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S u n day, OC TOB E R 2 5
It’s Complicated Carellin Brooks, Trevor Cole, Farzana Doctor, Sabrina Ramnanan Moderator: Angie Abdou
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10:30 AM WATERFRONT THEATRE $20
In the words of Bob Marley: "Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just got to find the ones worth suffering for." Relationships are never easy or without complications, perhaps that’s why they make for great fiction. Mourning her recent disastrous breakup, the narrator of Carellin Brooks’ One Hundred Days of Rain is rebuilding her life from the bottom up over an endless Vancouver winter. Winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour Trevor Cole takes an innovative comic approach to the brain-versus-heart debate, creating a character trying to revive his marriage. Farzana Doctor has created a character whose pastime is the swingers’ scene; an attempt to avoid relationships altogether. The debut novel by Sabrina Ramnanan, Nothing Like Love, is an exuberant romp through the pitfalls of the misaligned and lovelorn.
The Sunday Brunch Shilpi Somaya Gowda, Lauren Groff, Steven Hayward, Nino Ricci, Sigal Samuel, Neil Smith Host: Bill Richardson
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11:00 AM Doors open at 10:30 AM PERFORMANCE WORKS $35
The Sunday Brunch is a hallmark of the Festival, one of the first events to sell out, and for very good reason: mimosas, croissants and coffee, not to mention readings by six fine authors whose work you may or may not have encountered, but who will leave you wanting more. Come with a friend, or make a new one, and raise a glass of bubbly to the exceptional lineup of literati set to take the stage. Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate specific dietary restrictions.
S u n day, OCTO BER 2 5 Getting Under Their Skins Sarah Dunant
10:30 AM
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Laid Bare Camilla Gibb, Elaine Lui, Michael V. Smith
10:30 AM
45
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STUDIO 1398 $20
IMPROV $20
In this sumptuously illustrated lecture, Sarah Dunant, international bestselling author of historical fiction about the Italian renaissance, shares the secrets of her trade. To recreate the past as a living, breathing place Dunant has visited churches, archives, museums and art galleries all over Italy. Today she shares the story of her discoveries; how the decoding of old paintings alongside the work of the most modern historians helped her to penetrate hidden worlds inside the Renaissance, finding wonder and drama in ordinary lives and exploring the complexities of politics and religion along with emotion, the senses and the heady appetites of body and soul.
As Isak Dinesen said, “To be a person is to have a story to tell.” Yet that story is not always easy to tell. “Writing about oneself requires brutal honesty and self-assessment,” says Camilla Gibb. Her memoir, This Is Happy, reveals her intense grief as well as tangled moments of sadness and joy, alienation and belonging. In Elaine Lui's Listen to the Squawking Chicken: a Memoir (Sort of ), she contemplates her mother's unique parenting style in all its awesomeness and imperfection, and how it has affected the person Lui is today. And Michael V. Smith writes with intimacy and vulnerability in his memoir, My Body Is Yours, about his struggle to create his own definition of masculinity. Three brave stories from three brave authors.
Wherever you’re writing from... Eleven Genres Of Study | On-Campus or Online | Flexible, Comprehensive, Challenging Write and learn in Vancouver. Or participate in a vibrant online community from wherever you live. UBC offers world-class creative writing programs at the non-credit, BFA and MFA level, both at our Vancouver campus and by Distance Education from anywhere in the world. Join us.
www.creativewriting.ubc.ca The Dhahan Prize Hosts: Ajmer Rode and Andreas Schroeder 2015 Prize finalists
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The Interviews Brian Brett, John Colapinto, Irina Kovalyova HOST: Marsha Lederman
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1:30 pm
1:30 pm
WATERFRONT THEATRE Free
STUDIO 1398 $20
The Dhahan Prize was founded in 2013 to call greater attention to the wealth of literary works produced in Punjabi around the world. This afternoon we present readings in Punjabi and English by the writers shortlisted for the 2015 edition of this prestigious prize. Written in a language that is as diverse and changing as its culture, Punjabi literature describes the social, cultural and political lives of Punjabi speakers, not only in South Asia but around the world, and expresses the unique cultural ethos of this global community. Join us in celebrating the wealth of Punjabi storytelling and literature, and hear from the contenders for the 2015 Dhahan Prize.
The Globe and Mail’s Marsha Lederman gets at the stories behind the books this afternoon. Novelist and poet Brian Brett talks of his decades-long relationship with Tuco, an irreverent African Grey parrot, as well as his painful experience as a young androgyne. John Colapinto, novelist and staff writer at The New Yorker, shares the backstory of Undone, his novel rejected as too controversial by 41 publishers in the United States and every publisher in Europe before finding a home in Canada. Short-story writer Irina Kovalyova, also a molecular biologist and biochemist at Simon Fraser University, reveals the chemistry between the scientific and storytelling sides of her brain. Join Lederman as she skillfully guides the conversation, asking all of your questions as well as ones you didn’t know you had.
Call 604-374-3274 or email contact@dhahanprize.com to reserve your seat.
The Raw Material Hannah Kent, Beth Powning, Sara Tilley MODERATOR: Roberta Rich
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1:30 pm IMPROV CENTRE $20
When writing her novel set in 1829 Iceland, Hannah Kent spent six weeks holed up in Iceland’s national archives, museums and libraries, and visited the sites of the murder and execution that are the subject of Burial Rites. Beth Powning transported herself back to 17th-century England and America. “I visualize a scene in its entirety. I imagine myself, in a visceral way, to be there; I see, smell, hear.” Sara Tilley discovered a mass of family documents—letters, logbooks, journals, ledgers—which became raw material for Duke. While research is great fun, and absolutely critical in getting the history “right,” the three authors talk about the balance between history and imagination in the historical novel. Says Powning, “Too much research can kill the novel.”
The Afternoon Tea Trevor Cole, Marina Endicott, Hannah Kent, Bill Richardson, Bradley Somer, Laura van den Berg Host: Paul Grant
Faculty Alison Acheson Deborah Campbell Kevin Chong Maggie de Vries Charles Demers Steven Galloway
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3:30 pm Doors open at 3:00 PM PERFORMANCE WORKS $35
Raise your pinkies for our final event of the Festival this year—an Afternoon Tea replete with scones and Devonshire cream. And, of course, stories! Stories funny and sad, poems from the irrepressible Bill Richardson, a story that pits the brain against the heart from Trevor Cole, from a goldfish’s perspective by Bradley Somer, from Iceland in 1830 by Australian Hannah Kent, a post-apocalyptic story from Laura van den Berg and a story about self-discovery from Marina Endicott. Finish the 2015 Vancouver Writers Fest in grand style, in the company of enthusiastic readers and eloquent writers. What a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate specific dietary restrictions.
Sara Graefe Wayne Grady Nancy Lee Annabel Lyon Keith Maillard Maureen Medved Susan Musgrave
Andreas Schroeder Linda Svendsen Timothy Taylor Peggy Thompson Rhea Tregebov John Vigna Bryan Wade