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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)