November 26, 2016
A pleasure to be in conversation with Zoe Whittall about her book “The Best Kind of People.” So engaging! We packed the house tonight for this fabulously talented poet, author, television writer, and freelance journalist. It was a great evening. Thanks McNally Robinson Booksellers and Winnipeg International Writers Festival. And most of all thanks Zoe for writing this book.
The event was co-presented by McNally Robinson Booksellers, University of Winnipeg Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies (IWGS) and the Winnipeg International Writers Festival is part of the Writers Festival Fall Literary Series.
Stacey May Fowles writes about “The Best Kind of People” – “With incredibly rare nuance, sensitivity, and insight, Zoe Whittall takes us deep into our contemporary conversation around sexual violence and shines a vital spotlight on the individuals and communities that live in its long shadow. Whittall’s undisputed talent as a writer shines, as does her understanding into the complexity of our sympathies, our morality, and our humanity. With The Best Kind of People, Whittall has created an urgent and timely document, one that asks us to reflect on how we can best serve survivors of abuse and best support all of those who exist in its aftermath. With incredible empathy, and undeniable skill, this book is sure to spark much needed dialogue, vital debate, and richly deserved acclaim.”
Zoe Whittall is the author of The Best Ten Minutes of Your Life, The Emily Valentine Poems, and Precordial Thump, and the editor of Geeks, Misfits, & Outlaws. Her debut novel Bottle Rocket Hearts made the Globe and Mail Top 100 Books of the Year and CBC Canada Reads’ Top Ten Essential Novels of the Decade. Her second novel Holding Still for as Long as Possible won a Lambda Literary Award and was an American Library Association Stonewall Honor Book. Her writing has appeared in the Walrus, the Believer, the Globe and Mail, the National Post, Fashion, and more. She has also worked as a writer and story editor on the TV shows Degrassi and Schitt’s Creek. Born in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, she has an MFA from the University of Guelph and lives in Toronto. Here is a link to Zoe’s website: http://zoewhittall.com/
