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Save The Dates: Oct. 15 to 19, 2025
It’s the 30th Annual Wordfest Fall Imaginairium Festival!!! 

Thank you for making the 2024 Imaginairium a larger-than-life confetti canon of big ideas—proof that, when we gather together around the power of words, the world feels… WonderFULL. By enthusiastically showing up in Calgary for the world’s best writers, you’ve co-created the interconnected, diverse, propulsive, thriving community of Wordfesters.

Canada’s Liveliest Literary Festival returns next fall, Oct. 15 to 19, in Calgary’s vibrant Beltline neighbourhood. 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. We’ll be showcasing your favourite authors from the past 30 years, as well as writers we’ll be talking about for the next 30 years, at the 2025 Imaginairium, as well as in special events throughout the year. Festival and Year-Round Passes are on sale now! 

Here’s What WonderFull Looks Like

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YEAR-ROUND SCHEDULE

January

One Yellow Rabbit & Wordfest Co-Present The First Bad Man
One Yellow Rabbit & Wordfest Co-Present The First Bad Man

Jan 30 @ 7:30 PM MT $55

Memorial Park Library, 2nd Floor
1221 2 St SW
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Not quite your mother's book club, this immersive theatre experience offers far more than just a literary discussion. Audience members will join a live performance featuring Dublin’s Pan Pan Theatre, based on a reading of The First Bad Man, a novel by Miranda July. Grab a seat and settle in as Kitty Blennerhasset, John Benno, Rose McVittie, and Freya Golden explore the first book featured in their book club, returning week after week, along with the characters of Miranda July’s debut novel. This production of The First Bad Man is a humourous, thoughtful, and occasionally unsettling look at how we engage with others, drawing on the book's themes of loneliness and isolation. Ticket price includes an advance copy of The First Bad Man. READ MORE

About Us

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 (which is to connect the world’s best audiences with the world’s best authors) has evolved to include producing lively, accessible shows year-round, in addition to the fall Imaginairium 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. Sign up for our newsletter here to become a part of the vital Wordfest community.

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