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Leslie Hurtig

@lesliehurtig

Artistic Director Vancouver Writers Fest; New Yorker cartoon aficionado; fast walker. Views are my own but you could consider adopting them. Canadian made.

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Latest posts by Leslie Hurtig @lesliehurtig

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Books & Ideas: Yann Martel — Son of Nobody | Vancouver Writers Fest Yann Martel’s 2001 philosophical adventure, Life of Pi, was a runaway global phenomenon—it won the Booker Prize and CBC’s Canada Reads, spent more than a year on the New York Times bestseller list, an...

📣 Tickets on sale now! Don’t miss Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi and Son of Nobody, in Vancouver. One night only, April 15 at the Lindsay Family Stage on Granville Island.

Tickets on sale now:
writersfest.bc.ca/event/yann-m...

03.03.2026 18:12 👍 2 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 1
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Books & Ideas: Tayari Jones — Kin | Vancouver Writers Fest Award-winning author Tayari Jones joins the Books & Ideas lineup with Oprah’s latest Book Club pick! The author of four novels, Jones’ previous work, An American Marriage, appeared on Barack Obama’s s...

🎟️ Tickets on sale now! Award-winning author Tayari Jones joins the Books & Ideas lineup with the latest Oprah's Book Club pick: Kin. Jones will be in conversation with UBC professor Kimberly Bain.

April 23 at 7:30 PM:
writersfest.bc.ca/event/tayari...

05.03.2026 18:27 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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Freedom to read can never be taken for granted. Even in Canada, a free country by world standards, books and magazines are banned.

From February 22–28, Freedom to Read Week asks all Canadians to think about and reaffirm our commitment to intellectual freedom.

Learn more at www.freedomtoread.ca

24.02.2026 01:11 👍 31 🔁 12 💬 0 📌 0
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Myth, monsters and making sense of a disenchanted world: why everyone is reading fantasy I have made the leap from literary fiction to fantasy – for those who think it’s mere wish-fulfilment, here’s why we need that thing with the dragons

www.theguardian.com/books/2026/f...

22.02.2026 18:40 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Only 10 days left for teachers to apply for our free Writers in the Classroom program! Inspire your students with a personal visit from an author.

2 authors—Sarah Mughal Rana and Robin Stevenson—are offering virtual visits, to schools anywhere in BC:
writersfest.bc.ca/youth#writer...

17.02.2026 20:13 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

OH MY GOD YOU GUYS HE SAID CANADA.

09.02.2026 01:32 👍 215 🔁 15 💬 8 📌 0
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Tell the teachers in your life about Writers in the Classroom! This popular Vancouver Writers Fest program will provide 13 FREE author visits (in-person and online) to schools in BC between April and June 2026.

Apply by Friday, February 27:
writersfest.bc.ca/youth#writer...

04.02.2026 00:24 👍 10 🔁 9 💬 1 📌 1
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Books & Ideas: Joanna Cheek in Conversation with Gabor Maté | Vancouver Writers Fest As our world clashes and collapses around us, it’s no surprise we’re feeling an acute effect on our mental health. Psychiatrist, UBC Faculty of Medicine professor, and mental health speaker Dr. Joanna...

Psychiatrist and UBC professor Dr. Joanna Cheek joins us to offer a survival guide of personal and collective mental health tools for our disordered world, in conversation with world renowned physician and author Dr. Gabor Maté.

Feb 25 on Granville Island:
🎟️ writersfest.bc.ca/event/joanna...

29.01.2026 20:19 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
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Incite: Maggie Helwig on Encampment | Vancouver Writers Fest Presented in partnership with Vancouver Public Library. The housing crisis plaguing major urban centres across Canada has sent countless people into the streets. In spring 2022, some of them found th...

Incite—our free event series presented in partnership with VPL—returns on February 10, 2026 with @maggiehelwig.bsky.social, author of the 2025 Toronto Book Award winner, Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community.

writersfest.bc.ca/event/incite...

19.01.2026 18:11 👍 6 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0
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GIVEAWAY Paul Myers on John Candy The Vancouver Writers Fest presents Paul Myers, author of book John Candy: A Life in Comedy on January 21st and you can enter to win tickets.

I'm giving away a pair of tickets to this @writersfest.bc.ca event on January 21st with pulmyears.bsky.social Paul Myers, author of John Candy: A Life in Comedy
#vancouver

12.01.2026 22:50 👍 12 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0
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Books & Ideas returns to Granville Island in the new year with headliner cultural icons. Paul Myers join us with John Candy: A Life in Comedy, in conversation with Charlie Demers.

Jan 21 at the Revue Stage on Granville Island.
writersfest.bc.ca/event/paul-m...

22.12.2025 20:00 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
2025 Vancouver Writers Fest Digital Festival — Trailer
2025 Vancouver Writers Fest Digital Festival — Trailer YouTube video by VancouverWritersFest

The Digital Festival is live NOW! For a limited time, watch highlights from #VWF2025 online.

Featuring 26 full-length events, the Digital Festival offers hours of entertainment and inspiration.

🎟️ Sliding scale pricing. Get your pass at writersfest.bc.ca

16.12.2025 19:48 👍 9 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 1
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A remarkable and memorable @writersfest.bc.ca evening, featuring @margaretatwood.bsky.social in a lively conversation with @caroloff.bsky.social - it's an evening that I'll remember forever. I can't wait to read her book and learn more about her life 📚

10.12.2025 06:29 👍 7 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0

Fits perfectly in a stocking or can be sent anywhere in the world with the click of a button—Our Digital Festival is on sale now!

It’s binge-watching for book lovers!

Give the gift of books, ideas and dialogue this holiday.

07.12.2025 18:09 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Presenting the VWF Digital Festival lineup—including many events that were sold out at #VWF2025! 📚 From December 16, 2025 to February 2, 2026, watch 26 full-length events online, from anywhere in the world.

View the full details and get your pass:
writersfest.bc.ca/event/digita...

03.12.2025 21:00 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
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2025 Digital Festival | Vancouver Writers Fest Presented in partnership with BCIT School of Business + Media and Libro.fm, and with the generous support of Hotfusion Communications Inc. Sliding scale pricing — purchase your pass here starting…

🖥️ Passes are on sale now for the Digital Festival! Get front-row, online access to the 2025 Vancouver Writers Fest. 📚✨ Sliding scale pricing; visit our website to view all the details and get your pass.

Watch on your own schedule from anywhere, Dec 16 – Feb 2.

writersfest.bc.ca/event/digita...

25.11.2025 20:00 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

Sometimes there is crying in baseball.
#bluejays❤️

02.11.2025 04:30 👍 31 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0
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2025 Festival Events | Vancouver Writers Fest Welcome to the 2025 Vancouver Writers Fest! This page lists all our events from October 20–26, along with a few fall/winter Special Events taking place outside of Festival Week. Click on the title…

There are tickets remaining for plenty of events at this year’s Festival, but don’t delay! Visit writersfest.bc.ca/2025-festiva... to save your seat at the literary event of the year.

18.10.2025 19:48 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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There are 2 days to go until the start of #VWF2025, and 20 events at the Festival are now sold out! Thank you to our engaged and curious attendees; year after year, you show us how much books and meaningful dialogue matter in our city. 💛

18.10.2025 19:48 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
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CONTEST: Win Tickets to the Vancouver Writers Fest | The Tyee Three lucky Tyee readers will get to enjoy a can’t-miss literary event of their choosing.

This year’s Vancouver Writers Fest features an electrifying slate of 130 authors from Canada and around the world, including bestselling novelists, poets, memoirists and thought leaders. #TyeePresents #Sponsored

thetyee.ca/Presents/202...

03.10.2025 16:23 👍 95 🔁 26 💬 2 📌 1
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We’re thrilled to share that Festival friend and author Elamin Abdelmahmoud is the winner of this year’s Max Wyman Award in Critical Writing, which will be presented to him on October 24 at #VWF2025 event 51. Elbows Up.

writersfest.bc.ca/festival-eve...

08.10.2025 19:59 👍 9 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
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VIFF 2025 | Vancouver International Film Festival VIFF 2025 runs Oct 2-12, showcasing the best cinema from around the globe, talks, conferences, live performances and other unique events that celebrate film and film culture.

VIFF @viffest.bsky.social begins tomorrow!

Spanning 172 features • 97 shorts • 128+ premieres (26 world) #VIFF2025 connects audiences with bold stories and visionary
creators from around the world, Oct 2–12.

Learn more and explore the full lineup: viff.org/festival
#VIFF2025

01.10.2025 18:41 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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On Oct 23, The Poetry Bash is an iconic event for poetry connoisseurs and newcomers to the genre alike. Presented in partnership with Vancouver Poetry House and hosted by VPH Artistic Director Johnny Trinh.

writersfest.bc.ca/festival-eve...

29.09.2025 23:44 👍 7 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
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🎟️ Tickets are on sale NOW for all events at the 2025 Vancouver Writers Fest! 🎟️
writersfest.bc.ca/2025-festiva...

#VWF2025 takes place from October 20–26, featuring over 130 authors in 87 events to spark empathy, action, and transformation. Join us on Granville Island and beyond.

16.09.2025 17:03 👍 6 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 0
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Arundhati Roy will join Naomi Klein in conversation at Vancouver Playhouse - Pancouver In India, Roy constantly endures criticism for challenging the national orthodoxy about Kashmir and for condemning Hindutva extremism.

One of the world's bravest writers, Arundhati Roy, is in town to speak with Naomi Klein tonight at the Vancouver Playhouse. It's a @writersfest.bc.ca event. Learn more about her and her new memoir in this @pancouver.bsky.social article: pancouver.ca/arundhati-ro...

17.09.2025 21:47 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

Reminded today of a little game I’d play with my (single) mom as a child. She’d leave a grocery list on the counter that we’d contribute to over the week. I’d always add “Robert Redford” for her, and “golden retriever” for me. She never did come home with Robert but one day I came home to a doggo ❤️

17.09.2025 04:49 👍 193 🔁 10 💬 6 📌 1
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Tickets are on sale now for #VWF2025, which kicks off with the Alma Lee Opening Night event on Oct 20, presented with @createastir.ca. Notable Canadian authors illuminate who we are—and who we could be, if we commit to protecting this country and making it better.
writersfest.bc.ca/festival-eve...

16.09.2025 20:00 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
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2025 Festival Events | Vancouver Writers Fest Welcome to the 2025 Vancouver Writers Fest! This page lists all our events from October 20–26, along with a few fall/winter Special Events taking place outside of Festival Week. Click on the title o...

Tickets for our flagship Festival go on sale tomorrow at 10am! 📣

Thousands of tickets have already been snapped up during the Member pre-sale. We recommend exploring the program and building your schedule now, to avoid missing out on your top pick events! 
writersfest.bc.ca/2025-festiva...

15.09.2025 19:00 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1

Get thee to Vancouver

14.09.2025 06:48 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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🔥 HOT TICKET ALERT🔥
Vancouver @writersfest.bc.ca tickets go on Member-sale tomorrow, including tickets to hear this remarkable icon of Canadian letters, @margaretatwood.bsky.social on December 9, in conversation with @caroloff.bsky.social
📕”Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts” #McClelland&Stewart

09.09.2025 04:20 👍 10 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0