And our final destination. . .

We made it to Jasper where the warmest day of our two week trip came on the day we had to go home. But it was well worth the drive and the weather; it was a wonderful and busy library show. Thanks to everyone who came out to our Dewey Diva presentations and to our booths.

Back home now for one day before heading off to sales conference. After talking about books non-stop for two weeks, my mind has temporarily gone to mush, so today it's DVD recommendations as apart from a long afternoon nap, I've been prone on my sofa in front of the television set. When I'm tired and drained, I need something fun and silly but also really clever in its way. Enter a young Maurice Chevalier.

Criterion has recently released a wonderful collection of four Ernst Lubitsch musicals from the late 1920s and early 1930s. These were made before the "moral" censorship codes came to Hollywood and the visual and verbal sexual puns come fast and furious and are fairly hilarious. I've now seen two of them - Love Parade in which Chevalier's military attache character woos and weds the queen of "Sylvania" played by Jeanette Macdonald, only to find that a prince consort has very little power over his wife. In The Smiling Lieutenant, Chevalier plays a Viennese soldier (with a strong French accent) who winks and laughs at his violin-playing girlfriend (a beautiful Claudette Colbert) just as the king and princess of "Flausenthurm" pass by in a carriage (Flausen means silly ideas in German). The princess (played by Miriam Hopkins) believes Chevalier was laughing at her and it causes a bit of a diplomatic incident, made worse when she falls in love with him too. Colbert realizing that the girl, "who starts with breakfast never makes it to dinner" reluctantly gives up Chevalier to the princess but not before giving her make-over tips in the funny number "Jazz up your Lingerie". Honestly, if you are a fan of musicals you really need to buy or rent this set.

Then I turned to an old favourite, but just as goofy. Carefree is one of the ten movies Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made together, all of which have crazy, implausible plots, but really who cares? In this one, Astaire is a psychoanalyst who is trying to help his friend's fiancee (played by Rogers) to make a commitment to marriage. Rogers ends up dreaming about Astaire and falls in love with him instead and after many hypnosis crises, all ends happily. This movie has one of the best dance numbers ever as Astaire and Rogers bounce off furniture and twirl all around a clubhouse to "The Yam". Ah, if all of life's problems could be solved just as easily by dancing to songs about vegetables.

We're going to the birds. . .

I'm hanging out today in an Edmonton hotel preparing for fall sales conference next week. Sales reps literally get boxes filled with catalogue and information sheets on the books, along with manuscripts or excerpts, background information about the authors, reviews of previous books etc. It can all be a bit overwhelming. But one of my favourite ways to prepare and make notes on the new books is to listen to the editorial presentations on the audio CDs that my publishers provide - which is what I am doing this morning. The editors have lived with these books for months and their personal anecdotes and passions can go a long way towards helping us develop our key selling pitches. Plus, they are crucial for getting the reps enthusiastic about reading the books. I've always maintained this energy has to start right from the get-go; if the reps aren't excited by the books then we can't get the booksellers and librarians interested and in turn they won't pass the enthusiasm on to their consumers or patrons. So much about the book business is word of mouth.

We'll be previewing the fall season for you in a few weeks with our picks for must-reads, but in the meantime, I'll tease you with the covers of two highly anticipated Canadian novels, that I'm certainly looking forward to reading - The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews and The Origin of Species by Nino Ricci, both out in September. I'm posting the covers because I think they are both stunningly beautiful but also in honour of my colleague whose love of bird-watching has been badly hampered by the snow we've been travelling through in Alberta this week (sorry, geese and gulls don't count). We have seen some fairly large magpies however.

We made it!

Whew. It was a bit of a white-knuckle ride but we made it safely to Edmonton and in time for our afternoon presentation. Rosalyn was our awesome driver - there were a few scary moments where the snow was blowing so much that visibility was completely nil, but she never lost her cool composure. We were a bit unnerved to see so many trucks and cars in the ditches (we stopped counting after about 40) and so it's been a stressful and rather exhausting day, but the roads do seem much better now and should be fine for driving to our next stop - Jasper. If any of you are going to the Alberta Library Conference, do stop by our booths and say hello. We'll also be doing two Dewey Diva sessions on Friday and hope to see you there and at the keynote talk that evening by Dave Bidini and Guy Vanderhaeghe.
And now I need to soak in a hot bath for a really, really, really long time.

In which we attempt to get to Edmonton. . .

Just got a group e-mail from back at the office apologizing for the air conditioning being on the brink with promises it will be working soon. Sigh.
The snow has stopped in Calgary and so we're off to try and make it to our afternoon presentation in Edmonton. There's a bit of the highway closed due to a jack-knifed tractor trailer but I missed the bit on the news that said which side of the highway was closed. Anyways, if we're late, you'll know where we are. . .

A Winter's Tale. . .

Once upon a time there were three Dewey Divas who travelled around the country spreading the word about great books to librarians across the land. At the end of each day, the Divas were tired and all they really wanted was to crawl into bed with a good book, read for a few hours and then have a good night's sleep. In order to achieve this, they needed comfortable beds and lots of firm pillows for propping up backs against hard headboards. At the first hotel they came to, the pillows were too thin. At the second one, the pillows were a little firmer but too small. At the third hotel there were very firm pillows but not enough of them (one Diva had read about an author who, while on a book tour wrote that the ultimate in travelling luxury was seven frilly pillows in one bed, and she had coveted this experience ever since). In the Kingdom of Alberta the weather turned nasty and all roads to the Northern City of Edmonton were deemed too dangerous to travel on. The Divas were forced to find a castle in Calgary to seek shelter from the blowing snow and the frigid temperatures. Luckily, the good librarians of Calgary had given the Divas three trusty guides - the "Li-bear-ians" pictured above. They came with magical scrolls that read:

On a cold winter day,
I'm tucked in a nook;
I'm not hibernating,
I'm reading a book!

And these guides led the weary Divas to Castle Hyatt where they not only found food and shelter but large beds with EIGHT! firm if not frilly pillows. And the Divas rejoiced and were able to rest and read. Tomorrow they would continue their journey north but they would never forget the kindness and enthusiasm of the Calgary librarians.

Snowbound in Calgary. . .

Just wanted to say hello to my colleagues back in Toronto who are basking in summer sunshine. This is the view outside of our Calgary hotel where we arrived last night to minus 11 temperatures and blowing snow. We had lots of delays at the airport getting in and eventually got transferred to an earlier delayed flight 20 gates away (though to our delight we were upped to business class which got us a hot towel, free wine, more leg room, and a cheese and crackers plate with grapes). Unfortunately our luggage arrived an hour later on the original flight and so it was close to midnight before we checked in to our hotel. We didn't bring any winter boots with us, so we're essentially snowbound today. But we have all the essentials with us - lots of chocolate (courtesy of a raid we did on a Purdy's Chocolate shop in Richmond - we recommend the dark orange chocolate, the chocolate covered marshmallows and the blueberry & almond chocolate bars), high speed internet, and of course lots of books and manuscripts. It's really quite like a slumber party. The hotel doesn't have a restaurant or room service so we'll have to order in a pizza for dinner. There are very comfy beds though and the pillowcases are embroidered at the edges with the words "Firm" or "Soft"; we get two of each which is a nice touch. The snow has muffled any city noises and so if I squint or take out my contact lenses, I can almost believe I've escaped to a cabin in the woods. Almost.

I can recommend two recent YA novels with an Alberta connection. Afrika by Colleen Craig begins on an airplane as 13 year old Kim is excited to be leaving her hometown of Calgary en route to her mother Riana's birthplace - South Africa. Riana is a journalist covering the Truth and Reconciliation trials as the country tries to come to grips with its apartheid history. The tragic and graphic stories that she hears take a toll on Riana's mental health and Kim has to cope not only with her changed mother, but going to school in a new country with very different social and cultural codes. She becomes friends with a boy whose father's killer is soon to testify and together they embark on a quest to discover the truth about Kim's own father, who she has never met. There are many novels available that explore the immigrant experience in Canada, but not that many that focus on second generation Canadians going back to their parents' countries and reconnecting with their roots. This novel fills that void and also provides an interesting portrait of contemporary South Africa as it continues to grapple with its past.

In Porcupine by Meg Tilly, 12 year old tomboy Jack (short for Jacqueline), has to grow up fast when her father is killed fighting in Afghanistan and her mother crumbles under the grief. Jack and her two younger siblings are dumped at their great-grandmother's farm in Alberta. The children have to deal with feeling abandoned by their mother while continually worried that their prickly, elderly relative, who previously never even knew they existed, will turn her back on them as well. This book made me cry quite unabashedly (fortunately not in public). Jack's complicated relationships with her siblings are poignantly written, in particular her attempts to help her young brother Simon who has a reading disability. Childhood shouldn't be this tough and confusing and I think this novel is a very powerful reminder of how quickly and completely a tragedy can break down a family. And it offers hope in personal courage, integrity and love without being saccharine or tying everything up neatly with a pat ending. I don't know if there is a sequel in the works but Jack was definately one young female character I wanted to keep on cheering for.

A website to watch. . .

PEN has put together a new website to focus on international writing, allowing readers around the world to recommend their favourite writers. It's in early stages yet but promises featured books and author profiles. The first featured countries are from the Arab region. Worth bookmarking and checking out from time to time. You can find it here.

On the road in Vancouver. . .

After one flight delay, too many cups of coffee, one longish drive, one far too-late-night dinner, and two presentations to the lovely librarians in Maple Ridge (building one Jonathan Coe fan at a time), we're now relaxing at our favourite cozy Vancouver hotel, The Sylvia, located right on English Bay. It was originally built in 1912 and has more charm, comfort and character than any modern steel-and-glass hotel I know, yet is still very reasonably priced
(for Vancouver at any rate) and all their rooms are wireless! We like the medieval knights in the stained glass windows. And they even host a book club! We've gone for a walk along the beach before indulging in a seafood supper. And even though it's quite chilly and cloudy (moreso since Toronto is basking in double digit sunshine this week), there is something about seeing palm trees and cherry blossoms that is very soothing to the soul.

In search of soothing our sweet tooths, we stumbled across Cupcakes, which had just the perfect dessert for us. These come in mini-bite-sizes too in a variety of flavours - a dozen seemed to do the trick with leftovers for the road. Highly recommended as a breakfast appetizer. And now, high on sugar and chocolate, we can settle in for a couple of hours of reading.

Happy Birthday Virago. . .

It's Virago's 30th birthday this year and to celebrate they are re-issuing eight of their favourite titles in collector's hardcover editions with these dynamic new covers, so different from the classic green-spined paperbacks, but equally beautiful. Those of us on this side of the pond however, won't be able to get their hands on them - they are being sold exclusively at Waterstones Bookstores in the U.K.

I've been collecting Virago Modern Classics for twenty years now and they've introduced me to so many amazing women writers. Justine Picardie, whose new novel Daphne, traces the period of Daphne du Maurier's life when she was writing a biography of Branwell Bronte (it looks fantastic - I can't wait to read it) has written a celebratory piece on Viragos in the Telegraph and guess what? I'm quoted! (from some comments I left on her blog). I'm in the paragraph just below the one about Jonathan Coe (only my favourite contemporary writer) talking about the reading impact Viragos had on him. So exciting. You can read the article he wrote about it here. And the Guardian has more tributes to Viragos here. Join the love-in.

The influence of Viragos on Coe's writing is most strongly felt in his latest novel The Rain Before It Falls, which is truly one of my favourite books this year and is a lovely tribute to Rosamond Lehmann whose works were brought back into print by Virago. Both writers are terrific at depicting complicated relationships, particularly between women. Pairing The Rain Before it Falls with Lehmann's The Echoing Grove for instance, would work wonderfully in a book club. And honestly, if you've never read anything by either author, what are you waiting for? Fiction doesn't get any better than this.

Deweys go west. . .

We'll be on the road for the next couple of weeks and then caught up in fall sales conferences, so blogging may be a bit light (although we always seem to have adventures on the road that we JUST have to tell someone about, so who knows?) Next week we'll be in B.C. - doing presentations for librarians in Maple Ridge on April 15th, and in Vancouver on April 16th. We'll also be at our respective booths at the British Columbia Library Association Conference starting April 17th, so do stop by and say hello. We're always keen to hear your book recommendations too!

The following week we'll be in Alberta talking to librarians in Calgary (April 21st) then Edmonton (April 22nd) and we'll be at the Alberta Library Conference in Jasper. If you can't make it to our two sessions, then hopefully we'll see you at our booths.

It's a bit of a gruelling schedule but I know I speak for my fellow Deweys when I say that our biggest challenge is always getting the bags checked in without a big, orange OVERWEIGHT sticker being slapped on them. You'd be surprised how many galleys and manuscripts we can cram into the average suitcase - don't worry, we promise to be fully clothed too at all times.

I was recently browsing a bookstore and this travel book caught my eye; I just had to buy it.

Yeah, right.

Reading the World campaign - 2008

Here's a great annual reading campaign taking place in the U.S. that I wish would come to Canada. Booksellers and publishers of literature in translation get together and compile a list of favourites among recently published works in translation in order to promote international writers and introduce them to new readers. You can read more about Reading the World at their website, which includes a full list of the titles chosen, (fiction, non-fiction, classics and poetry are all represented) and starting in June when the campaign goes in full swing, Words Without Borders will be discussing the books, forming book clubs etc. So if exploring some international literature has been one of your reading goals, a great way to start is with some of their suggestions which include:

Life Laid Bare: The Survivors of Rwanda Speak by Jean Hatzfeld

Beijing Coma by Ma Jian

King of Corsica by Michael Kleeberg

Unforgiving Years by Victor Serge (one of my Dewey picks, this novel is terrific and unforgettable - an extremely powerful book about two spies and members of the Communist party during the Second World War and what happens when one decides to leave the party and the other stays, living through the siege of Leningrad and then the last days of the war in Berlin.)

The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China From the Bottom Up by Liao Yiwu

The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zweig

and even Tolstoy's War and Peace in the new translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.

From Trapp to Tolstoy. . .

Having tackled two mammoth versions of War and Peace this year (the book and the 7 1/2 hour movie), I've taken an interest in all things Tolstoy. So I'm quite excited about this movie in the works - an adaptation of Jay Parini's 1990 The Last Station: A Novel of Tolstoy's Last Year (which we'll be reissuing in the fall). And how is this for casting? Christopher Plummer will be playing Tolstoy opposite Helen Mirren as his wife Sophia. James McAvoy and Paul Giamatti will also star. The movie is in part about the troubled marriage of the Tolstoys. Sophia seems to have been a talented woman on her own account - she bore Leo 13 children, spent a long time copying out his manuscripts and also became a photographer. Last fall, National Geographic published a fascinating collection of some of her photos accompanied by excerpts from her diaries. Check out Song Without Words: The Photographs & Diaries of Countess Sophia Tolstoy by Leah Bendavid-Val for a real glimpse into pre-revolution Russian life.

Speaking of Christopher Plummer, I've been taking him to bed every night (and I certainly wouldn't be the first!) We're publishing his autobiography, In Spite of Myself in October and I am absolutely loving what I've read so far. Can't blog too much about it now, but suffice it to say, the guy can write! I was completely captivated by his descriptions of an imaginative childhood in Montreal, and the chapter on the making of The Sound of Music is absolutely wonderful. This is also a terrific book for any theater lover - Plummer has worked with viritually everyone! I saw him playing Macbeth with Glenda Jackson at the O'Keefe Center when I was a teenager, was completely mesmerized, and have been a fan ever since. I even have a selection of his speeches from Henry V on my iPOD and I'll definately be getting to Stratford this summer to see him in Shaw's Caeser and Cleopatra. A Canadian who has certainly lived life to the highest lees . Honestly, this is going to be THE autobiography to read this fall.

IMPAC Shortlist announced

The shortlist for the IMPAC award (one of the most lucrative book prizes - 100,000 Euros goes to the winner) has been announced from the longlist of 137 titles submitted by libraries around the world. The list has a wonderful international flair, not surprising since the six judges come from six different countries. The winner will be announced on June 12th. You can read more about this year's prize here. And here are the shortlisted titles:

The Speed of Light by Javier Cercas (Spanish, in translation)

The Sweet and Simple Kind by Yasmine Gooneratne (Sri Lankan)

de Niro's Game by Rawi Hage (Lebanese - but I think we can also count him as Canadian. This book made the Giller Shortlist in 2006)

Dreams of Speaking by Gail Jones (Australian)

Let it be Morning by Sayed Kashua (Israeli)

The Attack by Yasmina Khadra (Algerian) in translation

The Woman who Waited by Andrei Makine (Russian) in translation

Winterwood by Patrick McCabe (Irish)

I loved last year's winner - Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson.

Happy Birthday Pigeon!

Well, it's official - The Pigeon Wants a.... Puppy! The name of the fourth Pigeon book was top secret until today- the Pigeon's birthday. One very luck boy from Ohio guessed the title and won a school visit from Mo Willems. You can view his winning entry on the Pigeon website.

In his new outing, the self-declared puppy-lovin' Pigeon canoodles, begs, pleads, and demands that the reader give him a pet pooch. I won't spoil the ending for you, but will say that Mo Willems has done it again-created a fabulous book, that is!

Teachers and librarians (in Canada only) can send me an e-mail (rosalyn.steele@hbfenn.com) if they'd like a Pigeon Event kit mailed to their school or library. The kit contains Pigeon T-shirt transfers, colouring pages and activities to photocopy and ideas for hosting your very own Pigeon party or storytime.

Check out this Pop Up book!

I love the start of a new selling season, when samples of the new books start arriving on my desk. It's particularly exciting to get the children's materials, as I never tire of the thrill of discovering (now favourite) books like Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems or Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel months ahead of anyone else!

I just received a sample of a wonderful pop-up book- ABC3D by Marion Bataille- which is coming out in October from Roaring Brook Press. Normally, pop-up books are a format that doesn't really lend itself to the educational market, but I think an exception should be made for this book. It's got a lenticular cover and an eye-catching three-colour interior and takes you through every letter of the alphabet in a completely unique way. Pop-up books are hard to describe in writing, so to see what I mean, check out the Utube Video made for the book. It's a great video, and it has become somewhat of a phenomenon itself, having already been viewed almost 290, 000-odd times (as of a few minutes ago).

I can definitely see teachers (and parents) using this book with children to help make learning the alphabet a painless experience. Now, I'm going to have to learn that piece of music so that I can hum it while I show the books to buyers...

Retail Therapy - now and then

I had a delightful retail experience this weekend, (there's a book recommendation coming, just wait for it). Out for dinner with another Dewey on Friday evening, I passed a clothing shop on my way home that was closed for the night, but had enticing sale signs posted on some beautiful clothes in the front window. Popped in on Saturday morning and bought this little dress/top which I'm absolutely crazy about - not least because it packs without wrinkles (essential as I look ahead to an upcoming two week stint on the road). The store has an interesting name, The Embellishment Room, (2025 Yonge St. between Eglinton and Davisville). They sell only imported clothes from Europe and curiously enough, they only carry one size - medium.

Now, I'm usually a medium anyways, but the proprietor urged me to try on everything as a French medium is different from an Italian medium etc. And she was absolutely right. Several of the tops I tried on were too small; others too large. This was just right, so obviously it had my name on it. And the prices are pretty good as well. The dress also "embellishes" the colour scheme of my newly decorated bathroom. Not that I feel the need to colour co-ordinate my wardrobe with my towels, but I'm just craving anything these days that has that fresh, apple-green look of spring - such a happy colour.

It was inevitable that I'd be buying clothes this weekend. In the midst of reading a pile of fall manuscripts for our upcoming sales conference, I've had to take a break and catch up on some extra-curricular reading. Emile Zola's The Ladies' Paradise is set in a large department store in Paris and proves that fervent consumerism is nothing new; this novel was published in 1883. I'm only a third of the way through but am really enjoying it so far. Octave Mouret is the owner of the Ladies' Paradise, one of the prototypes of the department store we know today, and he's full of ideas for expanding, dreaming that eventually his store will take over an entire city block. His business philosophy is to make up in volume what he loses by selling his goods very cheaply - even taking a loss in some cases - in order to put all his competitors - the small, family-run specialty stores - out of business. Sound familiar? Denise is the naive, small-town girl who comes to Paris to support her brothers and goes to work for him as a sales clerk in his ladies wear department.

There are some very interesting gender issues that arise in this novel - again, not so distant from stereotypes found in any shopping chicklit novel of today. It's all about consumer seduction - in this case of bored Parisian society women who need to keep up appearances:

"Get the women," [Mouret] whispered to the Baron, laughing impudently as he did so, "and you'll sell the world."

But there is also a sinister motif of dead and decapitated women that runs through the story. Mouret's department store owes its origins to his wife's money - the same wife who was killed in an accident on the construction site. And check out this description of one of the shop windows:

"Against this chapel-like background, the coats were bursting with energy; the great velvet overcoat trimmed with silver fox suggested the curved outline of a headless woman, running through the downpour to some festivity in the mysterious Parisian night."

There is the repeated promise that Woman will get her revenge. I wait with delicious anticipation.

Journeying into the Past

One of the books I'm most excited about reading this fall (yes, all book reps are now in a fall mindset as sales conferences loom), is Paul Theroux's Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: 28,000 Miles in Search of the Railway Bazaar, in which he retraces the journey he took over thirty years ago and recounted in his bestselling book The Great Railway Bazaar - one of the great travel books. Can't wait. But in the meantime, you can read this piece by Theroux in The Guardian, in which he writes about how that first book came about, gives a nod to his favourite travel writers, happily enthuses about the joys of train travel, and outlines his travelling and travel-writing philosophies:

The travel book was a bore. It annoyed me that a traveller hid his or her moments of desperation or fear or lust. Or the time he or she screamed at the taxi driver, or mocked the folk dancers. And what did they eat, what books did they read to kill time, and what were the toilets like? I had done enough travelling to know that half of travel was delay or nuisance - buses breaking down, hotel clerks being rude, market peddlers being rapacious. The truth of travel was interesting and off-key, and few people ever wrote about it.

Theroux's new book will partly explore the vast changes that have taken place in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and China since that first trip, which reminds me of another travel book I've been dipping into and which Theroux fans would also enjoy. Dutch journalist Geert Mak spent 1999 travelling around Europe, visiting in particular those places that had huge historical importance in the 20th century. His resulting book In Europe, is part travelogue and part reflection on how those historical events have shaped and changed contemporary Europe. Essential reading for anyone like myself who loves to travel in Europe - especially by train.

The Truly, Talented Mr. Mingella

It was the first full weekend of spring and the long weekend to boot, and perfect weather for my annual rituals - taking long walks in the beautiful sunshine that is slowly melting all the snow, dutifully doing an Easter reading of favourite passages from Watership Down, the best bunny book ever, indulging in some subsequent chocolate rabbit munching, taking a trip to IKEA, and doing a lot of couch cheering at the world Figure Skating Championships - three medals for CANADA! - it was so exciting.

But in tribute to the recent passing of Anthony Mingella, I also spent some time reading a few of his plays and watching my favourite movie of his - Truly, Madly, Deeply, which, if you haven't seen, I highly recommend you rent. Make sure you check out the director's commentary on the DVD which really illustrates how fiercely intelligent, generous, and engaging a person Mingella was and how he relished and was passionate about not just film, but music, dance, theater and just ordinary people. It's all in Truly, Madly, Deeply, which is one of the most uplifting and funny movies about grief and loss that's ever been made. And it's such a well-acted, well-written film. Mingella died far too young; I'll miss all the movies he should have had the time to make.

Mingella's last project was a film adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith's phenomenally successful No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. It airs in the U.K. tonight and should make its way to North America shortly. McCall Smith talks about Mingella and his adapation here and if you click on the right hand side, you can see a clip from the movie.

Before becoming a director, Mingella was a playwright. Two volumes of his work has been published, Plays 1 and Plays 2 - I recommend Made in Bangkok in the former; the latter includes the script for Truly, Madly, Deeply.

2008 Orange Prize longlist out. . .

The longlist for the 2008 Orange Prize is out. I always look forward to this list because it usually features a lovely mix of established writers and new debuts, with a good international representation. Plus Canadian writers usually do quite well by it and every year that I've been following the prize, I inevitably am introduced to a fantastic new writer. This year, I'm intrigued by The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Liebenberg. Nice to see some former and current Dewey picks on the list as well. Thrilled also to see The Outcast by Sadie Jones - a real emotional rollarcoaster of a read, but an incredibly written first novel. My money is on this book to win! The shortlist will be announced on April 15th, and the winner on June 4th.

You can read more about the prize here. And here's the longlist:

Anita Amirrezvani, The Blood of Flowers

Stella Duffy, The Room of Lost Things

Jennifer Egan, The Keep

Anne Enright, The Gathering

Linda Grant, The Clothes on Their Backs

Tessa Hadley, The Master Bedroom

Nancy Huston, Fault Lines

Gail Jones, Sorry

Sadie Jones, The Outcast

Lauren Liebenberg, The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam

Charlotte Mendelson, When We Were Bad

Deborah Moggach, In The Dark

Anita Nair, Mistress

Heather O'Neill, Lullabies for Little Criminals

Elif Shafak, The Bastard of Istanbul

Dalia Sofer, The Septembers of Shiraz

Scarlett Thomas, The End of Mr Y

Carol Topolski, Monster Love

Rose Tremain, The Road Home

Patricia Wood, Lottery

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In honour of St. Patrick's Day and all things Irish, I thought I'd pass on a few recommendations of great books set in Ireland, featuring Irish characters, or by Irish authors.

For Children 5+: Across A Dark and Wild Sea by Don Brown. This beautifully illustrated picture book tells the story of the Irish monk Columcille (Columbia) whose passion for books caused a war. Guilty about his role in the bloodshed he founded a monastery on the Scottish Island of Iona where he and his followers copied early manuscripts and sent the books, "like small boats on a dark and wild sea, to places where reading and writing had been forgotten or ignored."

For Middle Grade Readers: the Artemis Fowl series by Irish author Eoin Colfer. Besides being really fun, action-packed adventures, these books also draw much from Irish legends- leprechauns, fairies, etc.

For Young Adults (14 up): The Chronicles of Faeries series, The Druid's Tune and The Singing Stone by Irish Canadian O. R. Melling. I devoured these books as a teen!

The books are all fantasies featuring teens caught up in fantastical adventures with Druids, faeries and other characters from Irish myth and legend.

Adult Mystery Readers:

If you like historical mysteries, you'll love My Lady Judge, the first book in a new series by Cora Harrison set in the 16th century in the remote region of Ireland called The Burren. Fans of Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma series will enjoy these books. The second book in the series, The Michaelmas Tribute is coming out in May in Canada. Aside from being entertaining mysteries, the books incorporate a lot of period detail, including excerpts from Irish lawbooks written in the 15oo's. Literary mystery readers might want to pick up Benjamin Black's Christine Falls and the recently released The Silver Swan. Benjamin Black is the pen name for John Banville, and the books feature the investigations of Dublin pathologist Quirke. If you like the books of Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson, or other Police Procedurals, you'll want to pick up the book Borderlands by Brian McGilloway. I've blogged about this one before, so I won't go into the plot aside from saying that it's the first in the series featuring Inspector Benedict Devlin set in the border area between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. I've just finished the advance reading copy of the second book in the series (coming in April) called Gallow's Lane. It's just as good, if not better than the first book. If you like your mysteries on the dark/noirish side- you can't miss the Jack Taylor series by Ken Bruen. The series features a troubled ex-Garda officer turned PI and has been nominated for many, many awards. The series starts with The Guards, then follows with The Killing of the Tinkers, The Madgalen Martyrs, The Dramatist, Priest and most recently Cross.

Adult Fiction Readers: If you like reading the books of James Herriot or enjoy the TV show Ballykissangel, you'll love Patrick Taylor's books, An Irish Country Doctor and An Irish Country Village. The books follow the trials and tribulations of young Belfast native Doctor Barry Laverty as he trains under the crusty Dr. O'Reilley in the remote Irish village of Ballybucklebo in the 1960's. Full of humour & warmth.

Adult Nonfiction Readers: A highly enjoyable armchair travel book, Round Ireland With A Fridge by Tony Hawk is a must read for anyone whose ever made a drunken wager and lived to regret it. Englishman Tony Hawk was bet one hundred pounds that he couldn't hitchhike around the circumference of Ireland with a refrigerator in one month. This book recounts his adventure as he tries to do just that. It's funny and a great way to discover more about the Emerald Isle!

Happy Reading!

A spot of Irish drama

When's the last time you read a play? School assignment maybe? I think drama is a sadly neglected genre when it comes to daily reading, which is odd given our crazy time-strapped lifestyles. I'm a huge theatre buff and lucky enough to live in a city that constantly offers a wide variety of challenging and talented productions, but I also have two bookcases devoted entirely to plays, theatre memoirs and drama criticism. And on those nights when I don't have a lot of time but want to read something "complete", there's nothing better than turning to a play. If well written, you'll have a fully realized, engaging story- all in two hours or so.

Some of my favourite playwrights are Irish - the beauty of their language, their wit, and the engagement with their fractious, violent and sometimes heartbreaking history - all ensure a terrific read. So in honour of St. Patrick's Day, here are a couple of recommendations of wonderful Irish plays, if James Joyce's Ulysses isn't really your mug of Guinness.

For some historical perspective, you can dip into the canon of early twentieth century Irish Drama - Yeats, J.M. Synge, and the wonderful Sean O'Casey (Juno & the Paycock and The Plough and the Stars are his best known, but for my money, The Silver Tassie is my favourite and one of the most electric plays ever written about WWI - another of my obsessions).

Or you can sample more contemporary playwrights like Brian Friel whose Dancing at Lughnasa, I dare you to read without crying. This story of five sisters trying to deal with the industrialization of rural Ireland (among other challenges) is so beautifully written. I also love Friel's Translations that explores Ireland's fraught history with colonialism, and Freedom of the City, set during the Northern Ireland civil rights movement. Then there is Frank McGuinness, whose play Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme also poignantly deals with WWI. Tom Murphy explores family dynamics and violence in Whistle in the Dark. And Martin McDonagh writes about a mother-daughter relationship that will have you squirming uncomfortably in The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Also give Marina Carr (her By the Bog of Cats is a fascinating retelling of the Medea story) and Anne Devlin a try (particularly for a look at contempory Irish women's lives - Devlin's play Ourselves Alone would make a good pairing with Dancing at Lughnasa).

As for me, tonight I'm off to see one of the most famous Irish plays of all. More info here.