Garnering literary sensations from across the country, Kingston WritersFest returns for its 18th year from September 25 to 29.
The festival features a diverse array of writers, including an author who survived both the Vietnam War and the Iranian Revolution, and a cookbook creator who tells the stories of Toronto through food. There will be a panel discussion about the state of democracy in North America moderated by journalist Carol Off, whose guests include Rob Goodman, a former speechwriter for the members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.
In addition to speaker events, WritersFest hosts programs for youth and immersive workshops; award-winning authors teach you how to write the first sentence of a book or fictionalize reality.
Visit Kingston WritersFest’s website to learn more about the events and purchase your tickets. The festival offers various pay-what-you-can options so cost doesn’t prevent you from attending.
Here are just a few authors attending Kingston WritersFest this year. You can go to Novel Idea (156 Princess Street) to purchase their books.
Danny Ramadan
The Screening Room, Cameo | September 25 (7–8 pm)
Danny Ramadan opens the festival by taking audiences through Syria’s underground network of queer safe homes.
Crooked Teeth: A Queer Syrian Refugee Memoir is about Ramadan’s experience fleeing persecution in Syria. As well as discussing his story, the novelist and activist shares his experience writing seven books and how he raised $300,000 for LGBTQI+ identifying refugees.
Anh N. Duong
The Screening Room, Cameo | September 27 (1:15–2:15 pm)
Anh N. Duong bore witness to the horrors of both the Vietnam War and the Iranian Revolution.
He recounted the experience to his daughter, award-winning documentarian Ashley Da-Lê Duong, in a series of letters which became his memoir, Dear Da-Lê: A Father’s Memoir of the Vietnam War and the Iranian Revolution.
Anh comes to Kingston to discuss his time in conflict-torn Vietnam and Iran. Ashley, who’s making a film about her father’s journey from Asia to Canada, will be onstage with Anh to help share his story.
Marianne K. Miller
The Screening Room, Cameo | September 27 (2:30–3:30 pm)
Ernest Hemingway wasn’t always a renowned author–he was once a scrappy journalist for the Toronto Star.
Marianne K. Miller hits The Screening Room’s stage to discuss her book We Were the Bullfighters which explores Hemingway’s career as a journalist in Canada. In Miller’s new historical fiction novel, Hemingway is transfixed by Norman “Red” Ryan’s escape from the Kingston Penitentiary.
Anthony Oliveira
The Screening Room, Cameo | September 27 (3:45–4:45 pm)
After attending an all-boys Catholic school, Oliveira intimately understands the intersection between sexuality and religion.
Oliveira’s book, Dayspring, is a queer coming-of-age story about Christ and his beloved disciples. Visit The Screening Room in September to learn how the author has reimagined and revealed historical narratives to be queer.
Tanya Talaga
Kingston Market Square Hotel, Limestone Ballroom | September 27 (7:30–9:00 pm)
This award-winning author and journalist comes to Kingston Market Square Hotel to discuss the oppression Indigenous people face in Canada.
A retelling of Canada’s history through an Indigenous lens, The Knowing tells Tanya Talaga’s family’s endurance of cultural genocide and government sanctions.
Misty Pratt
The Screening Room, Cameo | September 28 (11 am–noon)
As a health researcher, Misty Pratt is familiar with the diminishment of women as “crazy” or “hysterical.”
All in Her Head: How Gender Bias Harms Women’s Health by Pratt explores the connection between women and “hysteria,” a condition coined in Ancient Greece. Using scientific facts and humour, Pratt explains how the medical system must change to better address women’s mental health concerns.
Lisa Moore
The Screening Room, Cameo | September 28 (3:30–4:30 pm)
Jack Whalen suffered extensive abuse at a reform school in Newfoundland, detailed in Lisa Moore’s book, Invisible Prisons. The Giller Prize nominee explores Jack’s ability to turn his life around following the traumatic experience, becoming a dedicated father and husband
Jack’s daughter, Brittney, was appalled by his past treatment and vowed to seek justice for her father. Now a lawyer, she’s doing so in court. As Brittney continues to advocate for Jack, Moore poses the question to audiences in Kingston, what’s justice from a broken system?
Vincent Anioke
The Screening Room, Cameo | September 28 (4:45–5:45 pm)
An addict’s love for pottery, a ghost’s delight at her grief-stricken partner, and contentions between staff and students at a boarding school.
Anioke hits The Screening Room’s stage to talk about his book of short stories, Perfect Little Angels. The Austin Clark Fiction Prize winner discusses how experiences of mourning and memory, love and longing, and marginalization and community are captured in the pages of his debut book.
M.G. Vassanji
The Screening Room, Cameo | September 29 (9:30–10:30 am)
How do we define “belonging”? M.G. Vassanji explores this question in his recent book of essays, Nowhere, Exactly: On Identity and Belonging.
The Order of Canada recipient is no stranger to the WritersFest stage, returning to Kingston this year to discuss the themes explored in his new book. Nowhere, Exactly offers personal explorations of the grief, loss, and hope that comes with the immigrant experience.
Len Senater
Grandview, Delta Hotel | September 29 (noon–1:30 pm)
Closing out the festival is Len Senater, founder of The Depanneur–an event venue hosting chefs, cooking classes, and weekly brunches in Toronto.
The Depanneur Cookbook celebrates Toronto’s cultural diversity, featuring 100 recipes from various chefs across the city. Senatar’s cookbook includes a crispy-skin red braised pork belly recipe made by Taiwanese chef Alex Chen. Flipping to another page of the cookbook, you’ll encounter Mark Kusitor’s Soup Bouyon ak Legumes or vegan Haitian soup.
Enjoy brunch while the photographer and food enthusiast shares tales from The Depanneur, recounts the chefs he has met, and the squid ink gnocchi he’s savoured along the way.
