The Ottawa International Writers Festival – Fall 2012
The Ottawa International Writers Festival – Fall 2012
FASS Dean John Osborne with Jane Goddall at a past edition Ottawa International Writers Festival.
The fall 2012 edition of the Ottawa International Writers Festival runs from October 26 to 30, at a variety of locations. The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences has arranged that Carleton students need only show their student ID (subject of course to capacity limits at the venue) for free entry to the “main stage” events of the Festival.
The Festival kicks off with the Ottawa premiere of the film Midnight’s Children by Deepa Mehta at the Empire 7 Cinema, and an evening with Chef Michael Smith, author of the bestseller Fast Flavour, at the
Sidedoor Contemporary Kitchen in the Byward Market.
This edition of the Festival features an interesting and highly varied assortment of speakers, including Lloyd Robertson, John Raulston Saul, Jacob Berkowitz, Annabel Lyon, Jonathan Goldstein, and Jian Ghomeshi.
Full details on speakers, times, and locations may be found at the Ottawa International Writers Festival website.
About the Writers Festival
The imagination is our most valuable renewable resource. So, twice a year, the Ottawa International Writers Festival convenes an international celebration of ideas to recharge our imaginations. From politics to poetry, science to music, history to thrillers, it is a celebration of the full diversity of the word and the gifted writers who guide us in our exploration of the world. The year-round special events keep the ideas coming between Festivals.
As the country’s largest independent literary celebration, the Ottawa International Writers Festival believes that a love of reading and learning should be nurtured throughout our lives, and that literacy is a birthright. Whether offering writing workshops to the homeless, hosting a Nobel Laureate, organizing our biannual literary celebrations or bringing authors into area schools, the goal is the same: to create an environment that activates creativity and encourages the love of reading, learning and self-expression.
The Festival reached an audience of 22,893 during the 2011 season. That’s roughly 800% audience growth since the first season in 1997. As noted in Ottawa’s Metro newspaper: “Participation in the festival has exploded.”