Hit the ‘pause’ button on your frantic life and settle back as three acclaimed non-fiction writers share their moving, contemplative works of nonfiction
Date/Time: Apr 12 2017, 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm
Vancouver, VPL Central BranchCost: Free
Find tickets: here
Sharon Butala tells of reinventing herself after the sudden death of her husband in Where I Live Now; Michael Harris makes an argument for spending more time alone in Solitude; and Robert Moor takes us on a hike across the globe’s trails—and into the human psyche—in On Trails.
The Vancouver Writers Fest in partnership with VPL presents: Incite. ind-altering, metamorphic, twice-monthly. Free readings, interviews and discussions with authors who will change how you see the world.
Sharon Butala's classic book The Perfection of the Morning was a #1 bestseller and a finalist for the Governor General’s Award. Fever, a short story collection was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for best book. Her latest novel, Wild Rose, was shortlisted for the W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. Butala is a recipient of the Marian Engel Award, the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, and the 2012 Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg Award for Literary Excellence. In 2002 she became an Officer of the Order of Canada. She lives in Calgary, Alberta.
Where I Live Now
When Sharon Butala’s husband, Peter, died unexpectedly, she found herself with no place to call home. Torn by grief and loss, she fled the ranchlands of southwest Saskatchewan and moved to the city, leaving almost everything behind. Reinventing herself in an urban landscape was painful, and facing her new life as a widow tested her very being. Yet out of this hard-won new existence comes an astonishingly frank, compassionate and moving memoir that offers not only solace and hope but inspiration to those who endure profound loss.
Michael Harris is the author of The End of Absence, which won the Governor General's Literary Award and became a national bestseller. He writes about media, civil liberties and the arts for dozens of publications, including The Washington Post, Wired, Salon, The Huffington Post and The Globe and Mail. His work has been a finalist for the RBC Taylor Prize, the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, the Chautauqua Prize, the CBC Bookie Awards and several National Magazine Awards. He lives in Vancouver with his partner, the artist Kenny Park.
Solitude: A Singular Life in a Crowded World
In our hyper-connected world, few of us ever spend time truly 'alone'--possibly to our detriment. Award-winning author Michael Harris examines why our experience of solitude has become so impoverished, and how we may grow to love it again in the frenzy of our digital landscape. Solitude is an optimistic and encouraging story about discovering true quiet inside the city, inside the crowd, inside our busy and urbane lives. Harris guides readers away from a life of ceaseless pings toward a state of measured connectivity, one that balances solitude and companionship.
Robert Moor has written for Harper’s, n+1, New York, and GQ, among other publications. A recipient of the Middlebury Fellowship in Environmental Journalism, he has won multiple awards for his nonfiction writing. He lives in Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia. On Trails is his first book.
Named as one of the 'Best Books of 2016' by the National Post and Amazon, On Trails is a is a wondrous exploration of how trails help us understand the world. For seven years, Moor travelled the globe by trail, discovering the secrets of the world's master trail-builders and, in the process, found himself asking big, age-old questions about nature and humanity. Filled with findings from philosophy, science and history, On Trails is an insightful as it is joyous.
Free - let us know you're coming
More info