University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford is hosting a revitalized Fraser Valley Literary Festival this week.
The festival is in the Student Union Building on Friday, Sept. 21 from 6 to 8 p.m. with an evening reception and keynote address shared by Billeh Nickerson, Renee Saklikar, and Carleigh Baker.
The festival continues Saturday, Sept. 22 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The event is free for all students, and $10 for the general public.
The UFV English department accepted an invitation from the Mission Lifetime Learning Centre to take over the Mission Writers and Readers Festival, which had run for a decade.
Former UFV writers-in-residence Billeh Nickerson, Jen Sookfung Lee, and Anosh Irani will return to visit UFV for the festival.
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Andrea MacPherson, an associate professor of English at UFV and published novelist, is chairing the festival, which is funded by the College of Arts with additional funding from UFV International and sponsorship from Savittar Productions.
MacPherson said the mix of writers will be eclectic and exciting.
“We have award-winning authors, debut authors, and everything in between. We have writers from every genre, from poetry to children’s literature. It will be a dynamic festival,” she said.
“We curated the panel topics, and panelists, very carefully. Our goal was to allow for an enthusiastic dialogue about writing and reading. The panel topics were meant to be broad enough to allow for interpretation, giving room for writers to express themselves.”
MacPherson said each keynote speaker and panelist was commissioned to write a piece for the festival, and these pieces will be made available afterwards as supplementary material for classes/teaching.
Visit ufv.ca/english/fraser-valley-literary-festival for more information, including the complete schedule.
