Meet Ellen Bilben

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Ellen met her husband at a Mexican bar in Rio; most inconveniently, he hailed from Calgary. Following a decade of prohibitively expensive and heartbreakingly intermittent dating, Ellen followed her heart 11,000-kilometres northwest. She recently attained her Canadian permanent residency status.

Wordfest Much? A former devoted Wordfest volunteer, Ellen calmly and efficiently helped ensure the smooth delivery of numerous 2015 events from her various posts, as front-of-house, artist liaison and bookseller to event lead for Adam Schoalts. Not forgetting that she volunteered the most for the youth events (where, she admits, the intense audience cuteness factor nearly made her cry).

Perfect Days by (Brazilian author!) Raphael Montes.

Ellen has worked in the publishing industry for almost 10 years, editing many books, e-books, DVDs and participating in book fairs and book launches. Starting her career with an internship at Reader’s Digest in 2007, her various roles have included editorial assistant and editorial assistant manager at publishing houses in Brazil. She also grew her career doing freelances as editorial consultant, copyeditor and translator. In addition to her most obvious qualities—we challenge you to meet a more exuberant human on Earth—, she’s a pro at project management, editing and generally keeping Wordfest’s wheels on tight.

Adam Shoalts

Neil Gaiman, John Green, Meg Cabot, Alice Munro, and, of course, she would love to bring a Brazilian writer to Calgary

“Everything you wish, you can make come true if you work hard for it.”