When it's the farewell year for Anne Green (the festival's first and only director) and the 15th anniversary, you tend to go balls-out to develop an impressive program. While the festival has already proven itself one of the best literary events in the world, this year there is an overall feeling of celebration for Green who has worked hard to ensure the 15-year-old festival will carry-on without her with Jo Steffens stepping in as festival director for next year.
But before Green leaves she gets one last hurrah. This year Wordfest has wrangled 74 writers to participate in more than 60 events in Calgary, Banff and the Bow Valley between October 12 and 17. Panel discussions, readings, spoken word performances, poetry cabarets and parties will get writers including Dionne Brand, Yann Martel, Will Ferguson and Miguel Syjuco chatting with their readers.
The early favourite for highlight of the festival is the Distinguished Author Series dedicated to Paul Quarrington, a Wordfest favourite who passed away in January 2010. He will be remembered through film, words and music at an event in Banff featuring Dave Bidini, the Porkbelly Futures, Katherine Govier, Drew Hayden, Judith Keenan, Peter Olivia, Rob Sanders and Jane Urquart.
Also watch for the Francophone and francophile portion of the festival, Festival des mots, which brings in Marc Levy who is the most read French author in the world. And, young readers get a piece of the action with a huge educational component and events featuring authors such as Rebecca James and Kenneth Oppel.
Outside of the six-day festival that takes place October 12 to 17, Wordfest is hosting a handful of events with writers chatting about and signing their latest books including David Suzuki (September 21), painter Robert Bateman (October 26), Roméo Dallaire (November 8) and Ian Tyson (November 17).
For the full festival and special event schedule and to purchase passes and tickets, visit wordfest.com or call 403-237-9068. Early bird passes are on sale until September 1.
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