The 2013 Vancouver Writers Fest

VWF

The Vancouver Writers Fest turns reading into a community experience, bringing people together to share thoughts, explore ideas, and witness brilliant conversations.

Eric Walters‘ young adult novels have won numerous awards, including the Silver Birch, Blue Heron, Red Maple, Snow Willow and Ruth Schwartz Awards, and have received honours from UNESCO’s international award for literature in the service of tolerance. His most recent book is My Name is Blessing.

Stories in Good Company
My Name Is BlessingWednesday, October 23, 2013 – 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Waterfront Theatre
$17 / $8.50 for school groups
Suitable for grades K-3

Veteran children’s author Eric Walters has written more than 80 books that have won more than 100 awards, so you’re in for an afternoon of great storytelling and creative genius. Walters’ newest story, My Name Is Blessing, follows a young Kenyan boy whose disability turns out to be a blessing. He teams up with two other Canadian children’s authors, Dan Bar-el and Ashely Spires, who will entertain with stories about Binky the cat, who plots an escape from the vet, and Crispin, the scaly dragon who can’t even light his own birthday candles. Come and enjoy an hour in the company of good stories for the young.

WORD Vancouver 2013

WORDVancouver2013Since 1995 The Vancouver Book and Magazine Fair Society has produced The Word On The Street Vancouver, the primary literary festival for Western Canadian book lovers and literacy enthusiasts. In 2013 the festival is rebranding as WORD Vancouver.

12:30 pm on Sunday, September 29, 2013 at the Canada Writes Tent
Readings by fresh new faces and well-known voices. Touched by Fire, Irene N. Watt’s exquisite new novel, explores one family’s journey as they flee from the pogroms of Russia in 1905, where the Cossacks burn villages to the ground, to Berlin, Germany, where Jews have a hard time living and working in peace, to the streets of the Lower East Side in New York.

Touched by FireTouched by Fire
Written by Irene N.Watts
Hardcover | 208 Pages
Ages 10 and up
ISBN: 978-1-77049-524-1
eBook: 978-1-77049-525-8
“I am always intrigued by this historic event, and the lives of immigrants during this time period. One book I’ve owned for over 30 years is Meredith Tax’s 1982 Rivington Street. Never been able to get rid of it. I really liked the span of the story, taking our characters from the pogroms in Russia to the eve of WWII. Nicely written, with good characters.” – Ms. Yingling Reads

For more information about the WORD Vancouver, you can visit their website, facebook page, and twitter.

The Word on the Street 2013

The Word on the Street

Don’t forget, the Word on the Street is coming  up! Here’s a quick glance at the schedule in Toronto on Sunday, September 22, 2013 at Queen’s Park.

SmokescreenSmokescreen
Written by Nancy Hartry
Hardcover |  208 Pages
Ages 12 and up
ISBN: 978-1-77049-405-3
eBook: 978-1-77049-406-0
Nancy Hartry will be at The Remarkable Reads Tent from 11:30 am – 12:15 pm and at This Is Not The Shakespeare Stage from 1:40 pm – 2:00 pm.

Noni Is NervousNoni Is Nervous
Written by Heather Hartt-Sussman
Illustrated by Geneviève Côté
Hardcover |  24 Pages
Ages 2-5
ISBN: 978-1-77049-323-0
Heather Hartt-Sussman will be at the TD Children’s Reading Tent from 1:30 pm – 1:50 pm.

Where Do You LookWhere Do You Look?
Written by Marthe Jocelyn and Nell Jocelyn
Hardcover |  32 Pages
Ages 2-5
ISBN: 978-1-77049-376-6
Marthe Jocelyn will be at The Remarkable Reads Tent from 11:00 am – 11:30 am.

Whimsy Heavy ThingsWhimsy’s Heavy Things
Written and illustrated by Julie Kraulis
Hardcover | 32 Pages
Ages 4-6
ISBN: 978-1-77049-403-9
Julie Kraulis will be at the TD Children’s Literature Tent from 12:10 pm – 12:30 pm.

Mister Dash and the Cupcake CalamityMister Dash and the Cupcake Calamity
Written by Monica Kulling
Illustrated by Esperanca Melo
Hardcover | 32 Pages
Ages 3-7
ISBN: 978-1-77049-396-4
Monica Kulling will be at the TD Children’s Literature Tent from 1:50 pm – 2:10 pm.

Death of a KingDeath of a King
Written by Andrew H. Vanderwal
Hardcover | 304 Pages
Ages 10 and up
ISBN: 978-1-77049-398-8
eBook: 978-1-77049-399-5
Andrew H. Vanderwal will be at the TD Children’s Literature Tent from 4:20 pm – 4:40 pm.

For more information about the Word on the Street in Toronto, you can visit their website, facebook page, twitter, and blog.

The Word on the Street

Don’t forget, the Word on the Street starts this weekend on Sunday, September 23! Here’s a quick glance at the schedules in:

TORONTO – September 23, 2012

Children’s Activity Tent

11:15 – 11:45 AM
My Itchy Body and My Healthy Body
Liza Fromer and Francine Gerstein MD
Activity suitability: All ages
In their Body Works series Liza Fromer and Dr. Francine Gerstein have taken it upon themselves to think up every question a child could have about their body and answer them in an educational and amusing manner. Each title in the series is divided up by topic and focus on giving all the information a child could want to feel safe and secure in their own skin. Join Liza Fromer and Dr. Francine Gerstein for a fast-paced Body Works Quiz – and test your knowledge about the human body!

1:00 – 1:45 PM
Checkers and Dot and Checkers and Dot at the Zoo
J. Torres and J. Lum
Activity suitability: Ages 3-7
Welcome to the wonderfully patterned world of Checkers and Dot, a sweet and striking series of board books with high-contrast, patterned art for developing eyes, simple but memorable rhyming text for reading aloud, and cute-as-a-button characters! Join J. Lum and J. Torres for a felt puppet decorating and a hat making activity.

Children’s Reading Tent

3:40 – 4:00 PM
Mr. Zinger’s Hat
Cary Fagan is the award-winning author of several young adult novels and picture books. This wonderful new story is about stories, and story-telling, and is sure to enchant and instruct children at home and at school for years to come. This is the tale of a bored little boy, who meets a thoughtful man, and together they build a story. This story within a story is charming and changes both their lives… and quite possibly the readers as well.

4:30 – 4:50 PM
Miss Mousie’s Blind Date
As soon as Miss Mousie’s eyes alight on handsome Matt LaBatt, the water rat, she can think of nothing but how to catch his attention. Should she try to speak, bat her eyelashes, drop her hankie? In front of Mole, the deli-owner, the water rat breaks the spell by insulting Miss Mousie, who retreats to her burrow and hides in shame. When Mousie receives an anonymous dinner invitation, she decides to accept it. But how to dress so her mystery date will like what he sees? In this charming timeless tale, author Tim Beiser shows the reader that love truly lies in the eye of the beholder. And check out Sienna’s review on the WOTS blog!

This is Not the Shakespeare Stage

4:15 – 4:45 PM
Becoming Holmes
The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His Final Case
Shane Peacock is an award-winning novelist, playwright, journalist and television screenwriter. His bestselling series for young adults, The Boy Sherlock Holmes, has been published in ten countries in twelve languages and has found its way onto more than forty shortlists. He enjoys reading, spending time with his kids, playing and coaching hockey, and visiting schools, conferences and festivals across North America to speak about reading and writing. Shane lives in the countryside north of Cobourg, Ontario. For more information, visit www.shanepeacock.ca.

LETHBRIDGE – September 23, 2012

Teen Zone via Skype

3:30 – 4:30 PM
Becoming Holmes
The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His Final Case
Shane Peacock is an author, playwright, television screenwriter, and journalist. He likes to write about extraordinary people and create unusual characters. His first book was a biography of The Great Farini, about perhaps the most amazing man in Canadian history, who walked over Niagara Falls in 1860 and invented the human cannonball act in the circus. His novels for young adults have won many accolades. His best-selling Boy Sherlock Holmes series has won and been nominated for 50 awards on their own and been published in 10 countries in 12 languages. His final Boy Sherlock, Becoming Holmes, appears this fall from Tundra Books!

VANCOUVER – September 30, 2012

Kids Tent

4:00 PM
The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen
Canadian Screenwriter and Gemini Award-winning author Susin Nielsen got her start writing for the hit television show Degrassi Junior High. Her novel Word Nerd was a finalist for the TD Canadian Children’s Book Award and won the Red Maple, Rocky Mountain, Willow, and Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Awards. Her novel Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom has received rave reviews and has already been translated into French, Portuguese and German. Susin lives in Vancouver.

For more information about the Word on the Street, you can visit their website, facebook page, twitter, and blog.

Launch of: The Case of the Missing Deed

What a perfect place to launch a mystery with recipes – Barbara Jo’s Books to Cooks, a warm, welcoming cookbook store with a complete demonstration kitchen! About 40 people gathered there on October 13 to celebrate the launch of the first title in Ellen Schwartz’s Teaspoon Detectives series, The Case of the Missing Deed.

Ellen and her daughter, Merri Schwartz, a professional pastry chef, who had created the recipes that form an integral part of the story, had prepared Grandma’s Famous Pesto, Brown Sugar Spice Cake, and Chocolate Cinnamon Sparkle Cookies, all featured in the book, as snacks.

After Merri did a cooking demonstration on how to make the Sparkle Cookies, Ellen read a short scene in which two characters attempt to make the Spice Cake – only to have it explode in the oven.

Ellen signed lots of books, and guests commented on how much fun it was to have a cooking element as part of the book launch. Bon appetit!

Tundra Book Group