After months of planning, the Friendly City’s famous weekend of literary enthusiasm is finally here: the Saskatchewan Festival of Words is now live for it’s 25th year in a row.
The popular event kicked off this morning by diving right into the Great Big Book Club with bestselling author Jael Richardson, discussing her most recent title Gutter Child with fellow guest author Angie Abdou — and this is only the beginning.
Festival organizers have a full schedule of upcoming events that will span the entire weekend, including daily author readings, panel discussions, kids workshops and the always popular Saturday night concert, this year featuring Regina-born country rock artist Val Halla.
Other exciting events coming up include:
- the annual Teen Read Out on Friday at 11 a.m., as the conclusion to a week-long writing workshop for youth with author Kristine Scarrow;
- a panel on Saturday at 3 p.m. discussing Defying Genre with guests Craig Davidson, Dorothy Ellen Palmer and Hiromi Goto;
- a pre-recorded discussion with poets Peace Akintade and Tenille Campbell about the genre, and more.
In addition to being a big anniversary event, this year’s festival is unlike any other in history — it's using a hybrid of virtual and in-person delivery to create the experience that Festival regulars know and love.
This year’s guests have access to a unique website that includes video access to all the scheduled events, including the new in-person activities recently added by organizers.
Hosted at the Mae Wilson Theatre, the Sask Book Awards Reading Session will bring together several Saskatchewan authors for a reading and Q&A session on Saturday, and a panel featuring local artists Lori Deets, Dustin Hlady and Philly 5 will take the stage on Sunday.
There’s also video tours of the Festival’s favourite Moose Jaw venues, video discussion rooms for guests to chat with each other following events, a running slideshow of photos and stories from past Festivals submitted by guests, and a series of pre-recorded sessions with guest authors.
The always popular trivia contest is also back, taking place online and available through links on the Festival of Words Facebook page.
Moose Jaw guests also have the opportunity to head over to the Cultural Centre to watch events live streamed in the Mae Wilson Theatre, or to stop by Post Horizon Booksellers to pick up any of the guest authors books featured in the Festival.
The Festival of Words is also running a book giveaway contest on social media, offering a basket of books from this year’s guest authors to a lucky festival guest who shares their favourite Festival of Words memory with organizers.
Check out the full Festival of Words schedule here, and keep up with events by following the Festival on social media.
