In this lively, moving and often comic reading and discussion, acclaimed author Gary Barwin will perform excerpts from his latest award-winning novel.  “Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted: The Ballad of Motl the Cowboy” is a Jewish “Western” set in World War II Lithuania. It is an imaginative and deeply felt exploration of genocide, persecution, colonialism and masculinity, saturated in the author’s sharp wit and perfect pun-play. Barwin will speak about the remarkable family stories which went into creating the book, tell related anecdotes and jokes and discuss what it means to be a Canadian author writing about the Holocaust now. He’ll address the historical connections between the Holocaust and the treatment of Indigenous North Americans, talk about the Lithuanian Jewish experience, and consider how humour is a powerful Jewish technology of storytelling, survival, and community.