And we’re back.
Real Vancouver Writers’ Series returns to the scene with a great line-up of writers and a new venue.
Join us on Tuesday May 14th at Project Space as we celebrate great writing with 6 great poets.
The line-up:
Location:
Project Space
222 East Georgia Street
Vancouver
Time:
Doors at 7PM
Hosts:
Sean Cranbury & Dina Del Bucchia
Real Vancouver Writers’ Series is happy to be collaborating with our friends at Broken Pencil during Canzine West 2012.
The event will be happening on the 2nd floor at the W2 Media Cafe on Saturday and we have an amazing line-up of writers rocking the craft
Dina Del Bucchia will be hosting this edition of the RVWS. Yay, Dina!
REAL VANCOUVER CANZINE 2012 AUTHOR ROSTER:
Teresa McWhirter grew up in Kimberley, in the east Kootenays of interior BC. Her first novel Some Girls Do was published by Raincoast/Polestar books (2002). Following an assortment of jobs including teaching English in Korea, driving an ice cream truck, and scaring children at a haunted house, she published Dirtbags (Anvil Press, 2007) and YA Skank(Lorimer, 2011). During the past few years Teresa has toured Europe and North America with punk rock bands, gathering material for her new novel Five Little Bitches (Anvil, 2012). She lives in east Vancouver.
Sarah Leavitt is a writer and cartoonist. She has published comics, fiction and non-fiction in magazines, newspapers and a number of anthologies, including Nobody’s Mother (Heritage 2006) and Beyond Forgetting: Poetry and Prose About Alzheimer’s Disease (Kent State University Press 2009).Her graphic memoir about her mother dying of Alzheimer’s,Tangles, was published by Freehand Books (Canada) in September 2010, Jonathan Cape (UK/Commonwealth) in November 2011 and Skyhorse Publishing (US) in May 2012.
Jean Smith, vocalist/lyrcist in the acclaimed literary rock duo Mecca Normal, is the author of two novels I Can Hear Me Fine (Get To The Point Editions, 1993) and The Ghost of Understanding (Arsenal Pulp Press, 1998).
Smith was named one of the “Top 50 Writers in Vancouver” (Vancouver Magazine), one of the “Top Ten People Who Matter” (San Francisco Weekly) and “one of Canada’s best-kept secrets in the arts” by the Globe & Mail. Her artwork has been exhibited in galleries across North America. Her “Self-Portrait” watercolour series was shown at Ladyfests in Olympia, Seattle and Los Angeles.
Hal Niedzviecki is a writer, speaker, culture commentator and editor. He’s the current fiction editor and the founder of Broken Pencil, the magazine of zine culture and the independent arts. He is the author of eight books, including the collection of short stories Look Down, This is Where it Must Have Happened(City Lights, April 2011) and the non-fiction book The Peep Diaries: How We’re Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors (City Lights, 2009).
AG Pasquella was born in Dallas, Texas and now lives in Toronto, Ontario. His work has appeared in McSweeney’s, Black Book, Wholphin, The Utne Readerand The Future Dictionary of America. His latest novel NewTown (AGP Books, 2012) is about a con man and his crew taking over an alien spacecraft and was recently excerpted in the Toronto Standard.
Dear Vancouver friends,
Hello, this is Evan Munday from Coach House Books. On October 12, two of Canada’s most original writers, Spencer Gordon (Cosmo) and Nathaniel G. Moore (Wrongbar), will join forces with Vancouver writers Elizabeth Bachinsky and Dina Del Bucchia for one of the raddest, most rollicking nights of live literature to hit Vancouver in 2012. More details follow. We hope you can join us!
October 12 – The Invasion Angle takes Vancouver’s Literary Scene
Toronto authors join forces with Vancouver authors for literary super card!
The Invasion Angle is a promotional subtext for professional publishing storyline in Canadian Publishing that begins shortly after the release of Cosmo (Coach House Books, 2012) a collection of short stories by Spencer Gordon. This literary super card on Friday, October 12, is considered by many to be a dream reading with two authors from Toronto (Spencer Gordon andNathaniel G. Moore) and two from Vancouver (Dina Del Bucchia and Elizabeth Bachinsky).
The event will be hosted by Sean Cranbury of Books on the Radio fame, who, in a statement on the upcoming reading said, ‘Real Vancouver Writers’ Series is designed to facilitate and encourage literary invasions of all kinds and we are thrilled to welcome two great Toronto-area writers to our stage in Nathaniel G. Moore and Spencer Gordon. Those boys better recognize that Vancouver will be bringing a little noise of its own that night, too, with poets Elizabeth Bachinsky and Dina Del Bucchia doing the west coast poetic representation. Thanks to Tightrope Books, Coach House Books and Evan Munday for being so supportive and amazing.’
Del Bucchia and Moore have teased on their podcast that there will be wardrobe changes during their portions of the show, as well as music, possible YouTube clips and improvised awkwardness. Moore says he will try to read from every book he’s written and plans on writing that evening. Spencer Gordon will read from his debut collection of incendiary malaise- and pop-culture-infused short stories, in which you’ll join Matthew McConaughey as he drives naked across the desert in a surreal dark night of the soul. You’ll meet a young wrestling fan half-nelsoned by circumstances and a sister’s best intentions. You’ll hear a Miley Cyrus admirer defend his passion in a 3,000-word sentence. And you’ll watch an aging porn star don a grotesque dinosaur costume to film the sex scene of his life.
Leading up to the event, photos of the four authors posing as the Beatles on the album cover MEET THE BEATLES were released to promote the event. The reading brings together authors representing Talonbooks, Nightwood Editions, Pedlar Press, Ferno House, Tightrope Books, Coach House Books, and will be sponsored in part by Geist Magazine.
The Invasion Angle
a book launch and reading featuring Spencer Gordon, Nathaniel G. Moore, Elizabeth Bachinsky and Dina Del Bucchia
hosted by Sean Cranbury
Friday, October 12, 2012
W2 Media Cafe, #250-111 W Hastings Street
7 p.m., free
[Other famous invasion angles include: Battle of Crete (Operation Thursday), Beatlemania (1964), WCW/WWF (2001), Operation Desert Storm (1991) and Justin Beiber (2010).]
For more information or a review copy of Cosmo, please contact Evan Munday at 416.979.2217 or evan@chbooks.com.
The golden light of September is upon us and it’s time to proceed with the autumn lingo.
The Real Vancouver Writers’ Series is proud to announce our first event of the 2012 fall season: Real Vancouver BookThug.
In the first of a series of collaborations with independent publishers we’re happy to showcase 5 amazing local writers who have published with one of the finest publishing houses in Canada.
We’re talking here, of course, about Toronto’s BookThug.
Not only does BookThug produce beautifully designed books of the highest quality writing but they’ve got one of the best websites of any publisher anywhere.
You want to buy books, or check out some audio or video of the authors reading/discussing their work? Hit up the site. You need some sweet new threads? Hit up the site. Down with Danish literature? Hit up the site.
Here’s how they put it:
“BookThug seeks to publish innovative books of poetry, prose and creative criticism that extend the tradition of experimental literature.”
We’re pushing all of our chips to the centre of the table on that!
So, without further delay, here’s the Real Vancouver BookThug line-up:
GEORGE BOWERING
JAKE KENNEDY
ANDREW MCEWAN
JOHN FRANCIS HUGHES
MEREDITH QUARTERMAINTHURSDAY SEPTEMBER 27 AT 7PM
W2 MEDIA CAFE
111 WEST HASTINGS STREET, DTES
$5 AT THE DOOR (nobody turned away for lack of funds)
Hope to see you there!
In the meantime, please check out the amazing poster designed by Jay MillAr.
We are very excited to announce the line-up for the next Real Vancouver event at W2.
Some amazing writers from Delta (BC), Vancouver (BC), Saskatoon (SK), and Montreal (QC).
Hope to see you there!
Real Vancouver Writers’ Series
Tuesday May 29, 2012. 7PM to 930PM
W2 Media Cafe 111 West Hastings Street (at Abbott), Vancouver, DTES.
$5 donation at the door (nobody turned away for lack of funds).
Gurjinder Basran’s debut novel, Everything Was Good-bye, was the winner of the Search for the Great BC Novel Contest in 2010 and the winner of the BC Book Award, The Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize for most outstanding work of fiction in 2011.
In 2012 Chatelaine Magazine named Everything Was Good-bye as their book club pick and CBC listed Gurjinder as one of “The ten Canadian women writers you need to read now.”
Gurjinder studied creative writing at SFU and lives in Delta, B.C.
Peter Dubé is a freelance writer, translator, art critic, and cultural journalist.
A former president of the Quebec Writers’ Federation, his previously published works include Hovering World (2002), At the Bottom of the Sky (2007), and Subtle Bodies (2010).
His most recent novel is The City’s Gates, published by Cormorant Books.
Dubé resides in Montreal.
Dr. Jerry Haigh is a Kenya-born, Glasgow graduate veterinarian whose career-long experience with wildlife has spanned four decades and four continents. He has worked on species ranging from elephants to wild dogs and polar bears to pelicans.
He has written three books about wildlife. They are Wrestling With Rhinos: The Adventures of a Glasgow Vet in Kenya(2002); The Trouble With Lions: A Glasgow Vet in Africa (2008) and Of Moose and Men: A Wildlife Vet’s Pursuit of the World’s Largest Deer (2012).
Before coming to Saskatoon’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine in 1975 he spent ten years in Kenya working with wildlife and then joined the faculty and taught there for 33 years. For eight years he took final-year students to Uganda for a one-month externship.
He is a member of Storytellers of Canada – Conteurs du Canada and lives near Saskatoon with Joanne, his wife of 43 years and an old Labrador named Caesar.
Leah Horlick is a writer, poet, and spoken word artist from Saskatoon, SK. She is the recipient of a 2008 Short Grain Award for prose poetry, and a finalist in the Saskatoon and Vancouver Poetry Slams.
Leah is pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at UBC, where she works as the Poetry Editor for PRISM international.
She’ll be attending the Lambda Literary Foundation’s Emerging LGBTQ Writers Retreat in LA this summer; her first collection of poetry, Riot Lung, is forthcoming from Thistledown Press in the fall. Visit her online at http://leahdaniel.wordpress.
Timothy Taylor published his first novel Stanley Park in 2001. It was an immediate bestseller and a critical success. He’s since published a prize-winning collection of short fiction, Silent Cruise, and two further bestselling and critically acclaimed novels, Story House and The Blue Light Project, which was award the CBC Bookie Prize in the literary fiction category. He is also the winner of the Journey Prize, and has been finalist or runner-up for six other major national fiction prizes in Canada, including the prestigious Giller Prize. His work has also been chosen as the ‘One Book One City’ selection for Vancouver and named a finalist for Canada Reads.
Taylor has also been widely published and recognized for his non-fiction magazine and newspaper work. He was the Big Ideas columnist for the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine for several years and has been winner or finalist in over twenty separate magazine awards, including six nominations in 2012 for National and Western Magazine Awards in Canada.
Taylor is a contributing editor at Vancouver Magazine and a regular contributor at EnRoute Magazine, Walrus, and Eighteen Bridges magazines. He has also written for Institutional Investor, The Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, Western Living, The Vancouver Review, Toro Magazine, Saturday Night, Adbusters, the National Post, the Vancouver Sun and many others.
Shay Wilson holds an MFA in Creative Writing and works in the film industry.
Her work has appeared in Geist, Canada’s History and The Ink Filled Page and she has been shortlisted for the CBC literary award in fiction.
Introducing the First-ever Griffin Vancouver event:
We are very excited to be able to host an event in Vancouver on Thursday June 7th to celebrate the Griffin Poetry Prize.
This special ticketed event will feature the only livestreamed broadcast of the prize ceremony from Toronto and it will also feature live readings from great west coast Griffin-related poets, amazing catered food, cocktails, and many members of the writing, reading and publishing community.
Where: W2 Media Cafe, 111 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC
When: Thursday June 7th 2012. 6PM to 9PM
What: Livestreamed broadcast of Griffin Poetry Prize Ceremony from Toronto, celebration of poetry and community through live readings and conviviality.
Why: Because the West Coast is home to some of the finest poets in the world and we believe that this is an opportunity to bring our communities together and to share the experience of celebrating the Griffin Poetry Prize.
Who: A complete list of participating poets will be posted as soon as we have them confirmed.
More detail: The evening will begin with a live viewing of the Griffin Poetry Prize ceremonies from Toronto and will be followed by live readings by eminent poets who are associated with the Griffin Poetry Prize or who are prominent members of the Vancouver poetry community.
The readings in Vancouver will be recorded on video and livestreamed to the internet.
This is a great opportunity to gather our outstanding west coast community of writers, publishers and poetry supporters to celebrate this world-class prize and to show the world the quality of work that we produce.
If you have any questions please contact Sean Cranbury at 778-987-8774 or via email at sean @ booksontheradio dot ca.
On Wednesday 29 February 2012 Spread the Word is bringing together four teams of writers and editors in London, Delhi, Kuala Lumpur and Vancouver, to create a unique novel.
The project is an experiment in collaborative writing, using digital technology.
The book, which will be written by multiple authors, operating in different time zones and countries, will be launched at noon on World Book Day, Thursday 1 March 2012.
How to get involved
Facebook: ‘like’ our page: www.facebook.com/pages/24hourbook, post your inspirational ideas before the day, and pop in on the 29th to see how things are going, respond to our writing challenges, and support our writers across the globe.
Twitter: Follow us @STWevents using the hashtag #24hourbook. We’ll be asking questions throughout the day and we’d love you to tweet us your answers.
About the Vancouver Team:
Arley McNeney is the author of two widely acclaimed novels. Her first book, Post, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize, Best First Novel, Canada and the Caribbean. The writing in her second novel, The Time We All Went Marching, was likened to Michael Ondaatje’s by Michelle Berry in the Globe and Mail. Arley is a former Paralympian in the sport of wheelchair basketball and won two World Championship gold medals and a Paralympic bronze at the 2004 Athens Paralympics. She lives in Vancouver.
Alyx Dellamonica is the author of Indigo Springs, which won the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic. Her short fiction has appeared in Asimov’s, Realms of Fantasy, Sci-Fiction and Strange Horizons. Her 2005 alternate-history Joan of Arc story, “A Key to the Illuminated Heretic”, was shortlisted for the Sideways Award and the Nebula Award. Alyx live in East Vancouver.
Alex Leslie’s chapbook of microfictions Twenty Objects for the New World was published by Nomados Press in 2011. Alex’s writing has been published in many Canadian literary journals and in the Best Canadian Stories anthology series from Oberon Press. She has won a Gold National Magazine Award for personal journalism and a CBC Literary Award for fiction. Alex is from Vancouver.
McKinley Hellenes can’t seem to stop writing about Vancouver. Her stories have appeared in various anthologies and magazines of questionable repute, including Broken Pencil, Kiss Machine, and the Journey Prize Stories. In 2010, her novella won second place in the 32nd International 3-Day Novel contest. She is currently working on a novel for which she received a grant from Canada Council for the Arts.
Jenn Farrell is the author of two collections of short stories: The Devil You Know (Anvil Press, 2010), and Sugar Bush & Other Stories (Anvil Press, 2006). Her stories have previously appeared in Prism, subTerrain, West Coast Line and Forget magazine. Jenn was born and raised in the “Golden Horseshoe” of Ontario. She is a graduate of the Langara College Publishing program and Douglas College Print Futures: Professional Writing program. She currently resides in Vancouver where she works as a freelance writer, editor, and teacher.
Elee Kraljii Gardiner directs Thursdays Writing Collective in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. She is a poet and the editor and publisher of five chapbooks. A frequent collaborator, she leads workshops on creativity and social writing.
Sean Cranbury is a writer, internet tinkerer, and event programmer living in East vancouver. He is the host and regulator of the radio show, Books on the Radio, the curator of the Real Vancouver Writers’ Series, creator of the Advent Book Blog, and an organizer of the books/technology unconference, Bookcamp Vancouver. Sean is a member of the Board of Directors of W2 Community Media Arts Society.
