White Noise Talks: Empowered by the Pen – $15

[gdlr_button href="https://www.artscommons.ca/WhatsOn/ShowDetails.aspx?show_id=897554C1-4ED5-439C-9C27-AA3D3576386E" target="_self" size="medium" background="#358CCB" color="#ffffff" border_color="#999999"]Buy Tickets[/gdlr_button] [gdlr_space height="20px"] Unique voices from the Wordfest lineup filter through the "white noise" surrounding the charged concept of inclusivity. The panel tackles hot button issues such as: "What does diversity mean anyway today?" and "Who gets to decide what stories receive mainstream attention?" to "What voices are (still) absent or underrepresented in the book world?" This salon-style discussion is organized by the Festival's volunteer White Noise Talks committee. [gdlr_divider type="solid" size="100%" ]

About the Presenters

Lisa Charleyboy is a writer, editor, blogger, public speaker, and the founding editor of Urban Native, a Native lifestyle magazine geared toward inspiring Indigenous youth with positive success stories. She was also the host of New Fire, a 2015 CBC Radio series about Native youth at the forefront of new attitudes and perceptions. She has written about everything from appropriations of Native culture to popculture and politics, and has been named by Huffington Post as an Aboriginal Millennial to watch. A member of the Tsilhqot’in tribe from Tsi Del Del First Nation in the interior of B.C., she now lives in Vancouver. Ivan Coyote is a writer, performer and one of Canada’s best-loved storytellers. Their honest, wry, plain-spoken tales of growing up in the Yukon and living out loud on the west coast have attracted readers and live audiences (and scores of YouTube views) around the world. In spring 2015, Coyote launched the stage show Tomboy Survival Guide, performing sold-out shows at the PuSh Theatre Festival and Verses Festival of Words. Including their current book featured at Wordfest 2016, Coyote is the author of 11 books. Salimah Kassam holds a unique space as both an artist and an analyst. Early in her career, Kassam merged her passion for theatre and education as a drama teacher and curriculum developer for NGOs in East Africa and Asia. Upon returning to Calgary, she joined the social profit agency Momentum where she immersed herself, during her five-year tenure, in the areas of community economic development, social finance and behavioural economics. She has since completed a Masters Degree at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary. Currently, she is the Manager of Financial Empowerment for the United Way Calgary and Area. Jael Ealey Richardson is the author of The Stone Thrower: A Daughter’s Lesson, a Father’s Life, a memoir based on her relationship with her father, CFL quarterback Chuck Ealey. The book received a CBC Bookie Award and earned Richardson an Acclaim Award and a My People Award. The newly released children's version of her story is presented at Wordfest 2016. Excerpts from her first play, my upside down black face, are published in the anthology T-Dot Griots. Richardson has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. She lives in Brampton, Ontario, where she serves as the Artistic Director for the Festival of Literary Diversity. [gdlr_button href="https://www.artscommons.ca/WhatsOn/ShowDetails.aspx?show_id=897554C1-4ED5-439C-9C27-AA3D3576386E" target="_self" size="medium" background="#358CCB" color="#ffffff" border_color="#999999"]Buy Tickets[/gdlr_button]