On Saturday, September 19th, 2026, at 2:00 PM in Room C420, UBC Robson Square (800 Robson Street), I'll be joining a brilliant panel of authors for a conversation titled "For the Love of Storytelling: Writing Between the Noise."
Word Vancouver is Western Canada's largest free literary festival, and it is an absolute privilege to be part of it.
The Panel
I'll be sharing the stage with some wonderfully talented writers, moderated by the excellent Erik D'Souza - author, publisher, and Marketing and Communications Manager for Crime Writers of Canada.
The panelists are:
- Angela Douglas, author of the psychological thriller The Mentor (and the award-winning Every Fall)
- Tikiri Herath, author of Her Grisly Grave and founder of Rebel Diva Press, whose nineteen crime thrillers have earned twelve literary awards
- Niloufar-Lily Soltani, author of Zulaikha and second runner-up in the 2025 Raven Short Story Contest
What We'll Be Talking About
The panel description asks a question that keeps many authors awake at night: writers are constantly asked "Who is your audience?" But is that audience diminishing?
Future readers are glued to their devices. Attention spans are shrinking. Our potential audiences scroll feeds instead of flipping pages. Publishers insist they want something new and different - yet we are still asked for comp titles, still nudged toward the same-but-different, still pushed to be darker, edgier, funnier, more outrageous.
With AI-written novels already being discussed in the boardrooms of major retailers, how does a writer find their niche in a market with no goalposts? How do we stay focused? What drives us to keep telling stories anyway?
It is a conversation about creative survival in 2026 - and I have a feeling it is going to be a cracking one.
My Perspective
As the editor on a panel of published authors, I shall be there to bring the perspective of the person on the other side of the manuscript. I spend my days helping crime and thriller writers bridge the gap between creative vision and commercial success - making sure every red herring, every reveal, and every character beat lands exactly where it should, but also that we're meeting those expectations from picky readers whose same-but-different reading approaches often guide the market!
I am looking forward to discussing how writers can find their place in an increasingly crowded market, and what the editorial relationship looks like when the goalposts keep shifting.
Come Along
If you are in Vancouver on Saturday, September 19th, I would love to see you there. The festival is free, the conversation will be lively, and I promise to try to sound like I know what I am talking about.
You can find full details on the Word Vancouver website.
See you in September.
Rebecca
