Program Guide in pdf - Vancouver International Writers Festival

50
MARISA SILVER
UNITED STATES, EVENTS 55, 59
Marisa Silver is the author of the novels The God of War
and No Direction Home. She made her fi ction debut in The
New Yorker when she appeared in the inaugural Debut
Fiction issue. Her collection of stories, Babe in Paradise, was
a New York Times Notable Book and a Los Angeles Times
Best Book of the Year. Silver’s work has been included in Best American Short
Stories and the O. Henry Prize Stories. Her latest collection is Alone With You.
She lives in Los Angeles.
ALI SMITH
UNITED KINGDOM, EVENTS 65, 67
Ali Smith is the author of Hotel World, which was shortlisted
for both the Orange Prize and the Man Booker Prize in 2001
and won the Encore Award and the Scottish Arts Council Book
of the Year Award in 2002. Her novel The Accidental won the
Whitbread Award in 2005 and was shortlisted for the 2005
Booker and the 2006 Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. Her story collections
include Free Love, The Whole Story and Other Stories and The First Person and
Other Stories. She lives in Cambridge, England.
© JERRY BAUER
Ali Smith’s appearance is made possible by the Scotiabank Giller Prize.
ASHLEY SPIRES
SASKATCHEWAN, EVENTS 14, 23
Ashley Spires is the illustrator of numerous children’s
books, including C’mere, Boy! She is also the author of
Binky the Space Cat and, most recently, Binky to the
Rescue. Binky is based on her sister’s football-shaped kitty,
who was adopted from a shelter. Spires lives in Saskatoon.
JOHN STEFFLER
ONTARIO, EVENTS 41, 58
John Steffl er was the Parliamentary Poet Laureate of
Canada from 2006 to 2008. His previous books of poetry
include The Grey Islands, That Night We Were Ravenous,
winner of the Atlantic Poetry Prize, and Helix: New and
Selected Poems, winner of the Newfoundland and Labrador
Poetry Prize. Steffl er is also the author of the award-winning novel The
Afterlife of George Cartwright. His latest collection of poetry is Lookout.
© SUSAN GILLIS
CHEVY STEVENS
BRITISH COLUMBIA, EVENTS 39, 54
Chevy Stevens’s work as a realtor gave her plenty of time
to think about writing. At open houses, waiting between
potential buyers, she spent hours scaring herself with
thoughts of horrible things that could happen to her. The
most terrifying scenario she imagined, which began with
being abducted, was the inspiration for her fi rst novel. After six months
Stevens sold her house and left real estate so she could fi nish the book. The
result is her widely praised debut thriller, Still Missing.
© SUZANNE TERESA
ANNA SWANSON
BRITISH COLUMBIA, EVENTS 44, 58
Anna Swanson studied creative writing at the University
of Victoria and at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Her poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals,
as well as in the anthology The Best Canadian Poetry in
English 2008. She has paid the rent by planning festivals,
selling books, serving drinks, making maps, walking on stilts, bowling with
teenagers, writing press releases and watching for forest fi res. She now lives
in Vancouver and works as a children’s librarian. The Nights Also is her fi rst
collection of poetry.
MIGUEL SYJUCO
PHILIPPINES/QUÉBEC, EVENTS 51, 67
Miguel Syjuco, from Manila, is the author of Ilustrado,
the debut novel which won the 2008 Man Asian Literary
Prize as well as the Palanca Award, the Philippines’ highest
literary honour. He has worked for major international
publications, and broadcasts a weekly book-review
feature called “The Biblio-File” on CBC’s Radio Canada
International. He has a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from Columbia
University and is completing a PhD in English Literature through the
University of Adelaide in Australia. He currently lives in Montreal.
© MARCOS TOWNSEND
KEVIN SYLVESTER
ONTARIO, EVENTS 3, 14, 24
Kevin Sylvester is an award-winning writer, illustrator and
broadcaster, living in Toronto. The character Neil Flambé,
featured in his third children’s book, was originally created by
Kevin for a CBC summer morning broadcast of his ongoing
story, “Neil Flambé and the Case of the Caustic Cumin.”
Sylvester gave Neil Flambé a literary debut in his novel Neil Flambé and the
Marco Polo Murders, and this fall follows up with Neil Flambé and the Aztec
Abduction, a mystery fi lled with chills, thrills and adventure.
DREW HAYDEN TAYLOR
ONTARIO, EVENTS 47, 65
Drew Hayden Taylor, an Ojibway from the Curve Lake
First Nations, has had over 70 of his award-winning plays
produced. He has also written fi ction, articles, television
scripts and The Night Wanderer: A Native Gothic Novel, a
novel for teens novel about an Ojibway vampire. In addition,
he has published two successful non-fi ction books, Me Sexy, which explores
Native sexuality, and Me Funny, which looks at Native humour. Motorcycles &
Sweetgrass is his fi rst novel for adults.
© THOMAS KING