Each year, the Vancouver Writers’ Fest offers a delightful trove of love letters to the art of storytelling, bringing together some of our favourite local authors with a rich community of readers and fellow writers. And with the festival officially starting today, it’s the perfect time to highlight a few events we’re excited about!
Whether you’re a writer seeking the perfect inspiration to get the juices flowing or a teacher looking to lock down an event your students won’t forget — here are nine events to look forward to at Vancouver Writers’ Fest.
OCTOBER 17
Word! (1)
Oct 17, 2023
1:00 PM
Granville Island Stage
The Spoken Word series is a powerful highlight of the Vancouver Writers’ Fest’s youth programming every year. Curated and hosted by award-winning poet and spoken word artist Jillian Christmas, Tuesday’s Word! event features three exceptional performers sharing poems about love, art, justice, and so much more: D Fretter has been described as “a hip-hop Andrea Gibson” or “a philosophical Shel Silverstein,” fanny kearse fuses her experience as a social worker and her lived experiences as a marginalized human to express activism through poetry and storytelling, and Em Nimetz is known for their vulnerability, authenticity, and magnetic presence in their performances as an actor and a poet.
Ian Ferguson & Will Ferguson in Conversation
Oct 17, 2023
6:00 PM
Waterfront Theatre
Brothers Ian Ferguson and Will Ferguson have teamed up once again on an impossible-to-put-down mystery for fans of Richard Osman, Alexander McCall Smith, and Schitt’s Creek. I Only Read Murder follows a once-beloved television sleuth who finds herself far from Hollywood — only to witness a murder during a small-town theatre production. In this Tuesday event moderated by CBC Senior Director of Current Affairs and Investigative Alison Broddle, Ian and Will discuss I Only Read Murder, the process of writing with family, and what makes a plot a page-turner.
I Only Read Murder is out now!
OCTOBER 18
Burt the Beetle with Ashley Spires
Oct 18, 2023
1:00 PM
Performance Works
Ashley Spires is the author and illustrator of many books — including the bestselling The Most Magnificent Thing and the Binky the Space Cat series — and she brings that boundless ability to delight classes, teachers, and families to a staple of the Vancouver Writers’ Fest’s children’s programming.
In Burt the Beetle Lives Here, everyone’s favourite june beetle is searching for the perfect home. Burt’s impressed as he checks out the homes of his insect friends, but they just don’t quite suit his own size, his building skills, or his sticky legs. But when Burt starts to get discouraged, a rainstorm sends him scurrying for cover under a leaf — and he begins to understand what a real home might feel like.
In this event presented in collaboration with the Vancouver International Children’s Festival, fact and fiction wrapped in hilarity are sure to keep kids Grades 1 to 3 laughing while learning about insects.
Burt the Beetle Lives Here is out now!
Night Class
Oct 18, 2023
6:00 PM
Waterfront Theatre
In this popular and interactive workshop for new and established authors, the University of British Columbia’s School of Creative Writing offers writing tips, tricks, and cues from five of their members: Anosh Irani, author of The Parcel and three-time finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award; Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, author of The Fact of a Body, which received a Lambda Literary Award, the Chautauqua Prize, the Grand Prix des Lectrices Elle, the Prix des Libraires du Quebec, and the Prix France Inter-JDD; Cecily Nicholson, the inaugural recipient of the Phyllis Webb Memorial Reading award from the Poetry in Canada Society; A.E. Osworth, author of We Are Watching Eliza Bright, a finalist for the Oregon Book Award and longlisted for The Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize and The Tournament of Books; and Sheryda Warrener, poet, editor, teacher and author of Test Piece.
Full of invigorating thought experiences and hosted by cartoonist and educator Sarah Leavitt, Night Class will explore a wide array of styles and genres, from poetry and song to comics and speculative fiction. Participants will learn key writing skills in five minutes or less through nimble, electrifying craft and rapid-fire creativity, try out a multitude of concepts, and ask questions of this stellar line up of creative writing teachers and authors.
OCTOBER 19
Adventures in the Pacific Northwest
Oct 19, 2023
10:15 AM
Waterfront Theatre
According to Hakai Magazine, Nancy & Mike Deas’ Sueño Bay Adventures graphic novel series “has it all: a mystery set on misty islands, a crew of kids determined to crack the case, cute and cuddly supernatural creatures, and a surprising plot twist that reminds savvy sleuths to second-guess everything.”
This series, now with four books under its belt, also teaches kids about environmentalism, friendship, and home — no wonder it’s a go-to for teachers and librarians alike!
In the fourth book, friends Kay, Ollie, Jenna, and Sleeves try to help a lost moon creature at the lighthouse of Candle Point. Nancy and Mike will take students on a magical romp through colourful landscapes and flora, sharing what makes a brilliant adventure and what we can learn from the characters in their series who, book after book, dare to explore strange, fascinating places.
Candle Point, published by Orca Book Publishers, is out now!
It Stops Here: Rueben George in Conversation
Oct 19, 2023
6:00 PM
Waterfront Theatre
In his memoir It Stops Here, Rueben George of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation shares the story of the spiritual, cultural, and political resurgence of a nation taking action to reclaim their lands, waters, law, and food systems in the face of colonization. Recounting the intergenerational struggle of the Tsleil-Waututh to overcome the harms of colonization, it also underscores the powerful stance they have taken against the expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline. Both memoir and call to action, It Stops Here is ultimately a call for policymakers to prioritize sacred territory over oil profits.
Join us for this important conversation and a reminder of the importance of allyship in the face of megaproject destruction, moderated by writer Michelle Cyca.
OCTOBER 20
Blending Genres
Oct 20, 2023
1:00 PM
Waterfront Theatre
Authors combine the unexpected in this event presented in partnership with SFU Creative Writing: Helen Cova, author of Autosarcophagy – To Eat Oneself, blends personal history and present-day experiences into a seamless yet complex fabric of short story narrative; Jason Guriel’s The Full-Moon Whaling Chronicles is a mashup of dystopian fiction, poetry, cyberpunk, and more; and Daniel Innes and Christina Wong use illustration and fiction in Denison Avenue, a work about gentrification, aging, and grief.
Whether these authors are writing in multiple genres across works or blending them seamlessly in one book, the result is a work as fascinating for its form as for its story. Hosted by poet and editor Elee Kraljii Gardine, the Vancouver Writers’ Fest will delve into the writing craft’s kaleidoscope of possibilities with this lineup of authors before a ceremony for the Vancouver Manuscript Intensive Betsy Warland Between Genres Award.
OCTOBER 21
Chinatown: Past and Future
Oct 21, 2023
10:30 AM
Performance Works
In this important, prescient event, writers and artists explore what it means to be Chinese in North America. They explore threats to Chinese North American heritage, community, and wellbeing, including spreading gentrification across Vancouver, Toronto, and San Francisco, home to the largest Chinese diasporic populations in the West. They also offer a vividly accessible way to celebrate the sustained vibrance of these communities.
Don’t miss this conversation with Daniel Innes and Christina Wong (Denison Avenue), Fae Myenne Ng (Orphan Bachelors), and Henry Tsang (White Riot), moderated by Kevin Chong.
White Riot, published by Arsenal Pulp Press, is out now!
OCTOBER 22
Food for Thought
Oct 22, 2023
11:00 AM
Performance Works
A revitalized take on the Vancouver Writers’ Fest’s Sunday Brunch, Food for Thought presents six authors exploring topics at the forefront of our minds. Charlotte Gill (Almost Brown) fearlessly examines the complexities of life within a multicultural household. Holly Hogan is a wildlife biologist who brings a warning of the devastating effect we’re having on the ocean in Message in a Bottle. In Races, Valerie Jerome sets the record straight on her heroic family’s history and the racism they fought along the way. Helen Knott gets straight to the heart of what matriarchy truly means in Becoming a Matriarch. Stephen Marche offers pithy, witty guidance on the craft we love in On Writing and Failure. And Taras Grescoe’s The Lost Supper is an exciting and globe-trotting account of ancient cuisines, in the tradition of Michael Pollan, Anthony Bourdain, and Mark Bittman.
In this event moderated by top journalism educator Kathryn Gretsinger, guests will also enjoy a continental breakfast of croissant, fruit and yogurt, tea and coffee, and, of course, the Vancouver Writers Fest’s signature mimosas.