Seth wins Harbourfront Festival Prize

Organizers at the International Festival of Authors have named cartoonist and graphic novelist Seth the winner of the 2011 Harbourfront Festival Prize. The $10,000 prize honours an individual whose work has substantially contributed to the state of literature and books.

According to a press release issued by the Harbourfront Centre, the jury — John van Driel, vice-president of programming and operations at Classical 96.3FM; Denise Donlon, former executive director at CBC Radio; and Geoffrey Taylor, director at IFOA — selected Seth based on the “diversity and range of his illustrations and designs” throughout his career.

In the statement, Seth says a few decades ago he couldn’t have envisioned the acceptance of comics in the literary world, that “the idea of winning something like this was not within the realm of possibilities,” and so “it goes without saying that I am deeply honoured.” Past winners of the prize include Dionne Brand, Wayson Choy, Paul Quarrington, Jane Urquhart, and recent Q&Q cover profile Guy Vanderhaeghe.

Seth will receive the prize at an IFOA event in Toronto on Oct. 29.

Peter Robinson wins $10,000 Harbourfront prize

The International Festival of Authors announced today that mystery author Peter Robinson is this year’s recipient of the $10,000 Harbourfront Festival Prize, “based on the merits of his own published work and the time he has invested in nurturing the next generation of literary talent.”

Robinson was selected by a jury comprising John van Driel, vice-president of programming operations at Classical 96.3 FM, National Post reporter Mark Medley, and IFOA director Geoffrey E. Taylor. Previous winners include Wayson Choy, Helen Humphreys, Paul Quarrington, and Jane Urquhart. The prize will be presented on Oct. 30, the closing night of the IFOA.

IFOA news: Geoffrey Taylor to receive honorary degree, Urquhart to read Munro

Geoffrey Taylor, director of Harbourfront’s Reading Series, is to receive an honorary degree from the School of Creative & Performing Arts at the Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. Taylor, who has been with Harboufront Centre for 20 years, is being honoured for his contribution to the promotion of Canadian books and authors.

Over the last five years, Taylor has been responsible for the International Festival of Authors, has served as a jury member for both the Toronto Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Awards, and has been an adviser to the Humber School for Writers. In 2008, Q&Q included him in a list of the most influential people in Canadian publishing.

Taylor will be presented with the degree at a ceremony on Nov. 7.

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The IFOA has also confirmed the lineup for its second annual presentation of the Rogers Writer’s Trust Fiction Prize shortlist. For the reading on Oct. 28, the following authors will be reading:

• Douglas Coupland will read from Generation A
• Annabel Lyon will read from The Golden Mean
• Andrew Steinmetz will read from Eva’s Threepenny Theatre
• Jacqueline Larson will read from Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood’s English-language translations of Nicole Brossard’s Fences in Breathing
• Jane Urquhart will read from Alice Munro’s Too Much Happiness on behalf of Munro, who is unable to attend the event

The winner of the $25,000 award will be announced on Nov. 24 in Toronto.

Canadian writers get Airsick

On Saturday, the Toronto Star published a number of eco-themed essays by such CanLit luminaries as David Adams Richards, Margaret Atwood, Jane Urquhart, Austin Clarke, Robert Bateman, Wayne Grady, John Wilson, and Stephen Marche.

(True to fashion, Marche complains about all the attention given to boring old-growth forests instead of hip, young trees that grow in Brooklyn. Just kidding.)

The essays were inspired by a short film by Star photographer Lucas Oleniuk entitled Airsick.

The film, as well as all of the essays, can be seen here.

L.M. Montgomery Institute looking for kindred spirits — with cash

Next year, the world – or mainly just Canada and Japan, perhaps – will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first publication of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s beloved Anne of Green Gables. But the L.M. Montgomery Institute in P.E.I. might not be ready to party.

The group, which was established in 1993 to honour and promote Lucy Maud and to be a hub for research, initially received a three-year grant from the Social Science and Humanities Council of Canada. Later funding came from the Macdonald Stewart Foundation and the telecommunications company Aliant.

In June 2004, Japan’s Imperial Highness Princess Takamodo became the Institute’s “international patron.” Furthermore, a long list of scholars, authors, and international figures – including Adrienne Clarkson and Jane Urquhart – grace its committees and board.

But the money seems to have stopped flowing in, according to CBC News Online.

Funding sources have dried up over the years, and the L.M. Montgomery Institute has struck a committee to try to source new ones.

“There is kind of this feeling that, you know, that there will always be funding there just because it’s so exciting and so great, how could there not be money?” Simon Lloyd, chair of the L.M. Montgomery Institute Committee told CBC News.

Lloyd added that he is confident they’ll be able to find enough funds to keep the lights on, so it’s not time to panic yet. Quillblog humbly suggests turning to the pages of Montgomery’s beloved tomes for fundraising ideas – Anne Shirley was pretty good at getting out of scrapes, after all.

Saturday Night‘s last call

The big news at Q&Q Omni World Headquarters on Thursday was of Saturday Night‘s “hiatus.” (Q&Q and Saturday Night are both owned by St. Joseph Media.) After the winter issue comes out at the end of November, that’s it. The staff was sent home Thursday for the rest of the week, but was expected to return the following week to wrap up the last issue.

For the book industry, Saturday Night‘s shut down means the loss of yet another outlet for book coverage. In recent months, the magazine included regular space devoted to book coverage in some form, either an omnibus review or a publishing-related story. And authors such as Jane Urquhart, Malcolm Gladwell, and Mark Kingwell, to name a few, had been the subjects of articles in recent issues.

Saturday Night‘s publisher, Q&Q alumnus Sharon McCauley, was interviewed by James Adams of The Globe and Mail, and her comments suggest a bleak future for general interest magazines: “According to Ms. McCauley, Saturday Night‘s latest collapse is related directly to ‘the problem of the viability of the general interest magazine in Canada.’ The ‘engine of the current industry is women’s service magazines’ such as Chatelaine and Canadian Living, she said. These publications are distinguished by a readership that is at once ‘very wide’ and specific. Chatelaine, a monthly published by Rogers Media, has an estimated total paid circulation of 700,000. ‘Advertisers know who they’re getting when they buy in there,’ Ms. McCauley said, whereas Saturday Night presents ‘more of a complex and subtle message.’”

Check the links for more coverage.

Related links:
Click here for James Adams’ story in The Globe and Mail
Click here for Murray Whyte’s story in the Toronto Star
Click here for analysis on Antonia Zerbisias’s Toronto Star blog