Hamilton’s cancelled literary festival takes event online
Published May 5, 2020 at 12:47 pm
Hamilton’s prestigious gritLITFestival announced Monday (May 4) that they would be hosting a scaled-down version of the event online in the coming weeks.
Hamilton’s prestigious gritLITFestival announced Monday (May 4) that they would be hosting a scaled-down version of the event online in the coming weeks.
In a press release, organizers of the literary festival that had to be cancelled last month due to the novel coronavirus pandemic announced that the festival’s workshop series will be offered online starting May 9.
The decision to cancel the event was particularly difficult given that world-renowned Canadian author Margaret Atwood was slated to open the festival with a special question and answer session.
Other well-known writers who were to appear during the four-day event included Ted Barris, Gwen Benaway, Lynn Coady, Robyn Doolittle, Terry Fallis to name just a few.
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Writing workshops, readings as well as literary trivia and performances, talks and contests were to be a part of the festivities as well.
“In March, gritLIT: Hamilton’s Readers and Writers Festival made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 gritLIT Festival, which was scheduled for April 16-19, 2020,” festival organizers say in the release.
“Since then, we have been busy working toward bringing some of our originally scheduled program into the digital sphere.”
All eight presenters who were slated to lead the workshops during the GritLit Festival are hosting virtual versions of their workshops once a week until the end of June.
The workshop schedule:
May 9: Finding the Funny with Terry Fallis
May 16: Telling Your Stories Onstage with Anne Bokma
May 23: Voice in Fiction with Mona Awad
May 30: How I Overcame Imposter Syndrome with Jesse Thistle
June 6: Writing Non-Fiction with Jenny Heijun Wills
June 13: Entering the Story Without Knocking with David Bergen
June 20: Writing Disabled Characters with Dorothy Ellen Palmer
June 27: From Idea to Publication with Casey Plett
According to the gritLIT website, anyone who has already purchased workshop tickets and who does not wish to be part of the online workshops can request a refund.
“This is the first of multiple announcements that we will be making about future gritLIT programming,” organizers say in the release.
For more details about the workshops or to purchase tickets, or to keep up to date with gritLIT announcements, visit the festival’s website.
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