LiterASIAN Festival 2023’s theme this year is Inclusion 2023, and the events will include book readings, writing workshops, panel discussions, and an afternoon dimsum with the authors. This year’s featured authors include 2021 Danuta Gleed Literary Award winner Jack Wang (We Two Alone); novelist and playwright Simon Johnston (House of Daughters); writer and teacher Gillian Sze (Quite Night Think); rising star David Ly (Dream of Me as Water); poet and writer Steffi Tad-y (From the Shoreline); and emerging talents Candie Tanaka (Baby Drag Queen) and Emi Sasagawa (Atomweight). Roy Kurita and Sharon Lee (Growing Up Nisei) relives memories of the Japanese Canadian internment during World War II; Winnie L. Cheung and Lee Mei-Fung (Childhood Lost) will share memories of life during the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945); Tāriq Malik (Exit Wounds) will give his personal views on working across poetry, fiction, and visual arts; Hieu Pham-Fraser (The Little Girl) will present on children’s writing and its messages of anti-racism and inclusion and Historic Joy Kogawa House Writer-in-Residence David Mura (A Stranger’s Journey: Race, Identity & Narrative Craft in Writing; The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself) – will lead a series of writing workshops on identity, poetry, fiction, and memoir.
LiterASIAN will take place in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown located on the unceded Coast Salish Territories of the Musqueam, Tsleil Waututh, and Squamish people. Events will be held the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, Foo Hung Curios at the Chinatown Storytelling Centre, Centre A International Art Gallery, Floata Seafood Restaurant, and the Historic Joy Kogawa House.
LiterASIAN 2023
Thursday, May 4
7:00-8:30 PM: Identity and the Writing Process with David Mura: The writing process and how writing interfaces with politics, activism, and social justice
Saturday May 6
1.00 PM-2.30 PM: “Now Tell Me”: On the Crafting of Words and Narratives
3.00 PM-4.30 PM: “How Do You Feel?” The Aesthetic and Rhythmic Kindness of Poetry
Sunday May 7
11.30 AM-3.00 PM: Wine and Words: Dim Sum with the Authors
Thursday, May 11
7:00-8:30 PM: Poetry with David Mura: Techniques and approaches to writing poetry
Saturday May 13
Readings and Book Signing with the Authors at the Chinatown Storytelling Centre (no registration required)
Sunday May 14
2.00-3.30 PM: Words and Borders: Common Threads of Migration and Resilience
Thursday, May 18
7:00-8:00 PM: Fiction with David Mura: Western structures and techniques of narrative in fiction
Thursday, May 25
7:00-8:00 PM: Memoir and Nonfiction with David Mura: Techniques and principles of the contemporary memoir