Ian Williams & Souvankham Thammavongsa ~ The Stories That Change Us

Giller Prize winners Ian Williams and Souvankham Thammavongsa bring wit, tenderness and sharp observation to the complexities of change and identity through two very different works. In You’ve Changed, Williams explores what happens when the people we love—and believe we understand—begin to change. Thammavongsa’s 2025 Giller Prize-winning novel Pick a Colour, set over the course of a single day in a nail salon, explores immigrant experiences, class and the subtle power dynamics of everyday life.

In conversation with journalist Omar Dabaghi-Pacheco, they will explore:

~ How relationships change when our assumptions about the people closest to us no longer hold true.

~ How family, culture, class and the expectations of others shape our sense of identity and influence the choices we make.

~ The tensions between who we have been, who others expect us to be and who we are becoming—and what we choose to hold onto along the way.

~ What we leave behind, what we carry forward and how we make sense of who we are becoming.

A thoughtful, lively and deeply human conversation about identity, belonging and transformation—one that may leave you seeing yourself, and the people around you, a little differently.