Family sagas topic of this years Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival

There’s nothing like a shot of rum to change your perspective on troubled times, as Ashok Mathur shows in his latest novel, A Little Distillery in Nowgong (Arsenal Pulp, $27.95). Mathur, an acclaimed Indian-born writer based in Kamloops, offers a fantastical tale that follows three turbulent generations of a Parsi family and their relationship to the magical drink they brew as a business. He’ll talk about the book when he joins fellow novelists Michael Crummey and Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer at a Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival event about family sagas, 10 a.m. Friday (October 23) at Performance Works. And you can follow that up by heading over to the Granville Island Stage at 1 p.m. to hear about the various strategies that go into the process of assembling a novel. Celebrated writers Joseph Boyden, Shandi Mitchell, Cordelia Strube, and Ian Weir will share insights. See www.writersfest.bc.ca/ for info.