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BC Libraries Present is a new virtual author series that brings new insights and voices to people in every corner of British Columbia. BC public libraries, both big and small, host these events and provide access to award-winning authors to library users across the province.
For the inaugural season for this series, the topic is Conversations on Climate. Climate touches everyone’s lives, homes, jobs, and even their reading choices, it was a natural place to start. This series, starting in October will bring 3 compelling voices to present their recent climate-related works to a broad BC audience.
Join BC’s public libraries to hear Kim Stanley Robinson, John Vaillant, and Brandi Morin as they bring their powerful perspectives on the changing climate.
Register to Watch Replay (Recorded December 7)
Indigenous communities are on the frontlines of the most devastating climate catastrophes across the world. And they are also leading the most powerful movements to stop the expansion of the fossil fuel industry, major culprits of these disasters.
Brandi Morin risks her freedom to report on these protest movements, and brings us the most critical stories of how people are pushing back against the economic status quo. She will discuss her memoir, Our Voice of Fire, about overcoming adversity to find her purpose as a journalist—and share her experiences reporting on Indigenous activism that is pushing towards a brighter climate future.
She will appear in conversation with Karyn Pugliese, Editor-in-Chief of Canadaland.
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Brandi Morin is an award-winning French/Cree/Iroquois journalist from Treaty 6 in Alberta, and one of Canada’s most prominent voices on Indigenous issues. She has published or broadcast with the New York Times, National Geographic, the Guardian, the Toronto Star, Al Jazeera English, Vice, Elle Canada, CBC, and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network National News (APTN), among many other outlets. She won a Human Rights Reporting award from the Canadian Association of Journalists for her work with the CBC’s Beyond 94 project tracking the progress of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.
Karyn Pugliese is the Editor-in-Chief of Canadaland and an award-winning journalist. Previously, Karyn worked as Editor-in-Chief of Canada’s National Observer, Managing Editor of Investigations at CBC, and Executive Director of News and Current Affairs at the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. From 2018-2020, Karyn was president of the Canadian Association of Journalists and still sits on the national board of directors. She is also a board member of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression. Karyn is a citizen of the Pikwàkanagàn First Nation in Ontario and is of mixed Algonquin and Italian descent.
Register to Watch Replay (Recorded November 8)
Fire has changed communities across BC this year. After the most devastating wildfire season in recorded history, many are wondering how these fires got so big, what we can learn from our current responses, and whether we are prepared for an ever warming future.
John Vaillant’s book Fire Weather has become a de-facto guide on the new dangers posed by these fires supercharged by a warming planet. He’ll discuss his findings on the Fort McMurray fire of 2016, to help us understand what’s at stake for our cities, towns, and ecosystems.
Moderated by Fatima Syed, climate reporter at The Narwhal.
John Vaillant is the author of three bestselling, award-winning nonfiction books: The Golden Spruce, The Tiger, and Fire Weather. 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. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and The Walrus.
Fatima Syed is an Ontario-based reporter for The Narwhal, the vice-president of the Canadian Association of Journalists, and the winner of the 2022 World Press Freedom Canada Award. She has worked for The Walrus, the Toronto Star, The Logic and Canada’s National Observer. She is a National Magazine Award nominee, a Digital Publishing Award winner, and has contributed chapters to two anthologies published by Coach House Books—Subdivided and House Divided.
Register to Watch Replay (Recorded October 3)
Amidst the urgency and anxiety of the climate crisis, speculative fiction can help us find hope by showing what an alternative, better future could look like. In The Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson imagines a world ravaged by climate disaster, where humans find ways to change politics, technology, and the economy to win the fight against climate change.
For our first event of this series, join a hopeful conversation about solutions to our most existential dilemma, and how imagining new futures can help us get there.
Moderated by Dorothy Woodend, culture editor for The Tyee.
Kim Stanley Robinson is the author of more than twenty books, including the bestselling Mars trilogy and the critically acclaimed 2312, Shaman, New York 2140, and The Ministry for the Future. He has won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards, the most prestigious awards for science fiction. In 2008, he was named a “Hero of the Environment” by Time magazine, and he works with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute.
Dorothy Woodend is the culture editor for The Tyee, and a renowned arts and culture critic. Her writing has received numerous awards, including the Max Wyman Award for Critical Writing in 2020, as well as Silver Medal for Best Column at the Digital Publishing Awards in 2019 and 2020. Dorothy is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Vancouver Film Critics Circle.
BC Libraries Present is a new virtual author series that brings new insights and voices to people in every corner of British Columbia. This series is a project of BC’s public library federations, coordinated by Public Library InterLink, with the generous financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.