BC Libraries Present Elbows Up! On Canadian Resistance

BC Libraries Present is a virtual author series that brings exciting conversations to library users in every corner of British Columbia. Public Library InterLINK has brought together many libraries, both big and small, to host these events and provide access to award-winning authors to library users across the province.

It’s 2025. Donald Trump is president. And he is insisting that Canada is for sale. It feels disorienting, even existential, to watch a trade war escalate and to hear an American president vow to make Canada “the 51st state.” Amid this disorientation, there is an urgent question: how do we meet the moment? CBC host Elamin Abdelmahmoud edited Elbows Up!, a collection of essays and reflections by leading cultural figures speaking candidly on America, on Canada, and on the malleable contours of a national narrative still taking hold.

Come hear Elamin and two contributors (to be revealed soon) discuss this pivotal moment in history, how we got here, and how we walk together into an uncertain future. Click here for more information and to access the livestream of this conversation.

Elamin Abdelmahmoud is the host CBC Radio’s pop culture show Commotion. He was a founding co-host of the CBC Politics podcast Party Lines, and he is a past contributor to The National’s At Issue panel. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, the Globe and Mail, and others. Elamin is also the author of the bestselling memoir, Son of Elsewhere.

—

BC Libraries Present is a virtual author series that brings exciting conversations to library users in every corner of British Columbia.

This series is a project of BC’s public library federations, coordinated by Public Library InterLink, with the generous financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.