Festival Review: Litfest

From October 16 to 21, Litfest, Canada’s premier non-fiction festival, celebrated its 20th anniversary with a series of events featuring writers from across Canada. There were book launches, workshops and even a brunch. This year’s events were a highlight for many people’s weekend. 

Ellen Kartz, Litfest’s executive director, introduced events with a warm welcome and gratitude for every staff member, volunteer and featured writer involved. Litfest partnered with organizations around the city to make this festival possible.

The first event I attended was “The World We Long For: Double Book Launch,” featuring Vivek Shraya and Kai Cheng Thom, which was a treat to see. The event partnered with the MacEwan University’s Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity and shared a piece of what it means to be 2SLGBTQIA+ in Canada. Sitting in the crowd, I felt as if I was peering into two sisters’ book club. It was funny, vulnerable, and hopeful. The two found sisters, or authors, are touring Canada to advertise their books together, but the books and the authors could not be more different. 

Vivek Shraya is a multi-faceted trans artist of colour who has done work in music, literature, visual art, theatre, film and television. She is a three-time Canadian Screen Award Winner, was nominated for the Polaris Music Prize, and is a brand ambassador for MAC Cosmetics and Pantene. Her new book, “The Hystericals,” is a dark dystopian novel speaking to the dangers of women’s oppression. 

Kai Cheng Thom is a Chinese Canadian writer, performance artist, and former social worker whose works show the importance of hope, love, and self-acceptance from her perspective as a transgender woman. Her newest book, “The Shapeshifter’s Guide to Gym Class,” is a children’s book about a utopia that faces paranoia for the first time surrounding a mysterious disease killing crops.

The two stood together as two sides of the same coin. Shraya arrived at the event in a bold, gorgeous dress, smoky eye shadow, and slicked-back hair, while their co-feature presented themselves with a soft purple dress, shawl, and ballet flats. Their differences and back and forth rapport made the final Q&A engaging and a joy to witness. During the Q&A, they shared the importance of removing stigma around talking about hard topics and the importance of 2SLGBTQIA+ stories to make youth feel seen and loved for their differences. 

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to appreciate “Liminality: Double Feature Book Launch,” featuring Kathryn Gwun-Yeen Lennon and Nisha Patel, and hosted by Sandra S.G. Wong. This event centered on the importance of remembering our heritages and history. 

Kathryn Gwun-Yeen Lennon is a poet, editor, and publisher whose work centres on place, migration, identity, language, and food. She is the creator of the much-loved Hungryzine, and is on a book tour with her first full-length poetry collection, Duckweed. The book shares her experience learning Mandarin, trying to connect to her grandmother, and the diaspora that comes with being first generation Canadian. 

Her performance included a musical segment featuring Jyn-Ting Ying on keyboard, and was absolutely mesmerizing. The music about the resilient community in Edmonton’s Chinatown echoed through the theatre. It was an amazing experience, and paired well with Nisha Patel’s following performance.

Nisha Patel is an award-winning disabled queer spoken word author and artist. She was the City of Edmonton’s eighth Poet Laureate and currently works for the Writers’ Guild of Alberta. Her newest book, “Let the Record Show,” is one long piece of poetry with news headlines sprinkled throughout about the COVID-19 pandemic. The heart-wrenching work and performance highlights the importance of remembering major events. Patel warns us of the dangers of forgetting history. Both Lennon and Patel highlighted the importance of remembering each other’s stories, or else we will forget the good and the bad.

Litfest 2026 shared that people’s stories matter. Whether they are orally shared, or written as non-fiction, fiction, or poetry, stories share a way for us to connect to each other. I adored Litfest and cannot wait for Litfest 2027.