Quill and Quire

Search Results by tag: B.C.

Sam Wiebe, Gabrielle Prendergast shortlisted for 2017 Vancouver Book Award

By Becky Robertson

The finalists for this year's Vancouver Book Awards, recognizing the titles that best reflect the city's unique character and residents, have been revealed. A jury comprised of librarians, Vancouver Writers Festival board members, academics, instructors, ... Read More »

September 11, 2017 | Filed under: Awards

Atwood, Gowdy, Simpson among 30th Vancouver Writers Fest headliners

By Becky Robertson

The Vancouver Writers Fest has announced its 2017 lineup. This year's event marks both the festival's 30th anniversary, and its final year under the leadership of long-time artistic director Hal Wake, In light of Wake's retirement, the ... Read More »

August 31, 2017 | Filed under: Events

Frances Itani, Lee Maracle, David Chariandy headline Whistler Writers Fest 2017

By Becky Robertson

Whistler Writers Festival has announced the lineup for its 2017 event, taking place at various venues across the B.C. town from Oct. 12–15. This edition's theme is "risk-taking." Among the 60 participants confirmed so far are ... Read More »

August 8, 2017 | Filed under: Events, Industry news

Leslie Hurtig named Vancouver Writers Fest’s new artistic director

By Becky Robertson

Following news that longtime Vancouver Writers Fest artistic director Hal Wake will be retiring this fall, the organization has announced that Leslie Hurtig will take his place. The Vancouver publishing professional is no stranger to the festival, having ... Read More »

August 8, 2017

Betty Keller, Greystone Books win 2017 ABPBC Awards

By Becky Robertson

The Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia has recognized author and teacher Betty Keller and Vancouver press Greystone Books for their exceptional contributions to the province's publishing landscape. Keller is honoured with this year's Gray Campbell Distinguished Service Award ... Read More »

July 27, 2017 | Filed under: Awards

Inaugural Atlin Lit Up festival celebrates rural authors

By Becky Robertson

Writers on Canada's northwest coast came together for a series of readings, workshops, and panels July 8–9 at the first-ever edition of Atlin Lit Up, a literary festival in the remote namesake B.C. town. The event took ... Read More »

July 13, 2017

Bookmanager Academy rebrands, grows in second year

By Becky Robertson

Bookmanager Academy, the professional development and networking event for independent booksellers and other members of the industry, will hold its second instalment June 8–11 in Kelowna, B.C. With more than 100 participants from 61 stores (and ... Read More »

June 5, 2017

Read Local B.C. expands to online hub in hopes of teasing out a “regional literary sensibility”

By Becky Robertson

The Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia has expanded the online presence of Read Local B.C., the annual public-awareness campaign it launched in 2015 to spotlight the province's authors and publishers. The website, which features ... Read More »

June 5, 2017

Photos: B.C. Book Prizes

By Becky Robertson

The West Coast Book Prize Society awarded literary prizes in eight categories at the lieutenant-governor’s B.C. Book Prizes Gala in Vancouver on April 29. Recipients included Deborah Campbell, Monique Gray Smith and Julie Flett, and Richard Wagamese (posthumously). See photos ... Read More »

May 18, 2017 | Filed under: Awards

Vancouver Sun to maintain local books coverage, bestsellers list

The Vancouver Sun has confirmed that the Postmedia newspaper outlet has not cut its local books coverage. Sun arts and life editor Aleesha Harris confirmed with Heidi Waechtler, executive director of the Association of Book ... Read More »

May 9, 2017

Deborah Campbell, Julie Flett among B.C. Book Prize winners

By Becky Robertson

The West Coast Book Prize Society has named the winners of this year's B.C. Book Prizes, honouring the province's writers and publishers with $2,000 in each of seven categories. A special $5,000 Governor's Award for literary ... Read More »

May 1, 2017 | Filed under: Awards

Vancouver Sun cuts weekly local books coverage

The Vancouver Sun has informed B.C. publishers it plans to cut the dedicated page of local book coverage in its Saturday edition, effective April 22. Heidi Waechtler, executive director of the Association of Book Publishers of British ... Read More »

April 20, 2017

Arthur J. Ray wins 2017 Basil Stuart-Stubbs Prize

By Becky Robertson

University of British Columbia professor emeritus Arthur J. Ray is the winner of this year's Basil Stuart-Stubbs Prize for Aboriginal Rights Claims and the Making and Remaking of History (McGill-Queen's University Press). The title studies ... Read More »

March 8, 2017 | Filed under: Awards

Deborah Campbell, Mohamed Fahmy, Anosh Irani among B.C. Book Prize finalists

By Becky Robertson

The finalists for this year's B.C. Book Prizes, recognizing the best titles published the year prior by the province's authors, have been announced: Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize Joan Haggerty, The Dancehall Years (Mother Tongue Publishing) ... Read More »

March 7, 2017 | Filed under: Awards

B.C.-based ebook app Shelfie shuts down

By Becky Robertson

Shelfie, the Vancouver-based ebook bundling app formerly known as BitLit, announced on Jan. 30 that it would be shutting down servers – rendering the app unusable – the following day. The app was based on the premise ... Read More »

February 2, 2017 | Filed under: Book news

Sandra Martin wins 2017 B.C. National Award for Canadian Non-fiction

By Becky Robertson

The Globe & Mail's Sandra Martin was named the recipient of the 2017 B.C. National Award for Canadian Non-fiction for A Good Death: Making the Most of Our Final Choices (HarperCollins). The book examines the right to die ... Read More »

January 30, 2017 | Filed under: Awards

Vancouver Women’s Library set to open in February

By Becky Robertson

A new library dedicated exclusively to texts written by women is opening in Vancouver in February. The Vancouver Women's Library was founded by Bec Wonders, em laurent, and Andrea Wheeler, three readers – two of them ... Read More »

January 23, 2017

Room magazine to host Canada’s first feminist literary festival

By Becky Robertson

Room, the B.C.-based feminist literary arts magazine, is celebrating its 40th anniversary – and the release of Making Room: Forty Years of Room Magazine, a commemorative anthology – in a novel way. The publication is hosting the ... Read More »

January 19, 2017

Whistler Independent Book Awards add manuscript prize

By Becky Robertson

The Whistler Independent Book Awards, which debuted at last year's Whistler Writers Festival as the first awards recognizing self-published authors in Canada, have announced the addition of a new category for 2017. WIBA will now ... Read More »

January 19, 2017 | Filed under: Awards

Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks shutters after almost two decades

By Becky Robertson

Vancouver indie Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks is set to close down at the end of February after nearly 20 years of bookselling and events. Frequented by culinary giants like Gordon Ramsay and Anthony Bourdain, the ... Read More »

January 17, 2017 | Filed under: Bookselling

Personnel Change: TouchWood Editions publisher Pat Touchie retires

By Becky Robertson

Victoria-based press TouchWood Editions has announced that publisher emeritus Pat Touchie has retired‚ effective immediately. Taryn Boyd‚ ... Read More »

January 11, 2017

Page Two publishing agency launches its first title, a Pokémon Go guide

By Becky Robertson

Vancouver-based publishing agency Page Two Strategies has found success with the first commissioned title released on its new in-house imprint, Page Two Books. The Unofficial Pokémon Go! Tracker’s Guide: Finding the Rarest Pokémon and Strangest ... Read More »

December 1, 2016

Awards: Grescoe‚ Martin‚ Moor‚ Shimo shortlisted for B.C. National Award for Canadian Non-fiction

By Becky Robertson

The B.C. Achievement Foundation has named four finalists for the 13th annual B.C. National Award for Canadian Non-fiction‚ culled from a longlist released last month. Each of the following shortlisters will receive a $5,000 prize: Taras ... Read More »

December 1, 2016 | Filed under: Awards

Remembering Jim Munro: “He believed that books could change the world”

By Robert J. Wiersema

Walking through the front doors of Munro’s Books on Victoria’s Government Street is always a transporting experience. The soft baroque music filling the high ceilings of the neo-classical building lends an air of significance to ... Read More »

November 24, 2016

B.C. bookseller Jim Munro dies at 87

By Becky Robertson

Jim Munro‚ co-founder of the iconic Victoria, B.C., bookstore Munro's Books, died suddenly on Nov. 21 among family at home. He was 87. Munro established his eponymous store in 1963 with his then-wife, CanLit legend ... Read More »

November 23, 2016 | Filed under: Bookselling