Event 60: Emerge (Sunday, October 21st, 4 p.m.)

This event was one of the festival’s last, and I was beginning to sense some weariness in my fellow audience members, the writers, and the many volunteers who work at the festival. This fatigue quickly cleared as the 20 writers featured at this event found their seats. 

This event celebrated the launch of emerge, an anthology of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction created by the featured writers.Each writer was a participant in Simon Fraser University’s Writer’s Studio. During their work at the Writer’s Studio, the authors attended courses on craft, publishing, and public readings.

Because the event’s organizers wisely limited each author’s reading time, the writers gathered momentum and maintained energy. The earnestness of these writers was palpable. Expectedly, the subject and style varied widely from author to author. Standouts included Fiona Scott, a non-fiction writer who read a piece about travel and shark diving; Alev Ersan, who read an intriguing excerpt about a dog’s nightmare; and Ayelet Tsabari, who read from a piece describing her service in the Israeli Army. I recommend the anthology the writers created to any reader interested in hearing from new literary voices.

It was wonderful to end on this type of forward-looking event, which served mostly as an introduction to new writers (who may show up at next year’s events!). I left the festival feeling like someone who’d eaten a delicious, multi-course meal: saturated with ideas, stimulated by the discussions, and satisfied by the transformation of literature into performance (at least until next year).

For more information and photos, you can visit the official website here: www.writersfest.bc.ca/

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