Festival Picks, courtesy of Swerve’s Jacquie Moore
Read the full article in SWERVE Magazine.
If you have a platinum pass and six free days, then, blissfully, you can take in all four-dozen-plus WordFest events. Otherwise, here are just a few not to miss, including one breakfast, two freebies, a workshop, a cabaret and a 20th-anniversary shindig that promises to inspire, if not a novel, at least a tawdry limerick.
- Between them, this trifecta of male talent has a truckload of National Magazine Awards, three Governor General’s, a Giller, a Writers’ Trust Non-Fiction Prize and an Order of Canada. See Don Gillmor, Nino Ricci and John Vaillant at the Tuesday Night Showcase. Tuesday, Oct. 13 at Arts Commons, Big Secret Theatre, 7 p.m. $20.
- Don’t deepen your dorky-parent rep by admitting to your kids that you’ve never heard of Kenneth Oppel. The beloved YA author of the Silverwing series and The Boundless is at Owl’s Nest Books. Wednesday, Oct. 14. 7 p.m. Free.
- What would Scaredy Squirrel do? Well, he’d definitely brush his teeth before a book reading. Melanie Watt (of Scaredy Squirrel and Chester fame; her new book features a grieving fly) joins Good Times Travel Agency and Toads on Toast writer Linda Bailey, Thursday, Oct. 15. At John Dutton Theatre, Calgary Public Library, 10 a.m. $10.
- Poets throw the best parties. Seriously. The Poetry Cabaret, with special guests Derek Beaulieu, Lorna Crozier, Ulrikka S. Gernes, Monica Kidd, Patrick Lane, Peter Midgley, Damian Rogers and Nick Thran. Thursday, Oct. 15. At Glenbow Museum Theatre, 8:30 p.m. $20.
- How any reader could resist a book titled Better Living Through Plastic Explosives we know not. Join Zsuzsi Gartner (she of that title), Greg Hollingshead, Irina Kovalyova and Tom Wayman at Pages on Kensington, Friday, Oct. 16 at 5 p.m. Free.
- Could you be the next Art Spiegelman? There’s only one way to find out: attend Richard Van Camp’s graphic-novel-writing workshop, at which he will share the secrets of his trade. Saturday, Oct. 17. At Westin Hotel, Eau Claire Room, 10 a.m. $20.
- Calgary’s own Giller Prize-winning Will Ferguson takes the stage, along with his friend Jean-Claude Munyezamu, to discuss his new travel monologue, Roadtrip Rwanda. Saturday, Oct. 17, 4 p.m. At Arts Commons, Big Secret Theatre. $20.
- The 20th Anniversary Celebration includes Authors Tell All plus an event featuring 2015 Anne Green Award-winner Dave Bidini and special musical literary guests. Saturday, Oct. 17, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. At Glenbow Museum Theatre. $45 each ($80 for both), which includes an 8:30 p.m. party.
