56 Possibilities of Hope

Lynn Coady Alberta	Nicole Lundrigan Ontario	David Adams Richards New Brunswick
D.W. Wilson British Columbia

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

Nicole Lundrigan, Ontario

Nicole Lundrigan grew up in Newfoundland, and she has earned praise for writing about it the way William Faulkner wrote about the American South. Her literary fiction has been selected as a top-ten pick by the Globe and Mail, longlisted for the ReLit Award and given honourable mention for the Sunburst Award. Her three previous, critically acclaimed novels are Unravelling Arva, Thaw and The Seary Line. Her latest, Glass Boys, explores the power of family secrets to make and unmake lives. Read more

David Adams Richards, New Brunswick

David Adams Richards’ acclaimed novels include The Lost Highway, The Friends of Meager Fortune, River of the Brokenhearted, and Mercy Among the Children, which won the 2000 Giller Prize. He is the author of the celebrated Miramichi trilogy: Nights Below Station Street, winner of the Governor General's Award; Evening Snow Will Bring Such Peace, winner of the Canadian Authors Association Award; and For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down. His latest novel is Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul. Read more

D.W. Wilson, British Columbia

D.W. (Dave) Wilson was born and raised in the small towns of the Kootenay Valley, British Columbia. He is the recipient of the University of East Anglia’s inaugural Man Booker Prize Scholarship. His stories have appeared in literary magazines across Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, including the Malahat Review, Grain, and Southword. His debut collection of short stories is Once You Break a Knuckle. Read more

Saturday, October 22, 2011 - 2:00pm
Performance Works
$17

Four writers who have deliberately delved into the dark side of human existence in their recent work talk about the challenges of living with and writing about violence and despair, and finding the slivers of redemption, black humour and what David Adams Richards calls “the joy that comes from tragedy.” Populated by abusive alcoholics, boys raised to be tough goons, good people doing bad things, corruption and weakness, these are not stories about the world’s finest. But there are fine moments, fine writing and the possibilities of hope to be found. In the end, though, do writers have any responsibility to leave their readers with a way out of despair?

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

56 Possibilities of Hope

2011 Festival