Autumn is the reading season. As the temperature drops and daylight fades, there are few things as warm as relaxing with a good book. And wouldn’t you know it, we’re now a couple of days into LitFest here in Alberta’s capital. So, in the spirit of grey days and Canada’s original nonfiction festival, we’ve put together a mini reading list of LitFest authors and their books.

One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, by Scaachi Koul

Monday, October 16 @ 7 pm; Triffo Theatre, Allard Hall, MacEwan University

Tickets $12 in advance on Eventbrite; $15 at the door

Calgary-born Koul, a culture writer at BuzzFeed whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, writes about her experiences growing up in an immigrant family in this collection of essays. Personal, wry, and very sharp, One Day is Koul’s debut book.

Rise of the Necrofauna, by Britt Wray

Appearing w/ Jen Mesch Dance Conspiracy

Tuesday, October 17 @ 7 pm; Royal Alberta Museum Theatre (at the old Glenora location)

Tickets $12 in advance on Eventbrite; $15 at the door

Admit it: the idea of bringing extinct species like the woolly mammoth back to life is pretty cool. But could it also be a conservation disaster in the making? In this book, science storyteller Britt Wray talks to scientists, futurists, philosophers, and other thinkers about the science and ethics of de-extinction.

Brown, by Kamal Al-Solaylee

Thursday, October 19 @ 7:30 pm; Triffo Theatre, Allard Hall, MacEwan University

Tickets $12 in advance on Eventbrite; $15 at the door

A finalist for the Governor General’s nonfiction award in 2016, this book explores “brown-ness” as both a modern reality and a cultural identity. Al-Solaylee, a widely published Canadian journalist, also touches on the growing conflict between globalism and populist movements around the world.

Seven Fallen Feathers, by Tanya Talaga

Friday, October 20 @ 7 pm; Theatre Lab, Allard Hall, MacEwan University

Tickets $12 in advance on Eventbrite; $15 at the door

Investigative journalist Talaga delves into the lives and deaths of seven indigenous high school students over an 11-year period in Thunder Bay, Ontario, in a sweeping story about Canada’s long history of racism toward its indigenous people.

I Hear She’s a Real Bitch, by Jen Agg

Appearing w/ David Wolfman and Bob Holmes at Food Matters: Femmes, Fusion & Flavour

Saturday, October 21 @ 2 pm; Rutherford Room, Varscona Hotel on Whyte

Tickets $45 in advance on Eventbrite; $50 at the door

In her first memoir, blunt and brilliant Toronto restaurateur Agg discusses her life so far in the hospitality industry, from her experiences with widespread sexism to her business ventures opening highly successful and influential restaurants.

What I Think Happened, by Evany Rosen

Sunday, October 22 @ 2 pm; The Needle Vinyl Tavern

Tickets $12 in advance on Eventbrite; $15 at the door

This hilarious “femmoir” by Toronto-based writer and comedian Rosen, formerly of Halifax sketch comedy troupe Picnicface (if you didn’t way back in 2007, look up Powerthirst on YouTube), takes a fun and slyly feminist look at history and the many, many dudes that have dominated it.