The 2024 Imaginairium Schedule:
30+ Life-Affirming Shows featuring 50+ Writers in Calgary

We know it’s going to be hard choosing between all this wordy goodness. But we know you’re ready to squeeze every bit of joy out of this special week in October. Our insider tip? Treat Wordfest’s fall festival as a menu of life-affirming ideas. Savour your favourite returning authors. Sample breakout stars. Devour the intimate, inspired pairings. Relish the variety and talk shows, storytelling and poetry events, and the return of Literary Death Match! Add your literary dreams to the mix in our interactive How To’s.

Tuesday, Oct. 16

Who We Are: Inspired by the Words & Wisdom of Murray Sinclair

Patti LaBoucane-Benson, David A. Robertson & Niigaan Sinclair. Hosted by Shelagh Rogers
Oct. 15 @ 5:30 PM  $25
DJD Dance Centre NEW VENUE

Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Created the Illusion of Success

Starring Susanne Craig. Hosted by Zain Velji
Oct. 15 @ 7:30 PM  $25
DJD Dance Centre NEW VENUE

Detailed Schedule for Tuesday

Who We Are: Inspired by the Words & Wisdom of Murray Sinclair

With Patti LaBoucane-Benson, David A. Robertson & Niigaan Sinclair. Hosted by Shelagh Rogers.
Oct. 15 @ 5:30 PM  $25
DJD Dance Centre NEW VENUE

Wordfest is honoured to present Who We Are: Inspired by the Words & Wisdom of Murray Sinclair featuring Senator Patti LaBoucane-Benson, David A. Robertson & Niigaan Sinclair, hosted by the beloved Shelagh Rogers. Murray Sinclair is currently in hospital and regrettably cannot participate in the 29th annual Imaginairium. Senator Sinclair, his publisher McClelland & Stewart, and Wordfest are saddened that he is unable to attend. However, we are hopeful you can join us in ensuring the stories, ideas, and inspiration contained in his new book, Who We Are, are shared and celebrated in the festival’s new opening night celebration.

Lucky Loser: Donald Trump & the Illusion of Success

Starring Susanne Craig. Hosted by Zain Velji.
Oct. 15 @ 7:30 PM  $25
DJD Dance Centre NEW VENUE

NEW SHOW! No one has a firmer grasp on the slippery finances of Donald Trump than Susanne Craig, the Calgary-raised, Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times investigative reporter. Lucky Loser (her much anticipated new book co-written with Times colleague Ross Buettner) is a meticulous examination spanning nearly a century, filled with scoops from Trump Tower, Mar-a-Lago, Atlantic City, and the set of The Apprentice. At a moment when Trump’s tether to success and power is more precarious than ever, here for the first time is the definitive true accounting of Trump and his money —what he had, what he lost, and what he has left—and the final word on the myth of Trump, the self-made billionaire.