The 27th annual Saskatchewan Festival of Words is underway in downtown Moose Jaw.
The four-day festival features more than 60 events including workshops, reading sessions, a concert, interviews, music, theatre and much more. The majority of the events are being held at the Moose Jaw Public Library or at the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre. Workshops were held on Thursday, while Friday and Saturday will feature reading sessions. A literary-themed Trivia Night will be held at Bobby's Place Friday night starting at 6 p.m. A street fair planned for Thursday afternoon was moved indoors due to weather.
All of the authors that come to the festival will appear online for at least one of their sessions.
"Everything that happens in the Art Museum Theatre at the library will actually be live-streamed and then all of our events taking place in the Mae Wilson Theatre will be live-streamed. So that can all be accessed through our website," said managing artistic director Sarah Simison, who's been with the festival for 14 years.
About 30 authors and artists will be taking part in the event.
"Suzette Mayr, she just won a bunch of awards for her book, so she's very popular this year," continued Simison. "Guy Gavriel Kay is a fantasy writer and I know that his events are filling up really quickly. Casey Plett is another author who we've been trying to get here for years and she's doing a workshop. Michelle Good is another one, she won a bunch of awards for her book Five Little Indians, her workshop sold out. We have about 30 authors and artists that come over the four days of the festival. There's always an opportunity to see somebody because they do multiple events while they're here."
Managing Artistic Director Sarah SimisonSimison says we have a unique literary festival here in Moose Jaw, comparing it to festivals held across the country.
"A lot of the festivals don't take place over four days for one thing," she mentioned. "The other thing is, often their authors come in, you have one opportunity to see them and that's it. Here they do multiple events, so if you miss one, there's still a chance to see that person."
Simison notes the other thing that everybody raves about is how up close and personal the Saskatchewan Festival of Words is.
"We're in a very charismatic community," she continued. "People are curious about Moose Jaw, we have a fun name, we have a good reputation. It's great for tourists too. People love to come here, spend all four days here, stay at the hotel, do some shopping, eat in our restaurants, take in the festival and meet authors from all across Canada."
She says they have people attending from across Canada and have even had some attend from as far away as Australia in the past.
The Saskatchewan Festival of Words will wrap up on Sunday at the Moose Jaw Events Centre with a breakfast and panel event.
Tickets are available at the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre Box Office or at the gate. Full festival passes are $185 or $65 for students. Flex pass punch cards are $100 ($125 value), while day passes are $42 (Fri) and $54 (Sat). Individual tickets are available for $10. A tasting pass is $79 and an online pass is $20.
Fri, May 10, 6:30 PM
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