Less Than Six Months to Wait for Festival 2023!

Denman Island Readers and Writers Festival

 

…by Stewart Goodings

And what a dazzling literary line-up we have ready for loyal Denman Festival fans! Here’s a quick glimpse of the outstanding authors we will welcome to Denman July 20-23:

  • you want prize-winning novelists? Well, how about the last two Giller winners, Omar El Akkad, the 2021 winner for What Strange Paradise, and Suzette Mayr, the 2022 winner for The Sleeping Car Porter
  • you want hard-hitting non-fiction experts on current public policy issues? If so, we have Seth Klein, author of A Good War: Mobilising Canada for the Climate Emergency, Britt Wray, author of Generation Dread and Bruce McIvor, author of Standoff: Why Reconciliation Fails Indigenous People and How to Fix It.
  • are you looking for poetry with heart and heft? Then come and meet Tolu Oloruntoba, Griffin Award winner and Governor General winner for his two most recent books of poetry, The Junta of Happenstance and Each One a Furnace
  • maybe you enjoy returning stars such as Ruth Ozeki (who made her initial visit to Denman in 2007) bringing her latest acclaimed novel The Book of Form and Emptiness...or discovering brilliant new talent such as Tsering Yangzom Lama, with her Giller shortlisted debut novel We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies
  • and it’s not all deadly serious at a Denman Festival… we have a sense of humour too, and Susan Lundy is sure to tickle your funny bone with her Home on the Strange
  • as well as solo sessions by each invited author, our popular Main Stage events will bring combos of authors together to spark each other and audiences on themes of topical and literary interest

Then there are the other regular features of the festival: for example, Angie Abdou, writer of six books of fiction and memoir, returns for a second year to lead The Writing Week, our five day intensive writing workshop. Local writers from Denman Island will be featured reading their own 10 minute compositions. Up to four workshops will be offered by our visiting authors for attendees who want to improve their writing skills. Group lunches and dinners will provide opportunities for authors and participants to meet each other and share stories. And our local bookstore, Abraxas Books will have books by the invited authors and Denman authors for sale throughout the festival.

Registration will open May 15. Watch for more tantalizing details as we move closer to July!

Sign up to receive e-news from the Festival!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Sign up to receive e-news from the Festival!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.