Stir Cheat Sheet: Cory Doctorow to Mona Awad, 5 highlights of this year’s Vancouver Writers Fest

Readings and discussions focus on women’s perspectives on horror writing, and how to find your inner dinosaur in a world of chickens

By John Lucas

Cory Doctorow (left) and Mona Awad.

The Vancouver Writers Fest takes place at various venues on Granville Island from October 20 to 26

GIVEN THAT THIS YEAR’S Vancouver Writers Fest features more than 85 events showcasing something like 130 authors at the Revue Stage, the Granville Island Stage, the Waterfront Theatre, the NEST, Performance Works, and the Dockside Lounge, it would be impossible for one person to take all of it in. Unless, that is, you can simply lop off a part of your body and grow a new copy of yourself, like a character in one of Cory Doctorow’s sci-fi novels can.

Doctorow will be at this this year’s festival (see below), and so will Georgia Toews, Canisia Lubrin, Jonathan Lethem, Christine Estima, Bob Joseph, Jen Sookfong Lee, Souvankham Thammavongsa, Saeed Teebi, Walter Mosley, and too many others to list here.

To help you narrow down your options, here are five highlights.

#1

Cory Doctorow: Enshittification

October 23 at 5:30 pm at the Granville Island Stage

Have you noticed how much modern life has begun to resemble dystopian fiction, and how everything—but especially the state of the online world—just keeps getting, well, shittier? Cory Doctorow has, and to describe the phenomenon, the Toronto-born author and activist has even coined a word that also happens to be the title of his latest book: Enshittification. Fortunately for us, Doctorow has a few ideas about how we can stop this slide toward the crapper, which he’ll share in conversation with author and political commentator David Moscrop.

#2

The Feminine Grotesque

October 24 at 7 pm at the Granville Island Stage

At its best, the horror genre probes deep existential questions, exploring everything from the nature of good and evil to the darkest corners of the human psyche—preferably with a few good scares along the way. Hosted by Mattea Roach of CBC’s Bookends, The Feminine Grotesque will feature Mona Awad (We Love You, Bunny), Jen Sookfong Lee (The Hunger We Pass Down), and Silvia Moreno-Garcia (The Bewitching), whose novels offer not only skin-crawling tales of witches and demons, but also reflections on race, privilege, and intergenerational trauma.

From Shark Girl by Kate Beaton.

#3

Finding the Power Within

October 21 at 1 pm at the Waterfront Theatre

Lessons in courage from a chicken with the ferocity of a dinosaur, a shark-human hybrid caught in a fishing net, and an Indigenous child learning about the history of residential schools: in this co-presentation with the Vancouver International Children’s Festival, Canadian children’s book creators Linda Bailey (Lena the Chicken), Kate Beaton (Shark Girl), and David A. Robertson (Little Shoes) introduce young readers to characters who show them how to believe in themselves—even if, and especially when, things get frightening. In this event, aimed at kids in grades 1 through 3, the authors will read their work and present illustrations from their books.

#4

Beneath Dark Waters: Eve Lazarus in Conversation

October 24 at 1 pm at the Revue Stage

Canadian history buffs, take note. Eve Lazarus, who usually explores local history (in such bestsellers as Vancouver Exposed and Cold Case BC) cast her net a little farther out for Beneath Dark Waters. The book chronicles Canada’s deadliest peacetime maritime disaster, which claimed the lives of more passengers than the sinking of the Titanic. In this event moderated by writer and arts educator Mark Kershaw, Lazarus discusses how she drew on historical documents, as well as interviews with descendants of passengers, to tell the story of the Empress of Ireland, which sank in 1914 en route from Quebec City to Liverpool.

Eimear McBride

#5

Gems of the Emerald Isle

October 21 at 8:30 pm at Performance Works

From James Joyce and Samuel Beckett to Roddy Doyle and Maeve Binchy, the relatively tiny country of Ireland has consistently punched above its weight when it comes to producing literary greats. That trend shows no sign of slowing down in the 21st century, with Emma Donoghue (Room, The Paris Express) and Eimear McBride (The City Changes Its Face) now taking up the reins. Victoria-based author and critic Robert J. Wiersema moderates this event, which also includes live Irish harp music performed by Rebecca Blair.

---

Related Articles