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The Booked! Fernie Writers' Series is a firm favourite on the Fernie cultural calendar featuring some of Canada's best and brightest literary talents.
Author of Girlfriend on Mars, Deborah Willis, was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. Her first book, Vanishing and Other Stories, was named one of the the Globe and Mail’s and NPR’s Best Books of 2009 and was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award.
Her second collection of short stories was published in February 2017. The Dark and Other Love Stories was long-listed for the 2017 Giller Prize, won the Georges Bugnet Award for best work of fiction published in Alberta, and was named one of the best books of the year by The Globe and Mail, the CBC, and Chatelaine Magazine. Her fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The Walrus, The Virginia Quarterly, The Iowa Review, Lucky Peach, LitHub, and Zoetrope.
Deborah’s first novel, Girlfriend on Mars, was published in 2023 and was long-listed for the The Giller Prize, shortlisted for The Leacock Medal for Humour and the Georges Bugnet Prize for Fiction, and named MacEwan University’s Book of the Year.
Deborah was for many years a proud volunteer at The Women’s Center of Calgary and is currently learning about permaculture gardening in the hopes of creating more biodiversity and food security in her neighbourhood. She lives with her partner, the musician Kris Demeanor, and their daughter. She currently works for Freehand Books in Calgary.
ABOUT THE BOOKED! FERNIE WRITERS SERIES:
The Fernie Heritage Library has welcomed some of the biggest names in Canadian writing for the Booked! series, a highly anticipated reception that includes an author reading and Q&A followed by live music and lively discussion. The events draw crowds of up to 100 to fill the beautiful Fernie Heritage Library for an engaging evening celebrating the undeniable talents of each guest author.
