In this panel, writers Nicola Harwood, Tara Sidhoo Fraser, and Sarah Leavitt will read short excerpts from their work and discuss their processes in creating works of memoir that deal with queer lives.

Moderator: LGBTQIA2S+ Curator Jen Currin

Readers: Sarah Leavitt, Something, Not Nothing (Arsenal Pulp Press) | Nicola Harwood, Flight Instructions for the Commitment Impaired: A Memoir About Family, Trauma, and Good Times (Dagger Editions) | Tara Sidhoo Fraser, When My Ghost Sings: A Memoir of Stroke, Recovery, and Transformation (Arsenal Pulp Press)

Are you a new or established local writer or journalist looking to refine the art of your pitch? Join us for a panel discussion by local editors and writers on pitching and submitting your work — including general interest, news, literary magazines, and niche publications.

Moderator: Jessica Key

Readers: Jesse Donaldson | Sara Harowitz, The Georgia Straight | Dayna Mahannah, Geist

Can’t talk about your passion project without people’s eyes glazing over? Then Life’s a Pitch is for you!

Host: Gary Jones

Join us for an engaging conversation with Eden Fineday, publisher of IndigiNews, and journalist Michelle Cyca as they explore the transformative efforts of Indigenous journalists in decolonizing the institution and practice of journalism in so-called Canada. These two nêhiyaw iskwew will offer insights into land-connected and trauma-informed storytelling, the principles of allyship, and the art of truth-telling with kindness and solidarity.

Moderator: Eden Fineday

Readers: Michelle Cyca

Join Us in the Sun Room-Gallery Room for an Open Interactive Podcast Hangout!

We find our spiritual selves in different places and yet it is in the calling that we find ourselves to be the same. Join these two poets as they open up doors to worlds right there for us to see.

Host: Natalie Lang

Readers: Kevin Spenst, A Bouquet Brought Back from Space (Anvil Press) | Jess Housty, Crushed Wild Mint (Nightwood Editions)

Need advice on your writing or a nudge in the right direction? The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University is offering a free 25-minute in-person consult on up to five pages of your poetry or prose. Our alumni will provide supportive feedback on story, structure, point of view, or anything else you’d like reviewed in your fiction, non-fiction, or poetry.

The Silent Writing Room is a new addition to Word Vancouver this year. It is a place of reflection and personal writing with the hope of promoting community healing. Paper and pens will be provided in this drop-in space that will be available all day. Come, sit, write, breathe.

Undercurrents and Folds is a series of small-edition artist publications in the project Reading the Migration Library (RML).

Participants: Lois Klassen | Deanne Achong | Candie Tanaka

Join the Federation of BC Writers (FBCW) for their Author Photo Day at Word Vancouver. Anyone who needs new professional headshots taken are welcome to register. Visit bcwriters.ca for details and to sign up. The FBCW will also be hosting a writing room with sprints and prompts to help you get writing!

Three writers, members of the BC chapter of the Canadian Authors Association, who have written and published memoirs, will tell the audience what propelled them to write a memoir, how they went about collecting and organizing the material, what they included and what they left out, what was most rewarding and most frustrating about writing the book, and how they found a publisher.

Readers: Rosemary Keevil, The Art of Losing It: A Memoir of Grief and Addiction (She Writes Press) | Patrick McLaren, Magic Travels: The Unlikely Adventures of a Geologist (Friesen Press) | Franke James, Freeing Theresa: A True Story About My Sister and Me (The James Gang, Iconoclasts)

The Seventeen Syllable Slam is a literary comedy poetry competition where poets attempt to win over judges with their short poems.

Participants: Sonya Littlejohn | Herbert | Erin Kirsch | Amanda Eagllson | Trevana Spilchen | Mo the Poet | David Geary | Duncan Shields | Kayla Price | Fernando Raguero | Aaron Hunter | Leslie Stark | Warren Dean Fulton | RC Weslowski | Kyle Hawke

Come join Cloudscape Comics in the Sunroom for a fun and engaging family-friendly comic jam!

Join the Federation of BC Writers and their 2024 Ambassador, Frances Peck, for a panel on finding balance between writerly solitude and community.

Join us for an intimate chat with award winning author, Eden Robinson. Moderated by Historic Joy Kogawa House interim executive director, Johnny D Trinh, this discussion will explore Robinson’s craft and process through a reflection of her body of work. Eden will also share selected excerpts from her works, and insights on future possibilities.

Moderator: Johnny D Trinh

Reader: Eden Robinson, Son of a Trickster, Monkey Beach (Penguin Random House)

Where do writers get their ideas? For this panel — from you! All morning, The Writer’s Studio has been soliciting discussion topics at their table in the concourse.

Moderator: Andrew Chesham

Readers: Nazanine Hozar | Raoul Fernandes | Dayna Mahannah

Brandon Reid will share an excerpt from his novel and discuss its themes of masculinity, cultural tradition, and coming of age.

Moderator: Michelle Cyca

Reader: Brandon Reid, Beautiful, Beautiful (Nightwood Editions)

Local authors are invited to share their work and discuss it with a live audience.

Moderator: Anna Eastland, Unexpected Blossoming: A journey of grief and hope (Blurb)

Readers: Kate MacIntosh, The Champagne Letters (Simon and Schuster/Gallery Books) | Esmeralda Cabral, How to Clean a Fish: And Other Adventures in Portugal (University of Alberta Press)

Every year, the Association of Book Publishers of BC and TransLink collaborate to bring you excerpts from 10 of the newest books of poetry published in that year. Be the first to hear and meet the poets.

Host: Evelyn Lau

Readers: Donna Kane, Asterisms (Harbour Publishing) | Michelle Brown, Swans (Palimpsest Press) | Justene Dion-Glowa, Trailer Park Shakes (Brick Books) | Bradley Peters, Sonnets from a Cell (Brick Books) | Tiffany Stone, Super Small: Miniature Marvels of the Natural World (Greystone Books) | Michelle Poirier Brown, You Might Be Sorry You Read This (University of Alberta Press) | Christopher Levenson, Moorings (Caitlin Press) | Dina Del Bucchia, You’re Gonna Love This (Talonbooks) | Svetlana Ischenko, Nucleus: A Poet’s Lyrical Journey from Ukraine to Canada (Ronsdale Press) | Andrea Scott, In the Warm Shallows of What Remains (Raven Chapbooks/Rainbow Publishers)

Two editors edit and discuss new work by a local author, live in front of the audience.

Kyle Hawke | Tara Avery

Join these three authors who examine climate change and its devastation from various vantage points to give us the personal, the historical and the hopeful.

Moderator: Vince Beiser

Readers: Sarah Cox, Signs of Life (Goose Lane Editions) | Meghan Fandrich, Burning Sage: Poems from the Lytton fire (Caitlin Press) | Frances Peck, Uncontrolled Flight (NeWest Editions)

Undercurrents and Folds is a series of small-edition artist publications in the project Reading the Migration Library (RML). Host artists Deanne Achong and Lois Klassen will launch the publications by introducing the work of participating artists and discussing artist publishing. Artists involved in the series are Leah Decter, Peter Morin, Sarah Shamash, Candie Tanaka, Tania Willard, and Clare Yow.

Facilitators: Lois Klassen | Deanne Achong

Three poets share their work and their lived experiences as families shift, move, and mitigate immigration and relocation.

Host: Daniela Elza

Readers: Svetlana Ischenko, Nucleus: A Poet’s Lyrical Journey from Ukraine to Canada (Ronsdale Press) | Onjana Yawnghwe, We Follow the River (Caitlin Press) | Holly Flauto, Permission to Settle (Anvil Press)

Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler, Alex Leslie, and Hasan Namir will give short readings of their work and discuss their experiences as writers who work across genres, including creative non-fiction, new media, poetry, children’s literature, the short story, and the novel.

Moderator: LGBTQIA2S+ Curator Jen Currin

Readers: Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler, Wrist (Kegedonce Press) | Hasan Namir, Banana Dream (Holiday House, Neal Porter Books) | Alex Leslie, Vancouver for Beginners (Book*hug Press)

Join these acclaimed authors as they share their personal stories taking us through the hardest of times to the joys and celebrations so that we cry, laugh, and cheer with them.

Moderator: Todd Wong

Readers: Keiko Honda, Accidental Blooms (Caitlin Press) | Tara Sidhoo Fraser, When My Ghost Sings: A Memoir of Stroke, Recovery, and Transformation (Arsenal Pulp Press) | Kagan Goh, Surviving Samsara: A Memoir of Breakdowns, Breakthroughs, and Mental Illness (Caitlin Press)

This panel invites some of Vancouver’s most engaged Spoken Word Poets who have mentored, taught, and significantly impacted many poets across the country.

Moderator: Johnny D Trinh

Readers: CR Avery, 38 Bar Blues (Write Bloody North) | Johnny MacRae | Kiran Kaur | Leslie Stark | Brandon Wint, Divine Animal (Write Bloody North)

Poetry Panel Chapbooks

Moderator: Kevin Spenst, Hymned Data (Pinhole Poetry)

Readers: Kurt Trzcinski, Tonewood (Red Tower Bookworks) | Salena Wiener, bodies like gardens (Cactus Press) | Christina Shah, Rig Veda (Anstruther Press)

In this event, Indigenous writers Selina Boan and Molly Cross-Blanchard will read from their recent collections and meet in conversation for a rich discussion about poetry, process, and cross-genre creativity. 

Moderator: Molly Cross-Blanchard, Exhibitionist (Coach House Books)

Reader: Selina Boan, Undoing Hours (Harbour Publishing)

Two poets come together to share their grief and resiliency in the face of loss, as well as their ability to move on because of love.

Host: Renée Sarojini Saklikar, Bramah's Quest (Nightwood Editions)

Readers: Kayla Czaga, Midway (House of Anansi Press) | Cathy Stonehouse, Dream House: A Poem (Nightwood Editions)

Practice telling a story in unusual and unexpected ways in this one-hour, hands-on workshop with creative non-fiction writer Taslim Jaffer.

Facilitator: Taslim Jaffer

Join us for a reading and candid discussion of the events that occurred in famed jazz musician Nikita Carter’s life that made her realize that changes had to be made to live an authentic life.

Moderator: Trevana Spilchen

Reader: Nikita Carter, Both Sides of the Great Divide (Transgender Publishing)

In this conversation, Indigenous scholars and educators Daniel Heath Justice and Joaquin Munoz will discuss their pedagogical and personal approaches to Indigenous literatures and the pursuit of stories that can shift reality for Indigenous and non-Indigenous readers alike.

Moderator: Indigenous Curator Michelle Cyca

Readers: Joaquin Muñoz | Daniel Heath Justice, Our Fire Survives the Storm (UBC Press)

Join four dynamic queer poets for short readings and a discussion about the craft of writing poetry.

Moderator: Guest LGBTQIA2S+ Curator Jen Currin

Readers: kitchen mckeown, i need not be good (Rahila’s Ghost Press) | David Ly, Dream of Me as Water (Palimpsest Press) | Jane Shi, echolalia echolalia (Brick Books) | Kayla Czaga, Midway (House of Anansi Press)

Three bestselling Lower Mainland authors with three different outlooks on mystery and crime-writing, ranging from dark and thought-provoking to historical intrigue to outright comedy. Join us for a lively conversation where A.J. Devlin, S.M. Freedman, and Iona Whishaw chat about their inspiration, their locations (British Columbia!), and their characters and entertain us with short readings.

Moderator: Erik D’Sousa, Death on the Rocks (Timbercrest Publishing)

Readers: A.J. Devlin, Bronco Buster (NeWest Press) | S.M. Freedman, Blood Atonement (Dundurn Press) | Iona Whishaw, Lightning Strikes the Silence (TouchWood Editions)

Join inaugural writer-in-residence Tsering Yangzom Lama as she discusses her new work and reads from her beloved work.

Moderator: Evelyn Lau

Readers: Tsering Yangzom Lama, We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies (Penguin Random House)

Novelists Gurjinder Basran and Sonya Lalli share the stage with Hallmark director Christie Will Wolf to read, discuss, and share all things romantic on the page and screen.

Readers: Gurjinder Basran, The Wedding: A Novel (Douglas & McIntyre) | Sonya Lalli, Jasmine and Jake Rock the Boat (Penguin Random House) | Christie Will Wolf (Hallmark)

Did you think that from the garden to the table was just for restaurants? Join Rosie Daykin, the founder of Butter Bakery & Café in this one-on-one talk and learn how you can create this magic in your home kitchen.

Moderator: Lucy Hyslop

Reader: Rosie Daykin, The Side Gardener: Recipes & Notes from My Garden (Appetite by Penguin Random House)

How do we build a whole world in a few pages? And how do we fill that world with memorable characters, vibrant scenes, and enough tension to keep the reader turning the page? Join these experienced authors in a conversation on short story craft.

Moderator: Taslim Jaffer

Readers: Shashi Bhat, Death by a Thousand Cuts: Stories (Penguin Random House) | Caroline Adderson, A Way to Be Happy (Biblioasis)