Ten acclaimed authors will travel from across B.C. to Abbotsford for the Fraser Valley Writers Festival.
The one-day literary event is planned for Nov. 4 at the University of the Fraser Valley.
Keynote speakers will be Lorna Crozier, poet and officer of the Order of Canada, and Darrel J. McLeod, Cree novelist, memoirist, and former land claims negotiator.
Both authors have won the Governor General’s Award for their works. Crozier is the author of a book of poetry on grief, title After That, and McLeod penned the novel A Season in Chezgh’un. Their keynote addresses will close the day’s events, which will include workshops for aspiring writers and panel discussions with a wide range of poets, fiction, and non-fiction authors.
“We’re thrilled to be able to bring some of the biggest names in West Coast literature to Abbotsford,” said Rob Taylor, the festival’s artistic director and UFV Creative Writing instructor. “There is so much literary talent in the Fraser Valley, and we hope this event will inspire the next generation of local writers to achieve their dreams.”
True to that point, among the writers in attendance will be Mission’s Bradley Peters, a former UFV student whose debut poetry collection on his personal experience in prison, Sonnets from a Cell, was published this September.
Also in attendance will be andrea bennett, a senior editor at The Tyee, and a poet and essayist (the berry takes the shape of the bloom); Ali Blythe, a two-time Dorothy Livesay Prize finalist (Stedfast); Brandi Bird, a debut Saulteaux, Cree and Métis poet (The All + Flesh); Tara Sidhoo Fraser, a debut memoirist (When My Ghost Sings); Frances Peck, a 2023 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize finalist (Uncontrolled Flight); Russell Thornton, a Governor General’s Award and Griffin Prize finalist (The White Light of Tomorrow), and Brandon Reid, a debut Heiltsuk First Nation novelist (Beautiful Beautiful).
All of the events are free and open to the public, hosted out of UFV’s Abbotsford Campus (Room B101). Books by festival authors will be available for sale courtesy of the event’s official bookseller, Western Sky Books.
To learn more and register for one of the two workshops, visit fvwritersfestival.com.
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