Preview
WORDFEST
October 15 to 19
Calgary and Banff
Thanks to this year’s WordFest, you’ll be able to celebrate the written and spoken word practically non-stop for five days and four nights – from Wednesday, October 15 until the following Sunday, October 19. And there’s no big secret to planning your attendance at the annual festival this year.
You can’t go wrong if you simply attend the mainstage events on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings, since this means you’ll see two poetry events and an opening cabaret in addition to the headline readings. Your evenings will be long but memorable.
At Wednesday’s Opening Gala (7 p.m., Uptown Stage), you’ll hear Britain’s eccentrically witty Jasper Fforde, Australian novelist Joan London and two of the many outstanding Canadians reading at this year’s event: Monique Proulx and M.G. Vassanji. Don’t even think about leaving the Uptown before the Kick-Off Cabaret at 9:30 p.m. If you do, you’ll miss former Sacred Heart of Elvis singer-songwriter Ali Riley (her new poetry collection is called Wayward, as in "wayward girls"). Riley appears with a posse of theatre people: playwright and novelist Tomson Highway, the One Yellow Rabbit ensemble, Fast Forward’s own Martin Morrow (who wrote the book on OYR) and Calgary theatre critic-turned-author Brian Brennan.
For those with some free daytime hours, there are readings during the day, too, and some of them are free. These can be a bit like folk fest workshops in that they’re more intimate and informal. You might consider Thursday’s Lights, Camera, Write! event from noon to 1 p.m. at the Glenbow Museum Theatre. This one’s not free, but does feature Russell Banks, Fforde and Monique Proulx. Also Thursday at the Glenbow, from 1 to 3:30 p.m., is Buffalo Stones with Highway and Wayne Arthurson.
If you’re a francophone, or just like listening to French, Thursday evening can be a free affair. Rendez-vous à la Librairie Monette unites French-language authors at the 17th Avenue S.W. bookstore from 7:30 to 9 p.m.
Meanwhile, back at the Uptown, it’s the language of Shakespeare all night long, beginning with the Thursday Stage event featuring Melanie Little, Frances Itani, David Adams Richards, Sarah Dunant, Aussie James Bradley and Mexico’s Jorge Volpi. At 9:30 p.m., the Rockin’ Poets take over – Riley, Robert Priest, Sarah Murphy, Stuart Ross and Scottish performance poet FadeKe Kokumo Rocks.
Sleep in Friday, and then catch Canadian Maritime authors at the University of Calgary’s Nickle Arts Museum. Richards, Robert Finley and Leo McKay all read from noon until 1 p.m.
After that, go straight south on Crowchild Trail for the free Calling All Nations event at Mount Royal College’s East Wing Building. Fforde (busy fellow) reads with Alberto Ruy-Sánchez and Isabel Huggan, whose book Belonging is about the meaning of "home." This is a good chance to see the distinguished New Zealand poet, critic and novelist C.K. Stead, too.
If you only have one evening free, you should see the Friday Showcase with Stead, Banks, Caroline Adderson, M.A.C. Farrant, Garth Nix and Rachel Wyatt at the Uptown from 7 to 9 p.m. That’s immediately followed by the Poetry Bash, where Dennis Lee, Alison Pick, Nicole Brossard and Herménégilde Chiasson join Priest and Rocks.
Saturday’s daytime picks include African Routes from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. at the Epcor Centre’s Engineered Air Theatre, and Graffic Jam with Ho Che Anderson and Chester Brown from 3 to 4 p.m. at the Art Gallery of Calgary.
As always, you can keep your WordFest weekend going right through to Sunday afternoon with a simple trip to Banff. Plus, this year it’s the only chance to see 2003’s Banff Distinguished Author, E. Annie Proulx. She headlines a series of readings on Saturday from 7 until 9 p.m. in The Banff Centre’s Eric Harvie Theatre. As well, the Banff Poetry Cabaret is the only time Stead appears wearing his poet’s – rather than his novelist’s, critic’s or essayist’s – hat. The cabaret runs Saturday from 9:30 until 11 p.m. in The Banff Centre’s Margaret Greenham Theatre. |
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