Word Vancouver 2026
September 03rd, 2026
Celebrating 30 years of BC writers and authors since its inaugural event in 1995, Word Vancouver will again be running events this year from September 14 to 19.
The main event will take place on Saturday, September 19 when festival goers can freely wander UBC Robson Square at 800 Robson Street in downtown Vancouver for outdoor and indoor activities such as author readings, panel discussions and workshops. All events are free.
Festival organizers say there is something for everyone including: a Children’s Tent, a Poetry Tent, a live podcast recording, online editing sessions and a dedicated Silent Writing Room for those who need a quiet space to process the state of the world through writing and a slew of BC authors and poets.
Sam Wiebe
BCBookLook has chosen a few to events to illustrate the wide range of writers at Word Vancouver this year. Consider bestselling crime writers Sam Wiebe and Iona Whishaw (pictured above right) headlining “The Shape of Suspicion: Crime and Consequence.” Wiebe brings gritty West Coast noir to life in Guns Across the River (Harbour), while Iona Whishaw offers an elegant historical mystery in A False and Fatal Claim (Touchwood) featuring amateur sleuth Lane Winslow. Moving between contemporary corruption and the hidden tensions of the past, these novels explore how secrets surface in unexpected places — and how the past continues to shape the present.
Christina Shah
At another event, two poets at different stages of their careers come together to explore identity, memory, labour and place. Russell Thornton’s Two Songs: Selected Poems 2000–2025 (Harbour) gathers twenty-five years of work marked by emotional precision and attentiveness to the human and natural worlds. Christina Shah’s if: prey, then: huntress (Harbour) draws on experiences in heavy industry to examine power, vulnerability and survival. Together, these poets show how language can uncover resilience, beauty, and connection in unexpected places.
When asked what she is most excited about for this year’s festival, Word Vancouver’s executive director Bonnie Nish said, “We are always excited to see the connections people make at our festival. From exhibitors who connect with authors about a potential book deal, or discovering a writing program they could enrol in; to meeting and learning from authors with household names in BC or meeting those who are on their way to becoming one. Watching this community expand and grow is the most exciting part of the festival.”
Full details of Word Vancouver events can be found at wordvancouver.ca.
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