Role
2025 Keynote Speaker
Region
Delta, BC, Canada
Gurjinder Basran is an award-winning novelist whose work explores grief, identity, belonging, and revolutions of the everyday Punjabi-Canadian. She is the author of four novels covering an array of themes: ‘Everything Was Good-bye’ (Mother Tongue Publishing, 2010; Penguin Canada, 2012), ‘Someone You Love is Gone’ (Penguin Canada, 2017; HarperCollins US, 2017), ‘Help! I’m Alive’ (ECW Press, 2022), and ‘The Wedding’ (Douglas & McIntyre, 2024). CBC named her one of “Ten Canadian women writers you need to read.”
Her debut novel won the 2011 Ethel Wilson Fiction Award (by BC Book Prize). It sparked wide attention for its nuanced portrayal of South Asian Canadian experience, causing it to be picked up by Penguin and distributed across North America. In 2012, it was a Chatelaine Book Club pick. Her later works were also featured in national Canadian media and reading lists. ‘The Wedding’ has been likened to a Jane Austen novel.
Gurjinder studied creative writing at Simon Fraser University and now mentors emerging authors through the Vancouver Manuscript Intensive. She currently works as Director of Channel Execution at Bell Canada.
“To make a lasting difference in the world or on the page, curiosity and care are required.”
-Gurjinder Basran
