by Clea Young | The Vancouver Writers Fest is set to present 90 events on and off Granville Island from Oct 20-25. There really is something for everyone at the Festival — lovers of YA, fiction, poetry, graphic novel, spoken word, crime and non-fiction.

This year we’re excited about Weird Fiction with Kelly Link, Neil Smith, Jeff VanderMeer and Robert J. Wiersema. Weird fiction its own genre, distinct from sci-fic, speculative or fantasy, but springing from and combining elements of them all. The authors in this event have muscular imaginations like you wouldn’t believe.

A duo of events focused on freedom of expression will surely be a Festival highlight this year. Ensaf Haidar, activist, author and wife of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, will be talking about her husband’s plight and the blogs that got him imprisoned, complied in a book titled 1000 Lashes. The second part of this discussion will broaden in scope and engage international authors Roxane Gay, Shauna Singh Baldwin, Lawrence Hill and Nino Ricci.

The Vancouver launch of Freeman’s is the place to go for anyone who likes their literature fresh and wants to champion a new journal making its way in the world.

This Really Happened (based on New York’s The Moth) is a live storytelling evening where participants tell true stories in front of an audience…without notes. The line-up is eclectic and awesome: Kevin Chong, Trevor Cole, TJ Dawe, Charles Demers, Susan Juby and Rachel Wyatt.

And finally, another not-to-miss event: Inspired By at The Beaumont Studio features Newfoundland writer Sara Tilley and members of Vancouver’s Open Book Art Collective who have created original art inspired by Sara’s novel, Duke. Sara will talk about her unique writing process (think masks and clowns).

It’s shaping up to be a book event unlike any you’ve attended before!

As per the style of Scout’s READ THIS column, here are four books that tie back to this year’s fest. Happy reading!

1. | Freeman’s: The Best New Writing on Arrival, John Freeman, Ed., Grove Press | Recommended by Clea Young

In the debut issue of Freeman’s, new work by well-known authors like Haruki Murakami and David Mitchell rubs up against fiction, non-fiction and poetry by writers you’ve never heard of before. Such is the beauty of Freeman’s, a new literary mag (more a book with its lovely French flaps) that is slated to come out twice yearly, each issue built around a theme. John Freeman, who was editor in chief at Granta for several years, is passionate about literature, curious about the world and dedicated to creating a space for writers who can “tell you things about existence that haven’t been put that way before.” What reader, what human for that matter, wouldn’t want to get her hands on that? Join Freeman for the Vancouver launch at the VWF, Details here.

2. | Specimen, by Irina Kovalyova, House of Anansi Press | Recommended by Clea Young

If the aim of Freeman’s magazine is to publish writing that makes us see the world and our place in it anew, its editor might be interested in the work of Vancouver-based author Irina Kovalyova. The stories in her collection Specimen touch down in places we’ll likely never go—North Korea, for example—and inhabit circumstances we hope never to find ourselves in—an underground parking garage with a child when “the big one” hits. Kovalyova, currently a senior lecturer in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at SFU, also interned at NASA and worked for two years as a forensic analyst in NYC. It is a unique and curious adventure viewing the world through her (characters’) eyes. Kovalyova will be talking about Specimen at the VWF, find out more here.

3. | The Wild in You, Text by Lorna Crozier, Photographs by Ian McAllister, Greystone Books | Recommended by Clea Young

What do you get when a celebrated poet and a renowned wildlife photographer join artistic forces? The Wild in You—in which Lorna Crozier’s poems are responses to Ian McAllister’s photos of the Great Bear Rainforest he calls home—offers a series of stunning “testaments to the miraculous beings that share our planet and to the habitats that are necessary to their and our survival.” Orca, otter, sprit bear, wolf, grizzly, raven, salmon—they’re all here and represented with such care, intimacy and reverence that it’s nearly impossible to pull your eyes away. Crozier and McAllister will be at the Writers Fest talking about their collaboration, the majesty of the Great Bear Rainforest and one of its greatest threats: the proposed Northern Gateway. Find out more here.

4. That Lonely Section of Hell: The Botched Investigation of a Serial Killer Who Almost Got Away by Lori Shenher, Greystone Books | Recommended by Arielle Spence

As Lori Shenher’s memoir reveals, the conviction of Robert Pickton for the deaths of several women from the DTES was not a triumph. Rather, it was the result of a drawn-out, poorly funded investigation which would have ended much sooner if not for the VPD’s apathy. Shenher—the first detective assigned to the project—describes her passionate search for these women and her subsequent struggle with PTSD. Though it is her memoir, Shenher emphasizes the experiences of the missing women and, in heart-wrenching letters addressed to several of the victims, highlights their resilience and humanity. She writes, “Far stronger than my sense of being a cop and detective was my need to be a truth teller.” Indeed, this memoir is evidence of the long and difficult road to truth. Listen to Shenher talk about her memoir at the VWF, details here.

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The Vancouver Writers Fest is a celebration of story, told by authors, poets, spoken word performers, and graphic novelists. Each October we present 6 days of events on Granville Island for readers of all interests – readings, interviews, discussions and performances –with 100+ acclaimed and emerging writers from around the world.