The Man Game
At the launch of The Man Game, his debut novel featuring cowboys wrestling naked in early Vancouver, Lee Henderson will deliver a lecture about more recent examples of popular spectator sports like YouTube dance contests. Novelist and Quill & Quire review editor Nathan Whitlock will host the evening. Also on the bill are new works based on The Man Game by such renowned visual artists as Marc Bell, Maura Doyle, Jason McLean, Keith Jones, David Poolman, and Shay Semple. – A This Is Not A Reading Series event presented by Pages Books & Magazines, Penguin Group Canada and EYE WEEKLY.
On a recent Vancouver Sunday afternoon, a young man stumbles upon a secret sport invented more than a century before, at the birth of his city. Thus begins The Man Game, Lee Henderson’s epic tale of loved requited and not, that crosses the contemporary and historical in an extravagant, anarchistic retelling of the early days of a pioneer town on the edge of the known world.
In 1886, out of the smouldering ashes of the great fire that destroyed much of the city, Molly Erwagen—former vaudeville performer—arrives from Toronto with her beloved husband, Samuel, to start a new life. Meanwhile, Litz and Pisk, two lumberjacks exiled after the fire, and blamed for having started it, are trying to clear their names. Before long, they’ve teamed up with Molly to invent a new sport that will change the course of that fledgling city’s history.
In its ambition, iconoclasm, and accomplishment The Man Game is reminiscent of Mordecai Richler's great, ribald epic Solomon Gursky Was Here. Lee Henderson invents a history of Vancouver, Canada, and frontier life that satisfies and defies expectations as only the best fiction can. The Man Game is an extraordinary book written by a young writer who possesses remarkable powers of observation, description, and empathy. —David Bezmozgis
Lee Henderson is the author of the award-winning short story collection The Broken Record Technique. He is a contributing editor to the arts magazines Border Crossings in Canada and Contemporary in the UK. He has published fiction and art criticism in numerous periodicals and co-organizes Father Zosima Presents, a monthly night of sound performances where he lives in Vancouver, B.C.
Nathan Whitlock is the author of the acclaimed debut novel, A Week of This. He is the review editor of Quill & Quire magazine. His writing and reviews have appeared in The Toronto Star, Saturday Night, The Globe & Mail, Maisonneuve, Toro, Geist, and elsewhere. Whitlock lives in Toronto with his wife and two children.
Marc Bell was the editor and contributor to Nog a Dod: Prehistoric Canadian Psychedoolia, 2006 - a survey of contemporary self published Canadian art booklets. He has serialized his comic strips weekly in The Montreal Mirror and The Halifax Coast, and monthly in Vice magazine. Bell's work has been included in several anthology books and was recently included in the exhibition Bit By Bit at the Contemporary Art Gallery Museum in Vancouver.
Maura Doyle is a multidisciplinary artist who lives in Toronto. She is a graduate of Emily Carr and The University of Guelph. With James Brenan, Doyle mapped a walking tour of some of Toronto’s ‘erratic boulders.’ Doyle’s multidisciplinary practice has included music, videos, book works, and several small businesses.
Keith Jones was born and raised in Victoria B.C. Selected exhibitions include a solo show in 2005 at Blanket Gallery, Vancouver, BC; a 2008 group show, “Brevity's Rainbow,” at Cinders Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; a 2007 Drawing Expo at Gaff Gallery, Vancouver, BC; and a 2006 Paul Butler’s Collage Party at Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain, Montreal, QC.
Jason McLean was recently chosen by MacLean's magazine as one of the top ten visual artists to watch in Canada. As an illustrator, he has worked with Adbusters, and Bananafish Magazine. He is also working with Adbusters on the book Design Anarchy, as well as a book for United Bamboo in Tokyo.
David Poolman is an MFA graduate from the University of Windsor, and a graduate of the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. Working in video, print media, and installation, Poolman has exhibited in art galleries and screened in festivals both nationally and internationally. He teaches print media and drawing at Sheridan College, and video, sound and foundation at The University of Western Ontario.
Shay Semple is a visual artist in his thirties. His work has appeared in shows in Vancouver, Toronto, New York, and Japan. He moved from Vancouver to Toronto in June 2008.
