Daniel O'Thunder, by Ian Weir, is nominated for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize; Savage Gods, Silver Ghosts, by Ehor Boyanowsky, is nominated for the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize; All That We Say Is Ours, by Ian Gill, is nominated for the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize; and Red, by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, is nominated for the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award. The winners will be announced at the annual gala on April 24th at the Government House in Victoria, and will receive a $2,000 cash prize. For more information visit the BC Book Prizes website.]]> Small Beneath the Sky, by Lorna Crozier, is nominated for the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize; A Thousand Dreams, by Larry Campbell, Lori Culbert & Neil Boyd, is nominated for the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize; and Trauma Farm, by Brian Brett, is nominated for three awards: the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize, the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize, and the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award. The winners will be announced at the annual gala on April 24th at the Government House in Victoria, and will receive a $2,000 cash prize. For more information visit the BC Book Prizes website.]]> first award nomination from the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, Daniel O’Thunder is in the limelight again as a finalist for the Amazon.ca Annual First Novel Award. The book will now compete against 5 other finalists, including Come, Thou Tortoise, by Jessica Grant; No Place Strange, by Diana Fitzgerald Bryden; The Golden Mean, by Annabel Lyon; Goya’s Dog, by Damian Tarnopolsky; and Diary of Interrupted Days, by Dragan Todorovic. The winner will be announced on April 27, 2010 in Toronto, and will receive a grand prize of $7,500. Each finalist will receive a $750 gift certificate redeemable at www.amazon.ca. Set in the 1850s in London, England, Daniel O’Thunder interweaves the voices of several narrators to tell the story of a troubled but charismatic prize-fighting evangelist who challenges none other than the Devil to a battle in the ring. To read the entire press release, download the PDF below.]]> Araxi: Seasonal Recipes from the Celebrated Whistler Restaurant by James Walt, has won in the Illustrated Cookbook category, and culinary team Frank Pabst and Yoshihiro Tabo’s book Blue Water Cafe Seafood Cookbook has won the Fish & Seafood Cuisine category. The awards will be presented on April 30, 2010 in St. Pete Beach, Florida. To download the entire press release, click on the PDF below.]]> Ian Weir’s debut novel Daniel O’Thunder has been nominated for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Best First Book Award in the Canada & the Caribbean category. This prize, now in its 24th year, has a strong track record of discovering new international literary stars. Other nominated titles include: Under This Unbroken Sky, by Shandi Mitchell The Island Quintet: Five Stories, by Raymond Ramchartiar Diary of Interrupted Days, by Dragan Todorovic The Briss, by Michael Tregebov, and Amphibian, by Carla Gunn. The winner of the regional Canada & the Caribbean category will go on to compete against winners from around the world. The regional winners will be announced on March 11th, 2010. To download the entire press release, click on the PDF below.]]> can be heard on their website, and the English translation is over at the Huffington Post.]]> City Farmer: Adventures in Urban Food Growing, as she talks about how we can all cultivate our own gardens and grow our own food. She'll also be signing copies of the new book. Feb 8, 2010 Oakville Horticultural Society March 7, 2010 Stratford Garden Show March 17, 2010 Canada Blooms May 1, 2010 Jane’s Walk – Urban food scavenging walk with Sarah Elton (Toronto) May 10, 2010 Oshawa Garden Club May 11, 2010 Pickering Horticultural Society May 26, 2010 Book Launch at The Stop (Toronto) May 29, 2010 Sarnia Horticultural Society June 8, 2010 Magazine writers/editors conference - Urban food scavenging walk with Sarah Elton (Toronto) June 26, 2010 Curiosity House Books – signing & talk at Farmers’ Market (Creemore ON) Sept 7, 2010 Barrie Horticultural Society Oct 6, 2010 Cobourg Garden Club]]> Paul Quarrington, author, musician and screenwriter, died early this morning following a battle with lung cancer. Quarrington’s non-fiction publisher Greystone Books joins his family, friends and fans in mourning the loss of a wonderful man. Rob Sanders, Publisher of Greystone Books, makes the following statement: “We were very sad to learn of Paul’s death last night from lung cancer, which was diagnosed last spring. “Since his diagnosis, Paul’s creative energy shifted into a gear few of us know anything about. He has toured and performed with his band, Porkbelly Futures, wrote songs at a feverish pace, recorded those songs, and wrote a new work of non-fiction, which he finished only this past weekend. In Cigar Box Banjo, Paul examines his life in music and speaks honestly and intimately about that life as he knowingly approaches the end. “Every one of us at Greystone Books/D&M Publishers who have worked with Paul over the years will miss his gentle ways and his wonderful sense of humour. We are honoured to have known this gifted man as a creator and a friend, and we will do our part to ensure that his voice is heard by generations to come.” To download the entire press release, click on the link below.]]> Ian Weir's debut novel about a prize-fighting evangelist has just been selected to be the inaugural National Post Afterword Book Club book. Held exclusively online at the NP site, the book club will feature a panel of readers - novelist Craig Davidson (author of The Fighter), books blogger Erin Balser and the Post’s Brad Frenette, Ben Kaplan, Melissa Leong, Mark Medley and Ron Nurwisah - all discussing the ins and outs of Daniel O'Thunder. Ian will be participating himself and of course, you, the readers, are encouraged to participate as well. Here's a little teaser from the novel to start you on your way.]]> Deirdre Kelly at the Harbourfront Centre as she reads from her new travelogue Paris Times Eight. Date & Time: Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010; 7:30 pm Event Title: Ben McNally Travelers Series - The Authors at Harbourfront Centre Location: Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay West, Toronto; Brigantine Room]]> Canada Reads promotions and competition, each defending author is profiled for a week on the Canada Reads website. This is Wayson's week. Find out what resident blogger Flannery thought about the book, why Wayson's favourite number is 7, and much more until Friday. Have you picked up your copy yet so you can participate in the debate?]]> www.stthomas.on.ca Presented by St. Thomas’s Anglican Church]]> The Automatiste Revolution and deemed it to be the most impressive exhibition of 2009. Read more about it at Canadian Art.]]> Cookworks on Broadway where he will demonstrate and sample a recipe from Vancouver Cooks 2 and sign copies. A great gift for a foodie friend or family member! Tuesday December 15 5:30 - 7:30 pm Map ]]> Vancouver Cooks 2 at South China Seas (1904 Grant Street at Victoria). Sunday December 13, 2-3 pm Map]]> Stephen Bown's new book Merchant Kings: When Companies Ruled the World, 1600–1900, Former Prime Minister Paul Martin couldn't put it down. He called Stephen to tell him so, and then officially endorsed the book saying: “Stephen Bown tells a fascinating story, one that provides a very different perspective on the colonial period than that which is to be gleaned from the usual grocery list of significant events. I started Merchant Kings on the plane one evening and didn’t put it down until the Sun rose the next morning. I lost a night’s sleep – but it was worth it.”]]> Blue Water Cafe Seafood Cookbook. Both cookbooks will now compete in their respective categories internationally for the title of “Best in the World.” The results will be announced at the Paris Cookbook Fair on February 11, 2010. James Walt has been recognized by the Globe and Mail as “one of the top seven chefs in the country.” He spent four years at Sooke Harbour House before joining Araxi in 1998. After opening Blue Water Cafe, he was appointed executive chef to the Canadian embassy in Rome and has been invited to cook at the James Beard House in New York City several times. He lives in the nearby Pemberton Valley. To read the entire press release, download the PDF below.]]> Araxi: Seasonal Recipes from the Celebrated Whistler Restaurant by James Walt, takes home the title of Best Chef Book in Canada, and culinary team Frank Pabst and Yoshihiro Tabo take home the title of Best Fish & Seafood Book in Canada for their cookbook, Blue Water Cafe Seafood Cookbook. Both cookbooks will now compete in their respective categories internationally for the title of “Best in the World.” The results will be announced at the Paris Cookbook Fair on February 11, 2010. Frank Pabst has trained in Michelin-starred restaurants in Germany and France. He arrived at Lumière as the chef de cuisine and later opened Bistro Pastis to critical acclaim. He has run the kitchen at Blue Water Cafe since 2003, and won the Georgia Straight’s Golden Plates Critics’ Award for Chef of the Year in 2008. He lives in Vancouver, BC. Yoshihiro Tabo arrived in Canada in 1972 after training in Osaka. In 1986, he opened his first restaurant, Shijo, followed by Yoshi, both earning rave reviews. He has headed the Raw Bar at the Blue Water Cafe since 2002, and won Vancouver magazine’s silver award for Best Formal Japanese dining in 2008. He lives in Vancouver, BC. To read the entire press release, download the PDF below.]]> Jen Sookfong Lee If I could say one thing about The Jade Peony, it would be simply this: it is a beautiful novel. Of course, every simple statement is actually a complicated one in disguise, and the beauty of The Jade Peony lies in its multi-layered reach, or its ability to say so much to so many different people. This is a novel that expanded what we thought of as CanLit, pushing it both westward from central Canada to Vancouver, and inward from well-trodden streets like Robson or Yonge to the immigrant neighbourhoods embedded in every Canadian city. This is one of the first novels to give voice to communities that hadn’t been heard from yet, communities that may once have thought their stories would never fit into the established Canadian narrative of voyageurs and trading posts, pemmican and poutine. But most importantly, The Jade Peony treats its characters with compassion, so much so that as readers we are all convinced that Sekky and Wong Suk and Third Uncle are people we know. They feel what we have all felt. They say what we wish we could have said. For all these reasons (and maybe one or two others), The Jade Peony has lived inside my head since I was sixteen years old. I was, like a lot of teenagers, an aspiring writer. I had read everything I could get my hands on and was well armed, I thought, to write painful romances that were set in otherworldly cities and peopled by strange creatures that were actually stand-ins for death or time or capitalism. I was sure these stories would catapult me to fame, a place that I imagined was filled with black-tie galas, Lincoln Town Cars and funny little drinks that I didn’t know the names of yet. But then, one day, everything changed. I walked into my creative writing class and was handed a copy of a short story called The Jade Peony by someone named Wayson Choy. The story, my teacher said, was set in Vancouver, and more specifically in Chinatown. I gaped. Chinatown? I thought. The Chinatown in which I spend every Saturday morning buying oranges and chicken with my mother? Where my uncle hacks off pieces of barbecued pork all day? How could that teeny tiny neighbourhood possibly be interesting enough for a story? Who would care? I stared at Wayson’s name for a long time. I grew up in East Vancouver with other Chinese Canadian kids, and many of the boys carried names just like his. Nelson. Anson. Benson. These were names that sounded prosperous to their parents, the kind of names that they thought rich people in smoking jackets had, names that were inevitably followed by a DDM, LLB or MD. Sitting in class, with my eyes fixed to the name Wayson Choy, I knew, deep in my gut, that this man, this author, was somebody I might have known, whose father might have had his hair cut at my grandfather’s barbershop, or whose mother might have run into mine while rooting for bargains at Army and Navy. He might have visited the same herbalist or tapped on the glass of the same fish tank at the seafood store. Wayson Choy could have been a friend, someone as familiar to me as the bus stop on the corner of Main and Hastings. When I read through The Jade Peony that night, I soon realized that it was unlike any other story I had ever read. Throughout the story, I kept seeing words or combinations of words that surprised me, words like Poh-Poh (maternal grandmother) and aiyah (an all-purpose exclamation that can express surprise, dismay, joy or, really, anything) that peppered my life at home but that I almost never saw on a printed page. Wayson referred to Canada as Gold Mountain, wrote about how Chinese people always greeted each other by asking if they’d eaten yet, gave characters names like Old Wong or Monkey King. His characters were the people in my family, the men we chatted with when shopping on Pender Street, even the drunken great-uncles who stumbled through every party my parents ever threw. My head pounded with the connections firing off at every second sentence. Now, I was a very readerly girl at that age. I had read through almost the entire children’s section at my local branch of the Vancouver Public Library and I had started to plough my way through the novels, stories and poems that my older sisters were studying at university. By the age of sixteen, I had read Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Margaret Laurence and as much of the various editions of the Norton anthology as I could stand. I had even been through The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan and China Men by Maxine Hong Kingston. But as much as I enjoyed those two novels, I still couldn’t see myself in them. Both books are set in California and seemed to have been written by aunties I had never met, who sent us photographs of themselves posed beside their powder blue Chryslers with the Golden Gate Bridge as a backdrop. I had never, not once, read a book or story entirely about people just like me. Reading The Jade Peony felt like the living and breathing I was doing every day. I could see the places and people Wayson was describing, from the sidewalks to the old theatres to the produce markets where men in rubber aprons shouted at potential customers walking by. Vancouver is a place that hums along in my blood, and in reading The Jade Peony I could tell that it hummed along in Wayson’s too. When I reached the end of that short story, I still wasn’t finished with it. For months, even years afterward, the language and characters that peopled the short story, and later the novel, lived inside my head. The Jade Peony made me understand that the Chinese Canadian story was worth telling. I had never thought that Vancouver was interesting enough; after all, I was raised on Harriett the Spy’s Manhattan and the Yorkshire moors in The Secret Garden. What Wayson Choy taught me was that the place I was from, and the people I shared that place with, were what I could write about. My story, if I could write it well, was something others might want to read. My story, even if it featured a character who loved boys she was scared to talk to, or who ate too many salt and vinegar chips, or who drew pictures of herself with her head in flames. Even that story could be something important or magical or funny if I could tell it in the right way. My journey with The Jade Peony has been an intensely personal one, but one that is, strangely, irrevocably linked to the world of readers who have lived and loved this book for their own individual reasons. After all, we all have one thing in common: we all know that The Jade Peony is, simply or otherwise, a beautiful novel. Jen Sookfong Lee is the author of the acclaimed novel, The End of East, and is the writing columnist on CBC Radio One's On the Coast. She lives in Vancouver, BC. ]]> Dr. Samantha Nutt will be championing The Jade Peony for this year’s Canada Reads debate. We first got to know her from her participation in Severn Cullis-Suzuki’s Notes from Canada’s Young Activists, published by Greystone Books. For that, she contributed a foreword; for The Jade Peony, she’ll be battling it out with four other highly intelligent and articulate people fighting for their respective books to be chosen as the Canada Reads winner. She says this about choosing Wayson Choy’s epic family saga: ”Lyrical. Poignant. Masterfully crafted. I nominated The Jade Peony for Canada Reads because I believe it is a book that Canadians of all ages and all cultural backgrounds will want to read. Wayson Choy is one of Canada's greatest living writers, whose work bridges Canadian history with powerful story-telling. Set in Vancouver's Chinatown during the Second World War, The Jade Peony is at once gripping and insightful, centred around a quintessentially Canadian narrative that explores the tension between "old world" traditions and "new world" ways; between cultural alienation and acceptance. Fans of Canada Reads will find The Jade Peony moving, funny and hard to put down – a fine example of the best of Canadian fiction.]]>