🎟️ Tickets on sale now! Award-winning author Tayari Jones joins the Books & Ideas lineup with the latest Oprah's Book Club pick: Kin. Jones will be in conversation with UBC professor Kimberly Bain.
April 23 at 7:30 PM:
writersfest.bc.ca/event/tayari...
📣 Tickets on sale now! Don’t miss Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi and Son of Nobody, in Vancouver. One night only, April 15 at the Lindsay Family Stage on Granville Island.
Tickets on sale now:
writersfest.bc.ca/event/yann-m...
The high school contest is judged by Shannon Ozirny, Head of Youth Services at the West Vancouver Memorial Library. The elementary school contest is judged by Jamie Fong, Children’s Librarian at Vancouver Public Library.
🏆 Prizes: 🏆
High school first place: $200
High school second place: $100
Elementary school first place: $100
High school second place: $50
All winners will also receive publication on our website, with acknowledgements in our newsletter and social media, along with a certificate of achievement.
The 2026 VWF Youth Writing Contest is open now! Tell an aspiring young writer in your life.
We run two annual writing contests for students in BC: one for grades 5–7, and one for grades 8–12.
Deadline: May 31, 2026
Read the rules and enter:
writersfest.bc.ca/youth-writing-contest
Thank you to everyone who joined us at this sold out event, and to our bookseller Upstart & Crow (head over there soon, and you might be able to find signed books from both of our distinguished guests).
At the second event of our 2026 Books & Ideas series on Granville Island, Dr. Joanna Cheek shared profound insights and deep healing from her book, It's Not You, It's the World. Her conversation partner was none other than world renowned Vancouver author, Dr. Gabor Maté.
Freedom to read can never be taken for granted. Even in Canada, a free country by world standards, books and magazines are banned.
From February 22–28, Freedom to Read Week asks all Canadians to think about and reaffirm our commitment to intellectual freedom.
Learn more at www.freedomtoread.ca
If you’re attending a VWF event, make sure to fill out the survey in your inbox afterwards!
Last year, we gave away countless books, some coveted event tickets, and the grand prize: a roundtrip for 2 from Helijet.
Her are some examples of the fantastic titles you could win in the next few months!
We’ve just put a signed copy of Other Worlds by André Alexis in the Little Free Library on Granville Island, at the end of Railspur Alley. 👀
This book comes courtesy of a VWF attendee, who won a book for filling out our post-event survey, and kindly offered to pass on the gift. 💌
Only 10 days left for teachers to apply for our free Writers in the Classroom program! Inspire your students with a personal visit from an author.
2 authors—Sarah Mughal Rana and Robin Stevenson—are offering virtual visits, to schools anywhere in BC:
writersfest.bc.ca/youth#writer...
Gabor Maté, M.D., C.M., is a Canadian physician (retired), public speaker and bestselling author of 5 books, published internationally in 35 languages on 5 continents. His most recent book, The Myth of Normal, was 19 weeks a NYT bestseller. He is in constant demand as a speaker internationally.
Joanna Cheek, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist, psychotherapist, researcher, meditation teacher, journalist, and clinical professor at UBC. Her new book, It’s Not You, It’s the World, offers a vital survival guide of personal and collective mental health tools for our disordered world.
Less than two weeks to go: Dr. Joanna Cheek and Dr. Gabor Maté join the Books & Ideas series on February 25. This conversation is for anyone feeling depressed, anxious, enraged, numb, or sick from adapting to a world on fire.
writersfest.bc.ca/event/joanna...
With thanks to @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social; the team at St. Andrew’s Wesley United Church; our booksellers at Book Warehouse / Black Bond Books; and the hundreds of fans who attended this intimate conversation.
George Saunders has been on the Vancouver Writers Fest wishlist for many years, and his sold out event with Alix Ohlin was everything we’d dreamed of. His anticipated new novel, Vigil, is available now!
📸 Photos: Rick Lee
Ondaatje’s new release, The Distance of a Shout, is a singular poetic memoir that invokes the arc of his own journey.
Books for sale at the event by Book Warehouse / Black Bond Books.
Just announced: Michael Ondaatje, the only winner in history of the Golden Man Booker, joins us on March 12 in conversation with fellow icon of Canadian letters, Madeleine Thien.
🗓️ Thursday, March 12 at 7:30 PM
📍 Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island
writersfest.bc.ca/event/michae...
💛 Writers in the Classroom is offered free of cost to schools, thanks to the support of the Government of British Columbia, Modo, Hamber Foundation, and Bonnie Mah.
This season, we are pleased to offer 11 in-person visits to schools across Metro Vancouver, as well as 2 virtual visits that can be arranged with schools anywhere in BC.
Tell the teachers in your life about Writers in the Classroom! This popular Vancouver Writers Fest program will provide 13 FREE author visits (in-person and online) to schools in BC between April and June 2026.
Apply by Friday, February 27:
writersfest.bc.ca/youth#writer...
Dionne Brand speaks with author and UBC professor Kimberly Bain.
This conversation was recorded on October 23, 2024, and presented in partnership with @hogansalleysociety.bsky.social.
On the podcast: Dionne Brand, author of Salvage: Readings from the Wreck, shares how she learned to read the literature of two empires, British and American, in an anti-colonial light—in order to survive and in order to live.
spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/fzOOLoUer0b
In her new release, It’s Not You, It’s the World, Dr. Cheek argues that we’re not broken or doing it wrong when we’re stressed or struggling. To care for ourselves, we must heal the imbalances in our wider systems that keep making us all sick.
📚 Books for sale by Upstart & Crow
Psychiatrist and UBC professor Dr. Joanna Cheek joins us to offer a survival guide of personal and collective mental health tools for our disordered world, in conversation with world renowned physician and author Dr. Gabor Maté.
Feb 25 on Granville Island:
🎟️ writersfest.bc.ca/event/joanna...
If you missed it, check out some of the interviews Paul did leading up to the event:
The Globe and Mail: www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/book...
The Georgia Straight: www.straight.com/arts/qa-auth...
CityNews: vancouver.citynews.ca/2026/01/18/b...
We had a marvellous time hearing @pulmyears.bsky.social share the tales of John Candy, in a lively conversation last week with Charlie Demers. Thanks to everyone who joined us, and stay tuned; the next Books & Ideas event will be announced tomorrow!
Community partner: VIFF
📸: Salem Paige Maskell
📖 Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers: A Minor Chorus by Billy-Ray Belcourt
📖 Steve “Dangle” Glynn: Searching for Terry Punchout by Tyler Hellard
📖 Tegan Quin: The Cure for Drowning by Loghan Paylor
📖 Josh Dela Cruz: Foe by Iain Reid
📖 Morgann Book: It's Different This Time by Joss Richard
The 2026 CBC Books Canada Reads shortlist has been announced! This year, the great Canadian book debate is looking for one book to build bridges.
The debates will take place April 13–16.
Discover the 2026 finalists:
www.cbc.ca/books/canada...
