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Wordfest

@wordfest

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Connecting readers with the world’s best authors through lively conversations & more. Check out wordfest.com to see who is coming to Calgary next!📚 🎤

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"The best part of having of having an imagination is actually using it" - what a way to end the @wordfest Imaginairium discussing real jobs and reading (and lots of anti-AI chats)
I loved listening to @bonnie_garmus_author and I'm really excited to get to Peck and Peck after loving her first novel!
Wordfest really knows how to put on a show and I had a blast at all the shows I went to this week - this one had a photo booth, which clearly I enjoyed as well!
What was your favourite event if you were able to attend?
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#wordfestimaginairium #wordfest #peckandpeck #bonniegarmus #yycevent

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Thank you so much to @wordfest for inviting me to be a part of this brilliant showcase, A Celebration of Trans Storytelling.

Props to @realpamrocker for a fabulous job hosting @vivekshraya, @kaichengthom, @plettsky, @gwendolyssa and I.

I’m so deeply inspired by these icons. Getting to know them and their work more was a dream. It’s an honour to have shared the stage at (as Vivek dubbed it) the literary & trans version of Lilith Fair.

In discovering how incredible this festival is, I had the privilege of meeting so many amazing authors and icons from the publishing world. It was thrilling to be part of the energy this year. Thanks again to everyone on stage and behind the scenes for a wonderful experience 🤓📚💫

#wordfest#imaginarium2026#yyc#yycevents

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i learned so much @wordfest and my favourite way to reflect and go through everything i learned is journaling 📖 journal with me 🍵

#journaling #journalinspiration #journalwithme #journalpage #cozyplace

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ONE WEEK IN MY LIFE… as a BIR co-Lead @wordfest

1 festival
6 days
14 events attended
29 authors
3 lunches
2 dinners
2 after parties
1 pre show reception

… countless memories and new friends!

•Thank you @wordfest for having me again.
•Thank you @shareworthy for trusting me to help with your BIR program again.
•Thank you to @readingwiththechoob for showing me the ropes.
•Thank you to the great group of BIRs for being such a creative group.
•Thank you to the authors for all their time and hard work.

And lastly and maybe most importantly, thank you to husband for legitimately holding down the fort at home and balancing the delicate the house of cards that is our insane schedule for the entire week so I could be galavanting downtown with friends and authors with no worries other than where my next show is was (I only messed this up once) when I would be getting my next meal (I didn’t miss a single one).

Until next year @wordfest 🩵🫶

What was your week like?!

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One thing I’ve been enjoying for the past while at author events is recording quotes to inspire me as I continue on this journey of being a person. I feel a bit like I’m throwing it back to university lectures with my little tiny notebook but it helps me keep them in my brain and there are definitely a few things that I needed to hear said this week so I thought I’d share some of those with you! I felt that the authors shared a lot about hope with us as an overall theme which I really appreciated.

Honorable mention goes out to Andrew Sean Greer who told us that “cheese is always there for you” because he is NOT wrong (unless you’re lactose intolerant I suppose but even then you can snag a good Gouda).

#bookstagram #bookrecs #wordfest #imaginairium2026 #quotes

“We are not protagonists of our own lives sometimes, let alone humanity.” - Neil Griffin

As someone who often takes on the problems of the entire world as her personal thing to solve I absolutely needed to hear this.

Would like to add that Dan Werb also said “I am oriented towards optimism” about the future and I really needed to hear that this week. Thank you both!

“We’re living in this time where we seem to have forgotten that we need each other.” - Stephanie Sinclair.

“The wonderful thing about fantasy is how weird it lets you be.” - Eden Robinson

“We have to leave the reader with a shred of hope” - Deborah Ellis re: some of the harder endings or books with tough situations and adults that are not good to the kids in the novels. I totally agree. We need our kids to have hope for the future as well and a lot of that comes through literature.

“Let go of the guilt…unless you’re killing cats in a basement.” - Patricia Finn

Side note - I need a memoir from this author (or to check if she’s got one already) because wow Patricia has had a storied life and very much to say.

“It’s quite a gruesome business writing a tragicomedy…blood bath every day” - Patrick DeWitt

“When you care for another human being you become a caring person.”

“The truth is stubborn and art will find its way.” - Tayari Jones

“Get in the habit of engaging with what you hear in the world.” - Rollie Pemberton with some excel

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Oh the last day of Wordfest Imaginairium truly was the cherry on top of the incredible week (although I should say chocolate chips cause I’m not a fan of cherries on my ice cream lol)

From conversations about power imbalances, belonging and imagination - every event I attended felt like the final stitch on themes that had been building the past five days.

I wanted to share with this beautiful quote from Canisia Lubrin “The potential for transformation is the great promise of literature”

After this week, the authors I met and the friends I’ve made I truly feel like I’ve grown and transformed. A big thank you to @wordfest and the community they have fostered in our city that loves books and conversations.

#imaginairium #sometimessheisreading

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What a finale to @wordfest Imaginairium!!!!

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing the @bonnie_garmus_author for the final Imaginairium show of the season!!! She was incredible ❤️

This has to be one of the best author events I have ever been to. The moderator @susinnielsen was absolutely perfect and asked the best questions.

Bonnie herself was so well spoken and one of the most lovely authors I have had the pleasure meeting. When she was signing my books she took the time to ask me what I do and graciously personalized all 3 of the books I brought to be signed.

Bonnie please keep writing all the things, I love your voice ❤️

Lastly, thank you so much to @wordfest for the super fun photo booth where I got to have fun snapping photos with some of my favourite book club friends 💕

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Thank you @wordfest for helping cure the literacy crisis one festival at a time.

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Many thanks to @zainvelji for reading my statement on the stage at @wordfest I would have loved to be there, but Canadian authorities first did not issue me visa, then there was a strange back-and-forth about my honesty when answering the application form questions and finally they issued the visa too late. Because of the strange questioning, it became too hard to assume that this was a technical setback. Therefore, I made a statement that was both read on stage and published in @globeandmail here’s a part of the statement:
‘Today, my absence as a stranger is a minuscule matter. It will not change the festival pictures, for example. It is almost nothing. And I am not even going to say that once those absences come together, the picture of your country will change and that all will be really bad, etc. You know that already. So, I’ll say something different altogether.

Dear stranger,
I want you to know I know how you feel right now. You feel less at home today. That sore throat full of unsaid things. That bitter sinking in your heart. That sense of “I don’t recognise my country anymore.” That is why it is my joy and honour to welcome you to the great Nation of Strangers today. You’re at home with billions of people around the world who aren’t at home in their own countries. You are at home with the majority of humanity, all those unhomed by fascism, war, and the climate crisis - all the intertwined insanity of our times.’

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Somehow @wordfest just keeps getting better and better. Congratulations to @youngblutshelley and her incredible team for serving writers and readers so delightfully. Until next year…

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Thank you so much to the Team at @wordfest for another wonderful Imaginarium. So grateful for all you do to bring these authors to town in such an inspiring and thoughtful way🙏

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WORDFEST IMAGINAIRIUM: DAY 6

The grand finale 😭😭

My last day of the Imaginarium started at What A Pair, with Kawai Strong Washburn and Michael Christie. Both men were so warm and knowledgeable, and I loved the conversation about climate fiction (or Cli-fi - IYKYK). Greenwood is one of my favourite books, so I was so delighted to meet Michael.

After that I made my way over to the Bella Concert Hall for the grand finale featuring Bonnie Garmus. I was fortunate enough to be invited to the pre-show reception thrown by Simon & Schuster Canada. There were snacks and a signature drink, The Pecking Order, which was so fun.

Bonnie her self was unbelievable. Susin Nielsen hosted, and the conversation was incredibly timely and deeply funny. Bonnie’s new book is very anti-AI, which is the same theme as this year’s Imaginairium, so it truly was the perfect conversation to end the festival with.

As always, thank you to the @wordfest team for including me in so many amazing events. I love the Imaginairium and truly believe that events like this are so important to our future, now more than ever…

If you could see ONE author in person, who would you want to see? My North Star is TJR… a close second is Lisa Jewell.

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