2021 Vancouver Writers Fest

Better, Not Bitter

Living on Purpose in the Pursuit of Racial Justice

By: Yusef Salaam
Narrated by: Yusef Salaam
Length: 7 hours 25 minutes

Named a Best Book of 2021 by NPR

This inspirational memoir serves as a call to action from prison reform activist Yusef Salaam, of the Exonerated Five, that will inspire us all to turn our stories into tools for change in the pursuit of racial justice.

They didn't know who they had.

So begins Yusef Salaam telling his story. No one's life is the... Read more

The Björkan Sagas

By: Harold R. Johnson
Narrated by: Adam Henderson & Andrea Stefancikova
Length: 4 hours 37 minutes

Drawing upon his Cree and Scandinavian roots, Harold R. Johnson merges myth, fantasy, and history in this epic saga of exploration and adventure.  While sorting through the possessions of his recently deceased neighbour, Harold Johnson discovers an old, handwritten manuscript containing epic stories composed in an obscure Swedish dialect.... Read more

Hummingbird Salamander

By: Jeff VanderMeer
Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
Length: 11 hours 35 minutes

“Is this postmodern eco-noir mystery, with its dark, twisty, dystopian currents a book that everyone will love? No. But fans of Vandermeer's other work will find plenty to love, as he lets his unique imagination unravel the mystery of an enigmatic eco-terror plot that is either meant to save the world... or destroy it! Read more

Binge

60 stories to make your brain feel different

By: Douglas Coupland
Narrated by: Salvatore Antonio, Stephanie Belding, Victoria Carr, Jarvis Cocker, Douglas Coupland, Bret Easton Ellis, Anna Faris, Will Ferguson, Genki Ferguson, Chuck Klosterman, Andrew Moodie, Jane Pratt, Katie Ryerson & Michael Stipe
Length: 6 hours 16 minutes

The first new work of fiction since 2013 from one of Canada's most successful, idiosyncratic and world-defining writers, Douglas Coupland. He's called it Binge because it's impossible to read just one.


Imagine feeling 100% alive every moment of every minute of the day! Maybe that's how animals live. Or trees, even. I sometimes stare at the... Read more

How to Lose Everything

A Memoir

By: Christa Couture
Narrated by: Christa Couture
Length: 4 hours 49 minutes

Christa Couture has come to know every corner of grief—its shifting blurry edges, its traps, its pulse of love at the centre and the bittersweet truth that sorrow is a powerful and wise emotion. From the amputation of her leg as a cure for bone cancer at a young age to her first child’s single day of life, the heart transplant and subsequent... Read more

Land Of Big Numbers

Stories

By: Te-Ping Chen
Narrated by: Eddy Lee, Fiona Rene, Matt Yang King, Christine Lakin, Katie Tang, Chris Naoki Lee & Lynn Chen
Length: 6 hours 35 minutes

“ How can someone write about China? It’s a land of contradictions and multitudes seemingly impossible to tease apart. Te-ping Chen has managed to do just that with this slim and stunning short story collection. Each entry is a small glimpse into someone’s life; you will hunger for more. The book blends the real with the surreal to delicately... Read more

We Want What We Want

Stories

By: Alix Ohlin
Narrated by: Hillary Huber, Brittany Pressley, Kristen Sieh & Eileen Stevens
Length: 7 hours 52 minutes

An Esquire Best Book of Summer • A collection of glittering, surprising, darkly funny stories of people testing the boundaries of their lives—from the award-winning author of Dual Citizens, who is "spoken of in the same reverent breath as Lorrie Moore and Joy Williams" (Heidi Julavits, author of The Folded Clock).

In the... Read more

Unreconciled

Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance

By: Jesse Wente
Narrated by: Jesse Wente
Length: 6 hours 53 minutes

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

WINNER of the 2022 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Non-Fiction
SHORTLISTED for the 2023 Speaker's Book Award

A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

"Unreconciled is one hell of a good book. Jesse Wente’s narrative moves effortlessly from the personal to the historical to the contemporary. Very powerful, and a joy to... Read more

Return

Why We Go Back to Where We Come From

By: Kamal Al-Solaylee
Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
Length: 8 hours 33 minutes

A Globe and Mail, Hill Times and CBC Best Book of the YearHave you ever wondered what it would be like to return to your roots?Drawing on astute political analysis and extensive reporting from around the world, Return: Why We Go Back to Where We Come From illuminates a personal quest. Kamal Al-Solaylee, author of the bestselling and award-winning... Read more

Sure, I'll Be Your Black Friend

Notes From the Other Side of the Fist Bump

By: Ben Philippe
Narrated by: James Fouhey
Length: 8 hours 28 minutes

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a good white person of liberal leanings must be in want of a Black friend.
In the biting, hilarious vein of What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life comes Ben Philippe’s candid memoir-in-essays, chronicling a lifetime of being the Black friend (see also: foreign kid,... Read more

Undersong

By: Kathleen Winter
Narrated by: Tim Bruce, Nneka Okoye & Clare Kissane
Length: 8 hours 17 minutes

“A stunning, spellbinding, poetic triumph." —Toronto Star
 
From Giller-shortlisted author Kathleen Winter (author of the bestseller Annabel): A stunning novel reimagining the lost years of misunderstood Romantic Era genius Dorothy Wordsworth.

When young James Dixon, a local jack-of-all-trades recently returned from the Battle of Waterloo, meets... Read more

Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted

By: Gary Barwin
Narrated by: Allen Lewis Rickman & Gabi Epstein
Length: 9 hours 16 minutes

A middle-aged Jewish man who fantasizes about being a cowboy goes on an eccentric quest across Europe after the 1941 Nazi invasion of Lithuania in this wild and witty yet heartrending novel from the bestselling author of Yiddish for Pirates, shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Motl is middle-aged, poor, nerdy, Jewish and in desperate... Read more

On Animals

By: Susan Orlean
Narrated by: Susan Orlean
Length: 10 hours

“Sometimes you may just want to think about anything other than human beings. Pick up On Animals by Susan Orlean and you'll find yourself delighting in the fascinating world of donkeys, orca whales, dogs, and pigeons. A lifelong animal lover, Orlean's essays are beautifully written and frankly quite delightful. Read more

Kaleidoscope

By: Brian Selznick
Narrated by: Gwendoline Christie
Length: 3 hours 1 minute

“As poignant and vital as The Little Prince comes this slim novel from beloved children's author Brian Selznick. Kaleidoscope, true to its title, gives us a look through a million lenses at two boys, their love, and their loss of each other. It's been a long time since I've felt this insistent: this book should be read and loved by everyone. Read more

Mayflies

A Novel

By: Andrew O'Hagan
Narrated by: Andrew O'Hagan
Length: 7 hours 26 minutes

An unforgettable coming-of-age novel that becomes a profound mediation on life, death, and lifelong friendship.

Everyone has a Tully Dawson: the friend who defines your life.

In the summer of 1986, in a small Scottish town, James and Tully ignite a brilliant friendship based on music, films and the rebel spirit. With school over and the locked... Read more

Velvet Was the Night

By: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Narrated by: Gisela Chípe
Length: 9 hours 51 minutes

“Thoroughly entertaining. Once again, Silvia Moreno-Garcia does a wonderful job capturing the genre she is writing for. The plot, the pacing, the characters are all what they should be for good noir fiction. Add to that, the unique setting of Mexico City post Corpus Christi Massacre and during the Dirty War, and it's also educational! Excellent... Read more

The Winter Wives

By: Linden MacIntyre
Narrated by: Greg Campbell
Length: 7 hours 10 minutes

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
 
A thrilling new psychological drama from Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Linden MacIntrye, weaving threads of crime, disability and dementia together into a tale of unrequited love and delusion.

Two old friends, who first met in university, get together for a weekend of golfing: Allan, a football hero, worldly and financially... Read more

The War for Gloria

A novel

By: Atticus Lish
Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla
Length: 16 hours 49 minutes

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR • This “deeply immersive novel” (The Washington Post) from the author of the award–winning Preparation for the Next Life is an “epic coming-of-age tale filled with pain, heartache, fear, and undying love” (The Associated Press), as a young man’s yearning to protect his dying mother requires him to risk... Read more

Walking in Two Worlds

The Floraverse

By: Wab Kinew
Narrated by: Joelle Peters & Wab Kinew
Length: 7 hours 36 minutes

An Indigenous teen girl is caught between two worlds, both real and virtual, in the YA fantasy debut from bestselling Indigenous author Wab Kinew. Perfect for fans of Ready Player One and the Otherworld series.

In the real world, Bugz is a shy and self-conscious Indigenous teen who faces the stresses of teenage angst and life on the Rez. But in... Read more

My Heart Is a Chainsaw

By: Stephen Graham Jones
Narrated by: Cara Gee
Length: 13 hours 3 minutes

“Jade isn’t the final girl; she doesn’t fit the requirements for a typical slasher flick. When her town becomes the setting for a real-life slasher case, she fills the role of wise woman to the appropriate final girl. Read more