Readers, writers, and authors all came together as a community for the Ottawa International Writers Festival (OIWF) from Oct. 19-26, to celebrate literature and literacy. The festival hosted a wide array of authors from multiple genres, from acclaimed authors to new voices in Canadian literature and around the world.
The festival featured Canadian historical and fantasy writer Guy Gavriel Kay talking about his latest novel Children of Earth and Sky, and Margaret Atwood rapping from her latest novel Hag-Seed, a retelling of The Tempest, among other events.
Before Margaret Atwood read from Hag-Seed, acclaimed actors Walter Borden and Keith Barker took to the stage to preform a scene from The Tempest, as Prospero and Caliban respectively, that had the audience laughing wildly.
Anthony McCanney, a first-time festival-goer, said his experience was great.
“It’s exciting to hear people read the words they wrote and to realize how much potential there is for the different styles of creation,” McCanney said, and noted he plans to return next year.
Events were spread out throughout the week, allowing audience members to attend events according to their schedule and what interested them, according to Sean Wilson, artistic director of the festival.
“We’ve always believed that people are not fans of just one kind of writer,” Wilson said. “Just because you like poetry, doesn’t mean you’re also going to be interested in history, or politics, or fiction. And so rather than having numerous events at the same time, what we wanted to do is really curate a kind of sampling, where for the most part, audiences can come and take in absolutely everything that interests them.”
The OIWF has grown organically since its first iteration in 1997, Wilson said. He added the festival organizers use audience feedback to determine what works and what doesn’t. This has lead to the structure of the festival in its current form, with most events being a combination of a reading and an onstage interview.
This fall festival celebrated an incredibly diverse range of voices and genres, with a large emphasis on Canadian authors.
“We’re blessed to live in a country that is home to so many different kinds of people, and so many different heritages, that allows us to focus just really on what kinds of things are exciting us in the moment,” Wilson said.
In addition to connecting authors and readers, the OIWF also aims to give back to the community through their Write On! youth literacy program, according to Wilson.
“This has been such a huge thing, that is hugely important to us as an organization and as a community,” Wilson said. “The idea that there are children who have no books in their home, that there are children who struggle with basic literacy skills, that there are children who have never even considered the idea that the person who lives down the street from them could be an acclaimed writer . . . strikes me as kind of insane. I feel as a community that we need to step up and ensure that our children are able to read and write.”
Using money raised through ticket sales, fundraising lunches, and money donated by Perfect Books on Elgin street from books that are sold at the festival, the Write On! program brings visiting authors into schools in Ottawa to host readings and workshops. It reached over 400 primary and secondary students in Ottawa in 2015, according to the festival’s website.
“When the audience comes out, I think there’s something really nice that not only are they getting to meet a writer whose work they admire and spend time broadening their horizons, but to know that just by being there they’re helping children access great writing and great writers,” Wilson said. “It’s just kind of a cool bonus.”
