George Bowering, what a writer and what a babe!
How long can you read a really good book? Twenty minutes before you pass out? An hour while sunning on third beach? A few lazy hours of a rainy evening?
Well, the daring people of the W.A. Deacon Literary Foundation are taking the art of reading one step further. Friday July 30th they will be hosting a public reading of the award winning novel Burning Water by the pride of Vancouver, George Bowering. Reading the entire book. For twelve hours. Straight. That’s right folks, from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm there will be a marathon reading at the 700 block of Granville between West Georgia and Robson Street.
Everyone from students to booknerds to onlookers are invited to participate, taking turns reading from the novel for 15-minute chunks.
For those who don’t know yet, George Bowering is a prolific Canadian poet, historian and novelist with deep roots in B.C. Some other impressive facts I learned about him recently include the fact that besides writing more than 90 books, he was the first ever Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate, awarded the Order of Canada AND the Order of British Columbia. In a nutshell, this guy knows what he is doing. Burning Water is a novel about the explorer George Vancouver, so if you love books and this city, this is the marathon for you.
The W.A. Deacon Literary Foundation is a non-profit organization with the goal to educate and increase the general public’s understanding and love of literary arts in Canada. To find out more about what they are up to, including rare book exhibits, public readings and celebrations of award-winning Canadian authors click here.
And an added literary bonus - the photo of Bowering above is from an amazing photo series by Sheldon Grimson of Canadian poets. Highly recommended for lovers of poets, photography and vintage cool.
