Upcoming Author Events

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2025

Sounding Thunder: the Song of Francis Pegahmagabow
In-Person Event  |  3:30pm PST  |  GET TICKETS
Chan Shun Concert Hall, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts  |  6265 Crescent Road

Silent Dawn Productions and the Galiano Concert Society for the Invictus Games

About the Author
Sounding Thunder: the Song of Francis Pegahmagabow, tells the story of Canada’s most highly decorated WWI veteran.

Go on a musical journey into the life of the renowned Ojibwe WWI sniper, decorated officer of the Canadian military and Indigenous political activist, Francis Pegahmagabow. Sounding Thunder is a complex work divided into three acts, exploring Pegahmagabow’s early years immersed in the world of the Anishinaabe spirits, his extraordinary accomplishments in the trenches of WWI, and finally his political life as Chief of the Wausauksing Ojibwe and founder of the early Indigenous political moment in Canada.

Narrated by Francis’ great grandson, Brian McInnes and performed by some of Canada’s greatest classical musicians, Sounding Thunder includes the singing of Jodi Contin Baker and the acting brilliance of Sage Cloud. Music by Juno-nominated Canadian composer, Timothy Corlis and spoken word libretto by award-winning Indigenous writer, Armand Ruffo.

About the Book
In The Dialogues: The Song of Francis Pegahmagabow, award-winning author Armand Garnet Ruffo brings to life not only the story of the famed WWI Indigenous sniper, but also the complexities of telling Indigenous stories. From Manitoulin Island to the trenches of WWI to the stage, Ruffo moves seamlessly through time in these poems, taking the reader on a captivating journey through Pegahmagabow’s story and onto the creation of Sounding Thunder, the opera based on his life. Throughout, Ruffo uses the Ojibwe concept of two-eyed seeing, which combines the strengths of western and Indigenous ways of knowing, and invites the reader to do the same, particularly through the inclusion of the Anishinaabemowin language within the collection. These are poems that challenge western conventions of thinking, that celebrate hope and that show us a new way to see the world.

This is an in-person event. Please be sure to RSVP.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2025

Science for All: Building Equity Together With Lisa M.P. Munoz
In-Person Event  |  11:00am – 1:00pm PST  |  REGISTER HERE
Room 2020/2030 (2nd Floor) Fred Kaise Building  |  2332 Main Mall

About the Author
Lisa M.P. Munoz is a science writer and president of SciComm Services, a consulting firm specializing in science communication. With over 20 years of experience as a journalist and press officer, she is dedicated to making science accessible to experts and the public alike. Lisa is a distinguished science writer and advocate for equity in STEM and has inspired audiences worldwide with her powerful stories and strategies for change. Lisa holds an engineering degree from Cornell University and her expertise spans cognitive neuroscience, synthetic biology, climate science, geoscience, and beyond. Her Op-eds and articles have been featured in high-profile publications like The New York Times, USA Today, and Scientific American.

About the Book
Women working in the sciences face obstacles at virtually every step along their career paths. From subtle slights to blatant biases, deep systemic problems block women from advancing or push them out of science and technology entirely.

Women in Science Now examines solutions to this persistent gender gap, offering new perspectives on how to make science more equitable and inclusive for all. This book shares stories and insights of women from a range of backgrounds working in various disciplines, illustrating the journeys that brought them to the sciences, the challenges they faced along the way, and the important contributions they have made to their fields. Lisa M. P. Munoz combines these narratives with a wealth of data to illuminate the size and scope of the challenges women scientists face, while highlighting research-based solutions to help overcome these obstacles. She presents groundbreaking studies in social psychology and organizational behavior that are informing novel approaches for combating historic and ongoing inequities.

Through a combined focus on personal experiences and social-science research, this timely book provides both a path toward greater gender equity and an inspiring vision of science and scientists.

This is an in-person event and free to attend.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2025

What it means to be American: Adam Kinzinger
In-Person Event  |  6:30pm PST  |  GET TICKETS
Chan Shun Concert Hall, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts  |  6265 Crescent Road

Join Rep. Adam Kinzinger at the Phil Lind Initiative Talk

About the Author
A six-term Republican congressman and U.S. Air Force veteran, Rep. Adam Kinzinger made headlines as one of only two GOP members to serve on the Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. Offering a candid look at one of the most tumultuous periods in modern American politics, Kinzinger takes us into the deeply polarized and fractured system that facilitated the Republican party's transformation under Trump. His Phil Lind Initiative talk American Identity and the Republican Party takes place at UBC mere weeks after president-elect Donald Trump is scheduled to be sworn in following a decisive victory over Kamala Harris.

Adam Kinzinger is a charismatic speaker, CNN Political Commentator and New York Times best-selling author. His memoir Renegade has been called "a compelling insider's view of the chaos of Congress" and "a sharp assessment of the dark threat to democracy posed by the Trump-controlled GOP"(Kirkus Reviews). Staunchly loyal to country over party, he started the Country First movement in the wake of the 2021 insurrection and remains vocal in his opposition to Trump.

About the Book
On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump incited a violent mob to storm the US Capitol in attempts to overturn the presidential election. It was a betrayal of our Constitution, and one of the darkest days in recent history. Yet to former congressman Adam Kinzinger it was also the culmination of a cultural and political rupture he'd long seen coming. Constructive criticism from within the Republican Party was no longer enough. It was time to stand up, even if it meant betraying his own party

In Renegade, Kinzinger tells his story of faith, service, and political duty in a democracy under siege. From the small Illinois county board where he got his start, to his years in the Air Force flying tanker missions over Iraq, to his final tumultuous term in Congress as one of the few Republican members to vote to impeach Trump and join the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Kinzinger takes readers inside the most critical moments and pivotal decisions of the last years. The result is both a searing examination of the rise of extremism and the GOP's subsequent descent into a dysfunctional and destructive force, and a rousing call to return to unity. Raw, provocative, and clear-eyed, Renegade captures one of the most transformative periods in recent American history.

This is an in-person event. Please be sure to RSVP.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 13, 2025

CHSPR Seminar | Tommy Douglas and the Quest for Medicare in Canada: How is it relevant now?
In-Person Event  |  12:00pm – 1:00pm PST  |  REGISTER HERE
SPPH 219 (within 201)  |  2206 East Mall

About the Author
Gregory P. Marchildon is Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto and the founding director of the North American Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. A lawyer and economist by training, Marchildon was the Executive Director of the Romanow Commission. His research and writing has focused on comparative health policy and the history of universal health coverage. His latest book, Tommy Douglas and the Quest for Medicare in Canada, was published by the University of Toronto Press in 2025.

About the Book
Tommy Douglas and the Quest for Medicare in Canada examines how Tommy Douglas led the creation of universal health care in Saskatchewan during the 1930s Depression. It explores his efforts to implement hospital insurance and build support for a national Medicare system, despite strong opposition. The book highlights how Douglas's leadership, vision, and coalition-building were key to establishing Medicare in Canada.

Are there contemporary policy lessons which can be drawn from the history of Medicare? As the author of Tommy Douglas and the Quest for Medicare in Canada, Greg Marchildon will explore some of the answers to this question, especially concerning the single-payer and single-tier nature of the design of the Canadian model.

This is an in-person event. Please register to attend virtually (via Zoom).

SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 2025

Kids' Story Time | Spring Break - For Kids!
In-Person Event  |  1:30pm-3:00pm PST  |  FREE TO ATTEND
UBC Bookstore  |  6200 University Blvd

Join us in March for our children's story time to kick off spring break!

About the Event
Say hello to spring with a good book and surrounded by friends at the UBC Bookstore! Let your little one listen in to a great story while you browse around and enjoy a coffee or hot chocolate from the Corner Store on us. There will also be an activity table with some coloring pages and arts and crafts for the kids when stories wind down, and the bookstore has plenty for you to explore, especially with 20% off all children's section titles!

This is an in-person event and free to attend. Stay tuned for more details!

SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 2025

Book Launch | Perseverance: Life and Death in the Subarctic by Stephan Kesting
In-Person Event  |  1:00pm PST  |  FREE TO ATTEND
UBC Bookstore  |  6200 University Blvd

Join us in March for the Book Launch of Stephan’s new book, Perseverance: Life and Death in the Subartic

About the Author
My name is Stephan Kesting, and I'm a firefighter and an adventurer. I have spent much of my life learning how to perform in high-pressure and high-risk situations. In this book, I also share how to be more effective in high-stress situations, hold onto hope in the darkest moments, and overcome any obstacle.

About the Book
An adventurer, firefighter, and jiu-jitsu practitioner embarks on a journey of a lifetime—a 1,000 mile voyage through the Canadian sub-arctic—after recovering from a life-threatening illness.

The Canadian North is a vast and lonely land where bears roam free, fires rage unchecked, and storms blast every living thing on the tundra. When Stephan Kesting, already no stranger to pushing his own physical limits, was faced with a rare illness, he knew the only way for him to recover in both body and mind was to dig even deeper. Despite the dangers inherent in the sub-arctic, Kesting sets out on an unimaginably difficult journey. Completely alone in the wilderness for six weeks, where a single mistake could cost his life, Kesting followed in the footsteps of the native peoples and earliest explorers. In this deepest solitude and wracked with self-doubt, he found the strength to endure.

Perseverance is the moving and nail-biting account of his journey from near-death to a raw embrace of adventure and life. Inspirational, vulnerable and honest, Kesting shares the lessons he learned in the wilderness that will help us hold onto hope in our darkest moments and show how we can find the strength to overcome any obstacle.

This is an in-person event and free to attend.