Ottawa Writer Festival Presents: Ebola, Bombs, and Migrants with Dr. Joanne Liu

In Ebola, Bombs, and Migrants: Humanitarian Crises in a Security-Obsessed World, Dr. Joanne Liu, former International President of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières, draws on frontline experience to examine three major humanitarian crises of the 2010s, revealing the global obsession with national security and its capacity to overshadow our responsibility to protect vulnerable populations.

Since the early 2000s, a world shaped by 9/11 has retreated into fear, strengthening borders and eroding the mechanisms of international cooperation. From West Africa to the Mediterranean and into Afghanistan, Dr. Liu shows how, despite the best efforts of frontline responders, the international community has repeatedly chosen containment over compassion, and politics over principle.

This urgent, authoritative work urges readers to connect past tragedies to current circumstances, reckoning with the cost of disengagement to ultimately reclaim a vision of shared humanity in the face of global crisis.

Dr. Joanne Liu has spent most of the last thirty years working for Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders, where she also held term as international president. In 2015, Liu was made an Officer of the Ordre national du Québec and was recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People of that year. She is a recipient of several recognitions, the Légion d'honneur of the French Republic, and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Award for Health Services Management and Leadership (2021), and the Meritorious Service Cross of Canada.

Tickets are available on the Ottawa Writers Festival website. 

Book signing with Mike Martin

Stop by the store on Saturday, November 7th to chat with Mike Martin about his latest, A Capital Mystery Vol. 2. 

Through the eyes of 23 local authors. A Capital Mystery Vol. 2 is the newest anthology release of short story mysteries set in Ottawa, following last year’s highly successful A Capital Mystery. From Kanata to Orleans, from Britannia Beach to the Mer Bleue Blog, these lawyers, piano teachers, photographers and puppeteers uncover mischief, mayhem and even murder in modern-day Ottawa. They also bring us back to our collective past to recall the live music at Le Hibou or to imagine the awe felt as new carillon bells rang out from Parliament Hill after the Great War.

Night of Lights presents: GROTESQUE Book Launch

Head to Swizzles Bar & Grill, for a drag show and book launch in celebration of Elliot Dunston’s new book “Grotesque” - a darkly erotic fairy tale of death and redemption. ($15 cover).

Elliott Dunstan is a trans novelist, poet and historian based out of the Ottawa Valley. Author of several chapbooks and zines, including the long-form poem GULA, he also moonlights as a drag performer and visual artist. Grotesque is his first full-length novel. 

Ottawa Writers Festival Presents: A Noble Profession with Peter Mansbridge

Join legendary broadcaster and author Peter Mansbridge for a deep dive into his latest, A Noble Profession: Inspiring Stories of the Teachers Who Shape Our World, co-written with Mark Bulgutch.

Few people make more of an impact on young people’s lives than teachers. Parents, of course, are vital for a child’s future, but it is our teachers who choose to devote their daily lives to illuminating the world around them, selflessly spending their careers changing the trajectories of the young people in their charge. Teaching can be a thankless job, but these homeroom heroes dedicate themselves not only to following the curriculum but to protecting their students, recognizing their struggles, and intervening when necessary, helping to shape them into productive members of society and the leaders of our future. From elementary and secondary schools, to post-secondary and even in hospital and prison settings, these stories will inform, entertain, and grab you by the heart.

Through dozens of profiles of teachers, and some students, Canada’s most authoritative news voice, Peter Mansbridge, along with veteran journalist Mark Bulgutch, recount true stories of teachers on the front lines of this vital profession as they contend with students’ challenges with their course material, mental health, language skills, sexuality, and many other matters.

A Noble Profession celebrates the experiences of teachers and students, making an ideal gift for any teacher in your life and any students and parents who want to understand the challenges and witness the triumphs in the classrooms that dot the country.

Reserve your tickets on the Ottawa Writers Festival website.

Book signing with Carolyn Y. Nakagawa

Join author Carolyn Y. Nakagawa for a meet & greet and signing of her debut book, Asahi: Japanese Baseball Heroes!

Asahi: Japanese Canadian Baseball Heroes tells the true story of the beloved Vancouver Asahi baseball team for fans of all ages. It shares stories of individual team members, collective experiences of anti-Asian racism, and the legacy made together with their fans in the Japanese Canadian community and beyond. 

Carolyn Y. Nakagawa is a fourth-generation Anglo-Japanese Canadian writer of books, articles, museum exhibits, poetry, and plays. She grew up in Coquitlam, BC, and continues to live in Greater Vancouver. She has an honours degree in English Literature and Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies from the University of British Columbia. During her time working at the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre, she led tours introducing thousands of kids to Japanese Canadian history and heritage, including the story of the Asahi baseball team. One day, she hopes to see the musical she is writing about The New Canadian newspaper performed onstage. 

Book signing with Rod Carley

Join Rod Carely as he signs copies of his latest book The Great Catsby!

The Great Catsby is a playful parody poking fun at love foiled and ambitions foisted set within the mad, uncertain world of cats in 1920s Mew York. Jay Catsby, the feral son of impoverished barn cats, has built his kibble fortune selling illegal catnip, When Nick Cattaway moves in next cat-door, it seems like Catsby's only a whisker away from winning back his beloved Daisy, the beautiful Persian he lost to the arrogant Tom Cay Burmese two lives earlier.