| A case of the good activist gone bad, Eileen Coughlan’s novel Grizzly Lies promises the reader both bears and guts. The novel concerns a young journalist whose retreat to Banff proves to be more than a sabbatical from a bad relationship. She soon finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation when her landlord winds up dead and her animal-activist neighbour Arthur disappears. Is the bear-hugging Arthur up to no good? I’ll bet he is. Pages is hosting Coughlan for a reading on Friday, May 27 at 7:30 p.m.
Judging from most of the Saskatchewan expatriates I’ve met, the province creates an incessant nostalgic desire within them. They might not want to move back there, but they’ll always talk about it. If you share that feeling, join Howard Birnie when he reads from his new novel, Return to Willows, an evocation of small-town Prairie life, at McNally Robinson on Friday, May 27 at noon.
Enjoy gritty stories of cops and thieves? Former journalist and investigator Mike Harrison has written a new novel full of them called All Shook Up. He’s also reading at McNally on Friday, May 27 at 8 p.m.
More action from The Banff Centre’s Writing Studio: Don McKay is reading on Thursday, May 26, and Edna Alford and Greg Hollingshead on June 2. Both free events are at 7:30 p.m. in The Banff Centre’s Rolston Recital Hall.
John Vaillant’s book The Golden Spruce looks like one of this year’s best non-fiction titles, and it’s quite the mystery, too. He first wrote about the missing logger-turned-conservationist who took a chainsaw to the famed golden spruce on the Queen Charlotte Islands as a piece in The New Yorker. He’s giving a slide show and reading on Monday, May 30 at 7:30 p.m. The event is hosted by Pages, but is being held at the John Dutton Theatre in the W.R. Castell Central Library.
Not a reading, but of interest nonetheless: Ink Tree Ltd. is giving a talk on the ins and outs of the publishing business. Aspiring writers and the business-minded alike might want to take in this presentation at McNally Robinson on Wednesday, June 1 at 7 p.m.
If you’ve been thinking that now is the time to start writing your memoirs – or if you’re just interested in the art of memoir writing – mark Thursday, June 2 on your calendar. The Writers Guild of Canada and the Alexandra Centre are hosting an evening entitled "Writing Your Life," with a panel consisting of Ashis Gupta, Faye Holt and K. Gordon Neufeld. The event begins at 7:30 p.m.
The second annual fundraising event in support of the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award is also scheduled for Thursday, June 2. You’ll have a chance to meet local artists and freelancers, as well as take part in a silent auction. Dubbed "Wine and Words," it runs from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Owl’s Nest bookstore in Britannia Shopping Centre. If you’d like to donate but can’t attend the event, give Shirley Dunn a call at 259-5689.
What do Rick Mercer, David Suzuki and Margaret Atwood have in common? All three are past recipients of the Bob Edwards Award. This year, they’ll be joined by politician and author Preston Manning, who’ll receive the honour at the annual award lunch hosted by Alberta Theatre Projects on October 11 at the Hyatt Regency. Premier Ralph Klein will also be there to strap on the feedbag. The award is named after the early Calgary journalist and gadfly who was famed for championing the underdog – never mind the fact that most "underdogs" can’t afford to attend the event, a fundraiser for ATP. Tickets are $75 and $125. To purchase, call 294-7402.
Best-sellers
Best-selling books for May 13 to 19 at McNally Robinson
Fiction
1. Zorro
by Isabel Allende
2. Saturday
by Ian McEwan
3. Believe Me
by Patricia Pearson
4. Angels and Demons Illustrated Edition
by Dan Brown
5. Broken Prey
by John Sandford
6. Red Silk
edited by Rishma Dunlop
7. Kafka on the Shore
by Haruki Murakami
8. In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
by Alexander McCall Smith
9. Haunted
by Chuck Palahniuk
10. Rockbound
by Frank P. Day
Non-fiction
1. Reading Lolita in Tehran
by Azar Nafisi
2. A Short History of Progress
by Ronald Wright
3. Where Locals Hike in the Canadian Rockies
by Kathy and Craig Copeland
4. Blink
by Malcolm Gladwell
5. Elvis by the Presleys
by Priscilla Presley
6. Romancing the Rockies
by Brian Brennan
7. Terry
by Douglas Coupland
8. Shake Hands With the Devil
by Romeo Dallaire
9. 1,000 Places to See Before You Die
by Patricia Schultz
10. Suzanne Somers’ Slim and Sexy Forever
by Suzanne Somers |
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