One of the Notorious City’s biggest summer events is approaching — the Saskatchewan Festival of Words will be held in Moose Jaw from July 14 to 17 and will bring fans together with authors from Saskatchewan and across Canada.
Festival organizers recently announced some changes. See the full schedule on FestivalofWords.com.
Warsha Mushtaq, Saskatchewan’s third Youth Poet Laureate, is unable to attend the Festival in person. She will be delivering her workshop virtually and will attend her Saturday panel on climate change online as well.
Amanda Farnel, the Festival’s operations coordinator, said they’ve recently confirmed two additional authors for the lineup.
“Amanda Leduc is going to be doing all of our moderating and having some reading sessions of her own. And the other is Suyi Davies Okungbowa,” Farnel said. “And both of them are fantasy authors. We’re really excited to be able to bring in some more fantasy writers.”
Farnel explained how the tickets and passes for the Festival will work. There are four different options:
- The Online Pass is by donation — pay whatever you can
- The Full Pass is $200
- The Student Pass is $55
- The Flex Pass is $100 ($125 value)
“The online pass will get you into all of our online events,” Farnel said. “We are streaming all of the events at the Mae Wilson Theatre and all of the readings at the Art Museum. They’re going to be professionally filmed and streamed, so it’s not just going to be like a shaky camera.”
For those able and eager to attend in person, the Full and Student passes are the best option. They do not include every workshop, or the popular Trivia Night at Bobby’s Place, but every other event is in there.
“We really like to push the Student Pass because it’s such a deep discount,” Farnel said. “The Student Pass will get you everything that the Full Pass does.”
The Student Pass is quite flexible — any student from elementary to university qualifies.
Lastly, the Flex Pass gives holders a $125 value, with each punch being worth $5.
“So, if you wanted to go to a reading session, which is $10, that would be two punches,” Farnel said. “The good thing about the Flex Pass is that it can be shared amongst multiple people. If you think there’s going to be a few of you who are going to a small number of sessions, it’s a great deal.”
The Festival is a must-attend for story-telling fans — which should include almost everyone — who are curious about the process of producing poetry, novels, short films, and much more. There are also concerts and a popular Trivia Night at Bobby's Place. The Trivia Night winner will receive a full pass to next year's Festival, along with a coveted, personalized trophy.
Authors will answer questions and participate in discussions about, for example, the creative process, navigating the publishing world, blending visual art with written art, reading poetry aloud, how fans influence the work of authors, and creating compelling characters.
All passes, along with full details of events from Thursday to Sunday, are available from the 2022 Festival of Words schedule page: festivalofwords.com/schedule.
Please note that most workshops require pre-registration, as space is limited.
