British author David Mitchell.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
People thought getting tickets to this week's sold-out Justin Bieber concert was tough - but that was nothing compared with trying to land a seat to this weekend's appearances by superstar British author David Mitchell at the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival.
His first scheduled reading sold out to festival members before tickets even became available to the public, and when organizers added three more readings, they sold out almost as quickly.
"It's like a wave - it's just cresting and he's riding on top of it. I've never seen anything like this," says Hal Wake, artistic director of the festival, who has been trying to land Mr. Mitchell for five years. "We have a lot of popular writers, but this was just instant."
It's a wave that's been building for more than a decade. Two of his books, Cloud Atlas and number9dream, were short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, and in 2007, Time magazine named the highly inventive writer among the 100 most influential people in the world. His new book is The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.
At last check, there were no tickets available on Craigslist, and Mr. Wake says only a very few people might score rush seats to his appearances.
There are plenty of other great Writers Fest events to choose from - including Building a Bridge, where award-winning authors talk about their craft, and American Splendor, which features incredible young scribes from south of the 49th.
"You're going to be seeing and hearing from these writers for the next 25 years," says Mr. Wake. "They are the top folks coming up."
David Mitchell is appearing at the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival at 10:30 a.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, and at 11 a.m. Sunday. The festival runs through Sunday at venues around Granville Island, writersfest.bc.ca.
JENNIFER VAN EVRA