Sarah Lane's Blog, page 5
February 8, 2014
Get the The God of My Art ebook FREE, 2 days only!
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Like what you’ve read & want to read more? Click here to subscribe to my blog. Check out The God of My Art: A Novel, and leave your reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. Thanks for reading!
by 
January 26, 2014
Book Signing, Book Blast Carnival, & Book Giveaway
Join me for an evening with local authors at the Chapters bookstore in Richmond.
Authors will include the USNA team, Rosella Leslie, T. Rae Mitchell, Diane Welch, and Mauro Azzano.
Date: Thursday, February 6, 2014
Time: 5:30-7:30pm.
Venue: Indigo Chapters Bookstore, Richport
Address: 8171 Ackroyd Richmond, British Columbia, V6X 3J9.
Phone: (604) 303-7392
Book Blast Carnival, February 26 – 28, 2014
I’d also like to invite you to participate either as a blogger or a reader, or both, in the Book Blast Carnival this February 26-28, 2014, which is a blog hop featuring books by a selection of authors, all priced between $0.99 and $2.99.
There will be $200 up for grabs in Amazon Gift Card prizes!
The participating authors – including yours truly – are sponsoring two Amazon Gift Card Giveaways, one for readers with prizes of $60, $40, $20, and $10, and one for bloggers with prizes of $30, $20, and 2 at $10. Interested bloggers, check out Bippity Boppity Book to sign up to become a host. Readers, stay tuned for more information coming soon!
Win an autographed copy of The God of My Art
Enter the Goodreads Autographed Book Giveaway for your chance to WIN 1 of 3 signed paperback copies of The God of My Art: A Novel by Sarah Lane. Entries will be accepted until February 17th.
Goodreads Book Giveaway
The God of My Art
by Sarah Lane
Giveaway ends February 17, 2014.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Like what you’ve read & want to read more? Click here to subscribe to my blog. Check out The God of My Art: A Novel, and leave your reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. Thanks for reading!
by
January 20, 2014
Book Signing and Book Giveaway
Join me Thursday February 6, 5:30-7:30pm, at Indigo Chapters Bookstore, Richport, 8171 Ackroyd Richmond, British Columbia, V6X 3J9.
Win an autographed copy of The God of My Art
Enter the Goodreads Autographed Book Giveaway for your chance to WIN 1 of 3 signed paperback copies of The God of My Art: A Novel by Sarah Lane. Entries will be accepted until February 17th.
Goodreads Book Giveaway
The God of My Art
by Sarah Lane
Giveaway ends February 17, 2014.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Like what you’ve read & want to read more? Click here to subscribe to my blog. Check out The God of My Art: A Novel, and leave your reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. Thanks for reading!
by
November 12, 2013
Literary Festival in a Congo at War
Drawing on my experiences as an ESL instructor to refugee newcomers to Canada and on my friendships with several Congolese expatriates, I wrote a story called “Breaking Up” several years ago about how I imagined it might feel to be a Congolese refugee in Canada suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder thirteen years after deserting Mobutu’s army. In my story, the man’s terrible memories prevent him from connecting with the women in his life, leaving him increasingly isolated and lonely in Canada.
In reality, the UN has recently sent 3000 of its own troops into battle for the first time ever in an effort to stem the violence that traces its roots back to the Cold War and the power plays of world powers. According to a Wikipedia article on Congo-Kinshasa, “In 2009, people in the Congo may still be dying at a rate of an estimated 45,000 per month, and estimates of the number who have died from the long conflict range from 900,000 to 5,400,000…. A new study says more than 400,000 women are raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo every year.”
So, it is inspiring to learn that despite the ongoing tragedy of war, this week more than 30 Congolese, Belgian, Swiss, and French authors participated in the first-ever book festival in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. One of the authors was the Belgian journalist Colette Braeckman who presented her book on Dr. Mukwege, a doctor who has treated for free over 30,000 Congolese women who have been victimes of sexual violence.
I hope this festival will continue annually and in time allow the outside world better access to Congolese writers and writing.
***
In other news, Ia Uaro, author of Sydney’s Song, was kind enough to invite me to do an interview about writing my debut novel The God of My Art which she featured on her blog this week. The highlight of this interview for me was getting to talk about some of my favourite authors and influences, including Barbara Kingsolver’s novel The Poisonwood Bible, which is set in the Congo. (Read the full interview here.)
NjKinny’s World of Books also featured my book with an interview this week. The highlight for me here was seeing the excerpt from my novel that she selected to feature (a gritty scene set in a Vancouver Downtown Eastside alleyway). (Read the full interview here.)
Like what you’ve read & want to read more? Click here to subscribe to my blog. Check out The God of My Art: A Novel, and leave your reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. Thanks for reading!
by
October 11, 2013
More Upcoming Author Events & Book Signings
My upcoming book signings for The God of My Art. Please mark your calendars!
Indigo Chapters Bookstore, Richport, Wednesday, October 23, 6:30 – 8:30 PM: Authors’ Book Sale & Signing, 8171 Ackroyd Richmond, British Columbia, V6X 3J9.
Surrey International Writers’ Conference Book Fair, Saturday, October 26, 5:30 – 7:00 PM: Authors’ Book Sale & Signing at the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel, 15269 104 Ave, Surrey, BC, V3R 1N5.
At Word Vancouver Festival.
Like what you’ve read & want to read more? Click here to subscribe to my blog. Check out The God of My Art: A Novel, and leave your reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. Thanks for reading!
October 10, 2013
Unrequited Love, Passion, and Art
Do you know what is behind the passion that drives you in life? Do you know what holds you back from wholeheartedly giving yourself over to it?
Curl up this weekend with The God of My Art and live vicariously through an artist in search of the source of her art. This novel explores how obsession with a lover and unrequited love can become sources of artistic inspiration. It does so by inverting the trope of the male artist and his pursuit of the muse: his elevation of a mortal woman onto a pedestal and subsequent heroine worship of her as a goddess of art. In The God of My Art, the artist is a young woman infatuated with an unavailable rock climbing international aid worker, and as the story unfolds, so does the nature of her hero worship.
From the back cover:
“Helene vividly remembers that night in Prince George when her alcoholic mother threatened to leave. She also cannot forget the day her stepfather sent her away to a group home. Now, years later in Vancouver, she has met a man who can make her forget all that.
The God of My Art is layered with unforgettable scenes of youth, obsessive love, and artistic longing. At the core of this haunting coming-of-age tale are the shifting faces of Helene—teenage runaway, university student, and budding artist. Related in Helene’s engaging voice, this novel chronicles her seminal love affair with Matthew, a globetrotting mountaineer passionate about Nietzsche, and the art he inspires within her. As she wrestles to become the artist she wants to be, she encounters unforgettable characters along the way, including Hana, a lesbian theatre student fed up with her partner’s multiple affairs, and Laurent, a French exchange student who grapples with existential questions of his own.
Bold and poetic, sensual and confessional, The God of My Art is the beautifully written first novel by Sarah Lane, one of Canada’s most exciting new literary voices.”
The ebook is on sale until Saturday at midnight for only 99¢, after which it will return to $3.99. Get it now.
September 18, 2013
Upcoming Book Signings & Literary Events
Do you crave literary fiction?
Here are my upcoming book signings for The God of My Art. Please mark your calendars!
Culture Days, Saturday, September 28, 12:00 – 4:30 PM: Local Authors’ Book Sale, Signing, & Talk on Writing at Richmond Public Library, Brighouse Main Branch, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond, BC V6Y 1R8.
Word Vancouver, Sunday, September 29, all day: Author Book Sale & Signing at Vancouver Public Library Square, 350 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6B 6B1.
Surrey International Writers’ Conference Book Fair, Saturday, October 26, 5:30 – 7:00 PM: Authors’ Book Sale & Signing at the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel, 15269 104 Ave, Surrey, BC, V3R 1N5.
I had fun reading from my new literary novel The God of My Art at the Summer Dreams Literary Festival. It was nice to see familiar faces from Pandora’s Collective again!
Like what you’ve read & want to read more? Click here to subscribe to my blog. Check out The God of My Art: A Novel, and leave your reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. Thanks for reading!
July 26, 2013
Author’s Night in Richmond at Chapters Richport
Book signing at Chapters in Richmond with five other local authors
At my table…
Hanging out with local sci-fi & fantasy author Nina Munteanu.
Nina Munteanu and Sci-fi author Samuel Blondahl
Harry Kalensky, Davy Longworth, & Allan Stanleigh, authors of the graphic novel USNA
It was a fun night with a wide variety of books from local authors. I had great fun meeting other writers, answering questions from potential readers, and signing copies of my debut novel The God of My Art.
July 19, 2013
In Bookstores Now: The God of My Art, A Novel
Chapters Richport, 8171 Ackroyd Rd, Richmond, BC V6X 3J9.
People’s Co-Op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Dr, Vancouver, BC V5L 3X5.
Tanglewood Books, 2306 Broadway W, Vancouver, BC V6J 1W6.
The God of My Art: A Novel is contemporary women’s literary fiction. Click here for the press release. Here for the book trailer. Here for more information.
July 11, 2013
Debut novel portrays angst of youth with female artist and male muse
Press Release, July 9, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact for interviews and review copies: Sarah Lane / 604-215-8393 / contact@sarahlane.ca
Sarah Lane’s The God of My Art available on Amazon, Chapters, and iBookstore
Burnaby, Canada, July 9, 2013 – Purpleferns Press released Sarah Lane’s The God of My Art: a Novel in trade paperback and eBook editions June 14, 2013. It was a quarterfinalist for the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and reviewed by Publisher’s Weekly.
“The novel’s title is a twist on the traditionally female muse or goddess of art,” said Lane (sarahlane.ca). “It explores the protagonist’s obsession with her lover as her source of inspiration in becoming an artist and for creating art.” The novel is set in British Columbia: the main character grows up in Prince George and an imaginary northern town, and the story takes place in Vancouver as the city wakes up to the fact that marginalized women have been disappearing from the downtown Eastside.
Publisher’s Weekly summarizes the novel as “divided into three sections, Red, Blue, and Yellow. There are two major stories: Helene’s relationship with Matthew, a mountaineer-philosopher who’s into older women and Nietzsche; and Helene’s underprivileged background with her prostitute mother and biker father. In the contemporary story, Helene and Matthew’s relationship really takes off during a high and naked moment in a self-made steam hut in the woods. Soon, however, Matthew leaves to study in Japan; the novel follows Helene’s process of moving on from the relationship. Since her childhood, Helene has aspired to be an artist, but her mother stifled her talent and ambitions. Now, though, can Helene reconcile her studies with her dreams?”
“This is a wonderfully written story, has a strong cast of lifelike characters and a gripping, quick moving plot line,” says the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Expert Reviewer. “There is also wonderful descriptive language used that makes the storyline more powerful and real for the readers. This is a book that once you start it would be hard to put down.”
Arno Rosenfeld from The Ubyssey writes, “The God of My Art is at its heart a charming read. There is something about it that envelops the reader, sitting them right next to the tortured Helene…. But be warned: Lane’s prose has a tendency to gently lure you into reading the book in one sitting.”
Lane also writes short fiction and poetry, including stories featured in The Antigonish Review and Roar Magazine and poems in Quills Canada Poetry Magazine. To learn more, please visit: sarahlane.ca.
The God of My Art: A Novel can be purchased from Amazon in trade paperback and on Kindle, Kobo, and iPad. Please click here for links to the book cover and the author’s photo.
For interview requests and review copies please contact:
Sarah Lane at 604-215-8393 / contact@sarahlane.ca.
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