| Irish novelist Colm Toibin, Canadian dramatist Michel Tremblay and Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin are among the authors who will read at this year’s WordFest: Banff-Calgary International Writers Festival, running between October 13 and 17.
The 2004 festival is as international as it’s ever been, with U.K. authors Louise Doughty, Andrea Levy and Gillian Slovo, Australian writers Jaclyn Moriarty and John Kinsella, Mexico’s Marcelo Uribe and Xavier Velasco, Patrick McGrath from the U.S. and Finnish science-fiction novelist Johanna Sinisalo.
There’s also an especially impressive lineup of Canadian novelists, starting with Clara Callan author Richard B. Wright, who is this year’s Banff Distinguished Author. Festival-goers can also hear from Michael Winter, Susan Swan, Wayson Choy, Merilyn Simonds, Paul Quarrington and Greg Hollingshead. Poet and novelist Natalee Caple can just catch the LRT to the festival, now that she’s writer in residence at the University of Calgary (see the story in this issue), and perhaps compare notes with former Calgarian Hiromi Goto, who is writer in residence at Emily Carr College and will read from her new novel Hopeful Monsters. Anosh Irani, J. Jill Robinson, Beth Powning, Ibi Kaslik, Laura Robinson, Drew Hayden Taylor and Colin McAdam further fill out the roster of Canadian talent.
Local authors on the WordFest stages include Suzette Mayr, with a new novel entitled Venous Hum, playwright-become-novelist Clem Martini, Hunger’s Brides author Paul Anderson – whose book launch takes the form of a multimedia extravaganza – and history writer Susan Warrender.
Calgary poet Ian Samuels is among the diverse group of poets, from Patrick Lane, Sue Goyette, Patrick Friesen and Leslie Greentree, to reigning World Heavyweight Champion of Poetry Pat Payne, Edmonton’s Minister Faust and Wayde Compton. Compton, along with fellow turntablist Jason de Couto, makes up the Contact Zone Crew. So expect some turntable action at the poetry events.
Along with Rankin, fans of the "whodunit, where and with what" genre can also hear readings by crime writers William Deverell and Val McDermid.
Plus, Rheostatic rink-rat Dave Bidini is back, and Mordecai Richler biographer Michael Posner will join Noah Richler and others in a discussion of the Richler legacy in Canadian writing. This year, songwriters also have a place in WordFest, just as poets found their way into the folk festival. More details on the rest of the WordFest lineup next week.
Filling Station’s flywheel reading series is back on Thursday, September 9 at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson Booksellers. Members of the Alexandra Writers' Centre Society will join in this time: Don M. McKay, Susan Plett, Michael Woodhead and Mark Hopkins will read, and Alexandra VP Robin Lunn will be on hand to answer questions about the long-established writers group.
And what about Pages on Kensington’s fall readings? They’re back after a summer hiatus, starting on Thursday, September 16. All the details will appear here next week.
After its "taster" event at the Calgary Public Library, the full-on 2004 Calgary Stroll of Poets starts this Sunday, September 12. The action begins at Annie's Book Company, then strolls to the Author, Author! bookstore, Kensington Pub, Weeds Café and a passel of other Kensington-area venues. All the details appear in a handy PDF file at www.calgarypoets.com/Download.html.
And as you read this, spare a moment's silence for poet Steven Gillespie, a.k.a. eatlardfudge, who passed away due to a heart attack in Victoria on August 18. |
Copyright ©2004 FFWD. All rights reserved.