The Newcomer and Refugee Literary Festival is a one-day, in-person event featuring panels and performances by newcomer and refugee literary artists. To be developed through a series of pre-festival workshops, the festival is a space for literary expression, collective reflection, and critical dialogue. It centres newcomer and refugee voices not as subjects of ‘integration,’ but as agents of artistic and cultural change, as writers who are shaping Canadian literature, not just adapting to it. Their stories reflect lived realities, challenge dominant narratives, and push the boundaries of what is considered mainstream in publishing and the arts.
Many programs and support systems for newcomers and refugees tend to position them as recipients of knowledge—focused on how to better ‘integrate’ into existing structures. This festival shifts that dynamic by putting newcomer and refugee literary artists at the centre. They lead the conversations about what’s working, what isn’t, and what they truly need to thrive as immigrants and artists. The festival invites the literary industry and cultural organizations to attend, listen, and learn directly from newcomer and refugee experiences. It’s a space where using literature, newcomers and refugees shape the dialogue, while the broader community is encouraged to reflect and respond with openness and respect.
The festival is supported through Toronto Arts Council Strategic Funding and is part of Qissa’s commitment to documenting and reimagining immigrant experiences through storytelling. It is also an integral part of our Creative Canada oral history project, while the literature created through the workshop process will be compiled into a collective anthology.
If you are a newcomer or a refugee literary artist and would like to participate, please get in touch at info@qissa.org.
If you are a publisher, magazine, literary agent, or work in the arts and culture sector and would like to attend the festival as an audience member, we’d love to hear from you.
The exact date is to be announced, but the festival will be developed through three in-person workshops beginning fall 2025.
