Contact Us

Shelley Youngblut

Shelley Youngblut is the CEO & Creative Ringleader of Wordfest. She was the recipient of the 2020 Calgary Award for Community Achievement in the Arts and the 2018 Rozsa Award for Arts Leadership. She also won the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Western Magazine Awards. Youngblut was the founding editor of Calgary’s award-winning Swerve magazine and has created magazines for ESPN, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, Nickelodeon, Western Living, and The Globe and Mail. She is also a former pop-culture correspondent for ABC World News Now and Canada AM, and a frequent contributor to CBC Calgary. She thinks of Wordfest as a general-interest magazine in three dimensions and is so grateful to be working with the team, board, volunteers and community to create a better Calgary. Follow her on Facebook @ShelleyYoungblut and Instagram/Threads @youngblutshelley.

Everett Wilson

Everett Wilson is the Senior Director of Operations and Development at Wordfest where he collaborates with the team on audience engagement, fund development and general operations. He holds a Masters of Arts in Communication Studies and almost ended up with a PhD before he discovered a new calling in the live arts sector. When he’s not working behind the scenes at Wordfest, you’ll catch him making handmade lino-cut prints, creating world-building digital illustrations, publishing a weekly comic called The Push Button Heads, and selling art prints and swag through his online shop.

Chelsea Rule

Chelsea Rule is Wordfest’s Director of Community Engagement & Special Sauce. That’s right. Her job is to add a little something unique, engaging, surprising or delightful to your audience experience. She also works to foster and develop relationships with local and publishing partners and Wordfest volunteers in the effort to create a true community feel at shows and across operations. She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Literature and has more than 15 years of experience in Marketing & Special Events in the corporate and performance arts spaces. When she’s not ordering 300 mini cups of ice cream for the next show, she can be found reading contemporary romance, listening to true crime podcasts, coordinating literal special sauce toppings for her two-year-old daughter and taking her goldendoodle, Garry, to the dog park.

Rita Sirignano

Rita Sirignano is a writer, painter, and the Program Associate and Youth Program Director at Wordfest. Her freelance writing has appeared in most Canadian publications, including The National Post, Ottawa Magazine, The Calgary Herald,  Avenue, Swerve, and anthologized in Fact and Arguments: Selected Essays from The Globe and Mail. She was one of the curators of the original  Poetry in Motion project which put excerpts from the work of Alberta poets in unused advertising space on Calgary transit, and in a previous life worked in museums and art galleries in New York City.  A graduate of The Rhode Island School of Design, her paintings are in the collection of The Alberta Foundation for the Arts and many private collections across North America. She loves all dogs (poodles in particular) and has been working on a memoir for more than 20 years that she will probably never finish.  

Paula Turcotte

Paula Turcotte is a former English teacher, now the Youth Programming Associate at Wordfest. She is also a poet; her debut chapbook Permutations was published in July 2024 by Baseline Press. Her poetry has been shortlisted for The Malahat Review’s Far Horizons Award and received People’s Choice in CV2’s 2-Day Poetry Contest. Her recent work appears in Canthius, Arc Poetry, and elsewhere. Find her on Instagram @p.turc.

Calum Maunier

Calum Maunier (He/Him) is a technical director, theatrical designer, technician, and creator. He  graduated from the University of Calgary Drama program with distinction in 2022. His most recent design work was for Starslingers at the Calgary Stampede with Theatre Jupiter and Cirque De Nuit. He loves Wordfest because of the always evolving and interesting challenges we create and conquer, as well as being able to bring high quality, meaningful programming to the stage. Three years later with Wordfest, and he knows tomorrow will bring a new challenge.

Blake Cochlan

Blake Cochlan is a designer, illustrator, and creative. He is the Design & Event Lead at Wordfest. He attained a Bachelor of Design with a minor in Animation at The Alberta University of the Arts, and since then has been honing his art and communications skills working at The ALS Society of Alberta, ActiveIQ, and Wordfest. A lifelong nerd, he enjoys reading and writing comics, playing video games, and watching animated series in his free time. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter (X) @pixelatedblake

Corrine Lung

Corrine Lung has been working with Wordfest as Box Office Assistant and Front of The House person for the past 3 years. She is the one who greets you at the door and replies to many of the box office emails. In her previous life, she spent 40 years in the downtown corporate world working in industry and banking. Her original calling was in accounting and then it migrated into marketing. She is now semi-retired and spends her time only doing fun things and that is why she is at Wordfest.

Corrine loves the Wordfest programs, authors and books. She keeps learning and it keeps her active and interested at this stage in life.  What a pleasure it is to work with the amazing Wordfest team.

David Kotsibie

David Kotsibie has been the official Wordfest photographer for eight years. He is the rarest of creatures, a second-generation Calgarian. In his previous life, he spent 20 years in Information Technology Support and Application Development. After that, he decided to take his love of photography to the next level. The one thing he wanted to do was align his career with the creative societies, associations and businesses in Southern Alberta. He has been the photographer for Beakerhead, Calgary International Film Festival, Calgary Stampede Chuckwagon Races, Comic Expo, Cirque du Soleil, The Globe and Mail, Naheed Nenshi, and TEDx. He still loves every event he shoots for Wordfest and is so grateful to be a part of this amazing team. 

Janet Hutchinson

BOARD CHAIR
Janet Hutchinson has both worked and volunteered in the not for profit sector for many years, most notably as a board member and chair of the Calgary Public Library board of directors during the visioning and building of the New Central Library. She has been part of the Calgary Library Foundation, a member of the Urban Libraries Council (a think tank for large, urban, North American libraries), and locally, the Womens Centre, the YWCA, and DDRC. Janet is an avid reader and supporter of local book stores, and of course, Wordfest. She has recently retired and is spending her time reading, knitting, running, and travelling.

Gillian Lawrence

Gillian Lawrence is the General Manager of Land Development at Remington Development Corporation, a privately-owned full service development company headquartered in Calgary. Over the last 17 years, Gillian has had the privilege to work on Quarry Park, a former gravel pit which is now a highly acclaimed mixed-use community in Calgary. Gillian worked for a decade at the City of Calgary in a variety of planning and real estate positions. Gillian holds a BA (Hon) from the University of Calgary and an MSc in Planning from the University of Toronto.

Gillian served on the CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) Network Global Board. Prior to this, she was an active leader with CREW Calgary, serving as President in 2015. In 2010, the Calgary Herald recognized Gillian as one of  20 compelling Calgarians. Gillian is a past chair of the Famous 5 Foundation and is a current board member of BILD Calgary Region. In 2017, she was honoured to receive BILD’s Volunteer Service Award. Gillian is also a member of the Calgary Chapter of International Women’s Forum. An avid fan of Wordfest—you will see her with her family and friends at almost every show!—Gillian returned to the Wordfest board in 2021, after a stellar first tenure in the festival’s earlier years. 

John Richardson

John Richardson is currently the Senior Manager, Global Partnerships at Invest Alberta, where he works to bring new businesses to Alberta and diversify the economy. He started his career with the best job as a Wordfest intern during his undergrad. At Wordfest, he saw firsthand the incredible impact of Wordfest by connecting the world’s best authors with audiences. John is passionate about fostering positive change and progress in Calgary. 

Monti Tanner

Monti Tanner is an experienced public school administrator in Calgary, with a nearly 20-year career dedicated to supporting hundreds of teachers and thousands of students. He holds a B.Ed., a B.A. in English Language Arts, and an M.Ed. in Leadership in Educational Technology. He is also a sessional instructor at the University of Lethbridge, where he shares his passion for flexible learning environments with future educators.

A proud third-generation Calgarian, Monti lives, works, and plays in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta alongside his husband and their puppy. He is deeply passionate about supporting 2SLGBTQ+ youth, and has delivered presentations internationally, earning accolades for his contributions and support of his community. An avid reader, theatre lover, and advocate for the arts within Calgary, Monti brings his dedication to education, equity, and community to all his endeavours. Follow him on Facebook and Instagram/Threads @montitanner. 

Robert Macaulay

Rob Macaulay is a retired petroleum engineer with degrees in Chemical Engineering and Business from Queen’s and Cornell universities. He has served on for-profit boards in the oil industry. He has taken on  a variety of committee, board, and teaching roles in the not-for-profit sector, including the Calgary Public Library, Downstage Theatre, and Design Talks, as well as in the sports of field hockey and karate. He likes good governance and his tastes in reading are rambling and unpredictable, which is why he has been a great admirer of Wordfest on both counts for many years.