Well my Wordfest 2017 experience was WAY better than my Wordfest 2016 experience which was basically non-existent due to the fact that I contracted hand foot and mouth during last year’s festival (the joys of having young children in daycare never end!). But I was relatively healthy this year, which allowed me to take in a few events, host my own event, and schm
ooze with authors and book people whenever I had the chance. I of course purchased a few books too, because although I receive many for review from publishers, I gots to walk the walk.
The first event I attended featured the lovely Michael Hingston and Natalie Olsen, publishers of the short story advent calendar, which I quickly snapped up after the event. I’ll be doing a special feature on this neat little produce in December, so keep your eye open for that. Included in this event was the incredible Nick Mount, who I had heard of in the past, but wasn’t familiar with. My god this guy knows his stuff, and I was hoping to hear more from his EXTENSIVE knowledge of can-lit’s past and present.
Giller Reading!
Calgary was lucky enough to host the Scotiabank Giller Prize readings, which meant I got to see all 5 shortlisted authors read from their nominated books (!!!). This event was interesting to me for two particular reasons: one is that I’m hosting Calgary’s giller light bash in November, so it helped me get acquainted with the books. Secondly, when I used to work at Wordfest, it was always really frustrating to have giller-shortlisted authors cancel their festival appearances on us at the last minute because they were being whisked away on this tour-but this year, because they had a scheduled appearance at the festival, they were part of the main act anyway! Sigh, it was wonderful, and extremely satisfying for me to see this come to fruition.
short story writer Eva Crocker
I watched two fabulous panel discussions as well-one on short stories, and one on the politics of….everything. Although I don’t normally find ‘political’ books interesting, this specific panel discussion introduced me to two authors that I immediately loved, so of course I purchased their books. F-Bomb: Dispatches from the War on Feminism by Lauren McKeon and Blank by M NourbeSe Philip. Both of these books are very serious, and normally wouldn’t appeal to me on the page, but hearing these women speak was inspiring, sending me straight to the booksellers table!
To cap off a wonderful week of books and bookish discussions, I attended a reception held by Simon and Schuster, which was probably the highlight of my month. There, I met the wonderful and kind Ruth Ware, who’s written three books in total, two of which I’ve reviewed here and here. I also met the President of Simon and Schuster Canada Kevin Hanson, who interviewed me for an internship 8 years ago, which I did not get. He of course did not remember this, but I made sure to awkwardly remind him of it, because that’s the kind of person I am-awkward. He was lovely though, just as I remember him being all that time ago.
Ruth Ware and I
So, a successful week all in all, with lots of pictures and tweets to gaze longingly upon until next year’s festival. I feel so privileged to live in a city that has such a vibrant book community that makes this event possible. Big thank you to the Wordfest staff and volunteers who worked so hard to put it all together.
Sounds like a great time was had by all! I bet he regrets not hiring you now… big mistake! I hope you accidentally trod on his toe with a four-inch stiletto heel…
haha no, i was probably wearing flats at the time. Also, he was a super nice guy, so I have no ill will towards him-everything happens for a reason, I truly believe that 🙂
Beautiful dress – so cool that you got to meet Ruth Ware! I’m glad you were able to have such a lovely time at this year’s festival, especially in light of last year’s illness. I’m looking forward to hearing more about the short story advent calendar!
Thank you! yes, there will be short stories, and chocolate of course. Because how can it be a Christmas countdown without chocolate???
I feel like you’ve shared pics of you and Ruth Ware before…do you know her well? Do you miss anything about helping to put together Wordfest?
haha oh god I don’t know her at all, we met for all of five minutes. You’re probably thinking of the picture I posted on twitter 🙂
Ummm I miss being in the ‘action’, and having all the authors chase after me because I always had the answers. But honestly it was also a giant pain in the ass most times, so I’m thankful I don’t have to deal with all the bs anymore, I can just enjoy it LOL
I’ve noticed that the places that host conferences I’ve been to always seem like chaos waiting to burst out. Attendance is way easier.
you got that right!
Looks like a fabulous event! Between the Pages is in Halifax this week, but it looks like I can’t make it. Thursday nights are full of Scouts, dance, and piano lessons. And someone needs to be the driver (my husband is a scout leader, so he’s already tied up). Oh well… maybe next year. Besides, there’s you-tube!
Looking forward to hearing what you think about the short story calendar!
gosh you’re busy! I guess that’s my future once my daughter is in school-our work as mothers never ends it seems like