The Squamish Public Library is hosting best-selling author and poet Billy-Ray Belcourt for a reading from his newest book and to answer audience questions.
According to a news release, the event will take place at the Eagle Eye Theatre on June 11 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Belcourt’s newest book, Coexistence: Stories, is a collection of stories about Indigenous love and loneliness. The book was released on May 21.
“It is an honour for our library to host such an accomplished and thoughtful writer! His work is intimate and relevant, and I am personally a fan of both his poetry and his prose,” said Rachel Bergquist, programs and outreach co-ordinator with the library, in the release.
“The library is thrilled to bring Belcourt to Squamish in June, a month that celebrates both Pride and Indigenous History Month,” the release states.
Belcourt is from the Driftpile Cree Nation.
His previous books explored themes of colonialism, queerness, grief and Indigenous joy. All of his books are available at the Squamish Library to borrow. He has won and been a finalist for numerous literary awards for his debut collection of poems, This Wound Is a World, as well as his memoir, A History of My Brief Body.
At the event, Gather Bookshop will have a table with copies of Coexistence: Stories.
Register for the event at squamishlibrary.ca.
**Please note that we have corrected this story since it was first posted. The title of the collection of poems This Wound Is a World was originally incorrectly referred to as This Would Is a World. The Squamish Chief apologizes for this error.
