Brampton’s Festival of Literary Diversity (The FOLD) kicks off May 4th at a few venues around the city.

The FOLD, brainchild of Brampton author and the festival’s artistic director Jael Richardson, brings together a diverse cohort of literary talent from across Canada. Coming to Brampton for FOLD’s sophomore year are authors and other industry professionals including Jen Sookfong Lee, Kamal Al-Solaylee, Katherena Vermette, and many more.

This unique festival aims to give voice and a platform to authors under-served by the traditional literary and publishing establishment. Through panels, readings, and workshops, the FOLD’s mandate is to foster a community that works to increase representation of geography, ethnicity, race, culture, gender, ability, sexual orientation, and religion in Canadian storytelling.

The festival’s choice of Brampton as the permanent host city was an intentional one, not just because the city has a multicultural makeup that goes along with the festival’s programming and audience, but because the FOLD wants to place Brampton on Canada’s literary map.

“I wanted to do something that was positive, and shows off some of our best features; being our historic, downtown community spaces, and also our diversity,” notes Richardson. “In terms of literary work, we’ve got a lot of really great authors who have been born, raised and lived in Brampton, so I think it’s fitting we have an event bringing together some of that art.”

There are a variety of events running throughout the festival for aspiring writers and literary geeks alike. An all-access pass is $90.00, but there are other packages and pricing options – including some free programming – available.

The four-day event runs from May 4 to 7. Get all of the details on their website here.

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