Peter Robinson is a national treasure in two nations – Canada and the U.K. He is the prolific and award-winning author of the literary Inspector Banks crime novels, which are set in Yorkshire. The books, which now number twenty-five, are gripping police procedurals that have been produced for ITV in the UK by Left Bank Pictures. Five series were produced and shown on PBS in North America. They are currently available on Hulu.

Linda Spalding was born and raised in Kansas before immigrating to Canada in 1982 from Hawaii. She is the author of The Purchase, which won the Governor-General’s Literary Award in 2012. She has written three earlier novels and two works of non-fiction: The Follow, which was shortlisted for the Trillium Book Awards and the Pearson Writers’ Trust Non-Fiction Prize; and more recently the wonderful and chilling Who Named the Knife. She is a recipient of the Harbourfront Festival Prize for her contribution to the Canadian literary Community. She lives in Toronto, where she is an editor of Brick magazine.

Michael Ondaatje is well known to Canadian readers of poetry and fiction and movie goers. Born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), he immigrated to Canada in 1962 to attend Bishop’s University and the University of Toronto. He later taught at the University of Western Ontario and Glendon College at York University.

His work has attracted serious critical and popular attention since the release of The Collected Works of Billy the Kidd, which won the Governor General’s Award. Many of his novels have won important literary prizes including: The Booker Prize for The English Patient, which was also made into the Academy Award winning movie of 1997; the Irish Times International Fiction Prize and the Government General’s Award for Anil’s Ghost; and another Governor General’s Award for Divisadero.

The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, Coming Through Slaughter and Divisadero have been adapted for the stage and produced in theatrical productions across North America and Europe.

In 1988 Ondaatje was made an Officer of the Order of Canada which was upgraded in 2016 to Companion of the Order of Canada.

He has made a significant contribution to the development of up-and-coming writers through his long association with Coach House Books, where he acts as a poetry editor.

This is his second visit to The Port Medway Readers’ Festival. Michael will be reading from his newly released book Warlight.

Jane Alexander is an accomplished stage, television and screen actress who came to wide public notice in 1970 in the film adaptation of The Great White Hope, which followed a Tony award and Drama Desk winning performance on stage. Her other movie credits include All the President’s Men and Kramer vs Kramer.

She has received Emmy awards for her TV portrayals of Alma Rose in Playing for Time, in 1980 and Sara Delano Roosevelt in Warm Springs on HBO, in 2005. She was Chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts during the Clinton Administration. She continues to perform in television series such as The Blacklist, The Book of Negroes, and The Good Wife. She has been nominated for an Academy Award four times.

Jane is also a committed wildlife conservationist, birder, and writer. She has been a Trustee of the Wildlife Conservation Society, a board member of the American Bird Conservancy, the American Birding Association, and a Commissioner of New York State Parks. She is currently a board member of the National Audubon Society, the Global Advisory Group of Bird Life International, and the Conservation Council of Panthera. In 2012, The Indianapolis Prize inaugurated the Jane Alexander Global Wildlife Ambassador Award and made her the first recipient.

Jane will be reading from her recent book Wild Things, Wild Places, a memoir and first-hand assessment of what is being done to help the planet’s most at risk animals and the planet’s wildest place.