Eastern Canada sweeps nominations for children’s book awards

Who better to judge the success of children’s books than a group of grade schoolers? That’s exactly what students from Brampton, Ontario’s Huttonville Public School will be doing on May 26, when they decide the winners of the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards. First presented in 1976 to Mordecai Richler’s Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang, the award is now given to two children’s authors and artists every year: one for young adult books, and one for picture books, each worth $6,000.

This year, it appears authors from Eastern Canada have swept the shortlist, which was announced today – all nominees hail from Ontario, Quebec, or Nova Scotia. The nominees range from veterans like Toronto-based Barbara Reid, who won the award in 1987 (for Have You Seen Birds?) and in 2004 (for The Subway Mouse), to debut authors like Jennifer Cowan (earthgirl) and Anna Kerz (The Mealworm Diaries), who are both competing in this year’s young adult category.

Here’s the full shortlist:

Young adult/middle reader books

• Vanishing Girl: The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His Third Case, by Shane Peacock of Baltimore, Ontario (Tundra Books)
• The Present Tense of Prinny Murphy, by Jill MacLean of Bedford, Nova Scotia (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)
• earthgirl, by Jennifer Cowan of Toronto (Groundwood Books)
• The Mealworm Diaries by Anna Kerz of Toronto (Orca Book Publishers)
• The Awakening, by Kelley Armstrong of Aylmer, Ontario (Doubleday Canada)

Children’s picture books

• Perfect Snow, written and illustrated by Barbara Reid of Toronto (North Wind Press, an imprint of Scholastic Canada)
• When Stella Was Very, Very Small, written and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay of Outremont, Quebec (Groundwood Books)
• Proud as a Peacock, Brave as a Lion, written by Jane Barclay of Pointe-Claire, Que., with illustrations by Renné Benoit of St. Thomas, Ontario (Tundra Books)
• Scaredy Squirrel at Night, written and illustrated by Mélanie Watt of Laval, Quebec (Kids Can Press)
• The Imaginary Garden, written by Andrew Larsen, with illustrations by Irene Luxbacher, both of Toronto (Kids Can Press)

The winner of the young adult/middle reader category will be chosen by a group of Grade 7 and 8 students, while the winner of the picture book award will be chosen by Grade 3 and 4 students.

Riverdale reaches for the rainbow

The Internet is buzzing with the news that on Sept. 1, Archie Comics’ Veronica will introduce the series’ first openly gay character: a blond-haired, blue-eyed knockout named Kevin Keller. The initial storyline, titled “Isn’t it Bro-mantic?”, has the new Riverdale resident competing in – and winning – a burger-eating contest against Jughead, while newly single Veronica (apparently that whole “marriage” thing didn’t work out) flirts obliviously. The Washingon Post reports that her friends continue to let her squirm:

“Everyone seems to know where Kevin is coming from except Veronica,” says Victor Gorelick, editor in chief of Archie Comics. “They don’t tell Veronica – they let her stew in it for a while. But he hangs out with Jughead – they seem to have a connection as far as food goes.”

So what does this mean for the future of Archie Comics? Archie is already dating Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats, one of the comic’s few black characters, and in the Toronto Star, Jon Goldwater, CEO of Archie Comics, says Kevin will “probably” have a romance at some point. Might that romance be with perpetually single Jughead? Or perhaps shy, nerdy Dilton Doiley?

Unfortunately, no. Despite ongoing suspicions among many that Jughead has been in the closet all this time, the Post quotes Archie writer and artist Dan Parent as saying “traditional Riverdale characters won’t be coming out.”

Film based on Allan Stratton’s Chanda’s Secrets to compete at Cannes

It was already big news for YA author Allan Stratton when his 2004 novel Chanda’s Secrets, which tells the story of a 16-year-old girl growing up in sub-Saharan Africa during the AIDS pandemic, was adapted into a movie by German director Oliver Schmitz late last year. Now, the film – called Life Above All – has been made an official selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, where it will compete in the ‘Un Certain Regard’ category, which rewards innovative works by young filmmakers.

“I am, like, dancing on air,” Stratton wrote on his blog when he heard the news. Schmitz, the director, is an expatriate South African, and the entire cast of the film comprises native African actors, including locals who were used as extras. Stratton writes that even the role of Mrs. Gulubane, the spirit doctor in the book, is played by a real spirit doctor.

In fact, in real life, Chanda lives at the end of the road, which is part of what makes the interactions of the child actors and the extras so utterly human and believable. And it’s a main reason why [the actors who play] Chanda, Iris, Soly and Esther are so perfect: They never ‘act.’ They simply are – always real and in the moment.

The jury president for ‘Un Certain Regard’ will be French director Claire Denis, and the festival kicks off in France on May 12.

(Photo via Stratton’s blog.)

$2 million reward for book-loving fugitive in B.C.

One of the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives is a book-loving octogenarian believed to be hiding in Victoria, B.C.  According to the FBI’s website, James J. “Whitey” Bulger has a record of 19 counts of murder, plus charges of money laundering, narcotics distribution, and extortion, among others. The bureau describes Bulger as “an avid reader with an interest in history,” who is known “to frequent libraries and historic sites.”

The Gazette reports that he is believed to have been the inspiration for Jack Nicholson’s character in the Oscar-winning film The Departed. And according to the Vancouver Sun, the owners of Victoria’s two biggest bookstores have already been visited by police, who are warning staff to look out for the dangerous fugitive:

“The FBI don’t have any definite answers that he’s in Victoria, but they’re on the lookout for him,” said Jim Munro, owner of Munro’s Books on Government Street.
[…]
The officers gave Munro and the management at Bolen’s Books posters bearing Bulger’s photo and a number to call.

Bulger is 80 years old, 5’7” to 5’9”, with blue eyes and white or silver hair. His FBI description, which says he likes animals, travelling, and walks on the beach, would almost sound like a personals ad, if not for the part about his violent temper and tendency to carry a knife at all times. The FBI is offering a $2 million reward for any information that leads directly to Bulger’s arrest.

Event photos: YA author Jill Murray launches Rhythm and Blues

On April 10, Toronto’s Type Books on Queen Street West hosted the launch of Jill Murray’s new YA novel, Rhythm and Blues (Doubleday Canada), about “a teenage girl’s quest for fame, love, and self-identity.”

Murray signs a copy of her book for an appreciative fan.

A bevy of YA authors attended the launch, including Robert Paul Weston (Zorgamazoo), who caught up with Murray at the event.

A trio of authors (L-R): Patricia Storms (The Pirate and the Penguin), Bev Katz Rosenbaum (Beyond Cool), and Helaine Becker (Science on the Loose) attended the launch. (All photos by Andrew Tolson)

Event photos: Joe Hill grabs life by the horns

On March 22, Joe Hill launched his new supernatural thriller Horns, while (naturally) wearing light-up devil horns at an event hosted by Toronto sci-fi bookstore BAKKA-Phoenix and the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy. In 2007, to prove that he could make it on his own, the author sold his first novel, Heart-Shaped Box, without revealing to his publisher that he is the son of horror royalty Stephen King. The move certainly paid off, as that debut won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. (Photo by David McDonald)

Way to Display! Smile at Vancouver Kidsbooks

As part of Quillblog’s ongoing commitment to filling our site with ephemera, sundries, and both flotsam and jetsam from around the book world, we have instituted a semi-regular feature entitled Way to Display!, in which we feature striking and eye-catching window displays (or, indeed, interior displays) from bookstores across the country. If you have seen a great display (or have just made one yourself), feel free to send it our way. (Dropping them in our Flickr pool is one way to get the pictures to us, or you can mail them directly to nwhitlock at quillandquire.com)

Here’s a window display Vancouver Kidsbooks recently did for Smile, a new graphic novel by Raina Telgemeier about a brace-faced middle-schooler. (Photo courtesy of Scholastic Canada)

Helen Dunmore wins £5,000 National Poetry Competition

Who says poetry doesn’t pay? This year’s winner of the U.K.’s National Poetry Competition has been announced, and the £5,000 prize goes to … an Orange Prize–winning novelist and poet. Helen Dunmore, author of dozens of books, including 2008’s Counting the Stars, entered her poem “The Malarkey” at the last minute, just before the competition deadline. Dunmore describes her entry in the Guardian:

It’s quite a tightly organized poem, in terms of the rhymes and the near-rhymes. It’s very much about containment … I’ve written very few poems over the past four years … but now I have the feeling that there is the kernel of a new collection. It is a great boost to receive the prize – a confirmation.

The National Poetry Competition was founded by the Poetry Society in 1978. This year, there were more than 10,000 entries. “If there is an unspoken Grand Slam circuit for poetry prizes, then the National Poetry Competition is definitely Wimbledon – it’s the one everyone dreams of winning,” poet Christopher James told the Guardian when he won in 2009. This year’s second prize winner of £1,000 was Ian Pindar, whose debut poetry collection, Emporium, will be published in 2011, while the third prize of £500 went to John Stammerstook, whose third collection will be released next month.

Here’s a peek at the winning poem, which can be read in full at the Guardian:

Why did you tell them to be quiet
and sit up straight until you came back?
The malarkey would have led you to them.

You go from one parked car to another
and peer through the misted windows
before checking the registration.

New Twilight Saga book gives another vamp her time to sparkle

It’s no Midnight Sun – Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga story written from Edward’s perspective, which was leaked in 2008 – but Meyer’s publisher, Little, Brown for Young Readers, announced today that a new novella is coming on June 5. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner tells the story of a vampire in the “newborn army” (the term refers to her newfound vampirism – the book isn’t actually about baby bloodsuckers). The eponymous character was introduced in Eclipse, the third book in the Twilight Saga.

The initial print run for the 192-page book will be 1.5 million copies, and $1 from all U.S. book sales will go to the Red Cross to help relief efforts in Haiti and Chile. As a thank you to intensely devoted Twihards, the book will also be available for free online from June 7 to July 5.

The manuscript has been kept tightly under wraps so far, although Meyer gave copies to the director and a few cast members of the film adaptation of Eclipse, “so all the parties involved would end up having a really strong foundation for their characters before the cameras started rolling,” Meyer said on her website. After reading it, though, they literally had to burn their copies to keep the story from leaking. Bree Tanner was originally intended to be included in the upcoming The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide as a short story, but it expanded until it would no longer fit in the guide. Meyer said this about the new book:

I began this story a long time ago — before Twilight was even released. Back then I was just editing Eclipse, and in the thick of my vampire world. I was thinking a lot about the newborns, imagining their side of the story, and one thing led to another. I started writing from Bree’s perspective about those final days, and what it was like to be a newborn.

BookNet Canada Tech Forum round-up: pirates, pricing, and social media

This year’s BookNet Canada Technology Forum – or “gathering of beautiful nerds,” as Soft Skull Press founder Richard Nash called it – took place on March 25 at Toronto’s MaRS Centre, and involved about 200 publishing professionals. The theme was “Calculated Risk: Adventures in Book Publishing,” and attendees spent the day discussing the intersection of technology and publishing.

Bob Miller of Workman Publishing (formerly of HarperStudio) had some counterintuitive ideas about the rise of book piracy. “Certainly, if we saw our business being pirated completely, it would be terrible. However, we give away 2,000 copies at BookExpo, and we’re upset if we can’t give them all away!” he said. “So I think 2,000 copies being pirated is good news. It shows they will read it, tell their friends, and go buy the author’s next book.”

This sentiment was echoed by Richard Nash. “Two thousand pirated e-books is a good sign – it means somebody wants the damn things,” he said. Nash suggested that the real risk is for the publishing industry to stagnate. “It is too risky not to completely reconceive our business. The risk lies in remaining siloed, remaining in the manufacturing business.” What aspiring authors need to do, he said, is become an active part of the writing community – not just to get published, but for their personal happiness. Writers should submit to literary journals, read their favourite authors’ blogs, and attend reading series to avoid the “post-partum depression” that comes with publishing a book.

Michael Tamblyn gave a slick PowerPoint presentation detailing the first year of Kobo (which, he pointed out, is both the Japanese word for “workshop” and Trinidadian slang for “vulture”). Tamblyn revealed that, in e-book land, long-form reading is alive and well: Kobo’s three best-selling e-books are Pride & Prejudice, Dracula, and Little Women.

On top of that, it turns out pricing is not the top concern of e-book readers. According to focus group research, said Tamblyn, the most valued aspect of e-books across all demographics and income levels is the ability to buy a book instantly, followed by the ability to carry books around with you wherever you go. Although readers said e-books must always be cheaper than print books, this was not their biggest concern.

Additionally, Tamblyn believes that the $9.99 price point for e-books is not immovable. “The bet is that customers want the books enough, are passionate enough about reading, and are loyal enough to the authors they love that they’re going to absorb a $2 to $5 price jump.” As for the new Kobo e-reader, which will be available in Canada this May, Tamblyn refers to it as “the e-reader for everyone,” the model in between the premium e-readers and the “low-cost-but-basically-hideous” e-readers. The Kobo e-reader, which will sell for $149, is intended for people who care about reading more than technology, who “aren’t willing to drop $200 for a device.”

One of the most retweeted speakers was Deanna McFadden (@tragicrighthip) of HarperCollins Canada, who said she’s tired of hearing that the book is dead. “Publishing is pronounced dead in every e-mail newsletter I receive on a daily basis, and I think the novel died again last week for maybe its 27^th time,” she said. As a strong believer in top 10 lists, she offered the audience 10 tips for promoting content on the Web, from analyzing your online traffic to using social media wisely.