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Cozy Fest: James Cairns + In Crisis, On Crisis

James Cairns examines our collective understanding of crisis in his essay collection In Crisis, On Crisis: Essays in Troubled Times (Wolsak & Wynn), and while that may not seem like the coziest topic, James’s thoughtful, clear-eyed reflections offer a surprising sense of hope for readers looking to make sense of the world.

Listen to James read a passage from his book, alongside his cat Dinah (and what’s cozier than that?)

A graphic with the text: "Now Reading on Cozy Fest: James Cairns, In Crisis, On Crisis," featuring the cover of the book and an inset photo of the author.

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A banner reading "Cozy Fest." The light pink background is patterned with simple snowflakes, and green pine boughs with lights fringe the bottom. The ALU logo is placed at the top centre.

James Cairns reads from
In Crisis, On Crisis (Wolsak & Wynn)

About our reader

A black and white photo of writer James Cairns. He is a light skin toned man with longer dark hair that curls at the ends, sticking out from under a toque. He wears horn-rimmed glasses and stubble, and is laughing, almost in profile. He is pictured in front of a bookcase.

James Cairns lives with his family in Paris, Ontario, on territory that the Haldimand Treaty of 1784 recognizes as belonging to the Six Nations of the Grand River in perpetuity. He is a professor in the Department of Indigenous Studies, Law and Social Justice at Wilfrid Laurier University, where his courses and research focus on political theory and social movements. James is a staff writer at the Hamilton Review of Books, and the community relations director for the Paris-based Riverside Reading Series. James has published three books with the University of Toronto Press, most recently, The Myth of the Age of Entitlement: Millennials, Austerity, and Hope (2017), as well as numerous essays in periodicals such as Canadian Notes & Queries, the Montreal Review of Books, Briarpatch, TOPIA, Rethinking Marxism, and the Journal of Canadian Studies. James’ essay “My Struggle and My Struggle,” originally published in CNQ, appeared in Biblioasis’ Best Canadian Essays, 2025 anthology.

Photo credit: Layne Beckner Grime

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Thanks to James for reading from his book for All Lit Up’s fourth-annual Cozy Fest! You can learn more about In Crisis, On Crisis, and order from ALU or your fave local bookstore (via the Shop Local button), right here.

For more to come, or to catch up on Cozy Fest, click here.

Find all of the featured Cozy Fest books in our shop, right here.

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