Vancouver writer Billie Livingston will read from her "dark, funny, graceful, witty" fiction, 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 19, at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre in Sechelt.
Greedy Little Eyes won the Writers' Union of Canada Danuta Gleed Literary Award, which recognizes the best debut English-language collection of short stories by a Canadian author.
The award jury said Livingston's stories showed "energy, spunk and daring." Their citation added: "the writer's eyes are wide open, taking in the world and then reflecting it in all its strangeness and beauty. She pushes edges, teeters on brinks, creating the exhilaration that comes only with taking risks. Her characters are real people in a real world who achieve break-out velocity and recreate themselves by signal acts of courage and self-definition. Frequently, her plots hinge on a demand for justice in a world clouded with calculation and evasion, resulting in a collection as strong in content as it is in style.''
Livingston also writes novels, poetry and essays.
Her novella, The Trouble with Marlene, has been optioned for feature film production. Livingston says the story is a forerunner to her new novel, One Good Hustle, due to be released next July. Her first book of poems, The Chick at the Back of the Church, was a finalist for the Pat Lowther Award, while her first novel, Going Down Swinging, received widespread attention and acclaim. Her fiction has been published in North America, the United States, Australia and Britain.
Livingston was born in Hamilton, Ont., and grew up in Toronto and Vancouver. She lives with her husband in Vancouver.
Her reading takes place in the Doris Crowston Gallery of the SC Arts Centre, and is sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts. Admission is free.
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