Real Vancouver Writers' Series

RVWS HQ IS READY! Thanks to the Tribe Called Quest for the holiday threads!

Tomorrow’s the day of the show! But first, meet our final reader, the spectacular Francine Cunningham! Francine Cunningham is a Canadian Indigenous writer, artist and educator. Her creative non-fiction has appeared in The Malahat Review, the anthologies Boobs: Women Explore What It Means to Have Breasts (Caitlin Press) and Best Canadian Essays 2017 (Tightrope Books), and was longlisted for the 2018 Edna Staebler Personal Essay. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in Grain a...s the winner of the Short Grain Writing Contest in 2018, The Puritan, Joyland, Echolocation, The Maynard and more. She is a graduate of the UBC Creative Writing MFA program, winner of the 2019 Indigenous Voices Award for unpublished prose, winner of The Hnatyshyn Foundation’s REVEAL Indigenous Art Award, and a recipient of Telus’ 2017 STORYHIVE web series grant. On/Me is her first book and has been nominated for the Indigenous Voices Award Published Poetry, and the BC & Yukon Book Prizes Jim Deva Award for Writing that Provokes. See more

Thrilled to have this brilliant reader, Rebecca Salazar!! Rebecca Salazar (she/they) is a writer, editor, and community organizer living on the unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik people. The author of poetry chapbooks the knife you need that justifies the wound (Rahila’s Ghost) and Guzzle (Anstruther), her first full-length collection, sulphurtongue, is forthcoming in March 2021 with M&S Poetry.

Happy Thursday! Just a few days until our final event of the year. And we have the very talented Anne Stone! Anne Stone’s latest novel, Girl Minus X (Wolsak & Wynn 2020) tells the story of a teenage girl with an eidetic memory and a traumatic past, living in a world in which a virus slowly erodes memory. Just now, she’s working on a collection of slipstream short stories.

And now get ready for next reader! The incredible Terese Mason Pierre!! Terese Mason Pierre is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in Hobart, The Puritan, Quill and Quire, and Strange Horizons, among others. She is the co-Editor-in-Chief of Augur Magazine, a Canadian speculative literature journal. Terese has also previously volunteered with Shab-e She’r poetry reading series, and facilitated creative writing workshops. She is the author of chapbooks, Surface Area (Anstruther Press, 2019) and Manifest (Gap Riot Press, 2020). Terese lives and works in Toronto.

Also reading on Sunday, the wonderful Christopher Evans! Christopher Evans is a writer and editor originally from Victoria, BC. His work has appeared in Event, Maisonneuve, Best Canadian Poetry, and others, and has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. His debut short story collection Nothing Could Be Further from the Truth will be published by Insomniac Press in Spring 2021. Chris currently teaches creative writing to young people, online from his dining table, then later from a desk in the bedroom when it's time for his partner to use that space, then later on from the couch when it's time for his daughter to go to bed.

Planning the next RVWS. Coming late November. Stay safe out there.

andrea bennett brings the drudgery atop this very high tech set-up.

RVWS improvised and safely distanced hosting centre ready for tonight’s event!

And our sixth reader is the fabulous, Aislinn Hunter! Aislinn Hunter is a novelist and poet and the award-winning author of 8 books. Her work has been translated into film, art, dance and musical forms. Her most recent novel is ‘The Certainties’. She lives on the unceded, ancestral territories of the xmkym (Musqueam), Swxwú7mesh (Squamish), and slilwta (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations and teaches creative writing at KPU and at SFU’s The Writers Studio.

More readers! Today we present our old friend, the talented, Jordan Abel. Jordan Abel is a Nisga’a writer from Vancouver. He is the author of The Place of Scraps (winner of the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize), Un/inhabited, and Injun (winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize). Abel’s latest project NISHGA (forthcoming from McClelland & Stewart in 2021) is a deeply personal and autobiographical book that attempts to address the complications of contemporary Indigenous existence and the often invisible intergenerational impact of residential schools. Abel recently completed a PhD at Simon Fraser University, and is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta where he teaches Indigenous Literatures and Creative Writing.

Meet the readers continues. And next up, the one and only, Erin Kirsh! Erin Kirsh is a writer and performer. A Pushcart Prize nominee, her work has appeared in dozens of literary magazines including The Malahat Review, Arc Poetry Magazine, EVENT, CV2, QWERTY, subTerrain, Geist, and more. Her greatest accomplishment to date is that time she painted her nails without getting polish all over her hands. Visit her at www.erinkirsh.com or follow her on twitter @kirshwords.

Do we have more readers for Monday’s event? Of course we do. Including the lovely nathan dueck! nathan dueck’s middle name is russel, which means his initials spell nrd. His parents tell him that nobody used that word when he was born, but dictionaries say otherwise. He is the author of king’s(mère) (Turnstone Press) and he’ll (Pedlar Press). His most recent book of poetry, A Very Special Episode, was published by Buckrider Books in 2019.

Next up in our list of readers is the amazing Junie Désil! Junie Désil is a poet. Born of immigrant (Haitian) parents on the Traditional Territories of the Kanien’kehá:ka in the island known as Tiohtià:ke (Montréal), raised in Treaty 1 Territory (Winnipeg). Junie has performed at various literary events and festivals. Her work has appeared in Room Magazine, PRISM International, The Capilano Review, CV2, G U E S T: A Journal of Guest Editors, and,Capitalism Nature Socialism. ...A recovering academic, a UBC alumnus, and most recently a participant to Simon Fraser University’s Writer’s Studio, Junie currently works in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, on the unceded and Ancestral Lands of the xmkym, Swxwú7mesh, and slílwta (Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh) Junie's debut poetry collection Eat Salt|Gaze at the Ocean (TalonBooks, 2020) is out now. See more

Next week we return to a screen near you! But first, let’s meet the readers. andrea bennett is a National Magazine Awardwinning writer and editor, and the author of Like a Boy but Not a Boy (essays, Arsenal Pulp Press), Montréal and Québec City (travel guides, Moon Travel), and Canoodlers (poetry, Nightwood Editions).

Full poster rock time! Going to be a great night. We hope that you can join us!

REVISED RUFF DRAFT : READERS TBA V SOON

Super-rare Raoul Fernandes chapbook! 100 pages of typewritten glory.

RVWS sign in full effect with some cold Dude Chilling Pale Ale on hand. Going live on Crowdcast.io/e/realvancouver summer at 6PM PT.