R.F. Kuang’s Canadian book tour runs through festivals and independent bookstores
R.F. Kuang returns to the Vancouver Writers Fest Saturday night with a sold-out event for her new novel, Taipei Story, her third appearance with the festival since 2023 and one of five Canadian dates on the book’s wider international tour.
The Sept. 26 event at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church pairs Kuang with Vancouver author and editor Jen Sookfong Lee for a conversation, audience questions and a signing. HarperCollins Canada is supporting Kuang’s Vancouver appearance, while Book Warehouse, a division of Black Bond Books and the festival’s official bookseller, will sell additional copies of Taipei Story and Kuang’s backlist.
Kuang appeared at the Toronto International Festival of Authors on Sept. 22 before continuing through three U.S. cities. Vancouver begins four consecutive Canadian dates: Wordfest in Calgary on Sept. 27, the Ottawa International Writers Festival on Sept. 28 and a Montreal event organized by Joie de livre on Sept. 29. The Canadian appearances are part of a larger tour that Kuang has described as running across North America, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
In Toronto, Another Story Bookshop supplied books for Kuang’s appearance at the Winter Garden Theatre. Vancouver Writers Fest works with Book Warehouse as its official bookseller, while Owl’s Nest Books is handling books for Kuang’s Calgary event. Her Montreal appearance is being organized by independent bookseller Joie de livre at Théâtre Rialto.
Vancouver Writers Fest first brought Kuang to the city for Yellowface in 2023, when she appeared in conversation with Vancouver author Eddy Boudel Tan. She returned in September 2025 for Katabasis, with journalist Michelle Cyca conducting the interview and HarperCollins Canada supporting the appearance. The festival identified it as the Vancouver stop on Kuang’s Katabasis tour.
Calgary has also brought Kuang back in consecutive years. Her 2025 Wordfest appearance sold out, and Wordfest says many readers were unable to get tickets. For this year’s return, the organization moved the event to the larger Bella Concert Hall at Mount Royal University, where the Sept. 27 appearance has also sold out. Calgary graphic memoirist Teresa Wong will host the conversation, and tickets include a deluxe edition of Taipei Story, with Owl’s Nest Books selling additional books and Kuang’s backlist.
The Sept. 28 Ottawa appearance has sold out for in-person attendance as well. The Ottawa International Writers Festival has opened a waiting list, while tickets remain available to watch the event online.
In Vancouver, Kuang will be interviewed by a writer with connections to both the local literary community and Canadian publishing. Lee was born and raised on Vancouver’s East Side and lives in North Burnaby. Her books include her 2025 novel The Hunger We Pass Down, as well as The Conjoined, The Better Mother and The End of East. She is also an acquiring editor at Canadian independent publisher ECW Press, where she acquires fiction, memoir and cultural criticism, among other work.
Vancouver Writers Fest categorizes Kuang as a United States author. Taipei Story, published Sept. 8 by William Morrow, follows Chinese American college student Lily Chen during a summer language program in Taipei.
The repeated Canadian appearances provide a clearer measure of Kuang’s audience here than the Vancouver sellout alone. She has now appeared with Vancouver Writers Fest three times since 2023, while Wordfest has sold out her Calgary appearances in consecutive years and moved this year’s event into a larger venue. Ottawa’s in-person event has also sold out.
HarperCollins Canada’s precise role across the five Canadian Taipei Story dates is less clear. Vancouver Writers Fest identifies the publisher as a supporter of Saturday’s appearance, and Wordfest identifies HarperCollins Canada as Kuang’s publisher for its Calgary event, but publicly available event information does not establish that the Canadian arm of HarperCollins organized or financed the Canadian dates as a group.
Saturday’s Kuang event comes ahead of the Vancouver Writers Fest’s main 2026 festival, scheduled for Oct. 18 to 25. After Vancouver, Kuang heads to Calgary for Sunday’s sold-out Wordfest appearance, followed by Ottawa on Monday and Montreal on Tuesday, where organizers bill the Sept. 29 event as her first appearance in the city.
