Canada Reads authors Catherine Hernandez, Dimitri Nasrallah & Joshua Whitehead featured at Frye Festival 2023
Canada Reads writers Catherine Hernandez, Dimitri Nasrallah and Joshua Whitehead will discuss their works, writing process and perform readings at the annual Frye Festival, Atlantic Canada's largest literary festival.
The 24th edition of the Moncton festival will feature over 40 events by over 20 authors, including writer Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang who made the 2019 CBC Poetry shortlist, Giller-prize nominated writer Alexander MacLeod and Governor General's Literary Award for Young people's literature winner Naseem Hrab.
The festival will also have programming for youth that includes storytime events, readings and a creative writing contest.
Programming will include readings, literary performances, walks, trivia and exhibit openings — including several events by the Canada Reads nominated authors this upcoming weekend.
Whitehead will talk about writing craft at an event on Saturday, April 29; he will engage in a conversation about his nonfiction book Making Love with the Land on Sunday, April 30. Making Love with the Land is a personal essay collection exploring Indigeneity, queerness and identity.
An Oji-nêhiyaw, two-spirit writer, poet and Indigiqueer scholar from Peguis First Nation, Whitehead is the author of the poetry collection full-metal indigiqueer and Canada Reads-winning novel Jonny Appleseed. His forthcoming chapbook titled Indigiqueerness: A Conversation about Storytelling will be published in 2023.
Whitehead will also host a conversation with Hernandez on Sunday, April 30 about her latest The Story of Us, a story about Mary Grace Concepcion, a Filipino worker who has left her family behind to build a new life in Canada, narrated by her newborn baby.
Hernandez is a queer writer of Filipino, Indian, Chinese and Spanish descent, and was a Canada Reads 2022 finalist for her novel Scarborough. The book's film adaptation took home eight Canadian Screen Awards, including best motion picture.
Earlier this week, Canada Reads 2023 finalist Nasrallah was featured at an event discussing his novel Hotline, a story about a Lebanese immigrant to Montreal who works at a weight-loss call centre.
The Montreal-based Nasrallah is an editor and the author of novels The Bleeds, Niko and Blackbodying.
Inaugurated in 1999, Frye Festival is a English-French bilingual celebration of books, ideas and the imagination. It seeks to create opportunities to connect New Brunswick, Canadian and international authors with the Moncton community.
Register for the events and read the full program on the Frye Festival website.
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