The Saskatchewan Festival of Words' Fridays feature some of the most popular events of the weekend, including Trivia Night at Bobby's Place and the Spoken Word Showcase in the Mae Wilson Theatre, drawing participants and competitors year after year.
The Festival is now in its 27th year, bringing authors, fans, volunteers, and more together across Moose Jaw. Venues for the weekend range from the Moose Jaw Public Library, amplifying its role as an educational, cultural, and community hub, the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre, and the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
The weather has not been co-operative for Festival events, so far, with strong winds and rain driving the inaugural Street Fair inside the Cultural Centre on Thursday evening. Nevertheless, organizers feel things are going well, with strong attendance driven by another excellent lineup of authors.
"The street fair was very interesting. This is the first time we've done it and unfortunately, there was kind of a huge rain that hit us, so we went inside," commented Amanda Farnel, executive director of the Saskatchewan Festival of Words. "But it turned out to be really nice inside! So, we had a number of people go through, and then we had a full area for readings. I think it was a success, and I think we'll be repeating it next year."
The Street Fair was followed by a concert from Diyet and The Love Soldiers in the Mae Wilson.
Friday morning featured readings in the Moose Jaw Public Library from a long list of authors, writers, poets, and TV and radio personalities including Bob McDonald, S.C. Lalli, Lauren Klassen, Ali Hassan, Rita Bouvier, and more.
In the afternoon, Tamara Cherry, Michelle Good, Norma Dunning, Kim Fu, and Janice Jo Lee.
"The author readings were great, I keep hearing feedback from different sessions about how much people enjoyed themselves," Farnel said. "There was one session with Casey Plett and Kim Fu where they decided to read Kim's first short story together and then act it out. That's the kind of interaction that's so interesting to me when you just get two authors together and something amazing happens."
A 4 p.m. interview with Suzette Mayr was moderated by Angie Abdou. Mayr's most recent book, The Sleeping Car Porter, won the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Dr. Abdou is a Moose Jaw-born author and professor of creative writing who is a long-time presence at the Festival.
The Trivia Night at Bobby's Place Olde World Tavern was won (again) by Word Crimes, a local team out to compete each year.
"They also had Angie Abdou and Ali Hassan on their team, so they won again, and they hoisted the trophy and filled it with [beverage] and were all drinking out of it, so that was really fun," Farnel said. "And the poetry showcase is one of my favourite events of the whole weekend, I was very excited for it.
"The poets are always so good, and you just don't know what's going to happen. There are so many ways to write and express poetry. Some people did spoken word, and some people read their poetry, and Janice Jo Lee brought a trumpet and was doing looping during her performance. It's always up in the air."
The Festival of Words continues Saturday with more author readings, signings, and interviews, including a 4 p.m. interview with Guy Gavriel Kay, moderated once more by Dr. Abdou. At 5 p.m., a University of Regina Press event will celebrate 10 years of publishing, with appearances by authors James Daschuk, Dale Eisler, Bevann Fox, and dee Hobsbawn-Smith.
The Festival of Words schedule and passes are available at www.festivalofwords.com/schedule.
