Vancouver Festival Reads
I do love a good literary festival as many of you know and one of my favourites for many reasons not just its stunning setting is the Vancouver’s Writing Festival which takes place over the course of five days starting tomorrow.
There’s a wide range of events and writers featured and it’s one of the longest festivals I’ve ever been to. This is held in and around Granville Island so the back drop could not be prettier. But the best bit is what is inside the literary tents. I speak of Granville Island fondly as I will always remember the best cup of coffee and roast vegetable quiche I have ever had the luck to eat right here. I also bought lots of fresh veg and bread and a bit of fish for the rest of the week here. Oh and that’s before the bookish things!
Vancouver Festival Reads
This year – I’ve selected a few bits and pieces that I’ve had the joy of reading and getting to know this year! And they are set all over the world so happy travelling wherever they take you!
Canada: Alberta/Saskatchewan
WW2, 1950s: The horror of the residential school system in Canada and the First Nations scandal
This story is based on the experiences of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada who suffered greatly during this time, remove from their homes and forced into residential schools where it was hoped that they would be conditioned to to fit in with the rest of Canadian children. They were often seen as having unusual and wild lifestyles so by incorporating them in school, this was a way of bringing them into civilization.
Germany
1945: The horrors of Auschwitz through the eyes of Pearl and Stasha Zagorski
A place of horror and torture – and a place of experiments on twins. “Mischling, the title of the novel, is the German word for “half-breed”and gives a good idea about what this novel studies and refers to.
England
By Gaslight – Steven Price
1885: The remarkable story of one detective’s ceaseless hunt for an elusive criminal
This is the London of the fog, gaslights, the dirty Thames and the underbelly in all its filthy glory
The book is set primarily in 1880s London, but it also covers the Civil War and the “diamond rush” in South Africa. Talks of heists in Port Elizabeth and a trade carried out in secret.
The US Civil War and the exploits of the American Wild West are also illustrated as subplots to the novel.
The Amazon
1867: A journey about discovery in the Amazon and ultimately beyond…
This is a journey into the unknown. A young headstrong woman who wants to honour her husband who had planned to venture into the jungle of Brazil in order to collect specimens of its flora and fauna.
So you can see that there’s going to be a bit of reading around the world in Vancouver this year! These Vancouver Festival Reads are definitely worth having a look at!
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information:
Festival Website: writersfest.bc.ca
