Deborah Hodge

What books are on your end table right now?

Hunger Journeys by Maggie DeVries
Steve Jobs: A Biography by Walter Isaacson
A Storm Called Katrina by Myron Uhlberg
When Bob Met Woody: The Story of Young Bob Dylan by Gary Gollo
Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

(and many more… I never like to run out of reading material.)

Who’s your favourite author/illustrator of all time?
My favourite children’s author is Roald Dahl. My favourite author/illustrator is William Steig. I am also a big Bill Peet fan.

What’s the best place to curl up with a good book?
I like to settle into a rocking chair in my office, with my feet up on a footstool. There are bookshelves on the walls behind me and a little electric fireplace that keeps me warm in the winter. It’s like being in my own private library.

Who is your favourite literary villain?
Joss Merlin, the landlord of Jamaica Inn, in the book Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier. He’s terrifying!

If you could have dinner with three writers, whom would you choose?
Emily Bronte, Daphne Du Maurier and Thomas Hardy. We would meet in Cornwall, by the sea, on a misty, gloomy day.

To learn more about Deborah and her work, please visit her website.

• Tanya Kyi (Information Book Award Winner)
• Marjorie Coughlan & Corrine Robson (editors of Papertigers)
• Joseph Wu (origami master)
• Shiamak’s Bollywood Dancers

Register before January 31. Don’t be full of regret like Cinderella, who was quoted as saying, “I know someday my prince will come, but I’m really bummed that I missed out on the Early Bird rates. Where are my priorities???”

To start things off, cue Family Literacy Day on January 27th, 2012. And in celebration of Family Literacy Day, the Canadian Children’s Book Centre has compiled a list of 50 Canadian children’s books involving the subject of family. There are lots of books on the list by CWILL BC authors and illustrators, and it covers books for children age 4, all the way up to young adult. But don’t stop at this list, there are tons of amazing books for kids, Canadian and beyond, just waiting to be read by and with your family on Family Literacy Day (and beyond).

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Then in February are the following events, presented by The B.C. Literacy Council of the International Reading Association (BCLCIRA) and the Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable (VCLR):

1) The Distinguished Speaker Dinner: featuring Dr. Lee Gunderson from the Department of Language and Literacy at UBC.
topic: Reading in Multilingual Classrooms: Comprehensibility and Children’s Literature.
venue: University Golf Club (5185 University Blvd)
date: Friday, February 24, 2012
time: 6:30 pmTo learn more, and for links to register, please visit this VCLR page. 

2)  Serendipity 2012: Year of the Dragon: Asian Themes for Young Canadian Readers date: Saturday, February 25, 2012
time: 8:30 am to 3:30 pm.
venue: University of British Columbia, Neville Scarfe Building, Room 100
This all day event features Paul Yee, Lisa Yee, and Allen Say. Lunch and snacks will be provided.

A full rundown on the 2012 Serendipity event and special guests can be found on the VCLR event page.

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And on Monday, March 5, 2012, the annual, free, and ever-popular CWILL BC Getting Started in Children’s Books Panel takes place at the Vancouver Public Library. This is a great opportunity to hear local authors & illustrators talk about how they got their start in children’s lit, and to ask them questions about the business (and get honest answers).

date: March 5, 2012
time: 7-8:30pm
venue: Vancouver Public Library Branch, 350 West Georgia St. – Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms
admission: Free

Julie Burtinshaw

What books are on your end table right now?
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami, The Tiger by John Vailant, Fit to Kill by James Heneghan, The Great Penguin Rescue, by Dyan DeNapoli

Who’s your favourite illustrator of all time?
My favourite illustrator of all time is Ted Harrison (The Cremation of Sam Mcgee and other books).

What series did you read growing up?
Enid Blyton’s Adventure Series – couldn’t put them down.

Do you have a guilty reading pleasure?
I love English murder mysteries, even those written by Americans – case in point, Elizabeth George.

Are you more likely to be caught reading a zombie novel or a sentimental romance?
Absolutely, hands down a zombie novel.

To learn more about Julie and her work, please visit her website.

In Eileen Cook‘s Unraveling Isobel (Simon & Schuster Canada), Isobel’s life is falling apart. Her mom just married some guy she met on the internet only three months before, and is moving them to his sprawling, gothic mansion off the coast of nowhere. Goodbye, best friend. Goodbye, social life. Hello, icky new stepfather, crunchy granola town, and unbelievably good-looking, officially off-limits stepbrother. But on her first night in her new home, Isobel starts to fear that it isn’t only her life that’s unraveling—her sanity might be giving way too. Because either Isobel is losing her mind, just like her artist father did before her, or she’s seeing ghosts. Either way, Isobel’s fast on her way to being the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons.

Claire Eamer‘s new book with Annick Press, The World in Your Lunchbox: The Wacky History and Weird Science of Everyday Foods, hits bookstores in February. Aimed at the middle-grade crowd, it’s a blend of science and history, illustrated with the strange and wonderful cartoons of Sa Boothroyd of Gibsons, BC.

William New‘s latest book of poetry (for adults and later teens) was published in December by Oolichan Books. Called YVR, the book combines poems about growing up in Vancouver with observations on the city in the present day. Says one reviewer: “He is seduced by the flawed city he dares to love; he invites the reader to an equal daring.”

The launch of I want to go to the Moon was illuminated by CWILL performers Nancy Hundal with her group Westwynd, Joan Stuchner singing In the Moonlight, Rae Mate singing I Went to the Animal Fair, and Dan Bar-el reading his poem The Adult Price of Admission. And Jacqueline Pearce provided the photos and videos for the above video collage. Though not on stage, Kathie Shoemaker was performing the lion’s share behind the scenes, not only ferrying the books and float from Kidsbooks and handling the sales, but also bringing all the materials for a fantastic children’s activity. You can see the kids with the rockets they made in the video clips. Thank you to my wonderful CWILL friends for giving me a very happy celebration.

Caroline Woodward

Where is the best place to curl up with a good book?
My favourite place to read is in bed. I cannot go to sleep unless I’ve read a book, even a few pages, or for an hour or two (or more if it’s a really, really good book). The most wonderful reading experience for me is to wake up early and to read a good book while sipping very good coffee, knowing that I have at least an hour or even better, two, all to myself with a good book and a good coffee!

Who’s your favourite literary hero?
Heidi

If you could have dinner with three writers or illustrators, whom would you choose?
Charles Dickens, Johanna Spyri & William Blake.

What series did you read growing up?
My Book House, a set of 12 hardcover volumes first published in 1927, collected and edited by Olive Beaupre Miller. Book One contained nursery rhymes from around the world, all beautifully illustrated by artists like Arthur Rackham and Kate Greenaway. Each volume had progressively more challenging vocabulary, concepts and story content: fairytales, long poems like Walter DeLaMare’s ‘The Water Babies’, classic myths from many cultures, and finally, the biographies of great artists, writers and musicians. It was and is a remarkable collection and it took my child’s mind up and away to a world far away from my isolated homestead in the north, sans television, computers, running water, electricity, and without access to a large and diverse library. The set we had was given away to the first sibling to produce children, who subsequently trashed them all. What a waste! When I finally had a child of my own, I was able to track down another complete collection through rare book dealer and I bought them. There is now a website devoted to them set up by a librarian in South Carolina.

Do you have a guilty reading pleasure?
I love discovering old Westerns, called, as are movies, “dusters” or “oaters” due to the dust raised by moving the inevitable herd of longhorns to market in Abilene and the horses required by the cowboys, horses who needed oats, or certainly deserved them more than semi-desert foraging. Old Westerns allowed me to identify with riding horses and camping for weeks on end, living on steaks and beans, flapjacks and coffee so thick your spoon could stand up in it. I never identified with the rarely-seen women or girls because they didn’t get to do much besides go to school or teach school or help around the house. I noticed that men wrote Westerns, never women. There was no Zadie Grey, just Zane. That’s why I love reading literary westerns today (meaning the setting is in the West and horses are still involved) by Gil Adamson, Paulette Jiles, Percival Everett, Fred Stenson and Guy Vanderhaege, to name some of the best writers who have elevated the genre one hundred-fold. Their women are just as tired and interesting and tough and no-nonsense as the men, much better reading!

To learn more about Caroline and her work, please visit her website.

Colin Thomas’ award-winning play weaves together the stories of two twelve-year-olds: Sadako, the girl whose death by radiation-induced leukemia is commemorated in Hiroshima’s monument of one thousand cranes; and Buddy, a Canadian boy whose life is being overtaken by his fears of nuclear war.

A year after the recent nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, this beautifully crafted show from Tokyo puts a human face to nuclear fallout. It also coincides with the UBC Museum of Anthropology’s exhibition ひろしま hiroshima by Ishiuchi Miyako, an installation of 48 photographs of clothing and personal items left behind by victims of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima (on view through February 12).

Frederic Wood Theatre
Friday, February 10, 7:30 pm
Saturday, February 11, 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm

For more information, please visit the UBC Theatre website.

Eileen Kernaghan

What books are on your end table right now?
Anita Rau Badami, The Hero’s Walk; Robert Harris, Enigma

Who’s your favourite author of all time?
It’s impossible to choose just one, but Rosemary Sutcliff, Mary Webb and Mary Renault are strong contenders.

If you could have dinner with three writers, who would you choose?
Three of the Inklings – J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams. And I’d meet them for a pub lunch in The Eagle and Child.

Who are your favourite literary heroes?
Aragorn (The Lord of the Rings); Gabriel Oak (Far from the Madding Crowd); Mr. Rochester (Jane Eyre)

What series did you read growing up?
Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons books.

To learn more about Eileen and her work, please visit her website.