Wordfest is a not-for-profit arts organization that produces one of Canada's largest international literary festivals, taking place each October in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

. In addition to the yearly festival, Wordfest also facilitates and hosts year-round events, including poetry and spoken word performances, current event panels, publishing industry workshops, art installations, and youth and multilingual programming.

History

Wordfest originated as an idea conceived by Donald Stein, then associate director of the

Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...

, who in 1996 envisioned the coordination of a southern Albertan writers' festival. He contacted Darlene Quaife, then president of the Writer's Guild of Alberta, and Peter Oliva, then owner of Pages Books on Kensington in Calgary, and together the three "assembled a team that reads like an honour roll of Calgary's literary community at the time" including booksellers, writers, a ''

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The C ...

'' books editor, and representatives from the Calgary Public Library and

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined belo ...

, among others. With Anne Green as festival producer, Wordfest's first festival featured 50 authors and two dozen events over the course of four days. 1997 marked the incorporation of Wordfest as a not-for-profit, and also was the first year of the Summit Salon writers' retreat hosted by the Banff Centre, which immediately followed the festivals for years. Anne Green was the Director of Wordfest from March, 1996 to December, 2010. Jo Steffens was Wordfest's director from December 2010 to 2015; under Steffens' leadership, Wordfest was the recipient of the Rozsa Award in Arts Management for Innovation in 2014. Shelley Youngblut was named interim General Director of Wordfest in May 2015 and in December 2015 became the permanent General Director. Youngblut, previously an editor with

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

and a writer with

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, has helped Wordfest grow into a "celebration of ideas even more than .. celebration of books", expanding its focus to more heavily include the abstract while still maintaining its core literary aspect. In December 2017, Wordfest moved their offices to the second floor of Calgary's Memorial Park Library, which includes a 110-seat "Engagement Lab" where many of Wordfest's readings and other events are held.

Events

Wordfest's eponymous festival is held annually in October. It features on average 80 writers, both big-name stars and emerging writers, in a mix of 65 events and performances throughout Calgary. The Festival offers a wide variety of public events: readings, panel discussions, interviews, multimedia performances, workshops, cabarets, book signings, literary death matches, spoken word performances, informal public receptions and more. Festival alumni include

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, ...

Roch Carrier Roch Carrier (born 13 May 1937) is a French Canadian novelist and author of "contes" (a very brief form of the short story). He is among the best known Quebec writers in English Canada. Life He was born in Sainte-Justine, Quebec, and studied at ...

, Austin Clarke,

Douglas Coupland Douglas Coupland (born 30 December 1961) is a Canadian novelist, designer, and visual artist. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller '' Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture'', popularized the terms ''Generation X'' and ''McJ ...

Roddy Doyle Roddy Doyle (born 8 May 1958) is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. He is the author of eleven novels for adults, eight books for children, seven plays and screenplays, and dozens of short stories. Several of his books have been ma ...

Timothy Findley Timothy Irving Frederick Findley Timothy Findley's
entry in

Richard Ford Richard Ford (born February 16, 1944) is an American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel ''The Sportswriter'' and its sequels, ''Independence Day'', ''The Lay of the Land'' and ''Let Me Be Frank With You'', and the ...

, Lawrence Hill, Nancy Huston,

Tomson Highway Tomson Highway (born 6 December 1951) is an Indigenous Canadian playwright, novelist, and children's author. He is best known for his plays ''The Rez Sisters'' and ''Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing'', both of which won the Dora Mavor Moore ...

, Wayne Johnston, Thomas King,

Alistair MacLeod Alistair MacLeod, (July 20, 1936 – April 20, 2014) was a Canadian novelist, short story writer and academic. His powerful and moving stories vividly evoke the beauty of Cape Breton Island's rugged landscape and the resilient character of m ...

E. Annie Proulx E is the fifth letter of the Latin alphabet. E or e may also refer to: Commerce and transportation * €, the symbol for the euro, the European Union's standard currency unit * ℮, the estimated sign, an EU symbol indicating that the weigh ...

, the late

Mordecai Richler Mordecai Richler (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian writer. His best known works are '' The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz'' (1959) and '' Barney's Version'' (1997). His 1970 novel '' St. Urbain's Horseman'' and 1989 novel ...

Jane Urquhart Jane Urquhart, LL.D (born June 21, 1949) is a Canadian novelist and poet. She is the internationally acclaimed author of seven award-winning novels, three books of poetry and numerous short stories. As a novelist, Urquhart is well known for her e ...

and

Guy Vanderhaeghe Guy Clarence Vanderhaeghe (born April 5, 1951) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer, best known for his Western novel trilogy, '' The Englishman's Boy'', ''The Last Crossing'', and ''A Good Man'' set in the 19th-century American and Can ...

. In the past, Wordfest's children-geared component operated under The First Calgary Savings Book Rapport Programme, an award-winning education segment that ran throughout the festival in October, bringing children's authors to schools and other public venues. According to the First Calgary Savings, " 2006, 5,600 students participated" in the Book Rapport Programme. Recently, Wordfest has expanded its youth programming to bring authors to

Veronica Roth Veronica Anne Roth (born August 19, 1988) is an American novelist and short story writer, known for her bestselling ''Divergent'' trilogy which has sold more than 35 million copies worldwide. Personal life Veronica Roth was born on August 19, ...

Lemony Snicket Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American author Daniel Handler (born February 28, 1970). Handler has published several children's books under the name, most notably ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'', which has sold over 60 million copies and s ...

, Ruth Ohi and

Arthur Slade Arthur Gregory Slade (born July 9, 1967 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian author. A resident of Saskatoon, he was raised on a ranch in the Cypress Hills and began writing in high school. He attended the University of Saskatchewan in S ...

Calgary schools throughout the year. Beyond the days-long festival held in October, Wordfest also coordinates single-artist readings/events, which feature one artist per night and allow more time for the exploration of their works; alumni of such events include YouTube personality and author

Lilly Singh Lilly Saini Singh (born September 26, 1988) is a Canadian YouTuber. Singh began making YouTube videos in 2010. She originally appeared under the pseudonym Superwoman (stylized IISuperwomanII), her YouTube username until 2019. In 2016, she was in ...

, author

Barbara Gowdy Barbara Gowdy, CM (born 25 June 1950) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. Born in Windsor, Ontario, she is the long-time partner of poet Christopher Dewdney and resides in Toronto. Literary career Gowdy's novel '' Falling Angels' ...

, comedian and screenwriter

Mike Myers Michael John Myers OC (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. His accolades include seven MTV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollywoo ...

, musician and actor

Robbie Robertson Jaime Royal "Robbie" Robertson, OC (born July 5, 1943), is a Canadian musician. He is best known for his work as lead guitarist and songwriter for the Band, and for his career as a solo recording artist. With the deaths of Richard Manuel i ...

, writer

George Saunders George Saunders (born December 2, 1958) is an American writer of short stories, essays, novellas, children's books, and novels. His writing has appeared in ''The New Yorker'', '' Harper's'', ''McSweeney's'', and '' GQ''. He also contributed a w ...

, and Canada's governor general

David Johnston David Lloyd Johnston (born June 28, 1941) is a Canadian academic, author, and statesman who served from 2010 to 2017 as Governor General of Canada, the 28th since Canadian Confederation. He is the commissioner of the Leaders' Debates Commis ...

. In addition to the single-artist events, Wordfest also hosts Dick Lit's Trivia Night year-round, as well as a summer book club. Wordfest has an active network of approximately two-hundred volunteers who assist with events year round. Wordfest is supported by private donors and many organizations, including the Government of Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, Mount Royal University, the Calgary Public Library, and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Cultural References

* Wordfest is also the name of the festival i
Michael Chabon's 1995 novel Wonder Boys.
This is a total coincidence.

References

{{reflist

External links

Wordfest official websiteWordfest blog
Literary festivals in Alberta Festivals in Calgary

History

Events

Cultural References

See also

References

External links