Monday news sludge

Did you watch the Giller awards ceremony? I caught up with in as a rerun this weekend, and I'm so glad I did. Not only was the wealth of young faces totally refreshing, it was energising to hear Canadians speak so engagingly - and passionately - about our literature. I hate when people use the word, classy, frankly ('cause I think it's a little vulgar) but I have to break with that rule and say that Jack is a class act, because, um, he just is. I had the great honour of meeting him in person when we both spoke at ABQLA's 75th anniversary a few years back, and he is just as interesting - and interested in everything - and totally warm as he looks on TV.

If you watched the ceremony, perhaps, like me, you were also moved to tears by Joanna Skibsrud's sisters tears when she won - that was such a great moment!

Meanwhile, news swirls around us, including the first item here, which is Giller-related. It should be extra incentive to complete the One Country, 5 Books challenge!:

• The always-magnificent Gaspereau Press announced today that it has sold Canadian paperback rights for Skibsrud's Giller winner, The Sentimentalists, to Douglas & McIntyre. I knew they would find a way to balance their craft with putting Skibsrud's work first. This concludes the story arc I was avoiding all last week, in which numerous news sources bemoaned the lack of copies of the book due to Gaspereau's hand-printing process.
  
• Maybe we should be requiring readers' advisors to be social readers?
• IMPAC looooooooooonglist is out (warning: 162 titles! One for every 2.2 days of the year! Or, you know, you could just check out the 16 Canadians who made the list....)
  
• Matilda's library might close: Buckinghamshire County Council is planning to close Great Missenden Library, the inspiration for Roald Dahl's novel.
• Did Ali Smith break Giller jury protocol? The mountains of navel-gazing press coverage is enough to make me lose my warm post-Giller glow.
• New copyright law in Canada up for dabate: Writers and publishers react; librarians react.

Eeek. Now I am going to be late for work if I don't leave the house RIGHT NOW!