Free Funnies at Drawn and Quarterly

Good fiction is always humourous, says the Montreal Gazette's Ian McGillis. And by that measure, Wednesday's triple bill at the Drawn and Quarterly bookstore is sure to please. Expect readings by Cordelia Strube (whose most recent novel, Lemon, came out in 2009 from Coach House) as well as Commonwealth prizewinner Katrina Best (Bird Eat Bird) and ReLit nominee Teri Vlassopoulos (Bats or Swallows):

Discerning lit heads are heartily directed toward Librairie Drawn & Quarterly this Wednesday, August 17, for a triple-header reading presented by Coach House Books. Dubbed Fiction Funnies, the event features Teri Vlassopoulos, Katrina Best and Cordelia Strube. These aren’t all necessarily capital F Funny writers, i.e. not the kind you would imagine sitting down to write with the express aim of raising yuks, but rather proof of the adage that all good writing contains a strong vein of humour. Best’s Bird Eat Bird and Vlassopoulos’s Bats or Swallows are two of the most distinctive debut collections of recent years. The former won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book. (I reviewed it as part of a roundup in the Gazette last year; it deserved more space, but we live in an imperfect world.) The latter was shortlisted for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and is now longlisted for the ReLit Award. (Full disclosure: Teri was my protégée in the QWF Mentorship Program). The enviably prolific Strube has published eight novels in 15 years, the most recent of which, 2009’s teenage-voiced Lemon, has been described as “deliciously snide and engaging,” a combination I’ve always been a sucker for. This could well be one of those group readings that take on a synergistic life of their own. The host for the evening will be Ian Orti, known to be funny himself. And no budgetary excuses: it’s free.

To read more from Ian McGillis's bog, see here.