POETRY BOOK LAUNCH! jaz papadopoulos (I FEEL THAT WAY TOO) and Melanie Siebert (SIGNAL INFINITIES)
2024-09-12 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Vancouver) | Cross & Crows Books, 2836 Commercial Dr,, Vancouver, BC, V5N 4C6, Canada
Join jaz papadopoulos (I FEEL THAT WAY TOO) and Melanie Siebert (SIGNAL INFINITIES) in conversation with Vancouver writer and editor Elee Kraljii Gardiner at Cross & Crows Books on Thursday, September 12th, 2024 at 6:30 pm.

Write on Bowen Festival for Readers & Writers
2024-09-13 09:00 - 2024-09-15 16:00 | Cove Commons on Bowen Island, 430 Bowen Island Trunk Rd, Bowen Island, British Columbia, V0N 1G0, Canada
The Write on Bowen Festival of Readers & Writers is a three-day event on beautiful Bowen Island that showcases writers and authors and their work. It provides opportunities for participants to attend workshops and other events that will aid them in the development of word-based creative endeavours. It allows everyone, including the general public, to be exposed to a rich diversity of voices, styles and presentation of works. It engenders connections and inspiration between and amongst all in attendance as they are drawn together around the love of the written and spoken word.
In addition to offering stimulating interactive workshops to writers of all genres and levels, the Festival presents author readings, a Saturday night Gala featuring a keynote speaker, luncheon panels and other special events. We look forward to welcoming you to our idyllic island.

More Than Two, Second Edition: Book Launch and Conversation
2024-09-14 18:00 - 21:00 | Massy Arts, 23 East Pender, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Join us and Eve Rickert & Andrea Zanin for the release of More Than Two, Second Edition. Cultivating nonmonogamous relationships with kindness and integrity, in conversation with Carrie Jenkins.
Venue & Accessibility
The event will be hosted at the Massy Arts Gallery, at 23 East Pender Street in Chinatown, Vancouver.
Registration is free, open to all 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
More Than Two, Second Edition: Cultivating Nonmonogamous Relationships with Kindness and Integrity. by Eve Rickert and Andrea Zanin, with a foreword by Dr. Kim TallBear, author of The Critical Polyamorist.
“A modern topology of nonmonogamy’s many possibilities—and consequences—fully revised and updated on the tenth anniversary of the bestselling first edition”
“Can you love more than one person?” A lot of conversations about nonmonogamy start this way. When we discuss “opening”relationships, contemplate whether we want to beexclusive with our partners, or introduce multiple partners tofriends and family, we are asking the people in our lives, and ourselves, to contend with this question. The answer is obvious, and misleading. The love one feels in their heart and the love one expresses through daily acts of care and affection are both “love” in the true sense, but they have different requirements, present different options and produce different outcomes.
More Than Two can’t promise outcomes, but it is a guide to the paths—from anchor or nesting partnerships to relationship anarchy—possible within nonmonogamy. This long-awaited second edition bridges emerging theories on attachment and relationship diversity with authors Eve Rickert and Andrea Zanin’s insight and experience. The arcs of nonmonogamous partnerships bend towards complexity, introspection and compromise—or at least they can, if we work at it.
About the Authors
Eve Rickert is a Gen X, queer, solo polyamorous, relationship anarchist, neurodivergent cis woman living on unceded WSÁNEC and Lekwungen territory on the west coast of the place currently known as Canada. She is the curator of the More Than Two Essentials series and the nonmonogamy resource site morethantwo.ca, the founder and publisher of Thornapple Press, and the founder and mastermind of the science communications firm Talk Science to Me.
Andrea Zanin, MA, is a white, nonbinary, middle-aged queer writer who lives in Tkaronto (Toronto, Ontario), on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. Andrea is the author of Post-Nonmonogamy and Beyond, part of the More Than Two Essentials series, and has written for the Globe and Mail, The Tyee, Bitch, Ms., Xtra, IN Magazine, Outlooks Magazine and the Montreal Mirror. Andrea blogs at sexgeek.wordpress.com, where they created the 10 Rules for Happy Nonmonogamy and coined the term “polynormativity.”
About the Moderator
Carrie Jenkins: is a professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia and the author of What Love Is (and What it Could Be), Sad Love: Romance and the Search for Meaning, and Nonmonogamy and Happiness as well as other titles. She holds a PhD in philosophy from Trinity College, Cambridge, and an MFA in creative writing from UBC. She has been featured in The Atlantic, the New York Times, the Globe and Mail and the Telegraph, among others.

Sarah Leavitt book launch
2024-09-26 19:00 - 21:00 | Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V5T 2G7, Canada
Sarah Leavitt launches her new book SOMETHING, NOT NOTHING, a graphic memoir about grief, loss, queer love, and joy. Sarah will give a reading followed by a Q&A with cartoonist Mita Mahato. Includes snacks, book signing, and a chance to play with watercolour.

Poetry Bus! Celebrating the 28th Year of Poetry in Transit
2024-09-28 12:30 - 14:00 | 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 28th 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 2024-25 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! Hosted by Evelyn Lau.

Clever Girl Book Launch
2024-09-29 18:30 - 20:30 | R&B Brewing
Join the party for an evening of dinos, readings, trivia, music and drag to celebrate the launch of Hannah McGregor’s new book, “Clever Girl”! Enjoy readings and performances from Rainbow Glitz, The Established Shanda Leer, Dina Del Bucchia, Cynara Geissler, David Ly AND MORE! RSVP early to reserve your space.
The hosts would like to acknowledge that this event is taking place on the on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Book launch. M.A.C. Farrant's expanded 20th Anniversary Edition of My Turquoise Years
2024-10-10 19:00 - 21:00
Book launch of M.A.C. Farrant’s expanded 20th Anniversary Edition of My Turquoise Years–a memoir.
Date: October 10, 2024
Time: 7 – 9 pm
Place: Small Gods Brewing, 9835 Third Street, Sidney BC
Free event.
Readers: M.A.C. FARRANT and BARBARA BLACK, Introduction by PAULINE HOLDSTOCK

Camera Geologica Book Launch
2024-10-17 18:30 - 20:30 | The Polygon Gallery, 101 Carrie Cates Court, North Vancouver, BC, V7M3J4, Canada
Camera Geologica: An Elemental History of Photography is a groundbreaking study of photography through the minerals upon which the medium depends by art historian, curator, and organiser Siobhan Angus. Joining her is Kelly McCormick, whose recent research into eco-processing and photography’s relationship to radioactivity, will frame a critical discussion on what we see – or what is obscured – when we look at photographs.
Camera Geologica is published by Duke University Press. Copies will be available for purchase and signing after the talk.
This conversation is co-presented by the Critical Image Forum, an initiative for Research in Photography and Expanded Documentary at the University of British Columbia.
Doors Open: 6pm
Conversation and Q&A: 6:30 – 7:30pm
Reception and Book Signing: 7:30pm

Canadian Photographs Book Launch
2024-10-29 18:30 - 20:30 | The Polygon Gallery, 101 Carrie Cates Court, North Vancouver, BC, V7M3J4, Canada
The Polygon Gallery proudly presents the launch of Canadian Photographs, the latest book by renowned British-Canadian photographer Geoffrey James.
Published by Figure 1 Publishing, and designed by Naomi MacDougall, the 144-page volume offers a fresh look at Canada’s in-between spaces and forgotten places, resisting the sense of a cohesive national identity. James documents telling moments: a demolition derby in Quebec, an inmate’s decorated cell at Kingston Penitentiary, the Dickensian side door of Massey Hall in Toronto. Captured with an eye for pictorial depth and detail, James’ photographs do not shy from contradictions: the bifurcation of rural and urban, rapid growth and increasing inequality, and the slow journey toward truth and reconciliation. Largely taken from train windows in the vast terrain between the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts, this unofficial portrait of Canada brings into sharp relief the mercurial nature of the nation.
Canadian Photographs includes a conversation between the photographer and Peter Galassi, former Chief Curator of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
On the occasion of the book launch, the Artist will engage in a conversation with acclaimed art historian and curator John O’Brian, followed by a book signing.
Doors Open: 6pm
Conversation and Q&A: 6:30 – 7:30pm
Reception and Book Signing: 7:30 – 8pm

Orca Group Book Launch
2024-11-06 19:00 - 21:00 | Munro’s Books, 1108 Government Street, Victoria, BC, V8W 1Y2, Canada
You’re invited to join Orca Book Publishers as we launch four new books! Meet the authors, enjoy the refreshments, and get a book signed.

Book Launch: THE SACRED HEART MOTEL
2024-11-14 18:30 - 20:30 | City Centre Artist Lodge, 2111 Main Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Join Grace Kwan for their hometown launch of THE SACRED HEART MOTEL, hosted at the City Centre Artist Lodge (Well Studios) in Mount Pleasant.
Featuring special guests Kyla Jamieson and Clio Lake
Food! Drinks! Readings! Heart-shaped key chains!
This is a free event. There is one flight of stairs to access the venue. There is one all-genders washroom.
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In poet Grace Kwan’s debut, they are ruthless and nimble, guiding us through the recesses of body and roadside space. The reader tours the motel through this multiverse narrative, from amenities to rooms to back alleys, through the generations of ghosts and queer love stories, until they are left alone with the heart at the centre. The Sacred Heart Motel is a disorienting, startling collection about placelessness and longing.
Kyla Jamieson (she/her) is the author of Body Count (Nightwood Editions, 2020), which was shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, named a CBC Best Poetry Book of 2020, and awarded third place in the Metatron Prize for Rising Authors by CA Conrad and Anne Boyer. Kyla currently lives and relies on the traditional unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, where she dreams of systemic change, care-full futures, and disabled joy. Find her online or in the water.
Grace Kwan is a Malaysian-born sociologist and writer based in “Vancouver,” the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. Their recent poetry appears in Canthius, Room Magazine, and others. Find them at https://grckwn.wordpress.com/.
Clio Lake is mixed, trans, and gnc, living as a settler on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlil̓wətaʔɬ territories. They like bosc pears, pomegranates, and being in the water. You can find her writing collected by Publication Studio Vancouver, BiteZine N°2, and in ___figuration: an anthology of trans writers, forthcoming from Gnashing Teeth. She is a recipient of accolade for drama from the UC Writing Awards.

Art Talk: You Don't Know Jack (Shadbolt)
2024-11-14 19:00 - 21:00 | Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, 6450 Deer Lake Avenue, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5G 2J3, Canada
The secret inner turmoil of a great artist struggling to express his deepest fears and insights comes to life in a candid imagined memoir. Arts critic Susan Mertens brings Burnaby artist Jack Shadbolt—after whom this centre is named—vividly alive through his personal journals, letters and poems in her new book, Jack Shadbolt: In His Words. Lavishly illustrated with images created throughout his long career, the book reveals the raw and unrelenting human compulsion, and the fierce emotion and intelligence, that drove Shadbolt to his Acts of Art. The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts is delighted to host the launch of the book with an illustrated talk by the author.
Books will be available for purchase and can be signed by the author.
EVENT SCHEDULE
6:30 p.m. Doors open
7:00 p.m. Talk and Q&A
8:00 p.m. Reception (light refreshments served) and book signing
For more information about the Shadbolt Centre, including accessibility and parking information, please visit the City of Burnaby website or contact Marianne Otterstrom at 604-205-3014.

Opheliac: Launch Party
2024-11-20 18:00 - 20:00 | Caffè Fantastico Specialty Coffees, 965 Kings Road, Victoria, British Columbia, V8T 1W7, Canada
This is a free event, but please RSVP on this Eventbrite page due to limited capacity: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/opheliac-launch-party-tickets-1035204884677?aff=oddtdtcreator
OPHELIAC: LAUNCH PARTY
Join us on Wednesday, November 20th to launch Opheliac, the debut of BC-based author Emma Sloan.
As an informal night of celebration, mingle with others in the literary community while enjoying Caffe Fantastico’s wide variety of seasonal sips and eats. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options will be available.
MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Emma Sloan is a poet, short fiction author, and journalist of 10+ years with works published across 300+ international publications.
As a Writing and Publishing graduate of the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, Emma works as a professional copywriter.
Her chapbook Opheliac was named a finalist in the Black River Chapbook Competition and is forthcoming with Black Lawrence Press in Fall 2024.
PRAISE FOR OPHELIAC:
Opheliac invites lovers of both Shakespeare and wordplay with vivid imagery that invokes a sensory experience throughout. This modern retelling of the literary figure of Ophelia leaves room to ponder femininity, fragility, and the haunting impact of tragedy–and is a collection to read again and again.
–Natasha Silva, author of North Star Heart
In Opheliac, Emma Sloan shatters memory and rearranges its pieces into arresting shapes. The past is never far away in Opheliac—but that doesn’t stop Sloan from trying to grow a new “girl tongue,” a voice with which to tell overlooked and necessary truths: “This is a reel of film / on the cutting room floor.”
–Lucy Wainger, author of In Life There Are Many Things
MORE ABOUT THE BLACK LAWRENCE PRESS:
Founded in upstate New York, The Black Lawrence Press is an independent publisher of contemporary poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.
Their collections are distributed nationally through Independent Publishers Group to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and various brick and mortar retailers, as well as assorted conferences and book fairs.

Family Day
2025-02-05 08:00 - 17:00

Freedom to Read Week
2025-02-06 08:00 - 17:00
Freedom to Read Week is an annual event which raises awareness about censorship and emphasizes the importance of access to literature, and intellectual freedom. This event unites booksellers, publishers, authors, schools, universities, and libraries in the reaffirmation of the commitment to intellectual freedom for all.
Find more information here.

Valentines Day
2025-02-14 - 2025-02-15

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
2025-02-14 08:00 - 17:00

I Read Canadian Day
2025-02-19 - 2025-02-20
I READ CANADIAN DAY is a national day of celebration of Canadian books for young people. This is a day dedicated to ‘reading Canadian’ and will empower families, schools, libraries and organizations to host local activities and events within the week.

World Day of Social Justice
2025-02-20 - 2025-02-21

Pink Shirt Day
2025-02-26 - 2025-02-27
Pink Shirt Day is national day to raise awareness against bullying, particularly in schools. Participants wear a pink shirt in solidarity of anti-bullying and bullying prevention.

International Women's Day
2025-03-08 - 2025-03-09

Writing the Queer Short Story at Wildfires Bookshop
2025-03-16 15:00 - 16:30
Join writers Corinne Manning, Adele Barclay, and Alex Leslie, as they read from their work and discuss working in the short story form at Wildfires Bookshop (a lovely, queer-owned bookstore, if you haven’t been there yet!) in New West on Sunday March 16, from 3:00 – 4:30 p.m.

A Short Story Celebration
2025-03-17 13:00 - 14:00
Alex Leslie and Shashi Bhat on March 17th at a Short Story Celebration in the University of Fraser Valley library, Abbotsford Campus— They’ll be reading in two fiction classes and doing a public reading.

Phyllis Webb Memorial Reading featuring Erín Moure and Chantal Neveu
2025-04-05 19:00 - 21:00 | SFU Segal Building, 500 Granville Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6C 1W6
Please join Simon Fraser University’s Department of English and Poetry in Canada for the third annual Phyllis Webb Memorial Reading, featuring award recipients Erín Moure and Chantal Neveu in conversation with special guests Oana Avasilichioaei and Annie Lafleur. This free event takes place on Saturday, April 5th (Doors: 6:15 PM; Event: 7-9 PM) at the SFU Segal Building (SG 1300). Enjoy readings, discussion, and light refreshments.
The Phyllis Webb Memorial Reading honours a Canadian poet(s) with a cash award and a celebration of their work. This event will occur each April and will be organized and administered by the Poetry in Canada Society, https://www.poetrycanada.org/.
A Governor General’s Award–winning poet and a member of the Order of Canada, Phyllis Webb was a major Canadian cultural figure from the 1950s through the 1980s, publishing ten celebrated collections of poetry and prose and co-founding the CBC Radio program Ideas (in 1965). When “words abandoned” her in the early 1990s and she was no longer able to write, she took up photography, photocollage, and eventually painting.
As Stephen Scobie once wrote, the work of Phyllis Webb “has always been distinguished by the profundity of her insights, the depth of her emotional feeling, the delicacy and accuracy of her rhythms, the beauty and mysterious resonance of her images – and by her luminous intelligence.” It is this legacy that the Phyllis Webb Memorial Reading seeks to honour, by selecting a poet who is distinguished by similar qualities.
In 2025, the third annual Phyllis Webb Memorial Reading honours two poets: Erín Moure and Chantal Neveu.

TriCities Writers Fest
2025-04-07 08:00 - 17:00
Get ready for the Tri-Cities Writers Festival 2025!
We’re welcoming more than a dozen celebrated authors to our community for four days of talks, panels, and workshops this May. Sessions will be in-person and online, and include a kick-off cocktail reception, where you can enjoy great food and drink alongside your fellow book lovers, and our panel of guest authors.
The Writers Festival is a collaboration between local libraries and the Tri-City Wordsmiths, with support from OverDrive, Evergreen Cultural Centre, and the Writers’ Union of Canada. With funding from Canada Council for the Arts/Conseil des arts du Canada.
For the schedule and author lineup, visit: https://www.coqlibrary.ca/seasonal-pages/tri-cities-writers-festival

BC Book Day
2025-04-15 - 2025-04-16
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.
The goal of BC Book Day is to raise awareness among government and the public of BC’s publishing ecosystem and its cultural and economic contributions.
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.
www.readlocalbc.ca/bcbookday/

Enabling Arts Poetry Open Mic
2025-04-16 19:00 - 21:00 | Enabling Arts, 104-343 Railway Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6A 1A4, Canada
We’re back & we can’t wait to hear your words!
Join us for a poetry night at 343 Railway St (#104). Whether you’re a seasoned poet or a first-timer, this event is the perfect opportunity to share your work in a supportive and welcoming environment. It’s a chance to connect with fellow poetry enthusiasts and be inspired by the power of spoken word, whether or not you get behind the mic.
All ages, all stages of your poetry journey!
Doors open at 6:30 pm, with the event starting at 7 pm.
The open mic is first come- first serve, each poet will have 5 minutes MAX to share 1 poem.
Hate speech will not be tolerated.
$13.13 general admission
Email: info@enablingarts.com with any questions.
*No one turned away for lack of funds; let us know if you need an accessible spot*

An Evening with Holly Howe, author of Mouthwatering Sauerkraut
2025-04-17 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.
Your receipt is your ticket. Your book will be available for pick up at the event. Thank you!

Earth Day
2025-04-22 - 2025-04-23
April 22nd is Earth Day, a day dedicated to celebrate environmental protection movements. This year’s theme is “Our Power, Our Planet” highlighting the impact of collective climate action.
Earth Day Canada encourages action around biodiversity, citing a strong desire among Canadians for access to information on this topic and its crucial role in supporting food security and climate resilience.

Celebrating Elise
2025-04-23 18:30 - 21:00 | Book Warehouse – Main Street, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver, BC, V5V 3P7, Canada
Celebrating Elise Partridge
Wednesday Apr 23rd, 2025
6:30 PM
–
9:00 PM
Main St.
Main St. Book Warehouse
Celebrating Elise
A National Poetry Month reading to celebrate the work and life of Elise Partridge (1958-2015) on the tenth anniversary of her passing. A number of Elise’s friends will read poems by or about her, or poems she loved.
Stephanie Bolster, John Donlan, Mary Gomez Fonseca, Elee Kraljii Gardiner, Christopher Levenson, George McWhirter, Barbara Nickel, Bonnie Nish, Rachel Rose, Rob Taylor, and Fiona Tinwei-Lam will be reading. Elise’s and participating readers’ books available for purchase.
Thanks to the League of Canadian Poets and the Canada Council for the Arts for their support.
Doors at 6:30 pm, event starts at 7:00 pm; free to attend and all are welcome.
