(Chris Cameron)

Festival artistic director and literary champion Hal Wake has died.

He was 73, and died at home on Vancouver Island on Jan. 7, according to his family.

“He loved words. He loved books. He loved writers. He enjoyed a good ball game. And above all, he loved his family,” his family said in a brief statement.

Wake worked as a journalist at CBC Radio for 17 years, where he was the book producer for Morningside with Peter Gzowski in the mid-1980s and hosted CBC’s Vancouver morning show for three years in the mid-1990s.

He moved on to the Vancouver Writers Fest later in his career, serving as artistic director from 2006 to 2017.

“During that time, he infused our programming with discoveries from around the world, and a keen eye for writers who’d go on to be the next big name in literature,” the festival said. “He savoured intimate events that focused on one-on-one conversations with authors, and was adept at convincing them to share more than what you’d find on the dust jacket of their books.”

Wake retired from the festival in 2017, after overseeing its 30th iteration alongside Leslie Hurtig, who took over the role of artistic director from him. Upon his retirement, more than 100 authors wrote in to the festival to share their memories of working with him.

Wake was an honorary member of the Writers’ Union of Canada, served on the board of directors of the Writers’ Trust of Canada, and was a member of the jury for the Writers’ Trust’s Matt Cohen Award for the last three years.