The Word Vancouver festival is set for its 2016 edition with a massively inclusive lineup of authors, appearing at venues around town from September 21 to 25.

We asked a group of these much-admired writers to tell us about their finest reading experiences. Which books put a stamp on their imaginations early on? Which ones revealed to them the full powers of the written word?

Here’s what Victoria-based writer, filmmaker, and artist Andrew Struthers told us. He’s the author of The Green Shadow, The Last Voyage of the Loch Ryan, and Around the World on Minimum Wage. He’ll read from his work at 4:20 p.m. on September 25, on the fest’s Suspension Bridge stage at the central branch of the Vancouver Public Library.

I wrote my first novel when I was nine. It was an epic fantasy inspired by that greatest of sword-and-sorcery novels, the Bible. I had been especially taken with the ending of that book, where a shining city-shaped spacecraft descends from the sky. Later I was outraged when Spielberg ripped it off for Close Encounters. They don't write books like the Bible anymore.