ARTISTIC DIRECTOR'S WELCOME

Welcome to beautiful Granville Island and to the fifteenth Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival. It’s hard to believe that fifteen years have passed since I welcomed the first writers to the stages of Granville Island. What an exciting and interesting fifteen years they have been. We’ve heard and engaged with some of the world’s best writers and learned about new and lesser-known ones. We’ve also brought to Vancouver writers who were unknown when they appeared at the Festival but subsequently have become some of the hottest writers around. I think specifically of writers such as Richard Ford, Ian Rankin, Thomas King, Shani Mootoo—all of whom were unfamiliar to Festival audiences the first time they came to Vancouver.

This Festival continues to be about reading and writing, books and writers and about how to get as much enjoyment as possible from both. The Festival is committed to promoting reading, and we are pleased to welcome once again a wonderful array of gifted writers to Vancouver.

I hope you will find events that will appeal to your many tastes. I have endeavoured to create again this year a program that is eclectic, interesting, entertaining and challenging. You can come with friends or family. Or, if you choose to come on your own, you are sure to run into others of like mind—and perhaps make new friends who share your interest in reading and writing.

The atmosphere at the Festival is relaxed and informal. Please feel free to speak to me during the Festival to give me feedback as well as the names of any authors you might like to see on the list in future years.

Alma Lee
Artistic Director