Browsing “Vancouver Book Club”

I am absolutely thrilled to bring you the list of winners of the 28th annual BC Book Prizes today! Including Vancouver Book Club alumnus, Charlotte Gill’s Eating Dirt, as well as Chuck Davis’ ultimate history book on Metro Vancouver, every single one of these books below is worthy of picking up in the coming months.

ETHEL WILSON FICTION PRIZE Supported by Friesens and Webcom
Esi Edugyan, Half-Blood Blues (Thomas Allen Publishers)

RODERICK HAIG-BROWN REGIONAL PRIZE Supported by Transcontinental Printing
Chuck Davis, The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver (Harbour Publishing)

HUBERT EVANS NON-FICTION PRIZE Supported by AbeBooks
Charlotte Gill, Eating Dirt (Greystone Books in partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation)

DOROTHY LIVESAY POETRY PRIZE Supported by the BC Teachers’ Federation
John Pass, crawlspace (Harbour Publishing)

CHRISTIE HARRIS ILLUSTRATED CHILDREN’S LITERATURE PRIZE
Supported by Ampersand Inc.
Sara O’Leary (author) and Julie Morstad (illustrations), When I Was Small (Simply Read Books)

SHEILA A. EGOFF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE PRIZE
Supported by the BC Library Association
Moira Young, Blood Red Road (Doubleday Canada)

BILL DUTHIE BOOKSELLERS’ CHOICE AWARD Supported by the BC Booksellers’ Association
Chuck Davis and Harbour Publishing, The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR’S AWARD FOR LITERARY EXCELLENCE
Brian Brett is the recipient of this award, established in 2003 by the Honourable Iona Campagnolo, which recognizes British Columbia writers who have contributed to the development of literary excellence in the province.

A total of $19,000 is awarded to winners with each prize providing $2,000 with the exception of the Lieutenant Governor’s prize which awards $5,000.

This year’s gala, hosted by Charles Demers and attended by the Honourable Lieutenant Governor Steven L. Point, OBC, took place at The Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema at SFU Woodward’s, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts in Vancouver May 12, 2012.

The BC Book Prizes were established in 1985 to celebrate the achievements of British Columbia writers and publishers. The prizes are administered and awarded by a non-profit society that represents all facets of the publishing and writing community. The West Coast Book Prize Society congratulates all of the winners!

Visit BCBookPrizes.ca for more info.

Oh, and lastly, the BC Book Prizes wins our unofficial award for “One of the Best Logos in BC” for their incredible seal:

Read All Over celebrates the bookworm in all of us, showcasing readers in Vancouver and the books they love most.

Veda Hille is a musician and composer living in Vancouver who has captured the attention of many fans and collaborators. “I make records, write for theatre and dance and special occasions, lead an ad-hoc choir and play shows. I teach/mentor intermittently,” she says, and invites us to stay up to date with her adventures through both online and offline channels: “You can follow my doings on Twitter, on Facebook, on vedahille.com, or just wait around my house and see what I’m up to next.”

Who are your favourite Vancouver / Lower Mainland writers?
I have been reading Keith Maillard since I was a teenager, and I come back to him again and again. I am currently quite fond of the many incarnations of Charlie Demers.

Maillard and Demers

Do you have a favourite story set in Vancouver?
The Diviners [by Margaret Laurence] has a Vancouver section. I think that counts.

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

Have you been inside the Terry Salman Branch of the Vancouver Public Library located in the Hillcrest Centre next door to Nat Bailey Stadium? And if you have, have you met Riley the book eating/sorting robot? His job is fairly simple in that he eats the books that you put into his mouth and then sorts them but he is very cool.

Side note: The Hillcrest Centre was designed by Darryl Condon (of Hughes Condon Marler Architects) who was the speaker at this month’s Creative Mornings! His talk and the dialogue that followed were fantastic, stay tuned for the video of his presentation in the next few days. For now, check out his Q & A to learn a bit more about where he’s coming from.

Read All Over celebrates the bookworm in all of us, showcasing readers in Vancouver and the books they love most.

Susan Kang is a Korean-Canadian artist whose first solo show in Vancouver Paintings opens this Friday, May 4th at YACTAC Gallery. A woman of discerning taste, with a wide breadth of interests and knowledge, Susan is a bit of an enigma. As her Q&A reveals, she is both modest and private, darkly humorous and matter of fact – in sum, she’s wicked fun to talk books and art with. Find out for yourself at her opening this Friday and don’t tell her I told you her achilles’ heel: extreme ticklishness.

What’s on your nightstand right now? Are you enjoying it?

I leave my books on different floors/sections of the house… Kafka’s The Castle near the bed, along with Murakami’s 1Q84, varieties of knitting books nearby, and amongst my to-read stacks from the library(and most urgently in need to be returned) are few pocket books and a copy of James Sallis’ novel The Killer is Dying. I loved his other book Drive, so I thought to pick up a copy. I’m just waiting for a right ‘mood’ to read that one.

I may get shot by other Murakami fans… But I’m not really enjoying 1Q84 all that much.

What is next on your list?

James Sallis’ The Killer is Dying. I’m not sure if I’m waiting for a right ‘moment’ to read or as much as I’ve enjoyed his previous book if I’m dreading it. Reading his Drive left me somewhat… pensive.

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

About 30 poetry-loving people joined the Vancouver Book Club and Rob Taylor at the Waldorf Hotel this past Sunday for an afternoon of conversation about the Vancouver Book Club’s spring selection, The Other Side of Ourselves.

Images from the TOSOO poetry-inspired photo contest served as a backdrop for the event as Rob read poems from The Other Side of Ourselves, which is now in its second printing.

“Shark Chaser” brought forward an unusual tale about history and modern poetry; “The Slave Castle of Elmina” referenced back to the time Rob spent in Ghana. Rob’s landlord, who makes a cameo in the poem “Errant”, was at the Waldorf to hear the poem read aloud for the group.

“The love poems, to me, are what hold the book together,” Rob said as he read a final poem “The Same Thing.”

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

This Sunday is the Vancouver Book Club‘s next event, An Afternoon with Rob Taylor, from 2 – 4 pm at the Waldorf Hotel. When we announced the event back in March we also launched a photo contest, with a different poem by Rob Taylor each week providing the inspiration. Over the past 8 weeks there have been some amazing images. Thanks to all the photographers who submitted their work.

This Sunday we will be showing the images as Rob reads his poems, before announcing the winner of the contest. We’ll also be having a discussion and Q&A with Rob about his book, The Other Side of Ourselves, and announcing the book chosen for our Summer Selection. We hope to see you there!

Check out our Facebook event page or our March post for more details on this Sunday’s event.

Last week’s poem was “Computer Monitor Ekphrasis” and it resulted in these images:

“Abstract” by David Jez

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

	Read All Over celebrates the bookworm in all of us, showcasing readers in Vancouver and the books they love most.
	Rob Taylor lives in East Van with his wife, Marta. His first book of poetry, The Other Side of Ourselves, was published by Cormorant Books in April 2011 and is in its 2nd printing. Prior to publication, the manuscript for the book won the 2010 Alfred G. Bailey Prize for best unpublished poetry manuscript. In addition to The Other Side of Ourselves, Rob is the author of three poetry chapbooks, and his writing has appeared in over forty journals, magazines and anthologies. Rob is the co-founder and editor of One Ghana, One Voice, Ghana’s first online poetry magazine, and he is one of the coordinators of Vancouver’s Dead Poets Reading Series.
	The Other Side of Ourselves is the Vancouver Book Club’s Spring Selection.

What are you reading right now?

I usually have a number of books on the go at once. Right now I’m reading Groundwork by Amanda Jernigan, Fielder’s Choice by Elise Partridge, Every Riven Thing by Christian Wiman, Cathedral by Raymond Carver, and Breathing the Page by Betsy Warland.

How do you like your lit served - audio books, graphic novels, used paperbacks, library loaner, e-reader, other?

I like to buy poetry books, usually new. I do this both because I like supporting small-press publishers, authors and booksellers, and because I enjoy building up my collection. My shelves operate as a lending library for poet-friends, so I have a lot of fun keeping them stocked with interesting stuff.

Most of the fiction and non-fiction that I read is acquired by my wife (who has a similar penchant for hoarding novels as I do for poetry), borrowed from friends, or loaned from the VPL.

I’ve tried an e-reader, and have no big quarrel with them, but I have enough screens in my life already, E Ink or not.

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

The Vancouver Book Club’s Spring Selection is Rob Taylor‘s poetry collection The Other Side of Ourselves and to get you into the right frame of mind we’re running a photo contest in the weeks leading up to the April 29th event.

Scroll down to the bottom of the post to read this week’s poem and find out how you can enter.

And if you’re looking for a copy of The Other Side of Ourselves, check out:

Project Space (Vancouver)
Robson and Howe Chapters (Vancouver)
UBC Robson Square Bookstore (Vancouver)
SFU Harbour Centre Bookstore (Vancouver)
SFU Burnaby Campus Bookstore (Burnaby)
Metrotown Chapters (Burnaby)
Marine Drive Indigo (North Vancouver)
Park Royal Indigo (West Vancouver)
Richport Chapters (Richmond)
Strawberry Hill Chapters (Surrey)
Pinetree Chapters (Coquitlam)

Last week’s poetic inspiration was “You Can’t Lead a Horse.”

“Rivers” by Tara Lowry

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>