LitFest 2021

LitFest's 15th anniversary kicks off with the Edmonton launch of Omar Mouallem's Praying to the West, followed by a screening of his documentary film The Last Baron. Hosted by Gian Marco Visconti.

As of September 20, 2021, attendance of all events at Metro Cinema will require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test (within 72 hours) upon entry.

Please arrive at the cinema with your proof of COVID-19 vaccination and government issued photo ID ready. Note: no information will be scanned, stored, or shared. Additional information can be found here.  

Three of the authors of Laberinto Press' second anthology Beyond the Gallery will ponder what lies beneath the idea of the museum, including ephemeral art, tattoo art practices, and yes, the invisible museum.

Proof of vaccination, documentation of a medical exemption, or proof of a privately-paid negative PCR or rapid test within 72 hours of the event will be required for every person (aged 12+) attending in-person LitFest events.

This masterclass with Carla Funk encourages writers to plunder the rooms of memory, all the with the purpose of working toward memoir-writing. So often, the memories we hold remain locked away, like the darkened wings of a palace kept off limits to the ordinary visitor. This class will explore creative ways of getting to the images, details, stories, and scenes that wait behind those bolted doors, plus some practical ideas for how to write expansively, even when you don’t remember all the facts. Bring a notebook and come ready for a tour—all-access and behind those velvet ropes—of your own memory palace.

Proof of vaccination, documentation of a medical exemption, or proof of a privately-paid negative PCR or rapid test within 72 hours of the event will be required for every person (aged 12+) attending in-person LitFest events.

The Memoir Hour returns with with three writers exploring different journeys that a woman's body can take: From a curious Mennonite adolescence to embracing decolonized desire to single motherdom by choice. Hosted by poet and author Rayanne Haines.

Proof of vaccination, documentation of a medical exemption, or proof of a privately-paid negative PCR or rapid test within 72 hours of the event will be required for every person (aged 12+) attending in-person LitFest events.

Poet Tenille K. Campbell discuses her book,  nedί nezų (Good Medicine) Edmonton Poetry Festival director Shima Robinson.

Proof of vaccination, documentation of a medical exemption, or proof of a privately-paid negative PCR or rapid test within 72 hours of the event will be required for every person (aged 12+) attending in-person LitFest events.

Giller Prize winner Ian Williams returns with a powerful work of non-fiction, bringing fresh eyes and new insights to today's urgent conversation on race and racism through illuminating essays that grow out of his experience as a Black man moving through the world. Williams will be hosted in conversation with Edmonton Poetry Festival's producer and poet, Shima Robinson (a.k.a. Dwennimmen).

Get your pen and paper ready: In this masterclass participants will not only hear about how to take a memory and translate it into sequential images (like a graphic novel), but you’ll actually be doing it too. See how drawing your scene tightens your story, takes away extraneous text, and boils the scene down to its essence. See also how visual metaphor enters your story, adding layers of emotion, physicality, and meaning. If you don’t know how to draw, no problem. Stick figures are your friends!

Proof of vaccination, documentation of a medical exemption, or proof of a privately-paid negative PCR or rapid test within 72 hours of the event will be required for every person (aged 12+) attending in-person LitFest events.

Being vulnerable in our writing is an uncomfortable process. Choosing to write about difficult experiences for publication involves telling the deep truth of pain and suffering, while also acknowledging the work as a piece of art. When you make this decision, you must first answer the most difficult question— every time you approach the task of writing — What is the truth? Being vulnerable on the page creates discomfort, and often, a resistance to engaging with the deeper work you know you need to do. In this 90-minute master class, we first talk about being vulnerable in our discomfort and then how to dig deeper into sharing truth in our writing by using our senses, minimalism and instinct, and bridging the universal and personal.

Proof of vaccination, documentation of a medical exemption, or proof of a privately-paid negative PCR or rapid test within 72 hours of the event will be required for every person (aged 12+) attending in-person LitFest events.

Travelling across borders of all kinds, from battlefields and occupied lands to midnight fares and Tim Hortons parking lots, author Marcello Di Cintio chronicles the many journeys each driver made merely for the privilege to turn on their rooflight. He finds that their lives aren’t defined by tragedy or frustration but by ingenuity and generosity, hope and hard work. From night school and sixteen-hour shifts to schemes for athletic careers and the secret Shakespeare of Dylan’s lyrics, Di Cintio’s subjects share the passions and triumphs that drive them.

Proof of vaccination, documentation of a medical exemption, or proof of a privately-paid negative PCR or rapid test within 72 hours of the event will be required for every person (aged 12+) attending in-person LitFest events.

Author Marcello Di Cintio offers this workshop on mastering the art of profile writing. Topics covered will include interviewing techniques and working with personal conversations, all techniques he employed in writing Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers.

Proof of vaccination, documentation of a medical exemption, or proof of a privately-paid negative PCR or rapid test within 72 hours of the event will be required for every person (aged 12+) attending in-person LitFest events.

It's a big night for Edmonton, so we're giving the authors a break to make sure everyone has enough time to get to their polling stations! You're invited to join in the FREE watch-party as Metro Cinema streams Edmonton's election night coverage on the big screen.

As of September 20, 2021, attendance of all events at Metro Cinema will require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test (within 72 hours) upon entry.

Please arrive at the cinema with your proof of COVID-19 vaccination and government issued photo ID ready. Note: no information will be scanned, stored, or shared. Additional information can be found here.  

Martha Piper and Indira Samarasekera had vastly different career paths on their way to becoming the first (and so far only) female presidents of two of Canada’s largest and most respected research universities. What they had in common was their gender, and their willingness to take risks when leadership opportunities presented themselves. It was not always easy, pretty, or fair, but it was always the result of choosing to answer the call to lead.

In Nerve: Lessons on leadership from two Women who went first the authors share their personal and professional stories, offering guidance for women leaders of every age and at every stage of their career.

Author Omar Mouallem is presented in partnership with the Canadian Literature Centre at the University of Alberta for this noon-hour reading and Q&A session.

Inspired by the example of her grandmother, and raised as the daughter of a hereditary chief and Indigenous leader, Jody Wilson-Raybould always knew she would take on leadership responsibilities. She never anticipated, however, that those roles would lead her to Ottawa as Canada’s first Indigenous Minister of Justice and Attorney General in the Cabinet of then newly elected prime minister Justin Trudeau. Wilson-Raybould’s experience in Cabinet reveals important lessons about how we must continue to strengthen our political institutions and culture, and the changes we must make to meet challenges in racial justice and climate change.

Set in Edmonton, Conor Kerr's debut novel considers Indigenous youth in relation to the urban constructs and colonial spaces in which they survive — from violence, whitewashing, trauma, and racism to language revitalization, relationships with Elders, restaking land claims, and ultimately, triumph.

Proof of vaccination, documentation of a medical exemption, or proof of a privately-paid negative PCR or rapid test within 72 hours of the event will be required for every person (aged 12+) attending in-person LitFest events.

Author, educator, and public speaker S. Bear Bergman offers an illustrated guide to practical advice for the modern age. It offers Dad advice and Jewish bubbe wisdom, all filtered through a queer lens, to help you navigate the complexities of life - from how to make big decisions or make a good apology, to how to get someone's new name and pronouns right as quickly as possible, to how to gracefully navigate a breakup. With warmth and candor, Bergman calls out social inequities and injustices in traditional advice-giving, validates your feelings, asks a lot of questions, and tries to help you be your best possible self with kindness, compassion, and humour.

Alex Wood offers up a wildly disarming memoir on how he overcame his multiple addictions. As an alcoholic, drug-addicted comedian with tendencies to over-indulge and under-achieve since he was a teenager, Wood was on track to die young. But at age 29, he concocted a plan to quit not only alcohol and drugs, but everything else that he felt was holding him back: cigarettes, caffeine, red meat, dairy, sugar, social media, smartphones, porn, credit cards, nail-biting, social media, and gossip. With plenty of self-effacing wit and grace, Float like a Butterfly, Drink Mint Tea tears down the walls of shame surrounding addiction, providing an honest and open portrait of the stakes involved when one is willing to quit everything in order to survive.

In collaboration with the Edmonton Poetry Festival, LitFest is thrilled to present an evening of poetry readings with leaders in Edmonton's poetry community, hosted by the Edmonton Poetry Festival's artistic producer, Shima Robinson aka Dwennimmen.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Timiro Mohamed is not able to participate in this in-person event. We apologize for any inconvenience.

In this empowering and soul inspiring workshop, internationally renowned Tlicho Dene storyteller, Richard Van Camp, will share his insights into how to become a better storyteller. He'll introduce you to using props as a way to enchant your audience and he'll show you how to become the story. We're going to have a lot of fun together so come on out and get ready to rock!

COVID Collections a community collaboration between members of ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ, amiskwacîwâskahikan and the greater Alberta region. It includes voices of BIPOC, disabled, 2SLGBTQIA+, mothers, sisters, daughters, artists, performers, poets, writers, academics, and more. This collection examines individual struggles that people have faced during COVID-19. Struggles may be universal, but they are not equal; some of our communities have been significantly impacted. This book offers readers a chance to connect intimately and have compassion for the folks they make eye contact with or brush against on the street. Presented by SkirtsAfire.

Proof of vaccination, documentation of a medical exemption, or proof of a privately-paid negative PCR or rapid test within 72 hours of the event will be required for every person (aged 12+) attending in-person LitFest events.

In collaboration with the Edmonton Poetry Festival, LitFest presents an evening of poetry performance from three major forces of leadership and innovation in Canadian performance poetry, Timiro Mohamed, Nisha Patel, and Jillian Christmas

We're going back online for the closing brunch this year to dish with writers across the continent about celebrities. Catch editor Michael Hingston with contributors to High Profile, the very hot box set out by Hingston & Olsen that offers individually-bound editions of the decade's best celebrity profiles. Plus, special guest Tom Vitale drops in to discuss his book In the Weeds, a memoir about working with the world's most well-remembered celebrity chef, Anthony Bourdain. Hosted by Twyla Campbell and LF's own Fawnda Mithrush!