One of the largest creative writing and aboriginal storytelling festivals in Canada will be held at UNBC starting in late September. The annual “Just West of Unruly” creative writing festival will be expanded this year to include the second annual poetry train and the first UNBC Aboriginal Writers and Storytellers Festival.

Five poets – Lee Maracle, Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Joanne Arnott, UNBC prof Heather Harris, and UNBC grad Michael Blackstock – will lead writing workshops on board the Via Rail Skeena train and perform readings at various stops en route. Readings will be held in Terrace, Smithers, Hazelton, and Prince Rupert, in addition to a gala reading at the Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum on September 25th.

More than 14 writers (including all five on the Poetry Train) will participate in readings that will be held at various locations around Prince George. Special guests will include poet and novelist Paula Gunn Allen and playwright Tomson Highway. The gala event will be on September 29 featuring storytelling, dance, and music.

“With all of its components, this festival could be the largest of its kind in Canada,” says UNBC English professor Rob Budde. “Fourteen writers, ten to fifteen storytellers, performance groups, visual artists, the Poetry Train, a wonderful gala, and internationally recognized writers such as Paula Gunn Allen and Tomson Highway will all combine to make Prince George a marvelous meeting place for nations, traditions, and imaginations.”