PREVIEW EVENT: Fierce Fiction - The FOLD
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Home Festival & Events The Festival of Literary Diversity FOLD 2022 PREVIEW EVENT: Fierce Fiction

PREVIEW EVENT: Fierce Fiction

Virtual Preview Event

Description

Grab some friends or the members of your official book club, and keep your notebooks and calendars ready! From rom-coms through to family stories of exile and hope, this panel discussion with Tsering Yangzom Lama, Reema Patel, and Sonya Singh features your next favourite reads. We know there’s going to be plenty to talk about.

How to Register

This event is a preview event and will be available free of charge in partnership with Kitchener Public Library.

Register HERE for Fierce Fiction.

For festival passes, guests can choose one of three types of passes for FOLD 2022: Virtual Events Only Passes ($35), Virtual Plus In-Person Events Passes ($45) and In-Person Only Passes ($15). Secondary school educators can choose a special Educator pass (with the same virtual and in-person options), which allow them to create a Student Access Login which their students can use to log on to individual devices. Bundle passes are available for groups of five educators who wish to reduce the price of their pass by buying in bulk. School discounts and board discounts are available by request until early April.

On a Budget? Check out our Patron Pass program.

Featured Speaker(s)

A photo of a young Indo-Canadian woman with long dark hair and dark-framed glasses, standing against an autumn-leaf nature background.
Reema Patel
Bio
A young Indian-Canadian woman with long dark hair, wearing a sleeveless dark green top and a gold pendant.
Sonya Singh
Bio
Black and white photo of a young Tibetan-Canadian woman with shoulder-length dark hair, wearing a dark button-up shirt and standing against a white shelf filled with books.
Tsering Yangzom Lama
Bio
A middle-aged Asian-Canadian woman with long dark hair. She wears dangling earrings and a black button-up shirt and is smiling faintly at the camera.
Ann Yu-Kyung Choi
Bio
A photo of a young Indo-Canadian woman with long dark hair and dark-framed glasses, standing against an autumn-leaf nature background.

Reema Patel

Reema Patel holds a B.A. from McGill University and a J.D. from the University of Windsor. After working in Mumbai in the youth non-profit sector and in human rights advocacy, she has spent the last ten years working in provincial and municipal government. Such Big Dreams is her first novel, an excerpt of which won the Penguin Random House Student Award for Fiction at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies. She lives in Toronto, where she currently works as a lawyer.

A young Indian-Canadian woman with long dark hair, wearing a sleeveless dark green top and a gold pendant.

Sonya Singh

Sonya Singh is an author, writer, and storyteller who currently lives in Toronto, Canada. She’s a former entertainment reporter turned PR expert. Her debut novel Sari, Not Sari, slated for a spring release in ’22, is already generating serious advanced buzz (including being selected for the prestigious Debutante Ball). She also signed an international two book deal. Sonya wrote Sari, Not Sari, to laugh her way through some of her more disastrous breakups. In her spare time, you can find Sonya sipping on a matcha latte, enjoying a homemade pizza, or hanging out with her adorable dog, Moses Alexander.

Black and white photo of a young Tibetan-Canadian woman with shoulder-length dark hair, wearing a dark button-up shirt and standing against a white shelf filled with books.

Tsering Yangzom Lama

Tsering Yangzom Lama is the author of We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies. She holds a BA in Creative Writing and International Relations from the University of British Columbia, and an MFA from Columbia University. Born and raised in Nepal, Tsering has lived in Toronto, New York City, and Vancouver – where she now resides.

A middle-aged Asian-Canadian woman with long dark hair. She wears dangling earrings and a black button-up shirt and is smiling faintly at the camera.

Ann Yu-Kyung Choi

Ann Yu-Kyung Choi is a Toronto-based author and educator whose first novel, Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety, was a finalist for the Toronto Book Award. Her debut children’s picture book, Once Upon An Hour, was a FOLD Kids Book-of-the-Month in 2020. Ann currently sits on the Program Advisory Committee for gritLIT and is the co-founder of the Authors Book Club, an initiative that connects authors with readers in Canada.

The FOLD is a remarkable and wonderful event for authors and attendees alike. What an amazing community, dedicated to the vital need for inclusive stories and the critical role they play in building a better world.

Soraya Chemaly, author of Rage Becomes Her

Field Guide to the North American Teenager is my first novel and FOLD was my first Canadian literary festival. While American and Canadian culture overlap quite a bit, especially when it comes to bookshelves, Canadian literature is unique and I was very heartened by to be embraced by that community I consider home despite residing in the US. It was a homecoming I didn’t know I needed!

Ben Philippe, author of Field Guide to the North American Teenager

The Festival of Literary Diversity was an absolute joy–the organizers thought of *everything* and by anticipating authors’ needs, they freed us to focus on connecting with the audience and each other. There was no pretension, no posturing–just very genuine conversations with invested writers and engaged readers.

Zetta Elliott, author of Dragons in a Bag

I have been to a lot of writers festivals and the FOLD is definitely near the top of the list of those I want to be invited back to.

Harold Johnson, author of the memoirs Clifford and Firewater

Being part of such a clearly diverse, inclusive and mutually respectful group was thrilling and inspiring: a glimpse of a better world.

Kathy Page, author of Dear Evelyn, winner of the 2018 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize

Wherever I go in Canada and find another writer of colour, we eventually end up gushing about how great the FOLD is, how by normalizing diversity it liberates us to talk to audiences about craft. It’s hard to imagine the literary landscape returning to a prehistoric pre-FOLD era.

Ian Williams, Author of the Giller Prize-winning novel Reproduction

FOLD is a festival experience unlike any other I’ve had. The FOLD team strive to create a space that’s welcoming and engaging, while allowing for curiosity, ingenuity and the fostering of real community – and they succeed, every year.

Alicia Elliott, author of A Mind Spread Out On The Ground

The FOLD is one of the most important literary events on this continent. By focusing on diverse voices and giving authors space to share their stories and speak their truths, it is revolutionizing the writing and storytelling realm as we know it.

Waubgeshig Rice, author of Moon Of The Crusted Snow

Being part of the FOLD community has provided me with a strong sense of belonging. Sharing diverse stories and listening to different voices that broaden my understanding of the world has impacted me as a person and motivated me as a writer.

Ann Y.K. Choi, author of Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety

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