Word Vancouver is Western Canada’s largest free literary festival and 2020 marks the 26th year of the festival. Held September 19th to the 24th, the Festival will bring authors and readers together to share stories, fictional accounts, poems, tall-tales, picture books and points-of-view. This has been a tough year for everyone, and Festival organizers hope by providing this extensive, free online programming that they can offer connection and inspire creativity for everyone in the community.

The programing is curated by Bonnie Nish, Executive Director, of Word Vancouver along with two guest curators; Betsy Warland (LGBTQ2S+ programs) and Russell Wallace (Indigenous programs). The result is 140 authors and over 50 events featuring a mix of virtual hands-on workshops, panel discussions and readings. The topics include the immigrant experience, Indigenous voices, grief and loss, LGBTQ2S+ perspectives, writing, illustrating, publishing and much more.

The Festival is collaborating with many community organizations including: Word On the Street Toronto, The Italian Cultural Centre, The Vancouver Public Library, SFU / The Writers Studio, Chinese Canadian Writers’ Association, Association of Italian-Canadian Writers, Joy Kogawa House,

Crime Writers of Canada and The Story Telling with Drag Queens Foundation.

Some Festival events have a limited capacity and all events require participants to register in advance. More details can be found at www.wordvancouver.ca