FOUR FROM THE FEST
Writers featured at event
The busy fall season means lots of new books and many special events. Here are a few new books by authors coming to the Vancouver Writers Fest, as well as an updated book by two noted Vancouver sex educators.
Maria Semple, author of Where’d You Go Bernadette and Today Will Be Different, is appearing at the Vancouver Writers Fest this weekend. For those who haven’t read her books, they are funny. Semple is a great comedic writer, particularly about the lives of modern women. Her scenes are quite hilarious and her characters are both relatable and absurd. Where’d You Go Bernadette is about an overwhelmed mom who disappears, while Today Will Be Different is about an over- whelmed mom who has the best intentions to do better, at least for one day. I highly recommend her books for readers looking for a cheeky laugh or two.
Emma Donoghue, author of Room and many other books, will also be at the festival with a new book, The Wonder. It’s an intriguing story of a young girl in the 1850s in Ireland, who appears to be surviving without eating anything. Lib Wright is a nurse, trained by Florence Nightingale herself, brought in to watch the young girl to verify that she is, in fact, living without food. It’s an invented story, but Donoghue says in the author’s note that it is inspired by about 50 cases of “fasting girls” — young girls who survived without food for long periods. Donoghue is a brilliant writer and no matter her topic she writes a story that compels readers to the end. I read it in one sitting.
Vancouver parents will be happy to know that noted sex educators Meg Hickling and Saleema Noon have a new book — Talk Sex Today. It’s an update by Noon of Hickling’s earlier book Speaking of Sex. It has chapters on all of the different age groups, starting from preschool, and how best to talk to children of each age about sex. There are chapters on managing media and the Internet, on sexual consent and gender stereotypes, on relationships and healthy boundaries and even on teaching sexual health to children and teens with special needs. Parents who have seen Noon or Hickling in person will be familiar with their straightforward, no-nonsense approach to teaching kids about sexual health. The book is written using the same approach and will be appreciated by parents of children of all ages.
The ever-popular Inspector Banks is back in a new book by Canadian author Peter Robinson, When the Music’s Over. Banks is now a top dog in the Yorkshire police department, having been promoted in a recent book. He’s tasked with heading up two investigations this time, both involving the rape of young girls. One happened in the 1960s, the other happened in current times. All the familiar faces are back — Annie, Winsome, Gerry, Gervaise — working to solve these parallel mysteries. Robinson was also at the Vancouver Writers Fest this week, entertaining readers in several events on Granville Island.