Distribution of Toronto writer Paul William Roberts’s acclaimed A War Against Truth: An Intimate Account of the Invasion of Iraq, has been halted because the book plagiarized an article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Passages in five pages of Truth, which was shortlisted for the 2004 Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction, closely paralleled those in an article on US defense policy by the Atlanta paper’s deputy editorial page editor.

The discovery was made by a blogger in late December, Vancouver’s Raincoast Books halted shipments of the book in early January, and on Jan. 19 Roberts apologized for his “egregious lapse of professional conduct” and “journalistic travesty” in a letter to the Journal-Constitution, according to “Shipments of bestseller halted“, a James Adams article in the Feb. 3 Globe and Mail.

Roberts, a Harper’s contributor whose recent novel Homeland portrays a North American dystopia in the near future, puts his failure down to sloppy transcription of the article, which was e-mailed to him in Iraq at a time when paper and printers were very difficult to access.

Negotiations are underway to resolve the matter, and solutions may include distributing existing books with a correction, according to the Globe. The Journal-Constitution article’s author, Jay Bookman, told Adams: “Our main concern is that this occurred and people should be aware of it and then make their own judgment.”

When the Giller Prize took an uncommon turn this year toward honouring new authors from outside Toronto whose work came from smaller publishers, many people celebrated. Stephen Henighan isn’t having any of it. “The Giller Prize is the most conspicuous example of corporate suffocation of the public institutions that built our literary culture,” he declares, right off the top, in “Kingmakers,” in the current edition of Geist magazine.

Not as bad an influence as the Chapters-Indigo chain, he says, “but if Chapters-Indigo is the disease, the Giller Prize is the symptom.” There’s nothing in Henighan’s commentary about herpetic sores, but it’s still pretty blistering.

Mostly, Henighan’s ire is directed at the Bertelsmann group —the international publishing giant squid that owns Knopf Canada, Doubleday Canada, Random House Canada, and a chunk of McClelland & Stewart. Henighan figures the associated insiders are hard at work: that underdog winner Vincent Lam was favoured because his book is published by Doubleday and because Margaret Atwood, who withdrew her own book from consideration, played a central role in the Toronto doctor’s literary rags-to-riches story. Lam has joined the Upper Canada “Family Compact,” Henighan argues, because he’s the right kind of ethnic who sought the right people’s approval.

Ah, yes, Toronto. It can be irritating to sit in the thousand-mile shade of its robust self-congratulation. Good thing we can all still make fun of the Maple Leafs.

Henighan concludes the piece with a remarkable piece of trivia: Chapters-Indigo provided all the attendees with a party favour, an individually wrapped remaindered Stephen King novel…

Alberto Manguel is also on a tear about publishers in Geist issue number 63, in “Idiot’s Fare.” The article is more restrained than Henighan’s, but it’s no less scathing. Manguel wants to know why English-speaking readers are so ill-served when it comes to great foreign-language novelists. “Less than .1 percent of everything published in English is a translation,” he laments, “and that include Japanese computer manuals.” Manguel doesn’t stop there. He wonders why Doris Lessing was told by her publisher that she writes too much. And why George Szanto can’t find a publisher at all.

The reason for all this, and it relates back to the glitz of the Giller, is that marketing has overtaken writing as the primary value in publishing, as the behemoths of the book industry run the business by supermarket rules.

Geist, of course, is full as usual of material that simply can’t compete on the checkout newsstand with pictures of Brangelina and the latest news in liposuction. Stephen Osborne writes about Grinkus and Pepper, and don’t ask me to explain. There’s a lovely piece about life in Deroche, and some capsule profiles of people living on the street. You can look it up online, but you should really buy the artifact at one of those better bookstores.

The Book News Collective at the Vancouver International Writers’ Festival has a particularly extensive list of events in their current mailout. You can sign up for the mailout at the festival home page http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/, where you will also find a 2005 audio file of festival director Hal Wake interviewing Alice Munro, now that she seems to have retired.

Wake, by the way, will interview Vancouver-born 60 Minutes producer Barry Lando Friday, February 1, at UBC Robson Square at 7:30. Admission to these UBC-sponsored Talk of the Town events is free, although pre-registration is encouraged at info.talkofthetown@ubc.ca . Lando’s Web of Deceit: The History of Western Complicity in Iraq from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush, will certainly attract a crowd, although not necessarily of those who really ought to read the book.

Here’s a list of other upcoming events:

Guy Gavriel Kay
His work has been translated into 21 languages and he is the recipient of the International Goliardos Award for his contributions to the literature of the fantastic. Find out more about Kay’s new novel at www.ysabel.ca. 7:30 pm, Thursday February 15, 2007, Room 1900, Simon Fraser University, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. Tickets are $12 and are available on line at http://www.writersfest.bc.ca, by phone at 604.681.6330 or in person at White Dwarf Books, 3715 West 10th Ave., Vancouver.

Vancouver Writes
Features the biggest collection of Vancouver writers in one event ever, together with Vancouver’s all female jazz and blues quartet, Mother of Pearl, and the audience for a collaborative writing contest. Join host Billeh Nickerson and a dozen of the city’s finest writers (Caroline Adderson, Elizabeth Bachinsky, Kevin Chong, Steven Galloway, Zsuzsi Gartner, Genni Gunn, C.C. Humphreys, Nancy Lee, Billie Livingston, Miranda Pearson, Bill Richardson and Timothy Taylor) to create instant literature at Vancouver Writes, the Vancouver International Writers Festival’s collaborative writing contest. Top prizewinners will be published in The Tyee. Info: www.writersfest.bc.ca. February 23 @ 7:30 pm, Performance Works. Tickets: $20/18 students & seniors Call 604-681-6330 visit www.writersfest.bc.ca. Vancouver Writes is a part of Winterruption 2007, a showcase of food, arts, & culture, on Granville Island February 23-25, 2007.

Individual World Poetry Slam
Poetry slammers from all over the world (including U.S. spoken-word artists Jamie DeWolf and Ed Mabrey), compete for more than US$1,000 and a publishing deal. To Feb. 3, various venues. Info www.individualworldpoetryslam.com/.

A Trio of Poetic Voices
32 Books Co. welcomes three west Canadian authors — Governor-General’s Award winner John Pass, Jacqueline Turner, and Christine Wiesenthal — to the bookstore (3185 Edgemont Blvd. North Van) on February 2nd for an evening of readings and discussion. We hope you will be able to join us for a glass of wine and some fine words. For more information, please email info@32books.com or call 604-980-9032. We do appreciate an RSVP if you know you will be attending, but last minute arrivals are just fine too.

Adrift on the Nile
The VECC presents a newworldtheatre production of Marcus Youssef’s adaptation of the novel by Naguib Mahfouz about a group of artists and civil servants who meet every night on a Nile River houseboat to smoke hashish and take refuge from the world. Feb. 2-10, 8 pm, Vancouver East Cultural Centre (1895 Venables). Tix $27/23 (plus service charges and fees) at Ticketmaster, 604-280-3311.

Vancouver International Storytelling Festival
Fest features 23 daytime performances, a gala evening show, a storytelling cabaret, workshops, and kids’ programming. Storytellers include Sherine El-Ansary, Comfort Adesuwa Ero, Nan Gregory, Bonnie Logan, Jean Pierre Makosso, Helen May, Michael D. McCarty, Bill McNamara, James Nicholas, Even Steven, Joujou Turenne, and Kira Van Deusen. Feb. 2-4, VanDusen Botanical Garden (5251 Oak). Tix at Tickets Tonight, 604-231-7535, www.ticketstonight.ca; info www.vancouverstorytelling.org/.

Lucia Gorea
Founder of the monthly event Poetry Around the World signs her new poetry collection, Journey Through My Soul. Feb. 3, 2 pm, Chapters on Robson (788 Robson). Free admission, info 604-603-6049.

Cry Me a River
Chantale Doyle launches her new collection of graphic short stories. Feb. 3, 8-11 pm, Blim (197 E. 17th). Info www.blim.ca/.

Beyond Feather Boas and Fainting Couches: Writing Romance in the 21st Century
Meet five dynamic published authors (Kate Austin, Eileen Cook, Mary Forbes, Susan Lyons and Lee McKenzie) who will share their experiences on writing and how the field has changed. This talk will appeal to writers or readers interested in romance - past, present and future. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603. Sponsored by Romance Writers of America, Greater Vancouver Chapter. Wednesday, February 7 at 7:00 pm. Free. Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street.

Original Writers and Oral Traditions
Joseph Boyden, author of Three Day Road, will be in Vancouver for the Talking Stick Festival. He reads at UBC’s First Nations House of Learning at noon and joins several others at the Roundhouse Community Arts Centre at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 7. They include Maria Campbell, Richard Van Camp, Joanne Arnott and Richard Wagamese. Tickets for the latter event are $12 (children 12 and under are free) and are available at the door. Time: 7-9pm, Performance Hall at The Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre.

Michael Poole
The best-selling author reads from his new book, Rain Before Morning. Inspired by a real event it is a heart-rendering tale with an evocative northwest coast setting. For more information please contact Vancouver Public Library at 604-331-3603. Thursday, February 8 at 7:30 pm. Free. Peter Kaye Room, Lower Level Central Library 350 West Georgia Street.