Wordfest

Wordfest originated as an idea conceived by Donald Stein, then associate director of the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, who in 1996 envisioned the coordination of a southern Albertan writers' festival.

Festival alumni include Margaret Atwood, Roch Carrier, Austin Clarke, Douglas Coupland, Roddy Doyle, Timothy Findley, Richard Ford, Lawrence Hill, Nancy Huston, Tomson Highway, Wayne Johnston, Thomas King, Alistair MacLeod, E. Annie Proulx, the late Mordecai Richler, Jane Urquhart and Guy Vanderhaeghe.

In the past, Wordfest's children-geared component operated under The First Calgary Savings Book Rapport Programme, an award-winning education segment that ran throughout the festival in October, bringing children's authors to schools and other public venues.

[4] Recently, Wordfest has expanded its youth programming to bring authors to Veronica Roth, Lemony Snicket, Ruth Ohi and Arthur Slade Calgary schools throughout the year.

In addition to the single-artist events, Wordfest also runs Dick Lit's Trivia Night year-round (hosted by Richard Kelly Kemick), as well as a summer book club.