| I’m back from my Mexican vacation, and although I can’t tell you much about the literary scene in Playa Del Carmen, there were books in evidence around the resort pool. I was happy to see lots of CanLit mixed in with the usual "holiday" suspects – Grisham, King, Clancy and so on. Life of Pi was a popular choice (I saw more than one copy) and my favourite sight was a family of four lined up on deck chairs, each reading a different book – dad had Life of Pi, mom had a Michael Ondaatje book, older son was reading a hockey book and younger daughter was reading Harry Potter. My own holiday reading was Thomas Wharton’s Salamander, and if you are a person who loves books in an almost physical way (OK, maybe not that much), this is the story for you.
Wharton is a former winner of the Commonwealth Writers First Book Prize for the Canada & Caribbean Region, and that leads naturally into our first piece of news. The 2003 Commonwealth Writers Prize winners in the Best Book and Best First Book categories have been announced. Austin Clarke won the Best Book Prize for the Canada & Caribbean Region for The Polished Hoe and Kwame Dawes won the Best First Book Prize for the Canada & Caribbean Region for A Place to Hide and Other Stories. You can find a full list of winners online at www.commonwealthwriters.com
The Calgary connection in all of this? The winning authors will be part of the 2003 Commonwealth Writers Programme to be held in Calgary in May, and John Ralston Saul will present the awards during a gala dinner at the Glenbow Museum on May 8. The fact this high-profile event will be held in Calgary is very exciting news for the local literary community.
Now that I’m back in the cool climes of Canada, I realize there are two things that will always warm your soul no matter what the temperature is outside – taking a nice drive and attending a good reading. You can have a bit of both by journeying a few short minutes south to hear the work of Touchwood poets Vivian Hansen, Kirk Miles and Cecelia Frey, who will be reading at the Okotoks Public Library tonight, March 20, at 7:30 p.m.
If you want a reading a bit closer to home, check out the launch of Cathy Beveridge’s latest novel, Shadow of Disaster. This novel tells the story of a young woman who is present at the 1903 Frank Slide in the Crowsnest Pass area of Southern Alberta. The book launch takes place Saturday, March 22 at 1:30 p.m at McNally Robinson Booksellers.
On March 26, poet Maurice Mierau will be reading from his new book Ending With Music. He will be joined by up and coming local poet Stuart Ian McKay. Their reading will be at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson Booksellers. |
Copyright ©2003 FFWD. All rights reserved.