About Wordfest

Most of the time, being a writer means being alone in a room. I don’t feel lonely, because I’m hanging out with my characters, but it is a delight to hang out with real people, sometimes.

Wordfest is all about hanging out, with people who love books and writing and story. First, the audiences: the kids in the sessions in Calgary, the grade 12 creative writing class that drove to Banff from Kamloops, the 10 year old girl at the Mentoring session who came up from Calgary with her dad, because she wants to be a writer.

And after five Wordfest days in Calgary and another five in Banff, I’ve gotta say, it’s such a pleasure to hang out with writers. To talk about books and writing, and to discover I’m not the only idiot-writer who manages to be without a pen far too often.

I’ve met writers of every kind of book, from all over. Most are Canadians, but I met Anne Perry (mystery writer) and became good friends with her biographer, Joanne Drayton (from New Zealand). Joanne and I drove out to Lake Louise with another new friend, Julie Wilson (author of Seen Reading, voyeur of what other people read). They were thrilled by the lake, the rock slide, the snow and hot drinks after our chilly walk, and the little squeaky animal that followed us along the rocks.

I brought home a stack of new books; I had to restrain myself to buy only seven.

And, once again, I realized how special the Banff Centre is. It’s a remarkable setting for writers, a writerly place, somehow, and it inspired us all to write and to talk about books and story and the act of writing. It’s brilliant, and it was a delight to be there again.

Maureen

From the Banff Centre