Library’s Word on the Street Festival kicks off today

By Tim Kalinowski on September 14, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com

The 11th annual Word on the Street Festival kicks off at Lethbridge Library today and goes until Friday, Sept. 24.
This year’s event will be a hybrid event with the featured authors presenting on Zoom to respect public health guidelines around COVID-19, but with an outdoor street festival to celebrate the written and spoken word on Saturday.
Featured authors presenting on Saturday this year include Mary Lawson, writer of “A Town Called Solace,” David A. Robertson, writer of “Black Water: Family, Legacy and Blood Memory,” and Guy Delisle, writer of “Factory Summers and Other Works.”
But this year’s Word on the Street Festival will have a little something for everyone, including “Drag Story Time for Everyone” with Francheska Dynamites live at Library Festival Square, and online readings by Alberta poets Nisha Patel, Dallas Hunt and Bertrand Bickersteth.
All afternoon Friday is the Lethbridge Herald Teen Program starting at 1:15 p.m. Kids programming will be the focus of the morning.
Graphic novels and comic writing will be featured on Tuesday and Thursday. The Lethbridge Kids Scavenger Hunt also kicks off on Tuesday.
Next week the focus will be on Indigenous oral history, storytelling, culture, and the Blackfoot language.
Elisabeth Hegerat, manager of Community and Economic Advancement with the Lethbridge Public Library, says this year’s Word on the Street Festival will feature nearly 30 Canadian authors and presenters crossing many different genres and styles.
“It has been fantastic to see the interest and support,” she says. “This festival is all about celebrating literacy, and reading, and Canadian authors, and literature. And it is fantastic to hear people look forward to it every year.”
To see more about this year’s Word on the Street Festival schedule visit http://www.lethlib.ca, and click on the “Word on the Street” banner.

Follow @TimKalHerald on Twitter

4
-3