Rachel Kushner comes to Vancouver with this year’s Writers Festival.
Rachel Kushner, Gary Shteyngart, and Jodi Picoult are among the boldfaced names coming to this year’s Vancouver Writers Festival (Oct. 15-21 at various locations on Granville Island).
The lineup also includes singer/songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie and author Patrick deWitt (The Sisters Brothers). All told, the festival features over 100 authors from all over the world.
Leading the American contingent is Kushner. Her latest, The Mars Room, is the long-anticipated follow-up to her critically acclaimed 2013 novel The Flamethrowers. Shteyngart’s latest is Lake Success. The new novel follows his memoir Little Failure and two previous novels, Super Sad True Love Story and Absurdistan.
Picoult, meanwhile, is known for bestselling mystery-thrillers too numerous to mention. Her new one is called A Spark of Light.
Buffy Sainte-Marie will appear in conversation with local writer Andrea Warner. Warner is the author of a biography of the singer, which is set for release this fall.
Besides Warner, there are a number of other local scribes appearing at the festival. These include David Chariandy (I’ve Been Meaning To Tell You), Shane Koyczan (Turn On A Light), Eden Robinson (Trickster Drift), and Ian Boothby (Sparks, Simpsons Comics and Stories).
Eden Robinson is one of several Vancouver-based authors appearing at the festival.
Some other writers appearing at the festival include two-time Booker Prize shortlisted UK author Deborah Levy, Canadian writer Katherena Vermette (The Break), and Sisonke Msimang. Msimang’s memoir, Always Another Country, earns her a place at the table in discussing one of the themes of this year’s festival, the growing international immigrant and refugee crisis.
Other authors who will discuss their experience with the crisis include Elaine Castillo (America is Not The Heart), Amitava Kumar (Immigrant, Montana), and Abu Bakr al Rebeeah (Homes: A Refugee Story). The latter is a high-school student from Edmonton who fled his home in Syria.
During the fall, the Writers Fest will also present special events with Miriam Toews (September 17); Kate Atkinson (September 29); and Ian Rankin (October 27).
The full program of events will be available on August 23, 2018. Visit writersfest.bc.ca for more info.
