The premise of our Good Reads event each year is simple: hear from three authors of must-read, unputdownable books. That’s exactly the word used by UK reviewers of Holly Gramazio’s magnificent debut, The Husbands, which has been praised by Gabrielle Zevin as a “time-bending gem.” It asks how we navigate life and love if we have never-ending options. Rajinderpal S. Pal’s However Far Away is an unforgettable, sweeping family saga set against the backdrop of a Sikh wedding. Michelle Winters’ Hair for Men thrums with female rage in a story of punk, coming of age, and breaking with convention. Make space in your evening and your bookshelf for these buzzworthy books. Moderated by Tara McGuire.
This event is open to everyone, and has been curated with the Pro-D day for teachers in mind. Teachers may be interested in the following information. This event is also suitable for students in grades 10–12.
Themes: Pro-D, creative writing, storytelling, magic realism, diaspora
Curriculum Connections: Creative Writing 10–12, Literary Studies 10-12
More information about the Festival:
Box Office | Accessibility | Venue Map
Event Participants:
HOLLY GRAMAZIO is a writer, game designer and curator from Adelaide, currently based in London. She founded the experimental games festival Now Play This, and wrote the script for the award-winning indie video game Dicey Dungeons. Her recent projects include New Rules, a zine collecting essays about play during the pandemic, and a collaboration with artist Lawrence Lek on a game for his exhibition NOX. She's particularly interested in rules, play, cities, gardens, games that get people acting creatively, stories that buy into a ridiculous premise and then really commit to it, and art that gets people interacting with their surroundings in new ways. The Husbands is her first novel.
TARA MCGUIRE is a former broadcaster whose essays and poetry have appeared in several magazines. She is a graduate of The Writer’s Studio at SFU and holds an MFA from the UBC School of Creative Writing. Her first book, Holden, After and Before, was published in 2022.
RAJINDERPAL S. PAL is a critically acclaimed writer and stage performer. He is the author of two collections of award-winning poetry, pappaji wrote poetry in a language i cannot read and pulse. Born in India and raised in Great Britain, Pal has lived in many cities across North America and now resides in Toronto. However Far Away is his first novel.
MICHELLE WINTERS is a writer, painter, and translator born and raised in Saint John, NB. Her debut novel, I Am a Truck, was shortlisted for the 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize. She is the translator of Kiss the Undertow and Daniil and Vanya by Marie-Hélène Larochelle. She lives in Toronto.
