The Literary Cabaret

The Literary Cabaret
Host: Sally Zori

This year there’s practically no limit to how many people can experience this magical coalescence of author readings and improvised songs. At the helm of these fusions is Sally Zori: our new Musical Director bringing energy and originality to the proceedings with their band, Sally Zori & the Allegories. A transgender Iraqi raised in the United Arab Emirates and different parts of Canada, Sally is a session musician, percussionist, and content creator. They have played stages and theatres in North America, Europe, and Australia with different bands, orchestras, musicals, theatre shows, and (one new years eve in 2008) was the percussionist for Aretha Franklin. And now, we’re proud that Zori will grace our virtual Festival stage, too.

You’ll hear Griffin-poetry prize winning Billy-Ray Belcourt sharing from A History of My Brief Body; our Spoken Word Curator and lauded poet Jillian Christmas preaching The Gospel of Breaking; multi-award-winning author and comedian Charles Demers reading from his work of crime fiction, Primary Obsessions; and Aislinn Hunter, exceptional poet and novelist who shares her most recent title, The Certainties.

 With live captions

 

 

2020 FESTIVAL TICKETS

Pay what you can pricing available on all Festival events. Tax and processing fee will be added during checkout.

This event is included in a Festival Pass! Simplify your booking process and support the Festival by purchasing a $100 Festival Pass. You'll receive access to the complete lineup of events during Festival Week in one tidy bundle, no need to book tickets to each event. Available only for VWF Members - check your email for the Member Access Code or become a Member today.

Check out our Festival FAQ for more information.

 

 

OPTIONAL ADD-ON: THE LITERARY CABARET PACKAGE

Double your enjoyment of the Literary Cabaret by ordering a custom-made gourmet food and wine package from Granville Island Foodie Delivery. 

The Literary Cabaret package includes treats from your favourite Granville Island vendors: red or white wine, cheese, baguette and preserve, chocolate and nuts!

$60 + shipping (Vancouver, BC). Sold separately through Granville Island Foodie Delivery. Place your order at bit.ly/vwfcab 

 

 

FEATURED IN THIS EVENT

BILLY-RAY BELCOURT is a poet, author, and scholar from the Driftpile Cree Nation. He won the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize for his debut collection, This Wound Is a World, which was also a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. Belcourt is a recipient of the prestigious Rhodes scholarship and an Indspire Award, the highest honour the Indigenous community bestows on its leaders.
(BRITISH COLUMBIA/ALBERTA)

JILLIAN CHRISTMAS is a queer, afro-caribbean writer living on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam people (Vancouver, BC), where she works as Speaker Coordinator at Cicely Blain Consulting, and served for six years as artistic director of Verses Festival of Words. She has won numerous Grand Poetry Slam Championship titles and represented both Toronto and Vancouver at eleven national poetry events, notably breaking ground as the first Canadian to perform on the final stage of the Women of the World Poetry Slam.
(BRITISH COLUMBIA)

CHARLES DEMERS is an author, comedian, actor, playwright, screenwriter and political activist. His collection of essays, Vancouver Special, was shortlisted for the Hubert Evans BC Book Prize for Non-Fiction. He is one of the most frequently returning stars of CBC Radio’s smash-hit comedy The Debaters. Demers lives in Vancouver, BC, where he is working on a second book in the Dr. Boudreau Mystery series, Suicidal Tendencies, the follow-up to Primary Obsessions. 
(BRITISH COLUMBIA)

AISLINN HUNTER is an award-winning novelist and poet and the author of seven highly acclaimed books including The World Before Us, which was a New York Times Editor’s Choice book, a Guardian, The Globe and Mail and NPR “Book of the Year,” and winner of the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Her work has been adapted into music, dance, art, and film forms—including a feature film, based on her novel Stay, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
(BRITISH COLUMBIA)

 

View our full lineup