| With over 60 events in this year’s WordFest: Banff-International Writers’ Festival, the busy Calgarian arts-enthusiast has some very difficult choices to make. You can’t see everything, my dear literature lover, but I’m here to narrow things down.
War Stories (October 10, noon, Rozsa Centre Great Hall, University of Calgary) brings the U.K.’s Simon Ings, New Zealand’s Stephanie Johnson and newly-local Jaspreet Singh together for a conversation about armed conflict in literature. The conversation promises to be as rich and diverse as its participants. (Fun fact about Simon Ings: he was born with synaesthesia, the ability to see regular mathematical patterns as colours behind his eyes!)
The proper festival kick-off is Heart Matters (October 10, 8:00 p.m., Vertigo Theatre Playhouse), a presentation of former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson’s memoir of the same name.
You can catch more globe-trotters at South of Eden (noon, October 11, Cassio A-B, University of Calgary), where Robert Drewe (Australia), Damon Galgut (South Africa), Stephanie Johnson (New Zealand) and Mandy Sayer (Australia) will spin tales from the southern hemisphere. The afternoon event promises to span film noir, adolescence and political satire.
This is My Country, What’s Yours? (2:00 p.m., October 11, Jenkins Theatre, Mount Royal College) takes its name from Noah Richler’s new literary travelogue. Mordecai’s son has forged an identity independent of his famous father through his involvement with the National Post and CBC. He’s joined by a host of other politically-engaged writers — Rawi Hage, Anosh Irani, Eden Robinson and Madeline Thien.
Blood Ties (5:00 p.m., October 11, W.R. Castell Central Library) puts the focus on aboriginal artists. David Bouchard comes to WordFest with his latest, Nokum Was My Teacher, a generational tale of a boy and his grandfather (and it’s illustrated). Eden Robinson’s Blood Sports follows Tom Bauer as he tries to carve a life in Vancouver’s notorious East End. The pair are joined by The Northern Cree Singers, the 2000 Aboriginal Contemporary Singing World Champions, who will get beats pulsing in the library with their drums and songs.
Closing off the first half of WordFest is the Wednesday Night Glitz! (7:00 p.m., October 11, Vertigo Theatre Playhouse), an event so exciting they had to include an exclamation mark in the title. They’ve crammed the Vertigo with North American authors Dennis Bock, Wayne Johnston, Linda Little, Thomas McGuane, Jean McNeil and Rachel Wyatt – an appropriately heavy-hitting bunch as the festival kicks into high gear. (Thursday alone has, brace yourselves, 23 events).
Check back next week for coverage of such delightful events as Rendezvous à la Librairie Monette, Word of Mouth, Picture This and the always enticing Poetry Bash. |
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