41 Culture in a Petri Dish

Angie Abdou British Columbia	Lynn Coady Alberta	David Gilmour Ontario
Timothy Taylor British Columbia

Angie Abdou, British Columbia

Angie Abdou is a writer and teacher, with a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Calgary. Her books include the short story collection Anything Boys Can Do and two novels: The Bone Cage (a cbc Canada Reads 2011 finalist and the 2011–2012 MacEwan Book of the Year) and the brand new, critically acclaimed The Canterbury Trail. Abdou lives in Fernie, British Columbia, with her husband and two children. Read more

Lynn Coady, Alberta

Lynn Coady is an award-winning author, editor and journalist. Her previous novels include Saints of Big Harbour, which was a national bestseller and a Globe 100 book, and Mean Boy, another Globe 100 book. She has also published an acclaimed collection of short stories, Play the Monster Blind. Her popular advice column, “Group Therapy,” runs weekly in the Globe and Mail. Coady is originally from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, and now lives in Edmonton. Read more

David Gilmour, Ontario

David Gilmour is a novelist who has earned critical praise from literary figures as diverse as William Burroughs and Northrop Frye, and from publications ranging from the New York Times to People magazine. In 2005, his novel A Perfect Night to Go to China won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. His next book, The Film Club, was a finalist for the 2008 Charles Taylor Prize and became an international bestseller. His latest novel is The Perfect Order of Things. Read more

Timothy Taylor, British Columbia

Timothy Taylor’s first two novels, Stanley Park and Story House, have both been critical and commercial successes. He has also published a prize-winning collection of short fiction, Silent Cruise. He is the winner of the Writers’ Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize and has been finalist or runner-up for six other major national fiction prizes in Canada, including the prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize. He has also been widely published and recognized for his non-fiction magazine and newspaper work. Read more

Host: Shaena Lambert
Friday, October 21, 2011 - 10:00am - 11:30am
Waterfront Theatre
$17 / $8.50 for student groups

Novelists who tell a good story while examining contemporary culture are on deck this morning. Their novels are peopled with dope-smoking ski bums, goons and street artists—characters who are living out aspects of our culture (or subculture) that affect us all. Where Lynn Coady looks at how we sanction and stoke male violence, Timothy Taylor puts art, commercialism and gang-stalking, among many other cultural facets, under the microscope. David Gilmour examines defining elements that shaped his narrator—like the Beatles and the cult of celebrity. And Angie Abdou uses her novel like an anthropological dig into the ski subculture of small-town BC. Be prepared to hear some big ideas, leavened with humour.

Tickets are still available and can be purchased at the door 45 minutes before the event begins.

41 Culture in a Petri Dish

2011 Festival