Ian Brown wins the BC National Award for Canadian Nonfiction
January 15th, 2010
For The Boy in the Moon. Congrats to him and to all the short and long-listed authors.
Proved on the Pulses: On the Essay and its Literary Cousins
Interview at All Things Said and Done
January 13th, 2010
Today, poet Marita Daschel interviews me about writing and motherhood at her blog, All Things Said and Done.
New York Symposium on the Essay in April
January 7th, 2010
Welcome Table Press invites you to attend the first annual symposium, In Praise of the Essay: Practice & Form, April 24, 2010, featuring Robert Atwan, Brian Doyle, Vivian Gornick, Jerald Walker, Lia Purpura, Emily Grosholz, and many others. Proceeds benefit the press.
Registration forms available here.
Taylor Finalists Announced
January 6th, 2010
Finalists for the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Nonfiction have been announced, and it’s an all-male and biography-heavy list. From the press release:
“The 2010 prize finalists are Ian Brown for his bookThe Boy in the Moon: A Father’s Search For His Disabled Son, published by Random House Canada; John English for his book Just Watch Me: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 1968 – 2000, published by Knopf Canada; Daniel Poliquin for his book René Lévesque, published by Penguin Canada; and Kenneth Whyte for his book The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst, published by Random House Canada.
The jury selected their four-book shortlist from 125 submissions, published between November 1, 2008 and October 31, 2009, and submitted by 34 publishers from across North America.”
WIthout wishing to dispute the quality of any of these books (none of which I’ve read in full, and two of which I haven’t even opened) I continue to feel uncomfortable about a list that suggests such a limited view of what literary nonfiction can do and be. I’d welcome others’ thoughts on this.
Having said that, the excerpts of Ian Brown’s book that I’ve read have been honest and moving. As someone who has also written about parenting in challenging circumstances, and who has faced some opposition to the very idea of doing so, I am glad to see a book on this subject receive recognition. And while I haven’t yet read Daniel Poliquin’s René Lévesque, I would like to read it, based on his highly intelligent and insightful conversation about the book during the Kingston WritersFest. Interesting, too, to see a “series” book nominated; that’s unusual.
Several of these titles have appeared on previous awards lists this this fall, but they failed to win the big prizes.
For more on this, see Steven Beattie’s “How to Make it as a Writer: Be a Man.” Like him, while I’d prefer to believe that the male-dominated nature of the big awards is mere coincidence, I smell a rat and its long tail is called sexism.
New Course: Advanced Creative Writing
January 5th, 2010
I’ll be teaching a course at St. Lawrence College, Kingston Campus, once a week on Thursdays from January 15th until April 24th. Would love to see some of you there! More details below.
Creative Writing II
Students will develop their skills and confidence in their chosen genre (short and long fiction; drama; personal essay or memoir; long poem or poem sequence ) by completing and refining a large project. Participants will be required to first submit a proposal/outline followed by installments of the proposed project. Evaluation of manuscripts will be ongoing. Course includes workshops and in-class writing exercises.
Wed Jan 13-Apr 21, Thurs. Jan. 14 - Apr 22, 6:30-9:30pm,
$257.85
WRIT 298 861
