• Ardath Whynacht

Ruler of the Halifax spoken word stage, Word Iz Bond is celebrating 10 years of reigning over language, with a cool collaboration that brings in artists from other disciplines. The series, which will run from November to April as part of Speak!, the group’s monthly open mic night, kicks off Thursday, 8:30pm at The Company House.

Integral Accidents is the first collaboration, inspired by the writings of Paul Virilio, featuring poet Ardath Whynacht, visual artist Peter Dykhuis and filmmaker IzReal Jones. Whynacht describes it as a collision of poetry and moving images “that traces a single journey in a car and the multiple internal journeys that are sparked as car and driver speed along the coast.” 

Poets, if you have an idea for a collaboration, submit it to wordizbondcollective@gmail.com by January 15, for a chance to perform it on stage in May 2011.

Johanna Skibsrud won the Giller Prize, and its fifty-grand purse, for her novel The Sentimentalists, which was published by Gaspereau Press.

The 30-year-old—-the youngest ever to receive the literary award—-grew up in Pictou County, specifically Scotsburn in Pictou County, home to one of the province's major dairies.

Based in Montreal, Skibsrud until this point has been known as a poet. Her book of poetry, I Do Not Think That I Could Love A Human Being, came out on Gaspereau's spring list this year. (Read about it on the publisher's site: http://www.gaspereau.com/1554470854.shtml)

Skibsrud's debut novel, The Sentimentalists, accompanies the daughter of a dying Vietnam War-veteran as she retraces her father's steps and weighs his decisions and actions. A fuller summary is available on the publisher's site: http://www.gaspereau.com/1554470781.shtml. Patience: the site is very slow, no doubt due to morning-after-award-ceremony traffic.

Gaspereau authors, and the press itself, have received many prizes and recognition for writing and book design (set and pressed by hand—-objects to behold).

George Elliott Clarke, as perhaps the most high-profile example prior to this win, received the 2001 Governor-General's Literary Award for Poetry in English for Execution Poems, published in 2000. (The GGs get announced next week, November 16.)

Immediately before and after the Giller announcement, media has focused much of its attention so far on the fact that The Sentimentalists is widely unavailable in stores, owing to the purposely limited print runs Gaspereau produces. But, you can check out your local branch of the Halifax Public Libraries (halifaxpubliclibraries.ca), or other provincial library system, to see if there's a copy available on the racks, or one to be transited over from another branch. Or, alternatively, scan the shelves of a secondhand/used bookstore, such as the celebrated Doull Books (http://www.doullbooks.com).

The Giller jury this year comprised of CBC host Michael Enright, UK writer Ali Smith and American author and teacher Claire Messud.

Besides Skibsrud as the winner, they selected Alexander MacLeod's short story collection Light Lifting (Biblioasis) for the shortlist.

All the book peeps turn in their corduroy jackets for tuxes (nothing like perpetuating a stereotype) for the Giller Prize ceremony, one of the country's biggest literary nights. The Atlantic Book Awards Society wants you to be part of the festivities: they're throwing a party down at the Writers' Fed (1113 Marginal), tonight, from 8-11pm, with food, drink and a large-screen streaming of the event.

• Johanna Skibscrud

Join the local literary community to cheer on Nova Scotian writers Johanna Skibsrud (The Sentimentalists, Gaspereau Press) and Alexander MacLeod (Light Lifting, Biblioasis), both up for the prize. Tickets are $12 adv (455-5251, dfaulkner@nimbus.ca); $15 at the door. You can also watch it from the comfort of your futon, live on BookTelevision, Bravo! and CTV.ca. CTV also will air the show on Wednesday.

And if you're loving Skibsrud's outfit, or fellow nominee Sarah Selecky's dress, look no further than stylish Halifax writer Heather Jessup, who went on shopping expeditions with both writers to pick out tonight's look. I was only half-joking when I suggested that she could have her own literary-style TV show called Jessup Dress-up. Anything that gets people reading and makes them ditch the flood pants should be a hit.

• Family sighs...so much Sedaris love

One of my two favourite Sedaris siblings is coming to town—David will be here November 24, 7pm, Chapters Indigo at Mic Mac Mall, which probably means an H&M stop and a night of awesomeness with one of the hands-down funniest essayists out there, and his new book, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk.

Now, if Amy Sedaris (who was just here to shoot The Drunk and On Drugs Happy Fun Time Hour) came to host a craft session at Atlantic Fabrics with her new book Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People, no one would need to get me a Christmas present ever again.

Here's sister Amy making beer-cap castanets with Kathy Lee and Koda:

Ray Fenwick may have moved from Halifax but his humour and typefaces still curlicue around our hearts. Here's the new trailer for his book, Mascots, coming out on Fantagraphics in December.

I was hopeful that books might actually stay off of the Idol voting lame-train, but no such luck. But then I thought about it again, and realized that anything that gets people talking about Canadian authors, and draws attention to lesser-known names (AKA un-Atwood) is actually a good thing, especially when it involves one of our own. Sustainable City columnist Chris Benjamin's first book Drive-by Saviours is nominated in the top-40 longlist for next year's Canada Reads competition, along with several other local-ish writers including Ami McKay (The Birth House) and Christy Ann Conlin (Heave).

Vote for the top 10 on the Canada Reads website.

Tonight is the launch for Invisible Publishing's Rememberer, at the Allan Street Reading Series. Edited by Jenner Berger, Allan St.'s lovely host, tonight's reading will include Andrew Hood, Laura Dawe, Geordie Miller, Joshua Tibbetts and Berger.

If you can't make it, be sure to stop by the Invisible table at Saturday's Zine Fair, where they'll also have copies of Bats or Swallows, a new collection of stories by Montreal's Teri Vlassopoulos.

Here's more about the book, written by Sean Flinn for our Fall Arts Preview:

Rememberer (Invisible Publishing), combines the convenience of a planner with a collection of short stories from a variety of contributors, plus illustrations (text, visuals and activities) by Yo Rodeo. "I always had this image in my head of someone reading one story after pencilling their to-do list over morning coffee," reveals Jenner-Brooke Berger, who edited the stories. Even with an organizer, life can't always be "compartmentalized"; the feeling informs the writing.

"Part of our approach was to just try to keep everything very simple, but we wanted it to still read as very handmade, and scrappy," explains Paul Hammond, co-creator, with Seth Smith, in Yo Rodeo. (Coast production designer Megan Fildes designed the book.) "The coolest thing about this book, is when you've used it up, it's half ours, and half yours. It's a collaborative project to the end." Pick one up at the Zine Fair, October 23 at St. David's Church Hall, noon-5pm. Admission is free.

Alexander MacLeod's short fiction collection, Light Lifting, has been shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Published by Biblioasis, Light Lifting is MacLeod's first book, though his stories have appeared regularly in Canadian literary journals. He also teaches in the English and Atlantic Studies programs at Saint Mary's University.

A short feature based on a conversation with MacLeod, who's the son of the writer and academic Alistair, appears Thursday, in this week's edition of The Coast.

On Thursday evening, MacLeod launches Light Lifting in Halifax (The Company House, 2202 Gottingen, 6:30-9pm), with Al Tuck playing in support.

Among the other Giller shortlisted are Sarah Selecky's collection of short stories, This Cake is for the Party (Thomas Allen Publishers), Joanna Skibsrud's novel The Sentimentalists (published by Kentville, Nova Scotia-based Gaspereau Press); David Bergen's novel, The Matter with Morris (Phyllis Bruce Books/HarperCollins); and Kathleen Winter's novel Annabel, out from Anansi.

The Giller, which awards $50,000 to the winner (of the best fictional prose, novel or short story collection, in English) and $5,000 to the other four finalists, will be announced in Toronto on Tuesday, November 9.

It's the private-sector companion to the Governor-General's Literary Awards for Fiction, which get announced shortly after. The Giller jury this year comprised of CBC host Michael Enright, UK writer Ali Smith and American author and teacher Claire Messud.

There's always a "right kerfuffle" (to quote one of my favourite British sketch comedy characters) about awards, that punctuate awards seasons. The money gets people worked up. Some question the jury's choices, jurors' credibility, backroom shenanigans and whether this or that author's deserves to even be shortlisted, let alone winning.

Vancouver-based Geist Magazine just resurrected, from a few years back, its piece by Stephen Henighan. In it he takes issue with the Giller, to put it generally and mildly. The mag also runs excerpts from Selecky and Winter, both of whom have written for the Geist. In its latest e-newsletter the mag employs "kafuffle," not "kerfuffle." According to my trusty Canadian Oxford Dictionary, both are acceptable uses and are based on a Scottish word, "curfuffle," itself derived from "fuffle," meaning to disorder.

Get your body down to Strange Adventures on Friday, August 6, from 4-6pm, for the launch of Brain Camp, the new graphic novel, written by Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan, and illustrated by Coast comic artist Faith Erin Hicks.

This is great news, considering the fate of the free festival was uncertain, but Word on the Street will be back outside this year, September 26 at Victoria Park, 11am-5pm. The event, which was indoors for the past 10 years, will be under a tent, with plans to move inside (location unknown) if weather doesn't cooperate. While the Cunard Centre was certainly big enough to hold the event, it lacked the charm of an outdoor venue, plus the foot traffic. Perhaps with the new Central Library, WOTS will eventually move further down Spring Garden for future years.

In addition to the panels, readings, publisher sales and pitching session, there will be a section dedicated to digital tools like e-readers and audio books.

“One bloody thing after another” is something you might say during a hectic day at work, but in Joey Comeau’s newest novel it’s literal: coughed-up pieces of bloody, dead animals eaten by what was a human character. The co-creator of A Softer World launches his latest work, One Bloody Thing After Another, in Halifax today (Thursday, May 27 at Strange Adventures, 4-8pm, free)—-it’s a horror novel that saw Comeau pick up a bloodier pen than usual to create a grisly tale, while still keeping his funny, sexy and sweet writing style intact.

It tells the story of an old man, his ancient yet endearing dog and the headless ghost that greets them both when the pair return from their daily walk; of Jackie, her anger issues, her dead mother’s ghost and the crush she has on her best friend, Ann and of Ann, whose mother has turned into a live-animal-eating monster and whose sister is about to follow in her mother’s clawing footsteps.

“It’s not as much about the grisly stuff, although that’s there,” says Comeau on an early morning phone call from Toronto. “It’s fun to twist back and forth between grisly stuff, sad stuff, sweet stuff, funny stuff—-so people don’t really know what to expect next.” Comeau adds that while he enjoys horror movies, he’s more interested in the unexpected, and exploring the characters. That doesn’t mean that One Bloody Thing After Another, marketed as a young adult novel and centred on teenage characters Jackie and Ann, takes any hesitant steps toward sexuality, violence or gore.

“It occurred to me writing it that it could be a young adult novel, and when I thought that I was like, ‘Well I’ve got to avoid writing it like I think it’s going to be a young adult novel,’ because nobody likes to be written down to, and if I’m thinking, ‘Oh this is for a kid I can’t put this,’ or ‘Oh this is for a kid I can’t have it be about this,’ then obviously a kid reading it is going to read that and be like ‘Fuck you, I can handle things.’”

With scenes of werewolf-like creatures eating dogs, kittens and a baby, there’s no threat of censorship in what is, amidst all the blood, a respectful novel about relationships and family. Comeau guesses that fans of his web comic A Softer World will be the first to pick up the horror novel, and he knows a large part of that readership is youth from 14 to 20 years old: a demographic he receives plenty of emails from, especially for his first novel, Lockpick Pornography.

“I get a lot of emails from young gay teenagers, and I mean that’s a book with really explicit sex and violence. Not that this book has a lot of sex in it, but it does have queer teenagers, and queer teenagers don’t get a lot of chances to read about themselves, and when they do it’s coming-of-age stories or coming-out stories; it’s good to have something that is fun for them to read.”

One Bloody Thing After Another isn’t the only project Comeau’s been working on. He and Softer co-creator Emily Horne have just published a second collection of the web comic that includes strips from 2005 to 2009, and Comeau recently finished a sequel to Lockpick Pornography online (lockpickbook.net). Ask Comeau about all of his bloody things in person at tonight’s launch.

Look for the eighth issue of Her Royal Majesty, the online literary magazine that used to be published out of Halifax by Harriet Alida Lye before she moved to Paris. The theme is magic, with an interview with Polish poet Adam Zagajevski.

Always gorgeously produced, if you want a print copy, there is a limited edition available for sale. Email halifaxroyalmajesty@gmail.com for details. Lye is also accepting submissions and donations to keep this lovely little arts mag alive.

ED. UPDATE: Apparently ECW Press has voluntarily withdrawn Comeau's Overqualified from the 2009 Danuta Gleed Literary Award for, well, being overqualified—the award is for first collections and Comeau’s self-published his collection of short stories It’s Too Late to Say I’m Sorry in 2007.

***
Former Coast contributor (remember A Softer World?) Joey Comeau was shortlisted for the $10,000 Danuta Gleed Literary Award, given to an author for their debut collection of short stories, published the previous year. Comeau's Overqualified (ECW Press) is a series of job application letters that reveal much more than you'd ever expect. Comeau, who now lives in Toronto, is up against BC writers Deborah Willis (Vanishing and Other Stories, Penguin Canada) and Sarah Roberts (Wax Boats, Caitlin Press). The winner is announced on June 5.

Congratulate Comeau next Thursday for the Halifax launch of his new novel One Bloody Thing After Another, at Strange Adventures.

• When Mike Holmes win, we all win.

Sadly, we couldn't make last night's Atlantic Book Awards (or the beers after), but it looks like there were no big surprises—Linden MacIntyre and Shandi Mitchell were the big winners—except for one: Coast comic artist Mike Holmes won the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Book Illustration for his roadtrip graphic novel, This American Drive: An Illustrated Road Trip (Invisible Publishing), portions of which originally appeared in The Coast. This means hand-shaking mayoral photo op., people. Nice work.

Here are all the winners:

The Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Book Illustration: Mike Holmes for This American Drive: An Illustrated Road Trip (Invisible Publishing).

Margaret and John Savage First Book Award and the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize: Shandi Mitchell for Under This Unbroken Sky (Penguin Canada)

Democracy 250 Atlantic Book Award for Historical Writing: Greg Cochkanoff and Bob Chaulk for SS Atlantic: The White Star Line’s First Disaster at Sea (Goose Lane Editions), which also won the Dartmouth Book Award for Non-fiction

Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction: Linden MacIntyre for The Bishop’s Man, which also took the Atlantic Independent Booksellers’ Choice Award

Evelyn Richardson Non-fiction Prize: John DeMont for Coal Black Heart: The Story of Coal and the Lives it Ruled (Doubleday Canada)

Atlantic Poetry Prize: Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaassen for Lean-To (Gaspereau Press)

Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature: Jill MacLean for The Present Tense of Prinny Murphy (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)

Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration: Scott A. Keating for What Colour is the Ocean? (Flanker Press; written by Gary Collins with Maggie Rose Parsons).

The Mayor’s Award for Cultural Achievement in Literature: Trudy Carey. Co-founder and manager for 31 years of Woozles Bookstore

APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award: Birds of Newfoundland by Ian Warkentin and Sandy Newton (Boulder Publications)

• Becky Parson

Now, we all know that plaques and trophies are dust and painful-speech magnets, but they still give us a hiccup of excitement. Right after receiving two Atlantic Book Awards nominations—-including the big guy, the Thomas Raddall—-filmmaker-turned-author Shandi Mitchell’s Under This Unbroken Sky has won the Commonwealth Prize Best First Book (Canada/Caribbean).

Mitchell is on her way to India to receive the prize, but she'll back back in time for the Atlantic Book Awards. For a complete list of events and nominees go to atlanticbookawards.ca.