Good news, dear readers: Spring is coming! And so are a bevy of fabulous authors.

It may not come as a surprise to hear that we claim authors and chefs as our heroes, and get excited every time there is a chance to meet these good people when they travel to promote a new book.

This spring, we have the pleasure of welcoming a number of exciting authors and chefs to our shop for a variety of events . We have some special literary ones coming up which are listed below.

We hope to see you soon!

Sincerely, Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks

** Wednesday, February 19, 5:30 p.m.

Bob Foulkes joins us this evening to celebrate his new book, Off the Couch and Out the Door: Finding Meaning in Midlife, One Adventure at a Time. Inspired by his children and a previously stressful life, Bob chose to pursue a life filled with adventure and encourages us to do the same, whatever our age, means or circumstances.

His previous book, Adventures with Knives , will be available for purchase. Refreshments will be served.

For more information, click here  .

** Friday, March 28, 6:30 p.m.

Last fall we introduced a new club for your reading pleasure, one where we invite authors to come and lead a discussion about their new novels in our shop.

For our third adventure in this vein, we have invited author Padma Viswanathan to discuss her new work, The Ever After of Ashwin Rao. This novel is about the aftermath of the 1985 Air India tragedy told from the perspective of a grief counsellor who also lost family members on the plane. We will enjoy refreshments while Padma leads the discussion.

For more information, click here.

** Saturday, May 10, 2 p.m.

Today Julie Angus is in the shop to celebrate her new book, Olive Odyssey: Searching for the Secrets of the Fruit that Seduced the World. This book chronicles the story of the olive, as Julie, her husband and ten-month-old son discovered it while sailing on a small boat through the Mediterranean.

After Julie reads to us about her travels and findings, there will be an olive oil tasting provided by the Vancouver Olive Oil Company. We will be tasting oil from the regions discussed in the book, and they will be also be for sale afterwards in a pop-up shop setting.

For more information, click here.

** Thursday, May 22, 6 p.m.

Tonight we have the honour of meeting Ruth Reichl, a legend in food writing. She was the restaurant critic for The Los Angeles Times, then The New York Times before she was Editor in Chief of Gourmet Magazine.

Ruth is in town to promote her new novel, Delicious!. We will join her in the ballroom of The Vancouver Club for a reception and signing followed by a reading and Q&A. Refreshments will be served.

For more information, click here.