Vancouver 49° 15' 39.14" N, 123° 6' 50.23" W Group
LiterASIAN Festival is a Vancouver-based literary festival dedicated to celebrating and advancing Asian Canadian writing and thought. Founded by Jim Wong-Chu and Allan Cho, the festival is more than a series of readings or panels, but functions as a community-rooted cultural forum that foregrounds literature as a site of community and collective belonging.
Emerging from Vancouver’s long and complex Asian diasporic histories, LiterASIAN Festival was created to address the historical marginalization of Asian Canadian voices within mainstream literary institutions. Its programming reflects this mandate by centring writers whose work engages with migration, identity, language, history, and social justice, while situating individual voices within broader intergenerational and cultural lineages.
The festival brings together emerging and established writers, scholars, librarians, educators, and community members in conversations that move fluidly between literary craft and cultural analysis. Events typically include readings, moderated discussions, and interviews that emphasize dialogue, accessibility, and intellectual rigour. Rather than prioritizing spectacle or market-driven visibility, LiterASIAN values relationship-building, mentorship, and sustained engagement.
A defining strength of LiterASIAN is its expansive and evolving understanding of “Asian Canadian,” encompassing diverse diasporas, generations, and perspectives. The festival creates space for complexity and difference, encouraging critical reflection on representation, responsibility, and the ethics of storytelling.
Through its integration into Vancouver’s broader Asian Canadian arts and literary scene, LiterASIAN contributes to the development of Asian Canadian literary writing. For more than fifteen years now, it has played a vital role in supporting emerging voices and affirming Asian Canadian literature as an integral part of Canada’s cultural and intellectual life.