The Vancouver Writers Fest Grand Opening with Jenny Erpenbeck

Open the 30th Vancouver Writers Fest in grand style as six writers read from their new works and take us around the world. Germany’s Jenny Erpenbeck puts faces to some of the refugees trying to find a new life in Germany. Presenting her first novel in 10 years, Canada’s Barbara Gowdy intrigues us with a psyche in turmoil. Linda Spalding propels us by wagon and boat through the American south in 1855. Italy’s Nicola Lagioia gives us family-style moral and political corruption. Canada’s Suzette Mayr lampoons academic politics and passions. And England’s Ruth Ware will scare your socks off with her psychological thriller. Whether these authors are familiar or new to you, you’re going to love this evening’s trip around the world in their company.

Before becoming a writer, Jenny Erpenbeck has trained as a bookbinder and worked as a wardrobe supervisor and director at an opera house. Her diverse artistic background has made Erpenbeck a unique voice who has been called, “one of the most significant German-language novelists of her generation” by The Millions. Erpenbeck’s Go, Went, Gone is a critical and thoughtful novel about the the European refugee crisis and one man’s attempts to understand the immigrant experience.