Books
Thammavongsa launches debut novel Tuesday
4 minute read Yesterday at 2:02 AM CDTAward-winning poet and fiction writer Souvankham Thammavongsa brings her debut novel to Winnipeg on Tuesday, when she’ll launch Pick a Colour at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location at 7 p.m. in an event co-presented by Plume Winnipeg.
The slim novel chronicles a day in the life of Ning, a nail salon owner and former boxer whose emotional range (and loneliness) are revealed to the reader through the course of her doting on clients.
The author of four books of poetry, Thammavongsa’s short-story collection How to Pronounce Knife won a number of awards, including the 2020 Giller Prize. (Pick a Colour is also shortlisted for the Giller.) She’ll be joined in conversation by Winnipeg author Lindsay Wong.
For an interview with Thammavongsa, see Tuesday’s Free Press.
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Aspirations aplenty in Boynton’s board book
4 minute read Yesterday at 2:02 AM CDTIt’s never too early to encourage toddlers aged 1-3 to follow their dreams — and When Pigs Fly! A Song For Dreamers (Boynton Bookworks, 24 pages, board book, $11), by prolific American writer Sandra Boyton, does just that.
Right from birth, kids may be told their aspirations are impossible, but they just may find their own path as they absorb the lyrical poetry and look at Boynton’s oh-so-cute trademark illustrations. They’ll have sweet dreams as they plot their lives as future grown-ups.
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In Aggie and the Ghost by Matthew Forsythe (Simon & Schuster, 64 pages, hardcover, $25), a little girl is excited to live alone (it’s a story, so we’ll accept that), but her new house is haunted by a messy ghost. To Aggie’s annoyance, the ghost won’t follow her strict rules, such as “no eating all the cheese.”
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