1:30 pm Maggie de Vries (Vancouver) Rabbit Ears (HarperCollins Canada $14.99) Adopted and multiracial Kaya is grieving her father’s death—and carrying a painful secret. She runs away repeatedly, gradually disappearing into a life of addiction and sex work. Meanwhile, her sister, Beth, escapes her troubles with food and a talent for magic tricks. This powerful young adult novel is rooted in the tragic life of the author’s sister, Sarah, a victim of Robert Pickton and the subject of Maggie de Vries’ Governor General’s Award–nominated memoir for adults, Missing Sarah. Maggie de Vries’ novel, Hunger Journeys, won the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize, and she has written eight other works for young readers. Presently, she teaches creative writing at the University of British Columbia. Ages 13+ HOST (1:45 – 2:00): vancouver public library
Gabrielle Prendergast (Vancouver) 1:45 pm Vancouver Public Library Writer-in-Residence Award-winning screenwriter and author Gabrielle Prendergast has been named VPL’s 2014 writer-in-residence. She will read from Capricious, a novel in verse for teens about a high school student who, determined to be her unconventional authentic self, makes several missteps on her way to finding her true sense of identity and individualism. Gabrielle is a UK-born Canadian/Australian who lives in Vancouver with her husband and daughter. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of British Columbia. A part-time teacher and mentor, Gabrielle blogs and rants at. www.angelhorn.com and www.versenovels.com. Ages 12+ HOST (2:00 – 3:00): tracy sherlock, the vancouver sun
2:15 pm Audrey Thomas (Galiano Island) Adopted by: Anne Giardini Local Customs (Dundurn $16.99) In June 1838, Letitia Landon and George Maclean marry and sail off to remote West Africa, arriving just after Letitia’s 36th birthday. Eight weeks later, Letitia is dead from what appears to be an accidental overdose of prussic acid. But what really happened to Letitia in this exotic place so far away from her home? Audrey Thomas has published 17 previous novels and short-story collections. Her novels Intertidal Life and Coming Down from Wa were nominated for Governor General’s Literary Awards and won BC’s Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. In 2003, she won the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award.
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Canada Writes
2:00 pm Grant Buday (Mayne Island) The Delusionist (Anvil Press $20.00) Vancouver, summer 1962. Cyril is the only Canadian-born member of the Andrachuk family, his parents and older brother having survived Stalin’s systematic starving of the Ukraine. Cyril’s faminefree childhood has created a distance between him and the rest of the household. His family’s past charges Cyril’s present with bitter overtones, and his love of art is beyond his family’s comprehension. Cyril must find a way to live with his family’s past in order to find his future. Grant Buday has published nine books and many articles, essays, and short stories in Canadian publications. While he has travelled throughout the world, he currently lives on Mayne Island with his wife and son.