Thursday, April 24, 2008

Could Vancouver Become a World City of Literature?

A movement is underway to have Vancouver named a UNESCO City of Literature, like the City of Edinburgh, which received the first-ever UN designation in 2004. To be recognized by UNESCO (a designation comparable to the World Heritage Sites), a literary city must demonstrate that it has a broad-based publishing industry, a tradition of hosting literary events and festivals, and a wide range of public spaces dedicated to the preservation and promotion of literature.

Kiley and I have been working on the project over the past year, and I joined Alma Lee, the founding artistic director of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival, and Margaret Reynolds, executive director of the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia, yesterday for a public consultation at the Vancouver Public Library. The session was well attended, and I had a chance to present some of the background from our working proposal for UNESCO along with Hal Wake from the Writer’s Festival, CBC’s Joan Anderson, and Rick Antonson from Tourism Vancouver.

A number of people asked to receive copies of the draft UNESCO dossier and so we’ve posted it here for download: UNESCO_DossierFeb4_DRAFT.pdf. (Please note the file is currently a draft only and will be revised over the spring before it goes to UNESCO this summer.) If anyone would like to receive further project news or provide additional feedback, please email

Thursday, March 06, 2008

BC Book Prize Finalists Announced in Fine Style

The finalists for the 2008 BC Book Prizes were announced today, and, better yet, they were announced via a snazzy new website. The site was produced by our friend and colleague Monique Trottier over at Work Industries.

The site features an easy-to-browse archive of the finalists and winners dating back to 1985 as well as a new blog with posts from finalist-authors touring the province.

Congratulations and good luck to all of the finalists and to the BC Book Prize Society on the launch of the new site.

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Book Retail Study Now Available Online

Last year, we were commissioned to do a comprehensive study of Canadian book retail. The study report, The Book Retail Sector in Canada, has just been published by the Department of Canadian Heritage and is available online in PDF and HTML editions, and in both official languages.

We’ve structured the Book Retail paper as a collection of linked studies, each of which explores a major aspect of the market: reading and book buying behaviour, the size and composition of the consumer book market in Canada, the traditional book retail channel, the book market in Quebec, non-traditional sales channels, and online book retail.

The Globe and Mail quoted extensively from the study in a February 2 article and has called it an “essential reference work” for the industry and policy makers alike.

It’s a pleasure to see that readers both in and outside of the book business are so engaged with the study. Thank you to the many publishers, booksellers, and industry groups who contributed their time, expertise, and data.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

How About Some Good News About Canadian Books?

You don’t have to look far these days for signs that Canadian book publishers and bookstores are facing challenging times. For example:

• Pundits and researchers are warning that the practice of reading for pleasure is under siege (see Caleb Crain’s New Yorker article Twilight of the Books or the recent Ipsos-Reid/CanWest reading poll).
• Canadian booksellers and publishers are watching already razor-slim margins dwindle further due to industry consolidation, consumers’ price sensitivity, and exchange rates.
• Bestsellers are crowding out niche and literary titles in an intensely competitive book retail landscape. (For more on the last two bullets, see The Book Retail Sector in Canada study we just completed for Canadian Heritage.)

In times like these, it’s all the more important to support Canadian literature and those who make it available to us. The BC Award for Canadian Non-Fiction is doing just that—and it’s coming up soon: February 7, 2008. We work on the award program, which is now in its fourth year, and as usual, we’re anticipating a thrilling event that reminds us of all the reasons we chose to make publishing one of our core focuses.

What’s So Exciting About the BC Award?

1. It’s happening in Vancouver.
   Vancouver, BC. This makes it the first major national award to originate outside of Ontario. Until the BC Award was established four years ago, every one of the big national awards—the Giller, the GGs, the Charles Taylor, and the Griffin—came out of Toronto or Ottawa. The BC Award reflects the strengthening of literary culture across Canada.
2. It’s worth $40,000.
   That makes it the richest non-fiction prize in the country, and one of the most valuable literary prizes in Canada, period. Contrary to some popular opinion, money isn’t immaterial to writers, as much as they will continue to write in the absence of it.
3. It’s all about literary non-fiction.
   This is a genre in which authors write passionately and personally about the real world around them—a genre that at its best, makes Canadian readers more aware of the issues and events shaping our lives and country.
4. The shortlist is riveting.
   The finalists are Donald Harman Akenson’s Some Family: The Mormons and How Humanity Keeps Track of Itself, a brilliant examination of the Mormon genealogical project; Lorna Goodison’s From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her People, a lyrical exploration of family; and Jacques Poitras’s Beaverbrook: A Shattered Legacy, a journalistic investigation of art, ego, and ambition.
5. The presentation ceremony is a forum for ideas about Canadian literature.
   Each year, a distinguished and eloquent individual introduces each finalist—and why the finalist’s work matters. These introductions have been highlights of the event in years past, and doubtlessly will be again for the 2008 ceremony. As soon as possible after the ceremony, the introductions will be posted at The BC Achievement Foundation website. And right now, you can check out videos of last year’s introductions and remarks from the 2007 finalists.

Here’s a list of things you can do to participate in the BC Award for Canadian Non-Fiction celebration:

1. Find out more about the BC Award for Canadian Non-Fiction
2. Check out the BC Award finalists’ books: Some Family: The Mormons and How Humanity Keeps Track of Itself; From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her People; and Beaverbrook: A Shattered Legacy
3. Tune in to CBC Radio 1’s Almanac at noon to 1:00 pm PST February 4, 5, and 6 for interviews with the finalists, and to North by Northwest the following weekend for their interview with the award winner
4. Enter to win the three finalists’ books by writing us at and telling us your favourite Canadian non-fiction book from the past year. Your email will automatically enter you in the contest.

And keep buying Canadian books!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Adventures in the East

We’ve spent the last two weeks on the move in Eastern Canada--with stops in Ottawa, Halifax, Ottawa again, and then Toronto--and are now settling in to a large pile of mail and two disgruntled cats back here at Turner-Riggs HQ.

The trip was great and we especially appreciated the chance to deliver a couple of extended workshops to senior staff at the Department of Canadian Heritage in Ottawa and the trade committee of the Association of Canadian Publishers in Toronto.

These sessions focused on an about-to-be-published market study on book retail we did for Canadian Heritage last year. We’ll post a link to the complete study shortly. For the moment, many thanks to all who attended for your participation and your interest in the project. It was wonderful to get some direct industry feedback on the study, not to mention some excellent discussions around the changing marketplace for books in Canada.