PFB Events: February 2017

Winter looks to be coming to an end, at least up at Main and Broadway. and we've lined up a variety of events for the remainder of the month, including one next week that will be standing-room only:

Next Saturday, 18 February, from 7 to 9pm, we're pleased to welcome Lawrence Weschler to Vancouver.  Weschler is a writer of creative nonfiction and 20+ year veteran of the New Yorker whose work encompasses visual-art criticism and in-depth profiles of figures like Robert Irwin, David Hockney, J.S.G. Boggs, and David Hildebrand Wilson and Diana Drake Wilson, co-founders of LA's Museum of Jurassic Technology.

On the 18th, Weschler will read from, and discuss, his latest book, Waves Passing in the Night: Walter Murch in the Land of the Astrophysicists (Bloomsbury, 2017), a profile of the legendary sound and film editor's other love, astrophysics, and, specifically, "the rehabilitation of Titius-Bode, a long-discredited 18th century theory regarding the patterns by which planets and moons array themselves in gravitational systems across the universe."

This event will be 100% packed out!  Admission is free, as is box wine & the deli tray, but I definitely suggest early arrival if you don't want to be standing halfway down the aisle.  And thanks to our friend Genevieve Fuji Johnson, for arranging Lawrence Weschler's visit.

On Thursday, 23 February, from 7 to 9pm, our friend Robin Bougie launches the 10th anniversary edition of his extreme cinema zine, Cinema Sewer, at Main Street.  Leave the kids at home, but come for chips, free wine, zines, and a variety of shock- & smut- related merch and door prizes.

On Friday, 24 February, we're down at SFU Woodwards for the launch of Jaleh Mansoor's Marshall Plan Modernism (Duke UP, 2017). Free admission.

Finally, because I can never close these letters without a recommendation, Eden Robinson, author of Monkey Beach, a perennial PFB favorite, has just released a new novel, Son of a Trickster, which reads like an extended riff on Twin Peaks, but with First Nations spirit beings stalking around an otherwise realistically rendered Northern BC.  I devoured this book in under 24 hours, and unreservedly recommend it.

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!"

Katherine Fawcett reads @ PFB Main Street

Please join Pemberton author Katherine Fawcett tomorrow night, Thursday June 25, from 7-9pm, as she reads from her debut collection of short fiction, The Little Washer of Sorrows.

Excellent review of the book over @ NPR:

"Fawcett lets her speculative side run wild. Like fellow fabulist Kelly Link — not to mention forebears such as Donald Barthleme — she finds fertile ground in the fuzzy territory between realism and surrealism. In 'BLK MGC,' a ripped-from-the-headlines pyramid scheme takes a left turn somewhere near The Twilight Zone; in 'The Anniversary Present,' an aging Mother Earth is addicted to beauty products while her husband, Father Time, has adulterous feelings for Sister Moon.

Domesticity plays as big a part in Fawcett's story as science fiction, fantasy, and mythology do. The tenderly combative interplay between the married couple in 'Lenny and the Polyamphibians' — which only intensifies when a mermaid enters into the equation — is poignantly layered, even as it sparks with snark. The couple in Little Washer's title story, on the other hand, are haunted by the most prosaic of monsters: Bankruptcy. As their estate manager begins to exhibit supernatural qualities, though, the balance of reality gets turned on its side."

Kim Stanley Robinson Reads & Signs @ Main Street

KSR, the critically acclaimed & multiple-award-winning author of Red Mars, Three Californias, 2312, etc. etc., will read from Shaman, his most recent novel, conduct an audience Q&A, and sign copies of his work on Friday, September 13th, 2013 from 6:30 to 9pm at PFB Main Street, 2422 Main Street, Vancouver.  Admission is free; cash bar.  KSR is an author I've read for more than twenty years, and I'm really excited to welcome him to Vancouver.

Teresa McWhirter reads from FIVE LITTLE BITCHES @ Main Street

Teresa McWhirter, one of our favorite local novelists, reads from her new novel, Five Little Bitches (Anvil, 2012) this Friday August 17th from 7-9pm at Main Street.  Books & beers available at the counter.

Teresa's last reading was extraordinarily well-attended.  If you want a seat, or, for that matter, a book or a beer, best plan on arriving early.

Launch Party: Stephen Miller's THE MESSENGER

Our friend Stephen Miller reads from his new thriller The Messenger (Random House of Canada) this Friday, 3 August 2012, at Main Street.  Free admission; cash bar; limited seating.  Doors 6:30, reading 7pm sharp.

Via Random House:

"Stephen Miller’s potent immediate novel of a young terrorist loose on the streets of the United States is perfect for the readers of intelligent character-driven novels such as John Updike’s Terrorist and Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland.  In this harrowing exploration of a young woman’s mission, Daria has been sent to America and she holds the power of life and death in her hands.  This is the story of two outsiders existing in the margins of their respective worlds.  They are two enemies of the state:  Daria–born in a refugee camp, raised in poverty, and Sam Watterman–a scientist who told his government the things they didn’t want to hear and was discredited, an ex-pat in his own country.  Daria’s odyssey will bring her to the United States, on a journey of vengeance.  Watterman’s path will take him from enforced obscurity into the war rooms of American intelligence.  In the next 16 days, Daria will learn to question everything she has been taught.  Watterman will learn that even evil has a human face.  This is the story of two people from opposite sides of the globe, who did not know the other existed but  who will affect each other in profound–even devastating–ways."

Cinemasewer #3 Launch Party!

This coming Saturday, October 22nd, 7-10pm.  Cash bar.  Mr. Bougie will be in the house peddling his latest collection (above), while his extraordinarily talented wife, Rebecca Dart, will be selling copies of her new sketchbook, Battle Kittens, and some other publications.

Stephen Collis & Garry Thomas Morse @ PFB

Stephen Collis and Garry Thomas Morse will read from their work @ PFB on Thursday, June 9, 2011.

Reading starts at 7:30pm, Thursday, June 9, 2011.  Limited seating, arrive early if you want a chair!

Stephen Collis is the author of Mine, Anarchive, The Commons, Phyllis Webb and the Common Good, Through Words of Others: Susan Howe and Anarcho-Scholasticism, and On the Material. A member of the Kootenay School of Writing, he teaches American literature, poetry, and poetics at Simon Fraser University, while continuing his work on “The Barricades Project.” His most recent book On the Material, is the winner of the 2011 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize.

Garry Thomas Morse is the author of Transversals for Orpheus, Streams, Death in Vancouver, After Jack, and aDiscovery Passages. In 2008, he received the City of Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award for Emerging Artist. His new book Discovery Passages is the first collection of poetry about the Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl) First Nations.

Alexander MacLeod Reads @ PFB

Halifax resident Alexander Macleod will read from his Giller shortlisted debut collection of short fiction up at Main Street this Thursday, February 24th, from 7-9:30pm as part of the UBC Creative Writing program's monthly Locution series.  Admission's free, but we expect this event to be way beyond capacity.  If you want to get a seat, or to even squeeze in the front door, plan on arriving by 6:45pm at the latest.  Books and beverages available as usual.

In other news:

Q:  Why is this blog never updated?

A:  It's nuts here.  We probably took in between 400 and 500 books today, and sold just as many.  2011 is definitely turning out to be the busiest year in our going-on 11-year history.  Blogging's fun, but it comes way behind buying books, selling books, and sourcing books for customers.

Q:  Still taking special orders?

A:  Every day, like mad. We've even added some new distributors so that we can order scarce academic stuff, and mysteries, science fiction and fantasy titles previously only available in the UK.  And we're starting to experiment with sourcing out-of-print and antiquarian books on demand.  Want a $2500 US limited edition Hunter S. Thompson hardcover?  Come see us. Not only can we get it for you, we can likely save you some money in the process.

Q:  Kindle...Amazon...Nook...e-books?

A:  Not much of an issue here.  We're busy, happy, packed to the rafters with interesting stuff, and hiring new staff to keep up with the demand.  New lights installed at Main Street -- big hydro bill savings; more easily visible shelves! -- and lots of new titles in at Kits.

Q:  Still buying?

A:  Definitely!  Every day at both stores, up until 5pm.

Live @ PFB: Sarah Leavitt

Our friend, long-time customer, and recent media celebrity Sarah Leavitt will be presenting a multi-media slideshow/reading based on her critically acclaimed new autobiographical graphic novel, Tangles, in Main Street's front room this Thursday, December 2nd, as part of the UBC Creative Writing Department's monthly Locution event.  Doors @ 6:45pm; books and beverages available behind the counter.

Live in Person: Peter Carey & Ian McEwan

Via our friends at the Vancouver International Writers Festival:

IAN MCEWAN

The acclaimed author of Atonement and On Chesil Beach will make his eagerly anticipated Vancouver appearance. In conversation with Jerry Wasserman.

His new novel Solar, is a darkly comic, satirical look at climate change—a stylish new work by one of the world’s greatest living writers.

VIWF members: Receive a $2 member discount for Ian McEwan event tickets. (If you have not received an email with your special member discount code, please call 604 681 6330.)

Author website

7:30pm April 15, 2010
St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church (Burrard at Nelson)
$20 general / $18 students & seniors (plus service charges)
For tickets, phone Vancouver Tix at 604 629 8849 or purchase online.

PETER CAREY

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction winner and the author of Oscar and Lucinda and True History of the Kelly Gang in conversation with Hal Wake.

Peter Carey’s new novel Parrot and Olivier in America is a dazzlingly inventive reimagining of Alexis de Tocqueville's famous journey, brilliantly evoking the Old World colliding with the New.

Author website

7:30pm May 7, 2010
Frederic Wood Theatre, UBC (6354 Crescent Road)
$20 general / $18 students & seniors (plus service charges)
For tickets, phone Vancouver Tix at 604 629 8849 or purchase online.

We'll have new, discounted copies of both titles as soon as they are published by Random House of Canada.

Phoebe Tsang Reads @ PFB

Toronto's Phoebe Tsang will read from her new collection of poems, Contents of a Mermaid's Purse (Tightrope Books), this Thursday, November 26th, in Main Street's front room at 7pm. Please join us for the usual books and beverages.

Phoebe’s poetry can be found in the anthologies Garden Variety (Quattro Books) and Not a Muse (Haven Books). Journal credits include Asia Literary Review (Hong Kong), Atlas 02 (UK & India), Brand (UK), Room and Freefall (Canada). Her chapbooks are Solitaires (Lyrical Myrical Press, 2006) and To Kiss the Ground (Press On! 2007). A professional violinist, she is a multi-genre artist who holds a BSc in Architecture from the University of London. Contents of a Mermaid’s Purse is Tsang’s first full-length collection.

Kate Braid Reads @ PFB

Kate Braid, poet and winner of the Pat Lowther Award, will be reading as part of the UBC Creative Writing Department's Locution series tomorrow night, November 5th, in Main Street's front room at 7 pm. Other readers include Jay Torrence, Tenille Campbell, Kevin Spenst and Christine Leclerc. Limited seating; if you don't want to be sitting on the floor in the front row, better plan to arrive by 6:45 pm or so. Books and beverages will be available for purchase; the event itself is free.

CINEMA SEWER Book Launch Tomorrow Night @ Main Street!

(Mainly posted to show off Mr. Bougie's snappy promotional poster)

New "Cinema Sewer" Book Launch Party

Launch party for Volume Two of Robin Bougie's "adults-only guide to history's sickest and sexiest movies" on Saturday August 1st, 7-9pm at Main Street. Books and cold beverages will be available.

Via Mr. Bougie: "Issues 13 to 16 [of CS] are exhaustively revised and collated in this second wild volume, together with an additional 90 pages of never-before-seen movie reviews, interviews, rants, comics, hard-to-find classic movie advertising, and graphic illustrations by myself and a host of my talented friends from both the comic book and animation industry. Regardless of whether you’re is just discovering the world of classic porn, horror, and exploitation movies, or a long time fan from the days when the drive-ins and grindhouses reigned, you’ll find plenty to get excited about, gleefully sloshing around in the filth of the Cinema Sewer!"

Clint Burnham Reads From "The Benjamin Sonnets"

The Benjamin Sonnets are a series of poems created through a process of "homophonic" translation from German writings by Walter Benjamin. They are ridiculous, but only in the sense that things unexpected and wonderful can be ridiculous.

Clint Burnham reads in Main Street's front room Saturday July 11th at 7pm. Books and the usual ice-cold beverages will be available. Everyone is welcome to attend.

GG Winner Jacob Scheier and Sonnet L'Abbe Read Tonight @ Main Street!

Jacob Scheier and Sonnet L'Abbe read tonight in Main Street's redesigned front room, courtesy of our friends at PRISM International magazine and the UBC Creative Writing Department. This reading is likely going to be really crowded; if you want a guaranteed seat, you might consider arriving around 6:45pm.

Bruce Serafin's STARDUST wins Edna Staebler Award

Bruce Serafin, close friend of the shop, founder of The Vancouver Review, and one of Canada's best writers. Bruce passed away in 2007. His excellent Stardust, a collection of review essays and short prose memoirs, just won Wilfred Laurier University's 2008 Enda Staebler Award for Creative Nonfiction. This Friday, April 24th, in conjuction with WLU and Bruce's publisher, New Star Books, we're hosting an award ceremony. 7-9pm at the Main Street store. Light refreshments. A reading. & etc.

Everyone is welcome to attend.