STARFest presents Claire Cameron

How to Survive a Bear Attack: A Memoir by Claire Cameron is a beautiful and powerful exploration of grief, family, cancer, the wilderness, animals and so much more. In this debut memoir from the bestselling author of The Bear and The Last Neanderthal, Claire Cameron confronts the rare genetic mutation that gave her cancer by investigating an equally rare and terrifying event - a predatory bear attack. Join Claire Cameron and Jana Pruden in conversation to discuss this deeply moving and profoundly researched book.

Claire Cameron's most recent novel, The Last Neanderthal, was a national bestseller and a finalist for the 2017 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. It sold in eleven territories. Her second novel, The Bear, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, sold in 10 territories, and was a #1 national bestseller. It won the North from the Ontario Library Service, which her first novel, The Line Painter also won. Claire has led canoe trips in Algonquin Park and was an instructor for Outward Bound, teaching mountaineering, climbing and whitewater rafting in Oregon and beyond. Her writing has appeared in New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Guardian, and she is a contributor to The Globe and Mail. Her new book, How to Survive a Bear Attack: A Memoir will be published in late March 2025. She lives in Toronto.

For National Poetry Month, the Spoken Word Youth Choir will perform a selection of Claire Cameron's poetry to open the evening. The Spoken Word Youth Choir (SWYC) is a professional spoken word troupe: part Greek chorus, part improvisers, part poets and hip hop artists. They are unique to Canada. SWYC Junior, Senior and Alumni are under the direction of creator, Gail Sidonie Sobat, and assistant director Lauren Seal.

If you can't make this date, make sure to check out Claire Cameron in Edmonton at LitFest on April 14th.