Victoria Festival of Authors

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Wednesday, September 30th, 2020
October 1 - 7:30-9 October 2 - 7:30-9 October 3 - 1-2:30, 4-5:30, 7:30-9 October 4 - 1-2:30, 4-5:30, 7-8:30

For four years, Victoria Festival of Authors (VFA) has been the largest celebration of reading and writing on Vancouver Island. Our fifth annual festival will be much the same. We'll feature an amazing lineup of prose and poetry writers from our region and beyond, but this year we're bringing them to you online, for free.

In 2020, VFA will host 28 authors from across Canada, taking part in 11 offerings. Our poetry and prose nights will be in podcast form, with readings interspersed with music by Leanne Dunic and Kathryn Calder. Our annual poetry walk will be offered both as a webcast, with views of Thetis Lake Regional Park accompanying the poets, and as a podcast so listeners can enjoy their own slice of the natural world.

The topics of our eight Zoom-based panels include climate change, the contemporary crisis of credibility, reconciling witness and writing for youth. Guest curator K.P Dennis�s panel Queer Existence is Resistance will explore the power and importance of QT2BIPOC futurisms in shaping and reframing the world we currently inhabit.

Our festival begins and ends in local voices. Our opening event will bring four local authors together in a panel moderated by Darrel J. McLeod. On Sunday evening, in conjunction with the Victoria Book Prize Society, the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize and the City of Victoria Children�s Book Prize will be awarded.

All panels will be closed-captioned, and all events will be free. Our aim for this year�s virtual VFA is to deliver connection and hope through literature.

Some festival events have a limited capacity and Zoom-based panels require participants to register in advance. More details can be found at www.victoriafestivalofauthors.ca