North Shore Writers Festival: The Perils and Joys of Memoir Writing with Wiley Wei-Chiun Ho & Tara McGuire

Join Wiley Wei-Chiun Ho & Tara McGuire in discussion with JJ Lee, as they untangle the process of writing emotional family stories.

Writing family memoir uncovers a gamut of emotions in the excavation of personal history and memory, and then the sharing of intimate events and reflections. For Wiley Wei-Chiun Ho (The Astronaut Children of Dunbar Street) and Tara McGuire (Holden After and Before), whose memoirs involve family loss and grief, the perils of writing close to the bone also brings personal transformation, joy, and hope.  

FREE! Registration is required to secure your spot. Drop-in seating may be available but is not guaranteed.

Interested in attending more than one Festival event? You must register for each event separately to guarantee your spot at each event. 

For more information on this and other festival events, visit www.northshorewritersfestival.com 

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About the presenters

Wiley Wei-Chiun Ho has published short stories and personal essays in PRISM international, Ricepaper Magazine, River Teeth, Room and several anthologies, and was a finalist for the 2021 Jim Wong-Chu Award for Emerging Writers (presented by the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop). She lives in North Vancouver, BC, where she likes to grow Asian vegetables in her front yard. The Astronaut Children of Dunbar Street is her first book.

Tara McGuire is a former broadcaster turned writer. Her book Holden After and Before: Love Letter for a Son Lost to Overdose, a hybrid work in memoir and fiction, was shortlisted for the 2023 City of Vancouver Book Award and was one of The Walrus’ best books. Her essays have been published widely in The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Geist, Room etc… and forthcoming with Book*hug Press.

JJ Lee is the editor of the nonfiction anthologies Better Next Year, Upon a Midnight Clear, and Better This Year. He produced the true-crime podcast Stand Up Eight by Lenore Rattray. He wrote the memoir The Measure of a Man: The Story of a Father, a Son, and a Suit. He teaches creative nonfiction at The Writer’s Studio, Simon Fraser University, and writing at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in Burnaby. His essays and features have appeared in ELLE Canada, ELLE Man, Flare, Fashion, Montecristo, and Nuvo magazines. He lives in New Westminster. 

About the Festival

The North Shore Writers Festival (NSWF) is presented in partnership by North Vancouver City Library, North Vancouver District Public Library, and West Vancouver Memorial Library. The NSWF would not be made possible without support from the Friends of the Library groups at NVDPL and WVML, North Shore Writers’ Association, Kidsbooks, and the North Shore News.

The Festival takes place on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) , and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. The Coast Salish Peoples have long used oral storytelling to pass on and preserve their cultural teachings. This powerful tradition highlights the important role that stories play in our lives. We are grateful to host the North Shore Writers Festival on the lands of these Nations and honour the art of storytelling.