VICTORIA FESTIVAL OF AUTHORS LAUNCH
Where: Canadian College of Performing Arts, Langham Court Theatre, and W̱MÍYEŦEN Nature Sanctuary
When: Sept. 21-22
Tickets: $17.31-$54.58 from (some events are free)
The road to the Victoria Festival of Authors begins this weekend with a two-day launch event featuring workshops and readings with a quartet of celebrated regional writers.
Patrons will be given a preview of the ninth annual festival, which is scheduled for Oct. 16-20, with a series of events at three venues this weekend, including the Canadian College of Performing Arts, Langham Court Theatre, and the W̱MÍYEŦEN Nature Sanctuary (formerly Mary Lake Sanctuary) on Millstream Road.
Nanaimo’s Maia Caron, Vancouver’s Jen Currin, Sooke’s Joseph Kakwinokanasum, and Leacock Medal winner Susan Juby of Nanaimo are the featured writers. The launch event was originally set to involve Governor General’s Literary Award winner Darrel J. McLeod, who died last month at the age of 67, following a brief and sudden illness. The Sooke-based author was scheduled to read from his acclaimed book, Peyakow, and host a two-day workshop, Going Deep: Memoir Writing from Start to Finish, during the launch event this weekend.
He was also pegged to participate in next month’s festival.
A reading scheduled for Sunday featuring Caron (who will read from her book, The Last Secret), Currin (who will read from their book, Disembark), and Juby (who will read from her book, A Meditation on Murder) now features Kakwinokanasum, who in tribute to his mentor will read some of McLeod’s work.
Victoria Festival of Authors producer Laura Trunkey admitted it will be strange to not have McLeod participate in the the festival this year. “We had Darrel at the festival for all of his books. When we first met him, he was a debut writer and we saw the growth of his career over the years.”
Caron, Currin, and Juby have signed on for two-day workshops Saturday and Saturday, which have been met with a big response from budding and blossoming writers, according to Trunkey. “It’s interesting. We have some people who you could consider already established, or at least mid-career writers, who have registered for them. And some people who are completely new.”
Victoria Festival of Authors serves as a showcase for dozens of regional authors, and celebrates poetry and prose for five days of readings and conversation. The schedule does not allow for workshops, however, which is why Trunkey and her team staged the launch event for the first time ever this weekend. “A lot of people were saying they wanted the workshop experience, but for us it doesn’t work as well during the festival as it would at another time,” she said.
“Instead of doing concurrent events, we thought we’d focus on workshops and the reading during the launch. It’s a nice way for us to try out a new venue [in the Canadian College of Performing Arts] and do things a little differently.”
For information on the event, go to .
