Read Local BC

Virtual Reading: How Do I Sexy? Mx. Nillin Lore in conversation with Matsui de Roo
2024-08-27 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Vancouver) | Cross and Crows Bookstore, 2836 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Cross & Crows Books welcomes author Mx. Nillin Lore and Matsui de Roo for a virtual reading and discussion of Nillin’s first book, How Do I Sexy?
ABOUT HOW DO I SEXY?
What even is “sexy,” and how do you do it? A tough question for trans and nonbinary queers struggling to find their sexual selves in a landscape rife with misogynistic, transphobic and homophobic ideals and expectations.
In How Do I Sexy? Mx. Nillin Lore provides affirming and helpful direction based on over a decade of their own personal and professional experience as an educator, advocate, support worker and award-winning sex blogger. You’re invited to do some deep introspection, find a look that feels right and gain insight on sexiness from fellow trans and nonbinary queers. You’ll also find valuable tips on navigating dating sites, finding community, managing rejection with grace and engaging in sexual relationships. Principled and compassionate, Mx. Nillin Lore will help you figure out who you want to be, who you want to be with and how to make it happen—both in the streets and between the sheets.
ABOUT MX. NILLIN LORE
Mx.Nillin Lore is an AuDHD, genderflux, queer, and polyamorous author, blogger and educator in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Winner of the Top 100 Sex Blogs of 2021, they have had queer erotica stories published in several anthologies with Cleis Press and co-wrote Chapter 16 in the 2023 Lammy Award Finalist resource book Trans Bodies, Trans Selves from Oxford University Press.
ABOUT MATSUI DE ROO
Matsui is a queer, trans, nonbinary neurodivergent person of colour with ancestors from Japan, Belgium, France and Ireland, grateful to live and work on the unceded, ancestral and traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam), səl̓ilw̓ ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) Nations. Matsui is a registered clinical counsellor in private practice in Vancouver BC, with an area of focus in queer- and trans-centered sexuality and sexual health. Matsui uses an intersectional lens to work with queer and trans people of colour healing from trauma, burnout, and grief. Their work is grounded in anti-oppression, anti-capitalist and abolitionist values. They believe in mutual and collective care, art, activism, play, and plenty of rest to support individual and collective healing and liberation.

Poetry in the Park
2024-07-03 18:30 - 2024-08-28 20:30 | Queen’s Park Bandshell, New Westminster, BC
Royal City Literary Arts Society presents
Poetry in the Park
Every Wednesday night from July 3 – August 28 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Each weekly session will feature 2 poets and an Open Mic.
Open Mic sign-up at 6:15pm.
Location: Queen’s Park Bandshell, New Westminster, BC.
In partnership with Arts New West and City of New Westminster.
💚Free Family Friendly event in outdoor setting. Everyone welcome.
Bench seating is available but we suggest bringing a folding chair or blanket.

Liars of Orpheus
2024-06-25 18:00 - 22:00 | 2434 Main St, Vancouver, BC V5T 3E2, 2434 Main Street, Vancouver, BC, V5T 3E2, Canada
Hosted by SJ Valiquette, Liars of Orpheus revolves around writers attempting to lie their way through stories, poems and lectures.
Each of the five writers will produce work that are made entirely of lies with the exception of five pieces of truth each. They will win points from sneaking their truths past their opponents or having their lies mistaken for truths. The winner of this month’s competition receives a tiara and points towards our end of the season finally in April.
For our debut show, Death Rides a Unicorn is very proud to present Erin Kirsh, Sonya Littlejohn, Holly Flauto, Spillious the Ridiculous and a mystery storyteller.
Erin Kirsh is an award-winning writer, performer, and funnyman from Toronto. Her writing has appeared in publications such as The Malahat Review, Cosmonauts Avenue, bBarren Magazine, Short Edition, CV2, ARC Poetry Magazine, QWERTY, Poetry is Dead, EVENT, PULP Literature, Geist and more.
Holly Flauto(she/they) is a poet, story-teller, learner and instructor living and writing on the traditional, ancestral and stolen territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwxwú7mesh and Selilwitulh Nations. ̱ Their debut poetry-memoir collection exploring immigration to Canada as a modern-day settler, Permission to Settle, will be published with Anvil Press in September 2024. Their fiction and creative memoir has previously been published in The Ex- Puritan, Joyland, and The Rusty Toque, and they perform as Stella Palermo on the local story and poetry slam stages. Holly is a Creative Writing and English instructor at Capilano University.
Sonya Littlejohn recently graduated from Simon Fraser University with a certificate in Community Capacity Building. She holds a bachelor of arts from UBC, a career in poetry performance and facilitation, and communication building. She is a community engagement facilitator, a cultural worker, community coordinator, mad artist and poet.
Spillious aka Trevana Spilchen is a Trans feminine settler parent, musician, spoken word artist and educator of Ukrainian and Irish decent. They are 2024 recipient of the Zacheus Jackson Memorial award won the 2017 Grand Slam Championship of the Vancouver Poetry slam and finished 6th at the 2018 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam.
They have toured as a featured poet all throughout Canada and the US. Spillious has released 3 chapbooks of poetry and the last, Tales of Trans-formation sold 200 copies. From Sept 2021-23 they shepherded the return of poetry slam in Vancouver as the Slam Coordinator for Vancouver Poetry House and the Tournament Director for the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Championships. Most importantly, Spillious is a parent to 4 kids ranging in age from 5 yrs to 23 yrs old and 4 cats named Cola, Orange Crush, Dr. Pepper & Rootbeer!
There will be a short open mic prior to the competition reserved for liars and faux poets. Each one of the Open Mic pieces also has to adhere to being all lies, save 5 truths and under 5 minutes in length.

ReJoyce - A Bloomsday Celebration
2024-06-16 16:00 - 18:00 | Cross and Crows Bookstore, 2836 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC, Canada
A circle reading of Joyce’s Ulysses, bring your copies to take your turn, or choose your favourite Joyceab/Irish/modernist texts to share. Edwardian dress encouraged.
Cross and Crows Books, Commercial Dr
4 – 6 pm

I Wrote a Book. Now What?
2024-06-15 13:00 - 16:00 | Literacy Central Vancouver Island, 19 Commercial Street, Nanaimo, BC, V9R 5G3, Canada
This 3-hour workshop is aimed at authors who are in the early stages of their writing careers, who have written a book and now need some guidance regarding the editing and publishing options available to them.
EDITING, FROM THE “BIG PICTURE” TO THE PERSNICKITY
Facilitator: Allyson Foster
This session will demystify the different types and stages of editing, from the “big picture” to the persnickety. We’ll discuss how to identify your editing needs, choose the right editor for your project, and make the most of your editing budget.
THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PUBLICITY AND MARKETING
Facilitator: Joanna Vander Vlugt
Multi-published Vancouver Island thriller author Joanna Vander Vlugt will provide an engaging discussion distinguishing the differences between publicity and marketing and how that equates to book sales. She’ll discuss fuelling the promotion wheel while avoiding burn out, drawing upon her own experiences with book signings, approaching bookstores and markets, as well as the importance of book reviews.
SELF-PROMOTION
Facilitator: Paulette McCarthy
Paulette will discuss one-to-one self-promotion and what tools she’s found which are helpful and have led to success. The session will inlude a brief discussion on what the authors envision for themselves in their writing careers.
WRITER ORGANIZATIONS: WHAT THEY CAN DO FOR YOU DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR
Facilitator: Winona Kent
National Vice-Chair of the Crime Writers of Canada, Winona Kent, will provide a quick overview of the main writer organizations in Canada and BC, along with what membership in each of the organizations provides, and the cost.
Event is free. Light refreshments will be provided.
Advance registration required at winonakent@shaw.ca
Location: Literacy Central Vancouver Island
19 Commercial Street, Nanaimo, BC

Book Signing: William Deverell's Long-Shot Trial
2024-06-15 12:00 - 13:30 | Munro’s Books, 1108 Government Street, Victoria, BC, V8W 1Y2, Canada
Join Munro’s Books on June 15th to meet William Deverell, the author of the Arthur Beauchamp thriller series! He’ll be signing the ninth book in the series: The Long-Shot Trial!
In the Long-Shot Trial, Arthur Beauchamp takes a break from the courtroom to write a memoir so he can set the record straight about a headline murder case he fought as a young lawyer in 1966. The trial would either mark him as a pathetic loser or thrust him into the top ranks of criminal counsel. The background: in 1966, a young housemaid was raped by her employer, a callous and vindictive millionaire. She shot him point blank, so it seemed an open-and-shut case of first-degree murder. Enter Arthur Beauchamp, a young lawyer haunted by having bungled his only previous murder case. He is now called upon to defend a case that he is almost certain can’t be won. But as the trial speeds through twists and turns, his slashing cross-examinations bring hope that the jury might entertain a reasonable doubt. In the present time, Arthur learns that writing about his social gaffes, booze, and sex is not easy, especially as his efforts are regularly interrupted by the quirky characters who inhabit his supposedly idyllic Garibaldi Island.
After careers as a journalist, criminal lawyer, and political activist, WILLIAM DEVERELL turned to fiction, and his first effort won the Seal First Novel Award. Since then, he has earned multiple prizes for his 20 published novels, including the Dashiell Hammett Prize for literary excellence in crime writing in North America, two Crime Writers of Canada Awards (formerly the Arthur Ellis Award), and two runners-up for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. He lives on Pender Island in British Columbia.
WHEN: Saturday, June 15th from 12:00 p.m. until 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: In-Store at Munro’s Books, 1108 Government St. in Victoria.
WHAT: Meet, greet, and have William Deverell sign your copies of his book!
HOW: This event is free to attend.

BC Yukon Book Prizes Finalists' Reading with Darrel J. McLeod, David Norwell, and Chelsea Wakelyn
2024-06-05 19:00 - 21:00 | Munro’s Books, 1108 Government Street, Victoria, BC, V8W 1Y2, Canada
Please join Munro’s Books in celebrating three local authors who are finalists for 2024 BC Yukon Book Prizes:
Darrel J. McLeod, finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize for A Season in Chezgh’un
David Norwell, finalist for the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize for A Complex Coast: A Kayak Journey From Vancouver Island to Alaska
Chelsea Wakelyn, finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize for What Remains of Elsie Jane
A Season in Chezgh’un is a subversive novel by acclaimed Cree author Darrel J. McLeod, infused with the contradictory triumph and pain of finding conventional success in a world that feels alien.
DARREL J. MCLEOD is Cree from Treaty-8 territory in Northern Alberta. Before deciding to pursue writing, he worked as an educator, chief negotiator of land claims for the federal government and executive director of education and international affairs with the Assembly of First Nations. He holds degrees in French literature and education from the University of British Columbia. He is the author of two memoirs: the award-winning Mamaskatch (2018; winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction; shortlisted for many other major prizes; translated into French and German editions), followed by Peyakow (2021) which was also shortlisted for several literary prizes. He currently lives in Sooke, BC, and divides his time between writing and singing in a jazz band.
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A Complex Coast is a soul-searching personal account of a young man’s 1,700-kilometre kayak journey from Victoria, BC, to Gustavas, Alaska, illustrated with whimsical watercolour maps and illustrations of local flora, fauna, and landscapes.
DAVID NORWELL is an author, illustrator, and world traveller. He holds a BSc in Geography from the University of Victoria, and has worked for six seasons conducting biological and geological surveys In BC, Alberta, and the Yukon. His passion is communicating science in a way that accesses the human heart. David has visited thirty-three countries, sailed across the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, trekked over the Himalayas with a kitten, and hitchhiked over two hundred rides. He is dedicated to understanding the human experience and sharing his findings. When not working on books, he is volunteering at schools, studying Buddhism, and practising meditation.
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What Remains of Elsie Jane is a heartbreaking and darkly funny portrait of a woman unravelling in the wake of tragedy.
CHELSEA WAKELYN is a writer, musician, and mother to two lovely, eccentric humans. She lives on Vancouver Island.
WHEN: Wednesday, June 5th at 7:00 p.m. (doors at 6:30).
WHERE: In-store at Munro’s Books, 1108 Government Street in Victoria.
WHAT: Readings from three BC Yukon Book Prizes finalists: Darrel J. McLeod, David Norwell, and Chelsea Wakelyn.
HOW: This event is free to attend.

Wild Prose Reading Series Presents: BACK to the Future!
2024-05-30 19:00 - 22:00 | Paul Phillips Hall, 1923 Fernwood Road, Victoria, BC, V8T 0A5, Canada
Join the Wild Prose Reading Series on Thursday, May 30th for BACK to the Future! Readings about time travel and nostalgia, from Astrid Blodgett (This is How You Start to Disappear), Kevin Chong (The Double Life of Benson Yu), and Lori Hahnel (Flicker)!
We’ll begin with an open mic, as always (ALL genres welcome) at 7:00 (sign up at 6:30) and then featured readings will start at 7:30.
BACK to the Future! with Astrid Blodgett, Kevin Chong, and Lori Hahnel
Thursday, May 30th
at Paul Phillips Hall, 1923 Fernwood Road
Doors 6:30
Open Mic 7:00
Featured Readers 7:30
Admission: $5 or pay what you can (CASH)
Free refreshments
Please bring CASH for admission and books
More info: https://www.susansanfordblades.com/wild-prose-reading-series

Incite: BC and Yukon Book Prizes
2024-05-29 19:00 - 20:00 | Vancouver Public Library, Central Branch, 350 West Georgia St., Vancouver, BC, V6B 6B1, Canada
Join the Vancouver Writers Fest, VPL, and BC and Yukon Book Prizes for an evening of celebrating the finalists of the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. Hear from three lauded local authors, each nominated in a different category of this year’s awards:
– Henry Tsang, nominated for the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award for White Riot: The 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver
– Samantha Nock, nominated for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize for A Family of Dreamers
– Brandon Reid, nominated for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize for Beautiful Beautiful
White Riot: The 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver is a thought-provoking collection of essays and photographs that documents the anti-Asian riots of 1907 in the context of contemporary anti-Asian sentiment. Samantha Nock redefines where and what “home” is in her debut poetry collection. And Beautiful Beautiful is a coming-of-age story exploring indigeneity, masculinity, and cultural tradition.
The authors will discuss their shortlisted titles, and the importance of place in each of their works, with Megan Cole, the Prize’s Director of Programming and Communications. Their insightful conversation will be rounded out by readings and an audience Q+A.
Books will be for sale at the event courtesy of Book Warehouse, a division of Black Bond Books. Can’t make the event time? Register for the livestream option and we’ll send you a link to watch the recording!

Wildlife Conservation Book Launch: Bob McDonald in Conversation with Greg Cummings and Sarah Cox
2024-05-22 19:00 - 21:00 | Munro’s Books, 1108 Government Street, Victoria, BC, V8W 1Y2, Canada
Please join Munro’s Books in launching two new books by local authors about wildlife conversation!! We’ll present Greg Cummings, author of Gorilla Tactics: How to Save a Species and Sarah Cox, author of Signs of Life: Fieldnotes From the Frontlines of Extinction in conversation with Bob McDonald, author of The Future is Now: Solving the Climate Crisis with Today’s Technologies, and host of CBC Radio’s Quirks and Quarks!
Gorillas are among the most recognizable of the large charismatic mammals, but climate change and poaching has brought them to the brink of extinction. Greg Cummings was the executive director of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund for seventeen years. He shares his fascinating experiences as a “wildlife Robin Hood”—raising money from the rich and famous and redistributing it to endangered gorillas and their habitats. He met and enlisted the help of celebrities such as Sigourney Weaver, Arthur C. Clark, Douglas Adams, and Leonardo DiCaprio. This thirty-year worldwide journey moves from boardrooms in Manhattan and London to mountain treks in Rwanda and Congo. Gorilla Tactics is sure to enchant readers with Greg’s unique experiences, while sharing insight into the work it takes to save a species from extinction.
GREG CUMMINGS has been featured in international publications such as the Guardian, Ecologist, and Sea Angler. In 2006 his organization was awarded the BBC Animal Award for best wildlife conservation program. A fundraiser since 1990, Cummings has raised money in America, Britain, France, Holland, Italy, and Canada for causes ranging from wildlife conservation to mental health. As director of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund UK, he set up dozens of innovative, grassroots projects in troubled parts of the world—many of which are self-sustaining to this day. His global perspective has given him an eye for where the next crisis might arise, and how to thwart it. He lives in Victoria, British Columbia.
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What’s to be done when only three spotted owls are left in Canada’s wild? When wolves eat endangered caribou, cormorants kill rare trees, and housing developments threaten a tiny frog? Environmental journalist Sarah Cox has witnessed what happens when we drive species to the brink of extinction. In Signs of Life, she tags along with the Canadian military, Indigenous guardians, biologists, conservationists, and ordinary people who are racing to save hundreds of species before it’s too late. Travelling across the country, Cox visits the Toronto Zoo, home of Canada’s only wildlife biobank, where scientists conserve living cells from endangered species in the event of future loss; tours Canada’s military bases, home to some of Canada’s last preserved ecosystems; and travels to Indigenous communities where land stewards are striving to restore the delicate ecological balance that has sustained people for millennia. Through the eyes and work of individuals who are bringing species back from the precipice, Cox delivers both an urgent message and a fresh perspective on how we can protect biodiversity and begin to turn things around.
SARAH COX is an award-winning author and journalist based in Victoria, B.C. In 2022, Cox won the Canadian Association of Journalists’ Award for Environmental & Climate Change Reporting and her investigative reporting for the Narwhal has also been awarded the World Press Freedom Award and the Canadian Journalism Foundation’s Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism. She has also won a Gold Digital Publishing Award with her colleagues at The Narwhal and previously won two Western Magazine Awards. Sarah’s first book Breaching the Peace: The Site C Dam and a Valley’s Stand Against Big Hydro won a B.C. Book Prize and was a finalist for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing (Writers’ Trust of Canada) and the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature.
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BOB McDONALD has been the host of CBC Radio’s Quirks & Quarks since 1992. He is a regular science commentator on CBC’s News Network and a science correspondent for CBC TV’s The National. His book Measuring the Earth with a Stick was shortlisted for the Canadian Science Writers Association Book Award. He has been honoured with the 2001 Michael Smith Award for Science Promotion from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; the 2002 Sandford Fleming Medal from The Royal Canadian Institute; and the 2005 McNeil Medal for the Public Awareness of Science from the Royal Society of Canada. In November 2011, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
WHEN: Wednesday, May 22nd at 7:00 p.m. (doors at 6:30)
WHERE: In-store at Munro’s Books, 1108 Government St. in Victoria
WHAT: Readings from Greg Cummings and Sarah Cox, followed by a conversation moderated by Bob McDonald and a Q&A with the audience. Book signings will follow.
HOW: This event is free to attend.

North Shore Authors Collection: Children's Authors Talk
2024-05-22 18:00 - 19:30 | North Vancouver Public Library – Lynn Valley branch, 1277 Lynn Valley Road, North Vancouver, BC, V7J 0A2, Canada
The North Shore Authors Collection inspires, supports, and celebrates the literary talent of North Shore authors by showcasing locally-created content in all three North Shore libraries.
Join us as we celebrate some of the children’s authors whose works were chosen this year. The authors will discuss their works and answer questions from the audience.

Victoria Day Explore Victoria Book Signing!
2024-05-20 12:00 - 15:00 | Munro’s Books, 1108 Government Street, Victoria, BC, V8W 1Y2, Canada
Join Munro’s Books on Victoria Day to meet the authors of four local books: Collin Varner’s 50 Keystone Flora Species of Coastal British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest and 50 Keystone Fauna Species of Coastal British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest; Taryn Eyton’s Backpacking on Vancouver Island; and Dave Doroghy and Graeme Menzies’ 111 Places in Victoria That You Must Not Miss!
12:00-1:30 p.m.: Collin Varner and Taryn Eyton
About 50 Keystone Flora Species of Coastal British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest:
A keystone species is an organism that defines and supports an entire ecosystem, filling a vital ecological niche. Without these species, the ecosystem would be radically altered or even collapse. This pocket-sized field guide by bestselling naturalist Collin Varner highlights 50 keystone trees, flowering plants, fruit-bearing plants, marine plants, and fungi found across the Pacific Northwest bioregion—including Douglas Fir, Sitka Spruce, Large-leafed Lupine, Wild Mint, Salal, Salmonberry, Marine Eelgrass, Red-belted Polypore, and more. Each entry features clear photography, etymology, descriptions, habitat information, risks and warnings. This convenient and easy reference is perfect for casual walkers, hikers, campers, and beachcombers, and draws awareness to the importance of conservation and protection of these crucial species.
About 50 Keystone Fauna Species of Coastal British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest:
A keystone species is an organism that defines and supports an entire ecosystem, filling a vital ecological niche. Without these species, the ecosystem would be radically altered or even collapse. This pocket-sized field guide by bestselling naturalist Collin Varner highlights 50 keystone birds, mammals, amphibians, insects, fish, shellfish, and mollusks found across the Pacific Northwest bioregion—including the American Crow, Bald Eagle, American Beaver, California Sea Lion, Sea Otter, Orca, Coyote, Grizzly Bear, Giant Pacific Octopus, Chinook Salmon, Pacific Tree Frog, Pacific Banana Slug, Mixed Bumblebee, and more. Each entry features clear photography, etymology, descriptions, habitat information, risks and warnings. This convenient and easy reference is perfect for casual walkers, hikers, campers, beachcombers, sailors, paddlers, and whale watchers, and draws awareness to the importance of conservation and protection of these crucial species.
About Backpacking on Vancouver Island:
Discover 35 of Vancouver Island’s best day hikes and overnight trips. Vancouver Island is home to legendary backpacking routes, and this expertly researched book takes you to the best of the best, whether you’re looking for a weekend trip to a mountain peak, a multi-day adventure to a secluded beach, or an easy day trip to a waterfall. The author, Taryn Eyton, is an experienced backpacker and Leave No Trace Master Educator. In addition to sharing the best backpacking routes on the Island, she provides practical advice to promote fun wilderness experiences and minimize your environmental impact. Every featured backpacking trip includes: Elevation, distance, and time information Route descriptions and trail maps Points of cultural and natural history Tips on where to camp and where to find water Information about fees, permits, and reservations.
1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.: Dave Doroghy and Graeme Menzies
About 111 Places in Victoria That You Must Not Miss:
Authors Dave Doroghy and Graeme Menzies take you to find the cool, the quirky, and the unusual places hidden in Victoria amidst the fascinating architecture and glorious outdoor scenery. Visit the place where author Rudyard Kipling slept. Explore Canada’s largest ant farm. Answer the call of nature in a pub’s haunted loo. Or take a date to a secluded, waterfront fish-and-chips shop. See the world’s tallest totem pole while it still stands. If it’s history you’re after, consider that James Cook was the first non-indigenous person to set foot near here in 1778. Later, the Hudson’s Bay Company established the spot as a trading post, naming it Fort Victoria after the reigning British queen. Vestiges of the old British Empire can still be spotted in the majestic colonial buildings in the inner harbor, the red double decker buses on its busy streets and the occasional old fashioned British telephone booths.
WHEN: Monday, May 20th from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
WHERE: At Munro’s Books, 1108 Government St. Outside, weather permitting, or inside the store.
WHAT: Book signings with Collin Varner, Taryn Eyton, Dave Doroghy, and Graeme Menzies
HOW: This event is free to attend.

Meet Marion McKinnon Crook in Williams Lake
2024-05-17 15:00 - 17:00 | The Open Book, 247 Oliver St., Williams Lake, BC, V2G 1M2, Canada
Join bestselling author Marion McKinnon Crook for a book signing and reading of Always On Call: Adventures in Nursing, Ranching, and Rural Living, the much-anticipated sequel to Always Pack a Candle!
Friday, May 17, 2024
signing 3–5 pm
reading at 4:45 pm

Book Signing: Hand Drawn Victoria with Emma Fitzgerald
2024-05-10 13:00 - 14:30 | Munro’s Books, 1108 Government Street, Victoria, BC, V8W 1Y2, Canada
Join Munro’s Books on May 10th to meet Emma Fitzgerald, author of Hand Drawn Victoria: An Illustrated Tour in and Around BC’s Capital City!!
For locals and visitors alike, these sketches and stories highlight both the historic monuments and everyday moments that make Victoria shine.
You never know quite what you’ll come across in British Columbia’s capital city. With its unmissable landmarks that attract people from around the world, Victoria is also rich in forested beauty, charming houses, and curious people, and is steeped in local history.
Following the charm of her previous book, Hand Drawn Vancouver, in this memorable book, Emma FitzGerald captures the coastal city of Victoria and its surrounding communities in over 100 sketches of:
• Iconic Landmarks: It wouldn’t be a visit to Victoria without stopping by the Empress, Munro’s, or Butchart Gardens.
• Local Favourites: The longstanding Beacon Drive In and James Bay’s Birdcage Confectionary are some beloved spots honoured within these pages.
• Beautiful Architecture: Journey back in time by admiring historic buildings, like Queen Anne–style homes and the spiraling Belfry Theatre.
• Stunning West Coast Landscape: Explore natural wonders, from culturally significant fields of camas flowers to Mystic Beach’s stunning shoreline.
• Overheard Conversations: What really makes a city are the people who live there—Emma documents snippets of passersby’s conversations as she sketches.
Structured by neighbourhood, Hand Drawn Victoria is a beautiful keepsake for locals and visitors alike, and a lovely way to celebrate the city—its buildings, its people, and its essence.
EMMA FITZGERALD was born to Irish parents in Lesotho, a small mountainous kingdom in Southern Africa. She moved to Canada at a young age and spent most of her childhood in Vancouver, BC. Emma received a BFA in Visual Art from the University of British Columbia in 2004, and a Masters in Architecture from Dalhousie University in 2008. She has worked in architecture offices across Canada and in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her love of drawing on location led to her first book, Hand Drawn Halifax, and its follow-up, Sketch by Sketch Along Nova Scotia’s South Shore. She then turned her interest in people and places to where she grew up; Hand Drawn Vancouver was published in 2020 as she began working on Hand Drawn Victoria. In between her Hand Drawn series, Emma has illustrated five children’s books, including EveryBody’s Different on EveryBody Street, written by Sheree Fitch. She lives and draws in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
WHEN: Friday, May 10th from 1:00-2:30 p.m.
WHERE: In-store at Munro’s Books, 1108 Government St.
WHAT: Meet and greet plus book signing with Emma Fitzgerald.
HOW: This event is free to attend.

Double Poetry Launch: Julie Paul and Miranda Pearson
2024-05-01 19:00 - 21:00 | Munro’s Books, 1108 Government Street, Victoria, BC, V8W 1Y2, Canada
Join Munro’s Books in celebrating new work by two talented poets!!
“Chomping / champing / championing / churlish / … / There’s a wolf at the door / that looks exactly like me.” Who is the “whiny baby” in this book? Rather than calling names or hurling insults, the candid poems in this collection most often implicate the poet herself. Expansive in form and voice, the poems in Julie Paul’s second collection, Whiny Baby, offer both love letters and laments. They take us to construction sites, meadows, waiting rooms, beaches, alleys, gardens, and frozen rivers, from Montreal to Hornby Island. They ask us to live in the moment, despite the moment. Including a spirited long poem that riffs on the fairy tale “Three Billy Goats Gruff,” these poems are like old friends that at once console and confess. They blow kisses, they remember, and they celebrate the broken and the lost alongside the beautiful. At turns frank, peevish, introspective, and mischievous, the poems share sincere and intimate perspectives on the changing female body, our natural and built landscapes, and the idiosyncrasies of modern life. Whiny Baby calls on us to simultaneously examine and exult in our brief time on earth.
JULIE PAUL’s second book of poetry, Whiny Baby, follows the 2017 release of the poetry collection The Rules of the Kingdom, both published with McGill-Queen’s University Press. She is also the author of three short fiction collections, The Jealousy Bone (Emdash, 2008), The Pull of the Moon (Touchwood / Brindle & Glass, 2014), and Meteorites (Touchwood, 2019). Her writing has been published widely in journals and has received recognition from a number of sources. The Pull of the Moon won the 2015 Victoria Butler Book Prize, and The Rules of the Kingdom was a finalist for both the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize and the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Her personal essay “It Not Only Rises, It Shines” won the Edna Staebler Personal Essay Award from The New Quarterly and her short story “The Expansion” won The Rusty Toque’s Chapbook Award. Unless she’s visiting her daughter in Montreal, Julie lives in Victoria BC, where, in addition to writing, she works as a Registered Massage Therapist.
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“Come, anguish. Help us manage / the plainsong of an open shore, / its language of high tide rich and close, / close and hard to see.” The early elegiac poems in Bridestones emerge from the borderlands between life and death, loss and renewal. Drawing on dreams, opera, and visual art, and employing symbolist and playfully surreal imagery, Miranda Pearson questions the ways we tend and grieve – for each other and our environment. Beginning with a sudden bereavement, the first section ends with a long poem, “Clearance,” that depicts the experience of emptying and departing a home – the physicality of a house serving as a vehicle for processing grief. Pearson writes on family trauma, illness, love, and desire with a pervading sense of hauntedness, compressed, lyrical accounts of complex and ambivalent terrain. The impact of a pandemic lurks in the background, and themes of fear run through much of this collection, with poems exploring how we face our fears – or deny and avoid them – and, ultimately, how we grow and adapt. Through meditations on art, myth, archaeology, ceremony, and death, Pearson reveals the veil between life and death when drawn to its thinnest. Like the hovering falcon depicted in “A Song of Roses,” the poems view the world from above: “if earth is body, and sky – God help us, spirit.”
MIRANDA PEARSON is widely published in literary journals and anthologies, and Bridestones is her sixth book of poetry. Two of the previous titles, Harbour and The Fire Extinguisher, were shortlisted for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. While completing her MFA at UBC, Miranda served as poetry editor for Prism international, and has since taught at UBC and SFU. Miranda currently lives between the UK and Vancouver.
Please join us for readings from these two poets, followed by a Q&A with the audience and refreshments!
WHEN: Wednesday, May 1st at 7:00 p.m. (doors at 6:30)
WHERE: In-store at Munro’s Books, 1108 Government St.
WHAT: Readings by Julie Paul and Miranda Pearson from their new poetry collections, followed by a Q&A with the audience. Refreshments will be provided.
HOW: This event is free to attend.

On Mother Tongues and Translingual Poetics: Yilin Wang and Guests
2024-04-28 14:00 - 17:00 | BC
On Sunday, April 28th at 2pm, join Massy Arts, Massy Books and Invisible Publishing in celebrating the launch of The Lantern and the Night Moths by Yilin Wang, with guests Penny So, Karla Comanda, and Dominique Bernier-Cormier.
In The Lantern and the Night Moths, Chinese Canadian poet-translator Yilin Wang has selected and translated poems by five of China’s most innovative modern and contemporary poets: Fei Ming, Qiu Jin, Zhang Qiaohui, Xiao Xi, and Dai Wangshu. Their poetry expands and subverts the long lineage of Classical Chinese poetry that precedes them.
We would like to acknowledge the support of the League of Canadian Poets and the Canada Council for the Arts. This project has also been made possible by the Government of Canada. Ce projet a été rendu possible grâce au gouvernement du Canada

Ward Toward by Cindy Juyoung Ok & Root Fractures by Diana Khoi Nguyen
2024-04-27 18:00 | BC
Ward Toward by Cindy Juyoung Ok & Root Fractures by Diana Khoi Nguyen
Saturday, April 27th 2024, 6:00 PM PDT
On Saturday, April 27th at 6pm, join Massy Arts, Massy Books, Yale University Press, and Scribner in celebrating the dual launches of Ward Toward by Cindy Juyoung Ok & Root Fractures by Diana Khoi Nguyen, with host Bronwen Tate.
This project has been made possible by the Government of Canada. Ce projet a été rendu possible grâce au gouvernement du Canada.

Canadian Independent Bookstore Day at Munro's Books!!
2024-04-27 09:30 - 18:00 | Munro’s Books, 1108 Government Street, Victoria, BC, V8W 1Y2, Canada
On Saturday, April 27th, celebrate Canadian Independent Bookstore Day with Munro’s Books!!!
On Saturday, April 27, readers across the country will have the opportunity to support local independent bookshops by participating in Canadian Independent Bookstore Day (CIBD). With more than 150 participating shops expected, CIBD is an annual cultural celebration and an opportunity for book buyers, authors, illustrators, and publishers to acknowledge the vibrant literary ecosystem created by our “indie” bookshops. The stores in this national network act as key community ambassadors, convenors of important conversations, and contributors to vibrant local economies.
Here’s what will be going on at Munro’s:
ALL DAY:
Earn double points with all purchases!
Enter to win one of two prize packages!
Match the author to their book cover game!
Munro’s bookmark photobooth!
Bookmark colouring station!
Blind Date with a Book!
Postcards to Munro’s: A display of postcards to Munro’s from some of our favourite authors! We’ve sent Munro’s Books postcards to authors, both local and across the country and the world and have asked them to write about a favourite moment at Munro’s, or what they love about Munro’s, why Munro’s is important to them, or just the importance of independent bookstores in general. On April 27th, we’ll have these authors’ postcards on display for you to read!
BOOK SIGNINGS:
Come and meet these local authors!
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. – Gregor Craigie
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. – Michael Christie
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. – Sho Yamagushiku
CHILDREN’S STORY TIME:
3:00 – 3:30 p.m. – with Esi Edugyan
3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. – with Monique Gray Smith
We hope you’ll join us to celebrate and continue to cultivate the important and special relationship that exists between writers, readers, and bookstores!!
WHEN: Saturday, April 27th all day (9:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.).
WHERE: In-store at Munro’s Books, 1108 Government Street in Victoria.
WHAT: A celebration of Canadian Independent Bookstore Day!
HOW: This celebration is free to attend.

Poets in the Round
2024-04-25 18:00 | BC
Poets in the Round
Thursday, April 25th 2024, 6:00 PM PDT
On Thursday, April 25th at 6pm, join Massy Arts and Massy Books in welcoming Poets in the Round, in celebration of poetry month. Featured poets include: Jen Currin, Mercedes Eng, Marc Perez, Molly Cross-Blanchard, Brandon Wint, Rahat Kurd, and Melanie Noel.
Poets, seated in a semi-circle, will listen to other poets’ poems and respond with their own poems in a kinetic conversation of ideas and inspiration.
This project has been made possible by the Government of Canada. Ce projet a été rendu possible grâce au gouvernement du Canada.

Meet the Author: Robyn Harding: "A Drowning Woman"
2024-04-25 07:30 - 21:30 | Christianne’s Lyceum of Literature and Art, 4433 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V6R2H8, Canada
Join us for an evening of engaging discussion with Robyn Harding, about her latest book:
The Drowning Woman
Drinks and light fare provided.
Wine supplied by Sage Hayward Vineyards.
About the author:
Robyn Harding is the author of numerous international bestsellers, including The Party, The Arrangement, The Swap and The Drowning Woman. As a speaker, she is definitely a Lyceum favourite – her presentation style is fluid so that she can meet the needs of everyone in her audience. Robyn has also written and executive produced an independent film, The Steps. She lives in Vancouver, BC, with her family and two cute, but deadly, rescue chihuahuas.
Visit her at RobynHarding.com or follow her on Twitter and Instagram @RHardingWriter or Facebook @AuthorRobynHarding.
Do not miss out, register soon and pick up your copy of The Drowning Woman at the Lyceum and save 15%.
About the book:
The Drowning Woman is a deliciously twisted story of friendship, retribution, and betrayal about a homeless woman fleeing a dangerous past—and the wealthy society wife she saves from drowning, who pulls her into a dark web of secrets and lies.
Lee Gulliver never thought she’d find herself living on the streets—no one ever does—but when her restaurant fails, and she falls deeper into debt, she leaves her old life behind with nothing but her clothes and her Toyota Corolla. In Seattle, she parks in a secluded spot by the beach to lay low and plan her next move—until early one morning, she sees a sobbing woman throw herself into the ocean. Lee hauls the woman back to the surface, but instead of appreciation, she is met with fury. The drowning woman, Hazel, tells her that she’s trapped in a toxic, abusive marriage, that she’s a prisoner in her own home. Lee has thwarted her one chance to escape her life.
Out of options, Hazel retreats to her gilded cage, and Lee thinks she’s seen the last of her, until her unexpected return the next morning. Bonded by disparate but difficult circumstances, the women soon strike up a close and unlikely friendship. And then one day, Hazel makes a shocking request…
Review:
With deceitful characters who are not what they seem, a myriad of unexpected twists and turns, and a story that moves along at high speed, “The Drowning Woman” is everything I love in a thriller. Robyn Harding keeps readers hooked until the end.”
-Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling authot of “Local Woman Missing”

Roundtable Discussion: Witnessing Genocide in Palestine
2024-04-23 18:00 | BC
Roundtable Discussion: Witnessing Genocide in Palestine
Tuesday, April 23rd 2024, 6:00 PM PDT
On Tuesday, April 23rd at 6pm, join Massy Arts, Massy Books and UBC Public Humanities in gathering for a roundtable discussion on the theme: “Witnessing Genocide in Palestine” with scholars Brenna Bhandar, Adel Iskander, Jasbir K. Puar, and André Elias Mazawi.
This project has been made possible by the Government of Canada. Ce projet a été rendu possible grâce au gouvernement du Canada.

10th Anniversary of BC Book Day
2024-04-23 - 2024-04-24 | BC
WHEN: Tuesday, April 23, 2024
WHAT: BC Book Day invites British Columbians to celebrate the province’s book & magazine publishers, authors, illustrators, bookstores, libraries, festivals, and literary prizes that connect us with local stories.
GOAL: To raise awareness among government and the general public of BC’s publishing ecosystem and its cultural and economic contributions.
WHO: BC Book Day is coordinated by the Association of Book Publishers of BC, which works to support the long-term health and success of the Canadian-owned book industry in British Columbia.
Did you know?

British Columbia is the second largest English-language book publishing region in Canada, with more than 30 active publishers.
BC publishers operate in several regions, including the Southern Interior, the Sunshine Coast, Vancouver Island, and the Lower Mainland.
We bring Canadian writing and culture to a global audience, exporting to more than 40 countries each year.

In Grief and Poetry with Patrick de Belen - screening + poetry + workshop
2024-04-22 18:00 | BC
In Grief and Poetry with Patrick de Belen – screening + poetry + workshop
Monday, April 22nd 2024, 6:00 PM PDT
On Monday, April 22nd at 6pm, join Massy Arts and Massy Books in welcoming poet and filmmaker Patrick de Belen to the space for a screening, poetry performance and workshop, In Grief and Poetry.

Book Launch: Always On Call • Terrace, BC
2024-04-20 13:00 - 14:00 | Terrace Public Library, 4610 Park Ave, Terrace, BC, V8G 1V6, Canada
Join bestselling author Marion McKinnon Crook to launch Always On Call: Adventures in Nursing, Ranching, and Rural Living—the much-anticipated sequel to Always Pack a Candle!
Saturday, April 20, 2024
1–2 pm
Terrace Public Library, 4610 Park Ave., Terrace, BC
• free to attend — everyone welcome
• Books for sale by Misty River Books

Book Launch: Kayla Czaga and Anne Fleming
2024-04-18 19:00 - 21:00 | Munro’s Books, 1108 Government Street, Victoria, BC, V8W 1Y2, Canada
Join Munro’s Books in celebrating the launches of new books by two talented local writers!!
“I feel like the crud / I accidentally touch sometimes, whatever it is / that collects under cushions on my couch,” writes Kayla Czaga in her third collection, Midway, an exploration of grief in all its manifestations. In her search for meaning in the aftermath of her parents’ deaths, Czaga visits the underworld (at least twice), Vietnamese restaurants, the beach, London’s Tate Modern, Las Vegas casinos, and a fish textbook. Honest, elegiac, characteristically strange, and frequently funny, these poems take the reader through bright scenery like carnival rides with fast climbs and sudden drops. The meanings and messages Czaga uncovers on her travels are complicated: hopeful, bleak-both comforting and not. Along with the parents the poet mourns, this collection showcases a varied cast. A suburban father-in-law copes with a troubling diagnosis. Marge Simpson quits The Simpsons. Death is a metalhead who dates girls too young for him. Midway is a welcome and necessary collection from one of the most celebrated and accomplished poets of her generation.
KAYLA CZAGA is the author of two previous poetry collections-For Your Safety Please Hold On (Nightwood Editions, 2014), and Dunk Tank (House of Anansi, 2019). Her work has been shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award for poetry and the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. Frequently anthologized in the Best Canadian Poetry in English series, her writing also appears in The Walrus, Grain, Event, The Fiddlehead, and elsewhere. She lives with her wife on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen people, the Songhees nd Esquimalt nations.
—
Anne Fleming’s latest novel, Curiosities, opens with a present-day amateur historian, Anne, who describes her unexpected discovery of five seventeenth-century manuscripts that, astonishingly, tell the same strange story from vastly different points of view. And so it falls upon Anne, the contemporary historian, to piece together these interlocking stories, discover the fate of a pair of lovers, and add her own layer of “truth” to a history and time period when there were no labels for who these lovers might truly be.
ANNE FLEMING is the author of Pool-Hopping & Other Stories (Raincoast, 1998), which was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and the Danuta Gleed Award, as well as the much-praised novel, Anomaly (Raincoast, 2005). She is also the author of a middle-grade novel, The Goat (Groundwood, 2017), which was a Junior Library Guild and White Ravens selection, shortlisted for Italy’s Premio Strega, optioned for film, and named one of the Top Ten Children’s Books of the Year by The New York Public Library and the Wall Street Journal. Anne Fleming lives in Victoria, BC.
WHEN: Thursday, April 18th, 7:00 p.m. (doors at 6:30).
WHERE: In-store at Munro’s Books, 1108 Government St.
WHAT: Readings of new work from Kayla Czaga and Anne Fleming followed by a Q&A with the audience and book signings. Refreshments will be provided. The audience will also be serenaded by lute playing from Anne Fleming and local musician, Doug Hensley.
HOW: This event is free to attend.

RCLAS presents Poetic Justice In Celebration of National Poetry Month Featuring Isabella Wang & Catherine Lewis with Alan Hill
2024-04-14 14:00 - 16:00 | #IHeartNewWest Community Art Space Columbia Square Plaza, Unit 103 – 78 10th Street, New Westminster., Unit 103 - 78 10th Street, New Westminster, BC, Canada
Royal City Literary Arts Society presents “Poetic Justice”
In Celebration of National Poetry Month
Sunday, April 14 from 2-4pm
Featuring poets Isabella Wang and Catherine Lewis with host Alan Hill.
Plus, additional readings from “A Poetry of Place: Journeys Across New Westminster”, the poetry postcard anthology project, curated and edited by Alan Hill, published in 2021 by the City of New Westminster.
Open Mic.
Located at the New West Artists exhibit at the
📍#IHeartNewWest Community Art Space Columbia Square Plaza, Downtown New West.
📌UNIT 103, 78 Tenth Street, New Westminster.
Catherine Lewis (she/her) is a Chinese Canadian writer and poet. Her debut poetry chapbook Zipless (845 Press) is a finalist for two Bisexual Book Awards, including Bi Writer of the Year. Her writing has been longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize, nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and published in The Fiddlehead, PRISM international, The Humber Literary Review, Pulp Literature, and Plenitude Magazine. A graduate of SFU’s Writer’s Studio, she is a two-time Banff Centre Literary Arts alumna. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Canada, she lives in Vancouver on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.
Isabella Wang is the author of the chapbook, On Forgetting a Language, and her full-length debut, Pebble Swing, shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. Among other recognitions, she has been shortlisted for Arc’s Poem of the Year Contest, The Malahat Review’s Far Horizons Contest and Long Poem Contest, and was the youngest writer to be shortlisted twice for The New Quarterly’s Edna Staebler Essay Contest. She is in her Masters of Sociology at SFU. An editor on the Room collective, she is also a youth mentor with Vancouver Poetry House, poetry mentor with the UBC Learning Exchange, web coordinator with poetry in canada, and directs her own non-profit editing and mentorship program, 4827 Revise Revision St.
Alan Hill was born in the UK and immigrated to Canada in 2005. He is the former Poet Laureate of the City of New Westminster, BC (2017-2020), former president of the Royal City Literary Arts Society (RCLAS), and was the editor and curator of A Poetry of Place: Journeys Across New Westminster, published in partnership with New Westminster Arts Services. His writing has been published internationally and his poetry has appeared in Event, CV2, Canadian Literature, The Antigonish Review, subTerrain, Poetry is Dead, among others. He works in the field of community development and immigrant settlement and lives in New Westminster, BC. His book In the Blood was published by Caitlin Press in 2022.

The Knot of My Tongue: Poems and Prose by Zehra Naqvi with guests
2024-04-12 18:00 | BC
On Friday, April 12th at 6pm, join Massy Arts, Massy Books and Penguin Random House Canada for the launch of The Knot of My Tongue: Poems and Prose by Zehra Naqvi, joined by Rahat Kurd, Seemi Ghazi and Sarah Munawar.
For readers of Fatimah Asghar’s If They Come for Us, here is a searing, multidimensional debut about the search for language and self, which is life itself.
This project has been made possible by the Government of Canada. Ce projet a été rendu possible grâce au gouvernement du Canada.
Venue & Accessibility
The event will be hosted at the Massy Arts Gallery, at 23 East Pender Street in Chinatown, Vancouver. We are located in the former MING WO building, which is still the name on the facade of our building.
Registration is free and required for entrance.
The gallery is wheelchair accessible and a gender-neutral washroom is on-site.
Please refrain from wearing scents or heavy perfumes.
For more on accessibility including parking, seating, venue measurements and floor plan, and how to request ASL interpretation please visit: massyarts.com/accessibility
Covid Protocols: Masks keep our community safe and are mandatory (N95 masks are recommended as they offer the best protection). We ask if you are showing symptoms, that you stay home. Thank you kindly.
About the book:
The Knot of My Tongue (Penguin Random House, 2024)
I knew it was time to build what could carry, what could find the high point to name what I knew to be the world and carry it with me
At the heart of The Knot of My Tongue is Zehra Naqvi’s storying of language itself and the self-re- visioning that follows devastating personal rupture. Employing a variety of poetic forms, these intimate, searching poems address generations, continents, and dominions
to examine loss of expression in the aftermath of collisions with
powerful forces, ranging from histories to intimacies.
Naqvi follows a cast of characters from personal memory, family history, and Quranic traditions, at instances where they have either been rendered silent or found ways to attempt the inexpressible— a father struggling to speak as an immigrant in Canada; a grandmother as she loses her children and her home after the 1947 Partition; the Islamic story of Hajar, abandoned in the desert without water; the myth of Philomela who finds language even after her husband cuts off her tongue.
Brilliantly blending the personal and the communal, memory and myth, theology and tradition, the poems in this collection train our attention—slow and immediate, public and private—on our primal ability to communicate, recover, and survive. This example is striking for the power of its speaking through loss and a singular, radiant vision.
About the author
ZEHRA NAQVI is a Karachi-born writer raised on unceded Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver, BC). She is a winner of the 2021 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers awarded by the Writers’ Trust of Canada. Her poem “forgetting urdu” was the winner of Room’s 2016 Poetry Contest. Zehra has written and edited for various publications internationally. She holds two MSc degrees in migration studies and social anthropology from Oxford University where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar. The Knot of My Tongue is her debut poetry collection.
About the guests
Rahat Kurd is the daughter & granddaughter of Kashmiri women. She has studied Urdu and Persian poetry for several years. Her work includes COSMOPHILIA (Talonbooks 2015), a collection of poems, and THE CITY THAT IS LEAVING FOREVER: KASHMIRI LETTERS (Talonbooks 2021), a hybrid book of correspondence and poetics co-authored with the Kashmiri poet Sumayya Syed.
Dr. Sarah Munawar (She/Her) is a Pakistani-Muslim and settler living in relationship with and sustained by the occupied and unceded land and waters of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (TsleilWaututh) Nations. She is a political science instructor at Columbia College, a mother and a scholar of care ethics, disability justice and health equity. In her writing, she articulates the right of Muslims to think about care islamically, and offers a vision of disability justice and collective accessibility that draws upon various lineages of anti-oppressive Islamic knowledge.

Book Launch: Boxing the Compass by Michael L. Hadley
2024-04-05 15:30 - 17:00 | Maritime Museum of BC, 634 Humboldt St., Victoria, BC, Canada
Join award-winning historian and mariner Michael L. Hadley on his international adventures as he launches his memoir, Boxing the Compass: A Life of Seafaring, Music, and Pilgrimage (Heritage House, 2024).
Friday, April 5, 2024 | 3:30–5:00 pm
Maritime Museum of BC | 744 Douglas St. | Victoria, BC
Register at mmbc.bc.ca
Event included with museum admission or membership—come early to visit the museum
Books available for purchase and signing
