www.steveburgess.ca and his photo. He is leaning out the window of what looks like a bus, nattily dressed, sporting a grand smile and a high forehead above dark framed glasses. Burgess is an avid traveler and award winning magazine columnist, web contributor for the likes of MSN, Salon, AOL and has been a broadcast host at CBC. He could easily take over as the savvy urban version of Garrison Keillor, the OTHER radio broadcaster I enjoy listening to on CBC (from syndicated programing at NPR).
Over the course of the next week, while ....More >>
Publisher News >>
Hachette Livre: Second Largest Publisher in the World
by
Monday, September 13, 2010
A colleague just published his latest book in the category of Political Science. As it is a page-turner I wanted to write a review and went online to get further information. The search revealed that his stated publisher (Little and Brown) is owned by Hachette Livre, who it emerges is the second largest publisher in the world. Intrigued by this distinction, I set out to discover - who is Hachette Livre and what has contributed to their success? First, Hachette Book Group USA is a leading US trade publisher headquartered in New York, and owned by Hachette Livre. In one year, HBGUSA publishes approximately 450 adult books, 150 young adult and children’s books, and 60 audio book titles. In 2007, the company had a record 82 books on the New York Times bestseller list, with 20 of them ranked #1. In addition to selling and distributing its own imprints, HBG distributes publishing lines for Chronicle Books, Microsoft Learning, Arcade, Time Inc. Home Entertainment, Harry N. Abrams, InnovativeKids, Phaidon Press, Filipacchi Publishing, Kensington, MQ Publications, Strictly By The Book, Weinstein Books and Gildan Media.
Conclusion #1: It helps to have your fingers in the pot of several successful brands that bring volume and quality.
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Whistler Reads >>
Whistler Reads: NO ENEMIES, NO HATRED
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Sunday, April 01, 2012
April marks our launch back into the Whistler Reads public book club series. It is fitting that we should discuss Nobel Peace Prize laureate (2010) Liu Xiobo's new book recently published by Harvard University Press entitled, No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems. Join us the SECOND (not the first as stated earlier) Thursday of June at Armchair Books in Whistler village, where WR members receive a 10% discount on books and where we'll will meet, greet and share refreshments next door at Whistler's popular Gone Bakery Restaurant. Your donation towards a participation fee in advance covers everything. $15 at the door. Be a part of Whistler's reading, thinking book discussion series, where we alternate fiction with nonfiction titles every 8 weeks.
Liu Xiobo is a writer, literary critic, professor and most importantly, a public intellectual and human rights activist who was arrested in 2008 for his ....More >>
WGBH Boston >>
Masterpiece:April Celebrates Two Dickens Classics
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Saturday, March 31, 2012
In the year that marks Charles Dickens bicentenary of birth Masterpiece Classic has released this two-episode rendition which views on television on April 1 and 8th of Great Expectations starring Gillian Anderson (The X-Files, Bleak House) as Miss Havisham, with David Suchet (Hercule Poirot) and Ray Winstone with emerging talents Douglas Booth and Vanessa Kirby. Adapted by Sarah Phelps (Oliver Twist). Great Expectation is of course the story of Pip, a battered orphan boy, who rises from blacksmith's apprentice to gentleman under the patronage of a mysterious benefactor. (Click the hot links for direct purchase of the DVD's to add to your Masterpiece movie collection.)
April 15, 2012 at 9pm (Check local listings)
Mystery of Edwin Drood
One 120-minute episode
An adaptation and completion of Charles Dickens' last novel left unfinished at his death, The Mystery Of Edwin Drood is a psychological thriller about a provincial choirmaster's obsession with 17-year-old Rosa Bud. Cast includes Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters) and Julia MacKenzie (Miss Marple).
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Wine & Book Club >>
Wine & Book Group Pick for Feb-Mar 2012
by
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan won Canada's highest honor, The Scotiabank Giller Prize for 2011. Esi was also longlisted for the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction, a finalist for the Man Booker Prize, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, the Governor General's
Literary Award for Fiction, the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction and the Ethel WIlson Fiction Prize. That is a lot of final lists! Take a peek as Esi is awarded her prize at the Giller Prize ceremony followed by her interview on Canada AM.
The author's website describes the novel as: "Berlin, 1939. A young, brilliant trumpet-player, Hieronymus, is arrested in a Paris cafe. The star musician was never heard from again. He was twenty years old. He was a German citizen. And he was black.
Fifty years later, Sidney Griffiths, the only witness that day, still refuses to speak of what he saw. When Chip Jones, his friend and fellow band member, comes to visit, recounting the discovery of a strange letter, Sid begins a slow journey towards redemption.
From the smoky bars of pre-war Berlin to the salons of Paris, Sid leads the reader through a fascinating, little-known world, and into the heart of his own guilty conscience.
Half-Blood Blues is an electric, heart-breaking story about music, race, love and loyalty, and the sacrifices we ask of ourselves, and demand of others, in the name of art. ....More >>
Author Interviews >>
Didn't Get No Pussy Neither....
by
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
It's Poetry Month, the time of year when literary types as well as those fearing Alzheimer's vow to memorize and publicly recite more poetry. Actually, poetry has probably never been more of a pop phenomenon if you include the modern versions: Rap and Poetry Slams. Compare those two presentations to the content and cadence of the poetry you read in high school and university by luminaries such as Edna St. Vincent Millay or A.E.Housman, these were pieces read in quiet contemplation for personal enjoyment, sans blare of amplified speakers or requisite attendance at a public crush. The New York Public Transit Authority selects a few pieces of poetry for public display on its transit surfaces each April. Thom Gunn's work was selected and he tells a humorous anecdote in this video followed by a reading from his poems:Jamesian and The Home. The first line begins, "Their relationship consisted in discussing if it exhisted..." to which a graffiti artist adroitly annotates below, "...and I didn't get no pussy neither." ....More >>
Technology Corner >>
Slide Share and TED Talks: 2 Ways to Learn FAST
by
Thursday, April 26, 2012
I was out for drinks with the girls (chromosomally we DO qualify) and one of our group had not heard of TED Talks. This rather astonished me. I have a habit of viewing TED talks on my iPad at night before bed. Some people drink hot milk, others take an ativan. I like the idea of dozing off and infusing my brain with creative ideas. TED stands for Technology Education Design with the bold red sign displayed right behind the speaker. Experts in diverse fields give TED talks on topics as wide as: brain physiology, astrophysics, human behavior, art, and architecture. They use intriguing titles like: What makes us happy? How women are reshaping the world. The rise of collaboration in technology. They're brief, 12-17 minutes, so once you watch one you can't stop! Browse the list according to theme, speaker or topic, or "most viewed" or "recent", if you're a regular. Search a well-known name and you will likely find they've done a TED Talk. Jamie Oliver talks about obesity in America. Bill Gates talks about really brilliant educator. Elizabeth Gilbert talks about genius and how we ruin it. Jane Goodall talks about what separates us from the apes.
Another wonderful way to pick-up topical statistics on diverse and fascinating subjects is from a wesite that stores slide presentations - from ALL kinds of sources. SLIDESHARE.COM. I'm interested in edcucation, libraries and digital technology so a slide presentation by the Pew Center for Research on the topic with data results from a study supported by a several million dollar grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a fantastic source of information to absorb and incorporate into my writing and talks! Choose from their list of themes or topics and you'll be amazed what you will find. Browse by category or by popular rank according to other social media sites from which they are aggragated: SlideShare is the best way to share presentations, documents and professional videos. Get a free account to upload and share. Or go PRO to get more. ....More >>
Events >>
Tribeca Film Festival: Available To Viewers At Home
by
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
What a great concept - a film festival you can watch from home! You don't have to be in New York. Check out the line-up for the Tribeca Film Festival-at home 2012 sponsored by American Express - April 19-29th. I was particularly drawn to a film called Knuckleball when the Tribeca Film Festival program came out. It's the story of a small cadre of pitchers in American baseball who mastered the pitch which requires them "to have the fingers of a safecracker and the mind of a Zen Buddhist," or as it is alternately described, "it's like trying to throw a butterfly into your neighbors mailbox." Filmakers Annie Sundberg and Rickie Stern claim it's a metaphor for society and the economic times we face today. While mainstream is bsessed with youth, power and speed the people who master knuckleballs go completely against the mainstream grain; craftsmanship, patience and time are what go into acquiring this pitch, and it is what keeps players in the game when others flame out. The two pitchers for the Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets are the year long subjects of the film.
Another topic of focus at the Tribeca Film Fest is about the future of film itself. Everyone is scrambling to find ways to deliver films to consumers in the mediums with which they now consume them; via You Tube, the net and how films are marketed as well. For example - are Tweet Seats the new smoking section? How does the medium serve when its virtual screen has gone from theatre size to iPad size for many viewers? ....More >>
MASH UP >>
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Some Member Book Selections
 
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