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Get ready for some truly awful poetry, because on May 25 the Vancouver Public Library Central Branch (350 W. Georgia) is hosting a Vogon poetry slam.
According to Douglas Adams’s sci-fi classic The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Vogon poetry is considered to be the third worst in the universe. Often excruciatingly unpleasant to listen to, Vogon poetry can cause “queasiness, vomiting, brain damage, and spontaneous hysterical laughter.”
Participating poets (who submitted their work before the May 13 deadline) will be competing to win one of three cash prizes. Extra points will be awarded if the poets mention Douglas Adams, a Vancouver location, a celestial body, the name of a kitchen utensil, a disease, or words associated with the library.
Encountering LGBT characters in YA lit is nothing unusual these days. In fact, it’s almost become standard to have a supporting character who’s either lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered.
However, despite LGBT roles becoming more common in books and film, it’s still unusual to discover a YA book that features an LGBT character as its protagonist. Happily, first-time author Suzanne Sutherland’s novel When We Were Good is an excellent example of this.
The 28th annual edition of the B.C. Book Prizes took place at Government House in Victoria last night (May 4). The gala event, hosted by Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon and emceed by author and broadcaster Grant Lawrence, featured the announcement of winners in seven categories, not to mention the handing out of $28,000 in prize money.
The victorious titles were as follows:
Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize: The World by Bill Gaston (Hamish Hamilton Canada, Penguin Group Canada)
Vancouver-based Cloudscape Comics Society has a new anthology of West Coast talent in the works, and it's looking for help to make it a reality.
Asian Heritage Month officially starts on May 1, but its 2013 launch was held Tuesday (April 30) at Richmond City Hall.
Numerous events will be held throughout the month and at the end of it all, the explorASIAN 2013 Recognition Gala will be held on June 1 at Pink Pearl Restaurant.
This year, two individuals will be recognized at the gala for their contributions in supporting Asian Canadian communities.
Each year on the first Saturday in May, participating comic-book stores across North America and the world give away select comic books to anyone who comes into their stores.
This Saturday (May 4) Vancouver-based comics company Arcana is sponsoring an event at Burnaby's Metropolis Comics and Toys (4735 Kingsway) from noon until 8 pm.
Eager comic readers can get their hands on a special exclusive issue of The Steam Engines of Oz, a Steampunk reimagining of L. Frank Baum's classic tale set one hundred years after the action of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Leading Australian independent bookstore Pages & Pages has announced that in response to the Kindle's dominance of the e-reader market, it will be offering customers a gift certificate worth A$50 if they turn in their Kindles and purchase one of the store's line of e-readers.
Pages & Pages manager and Australian Booksellers Association president Jon Page said that "Pages & Pages is no longer sitting passively by while Amazon steals our customers and steals their reading choices. Through this campaign we want people to understand what Amazon is doing and make an informed choice to have choice."
Short film "The Last Bookshop" proves that the demise of the printed book isn't quite as certain as some critics would have it.
This short film tells the story of a young boy who, when his futuristic electronic entertainment stops working, rambles through shuttered shops in search of some amusement. At the end of a seemingly deserted street he discovers a single forgotten bookshop, whose proprietor has been waiting 25 years for a customer.
According to the video's YouTube page, the creators "wanted to contribute to the cultural debate with [their] own celebration in support of these glorious independents and their shelves of treasures."
The topless Femen protesters have generated a ton of media coverage in Europe.
That's because they doff their blouses every time they want to draw attention to patriarchal or homophobic clerics and politicians.
But they're not the only women going shirtless these days.
There's also a topless book club in New York City, which cheekily promises to make reading sexy.
The Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society is a group of friends and complete strangers who read outdoors with all their skin exposed above the waist.
In a surprise move, Bell Media has revealed that it intends to change the focus of Book Television from programs about books to those based on books. Recently, the beleaguered channel has suffered from unimpressive ratings and subscriptions, leading the broadcasting company to tinker with what, to many, was a good thing.
