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.
See more details below
~ 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.
Copyright © 2020 All Lit Up. All Rights Reserved.
All Lit Up is produced by the Literary Press Group and LitDistCo. LPG and LitDistCo acknowledge the financial support of the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Ontario Arts Council.
All views expressed by bloggers and contributors to the All Lit Up blog are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of All Lit Up or the Literary Press Group.
All Lit Up acknowledges we are hosted on the lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat. We also recognize the enduring presence of all First Nations, Métis and the Inuit people, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to meet and work on this territory.
