Events › The Writer’s Life: From Process to Publishing (Panel)

Join Taslim and friends for a conversation on the writer's life.

Topics covered include how and why one writes, the challenges and successes of the journey, the various publishing paths and more. The discussion will be moderated by Taslim with an opportunity for the audience to pose questions.

Suitable for all ages. 

Drop-in.

About Our Panelists

Taslim Jaffer is a writer, editor and writing instructor with a special interest in culture, identity and home. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction and is working on her memoir-in-essays about life as a first-generation Canadian and parent. She serves on the Board of Directors for Word Vancouver and the Creative Nonfiction Collective Society, and is a member of The Writers’ Union of Canada. Taslim is co-editor of the anthology Back Where I Came From: On Culture, Identity, And Home (Book*hug Press, 2024), a collection of 26 literary travel essays by diasporic writers who travelled back to their motherlands.

Kevin Chong is the author of seven books of fiction and nonfiction, most recently the novel The Double Life of Benson Yu, which was a finalist for the2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize and named a Best Book of Canadian Fiction by the CBC. His creative nonfiction and journalism have recently appeared in Time Magazine, Literary Hub, Montecristo, and theGlobe and Mail. An associate professor at the University of British Okanagan, he lives in Vancouver with his family.

Kelly Duran writes poignant and relatable contemporary fiction about friendship, family and love. Her debut novel—Can’t Take It Back—was released as an Audible Original in 2020 and in print and ebook in 2024.

Kelly is active in communities for both readers and writers and regularly attends writing conferences, book launches and publishing-related seminars. She is a member of several writing organizations including the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA), Writers Union of Canada and the Federation of BC Writers.

Kelly lives in Richmond, BC and when not writing or reading, can be found spending time with her husband and two teenage daughters; usually with a cup of coffee in one hand and notebook in the other. Keep up to date on her writing at kellyduran.com/subscribe.

Shashi Bhat is the author of Death by a Thousand Cuts (McClelland & Stewart), longlisted for the Giller Prize and selected as a Globe and Mail best book; The Most Precious Substance on Earth (M&S, Grand Central), a finalist for the Governor General's Award for fiction; and The Family Took Shape (Cormorant), a finalist for the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. Her fiction won the Writers’ Trust/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize and has appeared in publications across North America. Shashi is the editor of EVENT magazine and teaches creative writing at Douglas College.