FOCUS: Bookfest Windsor kicks off with free online panels
Award-winning author John B. Lee (centre) reads alongside Windsor’s poet laureate emeritus Marty Gervais (right) at Bookfest Windsor (Photo courtesy Bookfest Windsor)
Bookfest Windsor has turned a page.
The annual event has gone online this year with free Zoom book readings and discussions by authors across Canada.
“When we started planning, it was just going to be a regular festival like usual, and then the pandemic happened. So we decided to really focus on showcasing the diverse array of authors that we have in Canada,” said Irene Moore Davis, chair of the Bookfest Program Committee.
“We’ve never had such a diverse group of authors in a single festival,” she added. “It’s an amazing group, and we’re so excited.”
This year’s headliner is a session with Desmond Cole, author of the bestselling book The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power. Cole will discuss injustice and anti-Black racism in Canada and around the world on Sat., Oct. 17.
Other sessions include a fiction webinar with Shanti Mootoo, author of Polar Vortex, a Francophone night with Andrée Poulin, award-winning author of La Plus Grosse Poutine du Monde, and a poetry café with Windsor’s youth poet laureate Samantha Badaoa, author of So Am I.
“I’m excited to share my work and be involved in important discussions about community and poetry,” said Badaoa.
Moore Davis added, “The festival gives the public a chance to listen to authors read and talk about how they come up with their books, what their inspirations are and what writing processes they use. It’s very interactive, and the only thing that’s missing this year is book signings.”
Carol Rose GoldenEagle reads from her book Hiraeth at Bookfest Windsor (Photo courtesy Bookfest Windsor)
This year’s event kicked off Thurs., Oct. 15 with a focus on First Nations and Métis voices, featuring authors Carol Rose GoldenEagle, Daniel Lockhart and Michelle Porter. TeaJai Travis, a local storyteller from Sandwich, moderated the session.
The writers read excerpts from their work and discussed the empowerment of writing and expectations of Indigenous writers in the publishing industry. “How we continue to live emerges from the stories of our ancestors,” shared Porter. “It’s so empowering.”
Moore Davis said the switch to virtual has offered several benefits this year. Participants can register for free, unlike previous years, and the change allowed organizers to cast a wider net.
“Obviously the pandemic is a very sad time in many ways, but it’s turned into an opportunity to reach audiences that don’t normally come to this sort of thing,” she explained. “Sometimes people feel intimidated, but now they can watch Bookfest from home in their pajamas and get a sense of what it’s like.”
This year’s festival marks the 19th Bookfest. The event was founded in 2001 by Dan Wells, owner of the Windsor publisher and bookstore Biblioasis.
“We’ve had lots of amazing authors come through Windsor over the years. We’ve had Margaret Atwood, George Elliot Clarke, Lawrence Hill and of course our hometown greats, such as Alistair MacLeod,” said Moore Davis.
Audience members laugh during a panel at Bookfest (Photo courtesy Bookfest Windsor)
Badaoa noted that Bookfest is a testament to the immense local talent and strong literary scene. “Windsor can sometimes be overlooked in terms of its literary capacity, which is why it’s so important that we have this annual event so people are exposed to writers they wouldn’t have a chance to see otherwise.”
For Moore Davis, highlights over the years have included opportunities to hone her own craft by learning from experienced authors and watching participants smile as they meet their favourite writers.
And, she added, “the thing we always hear from authors is that they love meeting all the writers. It’s an opportunity that doesn’t always present itself to young up-and-coming authors who are just making their names.”
Badaoa noted, “This is the second time I’m participating in Bookfest Windsor as an artist—although I’ve been going (as a fan) for years! It’s a wonderful event.”
Visit Bookfest Windsor’s website to register for this year’s free Zoom sessions. All books discussed during the panels are available to purchase from Biblioasis.
