Photo Credit: Darshan Stevens

Deborah Willis

Thursday, September 9, 7:00 p.m.

Vanishing and Other Stories  BUY NOW

This debut short story collection explores emotional and physical absences, the ways in which people leave and are left, and whether it’s ever possible to move on.  With a remarkable economy of words, moments of dark humor, and wisdom and dexterity far beyond her years, Willis captures an incredible array of characters that will linger in the imagination, proving that nothing is ever truly forgotten.  In these fourteen stories, secrets are both kept and unearthed, and lives are shaped by missing lovers, parents, and children.

“The emotional range and depth of these stories, their clarity and deftness, is astonishing.” —Alice Munro

“Short-listed for a Governor-General’s Award, the stories in Vanishing show the magic of fiction at its best: fully realized worlds inseparable from the uncanny fact that they exist as mere words, magnificently strung together. Willis’s creative sleight-of-hand illuminates human intricacies as if tapping directly into your own.” —The Globe and Mail, one of Jim Bartley's Top Five Books of the Year

Deborah Willis, 28, was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. Her work has appeared in various journals and publications, and she was a winner of PRISM International’s annual fiction prize. She graduated from the University of Victoria, and has worked as a horseback riding instructor, a waitress, a short-order cook, a tour-guide in a French castle, a house-cleaner, and a newspaper reporter. She is fluent in French, and currently works as a bookseller at Munro’s Books in Victoria, British Columbia. Shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award and longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, Vanishing and Other Stories is her first book of fiction.