The popular Digital Festival returns this winter, featuring a mastercut of the Vancouver Writers Fest’s October Festival!
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Presented in partnership with Libro.fm and Peliplat, and with the generous support of Hotfusion Communications Inc.
Our flagship Festival filled our stages and our minds with brilliant conversation, countless moments of connection and inspiration, and the exceptional works of authors from across Canada and the world. Now, experience it again—or for the very first time—with the Digital Festival: a curated selection of 26 events representing some of the most outstanding offerings from our 2024 Festival, each professionally-recorded. Watch on-demand wherever you are, from December 16 through January 31.
We hope these events, many of which were sold out weeks prior to the Festival, will reach people far and wide. These events represent the world-class standards we hold ourselves to in sharing books and ideas with our community, including recording high quality videos of our events and livestreaming Youth events for free during the Festival. For those unable to attend in person (or who couldn’t be in two places at once!), we’re proud to provide this online offering for a limited time.
Buy a pass, get a free audiobook! You’ll receive a free audiobook credit from our friends at Libro.fm when you purchase a Digital Festival pass at the full-access price ($100). Your credit can be used for an audiobook of your choice from their catalog of 500,000+ audiobooks. Credits will be e-mailed once the Digital Festival ends.
Give the gift of literature! Enjoyable over the winter holidays and beyond, the Digital Festival makes a truly exceptional gift for your favourite book lover. Print this festive gift certificate if you’d like to give your recipient something that can be slipped in a card or stocking.
Purchase the level of access you plan to enjoy. As the Digital Festival features 26 events (with in-person tickets averaging $27), we value the Digital Festival’s full-access pass at $100. We invite you to consider how much you’ll watch, as well as your ability to support this investment in accessible programming, when selecting a payment option. If the options provided present a barrier to you, please reach out to us at info@writersfest.bc.ca.
26 fully-captioned, full-length events from the 2024 Festival are included in this all-access pass:
(Click on an event title to read the full description from our October Festival program.)
01. Elizabeth Renzetti in Conversation with Charmaine de Silva
02. Rachel Kushner in Conversation with Alix Ohlin
03. Dionne Brand in Conversation with Kimberly Bain
04. The Mystery Queens
Featuring Ann Cleeves, Beverley McLachlin, & Nita Prose with moderator Alison Broddle
05. Jane Urquhart in Conversation with Marsha Lederman
06. Ecosystems for Change
Featuring Diana Beresford-Kroeger, & Dr. Jennifer Grenz, with moderator Sarah Cox
07. What I’ve Done For Writing
Featuring Heather O’Neill, Brandon Taylor, & Jenny Heijun Wills with moderator Kim Thúy
08. The Poetry Bash
Featuring Stephen Collis, Jess Housty, Evelyn Lau, Michael Turner, shō yamagushiku, Daniel Zomparelli, & Zehra Naqvi, with host Aislinn Hunter
09. Listening in the Age of Rage
Featuring Ian Williams & Carol Off with moderator Kathryn Gretsinger
10. On Translation
Featuring George McWhirter, Michelle Winters, & Yilin Wang with moderator Bill Richardson
11. The Conversations
Featuring Myriam J. A. Chancy, Anne Enright, & Jón Kalman Stefánsson with moderator Aislinn Hunter
12. Science and Fiction
Featuring Richard Powers & James Bradley, with moderator Claudia Casper
13. The Knowing, with Tanya Talaga
Moderated by Candis Callison
14. Highway to the Danger Zone: Lyrics Night
Featuring Rajinderpal S. Pal, Nick Cutter, Kate Black, Andrea Warner, Elliott Gish, Jenny Heijun Wills, Drew Hayden Taylor, Kirsten McDougall, Robert J. Wiersema, Canisia Lubrin, & Roddy Doyle, with host Elamin Abdelmahmoud and DJ Ice B
15. Anne Michaels in Conversation with Minelle Mahtani
16. Nathan Thrall in Conversation with Carol Off
17. Roddy Doyle in Conversation with Jerry Wasserman
18. Rebuilding Pillars of Society
Featuring Gregor Craigie & Jane Philpott, with moderator André Picard
19. On Grief and Trauma: Personal and Global
Featuring Dr. Gabor Maté & Raja G. Khouri, with moderator Elamin Abdelmahmoud
20. The Literary Cabaret
Featuring Roddy Doyle, Anne Enright, Richard Powers, Jón Kalman Stefánsson, Brandon Taylor, & Ayelet Tsabari, with music by Benjamin Millman and the Oxymorons
21. Drawing Out Family Histories
Featuring Tessa Hulls, Teresa Wong, & Sarah Leavitt with moderator Emily Chou
22. Fright Night
Featuring Nick Cutter & Marcus Kliewer, with moderator Robert J. Wiersema
23. On Matriarchs
Featuring Sadiya Ansari, Tessa Hulls & Minelle Mahtani, with moderator Anna Ling Kaye
24. Chiller Thrillers
Featuring Emiko Jean, Roz Nay, & Drew Hayden Taylor, with moderator Robert J. Wiersema
25. Art Speaks: Dana Claxton and Dorothy Grant
Featuring Dana Claxton & Dorothy Grant, with moderator Damara Jacobs-Petersen
26. On Freedom: Timothy Snyder with The Current’s Matt Galloway