Canada Reads day three: On a Cold Road is frozen out, more protests

Canada Reads author Dave Bidini performs with the BidiniBand at the Toronto Reference Library (Photo: Tanja-Tiziana Burdi)

Dave Bidini’s rock memoir, On a Cold Road, is the latest title to be voted off CBC’s Canada Reads.

Although the book was overshadowed all week by discussion about the other four titles, On a Cold Road’s demise was met with an emotional response. During a post-show Q&A, celebrity defender Stacey McKenzie broke down while reading a passage from the book in which Bidini’s hardworking band, the Rheostatics, fulfills a dream of performing at Maple Leaf Gardens.

While the panelists were on their best behaviour today, this morning Q&Q received a press release from Gabriel Fritzen, a German-Canadian who is demanding an apology from panelist Anne-France Goldwater and the CBC for “libelling survivors of Iran’s holocaust,” after Goldwater suggested on Monday’s show that Marina Nemat’s memoir, The Prisoner of Tehran, was not a truthful account of her experiences in an Iranian prison.

Fritzen, who lives near the Bergen-Belsen concentration camps in Northern Germany, is supporting Nemat by inviting a group of high school students and teaching staff from Aurora, Ontario, to attend a live taping of Canada Reads at his expense, and by attending the event himself carrying a poster of Nemat. “I owe it to the memory of those who were brutally murdered an hour’s drive from my home to show tangible support to the victims of the ongoing holocaust in Iran like Ms. Nemat,” Fritzen writes.

Tomorrow is the final day of what has become the most controversial edition of Canada Reads, which has been airing annually since 2002. Actor Alan Thicke will play defense for Ken Dryden’s The Game against hip-hop artist Shad, who is representing Carmen Aguirre’s Something Fierce.

Book links roundup: Top 10 literary frenemies, librarians in pornography, and more

• Cervantes’ Don Quixote and D.H. Lawrence’s Gerald Crich among top 10 literary frenemies
• The Paris Review on librarians in pornography
• The Globe and Mail explores life between the bookshelves
• Terrible Minds gives “25 reasons writers are bug-fuck nuts“
• Loud Poet offers career tips for surviving publishings’ digital shift

Marina Nemat: “Bullying hurts and it’s a crime”

Although CBC Canada Reads celebrity defender Stacey McKenzie shed a few tears, day two of the book contest was a more civilized affair than yesterday’s bloody match. But the fisticuffs are ongoing outside of the CBC studio.

Yesterday on Facebook, Prisoner of Tehran author Marina Nemat asked panelist Anne-France Goldwater to apologize for calling her book untruthful. Goldwater, who was no less animated today (even as the book she was defending, John Vaillant’s The Tiger, was put down), didn’t respond to Nemat’s demand.

This afternoon, Nemat posted a new profile photo on Facebook. She doesn’t mention Goldwater or Canada Reads, but the photo speaks for itself:

The photo was taken from a shoot Nemat did for Calgary photographer Catherine Oshanek’s anti-bullying website. Although it was taken before Goldwater’s accusation, Nemat has made her point.

Book links roundup: Dickens’ day, analyzing writers’ handwriting, and more

• In celebration of his 200th birthday, a remembrance of Charles Dickens’ visit to Niagara Falls
• Flavorwire analyzes writers’ personalities by their handwriting
• Russell Smith asks: fiction or non-fiction, does it matter anymore?
• Timothy Donnelly wins $100,000 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award
• The Underground Literary Alliance: prescient revolutionaries or scary stalkers?

Marina Nemat demands public apology from Anne-France Goldwater

Jian Ghomeshi, Marina Nemat, and Arlene Dickinson during happier times at the Canada Reads launch event in November

When Canada Reads resident blogger Terry Fallis (who won last year for his novel The Best Laid Plans) accidentally posted a spoiler on Twitter that Marina Nemat’s Prisoner of Tehran was the first book to be voted off the 2012 competition, little did he know the drama was just beginning.

Selected earlier as the readers’ favourite in an online poll, Prisoner of Tehran was voted off in a tie-breaker by model Stacey McKenzie, and actor Alan Thicke dismissed the memoir for not being Canadian enough (“This is not called Tehran Reads”). Still, it was Quebec judge Anne-France Goldwater who was quickly vilified on social media by Nemat supporters. Goldwater suggested that while she believes books about human rights are important, she would have “preferred truer stories” that are “better representative of the people.” (She also referred to Something Fierce author Carmen Aguirre as a terrorist).

The drama continued on Facebook, where Nemat posted a defence of her book:

Prisoner of Tehran was just voted off Canada Reads simply because it is the most popular in Canada according to the polls. Thank you Canada for your vote of confidence, which is what really matters to me. The judges seemed to be interested in winning only and not in which book actually has more merit. Very disappointing and irresponsible I think, but I will survive and continue speaking out. Thank [sic] again for your support!

In the comments following her message, Nemat says her supporters will attend the rest of the debate, which ends on Feb. 9, and will hold up copies of her book in protest.

Later in the afternoon, Nemat posted a second Facebook message, this time asking for a public apology from Goldwater:

Please let me be clear that I have no problems with being eliminated from Canada Reads. What I have a problem with though is that Ms. Goldwater, one of the panelists, called me a liar and called Carmen Aguirre a terrorist! That is not okay. I hope she can produce evidence to back up her claims. If not, I would like to receive a public apology from her.

But regardless of what was said during the competition or how high the books are held, nobody can argue that Prisoner of Tehran is not on this week’s Canadian nonfiction bestsellers’ list.

Here are just some of the reactions from Twitter about today’s show:

BookNet bestsellers: Canadian non-fiction

Even though Marina Nemat’s Prisoner of Tehran was voted off CBC Canada Reads today, it still charts on this week’s Canadian non-fiction bestsellers’ list. For the two weeks ending Jan. 29:

1. The Looneyspoons Collection, Janet and Greta Podleski
(Granet Publishing, $34.95 pa, 9780968063156)

2. The Wealthy Barber Returns, David Chilton
(Financial Awareness Corporation, $19.95 pa, 9780968394748)

3. Meals that Heal Inflammation, Julie Daniluk
(Random House Canada, $29.95 pa, 9780307359988)

4. Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood, Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming
(Whitecap, $29.95 pa, 9781552859940)

5. Retirement’s Harsh New Realities, Gordon Pape
(Penguin Canada, $24 pa, 9780143179221)

6. It’s Your Money, Gail Vaz-Oxlade
(HarperCollins Canada, $21.99 pa, 9781554688678)

7. Debt-Free Forever, Gail Vaz-Oxlade
(HarperCollins Canada, $21.99 pa, 9781554685912)

8. The Book of Awesome, Neil Pasricha
(Berkley/Penguin $17.50 pa, 9780425238905)

9. Maya, Justin Jennings
(Royal Ontario Museum Press, $5.05 pa, 9780888544872)

10. The Supercharged Hormone Diet, Natasha Turner
(Random House Canada, $32 cl, 9780307356512)

11. Lynn Crawford’s Pitchin’ In, Lynn Crawford
(Viking Canada, $37 cl, 9780670065936)

12. Canadian Living: The One-Dish Collection
(Trancontinental Books, $26.95 pa, 9780981393896)

13. The Tiger, John Vaillant
(Vintage Canada, $22 pa, 9780307397157)

14. Chef Michael Smith’s Kitchen, Michael Smith
(Penguin Canada, $32 pa, 9780143177630)

15. Prisoner of Tehran, Marina Nemat
(Penguin Canada, $18 pa, 9780143052173)

16. Money-Smart Kids, Gail Vaz-Oxlade
(HarperCollins Canada, $6.99 pa, 978-1443412292)

17. Cold Hard Truth, Kevin O’Leary
(Doubleday Canada, $29.95 cl, 9780385671743)

18. The Ice Pilots, Michael Vlessides
(Douglas & McIntyre, $21.95 pa, 9781553659396)

19. Never Too Late, Gail Vaz-Oxlade
(HarperCollins Canada, $21.99 pa, 9781554688685)

20. Persuasion, Arlene Dickinson
(HarperCollins Canada, $32.99 cl, 9781443405966)

Indigo boycotts books published by Amazon

What began as a “simmering feud” during the Christmas selling season, when Amazon launched a promotion offering users discounts for purchasing products scanned in bricks-and-mortar stores, has escalated into “full-scale war,” according to an article in The Globe and Mail. Late last week, news broke that Indigo was joining the U.S. chains Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million in refusing to stock books put out by Amazon’s burgeoning publishing arm. Those books include new work by heavy hitters like James Franco and Deepak Chopra, as well as a memoir by actor and director Penny Marshall, which Amazon acquired for a rumoured $800,000 advance.

The boycott is in response to what many considered to be predatory practices on the part of Amazon. The Globe quotes an email from Indigo vice-president Janet Eger, who writes that “Amazon’s actions are not in the long-term interests of the reading public or the publishing and book retailing industry, globally.”

Today, The Bookseller published an article providing more detail about Barnes & Noble’s reasons for implementing their boycott:

In a statement, B&N chief merchandising officer Jaime Carey said: “Barnes & Noble has made a decision not to stock Amazon published titles in our store showrooms. Our decision is based on Amazon’s continued push for exclusivity with publishers, agents and the authors they represent. These exclusives have prohibited us from offering certain e-books to our customers. Their actions have undermined the industry as a whole and have prevented millions of customers from having access to content. It’s clear to us that Amazon has proven they would not be a good publishing partner to Barnes & Noble as they continue to pull content off the market for their own self interest.”

In her email to the Globe, Eger states, “Indigo Founder and CEO Heather Reisman has congratulated Barnes & Noble for taking a leadership stance on the matter, and offers kudos.”

The latest front in the bookselling wars comes amid rumours that Amazon may be planning to open a bricks-and-mortar store of its own in the not-too-distant future.

Former agent to launch international organization for self-published authors

Just in time for the spring book season, a non-profit organization for self-published authors is getting an international roll-out.

Headed up in London, England, by Orna Nass, an author and former literary agent, The Alliance of Independent Authors will represent the interests of self-published authors in dealings with booksellers, trade publishers, literary agents, and wholesalers. According to Nass, who is quoted by The Bookseller, the purpose of the group is to raise awareness among industry stakeholders of the “creative needs” of writers who take a DIY approach to book publishing.

“It requires a change of attitude both in writers and in other players. In the past, the author was a resource to be mined, but indie authorship is about meeting the publisher as a partner,” Nass says.

The alliance’s website should be live in the coming weeks, and Nass hopes to sign up about 500 members in the organization’s first year. She intends to offer “a biannual conference and monthly meetings for members, as well as providing a helpline, newsletters, and advice on issues such as payment and contracts.”

Though there are some organizations specifically tailored to self-published authors in Canada, they seem few and far between, and their activity levels are anything but regular. (For example, the Independent Authors and Illustrators of Canada, founded in 2008, recently lost its Web domain and has had its site taken down.)

In 2004, the Canadian ISBN Agency estimated 65 per cent of Canada’s publishing output came from self-published authors. Last year, an R.R. Bowker study found that self-published books in the U.S. had grown to more than 764,000 titles, up from more than 285,000 in 2008 and 134,000 in 2007.

University of Alberta researchers track down province’s first publisher

A team at the University of Alberta has traced the province’s first book publishing enterprise to a Catholic missionary and polyglot.

In The Beginning of Print Culture in Athabasca Country (University of Alberta Press, 2010), researchers Patricia Demers, Naomi McIlwraith, and Dorothy Thunder examine the work of Bishop Émile Grouard, owner of the province’s first printing press. Gouard was also the author and translator of its first books: Catholic texts printed in the aboriginal languages of Cree, Dene, Beaver, Hareskin, and Loucheux.

In addition to the remarkable Belgian-made metal fonts in Cree syllabics, the historians, who included a reprint and painstaking translation of Grouard’s 1883 Cree prayer book, were struck by the missionary’s efforts to contextualize catechism to suit his 19^th–century aboriginal audience.

From the Edmonton Journal:

In Grouard’s version, for example, Adam and Eve are expelled from Eden for eating forbidden berries. Because Cree has no word for “descend,” Grouard had to be creative in finding a way to describe Christ’s descent to Earth.

“He has Jesus sledding down from heaven, tobogganing down to Earth,” Demers says, laughing.

In Grouard’s translation, even the Ten Commandments take on a more folksy, conversational tone. “Thou shalt not kill,” for example, comes out as: “Do not kill. Do not even think about how to kill.”

“Cree is entirely different from English,” McIlwraith says. “In English, the syntax is very rigid. Cree is more flexible and more fluid, more melodic.”

“He Cree-ized the Latin liturgy, with the intonation of Cree,” Demers says. “This document is a kind of living testimony to a hallmark of Cree identity. The loss of that language is what this project wanted to address and rectify.”

In 2011, The Beginning of Print Culture took home the Scholarly and Academic Book Award at the Alberta Book Awards.

Joyland launches poetry hub

Online literary magazine Joyland has launched a new website, Joyland Poetry.

In a similar fashion to its short fiction and prose site, Joyland founders Emily Schultz and Brian Joseph Davis are working with regional editors to publish poetry from across North America. The hub features work by John K. Samson, Thom Donovan, Johnny Thunders, Mott Hoople, and Harold Abramowitz.

In January, the duo also published the first edition of Joyland Retro, a print anthology of stories from the magazine’s website.

Editor’s note: While we think that Johnny Thunders and Mott Hoople are the best poet names ever, they’re actually placeholders during the site’s soft launch.