Summer might be approaching its end, but literary festival season is just beginning! Find out what's happening near you, or even farther afield—because literary festivals make for good road trips. Just saying.
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Eden Mills Writers' Festival is back September 6–8 in Eden Mills, ON, (there's a free shuttle bus from Guelph!) with a spectacular lineup including Marina Endicott, Anakana Schofield, Lynn Coady, Terry Fallis, Anthony De Sa, Emma Donoghue, Farah Heron, Amy Jones, Alix Ohlin, Jesse Thistle, Jessica Westhead, Marissa Stapley, Amy Spurway, and many more!
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The Dunedin Literary Festival is back with Words in the Woods (near Creemore, ON) on September 14, with fun for the whole family, a special musical event with world-renowned botanist Diana Beresford-Kroeger and Juno-award winner Sarah Harmer, and other authors including Anar Ali, Joanna Goodman, Ann Hui, Nicole Lundrigan, Bianca Marais, Nathan Ripley, Jennifer Robson, and Jessica Westhead.
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Get ready for Word on the Street, in Halifax, NS, on September 14; Lethbridge, AB, on September 21; and Toronto, ON, September 21–22.
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The Telling Tales Festival, celebrating books for children and teens, takes place over three days this year, on September 15 (Rockton, ON), 21 (Hamilton, ON) and 22 (Burlington, ON, at the Royal Botanical Gardens), featuring S.K. Ali, Erin Bow, Shauntay Grant, Jess Keating, Qin Leng, Jay Odjick, Kevin Sylvester, Andrew Larsen, and many other excellent authors.
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Wordfeast runs September 16–22 in Fredericton, NB, with a lineup of authors to be announced soon.
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The Winnipeg International Writers Festival ("Thin Air") runs September 22–30 in Winnipeg, MB, with David Albertyn, Margaret Atwood, Martha Baillie, Kris Bertin, Lauren Carter, Candace Savage, Steven Price, Joan Thomas, and many others.
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The LiterASIAN Festival's 2019 explores the theme "Genesis: Writing Life Into Art" September 27–28 in Vancouver, BC, with Philip Huynh, C. E. Gatchalian, Sally Ito, May Q. Wong, Fred Wah, and Rita Wong.
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Kingston WritersFest happens September 25–29 in Kingston, ON, with Jennifer Robson, David Bezmozgis, Shannon Bramer, Megan Gail Coles, Michael Crummey, Nancy Jo Cullen, Marina Endicott, Elizabeth Hay, Lee Maracle, Andrew Pyper, Diane Schoemperlen, Anakana Schofield, and so many other greats.
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The Lunenburg Lit Festival takes place September 26–28 in Lunenburg, NS, with Shandi Mitchell. Lesley Crewe, Craig Davidson, Michael Crummey, Amy Spurway, and other great authors.
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From October 2 to 6, the Victoria Festival of Authors runs in downtown Victoria, BC, with the schedule coming soon.
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The 10th Annual Cabot Trail Writers Festival takes place October 4–6 in St. Ann’s Bay, NS, with Lynn Coady, Alicia Elliott, George Elliott Clarke, Tom Ryan, Sara Peters, and more.
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Afterwords, a new literary festival, makes its debut in Halifax, NS, October 2–6, with Lynn Coady, Gwen Benaway, Kamal Al-Solaylee, Christy Ann Conlin, Mona Awad, Caroline Anderson, Afua Cooper, Elise Levine, and other great authors.
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Imaginairium, by WordFest, runs October 14–23 in Calgary, AB, with Cherie Dimaline, Richard Van Camp, Lynn Coady, Michael Crummey, Sean Michaels, Terry Fallis, Amy Jones, Anosh Irani, Ami McKay, Joshua Whitehead, and many others.
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The Book Drunkard Festival runs October 17-November 3 in Uxbridge, ON, to celebrate the 30th birthday of award-winning bookseller Blue Heron Books, and is named for something that Uxbridge-local L.M. Montgomery once claimed herself to be. The schedule is packed, and other book drunkards won't want to miss appearances by John Irving, Jane Urquhart, Terry Fallis, Jessica Westhead, Farah Heron, Marissa Stapley, Steven Price, Sally Armstrong, Andrew Pyper, plus events for the whole family and so much more.
The Knowlton Literary Festival this year takes place October 17–20 in Knowlton, QC, celebrating its 10th anniversary, with featured authors including Sheree Fitch, Louise Penny, Shelagh Rogers, K.D. Miller, and Kim Thuy.
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The Whistler Writers Festival returns October 17–20 in Whistler, BC, with Lorna Crozier, Michael Crummey, Lee Maracle, Cherie Dimaline, Lynn Coady, Andrew Pyper, Emma Donoghue, Shilpi Somaya Gowda, Harold R. Johnson, Anakana Schofield, and many others.
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LitFest Alberta ("Canada's Original Nonfiction Festival") takes place October 17–27 in Edmonton, AB, with featured authors including Jesse Thistle, Suzanne Methot, Carla Funk. Candace Savage, Joshua M. Ferguson, Ariel Gordon, Kai Cheng Thom, Joanna Pocock, Ayelet Tsabari, Ami McKay, Ann Hui, and Charlotte Gray.
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Bookfest Windsor is set for October 18–21, with the schedule soon to be announced.
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Vancouver Writers Fest takes place October 21–27, with a huge lineup of excellent events and authors including Caroline Adderson, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Cherie Dimaline, Emma Donoghue, Alicia Elliott, Marina Endicott, Naomi Klein, Linden MacIntyre, Zalika Reid-Benta, Hassan Ghedi Santur, Anakana Schofield, Tanya Talaga, Iona Whishaw, and so many others.
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The Stratford Writers Festival in Stratford, ON, takes place October 18–27.
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The Toronto International Festival of Authors celebrates its 40th anniversary from October 24 to November 3, with the schedule to be announced on September 12.
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From October 24–29, the Ottawa Writers Festival is back, with a lineup coming soon.
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Don't miss the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival happening October 26 to November 3 in Banff, AB.
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Wordstock Sudbury runs November 1–3 in Sudbury, ON, with Joshua Whitehead, Louise Ells, Monique Grey Smith, Kyo Maclear, Lauren Carter, and a whole lot more.
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Words Aloud celebrates the best of spoken word in Durham, ON, November 2–4.
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And the Wild Writers Festival happens November 1–3 in Waterloo, ON. More exciting details coming very soon!
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Have we missed anything? Email *editor at 49thShelf dot com* to have your event added to the schedule.