Vancouver Writers Fest presents an expanded edition, October 18 to 25

More than 90 events take place across the Lower Mainland, with authors in conversation about their works and current affairs

SPONSORED POST BY Vancouver Writers Fest

Crosscurrents of History at the 2025 Vancouver Writers Fest. Photo by Dillon Byrne

More than 150 local and international authors in over 90 events will be featured at the Vancouver Writers Fest during its 2026 edition. Expanded by a day to accommodate even more authors and conversations that matter—including an electrifying special event with international bestseller Barbara Kingsolver—this year’s festival returns to Granville Island, as well as select venues and schools in Vancouver and across the Lower Mainland, from October 18 to 25.

A perennial favourite, the festival’s opening event at the Vancouver Playhouse, is hosted by Elamin Abdelmahmoud this year. Grand Openings (Event #1) invites esteemed authors and leading thinkers Ayad Akhtar, Cory Doctorow, Tayari Jones, Ruth Ozeki, Ece Temelkuran, John Vaillant, Jesse Wente, and Jody Wilson-Raybould to present sequential talks reflecting on the essential themes at the heart of the festival.

Three events are inspired by the works of this year’s award-winning Guest Curator, John Vaillant, that focus on the fraught relationship between humans and the natural world. Canary in a Coal Mine (17) features three authors in conversation about Earth’s embattled bird species and their roles in their ecosystems as well as in our imaginations. At More than Human: Wildlife in an Age of Extinction (30), authors discuss the dynamic relationship between humans and non-human animals. And at Repair and Revive (56), authors contemplate the consequences of, and solutions to, the human activity–driven climate crisis.

Sun, Trees, and Sea book signing at the 2025 Vancouver Writers Fest. Photo by Jonathan Guhl

Vancouver readers will also have the chance to hear from the 2025 Booker Prize winner at David Szalay: Flesh (42), along with nominees for this year’s prestigious international prize, Douglas Stuart at An Evening with the Scots (65) and Marlon James in Conversation (47).

This year, the Writers Fest is offering a free in-person and online event for adult audiences in partnership with BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner, Ece Temelkuran in Conversation with Commissioner Kasari Govender (51).

Tickets to all events are now officially on sale through the Vancouver Writers Fest. Browse the full lineup of offerings online here; locals can also pick up a print program guide on Granville Island, at bookstores, libraries, JJ Bean locations, and other venues across Metro Vancouver.

Post sponsored by Vancouver Writers Fest.

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