Authors Paul Quarrington, David Adams Richards, and Emily Perkins all read and spoke at an event held at the Leander Boat Club in Hamilton, Ontario, Monday, May 5, 2008. The event was hosted by bookseller Bryan Prince and A Different Drummer Books. (Photos courtesy of A Different Drummer.)

Emily Perkins and Bryan Prince.

Paul Quarrington signs books with the help of a cold drink, a small pile of cash, and Ian Elliot of A Different Drummer.

David Adams Richards gets a grip on the lectern.

The winners of this year’s BC Book Prizes were feted at a gala April 26 at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel in Vancouver. Prizes were awarded in seven categories at the ceremony, where the annual Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence was also presented.

Ian McAllister, who won the Booksellers Choice Award for his memoir The Last Wild Wolves (Greystone Books), and Harbour Publishing owner Howard White.

Fiction nominees Heather Burt and Mary Novik. Novik won for her historical novel Conceit (Doubleday Canada).

George McWhirter, poetry nominee and poet laureate of Vancouver.

Author and award presenter Dennis Foon with Meg Tilly, a finalist for her kids’ book Porcupine (Tundra Books).

Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence recipient Gary Geddes, West Coast Book Prize Society president Sally Harding, and B.C. Lieutenant Governor Steven Point.

Illustrated children’s literature finalist Lisa Cinar, author Michael Turner, and poetry finalist Gillian Wigmore.

The nominees for this year’s BC Book Prizes were feted at a shindig held April 19 in Vancouver. The winners will be named at the prize gala on Saturday, April 26. (Photos courtesy of kc dyer.)

Crystal Stranaghan, publisher of Gumboot Books, with author James McCann.

Author and BC Book Prizes boardmember Norma Charles chats with author Julie Burtinshaw.

Children’s author Kari-Lynn Winters, whose book Jeffrey and Sloth (Orca Book Publishers) is nominated in the picture book category.

Author Meg Tilly and her husband. Tilly’s book Porcupine (Tundra Books) is nominated in the YA category.

Coach House Books launched its spring season with a multi-author Toronto reading on April 15. (Photos courtesy of Coach House Books; photos by Derek Wuenschirs, except for Claudia Dey photo, which is by Julia Gotz.)

Coach House senior editor (and emcee for the evening) Alana Wilcox.

Claudia Dey reads from her novel Stunt; the world goes black and white.

R.M. Vaughan reads from his poetry collection Troubled.

Another spring poet, Jen Currin, reads from Hagiography.

Here are some photos from recent book events:

Montreal author Ibi Kaslik launched her rock-themed second novel, The Angel Riots (Penguin Canada), at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto on April 1. The event was presented by This Is Not a Reading Series. Above, Kaslik (left) is interviewed onstage by EYE Weekly’s Sarah Liss. (Photo by Melodie Kwan)

Andrew Whiteman, a.k.a. the Apostle of Hustle, plays some tunes at Kaslik’s launch. (Photo by Melodie Kwan)

Abigail Carter outside the Capital Theatre in Port Hope, Ontario, where Furby House Books hosted an event for her memoir, The Alchemy of Loss (McClelland & Stewart), on March 28. (Photo courtesy of M&S)

Andrew Feindel, Alexander Herman, and Paul Matthews launched their book, Kickstart: How Successful Canadians Got Started (Dundurn Press), at a lavish do at Casa Loma in Toronto on April 2. Above (from left): Feindel, Herman, and Matthews dress sharp and display Kickstart. (Photo courtesy of Dundurn Press)

Lawyer Eddie Greenspan, one of the interviewees in Kickstart, signs a copy. (Photo courtesy of Dundurn Press)

April Q&Q cover boy and recent Canada Reads champ Paul Quarrington launched his new novel, The Ravine (Random House Canada), at an event hosted by Pages Books & Magazines and This Is Not A Reading Series at The Gladstone Hotel in Toronto on March 19. (All photos by Chris Reed.)

Quarrington chats onstage with Marc Glassman, owner of Pages.

Quarrington performs with his band, The Porkbelly Futures.

Children’s author Kathy Kacer recently spoke at the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Toronto about her Silver Birch Award-winning book Hiding Edith and the just-released The Diary of Laura’s Twin, both published by Second Story Press as part of its Holocaust Remembrance Books for Young Readers Series. (All photos courtesy of Second Story Press.)

Kacer speaks at the Simon Wiesenthal Centre.

Edith Gelbard, the subject of Hiding Edith, addresses the room.

Kacer and Second Story Press publisher Margie Wolfe.

Miriam Toews has accepted a short writer-in-residence gig at the University of British Columbia, and this week Toews’ agent, Carolyn Swayze, held a soiree at Christianne’s Lyceum of Art & Literature in Kitsilano to welcome the author to Vancouver. Below, Swayze and Toews chat; visible in the background (right) is Bill Richardson. (Photo by kc dyer.)

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Last week Janice Kulyk Keefer won the $25,000 Kobzar Literary Award, which honours writing with Ukrainian-Canadian themes. She won the prize at an event at Toronto’s Palais Royale. (Photos by Lu Taskey and courtesy of the Kobzar Literary Awards.)

Keefer stands at centre stage, flanked by (left to right) actor Fred Keating, the evening’s emcee; Shevchenko Foundation president Andrew Hladyshevsky; Senator Raynell Andreychuk; and Joy Kogawa.

Nominee Roman Fodchuk reads from his book, Zhorna: Material Culture of the Ukrainian Pioneers (University of Calgary Press)

A now fedora-less Fodchuk receives a plaque from Senator Andreychuk.

The four Kobzar finalists: Lisa Grekul, Keefer, Marusya Bociurkiw, and Fodchuk.

Jamie Kennedy’s restaurant at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto played host to an eco-lit lunch this week. Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, talked about the importance of responsible preparation, sourcing, and farming of food. To highlight the point, there was a presentation illustrating the journey of the meal being served, from field to table. The journey was a short one, as all the food was from Ontario, earning Kennedy 10 bonus ecopoints from Pollan.

From left to right: Michael Pollan, Jamie Kennedy, and Andrew Heintzman, President of Investeco Capital Corporation, the company which organised the event.

A British architecture firm, Levitate Architects, has come up with a novel way for apartment-dwellers to accommodate their too-large book collections. In a genius stroke, they have created a combo bookshelf/staircase, which you can see for yourself here.

How is it that no one has thought to do this before? And where can we get one made?

Penguin Canada held a “100 Years of Anne” launch party at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum on a snowy Tuesday, February 12, evening. (All photos by Jason Nolan.)

Penguin editor Helen Reeves tells about when she first broached the idea of an Anne of Green Gables prequel in 2005 with L.M. Montgomery’s family heirs.

Kate Macdonald Butler (granddaughter of LMM) and a Canada Post official unveil two new Anne-themed stamps, and The Royal Canadian Mint unveiled a new 25 cent Anne-themed coin at the event. Former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, a loyal Anne fan, also came out for the event.

Budge Wilson, author of Before Green Gables, personally addresses a copy of the book for a fan.

Budge Wilson takes a brief rest while in the background L.M. Montgomery scholar Dr. Elizabeth Epperly signs a copy of Imagining Anne: The Island Scrapbooks of L.M. Montgomery, also launched that evening.

An industry tribute to the late Robert Weaver, who died last Saturday at the age of 87, was held in Toronto’s Massey College last night (see photo below). Though it was a small, closed gathering, many of the biggest names in the industry were there, including Michael Ondaatje, Robert Fulford, and Scott Griffin. (Alice Munro sent word that she had intended to attend, but poor weather in her part of the province made traveling difficult.)

Margaret Atwood took the podium early in the evening, remarking that Weaver was able to achieve so much at the CBC because the network didn’t feel the need to compete with the “so-called entertainment industry” the way it does now. “It was a golden age,” said Atwood, “and like all golden ages, we didn’t know we were in it until it was over.”

Media tributes to Robert Weaver are manifold. There are obituaries in the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail (the latter featuring what seems to be Munro’s only public comment on the late Weaver) as well as a first-person remembrance by Robert Fulford in the National Post. And here’s a full Weaver biography.

Below are two photos from two recent events. Though both events were hosted by This Is Not a Reading Series and held at Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel, you may detect some subtle differences between the two pics.
(Both photos come courtesy of Chris Reed and Pages Books & Magazines.)

Tahmima Anam (right), author of A Golden Age (HarperCollins Canada), being interviewed onstage by Aparita Bhandari from CBC Radio’s Metro Morning on Jan. 29.

Steve Penfold, author of The Donut: A Canadian History (University of Toronto Press), chatting with author and food journalist Christine Sismondo on Jan. 22.

(Penfold may know a lot about donuts, but he could learn a thing or two about presentation…)

Last night, the winner of the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers was announced. This being the first year the award is sponsored by the RBC Foundation, the ceremony was held, appropriately enough, in the 40th floor reception suite of the RBC building on Toronto’s Bay Street. Below are some photos from the event.

Marjorie Celona (back to camera), whose story “Othello” won this year’s award, is congratulated by judges Michelle Berry and Andrew Pyper. (The third judge, Natalee Caple, was unable to attend the event.)

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Simon & Schuster Canada toasted Jack Romanos, the retiring president of its U.S. parent company, with an event at Toronto’s Spoke Club on Dec. 10. (Photos courtesy of Simon & Schuster Canada.)

Romanos, left, with Simon & Schuster Canada president Kevin Hanson and publicity director Amy Cormier.

Agent Bruce Westwood (middle) welcomes Carolyn Reidy, Simon & Schuster’s incoming president and CEO, while Alun Davies of S&S International looks on.

North 49 owner Peter Waldock, with Michael Selleck (S&S’s executive vice-president of sales and marketing) and David Millar (vice-president of sales, S&S Canada).

International Readings at Harbourfront director Geoffrey Taylor with Felicia Quon, director of marketing for S&S Canada.

Reidy, centre, with Larry and Brenda Sisnett of Georgetown Terminal Warehouses.

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Reidy has the floor while Romanos and Hanson look on.

Former PM Jean Chrétien drew a huge crowd at a book signing at A Different Drummer Books in Burlington, Ontario, earlier this month. Below, Chrétien with the store’s staff, including owner Richard Bachmann (second from right). (Photo courtesy of A Different Drummer.)

A cross-section of the industry turned out for BookNet Canada’s holiday bash, held at Toronto’s Spoke Club last night.

BookNet CEO Michael Tamblyn (left) chats with Larry and Brenda Sisnett of Georgetown Terminal Warehouses.

North 49 owner and BookNet president Peter Waldock prepares to address the crowd; Waldock wisely imposed a “no mentioning the exchange rate” rule on the evening.

Book and Periodical Council executive director Anne McClelland, Guelph bookseller BookNet boardmember Doug Minett, and Association of Canadian Publishers executive director Carolyn Wood.

Agent Sam Hiyate with BookNet’s Sue Beres. The two once worked together at The Lavin Agency.

Tamblyn catches up with former Indigo colleague Tracey Nesdoly.

The Governor General’s Literary Awards were bestowed in Montreal this week. (Photos by D. Courchesne and courtesy of the Canada Council for the Arts.)

Michael Ondaatje talks to reporters after winning his fifth GG, this time for the novel Divisadero.

Karolyn Smardz Frost, right, who won the non-fiction award for I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land, gets her prize from Melanie Rutledge, head of writing and publishing at the Canada Council for the Arts.

Rutledge gives the poetry prize to All Our Wonder Unavenged author Don Domanski.

Kids Can Press held an industry breakfast at its offices on Nov. 21 to build buzz for the March 2008 release of Mélanie Watt’s Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach, the third in her Scaredy Squirrel series.

Watt (left) with her Kids Can editor, Tara Walker.

Watt, Mabel’s Fables owner Eleanor LeFave, and Petra Morin of National Book Service.

Theo Heras of the Toronto Public Library, Kids Can director of marketing Tracy Heikel and president Lisa Lyons, and TPL’s Mariella Bertelli.

Watt with Kids Can publisher Karen Boersma, the TPL’s Ken Setterington, and Kids Can editor-in-chief Sheila Barry.

Tightrope Books launched two fall titles, Be Good, by Stacey May Fowles, and Manual for Emigrants, by Fraser Sutherland, at Revival in Toronto in mid-November. (Photos by Sharon Saunders, courtesy of Tightrope Books.)

Fowles, right, with Tightrope owner Halli Villegas.

Rockers Tomboyfriend provided the entertainment.

Great Plains Publications launched The Encyclopedia of Manitoba with an event at the Winnipeg Art Gallery earlier this month, and drew some high-profile guests. (Photos courtesy of Great Plains.)

Ed Schreyer, a former premier of Manitoba and former Governor General of Canada.

Great Plains managing editor Ingeborg Boyens and publisher Gregg Shilliday.

John Harvard, lieutenant governor of Manitoba, performs the ceremonial box-opening with Borgens.

It’s pretty rare to see grownups playing dressup at a book event unless the book in question includes the words “Harry Potter” or “Jedi” in the title. But that’s Sir John A. Macdonald (well, actually, Brian Porter) greeting author Roy MacSkimming at a Kingston Indigo. Macdonald, MacSkimming’s current novel about our first prime minister, was the focus of a customer appreciation day at the Indigo branch on Nov. 18. (Photo courtesy of Roy MacSkimming.)

McArthur & Company held its 20th annual Beaujolais Party on Thursday, Nov. 15 at Toronto’s Bistro 990. (Photos courtesy of McArthur & Company)

RBC Royal Bank’s Michael Meredith, author Barry Callaghan, Janet Sommerville of PEN Canada, and McArthur & Company publicist Taryn Manias.

The IFOA’s Geoffrey Taylor, Richard Bachmann of Different Drummer Books, Parmjit Parmar of Montana Ridge Publicity, and Jen Tindall, also from the IFOA.

Snaps of a few authors who read at the Windsor literary fest early this month. (Photos courtesy of Biblioasis.)

Alistair MacLeod.

John Metcalf.

Clark Blaise.

Dundurn Press held a launch for actor and singer Jan Rubes’ biography Jan Rubes: A Man of Many Talents at The Arts & Letters Club in Toronto. Photos courtesy of Meisner Publicity.

Jan Rubes (left) and author Ezra Schabas (right) both signed copies of the book.

Beth Bruder and Zoe Pope of Dundurn taking care of business.

Actor Saul Rubinek and Jan Rubes work with the camera.

As you may have heard, the annual Scotiabank Giller Prize was handed out last night. Q&Q will have a full report on the evening on our News page, but for now, here’s some shots of the gala.

Above: Authors Linda Spalding and Michael Ondaatje.

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New publisher Quattro Books held its fall launch at the Heliconian Club in Toronto on Oct. 24. Above, Gale Zoë Garnett reads from her Quattro novel Room Tone. More photos after the jump. (All photos courtesy of Omikron Marketing Services.)

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Above: McArthur & Company publisher Kim McArthur kicks back with Toronto Mayor David Miller and IFOA director Geoffrey Taylor at a party for Ian Rankin in Toronto in mid-October. After the jump: more Ian Rankin, the McArthur IFOA party, and the Sleuth of Baker Street celebrates an anniversary. (All photos courtesy of McArthur & Company.)

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The Charles Taylor Prize for the Literay Non-Fiction has donated almost 100 books to Canada’s embassy in Washington D.C. The gift was presented at the IFOA in Toronto. Photos courtesy of the Charles Taylor Foundation.

Carolyn Strauss, culture and outreach counsellor with the Canadian embassy in Washington, speaks to the crowd at the IFOA, with author and host for the evening, Charlotte Gray, in the background.

Charles Taylor prize administrator June Dickenson presents the books to Strauss.

Rudy Wiebe, whose book Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood in the Boreal Forest won this year’s Charles Taylor prize, with Strauss.

Chef Masaharu Morimoto, a Japanese chef who has appeared on The Iron Chef, tours Canada in support of his first cookbook, Morimoto - The New Art of Japanese Cooking. Photos courtesy of Chris Houston.

Morimoto makes an appearance at the MTV Cookoff.

Morimoto poses with Canada AM hosts Beverly Thomson, Seamus O’Regan, and Jeff Hutcheson.

Chris Houston, marketing director for Tourmaline Editions/DK Publishing, chums around with Morimoto

Morimoto and Jelena Adjic, host of CBC’s The Scene.

The 28th annual edition of the International Festival of Authors at Harbourfront in Toronto ran from Oct. 17-27. Here are pictures from just some of the dozens of readings, onstage interviews, signings, and, of course, parties that happened during the festival.

Antanas Sileika chats with The Walrus’s Daniel Baird at the IFOA’s Welcome Party. (Courtesy of the IFOA)

Scottish writer A.L. Kennedy reads at the 40th Anniversary gala for House of Anansi Press. (Julie Wilson/Courtesy of House of Anansi)

Graeme Gibson reads at Anansi’s 40th. (Julie Wilson/Courtesy of House of Anansi)

Birthday cake for Anansi’s 40th. (Julie Wilson/Courtesy of House of Anansi)

Barbara Berson and Sam Hiyate at the Penguin Canada party. (Courtesy of Penguin Canada)

Penguin Canada’s Melanie Storoschuk and The Globe and Mail’s Martin Levin tell us all to Live Long and Prosper. (Courtesy of Penguin Canada)

Author Celestine Hitiura Vaite and Pat Donnelly of the Montreal Gazette. (Courtesy of Penguin Canada)

Jonathan Garfinkel and Helen Oyeyemi. (Courtesy of Pengiun Canada)

D.R. MacDonald and Michael Winter, who appeared together at the Gallery on the Bay in Hamilton, Ontario. (Courtesy of the IFOA)

Bookseller Ben McNally interviews British novelist Will Self. (Courtesy of the IFOA)

Marina Lewycka and Vendela Vida are interviewed by The Globe and Mail’s Sandra Martin. (Courtesy of the IFOA)

Actor (and now author) David Thewlis came to this year’s International Festival of Authors at Harbourfront in Toronto to chat about his first novel, The Late Hector Kipling (Viking Canada).

Thewlis can make ‘em laugh merely by pointing at his own chin. Only Penguin publicity manager Debbie Gaudet, lurking in the background, seems unamused. (From left: Titus McNally, Rupert McNally, singer/songwriter Tom Phillips, Gaudet, Thewlis, Ben McNally.) Photo courtesy of the IFOA.

Open Book: Toronto, along with Mabel’s Fables, hosted Mini Lit: An Indoor Family Picnic at Toronto’s Drake Hotel on Oct. 13. The event was packed with both authors and kiddies. (Photos courtesy of Lisa Myers/Open Book: Toronto)

Sean Dixon plays a little banjo.

Loris Lesynski reads from Dirty Dog Boogie.

One of the kid-friendly snacks available. (Where’s the tomato soup?)

On Oct. 9, Open Book: Toronto and SheDoesTheCity.com hosted “Under the Covers: Bedtime Stories for Adults” at Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel. (Photos courtesy of Lisa Myers/Open Book:Toronto)

We see England, we see France: Jenn Perras of rock-it promotions (with pink teddy bear) and Bruce Couture.

Open Book’s Amy Logan Holmes chats with Jen McNeely of SheDoesTheCity.com.

McNeely addresses the crowd.

Zoe Whittall reads from Bottle Rocket Hearts while actor Jackie English lounges. We haven’t seen this many visible thongs since the Clinton administration… (Ba-da-doom crash! Thank you, you’re a great audience…)

Given the fact that his memoir is entitled The Man Who Forgot How to Read, author Howard Engel’s appearance at the Burlington Public Library’s Engaging Ideas series was not a reading, but an onstage interview with Cynthia Good. (Photo courtesy of A Different Drummer Books)

Cynthia Good and Howard Engel.

Brian Joseph Davis launched his new book, I, Tania (ECW Press), a parodic goof on the Patty Hearst story, at Supermarket in Toronto’s Kensington Market on Oct. 10. (Photos courtesy of ECW Press)

Poet a. rowlings reads from Libra by Don Delillo, one of the books Davis riffs upon in I, Tania.

Vice magazine’s Carolyn Tripp, Brian Joseph Davis, Bill Kennedy of Coach House Books, and Eye Weekly�s Chris Randle.

Damian Rogers reads from Little Girl Lost by Drew Barrymore, another riffed-on book.

ECW Press editor Michael Holmes chats with Darren Wershler-Henry.

Christine Cushing launched her new cookbook, Pure Food (Whitecap Books), at The Cheese Boutique in Toronto on Sept. 28. (Photos courtesy of DDG Publicity and Marketing)

Christine Cushing has a laugh. (As does publicist Debby de Groot in the background.)

Cushing addresses the hungry attendees, including Nick Rundall of Whitecap.

McClelland & Stewart launched Peter Robinson’s latest mystery, Friend of the Devil, at the Dora Keogh pub in Toronto. A band kept the evening lively and played the Grateful Dead song that inspired the title for the book. (Photos courtesy of Debby de Groot)

McClelland & Stewart’s Ruta Liormonas, Ashley Dunn, and Dinah Forbes (who edits Robinson’s mysteries).

Robinson enjoys the music with Dunn and Forbes.

For the Toronto launch of Michael Winter’s new novel, The Architects Are Here (Penguin Canada), This Is Not A Reading Series arranged an event in which 32 CanLit notables told stories about the author. The event took place at the Cadillac Lounge on October 4. (Photos courtesy of Penguin Canada)

Winter drinks in the attention from Barbara Gowdy (while Pages owner Marc Glassman listens in)…

… and then just drinks.