Preparing for our Granville Island Field Trip!

Preparing For Our Granville Island Field Trip!

Part one: Researching about the history of the Vancouver Writer's Festival

This festival was founded all the way back in 1988 by an artistic director named Alma Lee! Since then, it's brought all sorts of authors from all over the world to come speak at events/ workshops they hold every year.

As I was looking through the past events from last year's writer's festival, I found one that sounds super fascinating. It's called "Bestseller to Blockbuster" and it's held by Tom Perrotta and Iain Reid, who have had their bestselling books turned into movies. In the description for this event, it says that the two authors discuss about how they managed to do that and how other authors could potentially do that for their books. I wish I could have gone to that event because I want to hear about their experiences bringing the stories they wrote to life through cinema. I feel like it would have been really cool to hear about their reactions when they got the movie deal, or what their role on set was like.

Link to that event: 58: Bestseller to Blockbuster | Vancouver Writers Fest

Here is a picture of one of the authors-

Tom Perrotta (who wrote Tracy Flick Can't Win)

 

Below is Reese Witherspoon in the movie adaptation!

Part Two: Researching Other Writer's Festivals

LiterASIAN Festival: LiterASIAN 2023 – Join us for the 11th anniversary of the LiterASIAN Writers Festival

This festival sounded really cool because it was the first literary arts festival to feature writers of Asian descent! They have a really cool lineup for May 2023 and so many events (there's even one where you could have a Dim Sum and wine tasting with the authors) 

That would one of the events I would want to go to. It's called "Wine and Words: Dim Sum with the Authors". Although there aren't any details posted yet, I would assume there are authors that talk about their new books and while listening, you also get to have a nice dinner. It's very appealing to me because It just sounds very interactive and like a good time.

 Another event from this festival that sounds very interesting to me is called "Identity and the Writing Process with David Mura: The Writing Process and how writing interfaces with politics, activism, and social justice." It's held by an author whose published a lot of books about identity and I just think it would be so important to hear about how his writing process is for those types of non-fiction topics. 

Whistler Writer's Festival: WHISTLER WRITERS FESTIVAL - Whistler Writers Festival

This festival sounded really fun because a lot of their workshops are focused on helping new and emerging authors. They also have lots of author panels and when you look at their page, there are so many different speakers (more than 50).

 

One event of theirs that I would go to is called "Not my story to tell, or is it? Guidelines and Freedoms when Telling Real Stories about Living People". I feel like this one would be very helpful to new authors who have a lot of questions in general about writing memoirs, for example. Even though I am not an author, I would still find it fun to hear about how this author (Emilia Symington-Fedy) wrote her book and how she stood behind herself. 

Another one that sounds very fun is: "Sunday BookTalk and Breakfast". You get to go to a breakfast buffet and sit down to eat while you listen to some authors talk about their new releases. It just sounds very relaxing and I feel like I would meet so many other bookwork friends there. 

Part Three: Researching about the events we're going to!

The First Event: Shadows, Wrath, and Haunting Writing

Author: Aden Polydoros

He came out as transgender to support other transgender youth and his YA books have won many different awards.

About this book: This is a Jewish historical horror novel set in Lithuania, 1943. When a father grieves his daughter killed by the Nazis, he decides to use ancient magic to awaken her. 

This book sounds so appealing to me because I have never come across a book that was both historical fiction and horror. This book could be a little confusing to me if I read it because I don't know anything about Jewish history and there are some words in the description (such as Golem) that I have no idea what they mean.

Author: Joel A. Sutherland

He's a Canadian author that writes a lot of thriller, horror and fantasy for readers of ages. It's very cool that he has won a bunch of awards for his children's series

About this book: When Josephine's family inherits a creepy old house, she has to learn how to deal with the voices she hears in her head. Just as she starts to question what is real or not real, she sees a shadowy woman, who turns out to be the ghost of a witch who died hundreds of years ago. 

This would be such a perfect but scary book to read during Halloween season or even at night. The cover is very creepy in a way that wouldn't really appeal to me, but after reading the summary, I would still pick it up during Halloween. 

Author: Naben Ruthnum

He is an author that has written a lot of short stories and non fiction books as well as horror/thriller books, like this one. Fun fact is he was previously in a Vancouver-based band called "Bend Sinister".

Vish is a young Indian-Canadian boy that one day gets mistaken for a relative of the weird local bookseller, which leads him to be pulled into a magical world to stop an interdimensional invasion. (The premise of this book seems very confusing, but the reviews say that the world-building is very interesting and it would be better to just dive straight into the book blind.)

The Second Event: Bestselling Teen Fiction For A Reason

Author (of this book and the next one): Cherie Dimaline

She is a Métis author who has written many award-winning novels. She has said that she would like to be recognized as a writer of Indigenous stories, and not a Canadian writer because to her, those are two different things. 

(This book is actually a re-imagining of the book "The Secret Garden")

After a horrible accident leaves young Mary orphaned, she gets sent to go live with her estranged uncle. There, she discovers her cousin locked away in an attic and meets a girl whom she develops a bond with. 

It would be so interesting to read about a secret garden re-imagining because I love when authors take stories and make it something new and special. It wouldn't appeal to me if the story was too similar to the original but other than that, I would totally pick it up. 

All her life, Winifred has lived in an apartment above the Winterson cemetery, and she has got into the habit of wandering around the graves when she's bored. When she meets the ghost of a teen girl who lived and died near her, she starts to question everything about life, death, and love. 

I have read books before about people falling in love with ghosts and I find them so fun to read. This wouldn't appeal to me if there was way to much mention of death and tragedy, but the summary seems like something I would read. 

 

Author: Jen Ferguson

Jen, a Métis author, a has a PhD in English and Creative Writing. A feminist and activist herself, she believes that writing is a political act. Her very first debut novel won a Governor General's Literary award!

When three teens (one is an over-achiever, one dropped out of high school, and one always gets labelled as the rich girl) come together at their small town pizza shop, they tackle one of their friends going missing. 

 The review says there are a lot of topics being discussed, such as violence against Indigenous women, teen pregnancy and more. I find that really important because it is not talked about enough. It could be unappealing to some people because of those topics, but for me I would definitely read this.