litfarm

File this under Things I Meant to Post in April. The PEN/Ackerley, that is, but nevertheless, very promising for the growing respectability of self-publishing.

For the first time, a self-published author has made it onto the shortlist for the prestigious PEN/Ackerley prize for memoir and autobiography. Jane Haynes’s Who Is It That Can Tell Me Who I Am? is an unflinching journal of her life a psychotherapist, revealing as much about the author as her patients.

The award is for literary autobiography (first time I’ve heard that term, but I like it) written by an author of British nationality and published in the UK in the previous year. The prize is judged by Michael Holroyd, Francis King, Colin Spencer and chair Peter Parker. I wonder if the rest of them know about Spider Man?

The CBC’s 2008 Canada Reads series started yesterday, with the following books and their celebrity champions, girded for battle in a no-holds-barred… you get the idea.

* Singer-songwriter Dave Bidini defending Paul Quarrington’s hockey novel, King Leary.
* Astronaut Steve MacLean defending Thomas Wharton’s Icefields.
* Newfoundland author Lisa Moore defending Mavis Gallant’s From the 15th District.
* Hip-hop poet and community worker Jemini defending Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring.
* Little Mosque on the Prairie star Zaib Shaikh defending Timothy Findley’s Not Wanted on the Voyage.

I love the Canada Reads series, because the books aren’t current hot titles (or even always in print–King Leary got a new run when it was announced), hot authors, or anything except what the panelists like. Plus, all the books get a bump in sales from the publicity, and even though there’s bragging rights, there’s no prize. It’s all fun.