At our 2016 Festival, Michael Christie was a young up and coming novelist who read from his second novel If I Fall, If I Die …… a moving narrative about a young boy seeking independence in a household led by an agoraphobic mother. Michael’s eloquence and spirit in both solo and panel presentations were a highlight of that year’s event.
In 2020, Michael is now a well-established and renowned author, with an international bestseller to his name. Greenwood is a multi-character novel with a strong environmental focus. It tells the story of several members of the Greenwood family, starting in the future (2038), wending backwards to 1908, and then moving forward in decades-long leaps to the future, encompassing a lumber baron, a set of twins with different values, renegade mothers and daughters, and an incident of family origin that infuses the entire story with mystery and longing. Trees play a major part in the book, and Christie brings their personalities and quirks into every chapter. Westcoasters will have a strong affinity for this story, and Michael is a great storyteller, both in words and in person.
Christie and his wife Cedar, also a writer, and their two children split their time between Galiano Island and Victoria. They remember their time on Denman with affection. When he was invited last month to our 2020 Festival, he responded almost immediately saying, “I’m thrilled to come back and share this book with your fabulous community.”
Other authors, as they confirm, will be added to our line-up …. check our website regularly. Registration opens May 1st.
Stewart Goodings
February 2020
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