Novelist Billie Livingston, seen here in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside July 25, 2012, says she is saddened by the closing of the Robson Reading Series.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail
A popular Vancouver book event, the Robson Reading Series, will cease operating at the end of March. The decision was made, according to a note on the website, in light of the closure last year of UBC Library's Robson Square branch and the upcoming closure of the UBC Bookstore at Robson Square.
For more than 10 years, the series, with a motto "live literature and conversation," has offered an intimate environment in which to hear readings from a wide range of writers, among them award-winning authors Esi Edugyan, Johanna Skibsrud, Annabel Lyon, Carmen Aguirre and Lee Henderson.
"I am so disappointed," said Vancouver-based author Billie Livingston, who recalled that her first reading for her 2010 release Greedy Little Eyes was at the Robson Reading Series. "It was a great venue and it was central and you felt connected there to kind of a broader reading community."
The notice on the UBC website states that the "UBC Bookstore and the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre remain committed to providing books by Canadian authors to the community."
Readings will continue in February and March. The final reading listed on the website is scheduled for March 14, featuring novelist Andrew Kaufman (Born Weird), poet Camille Martin (Looms) and novelist Barry Webster (The Lava in My Bones).
Marsha Lederman