Attended Micheal Ondaatje’s reading of “The Cat’s Table” last night at the AGPH. Mr Ondaatje read for 40 minutes then answered questions. It turns out that the Cat’s Table is a German phrase for the least important table with the least important people–interesting term! The book is on my to-read list.
Tag Archives: Fiction
Tim Winton–Breath
I’ve been a fan Tim Winton since I read The Turning, his collection of short fiction. His latest novel, Breath, is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Not only is the story itself exhilarating, the technique is controlled to the point of being invisible. Want to write? Here is a [...]
Michael Larson – The Woods in Malahat Review
So, the Malahat Review’s Spring Edition 174 came out a while back and Michael Larson’s short story “The Woods” caught my attention. I haven’t read anything by him before, but his story has been knocking around my brain from the first read. If you haven’t read it, this would be a good edition of the [...]
Will Johnson’s Award Winning Short Story – Fiddlehead Magazine
So fellow UVic-ite and soon to be UBC-er Will Johnson won the The Fiddlehead’s Short Fiction competition this year with his piece “Sea to Sky”. It’s a fine read, with clean, straight forward prose, and MiriamToews-esque characters that are full of honesty and heart. You can read a clip here: The Fiddlehead Sea to Sky Congrats [...]
Victoria Symphony and Miriam Toews
Two great things are happening this friday, and though I can’t do both I wish I could! Take your pick: Victoria Symphony May 6 at 8pm Alix Goolden Hall VS Principal Violist Kenji performs Jacques Hetu’s Viola Concerto in the second and final Odyssey concert of the season. Principal Guest Conductor Alain Trudel conducts this [...]
PRISM international posts 2011 Fiction/Poetry Winners
PRISM says: This year we received over two-hundred and fifty short stories and over three-hundred and fifty poems! Needless to say, the decisions were difficult and the quality of the work was phenomenal. But after weeks and weeks of deliberation, the editorial board and the editors decided on the final shortlists. The poetry shortlist went [...]
The Tiger’s Wife – Tea Obreht
Tea Obreht, another “20 Under 40″ has published her first novel: The Tiger’s Wife. I read Tea’s short story “Blue Water Djinn” in the New Yorker’s collection, was immediately impressed by the control of the language and structure, and went and bought her novel. Many things I loved in her short story turned up in [...]
M–awards; Steve Price’s new Novel; Aventa Concert
Had a great week of New Art in Victoria… 1.Bolen Books sponsored a reading of fiction shortlisted for the M Awards, (monday mag) and there to read were Jack Hogins, Matthew Hooton (my current fiction prof), Robert J. Wiersema, and John Gould (a past fiction prof of mine). Small gathering, but great readers. I look [...]
Swamplandia!
I recently read Karen Russell’s new (first) novel Swamplandia! Karen has been anthologized in the New York Times 20 under 40 as a writer to watch, and with her first story collection titled St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, her new novel featuring an alligator wrestling family in the swamps of the Florida [...]