Several days were devoted to bookworms and writers as Northwords NWT held the 13th annual NWT Writer’s festival last week.
Writers from across Northern and southern Canada gathered in the capital from May 31 to June 3 to participate in panel discussions and workshops encompassing poetry, painting and photography, including An Exploration of ekphrastic poetry – focusing on scenery or works of art – with Kim Fahner and BLUSH: an evening of erotica and sensuality.
The festival showcased six featured authors as well as 12 Northern authors, consisting of both present and former residents of the Northwest Territories.
“We tend to try to keep authors fairly current. You know, who have had something in the last few years, or have something new to say, and every year we see new people,” said Fran Hurcomb, president of NorthWords NWT.
Among the local authors were Richard Van Camp and Rebecca Hendry, who both had their own book launches during the festival. Those books, and others, were available for sale throughout the week. According to Hurcomb, it was a good year for a book release as interest was high in this year’s festival.
“We’ve had relatively huge, big, enthusiastic turnouts for all of the events, workshops, panels, the evening events, the open mic events,” said Hurcomb. “It’s been really good.”
The festival served as double duty as NorthWords NWT used it as an opportunity to raise $1,600 towards sending a local writer to a week-long writing workshop in Alberta next summer.
While this is the organization's marquee event of the sping, Hurcomb said they will continue to sponsor and host different workshops throughout the year. Those events will be announced and advertised as writers become available.