FHASS and FOLD: Global Perspectives on Diversity, Literature, and City Building

FHASS is pleased to announce an exciting new community partnership that promises to bring more of Sheridan into the Brampton community, and more of the Brampton community to the institution. Sheridan has become a sponsor of The FOLD (Festival of Literary Diversity), which will run from May 6-8, 2016, in and around Brampton.

Image: The FOLD

The FOLD is the brainchild of Brampton writer Jael Richardson, and it aims to “create a vibrant community of readers and writers by celebrating diverse authors and literature in Brampton…one of Canada’s most culturally diverse cities.” In this, its inaugural year, the Festival will bring an impressive list of literary stars to the Flower City, including FHASS’s own Jennifer Chambers, 2015 Sheridan Reads author Lawrence Hill, CanLit stalwarts Helen Humphreys, Leon Rooke, Heather O’Neill, and Karen Connelly, as well as exciting new talents and industry notables like Zarqa Nawaz, Zoe Whittall, Brian Francis, Farzana Doctor, and Samuel Archibald. You can peruse the full schedule of events here, and can register for the festival by visiting www.thefoldcanada.org.

Sheridan’s role in this year’s festival is as the exclusive sponsor of the opening night’s Feature Event, a panel entitled Subdivided: City Building with a Global Perspective (read more about it here). Featuring Jay Pitter, Eric Mann, Ian Kamau, Noreen Ahmed-Ullah, and chaired by John Lorinc, this panel brings together “[f]our compelling city builders [to] propose solutions for fully inclusive communities that respond to the complexities of a truly global city. Presenting from their writing in the anthology Subdivided, [panelists will] discuss how regions would function if decision-makers genuinely accounted for race, ethnicity, and class when confronting issues such as transit, arts funding, and public space.” This event is scheduled for Friday, May 6, 2016, from 8:00-9:30pm at Brampton City Hall.

You can read more about this exciting new festival — whose motto is “Engaging Readers. Inspiring Writers. Empowering Educators.” — here, or by following the Festival on Twitter (@TheFOLD_ ) and entering the conversation with the hashtag #DiverseCanLit.