With extraordinary depth and candour, the Scotiabank Giller Prize winning authors dive into an illuminating and powerful conversation that ranges from what makes us uncomfortable (and getting comfortable with that) to brownness and whiteness, age and innocence, water and wind. Humble, entertaining, and hopeful even as they discuss the consequences of an unjust world, El Akkad and Williams are as fascinated by one another’s opinions as we are.
Pick up a copy of What Strange Paradise here: https://wordfest.com/2021/26at26-featured-books/omar-el-akkad/
Pick up a copy of Disorientation: Being Black in the World here: https://wordfest.com/2021/26at26-featured-books/ian-williams/
Desmond Cole's story about the devastating bullying he endured by his elementary-school principal serves as a milestone moment in his own understanding of insidious, unwanted attention and powerlessness. He also re-visits a story he shared with Wordfesters on his last visit to Calgary in February...
Is luck a thing? Yes, says Tessa McWatt, and there are many, many kinds, both good and bad, that shape us from birth. The author of The Snow Line has been nominated for G.G. awards more than once, an honour she’d credit to luck to some degree. She tells us a story of how gambling on a dark horse ...
Ben Philippe learned that when the maps came out, his dad’s recurring restlessness was poised to upend life as the family knew it. The author of Sure, I’ll Be Your Black Friend, shares his generous outlook on race, friendship and family.
Pick up a copy of Sure, I'll Be Your Black Friend here: htt...
