Words Alive Literary Festival*

The Words Alive Literary Festival features workshops, contests and readings. The festival is on September 21 from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Visit the festival website for details.

Speakers and Performers at the Festival Include:

• Allan Briesmaster – poet and publisher
• Allyson Latta – literary editor conducting a memoir workshop
• Anthony De Sa – “…an astonishing talent,” says Wayson Choy
• Barry Dempster – award-winning poet and author
• Beverley Stone – reading from her acclaimed debut novel
• bill bissette – unconventional, perhaps anti-conventional, poet
• Brenda Byers – director for Storywyse Oral Tradition Storytelling
• Christopher Dewdney – award-winning poet and author
• Fay Wilkinson – masked storyteller extraorindaire
• Heather Whaley – storyteller and singer/songwriter
• Jim Blake –curator of “Fabled City – the Lost Stories of Toronto”
• Karolyn Smartz Frost – archaeologist, historian and author
• Katherine Belrose – presenting the Forgotten Voices of East Gwillimbury
• Kelley Armstrong – author of the NYT bestselling Otherworld paranormal suspense series
• Kim Michele – musical troubadour
• Marie Campbell – literary agent with over 20 years experience in the publishing industry
• Marina Cohen – children’s author
• Mary Swan – winner of the O. Henry Award
• Maureen Jennings – creator of the famed Detective Murdock series
• Maureen Scott Harris – Trillium Prize-winning poet and essayist
• Menaka Thakkar – internationally renowned classical Indian dancer
• Peter Unwin – author of the acclaimed Nine Bells for Man
• Sommerset – a Celtic quartet with a melodious and distinct sound
• Uma Parameswaran – author of the acclaimed Mangoes on the Maple Tree
• Valentino Assenza – engaging spoken word performer and Words Alive emcee