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Author of On the Ravine
Burlington Public Library is thrilled to welcome back Dr. Vincent Lam to talk about his latest book, On the Ravine, “an exquisitely crafted novel, piercing in its urgency and breathtaking in its intimacy, about the devastating experience of addiction.” (Penguin Random House Canada)
Dr. Lam’s first book, the bestselling Giller Prize-winning Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures, was BPL’s celebrated One Book One Burlington title in 2009.
A Different Drummer Books will be onsite selling the book for signing after the talk.
Explore Vincent Lam in our collection
In his downtown Toronto condo, Dr. Chen awakens to the sound of streetcars below, but it is not the early morning traffic that keeps him from sleep. News banners run across his phone: Fentanyl Crisis; Toxic Drug Supply; Record Number of Deaths. From behind the headlines, on the same screen, glow the faces of his patients, the faces of the what-ifs: What if he had done more—or less? Or something different? Would they still be alive?
Combining the depth of his experience as a physician with the brilliance of his literary talent, Vincent Lam creates a world electric in its precision and radiant in its detail. On the Ravine is a gripping novel of profound emotional force, a soaring achievement from a singular voice in Canadian fiction.
Vincent Lam’s first book, Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures, won the 2006 Scotiabank Giller Prize and was adapted for television and broadcast on HBO Canada. The Headmaster’s Wager, Dr. Lam’s first novel, was shortlisted for the 2012 Governor General’s Literary Award and the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize. Dr. Lam is also the co-author of The Flu Pandemic and You, a non-fiction guide to influenza pandemics, which received a Special Recognition Award from the American Medical Writers’ Association in 2007. In addition, he served as executive editor and co-author of the textbook, Opioid Agonist Therapy: A Prescriber’s Guide to Treatment, published in 2022. In 2011, he published a biography of Tommy Douglas, “father of medicare,” for Penguin Canada’s Extraordinary Canadians Series. Dr. Lam is an emergency physician and addictions physician who lives in Toronto. He is the medical director of the Coderix Medical Clinic.
Presented in partnership with Penguin Random House Canada and A Different Drummer Books
Central Library is the largest location and houses historical and special collections, a computer lab, meeting rooms for public rental, and departments responsible for system-wide library services support. Burlington Public Library is a tax-supported registered charitable organization.
