Keep checking this space for current news as well as Bold-faced dates indicating readings, appearances and events. For more about what’s happening with SPiN, see SPiN’s News & Events
2010
Sept. 24, 2010 Underground is in the ring again as Barrie Councillor Jeff Lehman defends it against other Evergreen Award titles in the annual Barrie Reads.
Sept. 23, 2010 Underground takes to the stage for the annual Kingston WritersFest Battle of the Books. Defending my novel against other titles nominated for the Evergreen Award will be Col. Rick Fawcett, Base Commander at CFB Kingston.
As part of the 2010 Evergreen Award program, I’ll be reading from Underground at two branches of the Toronto Public Library:
Sept. 16, 2010 An Evening with June Hutton Bloor Gladstone Library, 1101 Bloor Street West, 7 pm;
Sept. 15, 2010 An Afternoon with June Hutton Maryvale Library, Parkway Mall, 85 Ellesmere Rd., 2 pm.
Sept. 14, 2010 I’ll be appearing in the Toronto Heliconian Club’s Literary Lecture Series to talk about Underground, 35 Hazelton Ave., 7:30 p.m.
The Malaysian Insider posts an interview with me by Eric Forbes, senior book editor with MPH Publishing in Kuala Lumpur, Aug. 28, 2010.
Mary Soderstrom’s blog Recreating Eden looks at video trailers for novels, including Underground’s.
July 15, 2010 Extended deadline for Room magazine’s annual writing contest. 1st prize $500; 2nd prize $250. Judges: Fiction - June Hutton, Poetry - Jennica Harper, Non-fiction - Lynn Van Luven.
A lovely photo spread of book covers - just click on Underground’s for a short but very sweet review from My Own Creations.
June 3, 2010 The 75th anniversary of the On to Ottawa trek, which began with street demonstrations in Vancouver protesting the treatment of unemployed men. Many of those protesters went on to fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War, as did Al Fraser, protagonist of Underground.
“By turns lyrical and relentless in its unvarnished depiction of the impact of war, Underground offers a timely read as soldiers and civilians perish daily in Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere on the planet,” writes Evelyn C. White (Alice Walker: A Life, and, Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone: A Photo Narrative of Black Heritage on Salt Spring Island) , HERIZONS magazine, spring 2010 issue.
“An engaging and thoughtful story set in the early decades of the tumultuous 20th century” — review of Underground by Historical Novels Review, Charlston, Ill., Spring 2010 issue.
An interview with blog HistoricalNovels.info on the writing of Underground, April 22, 2010
Margaret Donsbach calls Underground ”impressionistic, psychologically astute.” Read more in Portland, OR’s HistoricalNovels.Info, April 15, 2010
A terrific review of Underground in SubTerrain’s special issue #54/55 Vancouver’s Literary Landscape. Says reviewer Heidi Greco: “Hutton’s Underground is every bit as important (and well-delivered) as those by her male colleagues. With this book, she’s not only broken new ground, she written an important addition to Canada’s literary canon of peace and war.”
Underground is shortlisted for the Ontario Library Association’s 2010 Evergreen Award (click to see the full list of nominees). How the award works: Librarians nominate titles, from which a short list is drawn. Then from April to October the public will read the books and vote In October for their favorite title. Steven Galloway is last year’s winner for The Cellist of Sarajevo. Check here for further details on this year’s program. In the meantime, here is my author page.
Underground gets some nice attention from Britain’s bookaholic litblogger Dovegreyreader Scribbles. Jan. 29, 2010.
Underground review is featured on New Zealand’s Beattie’s Book Blog. “The subject matter will be of interest to many in this part of the world,” says Bookman Beattie. Jan. 28, 2010.
My comments about The Writing Life appear on New Zealand’s Beattie’s Book Blog. Jan. 7, 2010.
I shared some thoughts about writing style, Underground and SPiN in a chat with Toronto’s Evadne Macedo. Jan. 6, 2010.
It’s a brand-new year and I’m ringing it in with a few comments about The Writing Life in an interview with Kuala Lumpur’s Eric Forbes. Jan. 4, 2010.