David Heska Wanbli Weiden, photo by Aslan Chalom.
Join us for a gripping evening of suspense-filled storytelling at this Literary Cabaret, sharing works from the Crime Writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Across three nights, explore readings of razor-sharp mystery and crime writing by participants and faculty mentors.
Running for two weeks, this debut residency brings together writers working across crime fiction, mystery, noir, and crime-informed nonfiction, with room for hybrid forms that engage with criminal justice, investigation, and moral consequence.
This chapter is hosted by award-winning Indigenous crime writer David Heska Wanbli Weiden, whose work brings moral complexity, cultural depth, and social critique to the genre. He’s the author of Winter Counts, named by Time magazine as one of the best mystery novels of all time.
Enjoy a drink from the bar and immerse yourself in thrilling explorations of justice, violence, and survival. Doors open at 6:15 p.m., with readings starting at 7 p.m. Afterward, mingle with the writers and faculty until 9:30 p.m.
Don’t miss this unique chance to discover the next bestseller and celebrate the artform of a great crime novel.
Literary Arts is generously supported by the Flanagan Foundation and Fondation David R. Graham.
About David Heska Wanbli Weiden
David Heska Wanbli Weiden
David Heska Wanbli Weiden, an enrolled citizen of the Sicangu Lakota nation, is author of the novel Winter Counts (Ecco/HarperCollins), winner of numerous literary awards and named by Time magazine as one of the best mystery novels of all time. His short fiction appears in the anthologies The Best American Mystery and Suspense Stories, Never Whistle at Night, Denver Noir, Midnight Hour, This Time for Sure, and others. His scholarship and nonfiction appear in the New York Times, Shenandoah, The Cambridge Companion to American Prison Writing and Mass Incarceration (Cambridge University Press), and other books and journals. He’s the editor of the anthology Native Noir (Akashic Books), and is the series editor of Native Edge, a new imprint of the University of New Mexico Press. He was Indigenous Artist in Residence at Brown University and has received fellowships from PEN America, MacDowell, Ucross, Ragdale, Sewanee, and Tin House. He’s Professor of English and Native American and Indigenous Studies at Stony Brook University in New York.