18. Writers on Danger and Uncertainty - The FOLD
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Home Festival & Events The Festival of Literary Diversity Registration 18. Writers on Danger and Uncertainty

18. Writers on Danger and Uncertainty

A Mood Series Event

Session Description

Uncertainty can feed our anxieties, especially in the face of unprecedent and unimaginable danger. In this Mood Series event, Nekesa Afia (Dead Dead Girls), Nadine Matheson (The Jigsaw Man), and Carrie Jenkins (Victoria Sees It) reveal chilling novels, full of twists and turns. From the craft of storytelling to the curiosity that frames their most chilling characters, these crime fiction writers discuss how they process and write through the danger of the unknown.

About the Mood Series

In these 70-minute conversations, belonging, hope, grief, love, isolation, magic, transformation, and fear, readers will hear from authors who have published or written work in unprecedented conditions. Moderators will discuss these moods and themes with authors, unpacking each mood and its connection to their lives and their work.

Each mood event will be followed by a discussion in our festival lounge – providing attendees with the opportunity to respond to the facilitated conversation.

How to Register

Events scheduled for May 1-15 are available via an all-access festival pass. The festival pass costs $39 and gives you access to a virtual festival platform, which includes an auditorium hosting forty virtual events, an exhibit hall with a live chat feature for communicating with vendors, and a lounge for engaging in discussions before and after events with other festival-goers.

Passholders will have be able to compete in the space for incredible prizes and will have access to the platform and all of the recorded festival events, as well as bonus content, until May 30, 2021. If the cost of the pass is prohibitive, please fill out the Patron Pass form, and a pass will be made available.

Featured Speaker(s)

A young Black woman stands against a white background. She wears a long-sleeved purple dress.
Nekesa Afia
Bio
A white woman with long dark hair and clear glasses.
Carrie Jenkins
Bio
A young Black woman with long braids. She wears a dark purple shirt with a pink pattern on it.
Nadine Matheson
Bio
A middle-aged blonde woman stands by a large window.
Elisabeth de Mariaffi
Bio
A young Black woman stands against a white background. She wears a long-sleeved purple dress.

Nekesa Afia

Nekesa (Nuh-kes-ah) Afia (Ah-fee-ah) is a Canadian millennial who is doing her best. When she isn’t writing, she is either sewing, swing dancing, or actively trying to pet every dog she sees. Dead Dead Girls is her debut novel.

A white woman with long dark hair and clear glasses.

Carrie Jenkins

Carrie Jenkins is an award-winning philosopher and writer. She is Canada Research Chair in Philosophy at the University of British Columbia and holds a PhD from Trinity College, Cambridge, as well as an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. She is the author of What Love Is and What It Could Be and Uninvited: Talking Back to Plato. Her first novel, Victoria Sees It, will be published in 2021 with Strange Light, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada. Carrie reads Tarot cards and lives with two sphynx cats.

A young Black woman with long braids. She wears a dark purple shirt with a pink pattern on it.

Nadine Matheson

Nadine Matheson has always been passionate about writing and storytelling. She was born and lives in London and is a Criminal Defence Lawyer and teaches Criminal Law. In 2016, she won the City University Crime Writing Competition and completed the Creative Writing (Crime/Thriller Novels) MA at City University of London with Distinction in 2018. Her debut novel is The Jigsaw Man.

A middle-aged blonde woman stands by a large window.

Elisabeth de Mariaffi

Elisabeth de Mariaffi is the critically acclaimed author of three books: the Giller-nominated short story collection How to Get Along with Women (2012), the literary thriller The Devil You Know (2015), and the 1950s-era Hitchcock-style thriller, Hysteria (2018.) Both novels were Globe and Mail Best Books and shortlisted for the prestigious Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. Elisabeth has taught fiction at UBC, Memorial University, and through the Humber School for Writers. Her newest novel, The Retreat, is coming July 2021 from HarperCollins Canada and Mulholland Books USA.

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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