| If you didn’t have a chance to read Jan Lars Jensen’s darkly comic memoir Nervous System last year, now would be the time to do it – he’s this year’s recipient of the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. The book details his struggle with mental illness after the publishing of his first novel, Shiva 3000, written while he and his wife were still living in B.C.’s Fraser Valley. Last year during an interview I asked Jensen what he hoped the book would offer, other than a great read. He replied, "I’d like to de-stigmatize mental illness and de-glamourize writing, and show, through one example, how they can intersect."
The two other finalists for the prize were W. Paul Anderson’s Hunger’s Brides and Bob Stallworthy’s Optics. All three had been vying for a $2,000 award given in honour of the well-loved Calgary author W.O. Mitchell.
If you’re in management and you want to learn how to keep your team of employees happy, join Colleen Kiranas with the launching of her first book, Coaching to Build Great Managers, at the Prairie Ink Restaurant in the McNally Robinson Bookstore on Thursday, June 16 at 7 p.m.
I’ll admit upfront that I’m not too sure what reiki is, or what it attempts to do. But if you’re in the know – or you’d like to know more – check out Joette Lee’s launch for her two new books, Angelic Messages and Thoughts From a Reiki Master. Get spiritual on Tuesday, June 21 at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson.
Help to raise surrealist guru André Breton’s ghost this year with McNally Robinson’s first annual Cut-Up Poetry Contest, taking place on Saturday, June 18. Test your poetic mettle with others who revere Tristan Tzara, William S. Burroughs and the rest of those heroin-addled literary crazies. The writing/cutting starts at 7 p.m., followed by readings at 9 p.m. To register, on your own or as a team, call 538-1797.
Given the overwhelming impression that Calgary consists of nothing but an ever-expanding series of new suburbs, it may be hard to believe there are parts of the city that have been around long enough to gather some history. If you’d like to learn a little about its interesting past, join local historian Harry Sanders, author of Historic Walks of Calgary. Sanders will be launching his book on Wednesday, June 22 at 7:30 p.m. at Pages. During the reading, Sanders will also provide details about walks he’ll be leading this summer around various old neighbourhoods in the city.
Also on June 22, Annie’s Book Company will pay tribute to the late poet Evelyn Ackermann, who died this past winter. An integral part of the local literary scene since arriving in Calgary from Prince Edward Island in the 1990s, Ackermann had a hand in the League of Canadian Poets, Writers Guild of Alberta, Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society and Calgary Writers’ Association. Richard Harrison and Joan Shillington are hosting the evening, which starts at 7 p.m.
Bestsellers
Bestselling books for June 5 to 11 at Pages on Kensington
Fiction and Poetry
1. Stele of Several Ladies
by Stuart Ian McKay
2. Grizzly Lies
by Eileen Coughlan
3. Specimen Days
by Michael Cunningham
4. Sylvanus Now
by Donna Morrissey
5. Three Day Road
by Joseph Boyden
6. Mr. Muo's Traveling Couch
by Dai Sijie
7. The Wonder Spot
by Melissa Bank
8. The Gravesavers
by Sheree Fitch
9. A Long Way Down
by Nick Hornby
10. The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
by Umberto Eco
Non-fiction
1. The Collapse of Globalism
by John Ralston Saul
2. A Short History of Progress
by Ronald Wright
3. Istanbul
by Orhan Pamuk
4. The Greedy Bastard Diary
by Eric Idle
5. The End of Poverty
by Jeffrey D. Sachs
6. Romancing the Rockies
by Brian Brennan
7. Dancing in the No-Fly Zone
by Hadani Ditmars
8. The Golden Spruce
by John Vaillant
9. Your Call is Important to Us
by Laura Penny
10. Suppertime Survival
by Lynn Roblin & Bev Callaghan |
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