This was an awards-happy week with shortlists announcements for the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, City of Vancouver Book Award, and Ottawa Book Awards, as well as a week of '90s tunes, chats with Gladstone Press publisher Ingrid Paulson, and much more.
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~ Get your earbuds in! Author Lauren Carter pairs a perfectly '90s (and '80s) playlist to go with her gripping novel This Has Nothing to Do With You (Freehand Books).
~ Fiona Tinwei Lam tells us about Pablo Neruda's influence in Odes & Laments (Caitlin Press): "[Neruda] advocates for poetry that is accessible, democratic and unpretentious, and that acknowledges readers’ thirst and hunger for meaning, wonder, delight, and solace."
~ Debut fiction from J.R. McConvey ( Different Beasts from Goose Lane Editions) combines the emotional depth and playfulness of Margaret Atwood’s Wilderness Tips with the paranoia and cosmic horror found in the works of Thomas Ligotti.
~ Publisher and designer Ingrid Paulson chats with us about Gladstone Press where she redesigns covers of classic novels for contemporary readers.
~ And because good book design includes all genres, publisher of Promontory Press Bennett R. Coles lays out five guiding principles for good nonfic design.
~ The Writers' Trust announced its 2019 Fiction Prize shortlist which included some ALU faves: Shut Up You're Pretty by Téa Mutonji (Arsenal Pulp Press), Days by Moonlight by André Alexis (Coach House Books), Season of Fury and Wonder by Sharon Butala (Coteau Books)
~ In somewhat obvious news, celebrity book clubs are actually selling books.
Where in Canada: The Girl Who Stole Everything
We explored Vancouver's east-side streets, which set the backdrop for Norman Ravvin's The Girl Who Stole Everything (Linda Leith Publishing) a novel that deals with the relationship between prewar Polish shtetl life and Jewish lives today.
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