For British-based cartoonist, artist, activist, and author Kate Evans, the only proper response to the refugee crisis now facing Europe (and the rest of the world) is action. In her latest graphic novel, Threads: From the Refugee Crisis, she faces the situation head on; reporting accounts of those marginalized and unwelcome in today’s EU with heartbreaking clarity. The book’s compassionate and moving dispatches from the camps that Evans visited in Calais, France, combine reportage and art to bring attention to the squalid conditions faced by people in search of a place to belong.

Evans will read excerpts from her novel accompanied by projections of panels from the book, and atmospheric live music by percussionist Hamin Honari.

The performance will be followed by a topical and thought-provoking panel, featuring Kate Evans alongside other speakers including Fay Nass—a theatre artist and filmmaker who draws from her experiences growing up in war-torn Iran to create provocative works, and Shawk Alani—co-founder of the Iraqi Oral History Project who leads workshops for Syrian children in Vancouver teaching photography as a means of expression and personal narrative. The conversation will focus on the power of comics to convey political and social justice issues, activism, and the arts as a response to the refugee crisis.