An Evening with Anand Giridharadas

Now this is a “get.” Award-winning journalist Anand Giridharadas speaks hard truths to power—and was at the top of host Zain Velji’s wish list. He’ll be in Calgary for his only Canadian appearance, talking about The Man in the Mirror, a groundbreaking feat of reporting on a tragic encounter in 2023 between a homeless Michael Jackson impersonator and an ex-Marine on a New York subway car. As the book’s subtitle—Hope, Struggle, and Belonging in an American City—outlines, Giridharadas has taken what was served up as divisive clickbait and infuses it with complexity and a human dimension. Publishers Weekly calls it “an indelible meditation on American inequality.”

This event is part of Wordfest’s Imaginairium festival, running October 13–18, 2026. Meet more than 50 writers, thinkers, activists, and inspirers from around the world in Calgary. Wordfest also presents authors across every genre throughout the year.