No matter how you view this country of ours, the past year has brought new focus to what it means to be Canadian. Some boldly wave the flag, while others feel uneasy about showing affection for a place with so many unresolved issues, including a legacy of colonization that has too often been covered up. As complicated as our relationship to this place may be, we need to protect the best parts of it—especially those things that make us different from our neighbours to the south. As the Trump administration threatens our values, our livelihoods, and our sovereignty, it’s more important than ever to consider what we have to lose. In sequential talks, notable Canadian authors will illuminate, through their eyes, who we are—and who we could be, if we commit to protecting this country and making it better. Featuring Bob Joseph, Kate Beaton, Linden MacIntyre, Emma Donoghue, Canisia Lubrin, David Moscrop, Brent Butt, and Jack Wang. Hosted by Elamin Abdelmahmoud.
This is a Premium event. The 10% discount for VWF Members does not apply.
Presented in partnership with STIR Vancouver.
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Event Participants:
ELAMIN ABDELMAHMOUD is the host of CBC Radio show Commotion. He was a founding co-host of the CBC Politics podcast Party Lines, and he is a contributor to The National’s At Issue panel. His work has appeared in Buzzfeed News, Rolling Stone, the Globe and Mail, and others.
KATE BEATON is a Canadian cartoonist from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. A Mount Allison graduate in History and Anthropology, she launched the acclaimed webcomic Hark! A Vagrant while working in Alberta. Her witty, historically themed comics earned international acclaim and helped redefine the landscape of literary webcomics.
BRENT BUTT is considered one of the funniest people in Canada, with a career in stand-up comedy that stretches five decades, including being voted Best Male Stand-Up in Canada by his peers in the profession. He created and starred in two successful, award-winning sitcoms—Corner Gas and Hiccups.
EMMA DONOGHUE is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter and playwright. Her novel Room has sold almost three million copies and the film adaptation was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture. Her historical fiction novels The Wonder and The Pull of the Stars were nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.
BOB JOSEPH, president of Indigenous Corporate Training Inc., has provided training on Indigenous relations since 1994. He has a diverse range of clients, including all levels of government, Fortune 500 companies, resource development companies, and small and medium-sized businesses. He is also the author of the national bestseller 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act.
CANISIA LUBRIN, author of Voodoo Hypothesis and The Dyzgraphxst, has won the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Windham-Campbell Prize. She coordinates the Creative Writing MFA at the University of Guelph and is the poetry editor at McClelland & Stewart. Her debut fiction, Code Noir: Metamorphoses, won the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction. She is the 2025 Vancouver Writers Fest Guest Curator.
LINDEN MACINTYRE's bestselling novel The Bishop's Man won the Scotiabank Giller Prize. He followed that success with the novels Why Men Lie, Punishment, and The Only Cafe, all national bestsellers. He is also the author of the acclaimed boyhood memoir, Causeway: A Passage from Innocence.
DAVID MOSCROP has a PhD in political science from the University of British Columbia. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, the Globe and Mail, Jacobin, and more. David offers political commentary and analysis for radio, television, and print.
JACK WANG is the author of the story collection We Two Alone, winner of the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize, and longlisted for Canada Reads. Originally from Vancouver, he lives in Ithaca, New York, with his wife and their two daughters.
