Friday, September 21 to Sunday, September 23, 2012
The Authors Tent
click times to expand programming
Host: Sean Cranbury, Books on the Radio & W2’s Real Vancouver Writers’ Series
11:00 ::
Join Books on the Radio host Sean Cranbury for an interview with Inkstuds author Robin McConnell in an engaging look at modern graphic novels and comic books. Sean and Robin are both hosts of respected radio programs and podcasts. Inkstuds is a collection of thirty interviews with North American alternative comic artists taken from the impressive archive of the radio show with the same name. The interviews focus on the creative process and influences but often veer in interesting directions.
(Conundrum Press $20.00)
Host: Sheryl MacKay, CBC’s North by Northwest
11:30 ::
For years, journalist and amateur tailor JJ Lee tried to ignore the navy suit that hung at the back of his closet—his late father’s last suit. When he decides to finally make the suit his own, little does he know he is about to embark on a journey into his own past. Woven throughout the personal stories are entertaining accounts from the social history of the man’s suit. JJ Lee is the menswear columnist for the Vancouver Sun and broadcasts a weekly fashion column for CBC Radio in Vancouver. JJ Lee will read from The Measure of a Man and conduct an interactive session.
(McClelland & Stewart $29.99)
HOST: Jerry Wasserman, actor, critic, UBC theatre professor
12:00 ::
‘Crossing’ explores the tormented, sexually charged relationship between a mother and her teenage son, bound together by guilt and fear over a horrific incident ten years prior. ‘Diamond’ is an elliptical, meta-theatrical dissection of one woman’s intimate story. ‘Ticks’ is the frantic, metronome-accompanied monologue of a self-appointed, disease-stricken messiah, eager to bring a plague upon the city. C. E. Gatchalian is the author of three books of drama and one book of poetry. His plays have appeared on stages nationally and internationally, as well as on radio and television.
(Lethe Press $13.00) Presented by The Playwrights Guild of Canada
12:20 ::
Day lives with his mother in their historic family estate, shared with their new Turkish neighbours, the Zekis. While Day would prefer to avoid a long-buried family secret, their neglected but luxurious garden reminds Layla Zeki of the Paradise Garden of Judeo-Christian / Islamic tradition. As love blossoms between Layla and Day, they struggle to find their similarities and understand their differences. Lucia Frangione is a young post-feminist voice in Canada’s independent theatre scene. She is the two-time recipient of the Gordon Armstrong Playwright Award and in 2001 won the Sydney Risk playwright award for Cariboo Magi.
(Talonbooks $17.95) Presented by The Playwrights Guild of Canada
12:40 ::
Labrador is about a part of the world that practically no one knows anything about—Canada’s own Siberia. It’s also about the cycle of generations, how the hell bread got invented, the blurry line between fact and fiction, why schedule needs to be pronounced with a k sound, and how aliens and archaeologists are the same. TJ Dawe has written and performed eleven solo shows and participated in more than eighty theatre and comedy festivals. He was named the 2004 Touring Artist of the Year by the BC and Alberta Arts Council and his plays have been produced in Canada, the US and overseas.
(Brindle & Glass $12.95) Adopted By Val Mason
1:00 ::
Something Fierce is a gripping and darkly comic memoir of a young underground revolutionary during the Pinochet dictatorship in 1980s Chile. Writing with passion and deep personal insight, Carmen Aguirre captures her constant struggle to reconcile her commitment to the movement with the desires of her youth and budding sexuality. What results is a gripping story of love, war and resistance and a rare first-hand account of revolutionary life. Carmen Aguirre has written or co-written eighteen plays, including The Refugee Hotel, which was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for best new play in 2010. Something Fierce is her first book.
(Douglas & McIntyre $32.95)
HOST: Charles Demers, author & comedian
1:20 ::
Montana-born Rex loves nothing more than to take his kayak out on a river—the faster and more powerful the better so he is thrilled when he gets to tackle the El Furioso in southwest Colombia. Once there, he meets Myriam Calambás, an indígena, who has grown up along the river and dreams of leaving to get an education so that she can help her people. Her dreams, and her very survival, are in the balance when she and Rex are caught up in the clash between paramilitaries that work for rich landowners and guerillas, who are supposed to be protecting the poor. Pam Withers is a former whitewater kayak instructor and raft guide and author of fifteen bestselling outdoor-adventure novels for teens, several nominated for awards. Ages 12 and up
(Tundra Books $19.99)
1:40 ::
It’s the beginning of the school year and the grade 10 health class must work in pairs on semester-long projects. When Coop is matched with the infamous “Hot Dog” Helen for a presentation on safe sex everybody’s laughing, except for Coop. He decides that the only way to escape this social death sentence is to win “The Battle of the Bands” with his group, Arnold Murphy’s Bologna Dare. Get ready for riffs on hot girls, health class, and social hell in the sequel to Swim the Fly. Don Calame is a screenwriter whose film projects include Employee of the Month and Hounded. Ages 14 and up
(Candlewick Press $9.00)
HOST: Norman Armour, Executive Director, PuSh Int’l Performing Arts Festival
2:00 ::
Sugar Snaps and Strawberries gives you the dirt on growing gorgeous organic food with very little square footage. Straightforward design and growing advice, luscious photography and simple tips can help you to join the grow-your-own revolution and create your own stylish and edible oasis. Andrea Bellamy is the creator of Heavy Petal, an acclaimed blog that focuses on urban, organic vegetable gardening and that has been featured in magazines such as Sunset and Canadian Gardening.
(Timber Press $19.95)
2:20 ::
Chicken Poop for the Soul is about a common dream: to return to a simpler life. Kristeva Dowling’s story is a witty, humorous and often bizarre journey as she attempts to control her own food sovereignty. Between mothering baby chicks, canning preserves, tracking wild game and growing her own wheat, she reflects on her new-found tangible skills, her intangible problems and the politics and barriers that face BC’s small farming community. Kristeva Dowling is originally from Vancouver and has been a contributor to “Not Dabbling in Normal”, the Coast Mountain News and the Williams Lake Tribune.
(Caitlin Press $26.95) Adopted by Penny Lehan Law Corporation
2:40 ::
One of the National Post’s Most Anticipated Books of 2011, The Blue Light Project tracks three days in the life of an unnamed North American city gripped by a hostage-taking in a television studio. It’s a time of fear, a time when people have grave doubts about the future and even about each other. But in the midst of this chaos there are also revelations regarding the power of beauty in the world, and the real possibility of hope. Timothy Taylor is the winner of the Journey Prize. His book Stanley Park was the ‘One Book One City’ selection for Vancouver and was on the shortlist for the Giller Prize.
(Knopf Canada $29.95) Adopted by The Humber School for Writers
3:00 ::
It’s December 1997 and a man-eating tiger is on the prowl outside a remote village in Russia’s Far East. To the horrified astonishment of a team of hunters, it emerges that the attacks are not random: the tiger is engaged in a vendetta. The Tiger shines light upon the ancient relationship between predators and prey, providing an intimate portrait of an increasingly threatened habitat. John Vaillant is the author of The Golden Spruce, which won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction. He has also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic and The Walrus.
(Random House $22.00) Adopted by Judy Taylor
3:25 ::
EVENT magazine celebrates 40 years of publishing contemporary poetry and prose this year. We are pleased to present contributors reading from EVENT Volume 40, Issue 1: Wayde Compton (“The Instrument”), Amber Dawn (“The Calling of the Goddess”), Charles Demers (“Remembrance of Things Delirious”), and Sheryda Warrener (“Tectonic”). Wayde Compton is a Vancouver writer whose books include After Canaan: Essays on Race, Writing, and Region, Performance Bond, Bluesprint: Black British Columbian Literature and Orature and 49th Parallel Psalm. He is a co-founding member of the Hogan’s Alley Memorial Project. Amber Dawn is a Vancouver writer, filmmaker and performance artist. She is the author of the novel Sub Rosa, editor of the Lambda Award-nominated Fist of the Spider Woman and co-editor of With a Rough Tongue: Femmes Write Porn. Charles Demers is a stand-up comedian, novelist and essayist. His books include The Prescription Errors and Vancouver Special, the latter of which was shortlisted for the Hubert Evans BC Book Prize for Non-Fiction. Originally from Grimsby, Ontario, Sheryda Warrener has lived in Japan and Sweden, and now calls Vancouver home. She has been shortlisted for several awards. Her first collection of poetry, Hard Feelings, was released by Snare Books in Fall 2010.
Host: Vancouver Public Library
4:10 ::
Wayde Compton, the Vancouver Public Library’s seventh Writer-in-Residence, will discuss themes and issues that arise in his body of work. Wayde Compton is a Vancouver writer whose books include After Canaan: Essays on Race, Writing, and Region, Performance Bond, Bluesprint: Black British Columbian Literature and Orature and 49th Parallel Psalm. Compton is also a co-founding member of the Hogan’s Alley Memorial Project, an organization dedicated to preserving the public memory of Vancouver’s original black community. He is one of the publishers of Commodore Books. During his residency, Wayde will spend time writing, mentoring emerging writers, conducting workshops, and more.
Adopted by Vancouver Public Library
Host: Ann-Marie Metten
4:30 ::
Toronto-based non-fiction author Susan Crean, 2011 writer-in-residence at Historic Joy Kogawa House, is living in Vancouver while she researches and writes a major work of literary non-fiction that combines genres of history, biography, journalism, and memoir. While living in the Marpole writers’ residence, Crean will continue research in historic Chinatown on one aspect of her work, which includes the story of head-tax payer Mr. Wong Dong Wong, whose life began in the village of Taishan, Guangdong, then continued in Vancouver when his adopted uncle brought him to Canada in 1911. Susan Crean will discuss her writing project and the public programming planned during her three-month residency at Historic Joy Kogawa House in Vancouver.
