William Dalrymple, author of THE LAST MUGHAL, speaks at the ROM on March 26th
Launches campaign to restore 15th century Tibetan painting
The Friends of South Asia (FSA) at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) celebrates the re-opening of the Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery with its first event of the season: Who was the Last Mughal? Lecture & Book Signing with William Dalrymple. The reading takes place on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 6:30 pm in the Signy & Cléophée Eaton Theatre at the ROM, followed by a book-signing. Copies of THE LAST MUGHAL will be on sale: this is the launch of the paperback edition in Canada.
Celebrated historian and author William Dalrymple will speak about his latest book, THE LAST MUGHAL: The Eclipse of a Dynasty, Delhi 1857. This is the tragic story of the poet-Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II, who found himself swept up by the largest anti-colonial uprising in the nineteenth century, the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The result was the catastrophic end to the dynasty that built the Taj Mahal, horrific casualties, and an ascendant British Raj. Within five years, the last Mughal was dead, buried in an unmarked grave far from his beloved Delhi.
“Dalrymple presents a brilliant, evocative exploration of a doomed world and its final emperor, Bahadur Shah II ... That the rebels fatefully raised the flag of jihad and dubbed themselves ‘mujahedin’ only adds to the mutiny’s contemporary relevance “ (Sunday Times).
William Dalrymple is the author of five books of history and travel, including Delhi: City of Djinns and White Mughals. He has recently written about the Pakistani political scene for The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Hindu, The Guardian, and The Toronto Star. This event launches FSA’s fundraising campaign to restore a rare and extremely fragile Tibetan Buddhist painting from the 15th century. This conservation project will allow the thangka to go on display for the first time in the Museum’s history.
Tickets are now on sale: $35 Public; $30 ROM members; $25 ROM/FSA members. Register online at http://www.rom.on.ca/programs, click ROMLife lectures, Keyword Mughal or call 416.586.5797.
This event is generously supported by the Ancient Echoes * Modern Voices: South Asia Programs Fund.
FSA is a membership group which supports a deeper understanding and appreciation of the diverse and rich history of South Asian arts at the ROM through the Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery, special events and programs.
For more information, visit http://www.rom.on.ca/friends, e-mail , or call 416.586.5700.
This morning, I ran a workshop on blogging for our Raincoast Publishing department. So expect to see some new writers here on the Raincoast blog soon (in addition to us Marketing and Publicity folks—yeah, we’re here to stay!).
They’re the ones on the frontlines of the book biz—from acquiring manuscripts, to editing books, designing them and getting them printed—so chances are they’ll have some interesting things to say. Plus, they’re pretty great people. Be sure to stop by the blog soon and say hi.
Congratulations to Pulitzer Prize winning poet Charles Simic on becoming the 15th U.S. Poet Laureate today!
The New York Times reports:
James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, will announce Mr. Simic’s appointment. Mr. Billington said he chose Mr. Simic from a short list of 15 poets because of “the rather stunning and original quality of his poetry,” adding: “He’s very hard to describe, and that’s a great tribute to him. His poems have a sequence that you encounter in dreams, and therefore they have a reality that does not correspond to the reality that we perceive with our eyes and ears.”
Yugoslavian-born Charles Simic, emigrated to the U.S. in 1954. His collection of poems THE WORLD DOESN’T END won the Pulitzer Prize in 1990 and, like his latest collection of poetry THE VOICE AT 3:00 A.M., it is published by Harcourt, inc. and distributed by Raincoast in Canada.
Congratulations to Raincoast author Adam Lewis Schroeder whose debut novel THE EMPRESS OF ASIA is a finalist for 30th annual First Novel Award, a prestigious Canadian literary award that recognizes the outstanding achievement of a first-time novelist.
The six nominees for the 2006 First Novel Award, listed alphabetically by author, are:
- “The Law of Dreams” by Peter Behrens, House of Anansi Press
- “The Uninvited Guest” by John Degen, Nightwood Editions
- “Stolen” by Annette Lapointe, Anvil Press
- “Lullabies for Little Criminals” by Heather O’Neill, Harper Collins
- “Empress of Asia” by Adam Lewis Schroeder, Raincoast Books
- “Certainty” by Madeleine Thien, McClelland & Stewart
Previous winners include Michael Ondaatje, Rohinton Mistry, Anne Michaels, Colin McAdam and Joseph Boyden.
Two of our bright young authors have been longlisted for the ReLit Awards: Adam Lewis Schroeder and Nathan Sellyn.
Winners of the ReLit win a nifty ring that spells out words, handed out at a bonfire ceremony.
Check out the full longlist here. Good luck to all the longlisted authors!
The Associated Press ran a touching story about Gili Bar-Hillel the Hebrew translator of the Harry Potter series last week:
JERUSALEM - Israeli Harry Potter fans elbowed their way in for autographs and photos - not with the author of the best-selling books, but with the Hebrew translator.
More than 100 devotees of British writer J.K. Rowling’s series about a young wizard sat and stood for an hour Wednesday listening to Gili Bar-Hillel discuss the process of translating the six Harry Potter books, hoping for a hint about the upcoming seventh and last book.
“It’s ridiculous, this is something that never happens to translators,” Bar-Hillel said after speaking at the Jerusalem International Book Fair. “The attention I’ve received is because I’m translating Harry Potter. It’s Harry, not me.”
The six Harry Potter books have been translated into 64 languages and are such a huge hit that even their translators get a slice of the fame.
Let’s hear it for the translators!
Congratulations Berrett-Koehler! The San Francisco-based independent publisher launched in 1992, distributed by Raincoast Books in Canada, has received the The 2006 Business Ethics Award for Stakeholder Accountability:
“In the rough-and-tumble world of book publishing, Berrett-Koehler stands out not only for its treatment of authors, but also for the manner in which it engages employees, business partners, readers and the community.”
Business Ethics gives out four awards each year: Stakeholder Accountability, Corporate Responsibility Management, Environmental Sustainability, and General Excellence. Other winners in 2006 were the global coffee retailer Starbucks Coffee Company, the outdoor clothing manufacture Patagonia Inc. and Hypertherm Inc. a company that makes equipment to cut steel.
The Do Not Disturb sign is down and JK Rowling has revealed the title.
To see the title and how to open the door, visit our friends at Muggletnet.com
Win a copy of Lonely Planet’s Micronations from the good folks at Sleepybrain.net.
Simply invent your own micronation and enter using this form on Sleepy Brain. The best entry wins the book.
If you need inspiration, check out the link to Micronation’s introduction on SleepyBrian.net or their other links to excerpts of the book.
7:30 pm December 13, 2006
St. Mary’s Kerrisdale Anglican Church, 37th and Larch in Vancouver
At the invitation of Reverend Kevin Dixon, journalist Hadani Ditmars, author of Dancing in the No-Fly Zone: a Woman’s Journey through Iraq, one of the Globe and Mail‘s top 100 books of 2005, will speak on the theme, “Peace on Earth: Is it Possible?”
Hadani will also read excerpts from her book and show video and photographs from her assignments in Iraq and Palestine. A question and answer session and book signing will follow.
Admission is free and open to the public.
Dancing in the No-Fly Zone
by Hadani Ditmars
published by Raincoast Books
“... touches places in the nation’s soul that horror headlines never reach.” --Boyd Tonkin, the London Independent
George Elliott Clarke, acclaimed author of the poetry collections Black and Blue is featured in Canadian Literature’s Summer 2006 issue (CL#189), which focuses on The Literature of Atlantic Canada.
The issue celebrates the writers and writing of Canada’s Atlantic provinces and features criticism and articles alongside a selection of book reviews and original poetry.
This issue contains:
- Two new poems by George Elliott Clarke (Annanpolis Valley Sanskrit and Halifax),
- An article by Clarke about Anna Minerva Henderson, “Anna Minerva Henderson: An Afro-New Brunswick Response to Canadian (Modernist) Poetry”,
- and, an article by Katherine Larson titled “Resistance from the Margins in George Eilliott Calrke’s Beatrice Chancy”.
George Elliott Clarke is the E. J. Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at the University of Toronto. His awards include the Portia White Prize, a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Fellowship, a Governor General’s Award for Poetry, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Achievement Award and a Trudeau Foundation Fellowship. His book Whylah Falls was a CBC Canada Reads finalist.
Need book suggestions for holiday gift buying?
Check out Amazon.ca Gift Guide.
The four Raincoast titles recommended are:
Walking After Midnight by Katy Hutchison
Great for men and women interested in powerful, nonfiction stories. Katy’s husband was killed when he tried to break up a teen house party.
The Quirky Girls’ Guide to Rest Stops and Road Trips by Karen Rivers
Super fun writing for teens. Karen Rivers’ characters capture the spirit of going on your first road trip sans parents.
The Complete Peanuts 1959-1962 Set by Charles M. Schulz
Any fan of Peanuts, young or old, will love this collection of Peanuts cartoons from 1959-62.
Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds in Song by Les Beletsky
Great for adults and kids. The sound chip in this book is very, very cool. The birds sound like they are outside your window.
Jaime Hernandez, author of the upcoming title in the Love and Rockets series Maggie the Mechanic, was the guest speaker on Inkstuds last week.
See all Jaime Hernandez titles.
Jaime Hernandez is one of the incredibley talented brothers behind Love and Rockets (the comic series). Jaime was recently in Toronto at the International Festival of Authors. But for those of you who missed him in Toronto, the Instuds interview is available in a podcast via iTunes, just search for INKSTUDS.
The opening scenes of a James Bond movie are often so spectacular that your only thought is, “wow.” This is certainly the case in the latest 007 flick, Casino Royale, which opened this weekend.
Our fearless hero Bond engages in a cat-and-mouse chase to catch a bomber, whose gymnastic feats of strength leave you breathless.
But don’t let the Bond adventure end with the closing credits.
Raincoast Books is running a video contest, “What’s Your Worst-Case Scenario?"
Grab a copy of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Extreme Edition and create your own adventure, then capture it on film for a chance to win a $500 shopping spree in a participating bookstore.
Embracing your inner-Bond doesn’t have to mean surviving a fall down a stairwell or dodging bullets. It can also be about escaping a bad date, determining if your date is married (a Bond preference), surviving a fashion emergency and sobering up fast.
November 13 marked the launch of Raincoast’s 1st video contest.
“What’s Your Worst-Case Scenario?” video contest is about creating short videos based on survival tips from the Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbooks.
You don’t need to look far for examples. There are sample videos on Raincoast.com and links to independent videos on YouTube.com.
Blog TO also points out that “if you don’t get the big prize [a $500 shopping spree in a participating store], you could also receive weekly book and gift prizes.” It’s true! Enter early for more chances to win.
Contest runs: November 13 to January 31.
Raincoast podcasts are available from iTunes by searching for "Raincoast" or the RSS feed is available from Feedburner at 
Check out our NEWEST Podcast for Clancy with the Puck, a hilarious tale of hockey hubris.