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DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251016T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251016T133000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250901T184430Z
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SUMMARY:Online Feature: The Silence of Falling Snow with Kristjana Gunnars
DESCRIPTION:Tickets: $5 (student/low income)\, $15 (regular)\, Available HERE (Use promo code “LITFEST2025” to access student rate) \n  \nOnline event featuring Kristjana Gunnars in conversation with University of Alberta’s 2025-26 Writer in Residence\, Cody Caetano\, to discuss her memoir\, The Silence of Falling Snow. \n  \nFrom an innovator of autofiction comes a meditation on grief\, care\, Buddhism\, and artmaking.  \n‘This is a story. It is a story about someone accompanying another to the last gate.’ \nYears ago\, Kristjana Gunnars took her husband back to his home in Oslo to die. Through the dark\, cold days\, she tends to his needs as she feels her own self disintegrating. Later\, as she looks back to this slow departure of the man she loved\, she weaves together threads from her own life\, reflections on the thoughts of Gautama Buddha\, discussions of Renaissance art\, and considerations of contemporary artists. \nEngaging with thinkers as varied as Ingmar Bergman and Jacques Derrida\, Henry David Thoreau\, and Ursula K. Le Guin\, Gunnars — one of the earliest practitioners of “autofiction” — crafts a new kind of hybrid text\, with elements of memoir\, lyrical essay\, Buddhist teachings\, poetics\, art theory\, and meditation. \nThe Silence of Falling Snow is a deep dive into grief\, the way we circle around it\, dipping in and out of the pain\, finding comfort in art and philosophy and religion where we can. It’s an intellectual cabaret\, a Buddhist primer\, and a pointillist portrait of grief – above all\, it’s the consoling and invigorating reflection we need in this moment. \n  \nKRISTJANA GUNNARS was born in Iceland and has lived in Canada since 1969. She served as Professor of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta\, and as Guest Professor at the University of Trier in Germany and the University of Iceland. She lived on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia for twenty years while pursuing a career in the arts (painting)\, as well as writing. She is the author of numerous books (see websiteskristjanagunnars.com and kristjanagunnarswritings.com for details). Her latest books are The Scent of Light (Coach House\, Toronto) and Ruins of the Heart (Angelico\, New York). She has published a number of chapbooks\, the latest being 112th Street Notebook (akinoga\, Baltimore) and At Home in the Mountains (Junction\, Toronto). Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies and journals in Canada\, the U.S.\,and Europe. \n  \nCODY CAETANO is the author of Half-Bads in White Regalia (Canada: Hamish Hamilton Canada\, 2022)\, winner of two Indigenous Voices Awards\, shortlisted for the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction\, and longlisted for the Toronto Book Award\, the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour\, and Canada Reads. An off-reserve member of Pinaymootang First Nation\, his mother’s family is from the Manitoba Interlake and his father’s family emigrated to Canada from the Azores in the 1960s. He works as a literary agent at CookeMcDermid. \n  \n   \nThis event is presented in partnership with the Writers’ Guild of Alberta and the University of Alberta’s WIR program
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/the-silence-of-falling-snow-online-event-with-kristjana-gunnars/
LOCATION:Online
CATEGORIES:Feature
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251016T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251016T183000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250901T214850Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251008T151644Z
UID:4572-1760634000-1760639400@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Showcase: Laberinto Press
DESCRIPTION:Tickets: $5 (student/low income)\, $15 (regular)\, Available HERE (Use promo code “LITFEST2025” to access student rate) \nJoin us for a journey through the anthologies from Edmonton-based Laberinto Press. \nIn a largely primarily anglophone and Anglo-centric publishing industry\, Laberinto Press has won the recognition of its peers for delivering outstanding works from writers whose first language is not English\, and World Literature in translation. Their books have received rave reviews. This “Little Press That Could” continues making strides. Meanwhile\, they continue tapping into diaspora authors living in Canada. \nFeaturing: Luciana Erregue-Sacchi\, Mila Philipzig\, Kathryn Lennon\, Sandro Silva\, Cedric Usman\, and Phany Peña T \nMila Bongco-Philipzig is a writer\, visual artist\, and community organizer. She has published five bilingual (Filipino-English) children’s books. She also translated two children’s books from Filipino to German\, which were included in the Frankfurter Buchmesse (2022)\, the largest book fair in the world. Mila has poetry\, short stories\, and essays published in various magazines\, anthologies\, and podcasts in the Philippines\, Canada\, and Germany. In 2021\, Mila was a featured artist for Edmonton Arts Council’s Asian Heritage Month\, and the first featured reader for Edmonton Public Library’s Multilingual Storytime. She is currently the coordinator for the Writer’s Guild of Alberta’s Horizon Writers Circle mentorship program for BIPOC writers and serves as the lead for the People of Colour Committee in Stantec. In addition to writing and painting\, Mila organizes cultural community events\, runs long distance\, and is an active advocate for inclusion\, human rights\, and social justice. \nLuciana Erregue-Sacchi is an award winning publisher (Laberinto Press)\, art historian\, translator\, author (Of Mothers and Madonna\, Polyglot 2023) and cultural worker. Luciana has presented at LitFest\, Edmonton Poetry Fest\, and Banff Centre. Her work and translations have appeared in academic publications\, Polyglot Magazine\, AGNI\, and others and she has been featured on CBC Edmonton\, Radio Canada\, Quill and Quire\, Literary Review of Canada\, Westword\, and Edmonton Journal. She is an activist for freedom to read and an advocate for hyphened Canadian literature. \nKathryn Lennon 君妍 is a poet\, community planner\, and the co-founder and co-editor of Hungry Zine. She was born and raised\, and resides in Edmonton/Amiskwacîwâskahikan. Her poetry has been published in Canthius\, Polyglot Magazine\, Living Hyphen\, and the Globe and Mail\, and included in anthologies: Reimagining Fire: the Future of Energy (Durvile & UpRoute)\, Back Where I Came From (Book*hug Press)\, and Beyond Touch Sites (Laberinto Press). \nSandro Silva is a Brazilian & Canadian citizen. Co-founder of Dona Ana Films & Multimedia\, he produced international award-winning documentaries and acted as a local producer for the Brazilian components of international productions. Before working in the arts\, Sandro worked as a copyright lawyer in São Paulo.  After moving to Canada\, Sandro has written\, directed\, and produced various documentary shorts for CBC’s Creator Network since the fall of 2021. He was part of the 2021 Hot Docs DOC Accelerator program\, the 2023 Hot Docs Podcast Creators Lab\, and a selected protégé for the 2021 Own Voices Alberta mentorship designed by the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society. Sandro was also selected as part of the Telus Storyhive 2021 Black Creators Edition\, where he wrote\, directed\, and produced his latest documentary short “Retraining the Brain” (2023). Sandro is working on his first memoir book and has several podcasts and feature documentary projects in production for 2025. \nCedric Usman is a Filipino-Canadian self-taught contemporary abstract artist from Sherwood Park\, Alberta. He draws deep inspiration from nature\, particularly bodies of water. His art invites viewers to reflect\, feel inspired\, and perhaps even meditate on the fluid movements and flow within his creations. Cedric loves to make colours blend and dance by harnessing the forces of air and gravity. He is also a self-taught musician\, intuitively exploring the handpan to create space for contemplation\, reflection\, and emotional self-expression. \nEstephanía Peña-Torres (she/her): Phany\, an Edmonton-based artist\, immigrant\, and member of the BIPOC community\, is determined to immerse herself in her dancing skills and artistic creation. She has practiced several dance techniques\, prominent among them are: Polynesian dance\, classical ballet\, and a few contemporary styles. She understands art as a communication channel that the artists use to express themselves\, make a point\, or encourage the audience to wonder about a topic. Having said this\, she is committed to using her artistic knowledge and talents to tell stories and draw attention to topics that are important in today’s context.
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/laberinto-press-showcase/
LOCATION:Muttart Theatre\, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square\, Edmonton\, AB
CATEGORIES:Showcase
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251016T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251016T203000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250901T215037Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251008T151632Z
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SUMMARY:Feature: Bloodied Bodies\, Bloody Landscapes\, with Laura Hall
DESCRIPTION:Tickets: $5 (student/low income)\, $15 (regular)\, Available HERE (Use promo code “LITFEST2025” to access student rate) \nIn Conversation event featuring Laura Hall speaking with University of Alberta associate professor Jordan Abel about her book Bloodied Bodies\, Bloody Landscapes: Settler Colonialism in Horror. \nTurning a lens on the dark legacy of colonialism in horror film\, from Scream to Halloween and beyond \nHorror films\, more than any other genre\, offer a chilling glimpse—like peering through a creaky attic door—into the brutality of settler colonial violence. While Indigenous peoples continue to struggle against colonization\, white settler narratives consistently position them as a threat\, depicting the Indigenous Other as an ever-present menace\, lurking on the fringes of “civilized” society. Indigenous inclusion or exclusion in horror films tells a larger story about myths\, fears\, and anxieties that have endured for centuries. \nBloodied Bodies\, Bloody Landscapes traces connections between Indigenous representations\, gender\, and sexuality within iconic horror classics like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th. The savage killer\, the romantic and doomed Indian\, the feral “mad woman”—no trope or archetype escapes the shadowy influence of settler colonialism. In the end\, horror both disrupts and uncovers colonial violence—only to bury its victims once more. \n  \nLAURA HALL grew up in N’Swakamok (Sudbury\, Ontario). Laura’s parents\, Shirley (Mohawk) and Dave Hall (English-Canadian) instilled in her a deep love for spooky storytelling. After moving to different cities in Ontario for University and graduate studies\, Laura now resides in Ottawa with their children and partner and works as a professor in Sociology at Carleton University. Currently\, Dr. Hall is working on horror fiction and storytelling workshops with support from federal grants and a general focus on arts-based research and Indigenous wellbeing.  \n  \nJORDAN ABEL (Host) is a queer Nisga’a writer from Vancouver. He is the author of The Place of Scraps (winner of the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize)\, Un/inhabited\, and Injun (winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize). NISHGA won both the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize and the VMI Betsy Warland Between Genres award\, and was a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction\, the Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Nonfiction\, and the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize. Abel’s latest work–a novel titled Empty Spaces–  was published by McClelland & Stewart and Yale University Press\, and was the winner of the Governor General’s Award for fiction as well as the winner of a Banff Mountain Book Award. Abel completed a Ph.D. at Simon Fraser University in 2019\, and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta where he teaches Indigenous Literatures\, Research-Creation\, and Creative Writing.
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/feature-bloodied-bodies-bloody-landscapes-with-laura-hall/
LOCATION:Rice Theatre Lobby\, 9828 101A Ave\, Edmonton
CATEGORIES:Feature
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251016T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251016T203000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250901T215225Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251008T151618Z
UID:4575-1760641200-1760646600@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Feature: Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers\, with Marcello Di Cintio
DESCRIPTION:Tickets: $5 (student/low income)\, $15 (regular)\, Available HERE (Use promo code “LITFEST2025” to access student rate) \nAward-winning author Marcello Di Cintio in conversation with LitFest board treasurer Danielle Paradis to talk about his latest book\, Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers. \nWinner of the 2024 Dave Greber Freelance Writers Book Award \nA series of profiles of foreign workers illuminates the precarity of global systems of migrant labor and the vulnerability of their most disenfranchised agents. \nIn 2023\, after weeks of investigation\, United Nations Special Rapporteur Tomoyo Obokata came to a scathing conclusion: Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker program is “a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.” Workers complained of excessive hours and unpaid overtime; of being forced to perform dangerous tasks or ones not specified in their contracts; of being physically abused\, intimidated\, and sexually harassed; and of overcrowded\, unsanitary living conditions that deprived them of their privacy and dignity. \nIn Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers\, Marcello Di Cintio ranges across the country speaking to those who have come from elsewhere to till our fields\, bathe our elderly\, and serve us our Double Doubles\, uncovering stories of tremendous perseverance\, resilience\, and humanity\, but also of precarity and vulnerability. He shows that vast swathes of our economy depend on the work of people we don’t see\, while expanding our awareness of what migrant work now entails\, and revealing that our mistreatment of the most vulnerable among us diminishes our own dignity. \n  \nMARCELLO DI CINTIO is the author of six books\, including Walls: Travels Along the Barricades\, Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Palestine in the Present Tense\, and Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers. He has also written for the Globe and Mail\, The Walrus\, The International New York Times\, and Canadian Geographic\, among others. He lives in Calgary. \nIG: @marcello.di.cintio\nBluesky: @marcellodicintio.bsky.social\nTwitter: @DiCintio \nDanielle Paradis (Host) is an Indigenous (Métis) magazine writer\, journalist\, editor\, educator\, and podcaster who lives in Treaty 6 (Edmonton\, Alberta). She has written for both local and international audiences. You can read (or hear) her work at Canadaland\, Chatelaine\, Toronto Star (Edmonton)\, Gig City\, BUSTLE\, Canadian True Crime Podcast\, and The Sprawl. Danielle covers politics\, arts and culture\, and Indigenous Issues. Danielle loves a good FOIP story and studied investigative journalism\, story-based inquiry method\, at the Centre for Investigative Journalism out of the UK. She teaches journalism\, focusing on advanced reporting and reporting on diverse communities at MacEwan University and Humber College. She also works for a non-profit\, Indigenous Friends Association\, that focuses on connecting traditional knowledge and digital technology for Indigenous youth. She also has a background as a literary editor for Other Voices\, and in-depth media experience on both television and radio.
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/feature-precarious-the-lives-of-migrant-workers-with-marcello-di-cintio/
LOCATION:Muttart Theatre\, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square\, Edmonton\, AB
CATEGORIES:Feature
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251017T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251017T183000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250903T000534Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251008T151604Z
UID:4588-1760720400-1760725800@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Panel: On Language and Meaning (a.k.a. The Smartypants Panel)
DESCRIPTION:What is conscious and unconscious in how we utilize language? How do we use language to create meaning? For anyone who has a love for the construction and utilization of language\, this panel is a must-attend at this year’s festival! Lovingly referred to as The Smartypants Panel\, this event brings together language scientists and poets to talk all things related to language. \nFeaturing: Joel Katelnikoff\, Canisia Lubrin\, and Julie Sedivy\nModerator: Alice Major\nTickets: $5 (student/low income)\, $15 (regular)\, Available HERE (Use promo code “LITFEST2025” to access student rate) \n  \nJOEL KATELNIKOFF holds a PhD in literary theory from the University of Alberta. His book Recombinant Theory is a new approach to critical writing that applies cut-up techniques to the complete works of ten contemporary poet-theorists: Annharte\, Charles Bernstein\, Christian Bök\, Johanna Drucker\, Lyn Hejinian\, Steve McCaffery\, Erín Moure\, Sawako Nakayasu\, Lisa Robertson\, and Fred Wah. These cut-ups are then compiled into new essays\, each refracting the concepts of the original text while producing new lyrical and theoretical formulations. \nCANISIA LUBRIN’s work has been recognized with accolades including the Griffin Poetry Prize\, Windham-Campbell Prize\, and the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. Born in St. Lucia\, Lubrin now lives in Whitby\, and is the poetry editor at McClelland & Stewart. \nJULIE SEDIVY is a writer and linguist whose work straddles scientific and literary worlds. Her book Memory Speaks (Harvard University Press) was shortlisted for two Alberta Literary Awards and was named by The Economist as one of the top five books about language in a “golden age” of language writing. She has contributed writing to outlets such as Nautilus\, Discover\, Scientific American\, the Literary Review of Canada\, LA Review of Books\, EuropeNow\, Aeon + Psyche\, and Politico. She is the co-editor (with Rona Altrows) of Waiting\, a collection of personal essays (University of Alberta Press)\, and the co-author (with Souad Shehab) of Ayah and the Big World Outside\, a forthcoming children’s book to be published by Orca Books in 2026. Her most recent book\, Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love (Farrar\, Straus & Giroux)\, was named by The New Yorker as one of the best books of 2024 and won the W. O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize. Julie is a citizen of three countries.  \n Bluesky: @juliesedivy.bsky.social \nALICE MAJOR (Moderator) has published 12 collections of poetry and the essay collection: Intersecting Sets: A Poet Looks at Science. Among other creative projects\, she has been a participant in “Reimagining Fire”\, a project to bring visual artists\, writers and scientists together to create work related to climate change\, and was invited to read at the UN’s COP15 conference on biodiversity in Montreal.  \n Alice’s previous work has been recognized by the Pat Lowther and Stephan G. Stephansson poetry awards as well as a National Magazine Award Gold Medal. She also served as the City of Edmonton’s first poet laureate and has received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award as well as an honorary doctorate from the University of Alberta. Her work with the writing community has included founding the Edmonton Poetry Festival. \nWebsite: alicemajor.com\nIG: @alicemajor_poet 
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/panel-on-language-and-meaning-a-k-a-the-smartypants-panel/
LOCATION:Muttart Theatre\, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square\, Edmonton\, AB
CATEGORIES:Panel
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251017T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251017T203000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250915T213304Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251008T151509Z
UID:4617-1760727600-1760733000@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Feature: Curling Rocks! with John Cullen
DESCRIPTION:Tickets: $5 (student/low income)\, $15 (regular)\, Available HERE (Use promo code “LITFEST2025” to access student rate) \nIn conversation event with curling legend John Cullen to discuss his latest book\, Curling Rocks!: Chronicles of the Roaring Game. \nDrawing on author John Cullen’s years of experience as both a stand-up comic and an elite curler\, Curling Rocks! offers a lighthearted\, expertly detailed look at a unique sport and its history\, from the most absurd curling fashions to the most sublime matches ever played. \nThe sport of curling continues to expand its global reach\, attracting new players and fans far beyond traditional strongholds. Yet\, even in Canada—a country with a long curling history and fifteen hundred clubs of its own—the game is often dismissed as an eccentric pastime. \nAccording to author John Cullen\, this is because curling is both inherently funny and chronically underestimated as a battle of skill and strategy. And Cullen is perfectly qualified to make this double-edged claim: not only is he a stand-up comic with many years of experience at the mic\, but he’s had years on the ice as an elite curler. \nBecause most previous books on curling have been either how-to guides or standard biographies of prominent players\, there has long been space for a reader-friendly overview of the “roaring game” (a nickname inspired by the sound of the forty-pound stone en route to its target). Curling Rocks! sets out to fill this gap with a lighthearted\, expertly detailed account of the sport\, ranging from the absurd to the sublime. Next to his observations on ill-fitting fashions and odd scandals—among them “Broomgate\,” when controversial new sweeping technology almost took out the curling world—Cullen offers insights on everything from the greatest matches ever played to the peculiar heartbreak that comes with losing. \nIn these inviting\, irreverent and often deeply personal essays\, Cullen finally gives the perplexing\, beloved game its due. \n  \nJOHN CULLEN has been a medal-winning semi-professional curler for more than twenty years. He has also worked as a teacher\, writer\, comedian and curling analyst\, earning acclaim from such outlets as Vulture\, Forbes\, The Economist and Esquire for hosting the highly popular podcast Broomgate: A Curling Scandal. He has made televised appearances as a stand-up comedian and is a returning guest on CBC Radio’s The Debaters. Cullen lives in Calgary\, AB.
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/feature-curling-rocks-with-john-cullen/
LOCATION:Muttart Theatre\, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square\, Edmonton\, AB
CATEGORIES:Feature
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251017T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251017T210000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250901T221522Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251008T151445Z
UID:4576-1760729400-1760734800@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Feature: A Necessary Distance\, with Julie Salverson
DESCRIPTION:Tickets: $5 (student/low income)\, $15 (regular)\, Available HERE (Use promo code “LITFEST2025” to access student rate) \nIn conversation event with Julie Salverson to talk about her book\, A Necessary Distance: Confessions of a Scriptwriter’s Daughter. \nGeorge Salverson had written over a thousand radio plays for the CBC before he became the first television drama editor for the corporation. He wrote scripts for such beloved series as The Beachcombers and The Littlest Hobo\, but he kept very little of his writing\, being decidedly unsentimental about his work. So when his daughter Julie found a series of notebooks from a round-the-world trip he’d taken in 1963 to work on a documentary about world hunger\, she knew she’d found something important. But the writer of these notebooks is not the father she thought she knew. From there Julie Salverson traces a fascinating web of personal and political history\, of storytelling\, of culture and it’s shaping and of a man caught in a time of great change. \n  \nJULIE SALVERSON is a nonfiction writer\, playwright\, editor\, scholar and theatre animator. She is a fourth-generation Icelandic Canadian writer: her father\, George\, wrote early CBC radio and television drama and her grandmother Laura won two Governor General’s Awards (1937\, 1939). Julie’s theatre\, opera\, books and essays embrace the relationship of imagination and foolish witness to risky stories and trauma. She works on atomic culture\, community-engaged theatre and the place of the foolish witness in social\, political and interpersonal generative relationships. Salverson offers resiliency and peer-support workshops to communities dealing with trauma and has many years of experience teaching and running workshops. Recent publications include the book When Words Sing: Seven Canadian Libretti (Playwrights Canada Press\, 2021) and Lines of Flight: An Atomic Memoir (Wolsak & Wynn\, 2016).
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/feature-a-necessary-distance-with-julie-salverson/
LOCATION:Zeidler Hall\, 9828 101A Ave\, Edmonton\, AB
CATEGORIES:Feature
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251018T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251018T133000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250915T225459Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251008T151428Z
UID:4620-1760788800-1760794200@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Panel: Publishing Multilingual\, Multicultural & Hyphenated Authors
DESCRIPTION:This panel discussion brings together the founders of The Polyglot\, Laberinto Press\, Hungry Zine and Living Hyphen to discuss the need for and the challenges of publishing multicultural\, multilingual\, and hyphenated authors in the ever-evolving landscape of Canadian publishing. This panel will be moderated by translator and Edmonton’s 11th Poet Laureate\, Medgine Mathurin. \nFeaturing: Justine Abigail Yu (Living Hyphen)\, Maria Barbu (The Polyglot)\, Luciana Erregue-Sacchi (Laberinto Press)\, and Kathryn Lennon (Hungry Zine)\nModerator: Medgine Mathurin\nTickets: $5 (student/low income)\, $15 (regular)\, Available HERE (Use promo code “LITFEST2025” to access student rate) \n  \nJUSTINE ABIGAIL YU (she/her) is the founder of Living Hyphen\, a community and multimedia platform that explores what it means to live in between cultures as a hyphenated Canadian – that is\, an individual who calls Canada home but who has roots elsewhere. She is an award-winning workshop facilitator whose work with Living Hyphen has been featured on national and local media outlets including the Globe & Mail\, the Toronto Star\, CTV National News\, and the CBC. She was also named a “Changemaker” by the Toronto Star in October 2021. Justine Abigail is a fierce advocate for equity and anti-oppression. Her mission is to stir the conscience and spur social change. Learn more at www.justineabigail.com and www.livinghyphen.ca. \nSocial Media: You can find Justine across all social media platforms at @justineabigail and/or Living Hyphen at @livinghyphen. \n  \nMARIA BARBU (ARTISTA) is a multidisciplinary artist and poet who weaves language\, sound\, and performance into living experiences of consciousness exploration and homecoming. As an Innovation Catalyst with The Polyglot\, she is part of a volunteer-led team imagining a collective future that uplifts international\, multilingual\, and cross-cultural creativity through publications\, programs\, and community-rooted events. Author of the chapbook The Circle’s Cycle\, her work has been published in The Polyglot Magazine and Stroll of Poets Anthologies\, featured at the Edmonton Poetry Festival\, and supported through a partial scholarship to the Disquiet International Literary Program in Lisbon\, Portugal. \nWeb: ThePolyglotMagazine.com IG: @the.polyglot.magazine \n\nLUCIANA ERREGUE-SACCHI is an award winning publisher (Laberinto Press)\, art historian\, translator\, author (Of Mothers and Madonna\, Polyglot 2023) and cultural worker. Luciana has presented at LitFest\, Edmonton Poetry Fest\, and Banff Centre. Her work and translations have appeared in academic publications\, Polyglot Magazine\, AGNI\, and others and she has been featured on CBC Edmonton\, Radio Canada\, Quill and Quire\, Literary Review of Canada\, Westword\, and Edmonton Journal. She is an activist for freedom to read and an advocate for hyphened Canadian literature. \n\nKATHRYN LENNON 君妍 is a poet\, community planner\, and the co-founder and co-editor of Hungry Zine. She was born and raised\, and resides in Edmonton/Amiskwacîwâskahikan. Her poetry has been published in Canthius\, Polyglot Magazine\, Living Hyphen\, and the Globe and Mail\, and included in anthologies: Reimagining Fire: the Future of Energy (Durvile & UpRoute)\, Back Where I Came From (Book*hug Press)\, and Beyond Touch Sites (Laberinto Press). \n  \nMEDGINE MATHURIN (Moderator): Haitian-born spoken word artist and advocate\, Medgine is someone for whom the love of language and the alchemy of words comes naturally. Her multilingual upbringing (French\, Creole\, and English) not only encouraged her to explore the potential and magic of language but also nurtured a deep love of poetry.  \nOver the years\, Medgine has been diagnosed with Lupus (SLE)\, CIDP\, Polymyositis\, and Raynaud’s — experiences that have fueled her commitment to merge storytelling with patient advocacy\, particularly for those living with chronic illnesses. She currently serves as Chair of the Patient and Family Advisory Committee with Health Quality Alberta\, a provincial committee that promotes patient-centered care across the health system. \nHer work has been featured on CBC\, Global TV\, at SkirtsAfire Festival\, and the Edmonton Poetry Festival. Medgine is a two-time recipient of awards from the National Black Coalition of Canada (NBCC)\, having received the Fil Fraser Award for outstanding contributions to the literary and performing arts\, and the Dr. John Akabutu Award for demonstrating resilience in the face of significant challenges. \nMedgine was selected as a participant in the 2022 Mentorship Program with the Writers’ Guild of Alberta and became a mentor in the 2022 Horizon Writers Circle\, a mentorship program for Black\, Indigenous\, and People of Colour (BIPOC)\, ESL\, and underrepresented writers living in Edmonton. \nIn 2023\, she received the Edmonton Artist Trust Fund Award from the Edmonton Arts Council and the Edmonton Community Foundation — an award granted to exceptional local artists to support their creative work and encourage their continued presence in the community.She is the author of the multilingual chapbook Waiting in the Land of the Living / Attendre dans le monde des vivants. She has recently been named the Edmonton 11th Poet Laureate. \n  \n   \nThis event is proudly presented in collaboration with Living Hyphen\, Laberinto Press\, The Polyglot and Hungry Zine.
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/panel-publishing-multilingual-multicultural-hyphenated-authors/
LOCATION:Muttart Theatre\, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square\, Edmonton\, AB
CATEGORIES:Panel
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251018T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251018T140000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250916T014012Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251002T201542Z
UID:4626-1760788800-1760796000@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Workshop: Crafting Superb Sentences\, with Julie Sedivy
DESCRIPTION:Facilitator: Julie Sedivy\nTickets: $15\, Available HERE \nSentences are the foundation of all writing\, and mastering the sentence is essential to developing a strong writing voice. In this workshop\, I will bring in gorgeous\, surprising\, intriguing\, devastating sentences from a variety of genres\, including romance\, sci-fi\, fantasy\, young adult and children’s books\, in addition to more traditional literary genres. I will discuss what makes a wonderful opening sentence\, what kinds of final sentences leave the reader satisfied while also keeping the work alive in the mind. We will talk about sentence structure\, how it can be exploited to create pacing or heighten certain emotions\, and how varying the structure of sentences can make a passage more interesting or beautiful. We will discuss how some parts of the sentence highlight information more than others\, much like throwing a spotlight on some of the content\, making that portion of the sentence especially memorable. Or how certain devices subtly allude to background information that the reader can quickly construct\, without bogging the prose down with boring exposition. I will begin the session by having participants free-write a short passage\, and then we will play with various structures and devices to alter their original sentences and observe the effects. This interactive workshop will have very broad appeal for writers across genres\, and will be useful for beginning and advanced writers alike. \n  \nJULIE SEDIVY is a writer and linguist whose work straddles scientific and literary worlds. Her book Memory Speaks (Harvard University Press) was shortlisted for two Alberta Literary Awards and was named by The Economist as one of the top five books about language in a “golden age” of language writing. She has contributed writing to outlets such as Nautilus\, Discover\, Scientific American\, the Literary Review of Canada\, LA Review of Books\, EuropeNow\, Aeon + Psyche\, and Politico. She is the co-editor (with Rona Altrows) of Waiting\, a collection of personal essays (University of Alberta Press)\, and the co-author (with Souad Shehab) of Ayah and the Big World Outside\, a forthcoming children’s book to be published by Orca Books in 2026. Her most recent book\, Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love (Farrar\, Straus & Giroux)\, was named by The New Yorker as one of the best books of 2024 and won the W. O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize. Julie is a citizen of three countries. \nBluesky: @juliesedivy.bsky.social
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/workshop-crafting-superb-sentences-with-julie-sedivy/
LOCATION:EPL Community Room\, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square\, Edmonton
CATEGORIES:Workshop
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251018T143000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251018T170000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250916T015213Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250926T214943Z
UID:4629-1760797800-1760806800@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Workshop: Intergenerational Imaginations\, with Justine Abigail Yu
DESCRIPTION:*This is a free workshop for BIPOC authors\n14 spaces available\, REGISTER HERE \nFacilitator: Justine Abigail Yu \nAs hyphenated individuals living in between cultures\, we are\, as activist Eboo Patel describes it\, “standing at the crossroads of inheritance and discovery\, trying to look both ways at once.” In this writing workshop\, we write to honour our ancestors and imagine the path we lay for generations to come.  \nWe ask ourselves\, who are our ancestors? For those of us from communities that have largely been displaced – on this land or another\, by force or by choice – what connections do we hold to our past and to those who came before us? We look to our ancestors – biological or chosen – and honor all they have given us\, while letting go of what no longer serves us. \nWe then turn to the future\, to the possibilities that lay before us. Have you ever considered yourself as a future ancestor? As an elder with wisdom to share and possibilities to create? In the second part of our workshop\, we ask ourselves\, what riches do we inherit\, and what discoveries are left for us to bestow upon future generations?  \nNo writing experience is necessary – only an open heart and an open mind with a readiness to give and receive vulnerability. We’ve carefully and intentionally designed this workshop to be intimate and generative. We’ll give you writing prompts to spark your creativity in a supportive environment. All writing materials will be provided. \n  \nAbout Living Hyphen \nLiving Hyphen is a community and multimedia platform that explores the experiences of hyphenated Canadians – that is\, anyone who calls what we now know as “Canada” home\, but also has roots elsewhere. \nWe publish a magazine and host a podcast featuring the voices of artists and writers all across Canada. Our stories have been adapted into a stage play with Canadian Stage as part of their Dream in High Park program. Most importantly\, we deliver cultural programming by way of writing workshops and storytelling nights to encourage courageous and tender storytelling within racialized communities. \nWe at Living Hyphen are a community made up of people from diasporas from all around the world\, as well as Indigenous people from many nations. Our aim is to reshape the mainstream and to turn up the volume on voices that often go unheard. Learn more at www.livinghyphen.ca. \n  \nJUSTINE ABIGAIL YU (she/her) is the founder of Living Hyphen\, a community that explores what it means to live in between cultures as a hyphenated Canadian – that is\, an individual who calls Canada home but who has roots elsewhere.  \nShe is an award-winning workshop facilitator whose work with Living Hyphen has been featured on national and local media outlets including the Globe & Mail\, Toronto Star\, CTV National News\, and the CBC. She was also named a “Changemaker” by the Toronto Star in October 2021. \nJustine Abigail is a fierce advocate for equity and anti-oppression. Her mission is to stir the conscience and spur social change.  Learn more at www.justineabigail.com.
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/workshop-intergenerational-imaginations-with-justine-abigail-yu/
LOCATION:EPL Community Room\, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square\, Edmonton
CATEGORIES:Workshop
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251018T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251018T163000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250917T050013Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251008T151354Z
UID:4754-1760799600-1760805000@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Feature: Graphic Memoir\, with Teresa Wong and Sarah Leavitt
DESCRIPTION:Tickets: $5 (student/low income)\, $15 (regular)\, Available HERE (Use promo code “LITFEST2025” to access student rate) \nJoin us for this very special reading and conversation with graphic memoirists Teresa Wong and Sarah Leavitt\, featuring their latest graphic memoirs\, All Our Ordinary Stories and Something\, Not Nothing. \n  \nAll Our Ordinary Stories: A Multigenerational Family Odyssey\nWINNER of 2 Alberta Literary Awards (the Memoir Award and the Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Nonfiction) \nFrom the author of Dear Scarlet comes a graphic memoir about the obstacles one daughter faces as she attempts to connect with her immigrant parents. Beginning with her mother’s stroke in 2014\, Teresa Wong takes us on a moving journey through time and place to locate the beginnings of the disconnection she feels from her parents. Through a series of stories – some epic\, like her mother and father’s daring escapes from communes during China’s Cultural Revolution\, and some banal\, like her quitting Chinese school to watch Saturday morning cartoons – Wong carefully examines the cultural\, historical\, language\, and personality barriers to intimacy in her family\, seeking answers to the questions “Where did I come from?” and “Where are we going?” At the same time\, she discovers how storytelling can bridge distances and help make sense of a life. \nA book for children of immigrants trying to honour their parents’ pasts while also making a different kind of future for themselves\, All Our Ordinary Stories is poignant in its understated yet nuanced depictions of complicated family dynamics. Wong’s memoir is a heartfelt exploration of identity and inheritance\, as well as a testament to the transformative power of stories both told and untold. \nSomething\, Not Nothing:A Story of Grief and Love\nFinalist\, Will Eisner Award; Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction; Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes \nA poignant and beautifully illustrated graphic memoir about love and loss and navigating a new life. In April 2020\, cartoonist Sarah Leavitt’s partner of twenty-two years\, Donimo\, died with medical assistance after years of severe chronic pain and a rapid decline at the end of her life. About a month after Donimo’s death\, Sarah began making comics again as a way to deal with her profound sense of grief and loss. The comics started as small sketches but quickly transformed into something totally unfamiliar to her. Abstract images\, textures\, poetic text\, layers of watercolour\, ink\, and coloured pencil – for Sarah\, the journey through grief was impossible to convey without bold formal experimentation. She spent two years creating these comics. \nThe result is Something\, Not Nothing\, an extraordinary book that delicately articulates the vagaries of grief and the sweet remembrances of enduring love. Moving and impressionistic\, Something\, Not Nothing shows that alongside grief\, there is room for peace\, joy\, and new beginnings. \n  \nSARAH LEAVITT (she/her) is a cartoonist\, writer and professor. Her most recent book\, Something\, Not Nothing: A Story of Grief and Love (Arsenal Pulp Press\, 2024)\, was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Graphic Memoir. She is also the author of the graphic memoir Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s\, My Mother\, and Me (Freehand Books\, 2010). A feature-length animation based on Tangles is in production\, with release planned for 2026.  She is also the author of the award-winning historical fiction comic Agnes\, Murderess (Freehand Books\, 2019). Sarah Leavitt is an associate professor in the School of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver\, where she has developed and taught undergraduate and graduate comics classes since 2012. \nTERESA WONG (she/her) is a writer and cartoonist based in Calgary\, Alberta. Her comics and illustrated essays have appeared in The Believer\, The New Yorker\, McSweeney’s\, and The Walrus. Her latest book\, All Our Ordinary Stories: A Multigenerational Family Odyssey (Arsenal Pulp Press\, 2024) received two 2025 Alberta Literary Awards: the Memoir Award and the Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Nonfiction. Her first graphic memoir\, Dear Scarlet: The Story of My Postpartum Depression (2019)\, was a finalist for the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. Both All Our Ordinary Stories and Dear Scarlet were longlisted for CBC Canada Reads.
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/feature-graphic-memoir-with-teresa-wong-and-sarah-leavitt/
LOCATION:Zeidler Hall\, 9828 101A Ave\, Edmonton\, AB
CATEGORIES:Feature
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251018T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251018T173000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250916T070911Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251010T204336Z
UID:4730-1760803200-1760808600@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Showcase: Agatha Press Fall Launch
DESCRIPTION:LitFest is thrilled to partner with Edmonton’s Agatha Press to bring you the launch of their fall releases – Sincerely\, Sincerely by Rayanne Haines and Carolyne Van Der Meer\, AS LONG AS I’M ALIVE I HAVE INFINITE CHANCES by ryan fitzpatrick\, and i give birth to my body by Leilei Chen. \nFeaturing: Leilei Chen\, ryan fitzpatrick\, Rayanne Haines and Carolyne Van Der Meer\nHost: Matthew Stepanic\nTickets: Free to attend\, Reserve your spot HERE \n  \nLeilei Chen 莫译 (muo-yee\, meaning “no translation”) translated from Mandarin the poetry of Ma Hui\, a contemporary poet reimagining Tibet’s sixth Dalai Lama\, in the collection\, I Have Forsaken Heaven and Earth\, but Never Forsaken You. She is the author of Re-orienting China: Travel Writing and Cross-cultural Understanding and the translator of Nationalism: A Very Short Introduction in both simplified and traditional Chinese. She has published the English versions of Chinese women’s writing and ecological literature. Her Chinese version of Margaret Laurence’s short story collection\, A Bird in the House\, is forthcoming in 2025. \nryan fitzpatrick is the author of five books of poetry\, including the recent No Depression in Heaven (Talonbooks\, 2025) and Sunny Ways (Invisible\, 2023). They were the 2024-25 Writer-in-Residence in the University of Alberta’s Department of English and Film Studies. \nRayanne Haines is a producer\, podcaster\, educator and award-winning poet. Her third collection\, Tell The Birds Your Body Is Not A Gun (Frontenac House 2021)\, won the 2022 Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry and was shortlisted for both the BPAA Robert Kroetsch Award and the ReLit Award. Her poetic memoir\, What Kind of Daughter? (Frontenac House 2024)\, was shortlisted for the 2024 Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry. Rayanne hosts the Crow Reads podcast\, is the President of the League of Canadian Poets\, and an Assistant Professor at MacEwan University. She teaches and writes with vulnerability as a guiding force. \nMatthew Stepanic is a queer writer who lives and works on Treaty 6 territory in Edmonton. They are a co-author of the collaborative novel Project Compass (Monto Books\, 2017) and the author of Relying on that Body (Glass Buffalo\, 2018)\, a poetry chapbook about the queens of season 10 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. They edit and design chapbooks for Agatha Press\, and they host and co-organize VERS/E\, a monthly queer poetry open mic. \nCarolyne Van Der Meer lives and writes in Montreal. She has five published books\, including Motherlode: A Mosaic of Dutch Wartime Experience\, and the poetry collections Sensorial and All This As I Stand By. Her most recent collection is the chapbook Birdology\, published by Cactus Press in early 2025. She is currently working on a book of linked fictional vignettes.
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/showcase-agatha-press-fall-launch/
LOCATION:Muttart Theatre\, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square\, Edmonton\, AB
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251018T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251018T190000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250916T064158Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251011T162411Z
UID:4714-1760806800-1760814000@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Showcase: Daaira: The Healing Will Come\, The Polyglot Launch
DESCRIPTION:This event is free to attend\, but please pre-register as space is limited \nAn evening of literature\, art\, and music hosted by The Polyglot and Daaira House \nLitFest\, October 18\, 2025\, 5:00pm to 7:00pm\, The Green Room \nFor the past nine years\, The Polyglot—an award-winning local multilingual magazine—has offered a vibrant platform for artists\, writers\, and translators to experiment with language and art. \nAt LitFest\, we are honoured to launch our fifteenth issue\, Daaira—a collaboration with Daaira House\, guest edited by Aaima Azhar and Zainab Azhar. \nAs the editors write: “This issue has been curated to capture what is well and unwell within us all and the rituals that play witness. The healing will come. Let us first call it what it is. Let us make for it a little space. Let us draw around it a circle\, a دائرہ.” \nDaaira (circle) moves between ritual (Rasm-e-Dil\, Ritual of the Heart) and remembrance (Yaad-e-Dil\, Re-membrance of the Heart)\, creating a space where wellness is not individual but communal. For this reason\, we’re thrilled to be hosted by the Green Room. \n✨Join us for an evening of multilingual readings\, music\, and visual art\n✨Participate in a guided writing session led by Aaima Azhar\n✨Share light refreshments in community\n✨Witness performances that embody healing and creativity \nHosts: Aaima Azhar & Zainab Azhar\nAuthors: Muhammad Azhar\, Luciana Erregue-Sacchi\, Tamara Aschenbrenner\nMusicians: The Calamansi Club\nArtists: April Angeles\, Maryam Lary\, Niabi Kapoor \nCome sit in the circle with us. All are welcome. ✨ \nAuthor bios \nAaima Azhar is a Pakistani-Canadian Muslim writer\, spoken word poet\, filmmaker\, and mental health coach whose work explores the healing power of language and creativity. She is the founder of Daaira House and author of A Thing With Teeth. \nZainab Azhar is an artist and facilitator drawn to ritual\, storytelling\, and the spaces where creativity meets memory. She works across mediums and recently showcased her immersive installation in The New Frame exhibition by Odyssey Works in New York City. \nTamara Aschenbrenner (she/they) is a queer writer and communications professional whose work explores the intersections of identity\, mental health\, and language. As the grandchild of refugees and the daughter of a first-generation Canadian\, she writes about the quiet weight of inheritance—what gets passed down\, what gets lost\, and what we choose to carry forward. Her work often reflects on queerness\, feminism\, neurodivergence\, family\, and the process of making sense of emotions that don’t always translate easily. A former magazine editor and a current volunteer with The Polyglot\, she is especially interested in how language shapes our understanding of self\, belonging\, and wellbeing. \nLuciana Erregue-Sacchi is an art historian\, publisher\, poet\, translator\, cultural worker\, and author from Treaty 6. Luciana works at the intersection of art\, words\, languages\, and literary genres. She is the publisher behind award-winning imprint Laberinto Press\, and the author of the chapbook Of Mothers and Madonnas (The Polyglot). Luciana is working on a creative nonfiction memoir\, Daughters of the Current\, based on her obsession with the work and life of Argentinian poet Alfonsina Storni. \nMusicians \nThe Calamansi Club is an all-Filipino indie band based in Edmonton. The band is named after a tiny but massively flavourful citrus fruit from the Philippines. They started with a casual jam session at the library and have since formed a deep connection through their shared passion for creating music with meaning. They’re inspired by the struggles and joys of life\, and they hope their songs make people feel less alone. With Eoshanelle on vocals and bass\, Chema on vocals and guitar\, Ryan on guitar and vocals\, and TJ on the drums\, The Calamansi Club writes songs in both English and Tagalog. They’ve performed at the Heart of the City Music & Arts Festival and Edmonton Poetry Festival\, and they headlined DRTY Ice Cream’s Kanto Party. They’re releasing an EP in the fall of 2025. You can listen to their music on Spotify\, Apple Music\, and YouTube Music. Instagram: @thecalamansiclub \nArtists with work on display \nApril Angeles is a Filipino-Canadian visual artist based in Edmonton. Though she dabbles with the use of different media in her artistic pursuits\, she works mainly with acrylics\, recycled materials\, and graphite. Her art has been featured in various spaces. In 2022\, she was in the Top 15 of the Philippine Arts Council’s The Filipino in Me – Insights into Living Heritage online gallery. In 2023\, she won the People’s Choice Award at Rachel Notley’s Art From the Unknown gallery at the Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre. In 2024\, she won the People’s Choice Award at the Allied Arts Council of Spruce Grove’s Form Redux Exhibit. \nMaryam Lary is a poet\, author\, and self-taught string artist whose work blends craft and fine art to explore themes of resilience\, belonging\, and the universal search for peace. In 2020\, she published journey through 99\, an anthology of poems chronicling a personal journey toward healing and meaning. The same year\, she was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder that temporarily took her eyesight. This transformative experience deepened her commitment to creating art with purpose and intention. Maryam’s practice reimagines thread as both a drawing and sculptural medium\, combining it with acrylic paint\, collage\, and calligraphy to create layered\, contemporary works. Her art celebrates culture\, spirituality\, and the stories that connect us all. As her work has evolved\, she has used it to inspire dialogue around issues such as migration\, statelessness\, and the search for belonging\, always with the aim of bridging communities through creativity and understanding. Deeply engaged in her community\, Maryam has collaborated with organizations across Edmonton to raise awareness about mental health\, welcome newcomers\, and share the therapeutic power of art. Her work has been collected\, and acquired by supporters\, with many pieces donated or sold to benefit humanitarian causes\, including sponsoring orphans worldwide. Through each artwork\, she aspires to offer comfort\, spark reflection\, and build connections grounded in empathy and hope. \nNiabi Kapoor is a first-generation daughter born in Canada to immigrant Indian parents. She recently relocated back to Canada after living in Madrid for the last five years. Most of her inspiration comes from nature\, specifically plants and small creatures\, from stories she has read or heard throughout her life\, from architecture\, and her travels. She enjoys using art as a way to share her imagination with others\, with the hope that it offers a small escape and brings them as much joy as it does her while creating it. \n  \nThis event is proudly presented in partnership with Daaira House \n \nThe Green Room is an Edmonton based youth program serving Muslim youth (16–35)\, providing leadership opportunities\, creative recreation\, wellness support\, and community connections. Would you like to stay informed about their upcoming events
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/showcase-daaira-the-healing-will-come-polyglot-magazine-launch/
LOCATION:The Green Room\, 10545 108 St NW Unit 2-786\, Edmonton
CATEGORIES:Showcase
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251018T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251018T203000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250916T053116Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251008T151316Z
UID:4709-1760814000-1760819400@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Showcase: Books with Buzz(kill) Cabaret
DESCRIPTION:Join us and discover some of this year’s most buzzed about books in this not-to-be-missed showcase! \nFeaturing: Jennifer Bowering Delisle\, Amber Dawn\, Canisia Lubrin\, and Alex Manley\nHost: Kate Gibson\nTickets: $5 (student/low income)\, $15 (regular)\, Available HERE (Use promo code “LITFEST2025” to access student rate) \n\nStock\, by Jennifer Bowering Delisle \nStock photographs are everywhere. With their contrived poses\, unusual angles\, and bizarre visual metaphors\, they’re instantly familiar – and familiarly narrow in their vision of our society. Their ubiquity shapes and reinforces the biases\, privilege\, and stereotypes of their distinct aesthetic. \nFrom found poems using metadata and keywords to riffs on stock image database search results with titles like ‘Good Mother Morning Family Happy\,’ ‘Beautiful Woman Eating Salad\,’ and ‘Lady Boss Smiles with Arms Folded\,’ Delisle’s ekphrastic poems take a playful look at stock photography’s clichés and delight in all its strangeness\, while casting a critical eye on its representations of women. \n\nBuzzkill Clamshell\, by Amber Dawn \nAmber Dawn’s latest poetry collection flaunts the chronically pained body as a source of lewd feminine power \nAs a novelist\, memoirist\, and poet\, Amber Dawn regularly lays her heart bare in work that is fiery\, raw\, and intensely personal. In Buzzkill Clamshell\, her third poetry collection\, Amber Dawn circumvents the expectations of so-called confessional poetry\, offering twisted mythmaking\, extreme hyperbole\, and lyrical gutter-mouthing that explore themes of sick and disabled queerness\, aging\, and desire. \nWith poems populated by severed heads\, domme swan maidens\, horny oracles\, and other horrible purveyors of pleasure\, Buzzkill Clamshell reads as if a leather dyke and a demonic goat had a baby – gleefully embracing the perverse while stomping its way through chronic pain and complex PTSD. \nAlready acclaimed for her candid and often kinky verse\, Amber Dawn pushes further into trauma-informed eroticism with self-assured irreverence and uncomfortable abjectivity. Beneath her brilliant\, carnivalesque imagery lies a prayer – not for the pain to end\, but for finding fantastic new ways to cope with it. \n\nThe World After Rain: Anne’s Poem\, by Canisia Lubrin \n“How incandescent the language is\, each line emitting light through the membrane of time and anticipated grief. The work has a rigorousness\, the poet pushing through the ache of experience from the first to the last word.”—Dionne Brand \nIn her signature epic vision\, Canisia Lubrin distills a radiant elegy for her mother along an interwoven and unresolvable axis of astonishment\, belonging as much to history as to today. Grief\, tender and searing\, is the channel through which the poet refracts the realm of contemporary life to reveal the blistering paradox of its private and public entanglements. This is poetry of haunting gravity and resonance\, with meditations on love\, time\, and loss\, at once meticulously far-seeing\, interior\, and inexpressible \n  \nPost-Man\, by Alex Manley\nIn this divisive moment in the history of gender politics\, Alex Manley navigates life as a neurodivergent non-binary person and explores their dislocations from the norm. Post-Man delves into the ways in which Manley has always felt apart\, alone and othered—how they always felt there was something wrong with them. In adulthood they came to recognize that in addition to suffering from depression\, anxiety\, ADHD\, and possibly more\, they understood themselves as existing outside the neat binary of gender that modern society imposes on us. \nWith this understanding of themself\, Manley takes readers through the stultifying machismo of hockey culture\, the improbable job of working for a men’s website\, the strange unpleasantness of going bald as a nonbinary person\, and more. Heart-wrenching and profound\, Post-Man is a book that will make you reconsider your own perceptions of gender and masculinity. \n  \nJENNIFER BOWERING DELISLE’s collection of lyric essays\, Micrographia (2023) won the Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize and the Writers’ Guild of Alberta Memoir Award. She is also the author of Deriving\, a collection of poetry (2021) and The Bosun Chair\, a lyric family memoir (2017). Her new collection of poetry\, Stock\, responds to stock imagery with a feminist lens. She is on the board of NeWest Press and lives in Edmonton on Treaty 6 territory. \nAMBER DAWN (she/her) is a writer and creative facilitator living on unceded Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver\, BC). She is the author of several books\, including two novels (Lambda Literary Award winner Sub Rosa and Sodom Road Exit) and three poetry collections (Where the words end and my body begins\, My Art Is Killing Me and Other Poems\, and Buzzkill Clamshell)\, and the editor of three anthologies. \nCANISIA LUBRIN’s work has been recognized with accolades including the Griffin Poetry Prize\, Windham-Campbell Prize\, and the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. Born in St. Lucia\, Lubrin now lives in Whitby\, and is the poetry editor at McClelland & Stewart. \nALEX MANLEY (they/them) is a non-binary writer\, editor\, translator and poet from and living in Montreal/Tiohtia:ke. They are the author of We Are All Just Animals & Plants (Metatron Press) and The New Masculinity (ECW Press)\, as well as the English-language translator of Daphne B.’s Made-Up (Coach House Books). Their new book\, Post-Man: Esays on Being a Neurodivergent Non-Binary Person (Arsenal Pulp Press) is out on September 30\, 2025.
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/showcase-books-with-buzzkill-cabaret/
LOCATION:Zeidler Hall\, 9828 101A Ave\, Edmonton\, AB
CATEGORIES:Showcase
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251019T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251019T113000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250901T234255Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250916T135535Z
UID:4577-1760869800-1760873400@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Partnered Event: The Poetry of Public Art\, presented in partnership with the EAC
DESCRIPTION:Join Edmonton Arts Council on Sunday\, October 19 at Boa & Hare\, 127 – 10520 97 St NW\, located in Pacific Mall for The Poetry of Public Art\, presented with LitFest. Event begins at 10:30am. \nJoin us for a celebration of public art and poetry\, as we mark 30 years of the Edmonton Arts Council and the addition of the 300th public artwork to the City of Edmonton Public Art Collection with a month of 300@30 activities and events! \nMary Burlie was a force of compassion\, devoting her life to lifting up others. Known lovingly as the ​“Black Angel of Boyle Street”\, she served on the front lines of inner-city Edmonton\, offering food\, shelter\, support\, and above all\, dignity to those most in need. \nAs part of the City of Edmonton’s revitalization project of Mary Burlie Park in downtown Edmonton\, the Edmonton Arts Council has selected three local poets to create poetry that will be incorporated into the park design. In advance of the park opening in 2026\, join Edmonton Arts Council\, the family of Mary Burlie\, and poets Titilope Sonuga\, Naomi McIlwraith\, and Cui Jinzhe for a morning of stories and spellbinding poetry. \nThis event is free to attend\, but please pre-register to reserve your spot. \nIf you require ASL interpretation or other access considerations in order to attend this event\, please email support@​edmontonarts.​ca and we will do our best to accommodate you. \nAbout the poets  \nTitilope Sonuga\nTitilope Sonuga is an award-winning poet\, playwright\, and performer. Her poetry concert Open has been shown to sold-out audiences around the world. She has published three poetry collections: Down to Earth (2011)\, Abscess (2014)\, and This Is How We Disappear (2019)\, and has released three spoken word albums: Mother Tongue (2011)\, Swim (2019)\, and Sis (2024). She was nominated for a Dora Award for Outstanding New Opera for Sankofa\, her libretto reimagining Igor Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat. Sonuga has written campaigns for global brands and served as an ambassador for Intel’s She Will Connect\, a program to empower women and girls across Africa through technological literacy. She made history as the first poet to perform at a Nigerian presidential inauguration and served as Edmonton’s 9th Poet Laureate. \nNaomi McIlwraith\nNaomi recently moved from the Indigenous Peoples Experience at Fort Edmonton Park to City Operations to work as the Indigenous Framework Operations Coordinator. A writer\, poet\, essayist\, storyteller\, and peacemaker\, Naomi is delighted to lead Indigenous Framework workshops as one way that she can contribute to a larger effort to foster better healthier relationships between Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous Peoples in the City of Edmonton. She leads land acknowledgement workshops\, reads poetry publicly in Edmonton and area\, and is frequently asked to speak on matters not just of the heart but also of justice. She is smiling a lot these days because after a lifetime of learning how\, she has finally found her voice — and all this talking is exciting for a shy girl who loves to hear stories and loves to tell a story too! In her work and her life\, Naomi honours her parents\, her family\, and her community. \nCui Jinzhe\nCui Jinzhe\, whose pen name is Qiu Shi\, is a painter\, poet\, and multidisciplinary artist who has been painting\, writing and practising music since her childhood. Jinzhe was born and raised in Dalian\, China\, where she earned a BA (Visual Communication) at School of Arts Design from Dalian University of Foreign Languages and a MA (Mixed Media) at Dalian Polytechnic University. In 2008\, Jinzhe moved to Canada to continue her studies and work as an independent artist in Edmonton. Her work explores the integration between visual art\, poetry\, and interdisciplinary practice\, often within an interactive public context.
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/the-poetry-of-public-art/
LOCATION:Boa & Hare\, 10520 97 St NW #127\, Edmonton
CATEGORIES:Partnered Event
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251019T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251019T133000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250916T062759Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251012T171422Z
UID:4711-1760875200-1760880600@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Brunch & Learn Panel: On Wholeness\, Wellness and Healing
DESCRIPTION:This year’s Brunch and Learn features a panel of books each focusing on ideas and themes related to wellness\, well-being\, recovery and healing. \nThis event will be catered by Edmonton’s own Chef Holly Holt (@shecooksyeg) \nFeaturing: Chyana Marie Sage\, Quill Christie-Peters and Kate J. Neville\nModerator: Naomi McIlwraith\nTickets: $30\, Available HERE \n\nSoft As Bones\, by Chyana Marie Sage \nA poetic memoir as intricately woven as a dreamcatcher about overcoming the pain of generational trauma with the power of traditional healing. \nIn candid\, incisive\, and delicate prose\, Chyana Marie Sage shares the pain of growing up with her father\, a crack dealer who went to prison for molesting her older sister. In revisiting her family’s history\, Chyana examines the legacy of generational abuse\, which began with her father’s father\, who was forcibly removed from his family by the residential schools and Sixties Scoop programs. Yet hers is also a story of hope\, as it was the traditions of her people that saved her life\, healing one small piece in the mosaic that makes up the dark past of colonialism shared by Indigenous people throughout Turtle Island. \n\nOn Wholeness\, by Quill Christie-Peters \nA brilliant exploration of the body as a site of settler colonial impact\, centring embodied wholeness as a pathway to our collective liberation. \nThrough reflections on childbirth\, parenting\, creative practice\, and expansive responsibility as pathways to wholeness\, Anishinaabe visual artist Quill Christie-Peters explores how reconnecting with the body can be an act of resistance and healing. She shows that wholeness—despite pain and displacement—is not just possible but essential for liberation\, not only for Indigenous people but for all of us. \nIn poetic and raw storytelling\, Quill shares her own experiences of gendered violence and her father’s survival of residential school\, revealing how colonialism disconnects us from ourselves. Yet\, through an Anishinaabe lens\, the body is more than just flesh—it extends to ancestors\, homelands\, spirit relations\, and animal kin. \nThis fierce and enlightening book reimagines the way we understand settler colonialism—through the body itself. On Wholeness takes us on a journey that begins before birth\, in a realm where ancestors and spirits swirl like smoke in the great beyond. \n\nGoing to Seed: Essay on Idleness\, Nature and Sustainable Work\, by Kate J. Neville \nAn abandoned place\, a disheveled person\, a shabby or deteriorating state: we describe such ruin colloquially as “going to seed.” But gardeners will protest: going to seed as idle? No\, plants are sending out compressed packets filled with the energy needed to sow new life. A pause from flowering gives a chance for the seeds to form. In a time of urgent environmental change\, of pressing social injustice\, and of ever-advancing technologies and global connections\, we often respond with acceleration—a speeding up and scaling up of our strategies to counter the damage and destruction around us. But what if we take the seeds as a starting point: what might we learn about work\, sustainability\, and relationships on this beleaguered planet if we slowed down\, stepped back\, and held off? \nGoing to Seed explores questions of idleness\, considering the labour both of humans and of the myriad other inhabitants of the world. Drawing on science\, literature\, poetry\, and personal observation\, these winding and sometimes playful essays pay attention to the exertions and activities of the other-than-human lives that are usually excluded from our built and settled spaces\, asking whose work and what kinds of work might be needed for a more just future for all. \n  \nKATE NEVILLE is an associate professor in Political Science and the School of the Environment at the University of Toronto\, where she studies global energy and resource politics\, and community resistance. When not in Toronto\, Kate can be found in a cabin in northern British Columbia\, on the territory of the Taku River Tlingit First Nation. \n\nQUILL CHRISTIE-PETERS is an Anishinaabe educator and self-taught visual artist from Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation located in Treaty 3 territory. She is the creator and director of the Indigenous Youth Residency Program\, an artist residency for Indigenous youth that engages land-based creative practices through Anishinaabe artistic methodologies. She holds a master’s degree in Indigenous governance on Anishinaabe art-making as a process of falling in love. She has spoken at Stanford University\, the University of Toronto\, and California College of the Arts\, and her written work can be found in GUTS magazine and Canadian Art. She is also a mother\, beadwork artist\, and traditional tattoo practitioner following the protocols of her community. All of her work can be found at @raunchykwe. \n\nCHYANA MARIE SAGE is a Cree\, Métis\, and Salish writer from Edmonton\, Alberta. She has an MFA in creative nonfiction from Columbia University and lives in New York City. Chyana loves to travel and be with nature. \nHOLLY HOLT (Chef/Caterer) is an award-winning Chef based in Edmonton\, Alberta. She has 15 years experience in the culinary arts and over 20 years of experience in hospitality. She is a proud graduate of NAIT’s Culinary Art’s program and loves to continue learning everyday. Holly is the In-House Chef for the Yellowhead Tribal Council and collaborates with EPL as an instructor in The Kitchen. She is also the owner of SheCooks\, which offers catering\, instructional and consulting services. Her expertise is in contemporary Indigenous cuisine\, nutrition and plant-forward cooking. Holly takes pride in her professional\, friendly and dynamic approach when working with the community. Holly Holt is a proud Syilx Okanagan woman (SnPink’tn or the Penticton Indian Band) and connects with her culture through food and art. When she is not in the kitchen\, she enjoys beading\, reading\, walking her dogs\, self care\, hiking\, camping\, yoga\, plants\, travelling\, art\, film and learning.  \n\nNAOMI McILWRAITH (Moderator) Naomi recently moved from the Indigenous Peoples Experience at Fort Edmonton Park to City Operations to work as the Indigenous Framework Operations Coordinator. A writer\, poet\, essayist\, storyteller\, and peacemaker\, Naomi is delighted to lead Indigenous Framework workshops as one way that she can contribute to a larger effort to foster better healthier relationships between Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous Peoples in the City of Edmonton. She leads land acknowledgement workshops\, reads poetry publicly in Edmonton and area\, and is frequently asked to speak on matters not just of the heart but also of justice. She is smiling a lot these days because after a lifetime of learning how\, she has finally found her voice — and all this talking is exciting for a shy girl who loves to hear stories and loves to tell a story too! In her work and her life\, Naomi honours her parents\, her family\, and her community.
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/brunch-learn-panel-on-wholeness-wellness-and-healing/
LOCATION:Rice Theatre Lobby\, 9828 101A Ave\, Edmonton
CATEGORIES:Panel
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251019T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251019T140000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250916T044429Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250926T220307Z
UID:4694-1760875200-1760882400@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Masterclass: My Weird Life with Amber Dawn: a workshop of weird approaches to personal narrative writing
DESCRIPTION:Tickets: $15\, Available HERE\n18 Spaces Available \nInvite experimentation and spontaneity into your writing practice with My Weird Life. This writing workshop is designed for memoir\, narrative poetry and autofiction writers\, though it can be adapted to any form of personally-rooted writing. Writers in all stages of their practice are welcome. \nThe workshop structure includes generative freewriting prompts\, short sample readings from Amber Dawn’s body-of-work\, craft mini-lectures and discussion. Space is limited to 20 writers and registration is mandatory. Come with a notebook\, laptop or other writing device and be ready to do some outside-of-the box writing. \n\nAbout the facilitator: \nAmber Dawn has authored six books—two novels\, three poetry collections and a hybrid memoir—and co-edited three community-driven anthologies. Her body-of-work explores queer identity\, systemic trauma-informed cultural production and sex work justice—themes drawn from her own experiential knowledge base. As a facilitator\, Amber Dawn has over 15 years of experience designing trauma-informed\, experimental\, fantastic and lower-barriers creative writing workshops.
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/masterclass-my-weird-life-with-amber-dawn-a-workshop-of-weird-approaches-to-personal-narrative-writing/
CATEGORIES:Workshop
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251019T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251019T143000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250916T051054Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251008T151258Z
UID:4698-1760878800-1760884200@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Panel: Memoir Hour - What an amazing story!
DESCRIPTION:This year’s memoir hour panel features three stories of incredible journeys. \nFeaturing: Vinh Nguyen\, Dan Rubinstein\, and Sarah Boon\nModerator: Jessica Truong\nTickets: $5 (student/low income)\, $15 (regular)\nPurchase tickets HERE (Use promo code “LITFEST2025” to access student rate) \n\nMeltdown: The Making and Breaking of a Field Scientist by Sarah Boon \nIn Meltdown\, Sarah Boon tells us about field adventures in snow and ice\, the tough decision of choosing an academic career over that of a writer\, and the challenges she faces as a woman in science. Her story blends adventure and academia as she traverses John Evans Glacier on Ellesmere Island\, builds weather stations in northern British Columbia\, samples proglacial rivers\, and scares away grizzlies with helicopters. Along the way\, Boon finds inspiration in the stories of historic female explorers like Mary Schäffer Warren and Phyllis Munday\, celebrating the tenacity of women in the field. But her path isn’t without obstacles. In addition to the physical and psychological rigors of fieldwork\, Boon faces gender bias\, departmental politics\, and job insecurity in academia. Her journey is also marked by injury\, struggles with imposter syndrome\, and a serious mental health diagnosis. Meltdown is an honest and reflective narrative about the process of finding your identity\, the need for open conversations around mental health and science\, and one woman’s pursuit of balance between her career and personal life. \n\nThe Migrant Rain Falls in Reverse: A Memoir by Vinh Nguyen \nAn inventive memoir about one family’s escape from Vietnam and the father’s mysterious disappearance along the way. This book is an intricate exploration of a searching mind\, shedding light on the psyche of a grieving son\, as he chases certainty and seeks elusive resolution. With the Fall of Saigon on April 30\, 1975\, the U.S. war in Vietnam ended\, but the refugee crisis was only beginning. Among the millions of people who fled Vietnam by boat was Vinh Nguyen\, along with his mother and siblings\, and his father\, who left separately and then mysteriously vanished. \nDecades later\, Nguyen goes looking for answers. What he discovers is a sea of questions drifting above sunken truths. To find his father—and anchor himself in the present—Nguyen must piece together the debris of history with family stories that have been scattered across generations and continents\, kept for years in broken hearts and guarded silences. \nAs the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War approaches\, The Migrant Rain Falls in Reverse takes readers on a poignant tour of disappeared refugee camps\, abandoned family homes\, and reimagined lives. Part fractured reminiscence\, part invented history\, and part fictional fabulation\, Nguyen’s story is about learning to live with what’s already lost and the memories of what might have been. \nWater Borne: A 1\,200-Mile Paddleboarding Pilgrimage bu Dan Rubinstein \nIn June 2023\, writer Dan Rubinstein lashed camping gear to his stand-up paddleboard and embarked on an improbable solo voyage from Ottawa to Montreal\, New York City\, Toronto\, and back to Ottawa along the rivers\, lakes\, and canals of a landlocked region. Over 1\,200 miles and 10 weeks\, he explored the healing potential of “blue space” — the aquatic equivalent of green space — and sought out others drawn to their local waters. But the farther Rubinstein paddled\, the more he realized that being in\, on\, or around water does more than boost our mental and physical health and prompt stewardship toward the natural world. He discovered that blue spaces are also a way to connect with the kaleidoscopic cross-section of people he met and the diverse geographies and communities he passed through. \nWeaving together research\, interviews\, and an unmacho\, malodorous\, anticolonial adventure tale\, Water Borne shows us that we don’t need an epic journey to find solutions to so many modern challenges. Repair and renewal may be close at hand: just add water. \n  \nSARAH BOON is a freelance writer and editor. She has published essays\, book reviews\, author interviews\, and articles in a range of magazines and journals\, including Science\, Nature\, Longreads\, Flyway Journal\, Electric Literature\, and others. She trained as an environmental scientist and held a tenured position in physical geography before returning to her writing and editing roots. She is a member of the Creative Nonfiction Collective Society and the Federation of BC Writers\, and a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. She was a co-founder of the Canadian science blogging network Science Borealis. She blogs at https://watershednotes.ca/ and lives and works on southern Vancouver Island\, traditional unceded territory of the Quwut’sun people. \nVINH NGUYEN is a writer and educator whose work has appeared in Brick\, Literary Hub\, The Malahat Review\, PRISM international\, Grain\, Queen’s Quarterly\, The Criterion Collection’s Current\, and MUBI’s Notebook. He is a nonfiction editor at The New Quarterly\, where he curates an ongoing series on refugee\, migrant\, and diasporic writing. He is the author of the academic book Lived Refuge: Gratitude\, Resentment\, Resilience. His writing has been short-listed for a National Magazine Award and has received the John Charles Polanyi Prize in Literature. In 2022\, he was a Lambda Literary Fellow in Nonfiction for emerging LGBTQ writers. \nDAN RUBINSTEIN is a National Magazine Award winning writer and editor\, a contributor to publications such as Outside\, The Walrus and the Globe and Mail\, a former editor at Canadian Geographic\, and prior to moving to Ottawa he lived in Edmonton for a decade\, where he worker as an editor at several publications\, including Alberta Views\, Vue Weekly and unlimited magazine. His first book\, Born to Walk: The Transformative Power of a Pedestrian Act\, was a finalist at the Ottawa Book Awards and Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. He’s on Instagram at danrubnsteinsup and his website is www.waterborne.ca \nJESSICA TRUONG (she/her/hers)\, (Moderator) is a co-producer of the docuseries EATING EDMONTON\, which uses food\, the people who make it\, and experience as a second-generation immigrant to tell richer stories about Edmonton communities. Her experiences as a second generation Vietnamese Canadian can also be found online at @aspoonfordad and her writing featured in Hungryzine. She is the co-founder of Chúng Ta Cùng Nhau\, (We are Together) an initiative aimed at building a community that explores the generational identity as Canadian children of immigrants\, through shared stories\, experiences\, and events that connect the Vietnamese diaspora. \nThis event is presented in partnership with Chúng Ta Cùng Nhau
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/panel-memoir-hour-what-an-amazing-story/
LOCATION:Zeidler Hall\, 9828 101A Ave\, Edmonton\, AB
CATEGORIES:Panel
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251019T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251019T163000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250917T040254Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251008T151240Z
UID:4733-1760886000-1760891400@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Showcase: Edmonton Heritage Stories Anthology
DESCRIPTION:Tickets: $5 (student/low income)\, $15 (regular)\nPurchase tickets HERE (Use promo code “LITFEST2025” to access student rate) \n“A city is not alive without its people. Where there are people\, there are stories and art. Where there are stories and art\, there are opportunities to learn from each other\, and expand our knowledge and experiences.” \nLitFest is thrilled to bring you a selection of readings from Edmonton Heritage Stories: A collection of stories on crossings\, courage\, and community\, which pulls together heritage stories from the perspectives of people who acknowledge or identify with the the following heritage: China\, Germany\, Japan\, Nepal\, Philippines\, Poland and Ukraine. \nFeaturing: Ryan Lacanilao\, Oliver Rossier\, Roxanne Reimer (with musical accompaniment by Emry – Bejing Opera)\, Paul Fujishige\, Rabbits Three c/o Carley Okamura (Japanese Drums)\, William Wang\, Ying (Cathy) Shi (with accompaniment from the Chinese Seniors Band/Edmonton Small Band for Seniors)\, Mila Bonco-Philipzig (with accompaniment from Kulintang traditional drums) \nHost: Ryan Lacanilao \n  \nMila Bongco-Philipzig is a writer\, visual artist\, and community organizer. The diaspora of the global majority is a recurring theme in her works. She is an avid advocate for human rights and social justice. What is the point of art if not to resist? \nEdmonton Small Band for Seniors operates for four years with support of AHC and won the AHC 30th Anniversary Crystal Medal. The mission of the band is to serve health of elderly with music. The band includes Chinese\, Filipinos\, Vietnamese\, and Caucasian with a variety of musical styles. \nPaul Fujishige was born in Winnipeg and moved to Alberta in 1980. He held various positions in the government\, not-for-profit and education sectors. His primary work was with people with disabilities and families. He continues to advocate and promote the rights of all citizens. Paul is a sansei (3rd generation Japanese Canadian) re-discovering his roots\, including learning more about his family history in Canada and Japan. Paul is Past President of the Edmonton Japanese Community Association. \nRabbits Three Cultural Connections is an ensemble that features Japanese drumming (taiko) in collaboration with other art forms. Through cross-cultural collaborations\, we learn about each other as artists\, cultural practitioners\, and local contacts with whom we can build supportive networks. Today Rabbits Three is represented by Daniel Torres\, Yukiko Isaka\, and Carley Okamura. \nRoxanne Reimer is a proud mother of two wonderful daughters who keep her busy and bring her endless joy. In her free time\, Roxanne enjoys hiking\, crafting and rollerblading with her daughters\, and unwinding with a good puzzle. Through the Edmonton Chinese Writing Club\, she has discovered writing as a path to self-exploration and healing. “The only real failure is never trying.” \nOliver Rossier has a BA in History and Political Science\, and an MA in Communications and Technology\, both from UAlberta. Oliver has helped coordinate major campus-community engagement projects including: Principles of Resistance: the Gordon Hirabayashi Story; and the Pan-African Symposium. The Art of Uli is Oliver’s first attempt to create narrative non-fiction. \nYing (Cathy) Shi holds a Canadian doctorate in ESL Teacher Education and has 35 years of teaching experience. She researches immigrant career development and children’s global citizenship education. Through writing\, she reflects on cross-cultural experiences and leads the Edmonton Chinese Writing Club\, promoting inclusion and multiculturalism. \nWilliam Wang immigrated to Canada in 1990 and dedicated 23 years to the City of Edmonton before retiring in 2024. Throughout his career\, he received several prestigious awards\, including the 2010 Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) Outstanding Achievement Award and a City Manager’s Award Nomination. His English poetry and artwork have been featured in publications such as Edmonton Transit News and the Deputy City Manager’s City Operations Department Update. \nRyan Lacanilao (host) is a sometimes poet (@ooakosiryan)\, sometimes musician (@thecalamansiclub)\, and sometimes podcaster (@whatsthetsismis). He’s published in both English and Kapampangan\, and you can find his writing in The Polyglot\, Hungry Zine\, POV Publications\, and elsewhere. He’s currently writing a book of letters to his 4-year-old son. \n This events is presented in collaboration with the Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/showcase-edmonton-heritage-stories-anthology/
LOCATION:Zeidler Hall\, 9828 101A Ave\, Edmonton\, AB
CATEGORIES:Showcase
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251025T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20251025T150000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20250917T043544Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251023T184108Z
UID:4631-1761397200-1761404400@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Feature: Ekphrastic Writing\, with David Garneau and Wendy McGrath
DESCRIPTION:This event is free to attend\, but please pre-register as space is limited \nThis event\, which takes place at The Art Gallery of St. Albert\, brings together two beautiful collections of ekphrastic writing: Dark Chapters: Reading the Still Lives of David Garneau\, and The Beauty of Vultures by Wendy McGrath. \nFeaturing: David Garneau and Wendy McGrath\nModerator: Luciana Erregue-Sacchi \n  \nDark Chapters: Reading the Still Lives of David Garneau\nDark Chapters brings together 17 poets\, fiction writers\, curators\, and critics to engage with the works of David Garneau\, the Governor General’s Award-winning Métis artist. Featuring paintings from Garneau’s still life series “Dark Chapters” alongside poetry\, fiction\, critical analysis\, and autotheory\, the book includes contributions from Fred Wah\, Paul Seesequasis\, Jesse Wente\, Lillian Allen\, Billy-Ray Belcourt\, Larissa Lai\, Susan Musgrave\, and more. \nA nod to the Reports of Truth and Reconciliation Commission\, in which Justice Murray Sinclair describes the residential school system as “one of the darkest\, most troubling chapters in our nation’s history\,” Garneau’s still life paintings combine common objects (books\, bones\, teacups\, mirrors) and less familiar ones (a Métis sash\, a stone hammer\, a braid of sweetgrass) to reflect the complexity of contemporary Indigenous experiences. Provocative titles like “Métis in the Academy” and “Smudge Before Reading” invite consideration of the mixed influences and loyalties faced by Indigenous students and scholars. Other paintings explore colonialism\, vertical and lateral violence\, Christian influence on traditional knowledge\, and museum treatment of Indigenous belongings. Rooted in Garneau’s life-long engagement at the intersections of visual art and writing\, Dark Chapters presents a multifaceted reflection on the work of an inimitable\, unparalleled artist. \nIncludes contributions from Arin Fay\, Billy-Ray Belcourt\, Cecily Nicholson\, David Howes\, Dick Averns\, Fred Wah\, Jeff Derksen\, Jesse Wente\, John G. Hampton\, Larissa Lai\, Lillian Allen\, Paul Seesequasis\, Peter Morin\, Rita Bouvier\, Susan Musgrave\, Tarene Thomas\, and Trevor Herriot. \n  \nThe Beauty of Vultures\nThe interplay between photography\, nature and poetic form is on full display in Wendy McGrath’s and Danny Miles’ collaborative new work The Beauty of Vultures. This innovative collection takes readers into the surprisingly chatty world of birds\, whose avian artistry and poignant plumage mimics the formally and structurally inventive tones found in each poem. The language wings its way between funny and serious\, poignant and morbid\, while always drawing parallels between the poets thoughts and the cameras eye. From peahens telling off their elaborately festooned romantic partners\, robins empty eggs recalling air raid tests after WWII\, to seagulls serving as harbingers of humanity’s ongoing crimes against nature\, each unit of photography melds seamlessly with its poetic doppelgänger. \n  \nDAVID GARNEAU (Métis Nation of Saskatchewan) is a Professor of Visual Arts at the University of Regina. He is a painter\, curator\, and writer who engages creative and critical expressions of Indigenous contemporary ways of knowing\, being\, and doing. He received the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Art: Outstanding Achievement\, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada\, and received The Order of Gabriel Dumont Silver Medal. Garneau has curated more than two dozen exhibitions in Canada and internationally (including the Museum of the American Indian\, NYC). He has given keynotes in Australia\, New Zealand\, and throughout Canada and written numerous articles and book chapters on re/conciliation\, museums\, Indigenous contemporary and public art\, and numerous other topics. His performance\, Dear John\, featuring the spirit of Louis Riel meeting with John A. Macdonald statues\, was presented in Regina\, Kingston\, and Ottawa. David recently installed a large public artwork\, the Tawatina Bridge paintings\, in Edmonton and designed the Riel Commemorative Silver Dollar for the Canadian Mint. His painting exhibition\, Dark Chapters is currently touring Canada\, and is supported by Chapters: Reading the Still Lives of David Garneau\, a collection of poems and essays by seventeen authors (University of Regina Press\, 2025). \nWENDY McGRATH (she/her) is a Métis poet\, writer\, and artist living in amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton). Winner of the inaugural Prairie Grindstone Prize\, McGrath’s writing embraces multiple genres. Her latest poetry collection\, The Beauty of Vultures\, (NeWest Press April 2025) is inspired by and includes the bird/wildlife photography of Danny Miles\, drummer for the band ‘July Talk.’ Her most recent chapbook/artist’s book\, The Orange Scribbler (Jack Pine Press 2023) is a hybrid work inspired by heirloom family recipes. She has collaborated with visual artists and musicians\, exploring the relationships between genres. McGrath has published four novels\, two poetry collections\, and two chapbooks/artist’s books which explore a range of forms and approaches. Broke City\, the final book in her Santa Rosa Trilogy\, continues her exploration of the prairie gothic. She is an established member of the writing community\, enriching it through mentoring\, teaching\, and engaging in literary events. \nLUCIANA ERREGUE-SACCHI (Moderator) is a Canadian-Argentinian immigrant settler residing in Amiskwaciwâskahikan\, art historian (MA UofA ’16)\, an award winning publisher (Laberinto Press)\, translator\, author (Of Mothers and Madonna\, an ekphrastic poetry collection published by Polyglot in 2023) and cultural worker. Luciana has presented at LitFest\, Edmonton Poetry Fest\, and Banff Centre. Her work and translations have appeared in her blog SpectatorCurator\, academic publications\, Polyglot Magazine\, AGNI\, and others and she has been featured on CBC Edmonton\, Radio Canada\, Quill and Quire\, Literary Review of Canada\, Westword\, and Edmonton Journal. She is an activist for freedom to read and an advocate for hyphenated Canadian literature. \n  \n This event is presented in partnership with The Art Gallery of St. Albert
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/feature-ekphrastic-writing-with-david-garneau-and-wendy-mcgrath/
LOCATION:Art Gallery of St. Albert\, 19 Perron St\, St. Albert
CATEGORIES:Feature
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20260426T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20260426T123000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20260407T190229Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260407T190720Z
UID:4838-1777199400-1777206600@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:Kill the Critic: Getting Out of Your Own Way and Back to the Page
DESCRIPTION:Kick your inner critic to the curb and get your creative flow back with this fun\, no-pressure writing workshop! \n\n\n\n\nBrought to you in partnership with LitFest. Through guided prompts\, discussion\, and generative exercises\, participants will explore practical ways to quiet the inner critic and generate new work. The session focuses on shifting perspective\, loosening habitual thinking\, and discovering unexpected paths into language. Writers of all levels and genres are welcome. (No critics will be harmed). \nFacilitators: Ellen Kartz and Lisa Mulrooney\nDate/Time: Sunday\, April 26th\, 10:30am-12:30pm\nLocation: Jasper Place Library\, 9010 – 156 Street\, Edmonton\nCost: FREE\, but please pre-register HERE \nDonations will be accepted for Parkland Poets Society & Stroll of Poets Society
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/kill-the-critic-getting-out-of-your-own-way-and-back-to-the-page/
LOCATION:Jasper Place Library\, 9010 - 156 Street\, Edmonton\, AB
CATEGORIES:Partnered Event,Workshop
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20260505T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20260505T203000
DTSTAMP:20260418T050103
CREATED:20260410T214636Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260410T214901Z
UID:4844-1778007600-1778013000@litfestalberta.org
SUMMARY:LitFest Presents: Kim Echlin
DESCRIPTION:Tuesday\, May 5\, 2026\n7:00 pm\nTickets ($5-$15) available HERE \nCatch Kim Echlin\, internationally bestselling author of The Disappeared\, in conversation with Rayanne Haines. \n\n\n\nFrom the internationally bestselling author of The Disappeared comes a profound meditation on the cultural impact of storytelling and testimony in five intimate and illuminating essays. \nIn this moving collection\, critically acclaimed novelist Kim Echlin examines how we turn to literature to measure our lives against the darknesses of our time. Tell Others explores how literature resists silencing and repression with truth and imagination. \nEchlin skillfully blends her lived experience in different parts of the world—teaching in post-revolutionary China\, researching war crimes in the former Yugoslavia\, studying under one of Canada’s most respected Elders\, Basil H. Johnston—with wide-ranging reading that offers solace and highlights the possibility to transform outrage into understanding and resistance. \nLooking to her favourite writers—Milan Kundera\, Salman Rushdie\, Ma Jian\, Toni Morrison\, Margaret Atwood\, and Haruki Murakami\, to name a few—Echlin grapples in fresh ways with tyranny\, war\, sexual violence\, and censorship to bear witness to the past and look to the future. Written in characteristically unsparing and evocative prose\, Tell Others is an invitation to all readers to acknowledge histories that are difficult to see and to make meaning from the stories that buried bones tell. \nKIM ECHLIN is the award-winning author of Elephant Winter\, Dagmar’s Daughter\, Under the Visible Life\, and Speak\, Silence\, winner of the Toronto Book Award. Her novel The Disappeared won the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award and is published in 20 countries. She serves on the board of PEN International. \nRAYANNE HAINES is a producer\, podcaster\, educator and award-winning poet. Her third collection\, Tell The Birds Your Body Is Not A Gun (Frontenac House 2021)\, won the 2022 Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry and was shortlisted for both the BPAA Robert Kroetsch Award and the ReLit Award. Her poetic memoir\, What Kind of Daughter? (Frontenac House 2024)\, was shortlisted for the 2024 Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry. Rayanne hosts the Crow Reads podcast\, is the President of the League of Canadian Poets\, and an Assistant Professor at MacEwan University. She teaches and writes with vulnerability as a guiding force. \nPlease note: This event utilizes tiered pricing in an effort to reduce barriers to attendance
URL:https://litfestalberta.org/event-1/litfest-presents-kim-echlin/
CATEGORIES:Feature
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