Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 events curated by Lawrence Hill to catch at Vancouver Writers Fest

The author of The Book of Negroes highlights Black and Indigenous writers at this year’s hybrid festival

By Gail Johnson

Lawrence Hill. Photo by N Dickson

Vancouver Writers Fest runs online and in person October 18 to 24.

THE SON OF a black father and a white mother, Lawrence Hill frequently probes the complexities of identity in his writing. Penning his first story at age 14, Hill grew up in the predominantly white suburb of Don Mills, Ontario with American-immigrant parents who were active in the human-rights movement. Today, he splits his time between Hamilton, Ontario and Woody Point, Newfoundland. The former Globe and Mail reporter has released 10 books to date, including 2007’s The Book of Negroes and Blood: The Stuff of Life, a non-fiction work from 2013.

As guest curator of the 2021 Vancouver Writers Fest, Hill has designed five signature events that highlight Black and Indigenous authors. Read on to see what his programming has in store.

#1

One-to-One With Lisa Bird-Wilson and Katherena Vermette
October 18, 7 to 8: 30 pm via Zoom

Saskatchewan Métis and nêhiyaw writer Bird-Wilson (Probably Ruby) and Métis writer Katherena Vermette (The Break, The Strangers) are among the strongest Indigenous voices today. They’ll discuss womanhood, trauma, interconnectedness, and more.

#2

Caribbean Masterpieces With Myriam Chancy and Cherie Jones
October 21 at 7:30 pm at Performance Works

Hill joins Chancy (What Storm, What Thunder), who was born in Port-au-Prince and raised in Haiti and Canada, and Barbadian writer Jones (How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House) in a conversation about their 2021 novels; injustice and upheaval in the Caribbean; and modern Caribbean literature. (Check back for Stir’s forthcoming article about Chancy, featuring an exclusive interview.)

#3

Black Literature on the Prairies With Cheryl Foggo and Karina Vernon
October 22 at 12 pm at the Nest and via livestream

Black life and literature on the Prairies are themes that author-filmmaker-playwright Foggo and Toronto writer-scholar Vernon will explore in this conversation moderated by Hill. Foggo, who penned a memoir called Pourin’ Down Rain: A Black Woman Claims Her Place in the Canadian West, wrote and directed the 2020 NFB documentary John Ware Reimagined about a prominent but misunderstood 19th-century Black Alberta cowboy. Vernon (The Black Prairie Archives: an Anthology) is associate professor of English at the University of Toronto and a leading scholar on Black Canadian literature.

#4

Defying Stereotypes in Memoir With Ben Philippe and Ian Williams
October 22 at 1:30 pm at the Waterfront Theatre

Born in Haiti, raised in Montreal, and now based in New York, Philippe (Sure, I’ll Be Your Black Friend: Notes From the Other Side of the Fist Bump) chats with Trinidadian-born, Canadian-raised poet-author Williams (Disorientation: On Being Black in the World), who won a Scotiabank Giller Prize for his 2019 novel, Reproduction. They share a conversation with Danny Ramadan (The Clothesline Swing), a Syrian-Canadian author and LGBTQ2SIA+-refugee activist.

#5

with/holding: Chantal Gibson in Conversation with Lawrence Hill
October 23 at 10:30 am at the Revue Stage

Gibson’s new poetry collection, with/holding, examines Blackness across media and popular culture. Gibson teaches writing and visual communication at Simon Fraser University and confronts colonialism through a blend of literary and visual art. Her debut book of poetry, How She Read, won the 2020 Pat Lowther Memorial Award and the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize and was a finalist for the 2020 Griffin Poetry Prize. She and Hill will cover topics such as Blackness, denial, freedom, and more.

For more information, see Vancouver Writers Fest.

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