Literary Greats take a Risk at the annual Whistler Writers Festival

The annual Whistler Writers Festival October 12-15, 2017 is bringing in some incredible authors sharing their take on the festival’s theme of “Risk.” Two queer authors include Michael Harris and Jane Eaton Hamilton.

Michael Harris will be in the “Doug Saunders in Conversation brunch” event with Barbara Gowdy, Monia Mazigh, Frances Itani, Lee Maracle and moderator Doug Saunders.  Join us on Sunday, October 15, 11am-1pm at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler.

Michael Harris

The award winning author, Michael Harris best known for  Solitude (2017)  and  the Governor General’s Literary Award for The End of Absence (2014). He writes about media, civil liberties and the arts. Harris is published in a variety of media outlets including: The Washington Post, Wired, Salon, The Huffingtington Post and The Globe and Mail. His work has been a finalist for the RBC Taylor Prize, the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, the Chautauqua Prize, the CBC Bookie Award and several National Magazine Awards. He lives with the artist Kenny Park in Vancouver, Canada.

Jane Eaton Hamilton will be presenting in the Writers of Fiction event Saturday, October 14, 10-11:30am at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler with Lenore Rowntree, Jim Nason, Joan B. Flood and moderator Claudia Casper.

Jane Eaton Hamilton

Jane Eaton Hamilton is the author of 9 books of cnf, fiction and poetry, including the 2016 novel WEEKEND and two prior collections of short fiction. Jane’s books have been shortlisted for the MIND Book Award, the BC Book Prize, the VanCity Award, the Pat Lowther Award and the Ferro-Grumley Award. Their memoir was one of the UK Guardian’s Best Books of the Year and a Sunday Times bestseller. They are the two-time winner of Canada’s CBC Literary Award for fiction (2003/2014). They have had a notable in BASS and BAE (2016) and have appeared in The Journey Prize, Best Canadian Short Stories and Best Canadian Poetry. Their work has recently appeared at Salon, The Rumpus, The Missouri Review, the NY Times and The Sun. Jane edits for Many Gendered Mothers and is a founding member of CripsCanLit. They are also a member of the TWUC Equity Task Force, serve on literature juries, and mentor new queer/ trans writers. They live in Vancouver. janeeatonhamilton.org.

Jane takes a Risk 

Probably the biggest risk in writing Weekend was using they/them pronouns for one of my characters. I hadn’t read a book which had done that, and it can dazzle with confusion, both for the author and the reader (was that correct? Was that really what the author meant? Wait … who is the author talking about?) but I felt it was true to my character, Logan, who was between genders not in the sense of landing in the non-binary, but in the sense that they hadn’t come all the way out as trans yet for various reasons of shame and fear. click here to read more »

Head up to Whistler October 12-15, 2017. The host hotel is the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. Click here for more information about accommodations or call 1.866.787.1966 or 1.800.WHISTLER