Programming | The Word On The Street

Click on a segment below to learn more.

11:00 -12:00 :: Kathryn Borel Jr., Jane Christmas and Deirdre Kelly

Europe, with its dazzling array of cuisine, architecture and culture, is a dream destination for most. That is, until family baggage gets packed along on your journey. Join these three globetrotters as they explore the idea that sometimes you have to get really far away from home to understand where you’ve come from.
Learn more about Kathryn Borel Jr, Jane Christmas and Deirdre Kelly

12:00 -12:30 :: Ray Robertson

Ranging over the early years of the pioneering Elgin Settlement, David's wild, whiskey-fueled early years in Chatham as a factory worker and apprentice grave-robber and his day-to-day life with his ex-prostitute German lover in present-day, 1895 Chatham, David is a portal to a fascinating, if mostly unknown, piece of Canadian history, as well as the story of one man's search for wisdom, peace and forgiveness. Learn more about Ray Robertson

12:30 -1:00 :: Leon Rooke

From one of Canada's most compelling and imaginative writers of short fiction comes a new collection of eleven stories and a novella.
Learn more about Leon Rooke

1:00 -1:30 :: John Bemrose

In the heart of cottage country in Ontario, bordering on a native reservation, Ann and Richard are confronted with the abrupt reappearance of Billy, whose presence in their lives brings back powerful memories and rekindles old conflicts, love and a betrayal, as each of their past and present stories gradually unfolds during one 1980s summer.
Learn more about John Bemrose

1:30 -2:00 :: Barry Callaghan

Adam Waters’ search for the woman he loves, who has mysteriously disappeared from their hotel room, takes him from the casinos of Puerto Rico to war-torn Gabon and a leper colony deep in the African bush. Counterpointing Adam’s quest are his memories from boyhood, and of his father, wandering jazzman Sweet Web Waters, his experiences as a war correspondent and the girl who becomes his lover, the dancer Gabrielle O’Leary..
Learn more about Barry Callaghan

2:00 -2:30 :: Cordelia Strube

For Lemon, high school is misery, a trial run for an unhappy adulthood of bloated waistlines, bad sex, contradictions and inequities and nothing guidance counsellor Blecher can say will convince Lemon otherwise. It will be up to Lemon if she can survive things with her usual cavalier aplomb..
Learn more about Cordelia Strube

2:30 -3:00 :: Emily Schultz

Heaven is Small is the funny and profound story of Gordon Small, a degree-clutching slacker and failed fiction writer. Gordon is also recently deceased -- "an event he failed to notice." But when Gordon finds himself suddenly employed at the Heaven Book Company, the world's largest romance publisher, he does notice that things are odd. With sly deadpan humour, brilliant insight into the human condition and exceptionally beautiful writing, Schultz explores what it's like to be truly alive only after you're dead. Learn more about Emily Schultz

3:00 -3:30 :: Darrell Bricker and John Wright

The anonymity of a phone line is the secret to success for Darrell Bricker and John Wright of Ipsos Reid, the largest market research company in Canada. Ipsos’ accuracy in gathering people’s thoughts and predicting trends makes the company the go-to source for almost everyone seeking answers to strange but intriguing questions. We Know What You’re Thinking is filled with fascinating insights about Canadians—and peppered with fun graphs, factoids and quizzes.
Learn more about Darrell Bricker and John Wright

3:30 -4:00 :: Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie

The most dangerous pollution has always come from commonplace items in our homes and workplaces. For this book, over the period of an average week, the authors use their own bodies as the reference point to tell the story of pollution in our modern world, the miscreant corporate giants who manufacture the toxins, the weak-kneed government officials who let it happen and the effects on people across the globe..
Learn more about Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie

4:00 -5:00 :: Jacob McArthur Mooney, A F Moritz and Matthew Tierney

Poets are the magicians of the literary world. Reaching into the depths of our language, they create work that transforms even the simplest details of life into something extraordinary and worth investigation. Hear from some of the most vital poets in the scene and learn the secrets to their alchemy.
Learn more about Jacob McArthur Mooney, A F Moritz and Matthew Tierney

5:00 -5:30 :: Lauren Kirshner

This captivating debut novel follows a young girl’s coming of age during the ten years in which she will struggle – in ways both familiar and unexpected – to find her place in the world as her family comes apart at the seams..
Learn more about Lauren Kirshner

5:30 -6:00 :: Zoe Whittall

What is it like to grow into adulthood with the “war on terror” as your defining political memory, with the aftermath of SARS and Hurricane Katrina as your backdrop? Rising star Zoe Whittall presents a dazzling portrait of a generation we’ve rarely seen in literature – the twenty-five-year olds who grew up on anti-anxiety meds and text-messaging each other truncated emotional reactions, unsure of what’s public and what’s private.
Learn more about Zoe Whittall