33. HOW WE DID IT - The FOLD
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Home Festival & Events The Festival of Literary Diversity Schedule 33. HOW WE DID IT

33. HOW WE DID IT

A Conversation with Authors

Description

Three authors whose works cross a range of form and style, discuss the process of writing and publishing, and the things they’ve learned about themselves along the way.

Date: May 6, 2023
Time: 11:00am – 12:00pm ET

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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.

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On a Budget? Check out our Patron Pass program.

Featured Speaker(s)

A young Black woman with a curly brown Afro stands against a lush green background.
Britta Badour
Bio
A white transwoman with dark straight hair and bangs, wearing a black t-shirt. She sits against a lush floral background.
Casey Plett
Bio
An Asian man with short dark hair and glasses sits at a patio table outdoors.
Dan K. Woo
Bio
a middle-aged Black man with a shaved head and small goatee. He wears a whit t-shirt and is photographed outside against a lush green backdrop.
Kern Carter
Bio
A young Black woman with a curly brown Afro stands against a lush green background.

Britta Badour

Born and raised in Kingston, Ontario, Britta Badour, better known as Britta B., is an award-winning artist, voice talent, educator, and poet living in Toronto. Her work has featured in notable spheres such as The Walrus Talks, Art Gallery of Ontario, Canadian Women’s Foundation, as well as literature festivals like the FOLD, Toronto International Festival of Authors, and LitFest Bergen. Britta holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Guelph and teaches spoken word performance at Seneca College. Wires that Sputter (McClelland & Stewart, 2023), is her debut collection of poetry.

A white transwoman with dark straight hair and bangs, wearing a black t-shirt. She sits against a lush floral background.

Casey Plett

Casey Plett is the author of A Dream of a Woman, which was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize; Little Fish, winner of a Lambda Literary Award, the Firecracker Award for Fiction, and the Amazon First Novel Award in Canada; and and A Safe Girl to Love, also a winner of a Lambda Literary Award. She was the co-editor of Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy From Transgender Writers alongside Cat Fitzpatrick. Plett has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, the Winnipeg Free Press, and other publications, and she is also the publisher at LittlePuss Press.

An Asian man with short dark hair and glasses sits at a patio table outdoors.

Dan K. Woo

Dan K. Woo edited the anthology, The Spirits Have Nothing to Do with Us, forthcoming in Spring 2023 from Buckrider Books. He was winner of the 2018 Ken Klonsky Award, a literary prize for a novella with a social justice theme, and is also the author of Letters to Little Comrade (2023). His recent collection, Taobao: Stories, was featured on the Chicago Review of Books most anticipated reads of 2022. He also works full time as a Senior Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers and occasionally teaches at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. 

a middle-aged Black man with a shaved head and small goatee. He wears a whit t-shirt and is photographed outside against a lush green backdrop.

Kern Carter

Author, writer, and community builder. Kern Carter is writing his own story and helping others share their own.

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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