Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library.
Short stories pack infinite ideas, questions, character explorations, and worlds into deceptively slim packages. Discover some of the season’s best in new short fiction at this Incite event featuring three intriguing releases. Our award-winning guests speak with VWF Artistic Director Leslie Hurtig.
Vincent Anioke’s stunning debut story collection offers a nuanced exploration of masculinity, religion, marginalization, repressed (queer) desires, and self-expression through the lens of (un)conditional love. Set largely in Nigeria, the stories in Perfect Little Angels capture the shocking violence and confrontational drama in the power dynamics—between headmasters and students, brothers and sisters, mothers and sons—that shape our lives.
Floods and wildfires, toxic culture, billionaires in outer space, or a purse-related disaster while on mushrooms—in today’s hellscape world, there’s no shortage of things to worry about. Last Woman, the new collection of short fiction by Carleigh Baker, wants you to know that you’re not alone. With sharp wit, these stories delve into fear for the future, intergenerational misunderstandings, and the complexities of belonging.
Death by a Thousand Cuts from Shashi Bhat is a breathtaking, sharply funny collection about the everyday trials and impossible expectations that come with being a woman. A writer discovers that her ex has published a novel about their breakup. An immunocompromised woman falls in love, only to have her body betray her. And when a woman begins to lose her hair, she embarks on an increasingly nightmarish search for answers.