Vancouver Writers Festival 2012

The Vancouver Writers Festival is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year with its biggest line-up to date on Granville Island from October 16th to 21st, 2012. Over the course of six days the festival will host 77 events with a variety of panel discussions, interviews, musical collaborations, and more.

Events

Event categories include Biography/Personal Experience, Contemporary Global Issues, Crime Writers, French, Graphica/Comics, Interviews, Intimate Evenings, Late Night, Literary Fiction, Music, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Readings, Science & Speculative Fiction, Spoken Word, The Literary World, and Theatre. Everything kicks off with the Literati Gala on Monday October 15th. Taking place at the Fairmont Waterfront, the gala will be hosted by Gloria Macarenko with performances by Vancouver Good Noise Gospel Choir.

Authors

Over over 130 authors will be participating in a variety of events. Margaret Atwood, Martin Amis, Lynda Barry, Michael Chabon, Jian Ghomeshi, Douglas Coupland, Cory Doctorow, Anne Perry… just to name a few.

Collaborations

Electric Company Theatre will have a theatrical installation and collaboration events will include Chor Leoni, Ruby Slippers Theatre, singers from Christ Church Cathedral, former Rheostatics leader Dave Bidini and Radio-Canada.

Tickets

Tickets are currently on sale for the festival and can be purchased online, by calling 604-629-VTIX (604-629-8849), or in person at the Writers Fest box office on Granville Island at 1398 Cartwright Street.

Project Bookmark

This is such a neat initiative. Project Bookmark Canada is a charity that places text from stories and poems in the exact physical locations where literary scenes are set — on plaques that look like big bookmarks. There are 10 bookmarks around Ontario and a few have been unveiled in Newfoundland. Vancouver’s first bookmarks will be placed in Chinatown at the intersection of Pender and Gore with a passage from Wayson Choy’s novel The Jade Peony in both English and Mandarin. The unveiling will take place Monday October 15th, leading up to the festival.

Spoken World

On Wednesday October 17th the Vancouver Writers Festival will host a spoken word event called Spoken World with three of the best spoken words artists. Hosted by Brendan McLeod on Wednesday October 17th at 9:00pm at Performance Works, tickets are $30.

Storyteller Ivan Coyote has a reputation for swinging her audience from hysterical laughter to tears in the space of a few paragraphs. England’s Lemn Sissay is an official Olympic poet, whose landmark poems engage readers on the streets of Manchester and London. C.R. Avery, beatbox poet, harmonica player, raconteur and one-man band, has performed throughout the world and recorded more than 15 albums. Be moved. Be amazed. Be there.

If you would like to attend Spoken World at the Vancouver Writers Festival I have a pair of tickets up for grabs. Here’s how you can enter to win:

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I will draw one winner at random from all entries next Friday, October 12, 2012 at 12:00pm. Follow the Vancouver Writers Festival on Facebook and Twitter for more event information.

Update The winner is Lyn!