2020 Events

You know her as an amazing author, our star interviewer and now… finally, our writing instructor. Bianca teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies, and now, you Book Drunkards can try it on yourself! Join Bianca Marais for a six week workshop on Saturday mornings.

You won’t want to miss our opener on October 13th! Our extraordinary interviewer, Bianca Marais, chats with the thoughtful and thought-provoking Aislinn Hunter, whose new novel The Certainties might well make you ask: “What would I do if ….?”

Matt Haig is the number one bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and Notes on a Nervous Planet and six highly acclaimed novels for adults, including How to Stop Time, The Humans and The Radleys. He has also written many books for children and has won the Blue Peter Book Award, the Smarties Book Prize and been nominated three times for the Carnegie Medal. He has sold more than a million books in the UK and his work has been translated into over forty languages.

After getting in trouble with the law, a group of wayward teens are given an ultimatum: serve time in juvenile detention for their crimes or walk the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage across Spain over the summer holidays with a pair of court-appointed counselors. Although they come from diverse backgrounds, the unlikely friends try to make the best of their situation. The pilgrims grow closer on their journey, but they may not make it to their destination—the Cathedral in Santiago. If they do, will they each find what they’re looking for, and will their newfound friendships endure?

PETER ROBINSON grew up in the United Kingdom, and now divides his time between Toronto, and Richmond, Yorkshire. Many Rivers to Cross is the 26th book in the DCI Banks series. He has also written two collections of short stories, and three stand-alone novels. Robinson’s critically acclaimed crime novels have won numerous awards in Britain, the United States, Canada, and Europe, and are published in translation all over the world.

Annabel and acclaimed interviewer Bianca Marais will dive into Consent just as it hits the shelves! Noted as “this generation’s answer to Alice Munro” (Vancouver Sun) Annabel delivers a sly, sensual, haunting novel about two women whose lives collide when tragedy changes them forever.

Join the fun as Anna Olson, author of eight bestselling cookbooks and the beloved host of Food Network’s Bake with Anna Olson, Fresh with Anna Olson, and Sugar, talks all things baking with Jenna Hutchinson and Ashley Kosowan, the twin sisters behind Winnipeg’s world renowned and Martha Stewart-approved Jenna Rae Cakes!

KERRY CLARE is an editor and blogger and lives in Toronto with her family. She has entertained guests of Blue Heron Books in many capacities before — as an author and an interviewer. You won’t be disappointed spending an evening with the gregarious Kerry Clare and interviewer Bianca Marais.

ALAN BRADLEY is a Canadian (living on the Isle of Man) and New York Times bestselling author of many short stories, children’s stories, newspaper columns, and the memoir The Shoebox Bible. His first Flavia de Luce novel, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, received the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award, the Dilys Winn Award, the Arthur Ellis Award, the Agatha Award, the Macavity Award, and the Barry Award, and was nominated for the Anthony Award.

What is November 5th? Why, it’s days after the American election, of course! And what better way to celebrate/commiserate than with ANDREW PYPER and his new novel. The Residence takes place in the White House in 1853, during the infancy of Franklin Pierce’s Presidency, and under a cloud of grief and ghosts.

A Blue Heron Books veteran, EMMA DONOGHUE was born in Dublin in 1969. Emma is an Irish emigrant twice over: she spent eight years in Cambridge, England, before moving to Canada’s London, Ontario. She is best known for her novels, which range from the historical (The Wonder, Slammerkin, Life Mask, The Sealed Letter) to the contemporary (Akin, Stir-Fry, Hood, Landing).

Carmen Maria Machado followed up her incredible short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties, with last year’s In The Dream House, a groundbreaking memoir about domestic abuse wherein each chapter is driven by a different narrative trope. Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic, a brilliant reimagining of the classic gothic suspense novel, makes use of some of the same tropes—most notably the haunted house.

Both critically acclaimed and loved by readers, SUE MILLER is recognized internationally for her elegant and sharply realistic accounts of the contemporary family. Her books have been widely translated and published in 22 countries around the world.

JANE JOHNSON is a novelist, historian, and publisher. She is the UK editor for George R.R. Martin, Dean Koontz, and others. She has written several novels for adults and children, including the bestselling novel The Tenth Gift. Her latest novel, The Sea Gate, is a sweeping and utterly spellbinding tale of a young woman’s courage in the face of war, and the lengths to which she’ll go to protect those she loves against the most unexpected of enemies.

JESSE THISTLE is Métis-Cree, from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He is an assistant professor in Métis Studies at York University in Toronto. You won’t want to miss this virtual event on Thursday, November 17, during which THISTLE and BIANCA MARAIS discuss this extraordinary and inspiring debut memoir.

This is the event of the season—two giants of Canadian literature sharing one screen. Margaret Atwood and Lorna Crozier will discuss their latest books, Dearly and Through The Garden, with their publisher, McClelland & Stewart’s Jared Bland.

It’s always exciting to be in on the ground floor of new writers. We at Blue Heron Books read this early and fell in love. Discover ALEX PUGSLEY’s debut novel, Aubrey McKee.

ALAN DOYLE is a Canadian musician, actor and writer. His albums as a solo artist and as front man for the Newfoundland Celtic-rock band Great Big Sea have sold over a million copies, and he has starred in such features as Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood and CBC’s Republic of Doyle.