The largest and liveliest celebration of books and book lovers, Victoria Festival of Authors (VFA) runs September 28 to October 2 and features a selection of panels, readings and conversations with authors at indoor and outdoor venues around Victoria.
With land and environmental concerns forefront in the minds of many in Victoria, VFA has focused half of its programming on ecology, climate emergency, the Landback movement, and connections with the protected forests just outside our city. This includes the panel Climate Acts, Land Sings, which examines how we cultivate respectful relationships with the land, its original peoples and its lifeforms.
Keeping with the theme, an evening curated by Planet Earth Poetry (PEP) called A Corrective Lens features poets “gaz[ing] on a glorious world…that we humans have irrevocably changed.”
VFA2022 Indigenous Curator, author Monique Gray Smith, will host an event with Shelagh Rogers on National Truth and Reconciliation Day, and Forest to Poet/Tree Walk is back, featuring four poets reading from their new work as audience members stroll the trails of Mary Lake Nature Sanctuary.
Gray Smith’s event with Rogers is one of four solo author events this year.
Bob McDonald of the popular radio program Quirks and Quarks will discuss climate solutions and his new book The Future is Now with Elin Kelsey. Jane Billinghurst is leading a forest walk at Mary Lake Nature Sanctuary, and Jennifer Egan is chatting about her new novel, The Candy House, with Zsuzsi Gartner.
Once again, the festival opens with New Works, showcasing four local writers who are gifting us a sneak peek at their manuscripts in-progress. And Saturday evening, as usual, is a night to listen to new fiction with a musical accompaniment—this year provided by Jen Severtson/Peach Pyramid.
Because VFA is committed to accessibility, all events feature closed captioning, and most in-person events will be livestreamed. There are also four free/by-donation virtual events.
Visit victoriafestivalofauthors.ca for more information.