Prefaces & Afterwords
The Vancouver International Writers Festival Blog
Welcome to the Festival Blog! We have Festival Bloggers contributing text, audio clip interviews and photos of the Festival as it unfolds each year. Check back often and click on "Add new comment" to offer your views on any posting.
The City's First Gang Fugue
Posted November 2nd, 2009 by Laura ThorneFamily Fugue...wait, what does that word even mean??!
That was the question on pretty much everybody's mind at the start of this event. The authors, and host Anne Giardini, couldn't do much to clear it up, finally deciding that whatever it is, the audience is about to witness a massive simultaneous one. In case you're still wondering, I urban-dictionaried it and got "A state which is entered after the mass consumption of a reality changing substance". Hmm...how does this relate to family-based literature? Who knows...
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Posted October 27th, 2009 by Lachlan MurrayWhat a pleasure to sit in the presence of Brian Brett Sunday morning as he mixed short readings from Trauma Farm, his memoir of life on his Salt Spring Island farm, with additional stories and details of farm life and tough-minded criticism of agribusiness and factory farming. And Brett is a presence. A large, craggy-faced man, his powerful body wrapped in leather vest and unpretentious work clothes, he reminded me of a Yorkshire farmer, or following that genetic line farther back, a Viking. Brett's appearance is largely the result of testosterone treatment for Kallmann's Syndrome, as he tells us in his memoir Uproar's Your Only Music: "Over the years I have metamorphosed into a creature resembling my childhood biker pals." But Viking or biker, he is a gentle, voluble one, bubbling with mirth and enthusiasm as he shared vignettes of farmyard slapstick with the audience, before reading a final passage that was eloquent and moving in its affirmation of the connectedness of all living things.
Brian Brett
Anchorman
Posted October 26th, 2009 by AnonymousAs I sat eating dinner on 11th Avenue Sunday night I observed the lineup for the final event of this year's festival snake all the way from the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage on Broadway, down 10th, and down into the alley next to Vij's restaurant.
Keeping society civilised...or at least the teenagers
Posted October 26th, 2009 by Laura Thorne
The thing I hate about youth-targeted events is that the organizers and performers always try way too hard. They feel like to impress youth, they have to get into our mindset - they have to say words like 'cool' and 'hip' and while they're at it, why not throw in a few casual references to rap? The truth is, events like these are a total underestimation of us and our interests. We don't all speak like wangsters or quote Snoop Dogg on everything as adults seem to think.
The Stanley, with Peter Mansbridge
Posted October 26th, 2009 by Steven BrownWaiting for Peter to appear on stage Sunday night I couldn't help overhear a conversation between the ladies to my right. One said to the other: "I told my mother I was going to see Peter Mansbridge tonight. She looked at me and said, ‘I wouldn't cross the street to see him!'" Crotchety matters notwithstanding, a large number of people had crossed the street to see Peter Mansbridge and stood patiently in the cold rain for the Stanley Theatre's doors to open too. Now we were all seated, waiting expectantly. A short intro by Hal Wake and another by Trudy Hofley from Scotia (Bank) Private Client Group, the sponsor of the event—and voilà! The man himself. My first thought of course was: he looks and sounds exactly as he does on television.
