Why Not Hang Out with William Gibson This Weekend?

We guess the Vancouver Writers Fest organizers were having too much fun at their annual hoopla to keep the reading and writing and mingling contained to one week in October, because the calendar this year has been peppered with VWF-hosted events. We’re not complaining: their enthusiasm for all things literary has lured David Sedaris to town for two readings (one earlier this month; another scheduled for May), and stoked the fires for some scintillating chats. 

Upcoming fiction and non-fiction authors will be musing on everything from health issues (Dr. Jen Gunter, The Vagina Bible) to the environment (Wade Davis, who writes from the perspective of a Colombian river in his newest book, Magdalena).

“It used to be that literary festivals offered authors on stage reading from their books, but we’ve moved beyond that into conversations,” says Leslie Hurtig, artistic director for VWF. “It offers an opportunity for intelligent dialogue.”

The latest offering in what is either a very long lead up or a very loose wind-down to/from the Fest is an intimate night of conversation on March 1 at the Stanley Theatre between beloved speculative fiction writer William Gibson (he of the award-winning Neuromancer as well as Mona Lisa Overdrive and All Tomorrow’s Parties) and the Globe and Mail‘s Marsha Lederman. 

We may be living in a dystopian future, but Gibson predicted it long ago. The father of cyberpunk sci-fi will surely have some hot takes on the current geo-political turmoil, but should his hot takes not amuse you, this is the sort of event where it would be perfectly appropriate to pull out a book mid-show. Win-win.

Tickets to William Gibson: In Conversation, March 1 at the Stanley, are available here; the Vancouver Writers Fest’s full program can be found here.

Vancouver Writers Fest runs October 19 to 25, 2020.