Thursday, October 27, 2016

PFB Events: November 2016


Grey drizzle, low light, hot water heat finally turned on behind the desk at Main Street: must be late fall!  And, after a month or two in which not much happened, November brings a whole horde of readings and other special events:

On Tuesday 1 November, with the help of the Association of Book Publishers of BC, we're presenting an intimate evening with Vancouver poets Julie Emerson, Elee Kraljii Gardiner, Fred Wah and Evelyn Lau.  Each author will read from their most recent book for 15 or 20 minutes, followed by a short question-and-answer session and the cusomary freebie wine.  Things get going around 7pm and should wrap up by 9pm.

On Wednesday 2 November, PFB owner Chris Brayshaw will be co-interviewing graphic novelist and journalist Joe Sacco down at SFU Woodwards.  Tickets are still available through the SFU website ($13).  We'll be on site all evening with a variety of Sacco's books for sale.

On Thursday 3 November, we're selling books at a private event for novelist Patrick Taylor (An Irish Country Doctor, & etc.).  If you would like a signed copy of one of his in print works, please let us know!

On Friday 4 November, our friend Clint Burnham has organized a reading by American poet Rodrigo Toscano, which starts around 7pm at Main Street. Toscano will be reading from and signing his most recent book, Explosion Rocks Springfield.

After all this activity, a break for a week or two, and then on Wednesday 23 November poets Danielle LaFrance and Anahita Jamali Rad, co-editors of the feminist literary journal About a Bicycle, will join us at Main Street at 7pm to read from their latest collections, both published by our friends at Talonbooks.

That's it for events this month.

As usual, a few staff picks and recent client favorites round thinsg out.  Not a book club, just titles we're currently reading and enjoying:

Katherena Vermette's The Break

Mary Beard's SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome

Emily Witt's Future Sex

Lynda Gray's First Nations 101

Zoe Whittall's Best Kind of People

Steve Wolfhard's Collected Cat Rackham

Finally, December is fast approaching.  A gentle reminder that things will soon become completely mental over here, and that extra savings are often available on books in return for a slightly longer wait.  If your Xmas /  Hanukkah /  pagan winter festival gift list includes books, give us a holler by late November, and avoid being stuck behind the guy who desperately needs a signed first edition of the Hobbit on December 23rd (which sounds like a joke, but we have taken this exact frantic request once or twice each December for the last 16.5 years)!

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

PFB Events: June 2016


After a quiet May, we've got a number of author events in June:

Tomorrow, Wednesday June 1st, Olympia writer Jim Lynch visits Main Street from 7 to 9pm to read from his new novel  Before the Wind.  Lynch's lyrical Pacific Northwest family sagas have earned comparison to everything from Ken Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion to Steinbeck's Cannery Row, & his previous novel The Highest Tide has been a perennial PFB bestseller since its release in 2005.

Nothing special is planned for Sunday June 12th, which is PFB's 16th anniversary.  Always kind of a surprise when the date rolls around; it feels more like a very busy eight or twelve weeks, but the calendar & my brow furrows apparently think otherwise.

On Thursday, June 16th, our good friend Sam Wiebe, author of the terrific debut Vancouver-based noir novel Last of the Independents, which many crime-loving PFB regulars read & enjoyed, launches his second novel, Invisible Dead, at Main Street from 7 to 9pm. This launch will be very busy; if you want a seat, plan to arrive by 6:30 or so.

On Friday, June 17th, PFB's third-ever customer, SFU's Clint Burnham, will be in house from 7-9pm to read from his new collection of poems, Pound @ GuntAnamo. Clint will be joined by special guest reader/performers Jordan Abel and Shazia Hafiz Ramji.

As always, these events are free and open to the public.  Most have free box wine and/or snacks.

Finally, two miscellaneous notes:

1. Our friends at the SFU library are bringing perennial PFB bestseller Maggie Nelson (Bluets; The Argonauts) to Vancouver in January 2017!  Still a ways off, but we are obviously stoked by the prospect of a free Maggie Nelson lecture at SFU Woodwards, and several days of events on Burnaby Mountain!  More details in the fall.

2.  Question #1 at the desk: "What are the regulars reading?"  We're not Oprah and this isn't our book club, but a few recent titles that have been mega-popular among folks we're on a first-name basis with include:

Leanne Simpson, Islands of Decolonial Love

Elena Ferrante, The Neapolitan Quartet

Lindy West, Shrill (coming soon to our friends across the street at the Fox!)

Paul Lazenby, When We Were Bouncers

Olivia Laing, The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone

Thanks for reading this far!

Best,

Christopher Brayshaw & staff
@ PFB

Monday, February 1, 2016

PFB Events: Sarah Kay, 19 February 2016


Please join us at PFB Main Street on Friday 19 February, 7-9pm, for a special performance by American spoken word superstar Sarah Kay.

Main Street's front room fits over a hundred people without difficulty, as we learned from Eileen Myles' November visit to the shop, but seating is limited; if you would like a seat or have difficulty standing, please plan to arrive between 6-630pm.

We will have copies of Kay's B and The Type available for sale, even though The Type's release date is technically March 1st.

Many thanks to Hachette Books for organizing this event and getting rush copies of The Type to us!

PFB Events: Kayla Czaga, Ali Blythe, Arleen Pare, 18 February 2016






PFB [upon learning, first hand, that Kayla Czaga's For Your Safety Please Hold On is pretty terrific]: Hey KC!  We should totally do an event with you!

KC: Sure, but it shouldn't just be me.  I'd like to bring some friends along!

PFB: Just let me know when and who; Main Street's front room is at your disposal.

[Six months pass]

KC: Okay, the lineup is me, Ali Blythe and Arleen Pare, on Thursday 18 Feb, from 7-9pm!

PFB: Excellent!  Crowd virtually guaranteed.

PFB Events: Rebecca Solnit, 17 February 2016


Thrilled to announce we'll be attending Rebecca Solnit's EMMA Talk on Wednesday 17 February from 7-9pm at SFU Woodwards, along with all of her in-print publications.  The event has been sold out for a few months now, but there will probably be at least a few rush tickets available at the door.

Rebecca Solnit is one of the very first authors we carried when we started adding new books to inventory a decade ago, & we're looking forward to finally meeting her in person.  If you attend, drop by the sales table and say, "Hi!"