2025 Festival: October 20–26
Books & Ideas runs until Spring!
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Neko Case: The Harder I Fight the More I Love You

Singer, songwriter, producer, visual artist, and writer Neko Case has long been revered as one of music’s most influential artists. In The Harder I Fight the More I Love You, Case brings her trademark candor and precision to a memoir that traces her evolution from an invisible girl “raised by two dogs and a space heater” in rural Washington state to her improbable emergence as an internationally-acclaimed talent. This spellbinding meditation on art and identity will delight both long-time fans and those who have never heard her music.
Case’s luminous writing has been called “as piercing and beautiful as her gorgeous singing” (Susan Orlean) and “full of moments that kaleidoscope your view of the world into something new” (Rebecca Makkai). Discover this raw and moving memoir as she sits down with Vancouver writer and musician Aaron Chapman on Monday, February 10.
We do our best to make our events low-barrier, accessible experiences for our community. A limited number of accessibly priced tickets are available for purchase. To discuss other ways we can make these events more accessible to you, please reach out to us at info@writersfest.bc.ca or 604-681-6330.
About Books & Ideas
Launching in January 2025, Books & Ideas is a new event series from the Vancouver Writers Fest on Granville Island, home of the Writers Fest’s celebrated annual literary festival. With an intimate theatre venue and a pop-up bar for socializing, attendees will be invited to connect more deeply with other members of the local literary community—and meet the esteemed authors who grace the stage—in a modern space for exchanging ideas. 

Participants and Speakers

Neko Case

NEKO CASE has built a career with her distinctive style and musical versatility. In addition to her numerous critically-acclaimed and Grammy-nominated solo records, Case is a founding member of The New Pornographers. She authors the newsletter ‘Entering The Lung’ and is currently composing the musical theater adaptation of an Academy Award winning motion picture.

Aaron Chapman

AARON CHAPMAN is a writer, historian, and musician with a special interest in Vancouver’s entertainment history. He is the author of Vancouver after Dark: The Wild History of a City’s Nightlife, winner of the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award (BC Book Prizes); The Last Gang in Town, the story of Vancouver’s Clark Park Gang; Liquor, Lust, and the Law, the story of Vancouver’s Penthouse Nightclub; Vancouver Vice: Crime and Spectacle in the City’s West End; and Live at the Commodore, a history of the Commodore Ballroom that won the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award (BC Book Prizes). He lives in Vancouver.