People who are registered for workshops can expect some incredible inside information from a writer’s mind on various aspects,
Jacqueline Bedard
With the previous edition of the Yukon Words Festival taking place in 2022, this year marks the two-day event series’ first full return to its full-scale since pre-COVID. This has made things very exciting and also very busy, according to festival executive director Jacqueline Bedard.
“Thankfully, we’re out of the COVID era,” she says. “This is probably Easy Street in some regards.”
Bedard is thankful for the efforts of the small team she put together to coordinate this year’s festival, namely Atlin-based freelance writer Fiona McGlynn for her efforts as a coordinator and Samantha Royle, a Yukoner currently residing in Newfoundland, who has been handling the marketing and design side of things.
“It’s been great,” Bedard says. “Thank heavens for those two; they have been incredible.”
The festival’s guests were chosen by a curation committee of well-known Yukon writers, but there’s more to it than just choosing writers to participate, Bedard explains.
“Really, it’s a process of seeing what writers are available, because as it turns out, a lot of them are booked a year in advance, and also who you can afford and who is willing to come to a small festival.”
There were around 500 attendees across the various events at the last Yukon Words Festival, and with this year’s events selling out quickly, Bedard looks forward to another strong turnout.
“I think it’s going to be a big crowd and a successful event.”
The 2024 Yukon Words Festival will be headlined by Richard Van Camp, a Tlicho Dene from Fort Smith, NWT. Van Camp holds several accolades, including having received the Order of the Northwest Territories. He is a best-selling author with over 30 books written in the past 30 years, spanning a multitude of genres. His novel, The Lesser Blessed, has even been adapted into a feature film.
“I cannot wait to get on up there and do a huge soul inhale when I arrive,” Van Camp says. “You have one of my favourite bakeries in Whitehorse, Baked, and one of my favourite bookstores, Mac’s Fireweed Books. The food! The restaurants! The crisp clean air and the sky–it’s so huge!”
Van Camp’s headline event on Saturday, Nov. 23 at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre will showcase two new works: his novel, Beast, and his graphic novel, Wheetago War: ROTH, illustrated by Christopher Shy.
Van Camp will share readings from Beast and discuss the premise of Wheetago War: ROTH. Showing the camaraderie of the North, Van Camp expresses nothing but excitement to return to Whitehorse and immerse himself in the Yukon’s literary community and more.
“Whitehorse has a sizzling energy that’s unique, and to see and be around other northerners? Wow. What could be better?” he says. “Plus my brother, James and his family live there. Plus my dear friends Ivan Coyote and Sharon Shorty live there. I’m up there to share, but I’m also up there to listen and learn and recharge. Mahsi cho for inviting me back.”
Van Camp is also leading one of the festival’s workshops, titled “Designing Characters And Why We Need Conflict In Our Fiction.” With several different workshops taking place across the two days, Bedard promises that attendees will be pleased with what they learn.
“People who are registered for workshops can expect some incredible inside information from a writer’s mind on various aspects,” she says.
Alongside Van Camp, other writers, hosts and workshop leaders include Tina Biello, Bria Rose, Louie Leyson, Emilia Symington-Fedy, Storri Chesson, Claire Ness, Megan Cole, Eva Holland, Joanna Lilley, Peter Jickling, Christine Genier, John Firth, Keith Halliday, Mary Jane Johnson, Michele Genest and the Gwaandak Theatre writers’ team of Colin Wolf, Isabelle James-Walker, Jedrek Dendys and Tyra Ashauntie.
Speaking about the presentations she’s looking forward to, Bedard mention’s Biello’s workshop, centred around presenting writing in such a way that it is powerful.
“You can write something brilliant, but people can’t hear the brilliance sometimes if you’re not a good reader,” Bedard says. “So, [Biello] talks a lot about that.”
Biello is a playwright, poet and actor from Lake Cowichan, BC, who has spent time in the North before and is excited to return to Whitehorse to present her work and lead her workshop.
“I am so happy to be part of the Yukon Words Festival,” she says. “I am looking forward to being back in the North and sharing my writing, as well as letting in all the good events that have been organized.”
Other workshops fall both on the creative and business sides of the literary world, with a wide array of topics covered and even programming for children and youth taking place as part of the festival.
For Bedard, it is important to foster literacy in the North, simply because “the North has a lot to say.” She herself was inspired to work towards building community around writing after taking a creative writing course at Yukon University and being reminded that writing should be a community-based endeavour.
Calling the North a third coast, Bedard says the expression “coast to coast” often forgets about the northern regions of Canada. With a diverse and strong literary community, there is more than enough happening up here for the Yukon to host its own festival and other events throughout the year.
“If there’s a passion, it’s important to feed that passion. It’s incredible to me how many writers there are coming out of the woodwork,” says Bedard. “We have our monthly Words out Loud event, where we always have a couple of headline writers, and then we have an open mic. Every month, we fill that open mic time.”
Bedard also expresses thanks to the festival’s sponsors, Yukon Lotteries and the Government of Yukon’s Yukon Arts Fund, as well as to Air North and Yukon Vision Development for flying up and housing the out-of-territory guests.
“Without all that support, we couldn’t do any of this,” she says.
