Women’s right to vote celebrated in lit mag

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This article was published 04/06/2016 (3421 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba literary magazine Prairie Fire has produced a special edition of fiction, poetry and essays to celebrate 2016 as the 100th anniversary of Manitoba women becoming the first in Canada to have the vote.

Suffrage 100: Reflections on Manitoba Women Getting the Vote includes work by 17 Manitoba writers, including novelist Margaret Sweatman, poet Jennifer Still and playwright Debbie Patterson.

The magazine launches the special edition, with readings by Arlea Ashcroft, Donna Besel, Melanie Brannagan Frederiksen, Kirsty Cameron, Dora Dueck, Ariel Gordon, Sarah Klassen, Deborah Schnitzer, Sue Sorensen, Jennifer Still and Chimwemwe Undi, Thursday at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson Booksellers.

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A pseudonymous Italian, a self-obsessed Norwegian and a Japanese genre-bender are helping the U.K. overcome its insular reputation, at least as far as reading is concerned.

A study commissioned by the Man Booker International Prize found that Elena Ferrante, Karl Ove Knausgaardand Haruki Murakami have helped to bring about a boom in translated fiction in the U.K. In 2015, translated works accounted for 3.5 per cent of literary fiction titles on sale in the country, but seven per cent of literary fiction sales, according to the study.

In Guardian story, a spokesperson for the prize suggests the boom in Scandinavian crime fiction has helped break down some of the public’s reluctance to read works in translation.

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The adult colouring-book fad has given bookstores a new revenue source, but stop calling them books.

That’s one takeaway from a recent decision by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (the U.K.’s tax department), which recently ruled that adult colouring books don’t qualify for the same tax exemption as book books.

According to the Bookseller, lawyers for British publishers are fighting the ruling, which could cost booksellers millions of pounds.

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A Manitoba life coach and self-help author will visit four Winnipeg bookstores over the next month to discuss his book on bringing dreams to life.

Marc Cyr’s book, Dream It Believe It Deserve It, lays out a three-step approach, starting with deciding what you want from life, then making a blueprint to achieve it, leading to making the effort and taking the time to make it happen. Cyr visits the Kenaston Indigo June 11 (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.), Chapters St. Vital June 18 (1 to 4 p.m.), Coles Regent June 25 (1 to 3 p.m.) and Chapters Empress July 9 (1 to 3 p.m.).

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Writers for Winnipeg-based Canadian Dimension magazine, a voice of the Canadian left since 1963, offer their perspective on Canada’s history since the 1960s in a new book edited by the magazine’s founder.

Canada Since 1960: A People’s History brings together writings from 27 Canadian Dimension contributors from across Canada, discussing economic, political, social, cultural and other developments.

Editor Cy Gonick, a former NDP MLA (1963-73) and retired U of M professor, launches the book at McNally Robinson Booksellers Friday at 7 p.m.

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An amateur historian, poet and author from The Pas turns historical novelist in a border-spanning western.

Murray Harvey’s debut self-published novel, From This Valley, tells the story of a deserter from Col. George Armstrong Custer’s Seventh Cavalry, who flees the Montana Territory for Canada just before the disaster at Little Bighorn.

Harvey launches the novel at McNally Robinson Friday at 7:30 p.m.

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