Spoke Literary Festival begins

To kick off the Spoke Festival, Sharon Thesen will host a reading, featuring some of the writers teaching in the festival this year.

The reading will take place tonight, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Okanagan Regional Library at 2800 30th Ave. This is a free event open to the public.

You don't need to sign up for the workshops to attend.

The Spoke festival is an extraordinary weekend of exploration and workshops.

The Spoke Literary Festival is a partnership with the Spoke Writer’s Group, Caetani Centre, Okanagan College and the Okanagan Regional Library presenting a three-day festival of literary arts.

All the workshops happen at Okanagan College, 7000 College Way.

Check out their website spokefestival.com for more information, including a detailed summary of each workshop.

Writers at the workshops include John Lent, Corinna Chong, Heidi Garnett, Alix Hawley, Melanie Murray, Michael Poirier, Laisha Rosnau and Jay Ruzesky

The Spoke Literary Collective is a group of seven women writers that meet regularly to discuss their craft. The group includes Natalie Appleton, Hannah Calder, Michelle Doege, Kristin Froneman, Kerry Gilbert, Karen Meyer and Laisha Rosnau.

They see the Spoke Literary Festival as a way for us to share some of the magic of this communal experience with other writers — from newbies to published pros.

At this annual literary festival, they hope to bring writers together to discuss the joys and challenges of writing, to share their work with others, and to learn from one another.

“Over the four years we’ve been working together, we’ve learned that we wouldn’t be the writers we are today without other writers – without community,” it says on their web page — spokefestival.com.