Playwrights Theatre Centre (PTC Studio)

Part of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival 2008.

Richard Gwyn’s prize-winning John A. is the
first full-scale biography of Canada’s first prime
minister in half a century. Colourful, intensely
human and with a full measure of human
frailties, MacDonald was beyond question
Canada’s ... (more)most important prime minister. A
vivid, multi-dimensional portrait of a fascinating
character and his times, Gwyn’s John A. casts
fresh eyes on our founding father and gives
history a new life. Winner of the prestigious
Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction.
$14/ $7 for student groups

Part of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival 2008.

Geoffroy de Pennart raconte et illustre les péripéties d’un loup sentimental qui n’a pas du tout l’air effrayant, d’une princesse, d’un dragon et d’un chevalier intrépide, ainsi que de nombreux héros bien intentionnés ... (more)qui devront surmonter plusieurs épreuves. Les récits et leurs illustrations raviront les enfants… et les jeunes de cœur.

Notdog est le chien le plus laid du village.
Par contre, il a possédé son propre blogue
pendant un certain temps. Demandez les
détails à Madame Desrosiers.
Dans ce 17ème livre de la série « Notdog »,
Notdog et ses amis Agnès, Jocelyne et John
ont vécu de nombreuses aventures mettant en
vedette ... (more)des trésors, des pirates, des fantômes
(sans doute), un violon volé et, à un certain
moment, un chien volé ou peut-être perdu.
Pour les élèves de la troisième à la
sixième année
Cette activité sera présentée
exclusivement en français; il y aura
beaucoup de possibilités d’interaction
entre les élèves et l’écrivain.
$14 / $7 pour les groupes d’étudiants

Part of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival 2008.

South African Damon Galgut garnered international attention
when his novel, The Good Doctor, was shortlisted for the Man
Booker Prize and the Dublin IMPAC Award. The Good Doctor,
part parable and part thriller, dissected the ... (more)ideals of post-apartheid
South Africa and exposed a world of corruption behind the talk of
new beginnings. In his new novel, The Imposter, Galgut has again
turned his keen eye on the realities of life in South Africa today,
its contradictions and its beauty. He tells the tale of one man’s
struggle to regain his moral centre amid the disorientating and
often tragic effects of massive social and political change. Don’t
miss this opportunity to spend an evening with an author poised
to become one of South Africa’s great literary voices.
$20

Part of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival 2008.

On the surface, it’s a simple story: When the
Great Forest catches on fire, a brave hummingbird
does what she can to put it out, drop by drop. But
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas’ tale has inspired
world leaders such as Nobel ... (more)Peace Prize winner
Wangari Maathai and his Holiness the Dalai
Lama to environmental action. With brilliantly
rendered images, this parable about a raging fire
that threatens the environment shows us that
doing something is better than doing nothing at
all. The tale has caught fire globally, encouraging
individuals and companies to act on behalf of the
world’s limited resources. Meet the
author whose seemingly simple
act of writing is making such
a difference.
Suitable for grades 4 to 7
$14 / $7 for student groups

Part of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival 2008.

Here’s an awesome opportunity to strut
your stuff and to learn from an ultra-hip,
internationally known spoken word performer
from Australia. Called a “tour guide of the
human spirit” who takes listeners on a “spitladen
adventure,” ... (more)Miles Merrill mixes creative
writing and drama with poetry to produce a
high-powered explosion of live literary theatre.
You can, too! Come to this workshop with
your ideas, sounds and words and you could
find yourself wildly gesticulating your poems in
gibberish or reciting verbal magic.
Suitable for grades 4 to 7
$14 / $7 for student groups

Part of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival 2008.

Joseph Boyden burst onto the Canadian literary scene
in 2005 with the publication of Three Day Road. The
novel, the story of two Cree friends who leave their
pristine northern country to end up in the horrific
trenches of the ... (more)First World War, put Boyden into the
literary limelight when he was only in his 30s. Three
Day Road was nominated for a number of awards,
eventually winning two, and has been translated into
10 languages. Boyden returns to the Festival with a
haunting new novel, Through Black Spruce. With the
sensitivity that made his first novel so moving, he
tackles topics of self-discovery, painful realizations and
the inescapable ties of family. This will be an evening
well spent, with an author whose wisdom and talent
has established him at the forefront of the Canadian
literary scene.
$20

Part of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival 2008.

It’s storytime this morning, and two authors will delight young readers with
tales that tickle the imagination. Cary Fagan has created Thing-Thing, a
stuffed toy whose adventures begin after being thrown out of a high-rise
window ... (more)and end happily in the blankets of a baby carriage. Hazel Hutchins
introduces us to Matt, who creates an entire Mattland in his backyard in the
middle of a rainstorm. Words and pictures are moulded into a real treat in the
hands of these experienced authors.
Suitable for grades 1 to 3
$14 / $7 for student groups

Part of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival 2008.

Shaun Tan’s The Arrival is a stunning graphic
novel without words. It has been widely
celebrated for its visual elegance and moving
depiction of the immigrant experience. The story
is told through a series of illustrated ... (more)panels that
were painstakingly rendered and assembled
during a five-year labour of love. With visual
examples and working drawings, Tan reveals
the creative process behind his mesmerizing
images. A not-to-be missed experience with a
master of this new literary genre.
Suitable for grades 8 to 12 and adults
$14 / $7 for student groups

Part of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival 2008.

Best known for his National Book Award winning The Snow Leopard, Peter
Matthiessen is also an explorer, naturalist and author of more than 20 books.
His new novel, Shadow Country, touches on the great themes of American
literature: ... (more)race, the destruction of wild places the belief in self-transformation
and renewal, violence and patriotism. The New York Review of Books said:
“Shadow Country is altogether gripping and shocking and brilliantly told,
not just a tour de force in its stylistic range, but a great American novel, as
powerful a reading experience as nearly any in our literature.” An intimate
evening with one of the greats of our time.
The Solo Author Series is sponsored by Raincoast Books and supported by the
F.K. Morrow Foundation.
$20

Part of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival 2008.

A simple, straightforward narrative can be riveting, but there is added pleasure when
a writer puts as much emphasis on the how of storytelling as on the what happens
next. While Stéphane Audeguy writes with a savoury mixture ... (more)of science, history
and dreamy prose, Kenneth J. Harvey employs a multiplicity of voices
in his unconventional story, Blackstrap Hawco. Lee Henderson’s debut
novel, The Man Game, uses an edgy and anarchistic style to tell of life
in a pioneer town. Australian author Gail Jones doesn’t adhere to
a clear-cut structure, rather she places pieces of prose to form her
story in her new novel, Sorry. Come hear how four contemporary
masters use style to great literary effect.
$14 / $7 for student groups

Part of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival 2008.

When American poet Sharon Olds stood on the
steps of the library at Columbia University having
earned her PhD, she vowed to become a poet,
even if it meant giving up everything she had
learned. The vow she made freed her to ... (more)develop
her own voice and set her on a path that has won
her international acclaim over three decades.
Olds has published eight volumes of poetry, her
work has appeared in more than 100 anthologies
and collections, and it has been translated into
seven languages. Yet Olds remains modest about
her place in history. “I don’t know what poetry
is,” Olds says. Spend an evening with one of
America’s greatest living poets.
The Solo Author Series is sponsored by
Raincoast Books and supported by the
F.K. Morrow Foundation.
$20

Part of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival 2008.

Shanghai in the mid-1990s is an unfamiliar
setting for most readers of crime novels. But
it’s the fascinating world of Qiu Xiaolong’s
exciting Inspector Chen Cao series. Like many
detectives, Chen is frequently frustrated
with ... (more)his career and his bosses. But this is
China and trying to crack cases involving
murder and political intrigue in a time of rapid
cultural, economic and political development
presents unique challenges—and riveting
fiction. Xiaolong, who left China in 1988, feels
compelled to document these dramatic changes,
and imagine for himself the home he left behind.
Meet this rising star and his complicated, not
always likeable, detective.
$15

Part of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival 2008.

The celebrated Vancouver poet Daphne Marlatt has etched memorable
portraits of Steveston and Strathcona in her work. Her poems reveal that
history is never a thing of the past in these vital communities, but still there
to whisper ... (more)stories into the ears of those willing to listen. Listening forms the
core of this event, as Marlatt teams up with musicians Robert Minden and
Carla Hallett to bring her poetry to life. Together, they combine waterphones,
bowed saws, theremin, a toy piano, found percussion objects and voice in their
explorations of musical textures and forms. The result is sure to be an aural
tapestry that is melodic, percussive and unforgettably poetic.
$15

Part of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival 2008.

Ursula K. Le Guin is a wise, compassionate,
profoundly moral writer who believes, with
the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, that “the great
instrument of moral good is the imagination.”
She has been shortlisted for every major ... (more)literary
award in the United States, including the Pulitzer
Prize, the National Book Award and the PEN/
Malamud Award. Her science fiction has won
multiple Hugos and Nebulas. Le Guin’s Lavinia,
her latest novel, gives a rich fictional life to a
character from Virgil’s The Aeneid and has been
praised as “perhaps the masterwork of her
career.” This is the chance to hear Le Guin talk
about her lifelong passion for books and what
inspires her creative imagination.
The Solo Author Series is sponsored by
Raincoast Books and supported by the
F.K. Morrow Foundation.
$20

Part of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival 2008.

Perhaps two of the most famous and monstrous figures in all of
literature are Count Dracula and Frankenstein, who have served
as inspiration for countless novels and movies. But Kathlyn
Bradshaw and C.C. Humphreys have used ... (more)these familiar old
legends to fashion powerful new tales of mystery and betrayal.
Bradshaw’s Frankenstein Murders combines elements of gaslight
detective novels and smog-drenched ghost stories to explore
the psychological underpinnings of characters first rendered
almost two hundred years ago. Vlad, The Last Confession, C.C.
Humphreys’ latest novel, follows not the Dracula of fiction but
his real-life 15th century much more frightening counterpart, Vlad
the Impaler. The book weaves legend and fact into a monumental
novel of blood, love and terror. Not for the faint of heart.
$15

Part of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival 2008.

How do firefighters deal with the devastation they’ve seen? What are the emotional
and psychological costs of being an emergency worker? Russell Wangersky is a
Canadian journalist, editor in chief of the St. John’s Telegram ... (more)and short story writer.
Now he’s written a memoir of his 20 years as a volunteer firefighter, a visceral,
gorgeously written record of what he saw and heard, smelled, felt and thought while
responding to fires, highway disasters and medical emergencies. He’ll talk about how
he has attempted to put to rest the haunting pieces of these experiences that have
changed his life.
$15