Grant Buday's Dragonflies (2008). A prose retelling of The Iliad from Odysseus' point of view. The great strength of Buday's novel isn't in any formal innovation or revisionism. Rather, it's the crispness and humour and beauty of the prose that make this book worth seeking out.
As promised, here's a photo-tour of AK's launch yesterday in Vancouver. Many thanks to the wonderful folks at the Co-op for helping put together such a marvellous event (and especial thanks to Grandma Suzu, who provided the goodies, and possibly some teacups?). Take a look! (And if you're playing Spot-the-Author, have a snoop at the second photo especially. Who's that there? Annabel Lyon? Caroline Adderson? Golly.)
Though it will not yet be published for more than a month in Canada -- and nearly a month later in the U.S. -- we've had some great news in the past week about Anakana Schofield's first novel Malarky in the US, which we thought we would share with Thirsty readers. The book has been picked as one of a handful of fiction and nonfiction selections for Barnes & Noble's Discover Great New Writers Program for the summer of 2012. Not only does this mean that it will receive great exposure through B&N stores and online, but it is also eligible for the $10,000 B&N Discover Great New Writers Award.
More details will follow as they become available.
If this is the first you've heard of Malarky, trust me when I say that it will not be the last. It's a black and madly comic novel about a wife and mother come face-to-face with the mad agony of longing. Set in rural Ireland, it spans the globe and grapples with the question (among many others: it continues to surprise me the range of subject this novel can contain without becoming overwhelmed by it): can we love something so much that we kill it?
It comes garlanded with some exceptional early praise. My favourite may be this one, from Lynn Coady:
This is the story of Anakana Schofield's teapot-wielding 'Our Woman': fretful mother, disgruntled farmwife, and—surprisingly late in life—sexual outlaw/anthropologist. Everything about this primly raunchy, uproarious novel is unexpected—each draught poured from the teapot marks another moment of pure literary audacity.
Or how about this one, from Annabel Lyon:
Malarkyspins and glitters like a coin flipped in the air—now searingly tragic, now blackly funny. The language is joyful and exuberant, the characters thoughtful and deeply felt. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.
For more information about Anakana Schofield and Malarky please check out the page on Biblioasis's website here. You can also follow the link to Anakana's blog over on the author sidebar. We'll be launching a Malarky website in the coming weeks as well. Further details on launches and other promotion to follow.
Over at the Guardian Annabel Lyon, who is celebrating the British launch of her excellent The Golden Mean, writes on ten historical novels dealing with the ancient world which subvert expectations. Coming in at number two, Grant Buday's Dragonflies.
A prose retelling of the Iliad from Odysseus's point of view. The great strength of Buday's novel isn't in any formal innovation or revisionism. Rather, it's the crispness, humour and beauty of the prose that make this book worth seeking out.
If you have not read it you really should seek it out. You can also see Annabel's other picks here.
Though it's not officially out until tomorrow, if you're a compulsive snoop and head over to the Globe & Mail Books Pages, you can see that they are publishing their annual Globe 100 list tomorrow. Biblioasis has two inclusions in the top 100 for 2009. Terry Griggs's fabulous farcical slacker-cozy of a literary novel makes the cut of the Canadian novels, as it well should, sitting alongside titles by Annabel Lyon, Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood and company. Sally Cooper enthuses:
Chockablock with winks and digs at the literary set, Thought You Were Dead is a gleeful Russian doll of a novel. Reading it, one trips along, revelling in its wordplay, its wit, its puns and allusions, and its jokes. Then there are the characters: the inventors, writers, realtors and reputation-management specialists who people the antic “sleepy town” of Farclas, Ont. The story is equal parts comic murder mystery, hero’s journey and layered intellectual puzzle, and it satisfies on every level.
Perhaps a bit more surprisingly, Kahn & Engelmann has made the cut as well, this time in the Best Foreign Fiction Category, alongside titles by Zoe Heller, A. S. Byatt, Aleksander Hemon, William Trevor, Lorrie Moore, Nicholson Baker and several others. Very good company indeed. (We have, incidentally, received some even potentially better news about Kahn & Engelmann this eve, though I shall not share it quite yet, for fear of jinxing things. Stay tuned, and I will say more when I can.)
Of Kahn & Engelmann Chris Scott writes: A fascinating family saga, Kahn & Engelmann chronicles five generations of Jewish life. Beginning in 1880 near Lake Balaton, Hungary, the narrative moves episodically from turn-of-the-century Vienna through the 20th century’s convulsions, culminating in the Holocaust, the foundation of Israel and the battles for the survival of the Jewish state.
Other Biblioasis alumni made the cut for books with other presses. Leon Rooke was listed for his collection of short fiction The Last Shot, as was Ray Robertson, for David, both published by Thomas Allen. And though it may be a bit much to claim Annabel Lyon as an alumni, we did publish a chapbook of hers back in 2005, a few copies of which are left. Congratulations to all.
Though it's not officially out until tomorrow, if you're a compulsive snoop and head over to the Globe & Mail Books Pages, you can see that they are publishing their annual Globe 100 list tomorrow. Biblioasis has two inclusions in the top 100 for 2009. Terry Griggs's fabulous farcical slacker-cozy of a literary novel makes the cut of the Canadian novels, as it well should, sitting alongside titles by Annabel Lyon, Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood and company. Sally Cooper enthuses:
