The 26th annual Saskatchewan Festival of Words is in full swing on Friday, with a busy schedule of author readings filling the rooms of the Moose Jaw Public Library (MJPL) and opportunities for book signings and autographs between each event.
The Festival’s bookstore has taken up residence downstairs in the museum. Fans can attend a session with an author, then head down to buy their book, get it signed, and chat.
The bookstore is open 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Friday morning’s author sessions included literary guests Zarqa Nawaz, Amanda Leduc, Lisa Bird-Wilson, katherena vermette, Anthony Bidulka, Will Ferguson, David Bergen, Theressa Slind, Brandon Wint, Paul Huebener, Patricia Robertson, Jerry Haigh, Khodi Dill, Wayne Simpson, Daniel Scott Tysdal, Jason Purcell, Jillian Christmas, and Robert Currie.
Suyi Davies Okungbowa was delayed by the current Canadian air travel nightmare. Festival organizers said they were hopeful he would make it to Saturday’s panels. Michelle Good, author of national bestseller Five Little Indians, is unable to make it to this year’s Festival.
Friday events will include more author sessions at the MJPL from 2:40 to 3:30 p.m., an interview with Emma Donoghue, author of The Room, from 4 to 5 p.m., the ever-popular Trivia Night at Bobby’s Place beginning at 6 p.m., and finally the Spoken Word Showcase, a festival highlight, at 8:30 p.m. in the Mae Wilson.
The Spoken Word Showcase will feature Brandon Wint, Khodi Dill, Kai Cheng Thom, Janelle Pewapsconias, and Jillian Christmas.
Thursday evening’s READception
Thursday evening marked the formal start of the Festival with readings in the Mae Wilson Theatre. Sarah Simison, who served as the Festival’s executive director many years and is now the managing artistic director, and Amanda Farnel, a Festival of Words veteran and now the executive director, greeted festival-goers and introduced the evening’s authors.
Mayor Clive Tolley spoke briefly to welcome attendees to Moose Jaw.
Moose Jaw’s own Robert Currie started the evening off with a poem he wrote especially for last year’s 25th Festival of Words anniversary. He incorporated a quote from a Festival appearance by Margaret Atwood in which she praised the team and volunteers who made the Festival happen. Simison noted that Currie’s poem had inspired the staff t-shirts and event theme this year.
Readings followed from Jerry Haigh, Patricia Robertson, Lisa Bird-Wilson, and Amanda Leduc.
Haigh is a Kenya-born wildlife veterinarian who traveled the world for 34 years working with animals of all kinds. He told stories from Africa, Asia, and, of course, Canada. Haigh currently resides with his family in Saskatoon. His latest book Reindeer Reflections has a foreword by fellow Saskatoon resident Yann Martel, who wrote the worldwide bestseller Life of Pi.
Patricia Robertson is the author of Hour of the Crab, a short-fiction collection described by author Wayne Grady as beautifully written and intelligent. Robertson’s Thursday-night reading was a chilling account of a Canadian tourist who finds a body on a beach in southern Spain.
Lisa Bird-Wilson is the executive director of Saskatchewan’s Gabriel Dumont Institute, which is owned by the Métis Nation in Saskatchewan and functions as its cultural and educational arm. She has written for publications across Canada and is the chair of the Ânskohk Indigenous Literature Festival. Her latest novel is Probably Ruby, published in 2021.
Amanda Leduc read from her 2021 novel The Centaur’s Wife. Leduc also wrote the non-fiction book Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability and Making Space (2020). She has cerebral palsy and serves as the communications coordinator for Canada’s first literary festival for diverse authors and stories — the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD).
