Word Vancouver returns this Fall
August 12th, 2026
VANCOUVER — Western Canada’s largest free literary festival, Word Vancouver, is returning from September 10 to 26, 2026, culminating in a flagship outdoor festival day on Saturday, September 19, at UBC Robson Square in downtown Vancouver.
Centred on the theme of “Finding Joy in Darkness,” the 2026 festival brings together an extraordinary lineup of creators across genres—from poetry and memoir to speculative fiction and sports activism—all celebrating the spark of creativity and human connection.
Here is a look at four compelling authors taking part in this year’s festivities:
Featured Authors & Presenters
Awinder Kaur
Former social worker Arwinder Kaur brings nearly three decades of child welfare advocacy to her debut writing project, Living While Human. Inspired by ecological activism and her extensive youth travels across the globe, Kaur’s work explores gender, race, privilege, and the internal “compass for the soul” required to navigate an increasingly chaotic world.
Kristi Wong
Genderfluid Canadian-born writer of Chinese-Malay descent Kristi Wong writes through a lens of complexity, intersectional identity, and the retroactive discovery of late-diagnosed ADHD. An editor for SAD Magazine and Chthonic Lit, Wong publishes tales spanning wonder and horror under their creative imprint, gutpunch daydream studio.
Betty Baxter
Olympic volleyball captain, national coach, and pioneering activist Betty Baxter spent twelve years in Canada’s high-performance sports system before becoming an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ and human rights following her expulsion as national coach in 1982. A founding member of Canadian Women & Sport and the first openly lesbian candidate for federal public office in 1993, Baxter’s writing reflects decades of grassroots activism, sports history, and personal memoir.
Christopher Kawika Guillermo
Award-winning queer, neurodivergent Filipinx American author and UBC Social Justice Professor Christopher Kawika Guillermo (publishing academic work as Christopher B. Patterson) brings a multi-faceted repertoire to Word Vancouver. Their works include the Association for Asian American Studies award-winning novel Stamped: an anti-travel novel, the speculative fiction novel All Flowers Bloom, and the 2024 Lambda
Literary Award finalist Nimrods: a fake-punk self-hurt anti-memoir.
Event Details
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Dates: September 10–26, 2026
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Main Festival Day: Saturday, September 19, 2026
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Location: UBC Robson Square (800 Robson Street, Downtown Vancouver)
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Admission: FREE (Includes workshops, panel discussions, online events, and an onsite literary and art fair).
Full festival programming and schedule details can be found at wordvancouver.ca.
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