Wild Rides

Event Details

Event Description

The latest works from Ian Williams and Maria Reva run headlong into the moral and political ambiguities of our time, disrupt the conventions of novel writing, and make dazzling art out of the precarious uncertainty of modern life.

You’ve Changed, the eagerly awaited new novel by Giller Prize winner Ian Williams, is a sharp and absurdly funny dissection of marriage between two people who are morphing in ways that confound each other. Middle-aged Beckett is about to lose his construction job, but tries to win Princess’s approval by launching an upscale reno business. Princess hopes to revive Beckett’s interest by undergoing relentless surgical enhancements. “Situated at the intersection of hilarious and excruciating” (Paul Wells), Williams’ keenly observed writing plumbs identity, insecurity, intimacy and desire with an honesty that never looks away.

Maria Reva’s Endling, long-listed for the 2025 Booker Prize, is set in Ukraine circa 2022 and introduces Yeva, a maverick scientist trying to save a rare species, and two sisters bent on exposing the international bride industry that employs them. When Russia invades, they embark together on a desperate journey with kidnapped bachelors and a last-of-its kind snail in need of a mate. Back in Canada, the novelist confronts the dilemma of making fiction out of horrendous events that threaten the survival of her own family members. Fiction and reality collide on the page in a work that Ann Patchett calls “all-round brilliant… funny and smart, full of science, longing, and adventure. This is essential reading.”

Be in the room when two internationally acclaimed authors meet on stage to discuss their genre-bending craft, their motivation to push boundaries, and the need for relevant fiction in today’s messy world.