Toews linked to new writing school

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/02/2010 (5689 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Former Winnipegger Miriam Toews is reported to be involved in a new writing school being established in Toronto.

The Globe and Mail has reported that Toews will be taking part in the program offered by U.K. publisher Faber & Faber.

The Faber Academy is a recently established high-profile school that originated in Europe.

According to Patrick Keogh, Toews will be involved “in an essential way.”

Toews most recent book is The Flying Troutmans, released in 2008. She moved to Toronto in the summer of 2009.

“ö “ö “ö

Winnipeg poet Ariel Gordon’s first book of poetry will be launched in Winnipeg on May 5 at McNally Robinson Booksellers.

Hump is being published by Palimpsest Press.

Prior to the launch Gordon will be touring with Regina’s Tracy Hamon. They will be reading in Saskatchewan and Alberta and will take part in the April 20 Edmonton Poetry Festival.

Gordon is also poetry columnist at this paper.

“ö “ö “ö

The short list for the 2009 CBC Literary Awards has been released.

Among the 80 writers on the English short list are Winnipeggers Paul Klassen, Christopher Simons and Meira Cook.

This year more than 6,000 submissions were received. Winners in each of the three categories receive $6,000 and those in second place receive $4,000.

The winners will be announced on March 22. English winners will be announced by Shelagh Rogers and French winners will be announced by Christiane Charette.

“ö “ö “ö

One of the key inspirations for William Faulkner has apparently been located in a small town in Mississippi.

Emory University Prof. Sally Wolff-King claims she has discovered a 19th-century plantation diary in Holly Springs.

The diary has information and details later found in Faulkner’s works.

Wolff-King will be publishing Ledgers of History: William Faulkner, an Almost Forgotten Friendship and an Antebellum Diary.

Faulkner is best known for his imaginary Yoknapatawpha County. The county was the setting for classics such as The Sound and the Fury.

“ö “ö “ö

The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that Turkey violated freedom of expression laws in banning and destroying a 100-year-old novel.

In 1999 Turkey banned publication of the 1907 erotic work The Eleven Thousand Rods.

The court ruled that Turkey had prevented access to “a work belonging to the European literary heritage.”

The novel was actually banned in France until 1970. In fact, the purported author, Guillaume Apollinaire, never admitted he was the author because of harsh French obscenity laws.

“ö “ö “ö

Library use is up dramatically in the U.S.

According to a survey by the American Library Association libraries are being used more at the same time their budgets are being cut. Thirteen states reported libraries were being shut down.

The initial results of the survey indicate many libraries are being used by job seekers as the U.S. economy flounders. At the same time the economic problems encourage governments to cut funding.

vanrooy1@hotmail.com