Victoria Festival of Authors is happening this October

I wrote an article at the end of August detailing the upcoming Festival of Authors and where residents/visitors of Victoria, BC can grab tickets. Because of Bill C-18, it’s difficult to share the link online through an official news outlet, so I decided to put it here and share the link that way. Whether you’re interested in Victoria’s Festival of Authors (VFA) or not, I figured having the extra outlet to advertise wouldn’t hurt!

It’s a fantastic way to connect with local authors, publishers, magazine editors, and more—so if you’re looking to get more involved in literary events, check VFA out. I’ve only taken bits of the article to past on this page, if you wish to read the full piece, you can do so here.

(Dallas Hunt at W̱MÍYEŦEN Nature Sanctuary / VFA)

ORIGINAL: Published August 31st, 2023

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.

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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.

(Darrel McLeod at W̱MÍYEŦEN Nature Sanctuary / VFA)

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.

• Where:

  • Langham Court Theatre, 805 Langham Court

  • W̱MÍYEŦEN Nature Sanctuary, 1772 Millstream Road

  • Online

• When: October 11th to 15th—times vary

Again, for the full article, you can visit the Victoria Buzz website here.