news | Wednesday October 23, 2013

Vancouver Writers Fest Begins Today!

The Vancouver Writers Festival kicks off today and will be on until Sunday (October 22 – 27, 2013) in various locations on Granville Island, Vancouver, B.C. Among many of its valuable public functions, the cherished VWF provides a unique opportunity for readers, writers, and lovers of literature to engage with some of their favourite authors in a fun, vibrant, and inclusive community-based atmosphere.

From the festival’s website:

The Festival is a celebration of story, told by authors, poets, spoken word performers, and graphic novelists. For six days in October, this celebration takes place in the cultural oasis of Granville Island, and continues throughout the year with the Incite reading series at the VPL, special events with leading writers and the Spreading the Word education programs at Lower Mainland schools and in small BC communities.

Now in its 26th year, VWF 2013, under the artistic direction of Hal Wake, will feature many prolific Canadian authors, including Joseph Boyden, Margaret Atwood, Anne Carson, Shaena Lambert, and Douglas Coupland, and will showcase several international writers, such as American author David Sedaris, Irish poet Paul Muldoon, and Chinese novelist Xiaolu Guo. (A complete list of this year’s author guests is available here.)

We are pleased to announce that among the celebrated Canadian writers featured at this year’s festival are legendary playwrights and novelists Michel Tremblay and Tomson Highway, and poet, novelist, and activist Stephen Collis.

Highway and Tremblay will feature in Titans of Canadian Theatre, a sold-out event hosted by Bill Richardson at the Performance Works venue on Thursday, October 24th, at 7 p.m.

In another sold-out performance, Tomson Highway presents his new play The (Post) Mistress (published by Talonbooks this month!) at Waterfront Theatre on Friday, October 25th, at 9:00 p.m.

Also on Friday, Tremblay talks with host Bill Richardson in An Intimate Evening With Michel Tremblay. Tickets are still available for this rare event, in which Tremblay will converse with Richardson “about everything from his upbringing in a working-class neighbourhood in East Montreal, to seeing his famous play, Les Belle-soeurs, celebrate its 40th anniversary.” A similar conversation with Tremblay will take place in French on Wednesday, October 23rd, in the Radio-Canada Studios.

Well-known Vancouver author Stephen Collis joins five of his Canadian contemporaries in the Pure Poetry reading at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, October 25, at Waterfront Theatre. That same day at 1:00 p.m., Collis participates in Bodies Politic, a multi-author event in which Collis will read from and talk about his politically-charged novel The Red Album.

More information about the VIFF is available on its website.

Also see these event listings on Talonbooks.com:

We hope to see you there!

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