LiterASIAN Festival
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.
Over the years, the festival has featured a wide range of influential Asian Canadian writers, including Madeleine Thien, Fred Wah, Joy Kogawa, Rita Wong, and Evelyn Lau, among others. Their participation reflects the festival’s commitment to bringing together established and emerging voices across genres, generations, and diasporic experiences.
A defining feature of LiterASIAN is its expansive understanding of “Asian Canadian,” making space for diversity, complexity, and critical reflection rather than a singular narrative. Closely connected to Vancouver’s broader Asian Canadian arts and literary scene, the festival plays an important role in the mentorship of Asian Canadian literary writers, affirming literature as both an artistic and collective practice.