VANCOUVER—CUPE BC and CUPE members from locals 15, 389, 391 and 1004 partnered together this past Sunday (Sept. 25) to celebrate reading and help advocate literacy at the 2011 “Word on the Street” event.
The festival held downtown at Vancouver Public Library’s main branch, Library Square, and attracts over 40,000 community members. The event gives CUPE workers a chance to promote literacy, be involved in the community and talk about socially important community issues such as water, the environment and buying local.
The union’s tent featured three readings from local authors Dan Gawthrop, Charles Demers and Derrick O’Keefe. CUPE members were also on site to help set up the large tent on Homer Street, greet the public and run the tent’s table that displayed socially relevant publications and lots of fun CUPE swag.
Word on the Street is an annual festival held the last Sunday in September that celebrates literacy and the written word.
This is the first year that festival has expanded to three days with author readings Friday evening, an event at Carnegie Centre Saturday and the main festival Sunday. The festival is a showcase of local publishers, book sellers, and authors and features book sales, readings and performance art.
