3. THE SH*T NO ONE TELLS YOU ABOUT WRITING - The FOLD
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Home Festival & Events The Festival of Literary Diversity Schedule 3. THE SH*T NO ONE TELLS YOU ABOUT WRITING

3. THE SH*T NO ONE TELLS YOU ABOUT WRITING

Featured Speaker(s)

An Asian man with short dark hair, wearing a button-up shirt and a blazer, standing against a corner window.
Kelvin Kong
Bio
A young Brazilian woman with ling brown hair standing against a dark background.
Cecilia Lyra
Bio
A white woman with long brown hair against a grey wall. She wears bright red lipstick and has bright blue eyes.
Bianca Marais
Bio
A white woman with short blonde hair wears a black parka and stands in an autumn field.
Carly Watters
Bio
A young Black woman with long braids pulled back into a high ponytail. She wears bright punk coral lipstick.
Léonicka Valcius
Bio
An Asian man with short dark hair, wearing a button-up shirt and a blazer, standing against a corner window.

Kelvin Kong

Kelvin Kong is the owner and principal agent at K2 Literary, and instructor/academic coordinator in the Toronto Metropolitan University/Chang School Publishing Certificate program.

A young Brazilian woman with ling brown hair standing against a dark background.

Cecilia Lyra

Cecilia (“CeCe”) Lyra is an associate literary agent at P.S. Literary Agency representing adult fiction and nonfiction.

A white woman with long brown hair against a grey wall. She wears bright red lipstick and has bright blue eyes.

Bianca Marais

Bianca Marais is a bestselling author and a host of the popular podcast, The Shit No One Tells You About Writing. She’s also an award-winning creative writing instructor.

A white woman with short blonde hair wears a black parka and stands in an autumn field.

Carly Watters

Carly Watters is Senior Vice President and Senior Literary Agent at P.S. Literary and co-host of The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Podcast.

A young Black woman with long braids pulled back into a high ponytail. She wears bright punk coral lipstick.

Léonicka Valcius

Léonicka Valcius is a second year law student at Lincoln Alexander at TMU, a host and Connect Group leader at C3Toronto Church, and a Literary Agent at Transatlantic Agency. She represents books for children and adults with a focus on commercial and genre fiction by writers of colour. Books she has worked on include Not The Plan by Gia de Cadenet, The Moonlight Blade by Tessa Barbosa and Falling Back in Love With Being Human by Kai Cheng Thom.

How to Register

The 2023 festival will run from April 30 – May 7. Dedicated virtual programming on our innovative, online platform will run April 30 – May 3, while in-person events — many of which will also be live-streamed and available on-demand for virtual audiences — will run May 4-7.

A Virtual Festival Pass gives guests access to more than 20 virtual events which can be viewed from the website or through our festival app designed for mobile devices. In addition to festival events, virtual passes provide users with direct access to more than a dozen vendors in our festival exhibitor hall. Guests who purchase a virtual pass can also participate in trivia times, roundtable discussions and our new festival after-parties, which will follow all of our evening events.

An In-Person Festival Pass gives users access to all of our virtual events as well as our standard in-person events in Brampton, Ontario on Saturday, May 6.

This year, the festival includes three in-person Specialty Events – the Dine N’ Draw on May 4, the Literary Cabaret on May 5 and our Historical Fiction High Tea on May 7. Tickets for these events are not covered with our passes and are only available until April 30.

REGISTER NOW

On a Budget? Check out our Patron Pass program.

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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