Wordfest Presents Jessica Waite

Wordfest Presents Jessica Waite

Hosted by Ali Bryan

SOLD OUT IN RECORD TIME! (Thank you, Wordfesters, for your remarkable support. Click here to join the waitlist, and please encourage your friends and family to sign up for our insider emails to make sure they're the first to hear about even more stellar authors coming to Calgary this year.)

Wordfest is thrilled to be showcasing Jessica Waite and her no-holds-barred, sometimes wry, always moving memoir, The Widow’s Guide to Dead Bastards. The conversation, hosted by Ali Bryan, starts at 7 PM MT and includes an audience Q & A and book signing. Waite's journey from emerging author to centerstage with one of 2024's most highly anticipated new books is almost too good to be true. And now you have the power to put her on the bestseller lists by pre-ordering copies of the book here for pick-up at the show. Of course, Owl's Nest Books will also have The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards for sale at the event, along with Bryan's backlist. 

We are grateful to Simon & Schuster Canada for making it possible to celebrate our hometown success story!

About The Widow’s Guide to Dead Bastards

A memoir that reads like a whodunnit!” –Sandra Martin, award-winning author of A Good Death

A widow’s life is turned upside down when she uncovers the truth about her late husband in this lyrical, witty, and deeply moving memoir of tragedy and betrayal.

In the midst of mourning her husband’s sudden death, writer Jessica Waite discovered shocking secrets that undermined everything she thought she knew about the man she’d loved and trusted. From uncovered affairs to drug use and a pornography addiction, Waite was overwhelmed reconciling this devastating information with her new reality as a widowed single mom. Then, to further complicate matters, strange, inexplicable coincidences forced her to consider whether her husband was reaching back from beyond the grave.

With her signature candor and unflinching honesty, Waite details her tumultuous love story and the pain of adjusting to the new normal she built for herself and her son. A riveting, difficult, and surprisingly beautiful story, The Widow’s Guide to Dead Bastards is also a lyrical exploration of grief, mental health, single parenthood, and betrayal that demonstrates that the most moving love stories aren’t perfect—they’re flawed and poignantly real.

About Jessica Waite

Jessica Waite never realized she was a latchkey kid because she lived so close to her smalltown library. Now, she leads people to heal through writing and mentors incarcerated writers through the Hero’s Journey Prison Writing Project. Waite is an award-winning essayist who lives in Calgary on Treaty 7 territory, in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. Find out more  at JessicaWaite.work and follow her on Instagram @endless_stories_jess.

About Host Ali Bryan

Ali Bryan’s novel, Coq, is nominated for the 2024 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour. She is also the author of Takedown, The Crow Valley Karaoke Championships, Roost, (winner of the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction), and The Figgs, shortlisted for the 2019 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour. Her debut YA novel, The Hill, was longlisted for the 2021 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize. A certified personal trainer, Bryan lives in Calgary with her family and a dog named Lemon. Follow her on her website at alibryan.com and on Instagram: @alikbryan.

Women are Talking About The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards

• “Jessica Waite is a lavishly gifted writer with a riveting tale to tell. The Widow’s Guide to Dead Bastards is a page-turning psychological mystery, an inspiring story of endurance, a guide to healing and redemption – and it’s all true. Treat yourself to this book when you’re in the mood for a fascinating, funny, thought-provoking, and inspiring read." –Martha Beck, bestselling author of The Way of Integrity
• “Jessica Waite's The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards is a hell of a ride. By turns emotional, hilarious, and always very, very human, Waite gives readers access to the secrets that spilled into her lap after her husband's untimely death. Waite masterfully sets an example of how we might honor and cherish departed loved ones who enriched, damaged, and marked our lives forever. You will stay up all night reading this gem." –Christie Tate, New York Times bestselling author of Group
• “Propulsive, wild, supernatural and human on the best level, Jessica Waite’s The Widow’s Guide to Dead Bastards tackles marriage, grief, betrayal and reconciliation with heroic dedication, sharp wit and an indelible spirit. A memoir that tests the limits of the human heart, and elevates the form with rousing success. I couldn’t put it down." –Ali Bryan, award-winning author of Coq
• “Cracked this open to peek one morning at breakfast…an hour later I was late for so many things, but I COULD NOT STOP READING. It’s got all the emotions: Falling in love….the true kind. Shock. Hope. Rage. Heartbreak. For me, a perfect book about the depths of human love and loss. It is a marvel!" – Sarah Bamford Seidlemann, author of Swimming with Elephants: My Unexpected Pilgrimage from Physician to Healer