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For the past two years, Vaillant has been travelling the world talking about his most recent book, Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World, which tells the story of the devastating 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire while examining the history of climate science, wildfires, and the oil industry.
Why would a celebrated literary figure, bearing a message that urgently needs to reach international decision-makers, bother? What’s the point?
“I’m first and foremost a writer based in British Columbia. I feel strong solidarity with BC writers and I want to participate in the cultural life of my home province,” says Vaillant, who was born in the United States and has lived in Vancouver since 1998.
“One great thing this festival does is create spaces for things to happen that none of us can anticipate. Even in the digital age, there is no substitute for being together.”
He describes how events like these serve many functions, including strengthening Canadians’ and British Columbians’ connections to each other. “Many things are happening—culturally, psychologically, technologically, provincially, nationally, internationally—that impact all of us and our collective future,” he notes. “It’s really important, even in small, remote communities, to get together and discuss these with presumable experts and interested parties.”
He sees each local event as a stitch in a larger cultural and social fabric. “One great thing this festival does is create spaces for things to happen that none of us can anticipate,” he says. “Even in the digital age, there is no substitute for being together. I could have Zoomed in, and it might be interesting for 45 minutes. But instead, I’m going to be around the other authors and the islanders, and we’re going to overlap in unscripted ways. And that’s where the action is, where the meaningful connections, discoveries, and conversations happen, where the culture and civilization are built and maintained.”
This is exactly what the Denman festival’s organizers hope for. Every year, they invite authors who take on our world’s big questions, such as climate change, migration, colonization, and racism. The weekend’s programming includes multi-author panels delving into such themes, as well as prose and poetry readings and discussions of the writing life and craft.
During the festival, Denman’s tiny “downtown” transforms into a lively literary village. Participants wander between the two event venues, the bookstore-café, and the dining pavilion. By day two, strangers are recognizing each other and getting into spirited conversations about literature and ideas.
Authors eat with attendees, attend events, and are billeted with locals (Denman has no hotels), reflecting the festival’s mission “to provide opportunities for the intermingling of guest writers and their audiences.”
Fire Weather: Two years of touring and still relevant
Vaillant previously attended the Denman Readers and Writers Festival in 2016, focusing on his novel, The Jaguar’s Children. This time, his contributions centred on Fire Weather, a book that gets more and more relevant as time passes.
“This book took me seven years to complete. It was the hardest book I ever wrote. And now I’m still touring, two years after its publication,” he remarks. “It tapped into a zeitgeist none of us could have predicted. We are living in an era of extraordinary duplicity, dishonesty, and cynicism, and I think for many readers, Fire Weather can be a touchstone to reality. It’s fact based and it’s experience based. The voices of the people of Fort McMurray, who share their stories in the book, have a kind of unimpeachable authority.”
It’s impossible to read Fire Weather and not be horrified by the description of the fire’s intensity and destructive capacity. But, as Vaillant says, “These are the real costs of climate change. This is what happens to your heart and soul, not to mention your house and your vehicle, when a fire of 21st-century magnitude comes through your community. You can be sure you’re safe on May 2 and be running for your life on May 3. And now that’s a possibility for all of us, and that’s an extraordinary thing to consider.”
“That’s kind of my job now—to be of service to people trying to reckon with this new reality and also explore pathways out of it.”
The book is not only galvanizing communities and citizens, it’s reaching decision-makers. John has given talks to global technology leaders and prestigious academics. “I know that people very close to our prime minister have read this book,” he says.
From Community Conversations to Climate Action
Anyone who’s read Fire Weather knows that John Vaillant is very worried about the future. But he’s more interested in constructive action than in hand-wringing.
For Vaillant, change needs to happen on the highest levels, but equally, it needs to come from the grassroots: “So, thinking about the festival—it’s an opportunity for people to get together to explore these really challenging issues in a safe, constructive way. Denman Island could be a nurturing place to help evolve the next transition phase, could be one of the launching nodes of that process.
“That’s kind of my job now—to be of service to people trying to reckon with this new reality and also [to] explore pathways out of it,” he notes.
In a final answer to my blunt initial question, Vaillant explains that he (and his family, who come along with him), enjoys the intimate atmosphere of this unique event. “A festival like this is a place where we can all appreciate each other, share with each other, and take care of each other, and that is going to become way more important in this century.”
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