Celebrating the 10th anniversary of The Festival of Literary Diversity

The Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD) was the first of its kind in Canadian literature: a book festival celebrating diverse authors both at home and beyond.

The festival takes place in Brampton, Ont., and aims to make space for writers to discuss their craft and the challenges involved in creating stories that "ask difficult questions, expose hard truths and push literary boundaries." Since its launch, the FOLD has evolved to include a reading challenge, a kids festival, an author visit series and monthly online webinars.

Now, coming up on its 10th anniversary, founder and author Jael Richardson joins host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to reflect on how far book publishing has come in Canada — and how far it still has to go.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: You founded this thing 10 years ago, and now look at us here. How does it feel to have arrived at the 10-year mark?

Jael: It feels surreal. It definitely doesn't feel like 10 years, I think, because we started thinking it was only going to be in person in Brampton, and we had two years virtual. Now we're hovering over both spaces. Each iteration feels like its own version of the festival. And so I have to remember the culmination of all that.

Elamin: Walk me through a little bit of why you felt like you needed to start this festival to begin with…. What need were you trying to fill, in that moment?

Jael: I think there were obvious things going on at the time I started this. There was a movement with We Need Diverse Books in the States that was addressing a lack of diversity in publishing. And I don't talk about this a lot, but it's also a little bit of selfishness, you know? I'm a writer. I had a book come out. I wasn't at literary festivals, even though the book was about my dad who was a CFL quarterback. And I sort of thought, if you have this famous story in Canada and you can't get on a stage, maybe there's no room if you're an ordinary person.

And so I wanted to start something that I could build, somewhere where I could go and talk about my books. And then I recognized just how important it was to other authors from marginalized communities to have a space where they could go, and be amongst one another, and be experts in craft. That was a big thing, too: not being forced to talk about identity. Being able to talk about it, but also being able to do a workshop on writing fiction or writing a memoir, which many authors said that they hadn't been asked to do before.

Elamin: I think there's a feeling of like, "I want to come and talk about the ways that I've approached writing this book. That sometimes includes talking about identity, but not always. Sometimes it does include, why did I make the specific choices I made as a writer?" And what FOLD really allows you to do is sit in that space. Do you feel like Canadian literature has become more diverse in the last 10 years or so since you started FOLD?

Jael: I do. I think there are festivals across the country that have diverse lineups and are really thinking about it — have always been thinking about it, too, in different ways, perhaps. And there are publishers who are actively taking an interest in not only seeking out marginalized voices, but creating spaces that are safer, more effective than they have before. I won't say it's all rose-colored glasses and everything's great. But I do think there's a baseline of conversation we can have now that I felt we were fighting to have 10 years ago.

Elamin: Do you want to talk about a couple of highlights of the festival this year so far?

Jael: We had a really great event last night where we talked about conflict and community, and how we move through hard times. There was a really great after party. I want to shout out a woman named Eve who lives out west on her own, on a farm, and just talked about the need for connection; that was really important to me. I'll also say we have a really great event on Saturday called "Eat the Books" with Ozoz Sokoh, who's a chef working with Afrobeat Kitchen, to talk about books, talk about Nigerian culture, talk about food. I love when we get to mix books and some other art form — in this case, food.

Elamin: Jael, I appreciate you. I appreciate everything that you've built. Thank you so much for everything that you put your energy into, and congratulations on 10 years. Thanks for being on the show, friend.

Jael: Thank you so much.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Jael Richardson produced by Jane van Koeverden.