After 23 years, the Festival of Words has blossomed into a must-attend event in the Canadian literary landscape, and this year has certainly upheld that legacy.
The featured literary celebrities always bring something new and exciting to the table each year, and there is no doubt that the four-day event delivered once again.
Authors, artists, and literature-enthusiasts flocked to Moose Jaw to enjoy the beautiful venues — The Moose Jaw Public Library, the Mae Wilson Theatre, Mosaic Place, and so on — and to enjoy the quaint comfortability of the city itself.
Featuring a diverse line-up of award-winning names, the Festival spotlighted an impressive array of voices from different ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, and personal identities.
Four days of informative workshops, captivating panels, and moving performances left no stone unturned; festival attendees absorbed the weekend’s features eagerly.
Each panel reading was followed by an autograph session, keeping the Festival Bookstore brimming with activity and the literary guests’ pens busy.
This year’s Poetry Slam Competition featured a new pay-what-you-can type of admission and displayed the prowess of each poet, with the event bringing in double the donations seen in previous years.
The beloved trivia night at Bobby’s Place once again roused the crowd’s knowledge, and collaboration with Grant Hall allowed organizers to debut a totally new dinner event, featuring the delicious recipes of cookbook author Renée Kohlman.
Executive director Sarah Simison was pleased to see attendance for the Festival of Words was up this year, and a number of ticketed events completely sold out.
“We work really hard to create a better and better program every year,” said Simison. “If people come and say they had a great time, . . . and the authors are having a good time, then we know we've had a successful festival, which we have.”
The Festival of Words is proud of the diverse cast of names and experiences it is able to feature each year, with new authors and artists eagerly reaching out to be included.
This year, the spread was impressively larger than ever — with a cookbook author, a graphic novelist, countless talented poets, award-winning novelists, and even an astronaut on the billet, the Saskatchewan Festival of Words truly spoke to every kind of interest.
“The fact that we're being recognized for our [diverse lineup] confirms that we're doing the right thing,” said Simison. “It's all about stories, in the end, and so for all of us to hear different stories is really important.”
Although the weekend may be over, the Festival of Words is not finished celebrating literature. Thanks to the ongoing book club with the Moose Jaw Public Library, the Performer’s Cafe Open Mic Nights, the Cineview series, the Writers in Schools program — and so many other fantastic events through the year — they keep the spark of Canadian literature twinkling here in Moose Jaw.
For full coverage of the Festival from the Moose Jaw Express, check out our website’s archives.
