Book Launch: What Dreams May Come with Kate Heartfield, Amanda Connolly and Eden Robinson
About this event
Join Library and Archives Canada and the Ottawa International Writers Festival for a book launch featuring three acclaimed authors whose bestselling books explore imagined worlds and impossible truths. From historical fantasy and Irish folklore to Indigenous-inspired speculative fiction, these three novels invite readers into worlds shaped by magic, myth, survival and transformation.
Mercutio by Kate Heartfield is an epic and opulent 13th-century retelling of the life of Mercutio before he ever encountered Romeo and Juliet. On the battlefield, as warring factions deal out death, young Mercutio chances upon the charismatic poet Dante Alighieri. In their desperate stand against the enemy, they inadvertently open a crack between our world and Faerie.
The Lure of Wolves and Whispers by Amanda Connolly is an Irish lore-inspired romantasy and the author’s debut novel. On the mist-shrouded Isle of Eireann, magic comes with a price. When her beloved older sister is gravely injured, Maeve risks everything to buy the forbidden magic that might save her. What would you sacrifice to survive?
The Sorceress of Sky Serpents by Eden Robinson is a supernatural fantasy inspired by the Indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest. Set on a dangerous planet where monsters haunt the survivors of an apocalyptic sorcerers' war, the novel follows Yuala, the daughter of the Guardian of the Eagle Clan and granddaughter of its shaman. Yuala longs to become a warrior or a healer. With fear and hope in her heart, she plunges into a grueling supernatural apprenticeship. As a battle brews on the shores of Winter Haven, something fiery builds in Yuala, too—but will she come into her power and save her clan before it’s too late?
About the authors
Kate Heartfield is an author of historical fantasy novels. Her Alice Payne time-travel novellas were published in 2018 and 2019. Her debut novel Armed in Her Fashion (2018) won Canada’s Aurora Award. She also writes interactive fiction, including The Road to Canterbury (2018) and The Magician’s Workshop (2019), published by Choice of Games. Her short fiction has been shortlisted for the Nebula, Locus, Aurora, Sunburst, and Crawford awards, and her journalism for a National Newspaper Award.
Amanda Connolly is an award-winning Canadian political journalist and editor. She has reported on natural disasters, federal elections and politics, international crises and geopolitical turmoil, with a focus on national security, foreign policy and gender equality. The Lure of Wolves and Whispers is her debut novel and draws inspiration from ancient Irish lore, the extinction of the wild wolf in Ireland, the Irish Viking Age and Christianization process, and a desire to interrogate and reimagine the legend claiming St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland.
Eden Robinson has matriarchal tendencies. Doesn’t have a pressure cooker but knows how to jar salmon. Her smoked salmon will not likely kill you. Hobbies: shopping for the Apocalypse, using vocabulary as a weapon, nominating cousins to council while they’re out of town, chair yoga, looking up possible diseases or syndromes on the interwebs, perfecting gluten-free Bannock, and playing mahjong. Be warned: she writes novels and tends to be cranky when interrupted.
Sessions
Parking
Paid parking spaces are available at 395 Wellington Street, on the west side of the building. Parking meters and public parking lots can also be found on the surrounding streets.
Bike racks are also available in front of the building.
Several OC Transpo and Société de transport de l’Outaouais bus routes serve stops located near 395 Wellington Street.
Stay in touch
Do you have questions about this event? Email us at evenements-events@bac-lac.gc.ca.