Join Wordfest as we mark Freedom to Read week and celebrate all things literary, library, and life-affirming with bestselling author—and former librarian—Emily Austin and her new novel Is This A Cry For Help? We were besotted after with the prolific author after her 2025 Imaginairium appearances and couldn’t wait to invite the Stephen Leackcock Medal for Humour finalist back to Calgary.
The conversation, hosted by Paula Turcotte, starts at 7pm and includes an audience Q & A, and book signing, fueled by Shelf Life Books. You can preorder copies of Is This A Cry For Help?, as well as Emily Austin’s back list, here.
Paula Turcotte
Conversation
Libations Bar, with non-alcoholic options
Audience Q&A
Book Signing
75 minutes. No intermission
Emily Austin is the author of We Could Be Rats, Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, Interesting Facts About Space, and the poetry collection Gay Girl Prayers. She was born in Ontario and received two writing grants from the Canadian Council for the Arts. Austin studied English literature and library science at Western University. She currently lives in Ottawa, in the territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation.
Emily Austin, the bestselling “queen of darkly quirky, endearingly flawed heroines” (Sarah Haywood, author of The Cactus), returns with a luminous new novel following a librarian who comes back to work after a mental breakdown only to confront book-banning crusaders in an empowering story of grief, love, and the power of libraries.
Darcy’s life turned out better than she could have ever imagined. She is a librarian at the local branch, while her wife Joy runs a book binding service. Between the two of them, there is no more room on their shelves with their ample book collections, various knickknacks and bobbles, and dried bouquets. Rounding out their ideal life is two cats and a sun-soaked house by the lake.
But when Darcy receives the news that her ex-boyfriend, Ben, has passed away, she spirals into a pit of guilt and regret, resulting in a mental breakdown and medical leave from the library. When she returns to work, she is met by unrest in her community and protests surrounding intellectual freedom, resulting in a call for book bans and a second look at the branch’s upcoming DEI programs.
Through the support of her community, colleagues, and the personal growth that results from examining her previous relationships, Darcy comes into her own agency and the truest version of herself. Is This a Cry for Help? not only offers a moving portrait of queer life after coming of age but also powerfully explores questions about sexuality, community, and the importance of libraries.
Paula Turcotte
Conversation
Libations Bar, with non-alcoholic options
Audience Q&A
Book Signing
75 minutes. No intermission
Paula Turcotte is the Youth Programming Associate at Wordfest. She is a writer and poet who holds an MSt in Creative Writing from Oxford. Her debut chapbook of poetry, Permutations, was published in July 2024 by Baseline Press. Her poems have been shortlisted for The Malahat Review’s Far Horizons Award and longlisted in ROOM’s Poetry Contest. Her recent work appears in Canthius, Arc Poetry, and elsewhere.
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