Canadian literary event roundup: Jan. 27-Feb. 2

Here are just a few of the literary events happening across the country in the next week:

• Richard Gwyn discusses Nation Maker: Sir John A. Macdonald: His Life, Our Times, Atwater Library, Montreal (Jan. 27, 12:30 p.m., free)
• Tribute to poet Peggy Fletcher with readings, Lawrence House Centre for the Arts, Sarnia, Ontario (Jan. 27, 8 p.m., free)
• Alison Griffiths signs Count On Yourself and shares financial tips, Chapters Granville, Vancouver (Jan. 28, 12 p.m., free)
• Barbara Reid reads from Picture a Tree and demonstrates plasticine art, Museum of Civilization, Ottawa (Jan. 28, 2 p.m., free)
• Inaugural women’s poetry slam championship, Arts Court, Ottawa (Jan. 28, 7 p.m., free)
• Introduction to ebooks and e-readers, Munroe Library, Winnipeg (Jan. 30, 1:30 p.m., free. Call 204-986-3736 to register)
• Charlotte Gill discusses Eating Dirt, World Art Centre, Vancouver (Jan. 30, 7 p.m., free)
• Nikki Jabbour reads from The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener, Keshen Goodman Public Library, Halifax (Feb. 1, 7 p.m., free)

Quillblog is looking for photos from literary events across Canada. Send your photos to scflinn@quillandquire.com.

Book links roundup: City University’s new crime writing MA, why Salman Rushdie was silenced, and more

• City University in London, England, launches first-ever MA in crime writing
• Jaipur Literature Festival co-director William Dalrymple on why Salman Rushdie’s video link was cancelled
  
• French presidential candidate François Hollande’s Shakespeare gaffe
• Sweet Valley High series to be adapted as musical
• Stephen Colbert: picture book author?

Naomi K. Lewis wins Colophon Prize

Winnipeg publisher Enfield & Wizenty has awarded its third annual Colophon Prize for Fiction to Naomi K. Lewis for her short story collection, I Know Who You Remind Me Of.

Awarded for the best unpublished manuscript with “literary and commercial appeal,” the prize includes publication and a $5,000 advance. I Know Who You Remind Me Of will be released in September.

The author of the novel Cricket in a Fist (Goose Lane Editions), Lewis lives in Calgary, where she teaches creative writing and was the Calgary Public Library’s writer-in-residence in fall 2011.

Two runners-up were also granted publishing contracts with E&W: Méira Cook’s The House on Sugarbush Road, a novel set in post-apartheid South Africa, and Richard Van Camp’s short story collection, Godless but Devoted to Heaven, which explores contemporary aboriginal life in Canada.

Book links roundup: spotlight on Amazon Publishing, OverDrive expands ebook catalogue, and more

• Bloomberg Businessweek takes an in-depth look at Amazon Publishing
• OverDrive adds thousands more titles to library ebook catalogues
• To preserve national culture, Vladimir Putin plans 100-book reading list for Russian youth
• U.S. study finds that a city’s wealth doesn’t correlate with its literacy
• Slideshow: peek at famous authors’ estates

Book links roundup: Oscars get literary, a toast to Robbie Burns, and more

• Thirteen 2012 Oscar-nominated movies adapted from books
• Toast Robbie Burns Day with the Toronto Star’s Scottish beer recommendations
• Amazon Publishing strikes print licensing agreement with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Knopf executive Paul Bogaards’s tongue-in-cheek list of top 100 players in book publishing
• Slideshow: Scott Pilgrim fan captures locations from the graphic novels on camera
• Wild turkey breaks into South Dakota library

Book links roundup: behind bestsellers’ lists, best library scenes from movies, and more

• A behind-the-scenes look at bestsellers’ lists
• Video: montage of library scenes from popular movies
• When e-readers reached a tipping point
• How poetry editors shape “the most personal and mysterious of literary forms”
• Quiz: test your knowledge of literary dragons to celebrate Chinese New Year

Book links roundup: NBC gets into publishing, spotlight on enhanced ebooks, and more

• NBC News launches ebook publishing division
• The Wall Street Journal explores whether enhanced ebooks are “the future of narrative”
• U.S. National Book Critics Circle announces 2012 awards finalists
• Podcast: booksellers and publishers discuss “predatory” Amazon
• Margaret Atwood on the film adaptation of Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth
• Slideshow: Oxford University students bring Quidditch to life

Canadian literary event roundup: Jan. 20-26

It’s a busy week for literary events. Here’s a sample of what’s going on across the country:

• Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild presents “Writing North: Writing the Extraordinary,” University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon (Jan. 20–21, free, www.skwriter.com)
• Poet Tanya Davis leads Stanzas in the Stacks: Poetry in the Library after Dark, Spring Garden Road Memorial Public Library, Halifax (Jan. 20, 8 p.m., free)
• Dragnet literary magazine launches its fourth issue, Academy of the Impossible, Toronto (Jan. 21, 9 p.m., pay what you can)
• Third annual Sparks Literary Festival, Memorial University, St. John’s (Jan. 22, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., free)
• William Gibson discusses his new book, Distrust that Particular Flavor, Bolen Books, Victoria (Jan. 23, 7 p.m., free)
• Robbie Burns marathon poetry reading with haggis and shortbread, Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre, Vancouver (Jan. 25, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., free)
• CBC Radio and McNally Robinson host 5 Readers, 5 Writers, 5 Minutes, Winnipeg (Jan. 25, 8 p.m., free)
• Brian Brennan, author of Writing My Way From Ireland to Canada, and Frances Hern, author of Yip Sang and the First Chinese Canadians, read from their work and discuss the Canadian immigrant experience, Central branch, Calgary Public Library (Jan. 26, 12 to 1 p.m., free. Call 403-260-2620 to register)
• Ottawa Independent Writers presents “How to Write a Winning ‘How-To’ Book” with business author Dr. Denis Cauvier, Library & Archives Canada (Jan. 26, 7 p.m., $10, www.oiw.ca)
• Reading and book signing with UPEI writer-in-residence Michael Crummey, Confederation Centre Art Gallery, Charlottetown (Jan. 26, 7:30 p.m., free)

Quillblog is looking for photos from literary events across Canada. Send your photos to scflinn@quillandquire.com.

Book links roundup: what iBooks Author means for publishers, Frances Greenslade makes Waterstones’ best debut list, and more

• Macworld breaks down what iBooks Author means for publishers
• Frances Greenslade’s Shelter (Knopf Canada) lands on Waterstones’ list of the year’s best debut novels
• Kobo integrates social e-reading with Facebook
• The Sydney Morning Herald creates crowd-sourced novel with readers
• Publishers Weekly looks at alternate titles for famous books

Book links roundup: Apple unveils digital textbook app, Penguin pulls audiobooks from OverDrive, and more

• Apple launches digital textbook service, iBooks 2
• Penguin to stop supplying audiobooks to libraries via OverDrive
• Publishing Perspectives looks at what happens when book publicists go too far
• Let your Facebook friends know what you’re reading