History
The initial seed for WordFest was planted in 1995 when The Banff Centre, interested in profiling its Writing and Publishing programs, sponsored the Hospitality Suite at The Vancouver International Writers Festival. Don Stein, then Associate Director, Planning for The Banff Centre, established a relationship with the Writers Guild of Alberta and a number of other interested parties, to explore the realities of establishing a Banff-Calgary International Writers Festival.
WordFest was established in 1996 as a project of The Banff Centre, Calgary Public Library, Mount Royal University and The Writers Guild of Alberta. The Banff Centre then approached respected arts professional Anne Green to develop the Festival and create an independent entity. The annual Festival would take place in October and feature international, national and local writers.
Founding Festival Director Anne Green programmed the first WordFest, featuring 50 writers and two dozen events, taking place over four days. The 1996 line-up featured Margaret Atwood, Roch Carrier, Wayson Choy, Tomson Highway, Paul Quarrington and Sheri-D Wilson.
In 1997, WordFest was incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation. This year also marked the inaugural Summit Salon, hosted by The Banff Centre. The Summit Salon was an exclusive writer retreat immediately following WordFest and preceding the Vancouver International Writers Festival.
Over 15 years WordFest has presented many notable and world-renowned writers, such as Margaret Atwood, Louis de Bernières, Wayson Choy, Douglas Coupland, Roddy Doyle, Richard Ford, Diana Gabaldon, Rawi Hage, Tomson Highway, Nancy Huston, John Irving, Barbara Kingsolver, Dany Laferrière, Alexander McCall Smith, Annie Proulx, Mordecai Richler and David Suzuki.
The Festival has grown over the years to attract over 14,000 people to a six day festival that features over 70 writers in more than 60 events. WordFest also includes a celebrated youth education program, First Calgary Financial Book Rapport, and the dedicated French-language component Festival des mots. In addition to the annual Festival in October, WordFest now also presents events throughout the year.
In 2010, Founding Festival Director Anne Green introduced Festival audiences to incoming Director Jo Steffens. The 16th annual WordFest will be the first under Steffens’ artistic guidance and promises to continue the rich tradition of world-class and ground-breaking literary arts programming.