By: Deanna McFadden
April 2008
 Literary superstar Jhumpa Lahiri comes to Toronto on April 22nd for an event at the Harbourfront. An international sensation after the publication of her first book of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies, it was her novel, The Namesake: A Novel, that propelled her to whole new levels on the world literary scene.
Her new book of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth, goes on sale April 1st here in Canada. There are few authors who can make a success of a book of short stories-they are a hard sell in terms of literary fiction for the most part. Lahiri, having already won a major prize for her first book (the Pulitzer in 2000), won't have a problem finding a home for her stories, and it's almost a foregone conclusion that this new book will end up on many of this year's best-of lists.
Spring is just the time to read short stories. With the weather finally sprouting up from under the blankets and blankets of snow, having a book in your bag that you can pull out at the coffee shop after a nice long walk and finish up one or two stories seems fitting. Of the collections that I've read lately, here are a few standouts: Tim Winton's Turning, which everyone should read in preparation for his impressive new novel, Breath, that's coming out in the summer; Kate Sutherland's excellent collection All In Together Girls contains some of the most honest portrayals of adolescence I've ever read; Jeffrey Eugenides has compiled a massive and soon-to-be classic collection of love stories in My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead: Great Love Stories, from Chekhov to Munro; and, of course, our own Canadian star, Vincent Lam, whose collection Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures: Stories won the Giller two years ago.
The event on Tuesday April 22nd is hosted by Lewis DeSoto, whose Blade of Grass was nominated for the Man Book, and Michael Ondaatje, who'll be reading from Divisadero, which was shortlisted for the Giller last year. I've seen Ondaatje read many times over the years, and it's always a treat-his speaking voice is almost as captivating as his words.
In other literary news, if you're travelling outside the city, Hamilton's gritLit Festival takes place from April 3-6, with Don McKay, Lee Maracle, Helen Humphreys, Zoe Whittall, Don Aker and Alissa York, among others. UK Children's author Oliver Jeffers comes to Canada for the first time and visits both the Runnymede Chapters/Indigo and Mabel's Fables on Sunday April 6th. And with April being National Poetry Month, why not check out the Anansi Poetry Bash on Thursday April 17th The event takes place at the Levack Block at 6:00pm. For more information about celebrating poetry in April, check out the League of Canadian Poets.
So lots to do this month: read short stories, celebrate poetry, take a walk in the gorgeous spring air, and start gearing up for summer reading...
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