Cottonwood Reading @The Capitol Theatre

Ivan Coyote is a writer and storyteller. Born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon, they are the author of thirteen books, the creator of four films, six stage shows, and three albums that combine storytelling with music. Coyote’s books have won the ReLit Award, been named a Stonewall Honour Book, been long-listed for Canada Reads, been shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Prize for non-fiction, and the Governor General's Award for non-fiction twice. Ivan holds an honorary Doctor of Laws from Simon Fraser University, and an honorary Doctor of Arts from Yukon University. Coyote’s stories grapple with the complex and intensely personal topics of gender identity, family, class, and queer liberation, but always with a generous heart, and a quick wit. Ivan's stories manage to handle both the hilarious and the historical with reverence and compassion, and remind us all of our own fallible and imperfect humanity, while at the same time inspiring us to change the world. Ivan's 13th book, Care Of, was released in June 2021 by McClelland and Stewart.

Sonnet L'Abbé is a Canadian poet, performer, editor, and professor. They are the author of A Strange Relief, Killarnoe, Anima Canadensis and Sonnet's Shakespeare. They teach Creative Writing and English at Vancouver Island University, and are a poetry editor at Brick Books. They had their first solo performance of songs and poems at Nanaimo’s Port Theatre in 2021.

John Vaillant’s acclaimed, award-winning nonfiction books, The Golden Spruce and The Tiger, were national bestsellers. His debut novel, The Jaguar’s Children, was a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award. Vaillant has received the Governor General’s Literary Award, British Columbia’s National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize, and the Pearson Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction. He has written for, among others, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and The Walrus. He lives in Vancouver. 

His newest novel Fire Weather was released earlier this year. In masterly prose and cinematic style, John Vaillant weaves together an enthralling, multifaceted story of how Fort McMurray revealed a new normal of fires burning longer and with greater intensity than at any other time this planet has ever known. From the large-scale histories of North American resource extraction and climate science, to the intimate tales of lives scarred by the Fort McMurray disaster, Valliant's urgent work is a book for — and from — our new century of fire. (From Knopf Canada)

Deryn Collier is the author of The Bern Fortin novels Confined Space and Open Secret. Originally from Montreal, she is a graduate of McGill University. After a very short career as a federal bureaucrat she ran away to the mountains of British Columbia where she has been for over twenty years. She lives in Nelson, BC with her husband, sons and cats. 

A Real Somebody is a smart, charming postwar historical novel based on the true story of an aspiring writer who dares to dream big. Based on the true story of the author’s aunt, A Real Somebody charts the journey of a talented young writer who dares to break the conventions of her time during one pivotal season of her life.