Biblioasis

Jón Kalman Stefánsson at Vancouver Writers Fest: The Conversations
2024-10-25 13:00 - 15:00 (America/Vancouver) | Granville Island Stage, 1585 Johnston Street, Vancouver, BC, V6H 3R9, Canada
Award-winning Icelandic novelist Jón Kalman Stefánsson, author of Your Absence Is Darkness, trans. by Philip Roughton, will be at Vancouver Writers Fest for the panel “The Conversations.” Jón will be joined by Anne Enright and Myriam J. A. Chancy for a discussion moderated by Aislinn Hunter (Best Canadian Poetry 2025). Back-to-back conversations with the three international authors probe the writing life and bring up questions about love, intergenerational bonds, and possibility.
The event will be at the Granville Island Stage on Friday, October 25 at 1PM.
More details here.
Grab a copy of Your Absence Is Darkness here!
ABOUT YOUR ABSENCE IS DARKNESS
A spellbinding saga about the inhabitants and inheritors of one rural community, by one of Iceland’s most beloved novelists.
A man comes to awareness in a cold church in the Icelandic countryside, not knowing who he is, why he’s there or how he arrived, with a stranger staring mockingly from a few pews back. Startled by the man’s cryptic questions, he leaves—and plunges into a history spanning centuries, a past pressed into his genes that sinks him closer to some knowledge of himself. A city girl is drawn to the fjords by the memory of a blue-eyed gaze, and a generation earlier, a farmer’s wife writes an essay about earthworms that changes the course of lives. A pastor who writes letters to dead poets falls in love with a faraway stranger, and a rock musician, plagued by cosmic loneliness, discovers that his past has been a lie. Faced with the violence of fate and the effects of choices, made and avoided, that cascade between them, each discovers the cost of following the magnetic needle of the heart.
Incandescent and elemental, hope-filled and humane, Your Absence Is Darkness is a comedy about mortality, music, and the strange salve of time, and a spellbinding saga of death, desire, and the perfect agony of star-crossed love.
ABOUT JON KALMAN STEFANSSON
Jón Kalman Stefánsson’s novels have been nominated three times for the Nordic Council Prize for Literature, and his novel Summer Light, and Then Comes the Night received the Icelandic Prize for Literature in 2005. In 2011 he was awarded the prestigious P. O. Enquist Award. He is perhaps best known for his trilogy: Heaven and Hell, The Sorrow of Angels (longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize) and The Heart of Man (winner of the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize). A subsequent novel, Fish Have No Feet, was longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2017.

Best Canadian Poetry 2025: Vancouver Writers Fest
2024-10-24 20:30 - 22:00 (America/Toronto) | Performance Works, 1218 Cartwright Street, Vancouver, BC, V6H 3R9, Canada
Aislinn Hunter, editor of this year’s Best Canadian Poetry 2025 anthology, will be hosting “The Poetry Bash” event at Vancouver Writer’s Fest! Poets joining the event include Evelyn Lau, contributor to and representative of Best Canadian Poetry 2025, alongside fellow poets Stephen Collis, Jess Housty, Zehra Naqvi, Michael Turner, shō yamagushiku, and Daniel Zomparelli. Entrancing, surprising, and memorable: The Poetry Bash is a gateway to discovering new-to-you poets or hearing your favourites.
The event will take place on Thursday, October 24 at 8:30PM.
Tickets and more details here.
Grab Best Canadian Poetry 2025 here!
ABOUT BEST CANADIAN POETRY 2025
Selected by editor Aislinn Hunter, the 2025 edition of Best Canadian Poetry showcases the best Canadian poetry writing published in 2023.
Featuring:
Hollie Adams • George Amabile • Erin Bedford • Billy-Ray Belcourt • Bertrand Bickersteth • Elisabeth Blair • Ronna Bloom • Alison Braid-Fernandez • Robert Bringhurst • Emily Cann • Anne Carson • Molly Cross-Blanchard • Lorna Crozier • Kayla Czaga • Evelyna Ekoko-Kay • Kate Genevieve • Susan Gillis • Sue Goyette • Catherine Graham • Henry Heavyshield • Gerald Hill • Alexander Hollenberg • Kim June Johnson • Eve Joseph • Evelyn Lau • Y. S. Lee • D. A. Lockhart • Fareh Malik • David Martin • Domenica Martinello • Cassidy McFadzean • Carmelita McGrath • Erín Moure • Tolu Oloruntoba • Catherine Owen • Molly Peacock • Miranda Pearson • Pauline Peters • Amanda Proctor • Shannon Quinn • Armand Garnet Ruffo • Anne Simpson • Carolyn Smart • Karen Solie • Catherine St. Denis • Owen Torrey • Michael Trussler • Sara Truuvert • Rob Winger • Jaeyun Yoo
ABOUT AISLINN HUNTER
Aislinn Hunter is an award-winning poet and novelist living on the unceded and ancestral lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. Her most recent book of poetry is Linger, Still (Gaspereau Press), winner of the Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry.

Colleen Coco Collins at the UNB Reading Series
2024-10-24 19:30 - 20:30 (America/Halifax) | UNB Fredericton, Fredericton, NB, E3B 5A3, Canada
Colleen Coco Collins, author of the poetry collection Sorry About the Fire (Apr 4, 2024), will be reading as part of the UNB Reading Series! Books will be available for sale and signing from Westminster Bookmark.
The reading will take place on Thursday, October 24 at 7:30PM.
Grab a copy of Sorry About the Fire here!
ABOUT SORRY ABOUT THE FIRE
A CBC Books’ Poetry Collection to Watch for in Spring 2024
I wanted a good bewildering, / down deep, / as the keep of a castle.
With a voice as ungovernable and determined as Prometheus—who stole fire from Zeus only to face dire consequences—Colleen Coco Collins’ debut poems are daring dispatches from beyond the margins: light-filled flares sent up from the edge of language, sentience, land, and story. Drawing on all of her multidisciplinary enamorations and rendered through the triple vision of her Irish, French, and Odawa heritage, Sorry About the Fire introduces not just a poet, but a stunningly original sensibility.
ABOUT COLLEEN COCO COLLINS
Colleen Coco Collins [she/they] is an interdisciplinary artist of Irish, French, and Odawa descent, working in songwriting, performance, poetry and visual arts. She’s worked as a gallery director, in forestry, fossil preparation, and renovation; as an autism support worker, teacher, and women’s shelter counsellor. Her writing, music, and art practice centers on temporality, presumptions of sentience, subversion, rhythm, gesture, geographies, biophonies, frequencies, the ouroboric, the peripatetic, love and the polyglottic. Hailing from Antler River/Deshkan Ziibiing/London, Ontario, Coco has studied at universities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, New Zealand, and Ireland. She lives litorally in rural Port Greville, Mi’kma’ki/Nova Scotia amidst crows, coyotes, grackles, bees, humpback, lichen and fox.

Jón Kalman Stefánsson at McNally Robinson (Grant Park)
2024-10-23 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Winnipeg) | McNally Robinson – Grant Park, 1120 Grant Ave, Unit 4000, Winnipeg, MB, R3M 2A6, Canada
Award-winning Icelandic novelist Jón Kalman Stefánsson, author of Your Absence Is Darkness, trans. by Philip Roughton, will be at McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park. Jón will be in conversation with McNally Robinson co-owner Chris Hall, for this event co-presented by the Consulate General of Iceland in Winnipeg, the Icelandic Canadian Frón, and Lögberg-Heimskringla.
The event will be hosted live in the Atrium of McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park and also available as a simultaneous YouTube stream, on Wednesday, October 23 at 7PM.
More details here.
Grab a copy of Your Absence Is Darkness here!
ABOUT YOUR ABSENCE IS DARKNESS
A spellbinding saga about the inhabitants and inheritors of one rural community, by one of Iceland’s most beloved novelists.
A man comes to awareness in a cold church in the Icelandic countryside, not knowing who he is, why he’s there or how he arrived, with a stranger staring mockingly from a few pews back. Startled by the man’s cryptic questions, he leaves—and plunges into a history spanning centuries, a past pressed into his genes that sinks him closer to some knowledge of himself. A city girl is drawn to the fjords by the memory of a blue-eyed gaze, and a generation earlier, a farmer’s wife writes an essay about earthworms that changes the course of lives. A pastor who writes letters to dead poets falls in love with a faraway stranger, and a rock musician, plagued by cosmic loneliness, discovers that his past has been a lie. Faced with the violence of fate and the effects of choices, made and avoided, that cascade between them, each discovers the cost of following the magnetic needle of the heart.
Incandescent and elemental, hope-filled and humane, Your Absence Is Darkness is a comedy about mortality, music, and the strange salve of time, and a spellbinding saga of death, desire, and the perfect agony of star-crossed love.
ABOUT JON KALMAN STEFANSSON
Jón Kalman Stefánsson’s novels have been nominated three times for the Nordic Council Prize for Literature, and his novel Summer Light, and Then Comes the Night received the Icelandic Prize for Literature in 2005. In 2011 he was awarded the prestigious P. O. Enquist Award. He is perhaps best known for his trilogy: Heaven and Hell, The Sorrow of Angels (longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize) and The Heart of Man (winner of the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize). A subsequent novel, Fish Have No Feet, was longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2017.

Luke Hathaway at the Antler River Poetry Series
2024-10-23 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Toronto) | Landon Branch London Public Library, 167 Wortley Road, London, ON, Canada
Join Luke Hathaway, author of The Affirmations, for the Antler River Poetry Series, alongside fellow poet Sarah Burgoyne. Attendees are encouraged to wear a mask to protect vulnerable members of the community.
The readings will take place at the Landon Branch of the London Public Library on Wednesday, October 23 at 7PM.
More details here.
Get The Affirmations here!
ABOUT THE AFFIRMATIONS
Shortlisted for the 2023 J.M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award • Winner of the 2021 Confederation Poets Prize • One of The Times’ Best Poetry Books of 2022 • A CBC Best Poetry Book of 2022 • Nominated for the 2023 ReLit Award for Poetry
The mystics who coined the phrase ‘the way of affirmation’ understood the apocalyptic nature of the word yes, the way it can lead out of one life and into another. Moving among the languages of Christian conversion, Classical metamorphosis, seasonal transformation, and gender transition, Luke Hathaway tells the story of the love that rewired his being, asking each of us to experience the transfiguration that can follow upon saying yes—with all one’s heart, with all one’s soul, with all one’s mind, with all one’s strength . . . and with all one’s body, too.
ABOUT LUKE HATHAWAY
Luke Hathaway is a trans poet who teaches English and Creative Writing at Saint Mary’s University in Kjipuktuk/Halifax. He has been before now at some time boy and girl, bush, bird, and a mute fish in the sea. His book Years, Months, and Days was named a best book of 2018 in the New York Times. He mentors new librettists as a faculty member in the Amadeus Choir’s Choral Composition Lab, and makes music with Daniel Cabena as part of the metamorphosing ensemble ANIMA.

Mark Bourrie at the Midland Public Library
2024-10-23 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Toronto) | Midland Public Library, 320 King Street, Midland, ON, L4R 3M6, Canada
Join Mark Bourrie, historian and award-winning author of Crosses in the Sky, for a discussion about his newest book at the Midland Public Library.
The event will take place on Wednesday, October 23 at 6PM.
Registration and more details here.
Grab Crosses in the Sky here!
ABOUT CROSSES IN THE SKY
From the bestselling author of Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre Esprit-Radisson
This is the story of the collision of two worlds. In the early 1600s, the Jesuits—the Catholic Church’s most ferocious warriors for Christ—tried to create their own nation on the Great Lakes and turn the Huron (Wendat) Confederacy into a model Jesuit state. At the centre of their campaign was missionary Jean de Brébeuf, a mystic who sought to die a martyr’s death. He lived among a proud people who valued kindness and rights for all, especially women. In the end, Huronia was destroyed. Brébeuf became a Catholic saint, and the Jesuit’s “martyrdom” became one of the founding myths of Canada.
In this first secular biography of Brébeuf, historian Mark Bourrie, bestselling author of Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson, recounts the missionary’s fascinating life and tells the tragic story of the remarkable people he lived among. Drawing on the letters and documents of the time—including Brébeuf’s accounts of his bizarre spirituality—and modern studies of the Jesuits, Bourrie shows how Huron leaders tried to navigate this new world and the people struggled to cope as their nation came apart. Riveting, clearly told, and deeply researched, Crosses in the Sky is an essential addition to—and expansion of—Canadian history.
ABOUT MARK BOURRIE
Mark Bourrie is an Ottawa-based author, lawyer, and journalist. He holds a master’s in journalism from Carleton University and a PhD in history from the University of Ottawa. In 2017, he was awarded a Juris Doctor degree and was called to the bar in 2018. He has won numerous awards for his journalism, including a National Magazine Award, and received the RBC Charles Taylor Prize in 2020 for his book Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson. His most recent book, Big Men Fear Me: The Fast Life and Quick Death of Canada’s Most Powerful Media Mogul, was nominated for several book awards.

Caroline Adderson at Vancouver Writers Fest
2024-10-23 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Vancouver) | Performance Works, 1218 Cartwright Street, Vancouver, BC, V6H 3R9, Canada
Join Caroline Adderson, author of Giller-longlisted A Way to Be Happy (Sep 10, 2024) at Vancouver Writers Fest for the reading event “Short Stories, Infinite Identities.” Caroline will be in conversation with authors Shashi Bhat and Aaron Kreuter, for this event moderated by Shaena Lambert.
Good short stories can share expansive truths with the smallest details. Each of these authors offer mesmerizing insights into what it means to be human in their collections. Discover more about the intricate craft of short stories, which offers a necessary tapestry of humanity.
The event will take place on Wednesday, October 23 at 5:30 PM.
Tickets and more details here.
Grab A Way to Be Happy here!
ABOUT A WAY TO BE HAPPY
Longlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize
Short stories about disparate characters consider what it means to find happiness.
On New Year’s Eve, a pair of addicts robs a string of high-end parties in order to fund their own recovery. A recently separated woman relocates to a small northern town, where she receives a life-changing visitation, and a Russian hitman, suffering from a mysterious lung ailment, retrieves long-buried memories of his past. In the nineteenth century, a disparate group of women coalesce in the attempt to aid a young girl in her escape from a hospital for the insane. These are but some of the remarkable characters who populate these stories, all of them grappling with conflicts ranging from mundane to extraordinary. Caroline Adderson’s A Way to Be Happy considers what it means to find happiness—and how often it comes through the grace of others.
ABOUT CAROLINE ADDERSON
Caroline Adderson is the author of five novels (A Russian Sister, Ellen in Pieces, The Sky Is Falling, Sitting Practice, and A History of Forgetting), two previous collections of short stories (Pleased to Meet You and Bad Imaginings), as well as many books for young readers. Her award nominations include the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, two Commonwealth Writers’ Prizes, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rogers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. The recipient of three BC Book Prizes, three CBC Literary Awards, and the Marian Engel Award for mid-career achievement, Caroline lives and writes in Vancouver.

Jón Kalman Stefánsson in New York City
2024-10-22 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Award-winning Icelandic novelist Jón Kalman Stefánsson will be at the Scandinavia House in New York City, for a conversation about his new novel, translated by Philip Roughton, Your Absence Is Darkness.
The event will take place on Tuesday, October 22 at 7PM.
Registration and more details here.
Grab a copy of Your Absence Is Darkness here!
ABOUT YOUR ABSENCE IS DARKNESS
A spellbinding saga about the inhabitants and inheritors of one rural community, by one of Iceland’s most beloved novelists.
A man comes to awareness in a cold church in the Icelandic countryside, not knowing who he is, why he’s there or how he arrived, with a stranger staring mockingly from a few pews back. Startled by the man’s cryptic questions, he leaves—and plunges into a history spanning centuries, a past pressed into his genes that sinks him closer to some knowledge of himself. A city girl is drawn to the fjords by the memory of a blue-eyed gaze, and a generation earlier, a farmer’s wife writes an essay about earthworms that changes the course of lives. A pastor who writes letters to dead poets falls in love with a faraway stranger, and a rock musician, plagued by cosmic loneliness, discovers that his past has been a lie. Faced with the violence of fate and the effects of choices, made and avoided, that cascade between them, each discovers the cost of following the magnetic needle of the heart.
Incandescent and elemental, hope-filled and humane, Your Absence Is Darkness is a comedy about mortality, music, and the strange salve of time, and a spellbinding saga of death, desire, and the perfect agony of star-crossed love.
ABOUT JON KALMAN STEFANSSON
Jón Kalman Stefánsson’s novels have been nominated three times for the Nordic Council Prize for Literature, and his novel Summer Light, and Then Comes the Night received the Icelandic Prize for Literature in 2005. In 2011 he was awarded the prestigious P. O. Enquist Award. He is perhaps best known for his trilogy: Heaven and Hell, The Sorrow of Angels (longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize) and The Heart of Man (winner of the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize). A subsequent novel, Fish Have No Feet, was longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2017.

Michael Lista at Calgary Wordfest: How to . . . Investigate
2024-10-20 15:30 - 16:30 (America/Edmonton) | Memorial Park Library, Festival Hub, 2nd Flr, 1221 2 St SW, Calgary, AB, Canada
Michael Lista, author of poetry collection Barfly (June 6, 2024) will be at the Calgary Wordfest’s Imaginairium Festival’s event, “How to . . . Investigate.” Michael will be interviewed in a 60-minute conversation by friend and fellow long-form award-winner Christina Frangou who will uncover the secrets of how he gets the story. A priceless interview with two unstoppable journalists. Books will be made available for sale and signing by Owl’s Nest Books.
The event is free, and will take place on Sunday, October 20 at 3:30PM.
More details here.
Grab Barfly here!
ABOUT BARFLY
A CBC Books’ Poetry Collection to Watch for in Spring 2024 • A Toronto Star Most Anticipated Spring Title
We’re in love, but we’re still Millennials. / What’s wrong with our hearts is congenital.
In Barfly, the poet comes back to haunt himself, and us. In this incomparable third collection, his first in a decade, Michael Lista returns to reinvent poetry with humour, pugnacity, and a deeply singular voice. Splicing Byronic rhymes and Auden’s meters with the twenty-first century irreverence of a late-stage Twitter feed, the poems in Barfly are alternatingly aggressive, sweet, deadly, and raw with a break-your-heart vulnerability.
ABOUT MICHAEL LISTA
Michael Lista is an investigative journalist, essayist and poet. He has worked as a book columnist for the National Post and as the poetry editor of The Walrus. He is the author of four books: the poetry volumes Bloom and The Scarborough; Strike Anywhere, a collection of his writing about literature, television and culture; and The Human Scale: Murder, Mischief and Other Selected Mayhems, a book of longform journalism. His essays and investigative stories have appeared in the New Yorker, The Atlantic, Slate, The Walrus, Canadaland, and Toronto Life. He is a contributing editor at Toronto Life and Maclean’s. He was the 2017 Margaret Laurence Fellow at Trent University and the winner of the 2020 National Magazine Awards for both Investigative Reporting and Long Form Feature Writing. His story “The Sting” is being adapted by Adam Perlman, Robert Downey Jr., and Team Downey into a television series for Apple TV+.

Caroline Adderson at Whistler Writers Fest: Sunday BookTalk and Breakfast
2024-10-20 10:30 - 13:00 (America/Vancouver) | Fairmont Chateau Whistler, 4599 Chateau Blvd, Whistler, BC, Canada
Join Caroline Adderson, author of Giller-longlisted A Way to Be Happy (Sep 10, 2024) at Whistler Writers Fest for the reading event “Sunday BookTalk and Breakfast.” Caroline will be moderating a conversation between authors Conor Kerr, Bob McDonald, and Leanne Toshiko Simpson in a conversation about their new releases.
The event will take place on Sunday, October 20 at 10:45AM.
More details here.
Grab A Way to Be Happy here!
ABOUT A WAY TO BE HAPPY
Longlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize
Short stories about disparate characters consider what it means to find happiness.
On New Year’s Eve, a pair of addicts robs a string of high-end parties in order to fund their own recovery. A recently separated woman relocates to a small northern town, where she receives a life-changing visitation, and a Russian hitman, suffering from a mysterious lung ailment, retrieves long-buried memories of his past. In the nineteenth century, a disparate group of women coalesce in the attempt to aid a young girl in her escape from a hospital for the insane. These are but some of the remarkable characters who populate these stories, all of them grappling with conflicts ranging from mundane to extraordinary. Caroline Adderson’s A Way to Be Happy considers what it means to find happiness—and how often it comes through the grace of others.
ABOUT CAROLINE ADDERSON
Caroline Adderson is the author of five novels (A Russian Sister, Ellen in Pieces, The Sky Is Falling, Sitting Practice, and A History of Forgetting), two previous collections of short stories (Pleased to Meet You and Bad Imaginings), as well as many books for young readers. Her award nominations include the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, two Commonwealth Writers’ Prizes, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rogers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. The recipient of three BC Book Prizes, three CBC Literary Awards, and the Marian Engel Award for mid-career achievement, Caroline lives and writes in Vancouver.

Richard Kelly Kemick at Calgary Wordfest: The Way We... Wear
2024-10-19 19:30 - 21:00 (America/Edmonton) | DJD Dance Centre, 111 12 Ave SE, Calgary, AB, Canada
Richard Kelly Kemick, author of Hello, Horse (Aug 6, 2024), will be appearing at the Calgary Wordfest’s Imaginairium Festival’s event, “The Way We… Wear.” Richard will be joined by fellow writers Anne Enright, Holly Gramazio, Jenny Heijun Wills, Sarah Leavitt, Canisia Lubrin, Marissa Stapley, and Tanya Talaga. The eight writers tell a story about a piece of clothing that became more than just a garment. A lucky left sock? A silk kimono dug up from the bottom of a vintage trunk? The horrible dress your father made you wear to school? The beauty of The Way We… is that we can’t possibly predict what you’ll hear, but we *can* predict you’ll be telling your friends, “You had to be there!” Books will be made available for sale and signing by Owl’s Nest Books.
The event will take place on Saturday, October 19 at 7:30PM.
Tickets and more details here.
Grab Hello, Horse here!
ABOUT HELLO, HORSE
Taut, stylish stories take on big moral questions from surprising perspectives.
A teenager’s job mucking stalls at a dog track takes a strange turn when his co-worker finds a new religion at odds with winning streaks. Two brothers set out in search of fame upon the frozen waters of a subarctic lake. After her mother’s death, a high school student tries to make rent by winning the Unitarian Church’s Annual Young Writer’s Short Story Competition. An incarcerated man considers the nature of justice between shifts with his fellow inmates at Nations at War, the ultimate live-action experience for tourists eager to learn about the Canadian Civil War.
Spanning states and provinces, and featuring an apocalypse, a coterie of ghosts, nuns on ice, and an above-average number of dogs, the stories in Hello, Horse consider the mirage of authenticity and the impact of decisions we make—for better and for worse.
ABOUT RICHARD KELLY KEMICK
Richard Kelly Kemick is an award-winning poet, journalist, and fiction writer. His limited series podcast, Natural Life, is an intimate and unexpectedly honest documentary on his cousin, who is serving a life sentence without parole in Michigan. Richard is also the author of I Am Herod (also on audiobook), which takes readers undercover at one of the world’s largest religious events, and Caribou Run, a collection of poetry. He is the recipient of multiple awards including two National Magazine Awards and the Writers’ Guild of Alberta’s 2019 Award for Best Short Story. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Michael Lista at Calgary Wordfest: Rocking the Boat
2024-10-19 13:00 - 15:00 (America/Edmonton) | DJD Dance Centre, 111 12 Ave SE, Calgary, AB, Canada
Michael Lista, author of poetry collection Barfly (June 6, 2024) will be at the Calgary Wordfest’s Imaginairium Festival’s event, “Rocking the Boat.” Michael will join authors Catherine Hernandez and Danny Ramadan for a conversation hosted by Zain Velji about what it costs—professionally and personally—when you decide to make waves. Art cannot be separated from human rights, facts, and social justice. These writers have stood unwavering in their convictions and desires to create a more equitable, transparent, and empathetic world, often placing themselves in opposition to the status quo, whether literary, political, or societal. Books will be made available for sale and signing by Owl’s Nest Books.
The event will take place on Saturday, October 19 at 1PM.
Tickets and more details here.
Grab Barfly here!
ABOUT BARFLY
A CBC Books’ Poetry Collection to Watch for in Spring 2024 • A Toronto Star Most Anticipated Spring Title
We’re in love, but we’re still Millennials. / What’s wrong with our hearts is congenital.
In Barfly, the poet comes back to haunt himself, and us. In this incomparable third collection, his first in a decade, Michael Lista returns to reinvent poetry with humour, pugnacity, and a deeply singular voice. Splicing Byronic rhymes and Auden’s meters with the twenty-first century irreverence of a late-stage Twitter feed, the poems in Barfly are alternatingly aggressive, sweet, deadly, and raw with a break-your-heart vulnerability.
ABOUT MICHAEL LISTA
Michael Lista is an investigative journalist, essayist and poet. He has worked as a book columnist for the National Post and as the poetry editor of The Walrus. He is the author of four books: the poetry volumes Bloom and The Scarborough; Strike Anywhere, a collection of his writing about literature, television and culture; and The Human Scale: Murder, Mischief and Other Selected Mayhems, a book of longform journalism. His essays and investigative stories have appeared in the New Yorker, The Atlantic, Slate, The Walrus, Canadaland, and Toronto Life. He is a contributing editor at Toronto Life and Maclean’s. He was the 2017 Margaret Laurence Fellow at Trent University and the winner of the 2020 National Magazine Awards for both Investigative Reporting and Long Form Feature Writing. His story “The Sting” is being adapted by Adam Perlman, Robert Downey Jr., and Team Downey into a television series for Apple TV+.

Caroline Adderson at Whistler Writers Fest: A Conversation with Writers of Fiction
2024-10-19 10:00 - 11:30 (America/Vancouver) | Fairmont Chateau Whistler, 4599 Chateau Blvd, Whistler, BC, Canada
Join Caroline Adderson, author of Giller-longlisted A Way to Be Happy (Sep 10, 2024) at Whistler Writers Fest for the reading event “Compassion and Happiness: A Conversation with Writers of Fiction.” Caroline will be joined by fellow fiction writers Jowita Bydlowska and the winner of the Whistler Independent Book Award for fiction winner, in an exploration of the question “How does the heart learn to find what it needs?” and the interlacing themes of loneliness, connection, duty, and happiness. The event will be moderated by Rebecca Wood Barrett.
The event will take place on Saturday, October 19 at 10:15AM.
More details here.
Grab A Way to Be Happy here!
ABOUT A WAY TO BE HAPPY
Longlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize
Short stories about disparate characters consider what it means to find happiness.
On New Year’s Eve, a pair of addicts robs a string of high-end parties in order to fund their own recovery. A recently separated woman relocates to a small northern town, where she receives a life-changing visitation, and a Russian hitman, suffering from a mysterious lung ailment, retrieves long-buried memories of his past. In the nineteenth century, a disparate group of women coalesce in the attempt to aid a young girl in her escape from a hospital for the insane. These are but some of the remarkable characters who populate these stories, all of them grappling with conflicts ranging from mundane to extraordinary. Caroline Adderson’s A Way to Be Happy considers what it means to find happiness—and how often it comes through the grace of others.
ABOUT CAROLINE ADDERSON
Caroline Adderson is the author of five novels (A Russian Sister, Ellen in Pieces, The Sky Is Falling, Sitting Practice, and A History of Forgetting), two previous collections of short stories (Pleased to Meet You and Bad Imaginings), as well as many books for young readers. Her award nominations include the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, two Commonwealth Writers’ Prizes, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rogers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. The recipient of three BC Book Prizes, three CBC Literary Awards, and the Marian Engel Award for mid-career achievement, Caroline lives and writes in Vancouver.

Mark Jarman at the Cork Short Story Festival
2024-10-18 19:30 - 21:00 (Europe/Dublin) | Cork Arts Theatre, Carroll's Quay, Cork, Ireland
Mark Anthony Jarman, author of Burn Man: Selected Stories, will be appearing at the Cork Short Story Festival in Ireland! Mark will be joined by fellow writer Adam Marek in a discussion moderated by Patrick Holloway.
The event will take place on Friday, October 18 at 7:30PM.
Tickets and more details here.
Grab your copy of Burn Man here!
ABOUT BURN MAN
“Literature at the highest level: heartrending, disquieting, fascinating.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Drawing together the best of his short fiction published over the last four decades, Burn Man: Selected Stories showcases Mark Anthony Jarman’s sharply observed characters and acrobatic, voice-driven prose in stories that walk the tightrope between the commonplace and the mystical. With an insightful introduction from John Metcalf, this revelatory selection highlights one of the most spirited and singular masters of the short story form.
ABOUT MARK ANTHONY JARMAN
Mark Anthony Jarman is the author of Touch Anywhere to Begin, Czech Techno, Knife Party at the Hotel Europa, My White Planet, 19 Knives, New Orleans Is Sinking, Dancing Nightly in the Tavern, and the travel book Ireland’s Eye. He was an acquisitions editor for Oberon Press, and introduced many new writers through the Coming Attractions series. He is also the editor of Best Canadian Stories 2023. His novel Salvage King Ya!, is on Amazon.ca’s list of 50 Essential Canadian Books and is the number one book on Amazon’s list of best hockey ﬁction. Widely published in Canada, the US, Europe, and Asia, Jarman is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, a Yaddo fellow, has taught at the University of Victoria, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and the University of New Brunswick, where he has been ﬁction editor of The Fiddlehead literary journal since 1999. He is also co-editor of literary journal CAMEL.

Michael Lista at Calgary Wordfest: Poetry Cabaret
2024-10-18 19:30 - 21:00 (America/Edmonton) | Memorial Park Library, Festival Hub, 2nd Flr, 1221 2 St SW, Calgary, AB, Canada
Michael Lista, author of poetry collection Barfly (June 6, 2024) will be at the Calgary Wordfest’s Imaginairium Festival’s “Poetry Cabaret”! Michael will be joined by fellow poets Conor Kerr, Canisia Lubrin, and Benjamin Hertwig on stage to regale the audience in verse with readings and short interviews. Join them to fill your Friday night with a figurative (and perhaps a literal) cocktail of the poetic joy and wonder within us all. Books will be made available for sale and signing by Owl’s Nest Books.
The event will take place on Friday, October 18 at 7:30PM.
Tickets and more details here.
Grab Barfly here!
ABOUT BARFLY
A CBC Books’ Poetry Collection to Watch for in Spring 2024 • A Toronto Star Most Anticipated Spring Title
We’re in love, but we’re still Millennials. / What’s wrong with our hearts is congenital.
In Barfly, the poet comes back to haunt himself, and us. In this incomparable third collection, his first in a decade, Michael Lista returns to reinvent poetry with humour, pugnacity, and a deeply singular voice. Splicing Byronic rhymes and Auden’s meters with the twenty-first century irreverence of a late-stage Twitter feed, the poems in Barfly are alternatingly aggressive, sweet, deadly, and raw with a break-your-heart vulnerability.
ABOUT MICHAEL LISTA
Michael Lista is an investigative journalist, essayist and poet. He has worked as a book columnist for the National Post and as the poetry editor of The Walrus. He is the author of four books: the poetry volumes Bloom and The Scarborough; Strike Anywhere, a collection of his writing about literature, television and culture; and The Human Scale: Murder, Mischief and Other Selected Mayhems, a book of longform journalism. His essays and investigative stories have appeared in the New Yorker, The Atlantic, Slate, The Walrus, Canadaland, and Toronto Life. He is a contributing editor at Toronto Life and Maclean’s. He was the 2017 Margaret Laurence Fellow at Trent University and the winner of the 2020 National Magazine Awards for both Investigative Reporting and Long Form Feature Writing. His story “The Sting” is being adapted by Adam Perlman, Robert Downey Jr., and Team Downey into a television series for Apple TV+.

Richard Kelly Kemick at Calgary Wordfest: Turtle Island Reads
2024-10-17 19:30 - 21:00 (America/Edmonton) | DJD Dance Centre, 111 12 Ave SE, Calgary, AB, Canada
Richard Kelly Kemick, author of Hello, Horse (Aug 6, 2024), will be appearing at the Calgary Wordfest’s Imaginairium Festival’s event, “Turtle Island Reads.” Richard will be joined by a number of fellow writers, including Carleigh Baker, Shashi Bhat, Fanny Britt, Sig Burwash, and Conor Kerr. At turns edgy, humorous, experimental, complex, and raw, the tales told by these cross-country stars of contemporary Canadian storytelling speak to our longing for community and connection. Books will be made available for purchase by Owl’s Nest Books.
The event will take place on Thursday, October 17 at 7:30PM.
Tickets and more details here.
Grab Hello, Horse here!
ABOUT HELLO, HORSE
Taut, stylish stories take on big moral questions from surprising perspectives.
A teenager’s job mucking stalls at a dog track takes a strange turn when his co-worker finds a new religion at odds with winning streaks. Two brothers set out in search of fame upon the frozen waters of a subarctic lake. After her mother’s death, a high school student tries to make rent by winning the Unitarian Church’s Annual Young Writer’s Short Story Competition. An incarcerated man considers the nature of justice between shifts with his fellow inmates at Nations at War, the ultimate live-action experience for tourists eager to learn about the Canadian Civil War.
Spanning states and provinces, and featuring an apocalypse, a coterie of ghosts, nuns on ice, and an above-average number of dogs, the stories in Hello, Horse consider the mirage of authenticity and the impact of decisions we make—for better and for worse.
ABOUT RICHARD KELLY KEMICK
Richard Kelly Kemick is an award-winning poet, journalist, and fiction writer. His limited series podcast, Natural Life, is an intimate and unexpectedly honest documentary on his cousin, who is serving a life sentence without parole in Michigan. Richard is also the author of I Am Herod (also on audiobook), which takes readers undercover at one of the world’s largest religious events, and Caribou Run, a collection of poetry. He is the recipient of multiple awards including two National Magazine Awards and the Writers’ Guild of Alberta’s 2019 Award for Best Short Story. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Caroline Adderson at Paragraphe Bookstore
2024-10-10 17:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Paragraphe Bookstore, 2220 McGill College Ave, Montreal, QC, H3A 3P9, Canada
Come out to Paragraphe Bookstore in Montreal, where Caroline Adderson, author of Giller-longlisted A Way to Be Happy (Sep 10, 2024), will be reading from her new short story collection. Books will be available for sale and signing.
The event will take place on Thursday, October 10 at 5PM.
More details TBA.
Get A Way to Be Happy here!
ABOUT A WAY TO BE HAPPY
Longlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize
Short stories about disparate characters consider what it means to find happiness.
On New Year’s Eve, a pair of addicts robs a string of high-end parties in order to fund their own recovery. A recently separated woman relocates to a small northern town, where she receives a life-changing visitation, and a Russian hitman, suffering from a mysterious lung ailment, retrieves long-buried memories of his past. In the nineteenth century, a disparate group of women coalesce in the attempt to aid a young girl in her escape from a hospital for the insane. These are but some of the remarkable characters who populate these stories, all of them grappling with conflicts ranging from mundane to extraordinary. Caroline Adderson’s A Way to Be Happy considers what it means to find happiness—and how often it comes through the grace of others.
ABOUT CAROLINE ADDERSON
Caroline Adderson is the author of five novels (A Russian Sister, Ellen in Pieces, The Sky Is Falling, Sitting Practice, and A History of Forgetting), two previous collections of short stories (Pleased to Meet You and Bad Imaginings), as well as many books for young readers. Her award nominations include the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, two Commonwealth Writers’ Prizes, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rogers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. The recipient of three BC Book Prizes, three CBC Literary Awards, and the Marian Engel Award for mid-career achievement, Caroline lives and writes in Vancouver.

Caroline Adderson at Argo Bookshop
2024-10-08 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Argo Bookshop, 1841-A rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest, Montreal, QC, H3H 1M2, Canada
Come out to Argo Bookshop in Montreal, where Caroline Adderson, author of Giller-longlisted A Way to Be Happy (Sep 10, 2024), will be speaking on a panel with Susan Lloy and Cora Sire. Books will be available for sale and signing.
The event will take place on Tuesday, October 8 at 7PM.
More details TBA.
Get A Way to Be Happy here!
ABOUT A WAY TO BE HAPPY
Longlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize
Short stories about disparate characters consider what it means to find happiness.
On New Year’s Eve, a pair of addicts robs a string of high-end parties in order to fund their own recovery. A recently separated woman relocates to a small northern town, where she receives a life-changing visitation, and a Russian hitman, suffering from a mysterious lung ailment, retrieves long-buried memories of his past. In the nineteenth century, a disparate group of women coalesce in the attempt to aid a young girl in her escape from a hospital for the insane. These are but some of the remarkable characters who populate these stories, all of them grappling with conflicts ranging from mundane to extraordinary. Caroline Adderson’s A Way to Be Happy considers what it means to find happiness—and how often it comes through the grace of others.
ABOUT CAROLINE ADDERSON
Caroline Adderson is the author of five novels (A Russian Sister, Ellen in Pieces, The Sky Is Falling, Sitting Practice, and A History of Forgetting), two previous collections of short stories (Pleased to Meet You and Bad Imaginings), as well as many books for young readers. Her award nominations include the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, two Commonwealth Writers’ Prizes, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rogers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. The recipient of three BC Book Prizes, three CBC Literary Awards, and the Marian Engel Award for mid-career achievement, Caroline lives and writes in Vancouver.

Caroline Adderson at Plan 99
2024-10-05 17:00 - 19:00 (America/Toronto) | The Manx, 370 Elgin St, Ottawa, ON, K2P 1N1, Canada
Caroline Adderson, author of Giller-longlisted A Way to Be Happy (Sep 10, 2024), will be featured at the Plan 99 Reading Series! Caroline will read from her new short story collection, and books will be available for sale and signing.
The event will take place at The Manx on Saturday, October 5 at 5PM. More details TBA.
Get A Way to Be Happy here!
ABOUT A WAY TO BE HAPPY
Longlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize
Short stories about disparate characters consider what it means to find happiness.
On New Year’s Eve, a pair of addicts robs a string of high-end parties in order to fund their own recovery. A recently separated woman relocates to a small northern town, where she receives a life-changing visitation, and a Russian hitman, suffering from a mysterious lung ailment, retrieves long-buried memories of his past. In the nineteenth century, a disparate group of women coalesce in the attempt to aid a young girl in her escape from a hospital for the insane. These are but some of the remarkable characters who populate these stories, all of them grappling with conflicts ranging from mundane to extraordinary. Caroline Adderson’s A Way to Be Happy considers what it means to find happiness—and how often it comes through the grace of others.
ABOUT CAROLINE ADDERSON
Caroline Adderson is the author of five novels (A Russian Sister, Ellen in Pieces, The Sky Is Falling, Sitting Practice, and A History of Forgetting), two previous collections of short stories (Pleased to Meet You and Bad Imaginings), as well as many books for young readers. Her award nominations include the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, two Commonwealth Writers’ Prizes, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rogers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. The recipient of three BC Book Prizes, three CBC Literary Awards, and the Marian Engel Award for mid-career achievement, Caroline lives and writes in Vancouver.

Colleen Coco Collins at The Bookmobile
2024-10-05 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Toronto) | The Bookmobile, London, ON, Canada
Colleen Coco Collins, author of the poetry collection Sorry About the Fire (Apr 4, 2024), will be reading at The Bookmobile!
The reading will take place on Saturday, October 5 at 2PM.
Grab a copy of Sorry About the Fire here!
ABOUT SORRY ABOUT THE FIRE
A CBC Books’ Poetry Collection to Watch for in Spring 2024
I wanted a good bewildering, / down deep, / as the keep of a castle.
With a voice as ungovernable and determined as Prometheus—who stole fire from Zeus only to face dire consequences—Colleen Coco Collins’ debut poems are daring dispatches from beyond the margins: light-filled flares sent up from the edge of language, sentience, land, and story. Drawing on all of her multidisciplinary enamorations and rendered through the triple vision of her Irish, French, and Odawa heritage, Sorry About the Fire introduces not just a poet, but a stunningly original sensibility.
ABOUT COLLEEN COCO COLLINS
Colleen Coco Collins [she/they] is an interdisciplinary artist of Irish, French, and Odawa descent, working in songwriting, performance, poetry and visual arts. She’s worked as a gallery director, in forestry, fossil preparation, and renovation; as an autism support worker, teacher, and women’s shelter counsellor. Her writing, music, and art practice centers on temporality, presumptions of sentience, subversion, rhythm, gesture, geographies, biophonies, frequencies, the ouroboric, the peripatetic, love and the polyglottic. Hailing from Antler River/Deshkan Ziibiing/London, Ontario, Coco has studied at universities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, New Zealand, and Ireland. She lives litorally in rural Port Greville, Mi’kma’ki/Nova Scotia amidst crows, coyotes, grackles, bees, humpback, lichen and fox.

Burn Man: Lunenburg Launch
2024-10-04 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax) | Block Shop Books, 125 Montague St, Lunenburg, NS, B0J 2C0, Canada
Come out to Lunenburg for the double launch of Mark Anthony Jarman‘s Burn Man: Selected Stories and David Huebert‘s Oil People! The two authors will each read from their new releases along with a conversation, with books available for sale and signing.
The double launch will take place at Block Shop Books on Friday, October 4 at 7PM.
Grab your copy of Burn Man here!
ABOUT BURN MAN
“Literature at the highest level: heartrending, disquieting, fascinating.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Drawing together the best of his short fiction published over the last four decades, Burn Man: Selected Stories showcases Mark Anthony Jarman’s sharply observed characters and acrobatic, voice-driven prose in stories that walk the tightrope between the commonplace and the mystical. With an insightful introduction from John Metcalf, this revelatory selection highlights one of the most spirited and singular masters of the short story form.
ABOUT MARK ANTHONY JARMAN
Mark Anthony Jarman is the author of Touch Anywhere to Begin, Czech Techno, Knife Party at the Hotel Europa, My White Planet, 19 Knives, New Orleans Is Sinking, Dancing Nightly in the Tavern, and the travel book Ireland’s Eye. He was an acquisitions editor for Oberon Press, and introduced many new writers through the Coming Attractions series. He is also the editor of Best Canadian Stories 2023. His novel Salvage King Ya!, is on Amazon.ca’s list of 50 Essential Canadian Books and is the number one book on Amazon’s list of best hockey ﬁction. Widely published in Canada, the US, Europe, and Asia, Jarman is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, a Yaddo fellow, has taught at the University of Victoria, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and the University of New Brunswick, where he has been ﬁction editor of The Fiddlehead literary journal since 1999. He is also co-editor of literary journal CAMEL.

The Pages of the Sea: Vancouver Launch
2024-10-03 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Vancouver) | Upstart & Crow, 1387 Railspur Alley, Granville Island
Come out to Upstart & Crow for the Vancouver launch of Anne Hawk‘s The Pages of the Sea (Sep 17, 2024)! Anne will be reading from her debut novel, along with a discussion hosted by Jasmine Sealy. Books will be available for sale and signing.
The launch will take place on Thursday, October 3 at 7PM.
Grab The Pages of the Sea here!
ABOUT THE PAGES OF THE SEA
On a Caribbean island in the mid-1960s, a young girl copes with the heavy cost of migration.
When her mother emigrates to England to find work, Wheeler and her older sisters are left to live with their aunts and cousins. She spends most days with her cousin Donelle, knocking about their island community. They know they must address their elders properly and change their shoes after church. And during the long, quiet weeks of Lent, when the absent sound of the radio seems to follow them down the road, they look forward to kite season. But Donelle is just a child, too, and though her sisters look after her with varying levels of patience, Wheeler couldn’t feel more alone. Everyone tells her that soon her mother will send for her, but how much longer will it be? And as she does her best to navigate the tensions between her aunts, why does it feel like there’s no one looking out for her at all?
A story of sisterhood, secrets, and the sacrifices of love, The Pages of the Sea is a tenderly lyrical portrait of innocence and an intensely moving evocation of what it’s like to be a child left behind.
ABOUT ANNE HAWK
Anne Hawk grew up in the Caribbean, the UK and Canada. She has worked as a journalist, a paralegal and was for many years a secondary school teacher. She is married and lives in London. The Pages of the Sea is her first novel.

Toronto Double Launch: A Way to Be Happy & Hello, Horse
2024-10-03 17:00 - 19:00 (America/Toronto) | Ben McNally Books, 108 Queen St E, Toronto, ON, M5C 1S4, Canada
Come out to Toronto for the double launch of Caroline Adderson‘s Giller-longlisted A Way to Be Happy (Sep 10, 2024) and Richard Kelly Kemick‘s Hello, Horse (Aug 6, 2024)! Both authors will be appearing and reading from their new short story collections, along with a discussion and audience Q&A. Books will be available for sale and signing from Ben McNally Books.
The launch will take place on Thursday, October 3 at 5PM.
Get A Way to Be Happy here!
Get Hello, Horse here!
ABOUT A WAY TO BE HAPPY
Longlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize
Short stories about disparate characters consider what it means to find happiness.
On New Year’s Eve, a pair of addicts robs a string of high-end parties in order to fund their own recovery. A recently separated woman relocates to a small northern town, where she receives a life-changing visitation, and a Russian hitman, suffering from a mysterious lung ailment, retrieves long-buried memories of his past. In the nineteenth century, a disparate group of women coalesce in the attempt to aid a young girl in her escape from a hospital for the insane. These are but some of the remarkable characters who populate these stories, all of them grappling with conflicts ranging from mundane to extraordinary. Caroline Adderson’s A Way to Be Happy considers what it means to find happiness—and how often it comes through the grace of others.
ABOUT CAROLINE ADDERSON
Caroline Adderson is the author of five novels (A Russian Sister, Ellen in Pieces, The Sky Is Falling, Sitting Practice, and A History of Forgetting), two previous collections of short stories (Pleased to Meet You and Bad Imaginings), as well as many books for young readers. Her award nominations include the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, two Commonwealth Writers’ Prizes, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rogers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. The recipient of three BC Book Prizes, three CBC Literary Awards, and the Marian Engel Award for mid-career achievement, Caroline lives and writes in Vancouver.
ABOUT HELLO, HORSE
Taut, stylish stories take on big moral questions from surprising perspectives.
A teenager’s job mucking stalls at a dog track takes a strange turn when his co-worker finds a new religion at odds with winning streaks. Two brothers set out in search of fame upon the frozen waters of a subarctic lake. After her mother’s death, a high school student tries to make rent by winning the Unitarian Church’s Annual Young Writer’s Short Story Competition. An incarcerated man considers the nature of justice between shifts with his fellow inmates at Nations at War, the ultimate live-action experience for tourists eager to learn about the Canadian Civil War.
Spanning states and provinces, and featuring an apocalypse, a coterie of ghosts, nuns on ice, and an above-average number of dogs, the stories in Hello, Horse consider the mirage of authenticity and the impact of decisions we make—for better and for worse.
ABOUT RICHARD KELLY KEMICK
Richard Kelly Kemick is an award-winning poet, journalist, and fiction writer. His limited series podcast, Natural Life, is an intimate and unexpectedly honest documentary on his cousin, who is serving a life sentence without parole in Michigan. Richard is also the author of I Am Herod (also on audiobook), which takes readers undercover at one of the world’s largest religious events, and Caribou Run, a collection of poetry. He is the recipient of multiple awards including two National Magazine Awards and the Writers’ Guild of Alberta’s 2019 Award for Best Short Story. He lives in Rossland, British Columbia.

Windsor Double Launch: A Way to Be Happy & Hello, Horse
2024-10-02 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Toronto) | Biblioasis Bookshop, 1520 Wyandotte St E, Windsor, ON, N9A 3L2, Canada
Join us at Biblioasis Bookshop for the double launch of Caroline Adderson‘s Giller-longlisted A Way to Be Happy (Sep 10, 2024) and Richard Kelly Kemick‘s Hello, Horse (Aug 6, 2024)! Both authors will be appearing and reading from their new short story collections, along with a discussion and audience Q&A. Books will be available for sale and signing, and refreshments will be provided.
The launch will take place on Wednesday, October 2 at 7PM.
More details here.
Get A Way to Be Happy here!
Get Hello, Horse here!
ABOUT A WAY TO BE HAPPY
Longlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize
Short stories about disparate characters consider what it means to find happiness.
On New Year’s Eve, a pair of addicts robs a string of high-end parties in order to fund their own recovery. A recently separated woman relocates to a small northern town, where she receives a life-changing visitation, and a Russian hitman, suffering from a mysterious lung ailment, retrieves long-buried memories of his past. In the nineteenth century, a disparate group of women coalesce in the attempt to aid a young girl in her escape from a hospital for the insane. These are but some of the remarkable characters who populate these stories, all of them grappling with conflicts ranging from mundane to extraordinary. Caroline Adderson’s A Way to Be Happy considers what it means to find happiness—and how often it comes through the grace of others.
ABOUT CAROLINE ADDERSON
Caroline Adderson is the author of five novels (A Russian Sister, Ellen in Pieces, The Sky Is Falling, Sitting Practice, and A History of Forgetting), two previous collections of short stories (Pleased to Meet You and Bad Imaginings), as well as many books for young readers. Her award nominations include the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, two Commonwealth Writers’ Prizes, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rogers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. The recipient of three BC Book Prizes, three CBC Literary Awards, and the Marian Engel Award for mid-career achievement, Caroline lives and writes in Vancouver.
ABOUT HELLO, HORSE
Taut, stylish stories take on big moral questions from surprising perspectives.
A teenager’s job mucking stalls at a dog track takes a strange turn when his co-worker finds a new religion at odds with winning streaks. Two brothers set out in search of fame upon the frozen waters of a subarctic lake. After her mother’s death, a high school student tries to make rent by winning the Unitarian Church’s Annual Young Writer’s Short Story Competition. An incarcerated man considers the nature of justice between shifts with his fellow inmates at Nations at War, the ultimate live-action experience for tourists eager to learn about the Canadian Civil War.
Spanning states and provinces, and featuring an apocalypse, a coterie of ghosts, nuns on ice, and an above-average number of dogs, the stories in Hello, Horse consider the mirage of authenticity and the impact of decisions we make—for better and for worse.
ABOUT RICHARD KELLY KEMICK
Richard Kelly Kemick is an award-winning poet, journalist, and fiction writer. His limited series podcast, Natural Life, is an intimate and unexpectedly honest documentary on his cousin, who is serving a life sentence without parole in Michigan. Richard is also the author of I Am Herod (also on audiobook), which takes readers undercover at one of the world’s largest religious events, and Caribou Run, a collection of poetry. He is the recipient of multiple awards including two National Magazine Awards and the Writers’ Guild of Alberta’s 2019 Award for Best Short Story. He lives in Rossland, British Columbia.

Richard Kelly Kemick at the Hamilton Public Library
2024-10-01 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Toronto) | Hamilton Public Library, 55 York Blvd, Hamilton, ON, L8R 3K1, Canada
Richard Kelly Kemick, author of Hello, Horse (Aug 6, 2024), will be running a short-fiction workshop and reading as part of the Hamilton Public Library’s Author Series. The 90-minute fiction workshop, called A Short Class on Short Stories, analyzes classic and contemporary short stories, character development, plot structure, precise language, effective dialogue, impactful endings and the submission process for literary magazines. Richard will also be reading from his new collection.
The event will take place at the HPL Central Library on Tuesday, October 1 at 6PM. Registration and more details here.
Grab Hello, Horse here!
ABOUT HELLO, HORSE
Taut, stylish stories take on big moral questions from surprising perspectives.
A teenager’s job mucking stalls at a dog track takes a strange turn when his co-worker finds a new religion at odds with winning streaks. Two brothers set out in search of fame upon the frozen waters of a subarctic lake. After her mother’s death, a high school student tries to make rent by winning the Unitarian Church’s Annual Young Writer’s Short Story Competition. An incarcerated man considers the nature of justice between shifts with his fellow inmates at Nations at War, the ultimate live-action experience for tourists eager to learn about the Canadian Civil War.
Spanning states and provinces, and featuring an apocalypse, a coterie of ghosts, nuns on ice, and an above-average number of dogs, the stories in Hello, Horse consider the mirage of authenticity and the impact of decisions we make—for better and for worse.
ABOUT RICHARD KELLY KEMICK
Richard Kelly Kemick is an award-winning poet, journalist, and fiction writer. His limited series podcast, Natural Life, is an intimate and unexpectedly honest documentary on his cousin, who is serving a life sentence without parole in Michigan. Richard is also the author of I Am Herod (also on audiobook), which takes readers undercover at one of the world’s largest religious events, and Caribou Run, a collection of poetry. He is the recipient of multiple awards including two National Magazine Awards and the Writers’ Guild of Alberta’s 2019 Award for Best Short Story. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Notebook: Windsor Launch
2024-09-30 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Toronto) | Biblioasis Bookshop, 1520 Wyandotte St E, Windsor, ON, N9A 3L2, Canada
Join us at Biblioasis Bookshop for the North American launch of Roland Allen‘s The Notebook (Sep 3, 2024)! Roland Allen will be appearing and reading from his new book on the history of the notebook, followed by a discussion and audience Q&A. Books will be available for sale and signing, and refreshments will be provided.
The launch will take place on Monday, September 30 at 7PM.
More details here.
Grab your copy of The Notebook here!
ABOUT THE NOTEBOOK
A Kirkus Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2024
The first history of the notebook, a simple invention that changed the way the world thinks.
We see notebooks everywhere we go. But where did these indispensable implements come from? How did they revolutionize our lives? And how can using a notebook help change the way you think? In this wide-ranging history, Roland Allen reveals how the notebook became our most dependable and versatile tool for creative thinking. He tells the notebook stories of Leonardo and Frida Kahlo, Isaac Newton and Marie Curie, and writers from Chaucer to Henry James; shows how Darwin developed his theory of evolution in tiny pocket books and Agatha Christie plotted a hundred murders in scrappy exercise books; and introduces a host of cooks, kings, sailors, fishermen, musicians, engineers, politicians, adventurers, and mathematicians, all of whom used their notebooks as a space to think—and in doing so, shaped the modern world.
In an age of AI and digital overload, the humble notebook is more relevant than ever. Allen shows how bullet points can combat ADHD, journals can ease PTSD, and patient diaries soften the trauma of reawakening from coma. The everyday act of moving a pen across paper, he finds, can have profound consequences, changing the way we think and feel: making us more creative, more productive—and maybe even happier.
ABOUT ROLAND ALLEN
Roland Allen lives in Brighton. He studied at Manchester University and works in book (and notebook) publishing. He has written books on bicycles and bread, has kept a diary for decades, and enjoys stationery a little too much.

Catherine Leroux in Conversation with Heather O'Neill
2024-09-30 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Toronto) | Waterloo Public Library, 2001 University Ave E, Waterloo, ON, N2K 4K4, Canada
Catherine Leroux, author of The Future, will be reuniting with her Canada Reads champion Heather O’Neill to discuss Heather’s newest release, The Capital of Dreams. Catherine will be moderating the discussion and interviewing Heather, in the event presented in partnership with Words Worth Books in celebration of 40 years.
The event will take place at the Waterloo Public Library’s Eastside Branch on Monday, September 20 at 7PM.
Registration and more details here.
Grab The Future here!
ABOUT THE FUTURE
Winner of Canada Reads 2024 • Longlisted for the 2024 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction • One of Tor.com’s Can’t Miss Speculative Fiction for Fall 2023 • Listed in CBC Books Fiction to Read in Fall 2023 • One of Kirkus Reviews’ Fall 2023 Big Books By Small Presses • A Kirkus Reviews Work of Translated Fiction To Read Now • One of CBC Books Best Books of 2023 • A CBC Books Bestselling Canadian Book of the Week
In an alternate history of Detroit, the Motor City was never surrendered to the US. Its residents deal with pollution, poverty, and the legacy of racism—and strange and magical things are happening: children rule over their own kingdom in the trees and burned houses regenerate themselves. When Gloria arrives looking for answers and her missing granddaughters, at first she finds only a hungry mouse in the derelict home where her daughter was murdered. But the neighbours take pity on her and she turns to their resilience and impressive gardens for sustenance.
When a strange intuition sends Gloria into the woods of Parc Rouge, where the city’s orphaned and abandoned children are rumored to have created their own society, she can’t imagine the strength she will find. A richly imagined story of community and a plea for persistence in the face of our uncertain future, The Future is a lyrical testament to the power we hold to protect the people and places we love—together.
ABOUT CATHERINE LEROUX
Catherine Leroux is a Quebec novelist, translator and editor born in 1979. Her novel Le mur mitoyen won the France-Quebec Prize and its English version, The Party Wall, was nominated for the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize. The Future won CBC’s Canada Reads 2024, received the Jacques-Brossard award for speculative fiction and was nominated for the Quebec Booksellers Prize. Catherine also won the 2019 Governor General’s Literary Award for her translation of Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien. Two of her novels are currently being adapted for the screen. Her latest book, Peuple de verre, a speculative novel about the housing crisis, came out in April 2024. She lives in Montreal with her two children.

Colleen Coco Collins at Word on the Street Toronto
2024-09-29 14:45 - 15:30 (America/Toronto) | Queen’s Park, College St. & University Ave, Toronto, ON, M7A 1A2, Canada
Join Colleen Coco Collins, author of the poetry collection Sorry About the Fire (Apr 4, 2024), at Word on the Street Toronto! Coco will be on the panel “#ActuallyAutistic: Neurodivergent Storytelling” alongside fellow authors Maggie North and Paige Layle, with moderator Kerry C. Byrne, as they explore how their neurodivergence influences the way they tell stories, and what fresh perspectives autistic minds bring to writers’ craft.
The event will take place on Sunday, September 29 at 2:45PM.
More details here.
Grab a copy of Sorry About the Fire here!
ABOUT SORRY ABOUT THE FIRE
A CBC Books’ Poetry Collection to Watch for in Spring 2024
I wanted a good bewildering, / down deep, / as the keep of a castle.
With a voice as ungovernable and determined as Prometheus—who stole fire from Zeus only to face dire consequences—Colleen Coco Collins’ debut poems are daring dispatches from beyond the margins: light-filled flares sent up from the edge of language, sentience, land, and story. Drawing on all of her multidisciplinary enamorations and rendered through the triple vision of her Irish, French, and Odawa heritage, Sorry About the Fire introduces not just a poet, but a stunningly original sensibility.
ABOUT COLLEEN COCO COLLINS
Colleen Coco Collins [she/they] is an interdisciplinary artist of Irish, French, and Odawa descent, working in songwriting, performance, poetry and visual arts. She’s worked as a gallery director, in forestry, fossil preparation, and renovation; as an autism support worker, teacher, and women’s shelter counsellor. Her writing, music, and art practice centers on temporality, presumptions of sentience, subversion, rhythm, gesture, geographies, biophonies, frequencies, the ouroboric, the peripatetic, love and the polyglottic. Hailing from Antler River/Deshkan Ziibiing/London, Ontario, Coco has studied at universities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, New Zealand, and Ireland. She lives litorally in rural Port Greville, Mi’kma’ki/Nova Scotia amidst crows, coyotes, grackles, bees, humpback, lichen and fox.

Alex Pugsley at TIFA
2024-09-29 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Toronto) | Lakeside Terrace, 235 Queens Quay W, Toronto, ON, Canada
Join Alex Pugsley, author of The Education of Aubrey McKee (May 7, 2024), at the Toronto International Festival of Authors! Alex will be in conversation with Jean Marc Ah-Sen to talk about writing books about writers falling in love with other writers and the emotional turmoil that comes from it. With both novels set in the Toronto literary scene, the authors will have plenty to talk about how the city is central to their inspirations. The conversation will be moderated by Tomas Hachard, and supported by Toronto Lit Up. Books will be available for sale and signing afterwards.
The event will take place at the Lakeside Terrace on Sunday, September 29 at 1PM.
Tickets and more details here.
Grab The Education of Aubrey McKee here!
Check out the first book, Aubrey McKee, here!
ABOUT THE EDUCATION OF AUBREY MCKEE
Longlisted for the 2024 Toronto Book Awards • A Toronto Star Most Anticipated Spring Title • A 49th Shelf Can’t Miss Title for Spring
A young writer finds his way in and out of love in the late twentieth century.
The scene is Toronto, the early 1990s, and at a house party Aubrey McKee falls in love with a bewitching stranger who talks him into stealing a piece of cake. This woman—a poet named Gudrun Peel—rapidly becomes the person for whom he would do anything at all. Together, Aubrey and Gudrun make a life of delirious idiosyncrasy. Surrounded by friends, frenemies, lovers, and rivals in the underground arts scene, the possibilities of their destiny remain radically open. But as their relationship deepens, and their creative and professional lives stumble, stall, and then suddenly blow up, Aubrey and Gudrun struggle against their own inexperience . . . as well as each other.
The much-anticipated follow-up to Alex Pugsley’s Aubrey McKee, The Education of Aubrey McKee is a campus novel in which the city of Toronto is the institute of higher education and the setting for a glittering story about the incandescence of ﬁrst love.
ABOUT ALEX PUGSLEY
Alex Pugsley is the author of the novels Aubrey McKee and The Education of Aubrey McKee, as well as the short story collection Shimmer. Following the publication of Aubrey McKee, he was named one of CBC’s Writers to Watch. He has been nominated for Canadian Comedy Awards, Gemini Awards, Hot Doc Awards, National Magazine Awards, and is a winner of the Writers’ Trust Journey Prize. His feature film Dirty Singles is available on Apple TV and Prime Video. His next novel, Silver Lake, the third book in a series about Aubrey McKee, is forthcoming from Biblioasis.

Caroline Adderson at WORD Vancouver
2024-09-28 15:45 - 16:45 (America/Vancouver) | UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 3B7, Canada
Join Caroline Adderson, author of Giller-longlisted A Way to Be Happy (Sep 10, 2024) at WORD Vancouver for the panel “Short Stories Exploding Pages”! Caroline will be joined by fellow writer Shashi Bhat for a conversation on short story craft, moderated by Taslim Jaffer.
The event will take place on Saturday, September 28 at 3:45PM.
More details here.
Grab A Way to Be Happy here!
ABOUT A WAY TO BE HAPPY
Longlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize
Short stories about disparate characters consider what it means to find happiness.
On New Year’s Eve, a pair of addicts robs a string of high-end parties in order to fund their own recovery. A recently separated woman relocates to a small northern town, where she receives a life-changing visitation, and a Russian hitman, suffering from a mysterious lung ailment, retrieves long-buried memories of his past. In the nineteenth century, a disparate group of women coalesce in the attempt to aid a young girl in her escape from a hospital for the insane. These are but some of the remarkable characters who populate these stories, all of them grappling with conflicts ranging from mundane to extraordinary. Caroline Adderson’s A Way to Be Happy considers what it means to find happiness—and how often it comes through the grace of others.
ABOUT CAROLINE ADDERSON
Caroline Adderson is the author of five novels (A Russian Sister, Ellen in Pieces, The Sky Is Falling, Sitting Practice, and A History of Forgetting), two previous collections of short stories (Pleased to Meet You and Bad Imaginings), as well as many books for young readers. Her award nominations include the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, two Commonwealth Writers’ Prizes, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rogers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. The recipient of three BC Book Prizes, three CBC Literary Awards, and the Marian Engel Award for mid-career achievement, Caroline lives and writes in Vancouver.
