Vancouver Courier
Friday, September 05, 2008
Word On the Street, an annual book and magazine event, takes place Sept. 28 at Library Square (Homer and Hamilton streets between Robson and Georgia). The free event includes author events, exhibits, performances and a marketplace with books and magazines for sale. It runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For a schedule, visit www.thewordonthestreet.ca/vancouver.
Authors include Gabor Maté (In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts), Ian Ferguson (How to be a Canadian), Meg Tilly (First Time), Mel Hurtig (The Truth About Canada), Karen X. Tulchinsky (The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky), Steven Galloway (The Cellist of Sarajevo), Vancouver's Poet Laureate George McWhirter (The Incorrection) and Richard Wagamese (One Native Life).
The authors tent will feature James Glave (Almost Green: How I Built an Eco-Shed, Ditched My SUV, Alienated the In-Laws, and Changed My Life Forever), humourist Mark Leiren-Young (Never Shoot a Stampede Queen) and TV personalities The Smart Cookies (The Smart Cookies' Guide to Making More Dough).
Main stage acts include spoken-word performer C.R. Avery, singer-songwriter Rose Melberg, klezmer-ladino-Israeli musicians Y'teev, king of the ukelele Ralph Shaw and the Vancouver Poetry Slam Team.
Other authors include Susan Juby (Getting the Girl: A Guide to Private Investigation, Surveillance, and Cookery), Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas (The Flight of the Hummingbird: A Parable for the Environment), Pummy Kaur (What Would Gandhi Do?), Howard White (Imagining B.C.), Jean Barman (British Columbia: Spirit of a People), Daphne Bramham (The Secret Lives of Saints), Norma Charles (The Girl in the Backseat), Linda Richards (Death Was the Other Woman) and Roy Innes (West End Murders).
The Word "Under" the Street is an exhibition of comic book artists and illustrated 'zine producers. It includes an art class with Robin Thompson, comic book artist and writer Peter Bagge (best known for the '90s comic book series HATE) and panel discussions.
In the Alma Van Dusen room downstairs in the library are Writing Talks, a series of panels about writing.
A magazine life tent will feature the magazines Canadian Gardening, Shared Vision, YES and KNOW magazines for kids and sessions by the B.C. Association of Magazine Publishers.
The kids' tent will feature readings by Linda Bailey (Stanley at Sea), Duane Lawrence (Sammy Squirrel and Rodney Raccoon: A Stanley Park Tale), Nicola Campbell (Shin-Chi's Canoe), Elizabeth Denny (Jenneli's Dance), Deborah Hodge (Who Lives Here?), Robert Heidbreder (Crocodiles Play) and Lisa Cinar (The Day it All Blew Away).
The poetry tent will see the launch of Poetry in Transit XII, which includes poems by George Stanley, Garry Gottfriedson and Matt Rader.
There will also be readings by Adelene Da Soul, Lucia Gorea, Seann Traviller, Peter Lojewski, Shannon Stewart (Penny Dreadful) and Zoë Landale (Once a Murderer).
