Billy-Ray Belcourt, Eden Robinson, Linden MacIntyre, and more gather at Read for the Cure
Inspired by a book club, the virtual event raises funds for environmental-cancer research
Griffin Poetry Prize-winner and Driftpile Cree Nation poet Billy-Ray Belcourt appears at this year’s Read for the Cure. Photo by Tenille Campbell
Cancer Research Society and Penguin Random House Canada present Read for the Cure 2021 on November 4, 10, and 18 online.
IT’S AMAZING HOW intimate a book club can be. We share not only cups of tea and glasses of rosé but interpretations of great works, parts of ourselves, and a collective invitation to engage with art and the world. Friendships are forged. It’s perhaps no wonder, then, that when we face some of the most challenging circumstances in our lives, we often choose to share it with our book club.
That’s how Read for the Cure began. In 2007, a group of four book-club friends, each of whom had been affected by cancer, decided to do something about it. They launched a fundraiser that has now expanded into a national initiative, raising more than $1.7 million to date for environmental cancer research.
In previous years, Read for the Cure—a partnership between Cancer Research Society and Penguin Random House Canada—included in-person events with bestselling authors in five cities across Canada, including Vancouver. During the pandemic, the Cancer Research Society has pivoted, like many organizations, to hosting the events online. As a result, Canadians anywhere can tune into three events in November.
Their November 4 event includes Griffin Poetry Prize-winner and new literary sensation Billy-Ray Belcourt—a Driftpile Cree Nation poet, Rhodes scholar, and associate professor of creative writing at UBC who has won acclaim for his accounts of life as a gay Indigenous person in Western Canada. Joining Belcourt are Eden Robinson, bestselling Trickster trilogy author, and beloved journalist and writer Linden MacIntyre.
November 10 is perfect for book clubs or mother-daughter experiences, with books about family, motherhood and overcoming the odds, with authors including Kim Echlin, Perdita Felicien, and Mary Lawson. And, on November 18, the series will culminate with an event featuring three of the biggest authors of 2021 (and beyond): Ashley Audrain, Karma Brown and Joy Fielding.
Tickets to Read for the Cure go toward the organization’s goal of $100,000 for the “critically underfunded” research into the link between environmental factors and cancer. There are two options: A Book and Ticket bundle—which, for $85, delivers three books to your door for well below the retail price—or a Ticket only option to tune in.
In the lead-up to this year’s effort, the Read for the Cure team have acknowledged ever-increasing Zoom fatigue. But the feel-good factor of events that are not only about reading but about community coming together is a likely encouragement. And so are three books to curl up with over the winter, or to put under the tree for a loved one, knowing you’ve been part of an important cause.
Tickets and more details are at Read for the Cure.
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