Festivals Archives - Shaena Lambert

Going Under the Words

As part of the Victoria Festival of Authors, I’m delighted to be leading a 2 ½ hour master class on revision on October 18^th, at 9:30 am. If you are in Victoria, or can make the trip for this workshop, I hope you will come for this deep dive into the most creative, rewarding and harrowing part of writing a book! Please bring 3 pages of a work in progress. More below, with a link to register.

Going Under the Words: The Art and Craft of Revising

Camosun College Lansdowne Campus, Victoria, BC
Sunday, October 18 • 9:30 AM – 12 PM

Workshop by Shaena Lambert

Revision is the longest, most creative, and most intense phase of writing a book. It’s the place where a thin draft thickens, where multiple revelations take place that make a work sing. Join award-winning author and highly-regarded mentor Shaena Lambert, as she takes writers step by step into their writing—teaching crucial revision tools that enable writers to redraft with confidence and excitement. Learn how to “slide sideways” into your work-in-progress in order to go deeper, how to find the living core of action in your manuscript, and how to create a “juicy larder” of materials in a process of free-form thickening. Participants will explore Lambert’s revision tools, learning playful ways to give depth, surprise, and meaning. Please bring three pages of a work in progress.

Register here.

Going Under the WordsShaena Lambert2026-09-12T01:49:30-07:00

In Conversation with Ruth Ozeki

Also at the Victoria Festival… October 18^th. I’m thrilled to be moderating this conversation about the story form, and Ruth’s unique take on it, and her new collection, The Typing Lady, where auto-fiction meets fiction…Ruth’s book is enchanting and very funny. I hope you can be there! Get tickets through the link below.

Langham Court Theatre, Victoria, BC
Sunday, October 18 • Starts at 7:30 PM

Moderated by Shaena Lambert

What happens when Ruth Ozeki—novelist, film-maker, memoirist, and Zen Buddhist priest—turns her focus to short stories? Her new book The Typing Lady has won stellar reviews, with her “atmospheric tales that radiate with intelligence and wit” (Publishers’ Weekly). Join Booker Prize finalist Ruth Ozeki, and award-winning novelist and short story writer Shaena Lambert, as they explore the electricity of the short form, its constant lure for novelists, and how stories can dive deeply into the most difficult questions of today, surfacing with joy and humour. This is an exploration of craft, politics, metafiction, the writing life—and the powerful Zen of Ruth Ozeki’s unique writing and process.

Get tickets at Eventbrite.

In Conversation with Ruth OzekiShaena Lambert2026-09-12T01:49:25-07:00

When Life Meets Fiction

I’ve just begun to read these 3 delicious books for the Vancouver Writers Festival, a panel called True Life Fiction. This event promises to be a candid, deep and intimate conversation. There is always such a fascinating territory, where life meets art. Hope you can join us!! October 23rd at 5 pm on the Revue Stage at Granville Island. Event description and link to tickets below.

True Life Fiction

Is it fact, fiction, or a malleable third category, somewhere in between? Three authors join us with standout works of autofiction, offering a kernel of truth, a dash of myth, and a profusion of luminous writing. Shani Mootoo offers her most intimate work yet in Starry Starry Night, following a young girl and her family as they navigate life in 1960s Trinidad during its movement for independence. In Ten Clear Days, Eric Beck Rubin shares the extraordinary story of his grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, who requests medical assistance in dying in her final days. Damien Wilkins joins us from New Zealand with his award-winning novel Delirious, in which an aging couple faces questions about how to care for others and our many past and present selves. Moderated by Shaena Lambert.

Participation of Eric Beck Rubin made possible thanks to the generous support of Sam Znaimer in memory of award-winning novelist Nancy Richler. Damien Wilkins’ attendance generously supported by Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa.

Get tickets for this event on the Vancouver Writers Fest website.

When Life Meets FictionShaena Lambert2026-09-12T01:50:22-07:00