Read Local BC

Book Launch of The Deepest Fake by Daniel Kalla
2025-07-30 18:30 - 21:00 (America/Vancouver) | Book Warehouse – Main Street, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver, BC, V5V 3P7, Canada
Join us for the launch of local thriller author Daniel Kalla’s new novel The Deepest Fake.
Doors at 6:30; This is an informal event with no reading portion; Free to attend and all are welcome.
Liam Hirsch has it all—a loving family, a thriving career as CEO of an AI company, financial security, and a bright future. But when he’s diagnosed with a terminal illness, just weeks after discovering his wife’s infidelity, his perfect life unravels. As he grapples with his fate, he prepares to face his final days on his own terms.
However, unexplained events inside his company make him question everything—including his diagnosis. In a world of deepfake videos, synthetic voices, and digital deception, couldn’t these technologies be weaponized against him? What if nothing is as it seems?
With time running out, Liam turns to Andrea DeWalt, a private investigator contending with her own feelings of betrayal, to help him uncover a conspiracy that threatens his life, his family, and their future. In a world where nothing is as it seems and every digital footprint can be manipulated, who can Liam trust?

Book Launch of The Bone Raiders by Jackson Ford
2025-08-13 18:30 - 21:00 | Book Warehouse – Main Street, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver, BC, V5V 3P7, Canada
Join us for the launch of Vancouver author Jackson Ford’s new novel The Bone Raiders, the first in the Rakada series.
The start of a no‑holds‑barred, action‑packed fantasy series from the always irreverent Jackson Ford where a group of charmingly-named Bone Raiders harness the power of gigantic, fire-breathing lizards to defend their homeland from an invading enemy.
Jackson will be in conversation with Kristy Gardner, author of The Broken Stars series.
Doors at 6:30 pm, event starts at 7:00 pm; free to attend and all are welcome.

Poetry Bus! Celebrating the 29th Year of Poetry in Transit
2025-09-20 14:00 - 15:30 | UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson St, Vancouver, BC, V6E 1A7, Canada
In partnership with TransLink and BC Transit, Read Local BC presents the launch of this year’s Poetry In Transit campaign at Word Vancouver. Now celebrating its 29th year, this beloved community-engagement project displays the work of ten BC poets on public transit vehicles throughout the province. Join us to hear a selection of the featured 2025-26 poets read from their work, followed by a short discussion and Q&A in which you can engage with the poets over your love of the written verse!
READERS
HOST Elee Kraljii Gardiner is an author, editor, and creative mentor whose award-winning books of poetry include Trauma Head and serpentine loop, and the anthologies Against Death: 35 Essays on Living and V6A: Writing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and three chapbooks: Residence, WATCHER with Gary Barwin, and Trauma Head: the medical file. A frequent collaborator with choreographers, musicians, and visual artists, Elee is currently collaborating with nature via a series of durational installations that investigate the law of thermodynamics and cultural ideas regarding the passing of time. Originally from Boston, she lives in Canada where she directs Vancouver Manuscript Intensive, a program pairing authors with mentors. eleekg.com

Susan Alexander’s poems have appeared in Canadian and international anthologies and literary magazines, such as The Southern Review, Pangyrus, Arc and Grain. Her most recent publication is Berberitzen with Raven Chapbooks (2024). She is the author of two full collections, Nothing You Can Carry (2020) and The Dance Floor Tilts (2017) with Thistledown Press. Her poetry has won multiple awards, including the 2022 Vancouver’s City Poem Prize. She has hosted poetry readings and panels for the Federation of BC Writers and Victoria’s Festival of Writers. Susan lives on Nexwlélexm/Bowen Island, the traditional and unceded territory of the Squamish people.

Jen Currin is the author of seven books, including Hider/Seeker: Stories, which was a finalist for a ReLit Award and was named a 2018 Globe and Mail Best Book, and The Inquisition Yours, which won the 2011 Audre Lorde Award and was a Lambda finalist. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, on the traditional territories of the Multnomah, Chinook, Clackamas, and other tribes, Currin lives in New Westminster, BC, on unceded Qayqayt, Kwantlen, Kwikwetlem, and Musqueam territories and teaches creative writing and English at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

Junie Désil, born to Haitian immigrant parents in Montréal and raised in Winnipeg, has devoted over two decades to empowering communities made marginalized. An accomplished poet, her debut collection, eat salt | gaze at the ocean (2020), was a finalist for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize and explores themes of Black sovereignty and the Haitian diaspora. Currently residing on the Traditional Territories of the Homalco, Tla’amin, and Klahoose, Junie mentors emerging writers at Simon Fraser University’s The Writer’s Studio. Beyond her professional life, Junie enjoys writing, coaching, consulting, and raising goats.

Joseph Kidney’s poems have been published in Best Canadian Poetry 2024, Vallum, The Malahat Review, The Fiddlehead, The Ex-Puritan, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed (in Arabic translation), and more. He has won the Short Grain Contest, the Young Buck Poetry Prize, and Arc’s Poem of the Year. Devotional Forensics is his first full-length collection.

Natalie Lim is a Chinese-Canadian poet living on the unceded, traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Peoples (Vancouver, BC). She is the winner of the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize and Room magazine’s 2020 Emerging Writer Award, with work published in Arc Poetry Magazine, Best Canadian Poetry 2020 and elsewhere. She is the author of a chapbook, arrhythmia (Rahila’s Ghost Press, 2022).

Lauren Peat is a poet, translator, and teacher based in Vancouver, BC. Her poems, essays, and translations from French have appeared in a wide variety of journals and magazines, and her many collaborations with composers are featured in the repertoire of acclaimed vocal ensembles across North America. Her debut poetry chapbook, Future Tense, was published by Baseline Press in 2024.

Tom Wayman’s prolific literary career includes writing more than twenty poetry collections, three collections of critical and cultural essays, three books of short fiction and a novel, as well as editing six poetry anthologies. He received British Columbia’s 2022 George Woodcock Award for Lifetime Achievement in the literary arts. In 2015, he was named a Vancouver Literary Landmark, with a plaque on the city’s Commercial Drive commemorating his championing of people writing for themselves about their daily employment. He won the Western Canada Jewish Book Awards prize for fiction in 2016 (for the short story collection, The Shadows We Mistake for Love) and for poetry in 2023 (for Watching a Man Break a Dog’s Back: Poems for a Dark Time). His memoir, The Road to Appledore (or How I Went Back to The Land Without Ever Having Lived There in the First Place), was published in 2024. Wayman lives in Winlaw, BC, and his website is www.tomwayman.com.

Calvin Wharton has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies in Canada, the U.S., Wales, Sweden, and Denmark. He is a former chair of Creative Writing at Douglas College and writer in residence at the University of Wales. His books include a collection of short fiction, Three Songs by Hank Williams, and poetry collections The Song Collides, The Invention of Birds, and This Here Paradise.

An Evening with Holly Howe, author of Mouthwatering Sauerkraut
2025-09-23 18:00 - 20:30 | Vinca’s Kitchen Shop, 5042 48 Ave, Delta, British Columbia, V4K1V8, Canada
Join us at Vinca’s Kitchen for a special evening with Chef Holly Howe to celebrate the release of her new cookbook Mouthwatering Sauerkraut: Fermentation Made Easy!
Tickets are $40.00 plus tax and come with a copy of the new cookbook. There are only 35 tickets available.
Doors open at 6:00 pm and the event will start at 6:30 pm. Chef Holly will be demonstrating a couple of recipes, providing samples, and answering all your questions!
PLEASE NOTE – to purchase a ticket for this event online you MUST have your shopping location set as the Ladner store OR the Langley Warehouse location.

Comic Pre-Launch Party: Passing in the Night
2026-02-10 18:00 - 20:00 | Cross & Crows Books, 2836 Commercial Dr,, Vancouver, BC, V5N 4C6, Canada
Meet the author of Passing in the Night by Meghan Kemp-Gee, an upcoming graphic novel published by Vancouver-based publisher Shrimp Cult Press. Passing in the Night is the story of two star-crossed lovers, Ruth and Gloria. Ruth is a busy medical resident with a sleep disorder… and Gloria transforms into a giant flying lizard every night. While they struggle to make things work at home, Ruth gets kidnapped by fairies and anti-magic riots spread throughout the city. Can they make things work, or are they just two ships passing in the night?
Passing in the Night was illustrated by the incredibly talented, GLAAD and RINGO-award-winning Lane Lloyd, and lettered by Megan Praz, the illustrator of One More Year an Contested Strip.
The event will include a talk by author Meghan Kemp-Gee, snacks, non-alcoholic drinks, and an exclusive comic of the opening pages of the book for anyone who backs the Kickstarter. We are generously hosted by Cross & Crows Books, a bookstore in East Vancouver that celebrates queer stories.

Getting Juicy with Awfully Hilarious: Pillow Talk Book Launch
2026-02-12 19:00 - 20:30 | Whistler Public Library, 4329 Main Street, Whistler, BC, V0N 1B4, Canada
Join us at Whistler Public Library as we celebrate the launch of the latest and greatest from the Awfully Hilarious Project.
First, we cringed and laughed at tales of first dates. Then, we nodded in agreement and horror as we read Period Pieces. Now, join us for the launch of the third book in the series, Pillow Talk. This latest addition to the Awfully Hilarious series takes us into the bedrooms (and back-seats and bathrooms) of its writers with true tales of intimacy, pleasure, and desire.
This book launch will feature readings from several Pillow Talk contributors including Awfully Hilarious mastermind Heather Hendrie, followed by a conversation moderated by Library Program Coordinator Jeanette Bruce and a Q&A with the audience.

Book Launch: Pillow Talk
2026-02-17 18:30 - 20:30 | Squamish Public Library, 37907 2 Ave, Squamish, BC, V8B 0A7, Canada
Join us at the Squamish Public Library as we welcome back Heather Hendrie, the Imagination Agent behind the Awfully Hilarious trilogy. We cringed and laughed at tales of first dates. We nodded in agreement and horror as we read Period Pieces. Now join us for the launch of the third book in the series, Pillow Talk.

Introducing Cee Peal: 2026 Indigenous Storyteller in Residence
2026-03-31 18:00 - 19:30 | VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY – CENTRAL LIBRARY
Vancouver Public Library is honoured to introduce Cee Peal as the 2026 Indigenous Storyteller in Residence.
Cee Peal is a theatre artist from the Nisga’a First Nation of Northern B.C. now working in Vancouver on the traditional, unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-waututh), and sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) peoples. He brings to the library his experience in storytelling, theatre, and image making, drawing from his experience working as an actor, director, writer, dancer, and producer on various productions. With a passion for Indigenous studies and cultural evolution, Cee is also the Indigenous outreach coordinator at The Cultch and the artistic associate at The Carmen Arts Group.
To find out more about Cee’s residency and keep up with his upcoming events visit: vpl.ca/storyteller
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Join us for an evening of storytelling and theatre magic with special guests.

Book Launch - Exhumations: Inside the Body of a Petrostate by Joanne Leow
2026-04-09 18:30 - 20:30 | Enabling Arts, 104-343 Railway Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6A 1A4, Canada
Join Simon Fraser University English Professor Joanne Leow at Enabling Arts on April 9th (6:30 PM) for the launch of her new book, “Exhumations: Inside the Body of a Petrostate”.
About the book:
“What unknowable chemical? How slow was this damage, this violence? … How might any of us stay uncontaminated by all that was built around us?”
“Exhumations: In the Body of a Petrostate” oscillates between an unflinching critique of the author’s birth island, Singapore, and a memoir of grief and illness. Seeing our porous bodies as part of a contaminated and compromised system based on extraction, violence, and political repression, the book asks what must be made visible in our current moment. Drawing on her experience as a journalist for state-controlled media, and her current work as a scholar, Leow explores histories of activism, censorship, weapons manufacturing, terraforming, and petroleum refining. In doing so, she traces the networks of power that link Singapore with Canada, Palestine, Israel, England and beyond. Drawing on art, photography, film, and literature, she considers how they exhume truths that cannot otherwise be told.
This launch is supported by Simon Fraser University’s Department of English and the David See-chai Lam Centre, and Alchemy/Knopf.
Professor Leow will be joined by UBC Professors Phanuel Antwi and John Paul (JP) Catungal. (Photo Credits: for Joanne Leow: sweetmoon photography; for Phanuel Antwi: Rachel Topham Photography)
Speaker Bios:
Joanne Leow grew up in Singapore and now lives on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She is Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair of Transnational and Decolonial Digital Humanities at Simon Fraser University. She is the author of the academic monograph, “Counter-Cartographies: Reading Singapore Otherwise” (Liverpool University Press, 2024) and the poetry collection, “Seas Move Away” (Turnstone Press, 2022). Her creative work and research lie at the intersections of the environmental humanities, transnational and diasporic cultural production, global Asia studies, autotheory, and decoloniality.
JP Catungal (he/him) is Assistant Professor in the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, and Co-Director of the Centre for Asian Canadian Research and Engagement at the University of British Columbia. A queer, first generation, Filipinx Canadian scholar, JP’s research, teaching and public facing works are in conversation with critical human geography and feminist and queer of colour theories and methods. He is particularly interested in how migrant, racialized and LGBTQ+ communities address their experiences of marginalization in the fields of sexual health, education and social services. He has served as co-edit of the book, “Filipinos in Canada: Disturbing Invisibility”, as well as special journal issues for “BC Studies”; “ACME: International Journal of Critical Geographies”; “TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies”; and “Alon: Journal for Filipino American and Diasporic Studies”. He received the Killam Teaching Prize at UBC.
Phanuel Antwi is an artist, an organizer, a curator, and an associate professor of English concerned with race, poetics, movements, intimacy, and struggle. He works with text, dance, film, and photography to intervene in artistic, academic, and public spaces. Dr. Antwi holds a Canada Research Chair in Black Arts and Epistemologies at the University of British Columbia, Canada. His recent book, “On Cuddling: Loved to Death in the Racial Embrace”, is from Pluto Press. He’s currently finishing a manuscript called “Currencies of Blackness: Faithfulness, Cheerfulness and Politeness in Settler Writing”.

Talonbooks Spring 2026 Launch
2026-05-01 19:00 - 20:30 | Martha Lou Henley Rehearsal Hall, 1955 McLean Dr, Vancouver, BC V5N 3J7, Vancouver, BC, V5N 3J7, Canada
Join us at the Martha Lou Henley Rehearsal Hall for the launch of the Talonbooks spring 2026 titles! Come help us celebrate this season’s authors and books. Here’s the lineup! It’s going to be an amazing evening.
Taryn Hubbard will read from Beautiful Unknown Future
Jenn Ashton (attending digitally) will read from Growing My Way Home
George Bowering (attending digitally) will read from Pearl
Jónína Kirton will read from Save Your Prayers – Send Money
Elee Kraljii Gardiner will read from sometimes, forest
Nicole Raziya Fong will read from SUBTEXT and
Danielle LaFrance will read from Verbal Violence!
The launch will be hosted by the author of Future Works, Jeff Derksen!
A live stream will be available on the Talonbooks YouTube page. Light snacks and drinks will be provided. Hope to see you there!
Talonbooks Spring Launch
Martha Lou Henley Rehearsal Hall
Vancouver, BC
May 1, 2026
Doors at 7 p.m., readings begin at 7:30 p.m. PDT

An Evening with Eve Joseph and Patrick Friesen
2026-05-02 19:00 - 20:30 | Upstart & Crow, 1387 Railspur Alley Vancouver, BC V6H 3R7, Vancouver, BC, V6H 3R7, Canada
Join us for a beautiful evening of poetry with local legends Eve Joseph and Patrick Friesen. The duo will be launching their latest collections and invite you to join them in readings and conversation. Tickets are free, but please RSVP for your spot here as capacity is limited.
In Eve Joseph’s latest book, Dismantling, the poet is occupied with the idea of poetic imagination and how that often elusive thing can transform the mundane into the mysterious. In a book where fish are classified as bees and rivers are legally people, things are not always as they seem. As the title suggests, sometimes the act of taking something apart and building again from scratch allows a poem to find its true form.
​​The poems in Patrick Friesen’s latest collection, Sightings, move between the visible and invisible, between the contradictions of human history and the immediacy of a complex present. Friesen examines memory and music, rivers and personalities, open to all possibilities and sceptical of wisdom. Instead, these poems rely on the kind of knowledge that comes from experience: tremors and fragments riding on the movement of thinking. The distance from Friesen’s first book, published 50 years ago, to this one, speaks to what it means to have known the world through poetry.
More about Upstart & Crow:
Upstart & Crow is a not-for-profit creative studio and literary incubator that champions writers, readers and stories, and the role they play in shaping our lives. We develop original programs, support artists and revel in creative projects focused on Literature In Translation / Climate Solutions / Poetry / Civic Dialogue / Community & Skills Building … all with the aim of elevating the role of literature and storytelling in our lives. Find us on Granville Island, Gibsons and online at upstartandcrow.com.
Accessibility:
The main studio of our shop is accessible for folks with mobility aids. There is a washroom on the main floor available for attendees.
Questions: hello[at]upstartandcrow.com.

Book launch: The Art of Looking Back by Theresa Kishkan
2026-05-29 13:00 - 15:00 | Sechelt Public Library, 5797 Cowrie St, Sechelt, BC, V0N 3A0, Canada
Join Theresa Kishkan for the release of her memoir, The Art of Looking Back: A Painter, an Obsession, and Reclaiming the Gaze.
Theresa examines her youth and her role as muse to Victoria artist Jack Wilkinson. More than a reminiscence, this poetic memoir asks questions about older men and younger women and girls, and the persistence of that dynamic in art.
