AbeBooks' Reading Copy

If you are an aspiring or amateur writer in British Columbia you may want to keep the weekend of May 24 – May 26 open because Salmon Arm will become the province’s literary hot spot as the Shuswap Association of Writers presents the 10th annual Word on the Lake Readers and Writers Festival.  The festival [...]

Each year The Alcuin Society (who are a fantastic association of bibliophiles out of Vancouver) give out their Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada, which are awarded for various categories.  The winning books will be presented at exhibitions across the country and at the Frankfurt and Leipzig Book Fairs, and at the Canadian [...]

We love the BC Book Prizes here at AbeBooks. Granted, we’re a bit biased, given that we make our headquarters in British Columbia’s capital city (Victoria). But the prizes really are something special, highlighting the best written talent this beautiful province has to offer in seven categories: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, regional, children’s literature, illustrated children’s [...]

The Perogy Cat was born in 2003, which makes today his 10th birthday. If you want to be specific, it is the 10th anniversary of the first Perogy Cat drawing by Gareth Gaudin. If you just went: “what?” and enjoy comics, here’s a thing you might like to know about. Gareth Gaudin arrives at his [...]

Galiano Island is nestled in the Strait of Georgia almost halfway between Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia. It’s a small rural island which is a popular tourist attraction for its beautiful views, fantastic bird watching, ocean wildlife, and the Galiano Literary Festival – set to be held February 22-24, 2013. The festival was designed with [...]

And in today’s news for awards you probably don’t want to win as a writer, the Bad Sex Awards are given to the author who produces the most awkward, uncomfortable, and cringe-worthy sex scene in any given year. The 2012 prize has been announced, and the lucky recipient is Canadian author Nancy Huston, for her [...]

Marjorie Celona – if you haven’t heard the name before, remember you heard it here first, because she is going places. The Victoria, British Columbia-born author is on a launch tour for her debut novel right now. Simply titled Y, the novel has already generated all kinds of literary buzz, earned legions of devoted fans, [...]

This lucky cat contemplating his next great read is Henry. Henry is one of two fur-acious readers from David Mason Books in Toronto, Ontario. David Mason Books has been in business for 40 years and is home to over 60,000 books, including 19th century British and American literature, modern first editions, Canadian literature, science, travel [...]

Happy 75th birthday to the Governor General’s Awards, which began in 1937 as literary awards only. Contemporarily, the title is an umbrella for a collection of annual awards recognizing and rewarding excellence in a variety of artistic and academic categories. Back in 1937, the first Governor General’s Literary Award came into being under Lord Tweedsmuir [...]

Congratulations to University of Victoria teacher Madeline Sonik, whose collection of personal essays, Afflictions & Departures, has won the ninth annual City of Victoria Butler Book Prize. The collection details Sonik’s childhood stage by stage, relating incidents, feelings and developments to social and current events of the time, with a deep, meaningful understanding and insight [...]