Greetings from incredibly busy Libraryland. Population: me. Do you ever feel like everything that could possibly be happening is actually happening? Well, I do. I know that’s not strictly the case, but it certainly feels like it. Before this devolves into “Dear Diary” territory, let’s move on to the subject of this blog post, which is the Booker Prize. The longlist was announced in the summer, followed by the shortlist in September, and last Tuesday the grand champion of them all was crowned victorious. Before we get into that, however, let’s go through the shortlist. I will highlight some of the more intriguing finalists (according to moi). They are all available in our collection, apart from one. First, a little backstory. The Booker Prize is awarded to fictional works written in English and published in the United Kingdom and/or Ireland. Its origins are tied to the Booker family, who have a long history of involvement in plantations and enslavement in Guyana. The Booker Prize website says that the current prize and its associated monetary award have no “financial” associations with the “Booker Group.” There is now a foundation that manages the contest, with the prize money sourced from a charity foundation called Crankstart, of all things. Despite the history of the award’s longtime sponsors, The Booker Prize has remained a fixture on the global literary scene, although particularly in the UK. Speculation about who will be on the longlist, who will be shortlisted, and who will take home the great and final trophy (I don’t know if there’s actually a trophy, I mean more in a figurative sense) occupies a big part of the media about literature there. One of my favourite YouTubers, Jen Campbell, usually posts a vlog (video blog) of her experience reading the longlist each year. An author herself, she crafts long, calming sojourns into her reading life in video format. Here’s this year’s video. I encourage you all to check her out, especially if you like watching vlogs. I myself am a big fan of the format and catching glimpses into other people’s lives. The authenticity of vloggers, as they’re called, is an illusion, that much one must know is true. However, there are degrees to artifice. The creators with the smallest degrees of noticeable artifice are the ones I certainly gravitate toward. Jen Campbell’s artifice in these vlogs must be negligible. It just has to be. But, without further adieu. The shortlist for 2024. For those curious about the longlist, you can find it here.
Continue readingTag Archives: Award Winners
The Dorian Awards
Now that we have well and truly been submersed in the lukewarm media bath that is awards season, I thought I would take the opportunity to highlight an award show that often goes unnoticed in all the excitement this time of year. We’re probably all aware of The Oscars and The Golden Globes, but there are many other awards that commemorate the artists, craftspeople, skilled technicians, composers, and other workers who collaborate to do this impossible thing of creating short-form or full-length screen content. I’m focusing on The Dorians this time around, but I will include links to other lesser-known award shows at the end of this post. As always, items that are available in our catalogue are linked throughout, so feel free to “check out” what these more obscure but just as valid awards have highlighted as the best of the best from 2023.
Dorian Awards
The Dorian Awards are nominated and selected by GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics. The name was coined as an homage to poet, playwright, and author Oscar Wilde, the famed writer of The Picture of Dorian Gray and now something of a queer icon. Dorian Award categories include standards like Film of the Year, Director of the Year, and Film Performance of the Year, but they also spotlight LGBTQ storylines, characters, and creators.
Continue readingBookfest 2023: In Conversation with Vincent Lam
Toronto physician and Giller Prize-winning author Vincent Lam will be attending Vaughan Public Libraries‘ Bookfest on Saturday, October 14 at the Civic Center Resource Library. If you want to meet Vincent in person, come join us and enjoy an afternoon of fun – we have designed lots of activities for all ages! Of course, if you prefer a Zoom meeting, you can register on Eventbrite.
In one of his interviews, Vincent said that we human were obliged to live on the surface sometimes and writing allowed him to dive down into those currents deep below the surface. The depth and authenticity of his books is what grabs me. His 2006 debut Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures follows the lives of a group of medical students as they overcome each unique challenge from qualifying medical schools to practicing in emergency rooms. The Giller winner explores both common and extraordinary moral dilemmas and offers a shockingly realistic portrait of today’s medical profession. 17 years later, Vincent’s new book On the Ravine once again captivates me from the first page as Dr. Chen brings needles and other injection supplies to the “addicts” who camp out on the ravine in Toronto’s east end. According to Health Infobase, there was a total of 36,442 apparent opioid toxicity deaths between January 2016 and December 2022 in Canada. Vincent’s new book offers a timely, in-depth look at this national crisis with piercing honesty. It raises many tough questions about doctor-patient relationship and big pharma practices.
For such a grim topic, delightfully, Dr. Lam isn’t just equipped with medical knowledge, dry stats, and hard facts, but also with unparallel literary skills that allows him to successfully deliver a powerful but beautiful story with multiple layers, complex characters, and a compelling plot.
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