You can take the girl out of Smithers
Masters of Publishing student Susan Juby has a three-book contract with HarperCollins U.S. and a two-book contract with HarperCollins Canada. A yet-to-be-written book joins Miss Smithers and Alice, I Think as part of the deal. All three books are set in Smithers and are teen comedy with adult crossover possibilities. Thistledown Press had earlier published Alice, I Think in Canada. Alice, I Think, which has been called "a Canadian Bridget Jones," was nominated for a 2001 Books in Canada/Amazon.com Best First Novel Award and a 2001 Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book of the Year Award.

Black British Columbia
An SFU thesis by Wayde Compton, transformed into a book published by Arsenal Pulp Press, is generating wide interest. Bluesprint: An Anthology of Black British Columbian Literature and Orature features a fascinating collection of interviews, historical photos, and lost writings.

Golden Book
Jennifer Hsu, associate director of the continuing studies advanced interpreter program at Harbour Centre, is a 2001 Golden Book award-winner. The award, from the ministry of economic affairs in the Republic of China, is for Hsu's translation of Cost and Effect: Using Integrated Cost Systems to Drive Profitability and Performance by Robert Kaplan and Robin Cooper (Harvard Business School Press).

Viruses, Worms, and Trojan Horses
Protecting your computer against the more than 50,000 viruses, worms, and Trojan horses floating around the Internet is the subject of a new book by computer science students Arman Danesh and Felix Lau, and UBC student Ali Mehrassa. Safe and Secure (Sams Publishing) is aimed at the unsophisticated home computer owner wanting security.

Book Prizes
Humanities professor Stephen Duguid and English professor Carole Gerson are winners in the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada book prize competition. Duguid wins the Harold Adam Innis Prize for the best English-language book in the social sciences for Can Prisons Work? The Prisoner as Object and Subject in Modern Corrections (University of Toronto Press), reviewed in aq June 2001. Gerson wins the Raymond Klibansky Prize for best English-language book in the humanities for Paddling Her Own Canoe (University of Toronto Press) co-authored with UBC's Veronica Strong-Boag.

No Rejection Slips Here
Participants in the continuing studies writing and publishing program's inaugural writer's studio are now published. The 19 writers are anthologized into Emerge 2001: The WriterÕs Studio Anthology. For more information on the writing program, visit their website.

Gender Bias
Yes, there is gender bias in the legal profession. And criminology professor Joan Brockman documents much of it in her new book Gender in the Legal Profession. Brockman, a former lawyer, wants to get people talking about the issues surrounding discrimination and balancing work and family.

The Top Ten
Check out the top ten bestsellers by SFU authors or contributors thanks to the SFU bookstore. aq

Photography by Wilson Nam