Vancouver Writers Fest 2026 features more than 90 events across Oct. 18 to 25, including readings and conversations at venues on and off Granville Island.
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Vancouver Writers Fest 2026 runs October 18 to 25, bringing more than 90 events and over 150 authors to venues on and off Granville Island.
Among the festival’s highlighted events is Barbara Kingsolver in Conversation on October 18 at 7 p.m. at the Orpheum Theatre (601 Smithe Street), where Kingsolver will discuss her latest work, Partitia, with journalist Marsha Lederman, with award-winning pianist Allen Ding providing musical accompaniment.
The festival opens with Grand Openings: Read, Resist, Repair, Rejoice on October 19 at 7:30 p.m. at the Playhouse Theatre (600 Hamilton Street), hosted by Elamin Abdelmahmoud with authors including John Vaillant, Jesse Wente and Jody Wilson-Raybould.
Music fans can catch An Evening with Colin James on October 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the York Theatre (639 Commercial Drive), featuring the singer-songwriter discussing his memoir, Playing the Changes.
On October 21 at 8 p.m., The World We Long For with Vivek Shraya and Kai Cheng Thom takes place at The Revue Stage (1601 Johnston Street), with the Canadian transgender authors discussing their recently published fiction.
Also on October 21 at 8 p.m., UBC Night Class is scheduled at The NEST (1398 Cartwright Street), where instructors from UBC’s School of Creative Writing lead a writing prompt for the audience, followed by a creative writing student reading aloud what they produced from that prompt.
Poetry lovers can attend The Poetry Bash on October 22 at 8:30 p.m. at Performance Works (1218 Cartwright Street), featuring readings by Canisia Lubrin, Meghan Kemp-Gee, Elee Kraljii Gardiner, Eve Joseph and others.
Climate-focused programming is part of the festival’s guest-curator series: Repair and Revive, at 1 p.m. on October 23 at Performance Works (1218 Cartwright Street), is one of three events curated by author John Vaillant that focus on climate change, and includes Vaillant along with environmental non-fiction writers Jason Dove Mark and Robert Moor.
For a lighter evening, Dancing On My Own: Lyrics Night runs on October 23 at 8 p.m. at Performance Works (1218 Cartwright Street). The event features dramatic readings of song lyrics chosen by participating festival authors, and it is paired with Let’s Groove: Dance Party, which takes place right after and is free once a ticket is purchased for the Lyrics Night event (and vice versa).
Rounding out the festival, The Afternoon Tea is on October 25 at 3:30 p.m. at Performance Works (1218 Cartwright Street), featuring scones and sandwiches plus coffee, tea and sherry, alongside readings by Anita Rau Badami, Eden Robinson, Damien Wilkins and others; the festival closes with Closing Night: True Patriot Love with Carol Off on October 25 at 7 p.m. at the York Theatre (639 Commercial Drive), where Carol Off discusses Canadian identity in conversation with David Moscrop.
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