Giller Picks: Samuel Archibald's Arvida

The prize is announced tomorrow which allows me to get one more pick in for the prize. I love Samuel Archibald's collection, Arvida.

It's unusual for the Giller to short-list a collection of stories and even more unusual to select a translation of short stories but Archibald's collection is so innovative and interesting that it's no surprise people have been raving about it.

Set in the real life town of Arvida in the Saguenay region of Quebec, the stories are loaded with rag-tag characters: criminals, chancers, posers, losers and clowns.

One story is a road-trip across Canada as three delinquents try to sneak a woman into the US. Another story echoes Faulkner and tells the story of a lonely woman whose husband has moved to Montreal to make his fortune while she waits for his return in a creaky old family home. She never doubts that he'll come back though everyone in the town is convinced he's abandoned her. This story contains some of the most beautiful writing I've encountered in French to English translation (translator Donald Winkler won the Governor General's Award for the translation of this work and it's obvious when reading this why Winkler is one of the most sought-after translators working today).

The greatest thing about short-stories is keeping them on the nightstand and reading one each night before sleep, those ditties roll around in your dreams and are there when you wake up with the sun.

I don't know if Arvida will win the prize (I'm terrible at predicting it) but stay tuned tomorrow for the big reveal.

Archibald talks Arvida

Martin John and others on Giller list, new Michael Moore on US war-mongering?, Gianrico Carofiglio, real-life locations of Rabagliati's Paul à Quebec, largest mural in the world in Norway: Cultural Digest, September 11

Martin John: I like the US cover version better

• Michael Moore's new documentary opens at TIFF. The director and writer has been very secretive about this project but the speculation is that the movie explores the fact that the US economy is dependent on war-making. Not exactly a new argument but it'd be interesting to see his take on it.
• The Scotiabank Giller Prize releases its long list. I have to say this list frequently underwhelms me because the works on it are often humdrum Canadian urban novels without anything particularly interesting to say. But this year, a few really great choices there, including Anakana Schofield's Martin John. Schofield is one of those writers who has built a small but growing fan-base on the sheer force of her powerful writing and intelligence.  I'm very glad to see the mainstream literary media paying attention to her work. Well-deserved. Michael Christie's book (If I Fall, If I Die) is also very interesting. And Samuel Archibald (a best-seller in French). Actually, there are a number of very interesting works here this year (I haven't read them all).
• To celebrate being in Italy, I will sing the praises of crime writer, Gianrico Carofiglio. He was out our Festival a few years back and every event was packed full. He has the persona of a rock star, that guy. Anyway, his works feature the same lawyer cum detective and are mainly set in Bari. A former anti-mafia judge, Carofiglio turned to crime writing many years ago and has never looked back. His books are highly readable novels that give an interesting glimpse of contemporary Italian society. He's doing several events today in Mantova though I don't know if I'll have time to see him! In any case, stay tuned to see him at a future Blue Met.
• This mural in Norway may be the largest rooftop mural in the world.
• L'actualité looks at the real-life locations used by Michel Rabagliati in his best-selling graphic novel Paul à Québec (now a feature film). Link is in French.