Wordfest is delighted to announce the first six authors appearing at the 2025 Imaginairium Festival, happening October 14–19 at venues throughout Calgary. Our six-day festival of ideas has been designed to be a bright light in dark times and a celebration of Wordfest’s 30-year history of connecting authors with audiences for life-affirming, transformational conversations.
Confirmed guests include Canlit powerhouse Miriam Toews (Women Talking, All My Puny Sorrows, A Complicated Kindness), Governor General’s Literary Award winner (and Booker Prize shortlisted) Madeleine Thien, master storyteller Thomas King, marketing guru and Under the Influence host Terry O’Reilly, two-time Governor General’s Literary Award winner David A. Robertson, and the Academy Award nominated author of Room, Emma Donoghue, one of the future international superstars who got their early break at Wordfest.
This exciting sneak peek is just the beginning of a line-up featuring 50+ authors—a lineup built to honour three decades of Wordfest while showcasing the hottest stars in publishing right now. Festival Passes are on sale now at the Early Bird Price of $165. More than 40 shows will unfold during the festival, with Wordfest’s signature solo spotlights, inspired pairings, The Way We… storytelling extravaganzas, poetry cabaret, and the return of Literary Death Match. Our experiences tend to sell-out, so please act now to avoid disappointment. Watch for more author announcements through June. Full festival programming will be announced in August.
Since Wordfest was founded in 1996, we’ve been exceeding expectations about what a literary event can be (and selling out shows), so please sign up for our newsletter to avoid missing out.
Wordfest™ beams out from Calgary, Canada in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, Treaty 7 territory. We are an entrepreneurial arts non-profit founded in 1996 as one of Canada’s leading literary festivals. Our small team’s mission to connect the world’s most compelling authors with readers has evolved to include producing lively, accessible shows year-round, in addition to the fall Imaginairium (Canada’s Liveliest Literary Festival). Our unique (and free) Wordfest Youth program focuses on Grades 5 to 12 to fuel teen literacy, providing interactive experiences and class sets of books to thousands of students every year. We also produce Imagine On Air Audio, as well as online programming. Our goal? To help you think bigger, dig deeper, and build meaningful relationships.
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