Festival of Literary Diversity

The Festival of Literary Diversity is an annual literary festival, which takes place in Brampton, Ontario, Canada.[1] Founded in 2016 by Jael Richardson,[2] the festival serves to promote and publicize literature by writers from underrepresented groups, such as Black Canadians, indigenous Canadians, Asian Canadians and LGBTQ writers, who are frequently overlooked by mainstream literary festivals.[3]

In addition to the main annual festival, FOLD also sponsors an ongoing reading series, Writers at the Rose, at the city's Rose Theatre.[4]

2016

The inaugural festival in 2016 was headlined by Lawrence Hill, with other participants including Ian Kamau, Chase Joynt, Waubgeshig Rice, Farzana Doctor, Helen Humphreys, Heather O'Neill, Vivek Shraya, Zarqa Nawaz, Ayelet Tsabari, Cherie Dimaline, Brian Francis, Samuel Archibald, Zoe Whittall, Carrianne Leung, Dwayne Morgan and Patti LaBoucane-Benson.[5]

2017

The keynote speaker in 2017 was Eden Robinson. Other participants included Kamal Al-Solaylee, Gary Barwin, M-E Girard, Denham Jolly, Scaachi Koul, Jen Sookfong Lee, Monia Mazigh, Saleema Nawaz, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Kai Cheng Thom and Katherena Vermette.[6]

2018

Participants in 2018 included Amber Dawn, Sharon Bala, Lisa Charleyboy, Cherie Dimaline, Omar El Akkad, Rachel Giese, Catherine Hernandez, Jamil Jivani, Kyo Maclear, Rabindranath Maharaj, Lee Maracle, Robyn Maynard, Kayla Perrin, Tanya Talaga, Jillian Tamaki, Kim Thúy and Joshua Whitehead.[7]

2019

The 2019 program included Sharon Bala, Ann Y. K. Choi, Esi Edugyan, Alicia Elliott, Joshua M. Ferguson, Cecil Foster, Catherine Hernandez, Uzma Jalaluddin, Larissa Lai, Téa Mutonji, Kathy Page, Waubgeshig Rice, Vivek Shraya, Tanya Talaga, Ian Williams and Winnie Yeung.

2020

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, the 2020 festival was staged online.[8] Participants included Mona Awad, Edem Awumey, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Gwen Benaway, Ali Blythe, Wayne Grady, Samra Habib, Canisia Lubrin, Ryan McMahon, Rhonda Mullins, Casey Plett, Ahmad Danny Ramadan, Jesse Thistle, Kai Cheng Thom, Rinaldo Walcott, Jenny Heijun Wills and Lindsay Wong.

References
  1. Deborah Dundas, "Brampton’s book fest The FOLD offers authors but also workshops and dancing". Toronto Star, April 30, 2019.
  2. "Festival of Literary Diversity in Brampton will shine the spotlight on diverse authors and books". Brampton Guardian, November 19, 2015.
  3. Vincent Donovan, "'Lots of people want diverse books': A new festival launched by writer Jael Ealey Richardson will shine a spotlight on authors who reflect the full breadth of Canadian literature". Toronto Star, May 1, 2016.
  4. "New literary series to debut at Brampton's Rose Theatre". Brampton Guardian, January 18, 2018.
  5. "Canada's first ever-diverse literary festival unfolding in Brampton May 6 to 8". Brampton Guardian, April 29, 2016.
  6. "Brampton's Festival of Literary Diversity is days away". Toronto Star, April 30, 2017.
  7. Deborah Dundas, "Diversity in the book world: As festival grows, so do efforts to include everyone". Toronto Star, April 28, 2018.
  8. Samraweet Yohannes, "Brampton's Festival of Literary Diversity goes virtual for 2020". CBC Books, March 19, 2020.
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