If you’re a lover of literature or are hoping to get deeper into the literary scene, this is an event for you!
Coming back to Victoria for their 8th year, the Victoria Festival of Authors (VFA) will be ready to inspire from October 11th to 15th at the W̱MÍYEŦEN Nature Sanctuary (formerly Mary lake), and their new location, Langham Court Theatre.
In addition to their special in-person events, there will be a mix of virtual events too—tickets for all of these to go on sale September 9th!
“We have such a dedicated community,” Festival Producer, Laura Trunkey, told Victoria Buzz.
“It’s really great to have these days that are celebrating reading and writing.”
Trunkey shared some more exciting changes, including sliding scale tickets, additional outdoor events, and a new twist on their event curation.
“Usually we have a theme, but this year, instead of having a theme…most of the events [are] curated by the guest curators,” Trunkey said.
“We have Indigenous curators…we have Planet Earth Poetry, and some others…they’ll be quite unique.”
Noteworthy events include a panel of banned children’s books called, ‘Banned: On Diversity, Censorship, and Children’s Books’ and the ‘In Conversation’ event between Jack Knox and the Ferguson brothers—who have both independently won the Leacock Medal, Canada’s top humour-writing prize.
“[The Ferguson event is] bound to be a really funny event, we’re excited about that for sure…[and the] banned books event is a really timely thing…really relevant to now,” Trunkey said.
Another literary event worth catching is one of Victoria’s literary journals, The Malahat Review, with their virtual panel, ‘Writing Who You Know?’—which will feature an abundance of emerging non-fiction writers.
According to Trunkey, hyper-focusing on BC or regional local authors (with a few across-Canada exceptions) has been the most beneficial for writers within the community as well as the event itself.
“It gives us an opportunity to focus on new and emerging writers instead of just bringing in big names,”
“We’re really excited about all the authors we’re bringing…people should come out [and] discover someone new.”
Some local big names will also be present, such as Darrel J. McLeod who’s won a number of awards with his memoirs and has just published a new fiction novel.
As mentioned, tickets will be offered on a sliding scale and general admission prices will go on sale on Saturday, September 9th—you can purchase them from the VFA website here.
They’re also always looking for volunteers if that is something you’d be interested in!
You can learn more about this opportunity here.
Victoria Festival of Authors
- Where:
- Langham Court Theatre, 805 Langham Court
- W̱MÍYEŦEN Nature Sanctuary, 1772 Millstream Road
- Online
- When:
- October 11th to 15th—times vary
- Tickets go on sale September 9th
