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March 4-6, 2027

Flip your leaf!

Inspired Word Café’s annual interdisciplinary festival welcomes a myriad of artists from the Okanagan and across Canada—including writers, drag queens, filmmakers, musicians and more—for three days of high-calibre literary arts, performance, and education. New Leaves engages the idea that art can be used as a vehicle for sociopolitical resistance and community building.

Considering the phrase “turning over a new leaf,” the festival features an annually changing theme that responds to a community-expressed need or topical issue. Recent themes have included the 2024 “Queer Art as Resistance,” a community-wide response to an increase in anti-2SLGBTQIA+ prejudice and bigotry in our region. In 2026 the theme was “Abundance,” which responded to growing wealth disparities and the increasing effects of climate crisis, while also honouring the beauty and vitality of our Okanagan region. During the festival, artists and the community considered and learnt about how to hold space for the duality of both types of abundance.

Featuring film screenings, educational and hands-on workshops, visiting performers, and Pony! Cabaret, New Leaves’ brings community together through the literary arts and supports inclusion and belonging.