An acclaimed Canadian author is lending her voice to a fundraiser for a literacy initiative for kids.
Royal City residents are invited to join Madeleine Thien for an intimate evening conversation about her latest book, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, winner of the Governor-General’s Literary Award for Fiction and the Giller Prize. At the March 21 event, Thien will read selections from the book and answer questions about the novel, the art of writing and life after gaining literary celebrity.
New West based writer and broadcaster J.J. Lee, author of the acclaimed novel The Measure of a Man, is organizing the event.
“It’s going to feel like you are with your 100 best friends talking about your favourite book,” he said. “I really feel it’s like a personal experience. I like people to be comfortable and happy. There will be no strangers by the end of the night.”
An Evening with Acclaimed Novelist Madeleine Thien takes place on Tuesday, March 21 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. in Centennial Lodge in Queen’s Park. It features an evening of book talk, refreshments, food and good company by a roaring fire.
In 2013, Lee organized Fireside Stories at a New West home featuring readings by several authors, including Thien. When Thien’s latest novel won the 2016 Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, he asked if she’d be willing to do another event in New West, and she agreed.
“Madeleine is such a wonderful reader,” Lee said.
Members of a long-running book club have been invited to ask the first set of questions to get the conversation flowing.
The event is raising funds for the One to One Literacy Society, which provides one-too-one tutoring to elementary school children during regular school hours. Lee, who spoke at the Vancouver-based society’s volunteer appreciation tea a few years ago and has co-hosted its annual spelling bee fundraiser, told the society that if it ever expanded to New Westminster he’d do a fundraiser, and that’s something that’s now being considered.
“They are aware of the One to One Literacy Society,” Lee said of the school district. “Lots of the volunteers are former teachers. They are fully trained before they begin to tutor. There is actually a tutoring camp they go to.”
Boosting kids’ literacy skills can be life changing for kids, Lee said.
“This organization provides the tutors for free – free to the family, free to the district. When you introduce writing, there is health outcomes, there are economic outcomes. The difference between having reading proficiency and not having reading proficiency is vast in terms of health and wellbeing outcomes,” he said. “I am a writer – how can I not support that?”
Tickets are $50 and available at www.eventbrite.ca (search for Madeleine Thien) or by calling Lee at 604-540-1793. No tickets will be available at the door.
