Literatures of the Fraser Valley conference

Date(s): Thursday, March 5 - Friday, March 6
Time: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Location: : Abbotsford Campus

British Columbia has long been a beacon for storytellers’ imaginations, and while the lion’s share of critical attention to the literary culture of British Columbia seems to often rest on Vancouver, the Fraser Valley’s own literary community is as vibrant as ever.

Register here

The conference will explore current and emerging trends in BC literature and the multiple ways in which the Fraser Valley is imagined and represented in fiction, poetry, drama, and oral narratives:

Scholarly papers on literature of the Fraser Valley
Readings by local writers
Oral history
Writer-in-residence
Guest speakers

See conference schedule below. For more information, contact michelle.laflamme@ufv.ca

$10 Students, $20 Regular admission. Includes lunch.
Abbotsford campus, University House, room F125

SCHEDULE

Thurs, March 5, 2015

9:00-9:05 Welcome Special Events Committee

9:05-9:15 Traditional Welcome (elder-in-residence)

9:15-9:20 Welcome to UFV- Dean of Arts

9:30-11:00 Session One: Considering Creativity: Artistic Production in the Valley

Billeh Nickerson
Paul Falardeau, “Light Though the Cedars: Discovering Subversive Communities in the Fraser Valley”
Katie Stobbart, “The Question of Public Poetry in the Fraser Valley”

11:00-11:15 Coffee Break

11:15-12:45 Session Two: The History of Place and the Building of Community

Rishma Johal, “Building Connections: Popular Literature and Sikh History in the Fraser Valley”
Jane Watt, “The Epistolary Farm: Constructing Settler Culture in Langley from Afar”
Paula Johnson, “Woolgathering: Fibre Artists Contradict Journalists in Published Works About Cowichan Woolworking”

12:45-1:30 Lunch (Catered by Sodexo)

1:30-3:00 Session Three: Orature of the Fraser Valley

Eddie Garner, Stó:lō Protocols and oral history
Wenona Victor, sxwoxwiyam and “storywork” in the Fraser Valley
Teresa Warbus, Hip-Hop as contemporary storytelling
Lens of Empowerment, video as visual narratives exploring women’s identity and citizenship in Stó:lō territory

3:00-3:15 Coffee Break

3:15-4:45 Session Four: Reading the Valley

Dessa Bayrock, “Sustenance of the Soul: A View of Food in Literature of the Fraser Valley and West Coast”
Emily Seitz, “Creating an Enchanted Reality: A Magical Setting Inspired by the Fraser Valley”
Shelley Boyd, “Tablecloth and River: Tomson Highway’s ‘Mega Banquet’ in Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout”
Ron Dart, “Charles Hill-Tout: Visionary of the Fraser Valley”

7:00-9:00 After party with new and emerging writers

Following the conference, join us at Aftermath Pub for an evening of readings with established and emerging writers working in and around the valley.