Twelve acclaimed Canadian authors will speak to audiences in Abbotsford at the Fraser Valley Writers Festival Nov. 7 and 8.
One of the most notable may be Charlie Demers, who will headline opening night.
Demers is a comedian, actor and author. He’s also well-known for his work on CBC’s The Debaters and Super Team Canada. Most recently, he’s been in the headlines for his role as the NDP’s speechwriter — a role which has drawn the ire of the Conservative Party of BC.
But he’ll be at the festival promoting his new book, The Eh Team. The book, published by Greystone, is a celebration of Canadian words and phrases “from Elbows Up to Poutine” and arrives at a time when Canadian pride is on the rise in response to American tariffs.
Of writing the book in this moment, Demers acknowledges that this could “potentially have been a very stressful writing experience… I felt a lot of pressure to make a list of words and phrases that was a real reflection of the country.”
Instead, Demers says, “the process ended up being really fun, and also very affirming in a gently patriotic way. Canadians spend a lot of time asking ourselves what Canada is, and I’m pleased to report that, while there’s no single pat, simple answer to the question, there are indeed answers.”
When asked about the flurry of media coverage in September around his work as an NDP speechwriter, Demers jokes, “I don’t know why people think the BC Conservatives are hostile to the arts and culture — whoever wrote that press release saying I had a $450,000 contract with the government has an obvious passion for fiction.”
For Demers, literary festivals like the FVWF are not exclusively for writers or readers, but a space for both to meet and form a connection.
“Writing and reading are important exercises in solitude and quiet. But festivals punctuate those stretches of literary solitude with embodied, collective, face-to-face experiences with the human beings on the other side of the books — both readers and writers step out of the realm of abstraction and we get to see each other, hear words and sentences read precisely as they were intended, witness how those words and sentences land in real time.”
Demers will be joined in delivering keynote addresses by Evelyn Lau, poet and author of 15 books, whose debut memoir, Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid was later turned into the movie The Diary of Evelyn Lau starring Sandra Oh. Their event will take place on Nov. 7, at 7 p.m. at UFV’s Abbotsford Campus (Room B101).
Festival attendees can enjoy panels and workshops on Saturday, Nov. 8 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Sessions will be hosted by Literary Award nominee Jen Sookfong Lee, Maritime writers Nick Thran and Brian Bartlett, Victoria poet Kayla Czaga, Vancouver essayist Daniela Elza and local Fraser Valley authors Joseph Dandurand, Taryn Hubbard, Christina Myers, and Heather Ramsay.
The program includes a panel where authors will debut new writing on the theme of “silence,” and another on the theme of “sound,” followed by a Q&A. There will be workshops on poetry, fiction and nonfiction, as well as a live podcast recording of Page Fright, where audience members will join Page Fright host Andrew French for a discussion with poet Nick Thran about his new collection, Existing Music.
UFV’s 2026 writer-in-residence will also be announced that evening.
Both the opening night keynotes and the subsequent day’s full slate of readings, panels, and writing workshops, are free and open to the public. To reserve tickets, visit: http://fvwritersfestival.com.
Founded in 2007 as the Mission Writers & Readers Festival, the FVWF has been run by UFV, out of its Abbotsford campus, since 2017.
Open Mic
Before the festival kicks off, warm up with a pre-event Creative Writing Open Mic on Nov. 6 at 4 p.m. In the Makerspace in the Abbotsford library, renowned and emerging talents will share readings of their work in a welcoming, supportive space. Enjoy complimentary coffee and pastries while hearing original creative works.