Presale: Monday, March 16 @10 AM
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Public On Sale: Tuesday, March 17 @10 AM
Wordfest, in partnership with Taylor Centre for the Performing Arts, is thrilled to present an evening with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, one of the world’s foremost historians and leading antiracist scholars. In his new book, Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age, the internationally bestselling author of How to Be An Antiracist offers an unsettling but indispensable global history of how great replacement theory brought humanity into this authoritarian age—and how we can free ourselves from it. And yes, he does include the spread of remigration rhetoric in Canada, placing the freedom convoy and anti-vaccine movement in a broader context.
This timely conversation will be hosted by Calgary political and non-profit strategist Zain Velji. Owl’s Nest Books will be on site with copies of Chain of Ideas, as well as Dr. Kendi’s extensive backlist.
Zain Velji
Vital Conversation
Cash bar with non-alcoholic options
Pre-Submitted Audience Questions
75 minutes. No intermission
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is one of the world’s foremost historians and leading antiracist scholars. His books have been translated into multiple languages and republished throughout the Americas, Africa, Europe, and Asia. Dr. Kendi is Professor of History and the founding director of the Howard University Institute for Advanced Study, an interdisciplinary research enterprise examining global racism. He is author of many highly acclaimed bestsellers including Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction. He is the author of the international bestseller How to Be an Antiracist. Time magazine named Dr. Kendi one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the Genius Grant.
Named one of the most anticipated books for 2026 by The New York Times, Oprah Daily, LitHub, Foreign Policy, and The Millions
The National Book Award–winning author of Stamped from the Beginning charts how “great replacement theory” has become a dominant political idea of our time and ushered in an antidemocratic age.
Recall the words chanted in Charlottesville, Virginia: “You will not replace us!” Recall the string of mass shooters across the globe—in Oslo, Christchurch, Buffalo, El Paso, and Pittsburgh—who claimed their crimes were a defence against “White genocide.” Recall business and media figures cultivating anxiety and furor over demographic change. These incidents only scratch the surface: Popular and ruling politicians in every region of the world have expressed some version of great replacement theory, eroding democratic norms in the name of preventing demographic change.
The term was coined in 2011 by a French novelist who argued that Black and Brown immigrants were “invading” Europe, brought by shadowy elites to “replace” the White population. From there, politicians and theorists in the United States and elsewhere repackaged it as a story of “globalists” welcoming “migrant criminals” and promoting diversity to take away the jobs, cultures, electoral power, and very lives of White people. Over time, great replacement theory has expanded those under threat to include citizens, men, Jews, Christians, heterosexuals, and ethnic majorities in countries as distinct as Russia, El Salvador, Brazil, Italy, and India, all targeted with the message that they are facing an existential attack that only a strongman can prevent.
In Chain of Ideas, internationally bestselling author Ibram X. Kendi offers an unsettling but indispensable global history of how great replacement theory brought humanity into this authoritarian age—and how we can free ourselves from it.
Zain Velji
Vital Conversation
Cash bar with non-alcoholic options
Pre-Submitted Audience Questions
75 minutes. No intermission
Zain Velji is Partner and VP Strategy for Northweather, a digital-first marketing agency that works with companies, non-profits, and political campaigns. He is also the host of the award-winning podcast The Strategists, where he dissects political strategy and public affairs issues of the day. A public speaker and regular political commentator, Velji appears frequently on CBC Radio and Television, CTV, and Bell Media. In addition, he chairs the board of the YMCA Calgary and serves on the boards of the Canadian Children Book Centre, The Samara Centre for Democracy, and Pillar 9. Velji was named one of Avenue magazine’s Top 40 under 40, was awarded the Horizon Alumni Award by the University of Alberta, and was a recipient of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal for his community service. He lives in Calgary with his family.
In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that we live, work and play on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Iyarhe Nakoda Nations, the Otipemisiwak Métis Government of the Métis Nation within Alberta District 6, and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.
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