Roddy Doyle, Tegan and Sara, Rachel Kushner, Lev Grossman to appear at Wordfest's Imaginairium

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Bestselling Irish author Roddy Doyle, Calgary expats Tegan and Sara, Booker Prize nominee Rachel Kushner and Magicians author Lev Grossman are all set to appear at multiple events during Wordfest’s Imaginairium.

The full lineup was announced on Tuesday for the literary event, which will run in multiple venues from Oct. 16 to 21. They are just a few of the big names among more than 50 authors, graphic novelists, essayists and poets attending this year. But Wordfest CEO Shelley Youngblut says the festival considers everyone a literary star.

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“Everybody on the stage, everybody in the audience,” she says. “We really try to make it a community.”

New to the festival this year will be The Demeanor and Willis Variety Show, featuring singer-songwriter Kris Demeanor and Giller long-listed author of Girlfriend on Mars, Deborah Willis. Youngblut calls the Calgary couple “our Sonny and Cher” and they will host an evening that features former Postmedia photographer and author Leah Hennel, award-winning Canadian writer Carleigh Baker, Calgary author and playwright Clem Martini and Nova Scotia graphic novelist Sig Burwash.

Author Heather O’Neill and her daughter Arizona will host The O’Neill Reads Talk Show for the third year, welcoming Burwash, Governor General’s Literary Award-winning YA novelist David A. Robertson, Montreal playwright Fanny Britt and Canadian novelist Anne Fleming. 

Author Heather O’Neill will be appearing at Wordfest. Photo courtesy Wordfest. cal

Youngblut will also host an evening with Heather O’Neill, where they will discuss her upcoming novel The Capital of Dreams and her career in general, which has included penning award-winning books such as Lullabies for Little Criminals and The Lonely Hearts Hotel.

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Doyle, a Booker Prize winner who will be chatting about his new book, The Women Behind the Door, is just one of the international or American literary stars attending. Others include fellow Irish writer and Booker Prize-winning author of The Gathering, Anne Enright; American writer Rachel Kushner, author of The Mars Room and the upcoming Booker finalist Creation Lake; American sci-fi author Jeff VanderMeer, who will be talking about the fourth instalment of his Southern Reach series, Absolution; United Kingdom writer Alice Winn, author of In Memoriam; American writer Stephen Graham Jones, who has been referred to as the “Indigenous Stephen King”; and American author and journalist Lev Grossman, author of the popular Magicians series whose new book, The Bright Sword, is about the King Arthur legend.

American author Lev Grossman will be appearing at Wordfest. Photo by Beowulf Sheehan. Photo by Beowulf Sheehan /Beowulf Sheehan

Calgary expat singer-songwriters, activists and authors Tegan and Sara Quin will be joined by their mother, Sonia Clement, to discuss their upcoming autobiographical graphic novel Crush, a sequel to Junior High.

As always, the festival will feature imaginative pairings of authors, including Robertson and Manitoba-based Anishinaabe writer Niigaan Sinclair; Canadian journalist and author Tanya Talaga, who wrote Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City, with Canisia Lubrin, a poet and professor; Catherine Hernandez, Canadian author of Behind You, and  Sarah Leavitt, whose recent graphic novel Something Not Nothing: A Story of Grief and Love chronicles the heartbreaking story about her partner’s health struggles and death.

Rachel Kushner
Author Rachel Kushner will be appearing at Wordfest. Photo by Chloe Aftel

“When you throw your expectations out the doors, that’s when you can really enjoy things,” says Youngblut. “We’ll put people on a stage where maybe you’ve heard of one but not the other or maybe you’re thinking to yourself ‘I know who Tanya Talaga is, but why is she on the stage with Canisia Lubrin?’ Just trust me.”

Wordfest Imaginairium will be held in multiple venues from Oct. 16 to 21. Visit wordfest.com.

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