Say Hello to The 2025 Imaginairium
Oct. 14 to 19, 2025
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 authors include Canadian powerhouses Emma Donoghue, Thomas King, Terry O’Reilly, David A. Robertson, Madeleine Thien, and Miriam Toews. We’ve got the world’s best non-fiction writers, including E. Jean Carroll, Cory Doctorow, Linden MacInytre, Paul Myers, Saeed Teebi, and Alberta’s own Sharon Butala. The most compelling Indigenous Voices across Turtle Island will be joining us, including Billy-Ray Belcourt, Jon Hickey, Brian Thomas Isaac, Eliana Ramage, Sara and Stephanie Sinclair, and katherena vermette. Hungry for timely fiction? Don’t miss Emily Austin, Holly Brickley, Clare Leslie Hall, Bianca Marais, Souvankham Thammavongsa, and Liann Zhang.
These 24 writers are just a taste of a stellar line-up built to honour three decades of Wordfest, while also 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, including Wordfest’s signature solo spotlights, inspired pairings, The Way We… storytelling extravaganzas, The Big Queer 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. The full festival lineup 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.
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Celebrating 30 Years of Wordy Goodness
YEAR-ROUND SCHEDULE
September
SOLD OUT! Click here to join the waitlist. (Thank you, Wordfesters, for your remarkable support. If you missed out on tickets, get yourself, your friends, family, and neighbours to sign up for our e-blast to ensure you never miss out next time!) Wordfest welcomes bestselling fantasy phenom R.F. Kuang with her highly anticipated novel Katabasis, a dark academia tour de force drenched in magic that author Leigh Bardugo calls “a witty, gory, harrowing ride.” Kuang’s oeuvre (including Babel and Yellowface) has established her as a master of storytelling. This exclusive experience will be hosted by Paula Turcotte. Your exclusive ticket includes a pre-signed deluxe limited-edition copy of Katabasis with a custom Canadian tour stamp. READ MORE
October
“Bunny & I are a little emotional, Bunny, not only because our book is so very beautiful but because this book is our heart & we can't wait to share it with you!” And Wordfest can't wait to share We Love You, Bunny and its indescribably wondrous creator Mona Awad with her Calgary fans. The New Yorker calls it, “A work of toothsome and fanged intelligence....wickedly hilarious.” We'll be celebrating this prequel/sequel to the 2019 viral sensation Bunny with our version of the Bunny-verse (hosted by Shelley Youngblut). The experience includes an audience Q&A and book signing, fuelled by Shelf Life Books. You can pre-order books by Mona Awad here. We beseech you to watch Mona’s deliciously deranged book announcement here. 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 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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