Given the hardships the Downtown Eastside community faces, why is a writers festival so vital here?
Cami Davila (she/her) // Crew Writer
Visuals adapted from an original illustration by Alex Baidanuta (she/her) and Kit Vega (she/they) // Contributors
From May 20 to May 24, 2026, Vancouver will host the 5th Annual Downtown Eastside Writers Festival. It is worth celebrating that an event that began with just a handful of 7-Eleven gift cards is now marking its fifth anniversary with more than 30 workshops, many led by artists who are part of the Downtown Eastside community. Held at venues including Carnegie Community Centre, Oppenheimer Park, RayCam Co-Operative Centre, Vancouver Public Library, Balmoral Lot, and SFU Vancouver Library, the festival invites everyone to participate in spaces of creativity and healing.
Considering that community members are increasingly struggling with the rising cost of living, lack of housing, and the toxic drug crisis, “having a space that truly celebrates their voices feels more important than ever,” said Emily Hunter, a faculty member in Community Development & Outreach at Capilano University and one of the nine members of the event’s organizing committee, in an interview with the Courier on May15. The Annual Downtown Eastside Writers Festival is not only a space for people to tell their stories, but also their way to express what they actually need.
This festival is made possible thanks to grants, donations and volunteer work that support and recognize the importance of the “powerful tradition of storytelling, rooted in activism, resilience, and amplifying voices too often left unheard,” according to the festival’s website. That is why, to compensate and show that their talent, time and experiences are valuable, the majority of the funding goes toward paying for workshops led by community members.
One of the most anticipated events of the fifth edition of the festival will be an author Q&A with Angela Sterritt about her memoir Unbroken. In this book, Sterritt shares personal experiences alongside investigative reporting into cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women and the roots of the issue in the Downtown Eastside. “A lot of the people she mentions in the book are actually folks that we know in the community,” said Hunter. The event will take place on Friday 22, at 5:30 p.m. in the Carnegie Theatre.
These events are made even more magical by the way that, during the workshop, people are able to fully live in the here and now. This is something that not only the attendees experience, but also the professors and authors that volunteer their time to lead workshops. “Folks don’t really have devices in that accessible way and so the level of engagement is something that instructors were so appreciative of,” shared Hunter. “I think they were blown away by the questions, the courage of what people chose to share, and the fact that folks were willing to be that vulnerable.”
This happened to Holly Flauto, author of Permission to Settle and faculty member at CapU, who enjoyed the experience so much that she reached out to the organizing committee to participate again in the fifth edition, even before they contacted her. This year, her workshop will focus on exploring personal experiences through poetry. It will take place on Thursday, May 21 at 10:30 a.m. at the Carnegie Learning Centre.
Why attend—whether you are part of this community or not
As Vancouver residents, we have all heard about and seen the Downtown Eastside community. However, these impressions are often shaped by stigma, stereotypes, and a lack of real information about communities that have historically been marginalized. This community does not exist in a vacuum; its struggles are deeply connected to broader systems of inequality and neglect. To understand how to make our cities more inclusive, we must not wait for outside experts or city officials to come and explain what is happening. Instead, we need to learn directly from the people who are the most vulnerable to our systems’ failures and who are experiencing the consequences first-hand.
That is why it is so important to attend events like these, which aim to break down the barriers that have been created between people and offer a human, meaningful way to connect with and understand the perspectives of the people who live there. According to Emily Hunter, the Downtown Eastside is an example of “community in action,” where art is a way of resilience and human connection. “I think folks there have a lot to teach all of us about life”.
All the events at the 5th Annual Downtown Eastside Writers Festival are free and everyone is welcome. We hope to see you there.
For more information about the festival, visit the Annual Downtown Eastside Writers Festival website, and to learn more about the 35 events taking place this year, check out the festival program.