There’s always a certain boogie in my step this time of year. The temperature begins to cool, the air tastes sweeter, and all around me nature explodes in the vibrant colours of my favourite season. But Fall brings with it another favourite: the Vancouver Writers Fest, returning to Granville Island in a hybrid capacity this October 18–24.
Today marks the official on-sale date for this flagship festival and Vancouver mainstay, and we’ve got our Read Local BC readers covered with a selection of events featuring local authors, publishers, and their stellar lineup of books!
For the Kids
Home Truths with Jen Sookfong Lee and Lois Peterson
Tuesday, October 19 at 11:00am
FREE (direct to YouTube)
Home. At its best, home keeps us safe, gives us identity, and brings us joy. It’s, well… home. What happens when home no longer means that? What drives people to search for new homes? What causes people to become homeless? And what can you do to help? This conversation with two esteemed authors will help youth grapple with important social questions and issues affecting their communities and beyond. Jen Sookfong Lee’s Finding Home: The Journey of Immigrants and Refugees shows how human migration has shaped the world and explores some of the challenges facing immigrants and refugees today. Lois Peterson’s Shelter: Homelessness in Our Community looks at the reason there are 150 million homeless people in the world today, the myths we often hear, and what actions we can take to ensure everyone has a place to call home.
Finding Home: The Journey of Immigrants and Refugees
Shelter: Homelessness in Our Community
Word! With Sofia Fly, Janice Jo Lee, and Cassandra Myers
Tuesday, October 19 at 2:00pm
FREE (direct to YouTube)
By now our audiences know: Word! is one of the most popular, acclaimed events of our program every year. While seeing these artists on screen may be different, what remains is the magnetic energy of each storyteller and the ability for youth to engage with important ideas through spoken word poetry. Spoken Word Curator Jillian Christmas has invited some of the most exciting artists in the field. Sofia Fly is an LGBTQ rapper and producer who channels inspiration from her Latin roots and Toronto upbringing. Janice Jo Lee is a folk-soul singer-songwriter, spoken word poet, actor, and playwright from Kitchener, Ontario of Korean ancestry. And Cassandra Myers is a queer, trans, crip, mad, South Asian-Italian poet, performer, educator, and social worker from Toronto, Ontario, who has performed their work across the United States and Canada. Each of them promises to ignite the day.
The Power of Comics with Aminder Dhaliwal, Hiromi Goto, and Gord Hill
Friday, October 22 at 10:30am
$25 (In-person Hybrid at Waterfront Theatre)
Comics and graphic novels continue to expand in popularity and influence. The genre is now worth an estimated $1.28 billion in publishing. More than this, we have a new recognition for the remarkable impact this literary form has on understanding social injustices and offering unique political commentary. We’re joined by three comic artists, each of whom explore important topics through their art. Aminder Dhaliwal, author of Cyclopedia Exotica, which appeared on 25 “best of” lists; poet and novelist Hiromi Goto who launches a tender, literary graphic novel, Shadow List; and Gord Hill, author of a series of seminal illustrated histories of Indigenous struggles in the Americas, including The 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance Comic Book. Why do they choose to use this form to make statements about the state of the world? Find out in a riveting event for all ages.
The 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance Comic Book
For the Fiction Lover
Hook, Line, and Sinker with Carrie Jenkins, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Sam Wiebe
Wednesday, October 20 at 7:30pm
$25 (In-Person at Performance Works)
If only there was a word for that sense of anticipation and delight that comes with opening the cover of a new thriller, knowing you’ll be spellbound for the next 300 pages. How do thriller writers create such suspense? These three different writers of mystery, thriller, and horror speak to how they create the propulsive books they do. Carrie Jenkins’ debut is a queer psychological thriller following Victoria, paired with a police officer, as they try to locate her best friend while finding a miasma of sexism and isolation along the way. Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s work is atmospheric from the first sentence. Her latest work, Velvet Was the Night, is a “delicious twisted treat for lovers of noir,” set in 1970s Mexico City. Sam Wiebe is a beloved local writer and lauded thriller author. Hell and Gone: A Wakeland Novel explores the depths of Vancouver’s criminal underworld. We’re hooked.
Hell and Gone: A Wakeland Novel
Short Stories, Great Tales with Norma Dunning, Alix Ohlin, and Casey Plett
Saturday, October 23 at 2:00pm
$25 (In-Person at Revue Stage)
The short story: the hardest narrative to craft and an often-underrated form, it’s one of the Festival’s favourite areas to explore in events. Rediscover the beauty of these slim delights with an event exploring the crafting behind them. Norma Dunning draws on both lived experience and cultural memory to weave six new short stories centred on modern-day Inuk characters in Tainna: The Unseen Ones. Two-time Scotiabank Giller Prize Finalist, Alix Ohlin is incapable of writing a story that’s anything other than a masterclass in craft. We Want What We Want is populated by bad parents and inescapable old flames. Lambda Literary Award winner Casey Plett’s collection, A Dream of a Woman, is one of the most anticipated books of the season. Her work buzzes with quiet intensity and intimate complexities as Plett centers transgender women seeking stable, adult lives.
Tainna: The Unseen Ones
A Dream of a Woman
For the Poetry Fanatic
with/holding: Chantal Gibson in Conversation with Lawrence Hill
Saturday, October 23 at 10:30am
$25 (In-person at Revue Stage)
Award-winning Vancouver poet Chantal Gibson joins the Vancouver Writers Fest stage once more to discuss, in an interview with Lawrence Hill, her latest new poetry collection with/holding: a collection of genre-blurring poems that examines the representation and reproduction of Blackness across communication media and popular culture. Gibson lives a fascinating life as an award-winning teacher at Simon Fraser University, a successful visual artist whose art has been exhibited at museums and galleries across Canada and the United States, and as a poet who has landed with a splash on the Canadian literary scene. Her first collection, How She Read meditates on Blackness, womanhood, denial, and freedom. She explores these themes and more in this morning’s illuminating conversation.
with/holding
Poets in Conversation With Bertrand Bickersteth, Adam Sol, and Isabella Wang
Saturday, October 23 at 2:00pm
$25 (In-person at Waterfront Theatre)
Join the discussion about craft, language, and nuance with four of Canada’s most exciting poetic voices, each exploring identity, language, and intimacy through transcendent ways with verse. Bertrand Bickersteth’s The Response of Weeds is a CBC Poetry Book of the Year and explores what it means to be Black and Albertan through a variety of prisms: historical, biographical, and geographical. Trillium Book Award-winning poet Adam Sol’s latest collection tries to find moments of blessing in the midst of public and personal pain. Pebble Swing is the debut from one of Canada’s promising emerging poets, Isabella Wang, who—as an immigrant whose grasp of Mandarin is fading—explores language, fragmentation, and absence.
Pebble Swing
For the Experience Seeker
Word! Spoken Word For Adults with Lili Robinson, jaye simpson, and Brandon Wint
Thursday, October 21 at 8:30pm
$25 (In-person at Revue Stage)
Our Spoken Word event series, curated by award-winning poet and spoken word artist Jillian Christmas, is an effervescent, powerful highlight of our youth programming every year. We’re so excited to bring this exceptional series to the rest of our audience for the first time. Performers include Fringe New Play Prize-winner, playwright, poet, actor, and community organizer Lili Robinson, as well as jaye simpson: an Oji-Cree Saulteaux Indigiqueer from Sapotaweyak Cree Nation. Their work has been published in various publications and their latest work, it was never going to be okay, was shortlisted for the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers and won the Indigenous Voices Award. Brandon Wint is an Ontario-born poet, spoken word artist, and educator whose poems and essays have been published in national anthologies. Divine Animal is his debut book of poetry. These are artists at the top of their game; whose vocalization will move, rivet, and provoke. Come find out what the excitement is about.
it was never going to be okay
The Literary Cabaret with Mona Awad, Gary Barwin, Marcello Di Cintio, Omar El Akkad, Christa Couture, and Darrel McLeod
Saturday, October 23 at 8:00pm
$45 (In-Person at Performance Works)
Of all the delights of returning to physical Festival stages, this one feels the sweetest: the return of the Festival’s flagship event, the Literary Cabaret. It’s a magical coalescence of author readings and improvised songs; an atmospheric, immersive evening of art. Returning at the helm of these fusions is Sally Zori: Musical Director and lead in Sally Zori & The Allegories. The band will accompany critically acclaimed author Mona Awad (All’s Well); writer, composer, and poet Gary Barwin (Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted); award-winning journalist and author Marcello Di Cintio (Driven); bestseller and award-winner Omar El Akkad (What Strange Paradise), lauded memoirist Christa Couture (How To Lose Everything); and award-winning, inspirational voice, Darrel McLeod (Peyakow). Welcome back.
Peyakow
How To Lose Everything
Float Like a Butterfly, Drink Mint Tea: Alex Wood in Conversation with Charles Demers
Saturday, October 23 at 8:00pm
$25 (In-person at Revue Stage)
Alex Wood doesn’t do things by half. After being on a dedicated fast track to die young (and drunk), the drug-addicted, alcoholic comedian decided to quit… everything. Wood gave up alcohol, drugs, red meat, dairy, social media, porn, credit cards, nail-biting, and gossip—all at once. He speaks with Robin’s Egg imprint publisher, comedian, and friend Charles Demers about this transition—and the heartbreak, relapses, and abuse along the way, alongside love, support, and lots of laughter. With humour and candour, Wood shares the deep shame of addiction, and how he began to overcome it in order to survive. They say that humour is the best medicine. This conversation between two of the funniest folks in Vancouver is sure to offer entertaining insights into banishing one’s demons.
Float Like a Butterfly, Drink Mint Tea