2024 Festival:
October 21–27
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Incite: BC and Yukon Book Prizes

Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library and BC and Yukon Book Prizes. 

We partnered with the BC and Yukon Book Prizes for an evening of celebrating our dazzling local literary talent. This free Incite event honours three of the shortlisted authors of the 2023 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, awarded to the best work of literary fiction by a BC writer.

The event features:

  • Billy-Ray Belcourt, Griffin Poetry Prize-winning author from the Driftpile Cree Nation, nominated for A Minor Chorus
  • Marion Ehrenberg, psychologist, professor, and writer, nominated for The Language of Dreams
  • Danny Ramadan, Syrian-Canadian author and advocate for LGBTQ+ refugees, nominated for The Foghorn Echoes

The authors discuss their shortlisted titles, then have a rousing conversation about the writing process with Vancouver Writers Fest Artistic Director Leslie Hurtig.

Other nominees for this year’s award, who were unfortunately unable to join us this evening, are Tsering Yangzom Lama and Janice Lynn Mather.

Books will be for sale before and after the event courtesy of Book Warehouse, a division of Black Bond Books.

Join us for Incite all season, in-person or online! This readings series offers conversations with celebrated authors and emerging talents every two weeks from January to June. Incite is free and open to all

Participants and Speakers

Billy-Ray Belcourt

BILLY-RAY BELCOURT is a poet, author, and scholar from the Driftpile Cree Nation. He won the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize for his debut collection, This Wound Is a World, which was also a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. His third book, A History of my Brief Body, was a Globe & Mail Best Book and a finalist for the 2020 Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction. Belcourt is a recipient of the prestigious Rhodes scholarship and an Indspire Award, the highest honour the Indigenous community bestows on its leaders. His fourth book, A Minor Chorus, was long listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Marion Ehrenberg

MARION EHRENBERG is a Canadian psychologist, professor, and writer. Marion has been practicing psychotherapy for over twenty-five years. She earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Simon Fraser University and served as Director of Clinical Training at the University of Victoria. She has published extensively on her research on diverse families.

Danny Ramadan

DANNY RAMADAN is a Syrian-Canadian author, public speaker, and advocate for LGBTQ+ refugees. His debut novel, The Clothesline Swing, was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award, longlisted for Canada Reads, and named a Best Book of the Year by The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC and currently lives in Vancouver with his husband.