James Canon's Blog

“Tales from the Town of Widows” out in Israel!

2008-04-21T11:09:00Z

publisher: matar publishing house
more info (in Hebrew) HERE

James featured in Mediabistro’s Galleycat

2008-04-14T19:17:00Z

James Cañón’s “Mariquita” in Bookforum.

2008-03-29T19:14:00Z

The April/May issue of BOOKFORUM features an article on The International Forum on the Novel, which will be held in Lyon, France, from May 26th to June 1st. This year’s forty-seven participants were asked to choose a key-word which best reflects the ideas behind their work, and to write a short essay about it. BOOKFORUM has published a selection of these short essays, including James Cañón’s, Jonathan Lethem’s, Daniel Mendelsohn’s, Annie Proulx’s and Elif Shafak’s.
READ THE ARTICLE.

“Tales from the Town of Widows” out in Germany!

2008-03-17T18:41:01Z

Publisher: Ullstein
Buy it from:
> amazon.de
> mayersche
> lehmanns

Tales from the Town of Widows shortlisted for a “Lambda Literary Award.”

2008-03-14T21:47:01Z

The winners in all 21 categories will be announced at a gala ceremony in West Hollywood, CA, on May 29th.
READ MORE.

Tales from the Town of Widows shortlisted for the “Edmund White Debut Fiction Award.”

2008-03-14T14:58:00Z

The winner of this year’s edition will be announced on Monday, April 28th at the New School in New York.
READ MORE.

Finally: “Tales” en español.

2008-03-09T22:47:01Z

Belacqva de Ediciones y Publicaciones (Grupo Editorial Norma) from Barcelona, has acquired Spanish translation and publication rights to Tales from the Town of Widows. The novel is scheduled to be published in Spain and Latin America in 2009 under the title Mariquita. Tales from the Town of Widows has been successfully published in English (U.S., Canada & U.K.) Dutch, Korean, Italian, French and German, and it’s coming out in Hebrew in April of 2008.

“Tales from the Town of Widows” out in France!

2008-03-07T20:24:00Z

released on: march 6th 2008
publisher: belfond
buy it from:
> amazon.fr
> decitre

Tales From the Town of Widows, a “Best Adult Book of the year for High School Students”!

2008-02-29T21:00:00Z

School Library Journal selected Cañón’s debut novel, and 18 others, from more than 600 adult tiltles.
READ MORE

James speaks at the Westport Library in Connecticut.

2008-02-03T16:38:00Z

James is chosen as a “Misty Valley New Voice 2008.”

2008-02-03T14:54:00Z

James Cañón was a featured writer in Misty Valley NEW VOICES 2008, a weekend of readings showcasing promising debut authors.

Every year, NEW VOICES chooses a group of promising debut authors and brings them to Vermont to read and mingle with readers. This year’s slate of writers also included James Collins (Beginner’s Greek), Aoibheann Sweeny (Among Other Things, I’ve taken up Smoking), Pamela Thompson (Every Last Thing), and Emily Mitchell (The Last Summer of the World). Past New Voices have included Gregory Maguire (Wicked), Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha), Dennis Lehane (Mystic River), Claire Messud (The Emperor’s Children) and nearly 100 others. The event, now in its 14th year, is sponsored by Misty Valley Books, owned and operated by William and Lynne Reed.

“Tales from the Town of Widows” out in paperback on December 26, 2007

2007-11-23T02:37:00Z

> Check out the newly revised Reading Group Guide
> Buy it from Amazon.com
> Buy it from Barnes & Noble.com
> Visit Harper Collins website

“Tales From the Town of Widows” out in Italy!

2007-10-24T20:15:00Z

Released on: October 15, 2007
Publisher: IL SAGGIATORE
Buy it from:
> Libreria Universitaria
> La Feltrinelli
> WUZ

Profile: Revista Semana (Colombia)

2007-09-13T13:36:01Z

> Read

Latest Reviews, Quotes & Profiles:

2007-09-12T12:13:01Z

From The New Yorker:
“Cañón’s strong and simple writing, which is touched by humor and magic realism, never falters, as when he describes the town’s using cornbread arepas as communion wafers, “sometimes sweet, sometimes salty, and, when available, flavored with cheese.”

From Le Monde (France):
“A first book as magical as it is realistic. A utopia knowledgeably wrought, rich and deliciously optimistic.”

From the Washington Post Book World Review:
”Enchanting . . . a rollicking and often shocking tale that Cañón tells with charm and bite.”

From Elle:
“From it’s bravura opening, in which the men of a fictional Colombian mountain town have been marched off to fight in a decades-long guerilla war, leaving the womenfolk to form a new social order, James Cañón’s brilliant Tales From the Town of Widows has an imaginative reach that encompasses political, Philosophical, sexual, religious, and magical realms while it also explores the deeper conflicts between tradition and freedom that underlie this mesmerizing debut novel.”

From Chicago Tribune:
“. . . There’s more than enough here to make this [novel] a debut worth honoring.”

From Kirkus Reviews:
“Slyly pushing the envelope Aristophanes opened with Lysistrata, debut novelist Cañón exultantly sets up the saga of Colombian women on top . . . Prime magic realism à la Márquez, Cortázar and Vargas Llosa, updated with a pop-culture twist.”

From Kirkus, special issue: “Top Picks for Reading Groups”:
“Brave and witty . . . Tackling politics, gender, history, religion and Latin America studies with a surprisingly winning combination of laugh-out-loud humor and poignant chronicles of the chaos and devastation of a society fractured by civil strife, Cañón’s tale is as unique and inspiring as the wildly eccentric characters he creates to populate his ‘town of widows’. Readers will relish the finely crafted voices that resound in this immensely rewarding debut.”

From OutSmart Magazine:
“It would be easy to say that ‘this is a female utopia book that really works,’ but that would minimize the brilliance of this major work.”

From Booklist:
“Start with a broth of magic realism à la Gabriel García Márquez, toss in a soupçon of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, add a twist of the musical play Brigadoon and even some ingredients from the Book of Genesis, and then top off with some borrowings from post-revolutionary France, and you have a first novel that is not a derivative pot of unintegrated elements but an inventively rich stew. . . . The characterizations are drawn as compellingly as the storyline itself, which simply gets increasingly delicious as the pages turn.”

From Library Journal:
“Get ready for a refreshing dip into the waters of a rich imagination with this debut novel, which centers on the lives of 100 contemporary women living in a remote Colombian village called Mariquita. . . .Contrasting with the humorous if sometimes disturbing events in the lives of these uncommon women is the hostile world of the village men, who are involved in gruesome warfare and torture. The story of these women touches our deepest emotions and reveals fundamental needs and concerns. This exciting book confirms the idea that our world would be far better off in the caring hands of women—especially the women from Mariquita. Highly recommended.”

From The Australian:
”. . . Remarkable and impressive . . . Cañón’s first novel has the potential not only to set him up as a novelist but to focus attention on the suffering of the voiceless and powerless in his country of origin.”

From U.K. Herald:
“A beautifully crafted story . . . a fresh, startling perspective on a long and bloody conflict.”

From Melbourne Herald Sun (Australia):
“[A] fabulous debut . . . Thought-provoking, darkly funny and sad.”

From School Library Journal:
“Thought-provoking . . . tragic, funny, rich, and magical . . . The theme of a world in which women and men are separated and pursue divergent paths is always intriguing, and has been explored by a number of fine writers in science fiction, fantasy, polemic, and utopian modes. This title stands among the best of them.”

From Good Reading Magazine (Australia):
“A triumph not only of characterisation (of which there are many) but also in the study of political science and sociology.”

From The Sunday Business Post (Ireland):
“Wickedly satirical . . . Cañón’s [debut novel] builds an impressively progressive feminist socialist ideal that gives human societies a ‘second opportunity on this earth’.”

From Chronogram:
“Cañón, with his ability to encapsulate epic political history into poignant, poetic prose, promises to evolve into an enduring literary presence.”

From Financial Times (London):
“James Cañón’s first novel presents a lively mixture of magic realism and Amazonian feminist politics. But he never strays far from the historical violence that has riven his native Colombia since the 1960’s.”

From Readings Monthly (Australia):
“A fascinating debut, blending the supernatural and the allegorical.”

From El Paso Times:
“Ambitious . . . [it] will win over readers for its charming characterizations and imaginative story line.”

From Metro (U.K.):
“A beautifully crafted book. . . . The stories are told with a Marquez-like sense of the surreal.”

From Indianapolis Times:
“On one fateful day in 1992, the men of a small Colombian town must join a team of guerrillas or die on the spot; this captivating story chronicles the remaining women’s struggle to survive in this brave new manless world.”

From Notebook Magazine (Australia):
”. . . Intriguing . . . a thought-provoking debut novel.”

From Strandbooks.com:
“[An] astonishing debut.”

From Pages Magazine:
“The author spent five years crafting his highly imaginative debut about the determination and courage of the women in a small Colombian village, and the result is this stunning, unique novel.”

From Sunjournal:
“A commendable first novel.”

From The Brooklyn Paper:
“Name another author who moved to New York at age 26 to learn English and started his writing career with a grammar course at NYU. It doesn’t happen too often — but neither do novels like Tales from the Town of Widows, the debut by James Cañón. Set in a fictional Colombian town, the book follows the lives of men who are all killed or “recruited” by guerillas, and the women who are left to fend for themselves. Along the way, Cañón introduces us to colorful characters, including an ample-bottomed magistrate, a stern schoolmistress and a cow named Perestroika.”

From ReviewThisOnline.com:
“What if there were no men? What if one day they just all disappeared? On November 15, 1992 in the small Colombian village of Mariquita that is exactly what happened. Guerilla forces raided the village forcing all of the men to join their cause and massacring those who refused. In Cañón’s debut novel he tackles the issues of a strictly feminine society, while educating readers about the political climate and struggles of Colombia as a nation. An entertaining view on the role of women in society and insight into the time old question, Do we really need men to survive?”

From Bookslut.com:
“[Tales From the Town of Widows] mixes supernatural and allegorical elements into an account of a dying town.”

From Benjamin Kunkel, author of ”Indecision”:
“James Cañón achieves an extraordinary combination of largeness and intimacy. Here is the sweep of history together with the feeling of home, both conveyed with high intelligence and real eloquence. Cañón is a young American—in the broader, hemispheric sense of the word—to celebrate.”

From Maureen Howard, author of ”The Silver Screen”:
“Cañón is a gifted storyteller, as full of his radical purpose as Jonathan Swift, as enchanting as Gabriel García-Márquez, as brainy as Pamuk, yet his anger and compassion, as well as his humor, are distinctly his own.”

From Joan Silber, author of ”Household Words”:
“Like his villagers, Cañón has built a new world on an old—a realigned literary landscape, with new sex roles, new stubbornness, new glory, and new wreckage. A much-loved tradition of Colombian fiction has been gorgeously re-imagined.”

Profile: Letralia (Venezuela):
“James Cañón pertenece a esa estirpe subversiva de escritores de lengua nómada y memoria fiel.”

Profile: Semana (Colombia):
“Lo maravilloso es que la mano de Cañón no tiembla ni se dobla, avanza armada de confianza, precisión y humor.”