Friday, September 21 to Sunday, September 23, 2012
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On September 25, 2005, WOTS Vancouver was blessed yet again with spectacular weather (after a cooler-than-expected September), great attendance and, of course, authors performers and exhibits galore. In spite of the CBC lock-out, we estimated crowds at 30,000 and the mood was very positive throughout the day with many reading events filled to capacity. As in 2004, crowds were especially high in the early hours. This was due to the Vancouver Public Library's second annual Celebration of Young Readers attracting hundreds of children and their parents to the Main Stage to celebrate their summer reading programs. This event started at 10:45 and was a visual marvel with parents snapping photos as their children crossed the stage ro receive a book and a handshake from the city councilors. Back again was The Poet's Corner, Poetry in Transit, The Word Under the Street, and Magazine Mews combining magazine exhibitors and a stage showcasing local magazine talents. The Kumon Kids Tent featured events and authors for those aged 4-9, and The Vancouver Sun Raise-a-Reader Corner remained the hot spot for preschoolers. Meanwhile, the Authors Tent and Canada Writes tent featured top literary talent, speakers, YA authors, and more. Included in the mix were John Vaillant, whose book, The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed, won the Governor General's Literary Award for Non-fiction. We also hosted two other Governor General Prize nominees: Charlotte Gill (Ladykiller) and Barbara Nickel (Hannah Waters and the Daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach). As well, three out of four City of Vancouver Book Award finalists appeared at WOTS: Lance Berelowitz, author of Dream City: Vancouver and the Global Imagination; Dara Culhane, editor of In Plain Sight: Reflections on Life in Downtown Eastside Vancouver, and the fabulous authors behind Vancouver Stories: West Coast Fiction from Canada's Best Writers. Congratulations to Lance Berelowitz who was announced the winner on October 19th, 2005. Our biggest festival partner, the Vancouver Public Library, again ended their own 4th Annual citywide event, One Book, One Vancouver with Joy Kogawa and Roy Miki, who enjoyed large audiences at the Authors Tent. All in all, we played host to well over 150 talented wordsmiths, plus musicians, visual artists, and other performers. But the true star of the show? As always, it was our Marketplace of Exhibitors, featuring a whopping 149 publishers, booksellers, literacy organizations, writing schools and more. With lots of exciting events going on during the day, we're happy to announce the winner of the 2005 WOTS library was Emira Mears! She won a copy of nearly every book featured at the festival. Her membership form / visitor survey was randomly drawn after the festival. To have a chance to win the WOTS library next year, join the Vancouver Book & Magazine Fair Society by donating $2 to an on-site Festival Volunteer! Two other winners deserve a mention as well: from The Word Under the Street, Kim Hoang of Vancouver created a three-panel comic which was selected to win a library of signed graphic novels from Raincoast Books as well as some terrific drawing pens courtesy of Sanford. Also, Eileen Wong of Vancouver won a prize package of books, t-shirt, and more for finding the most words in the giant word search puzzle on Literacy Lane. Big thanks to everyone who participated and helped out -- exhibitors, authors, sponsors, hosts, volunteers, site crew -- we couldn't do it without you and are grateful for your support! \
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On September 25, 2005, WOTS Vancouver was blessed yet again with spectacular weather (after a cooler-than-expected September), great attendance and, of course, authors performers and exhibits galore. In spite of the CBC lock-out, we estimated crowds at 30,000 and the mood was very positive throughout the day with many reading events filled to capacity.
As in 2004, crowds were especially high in the early hours. This was due to the Vancouver Public Library's second annual Celebration of Young Readers attracting hundreds of children and their parents to the Main Stage to celebrate their summer reading programs. This event started at 10:45 and was a visual marvel with parents snapping photos as their children crossed the stage ro receive a book and a handshake from the city councilors.
Back again was The Poet's Corner, Poetry in Transit, The Word Under the Street, and Magazine Mews combining magazine exhibitors and a stage showcasing local magazine talents. The Kumon Kids Tent featured events and authors for those aged 4-9, and The Vancouver Sun Raise-a-Reader Corner remained the hot spot for preschoolers. Meanwhile, the Authors Tent and Canada Writes tent featured top literary talent, speakers, YA authors, and more.
Included in the mix were John Vaillant, whose book, The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed, won the Governor General's Literary Award for Non-fiction. We also hosted two other Governor General Prize nominees: Charlotte Gill (Ladykiller) and Barbara Nickel (Hannah Waters and the Daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach).
As well, three out of four City of Vancouver Book Award finalists appeared at WOTS: Lance Berelowitz, author of Dream City: Vancouver and the Global Imagination; Dara Culhane, editor of In Plain Sight: Reflections on Life in Downtown Eastside Vancouver, and the fabulous authors behind Vancouver Stories: West Coast Fiction from Canada's Best Writers. Congratulations to Lance Berelowitz who was announced the winner on October 19th, 2005.
Our biggest festival partner, the Vancouver Public Library, again ended their own 4th Annual citywide event, One Book, One Vancouver with Joy Kogawa and Roy Miki, who enjoyed large audiences at the Authors Tent.
All in all, we played host to well over 150 talented wordsmiths, plus musicians, visual artists, and other performers. But the true star of the show? As always, it was our Marketplace of Exhibitors, featuring a whopping 149 publishers, booksellers, literacy organizations, writing schools and more.
With lots of exciting events going on during the day, we're happy to announce the winner of the 2005 WOTS library was Emira Mears! She won a copy of nearly every book featured at the festival. Her membership form / visitor survey was randomly drawn after the festival. To have a chance to win the WOTS library next year, join the Vancouver Book & Magazine Fair Society by donating $2 to an on-site Festival Volunteer!
Two other winners deserve a mention as well: from The Word Under the Street, Kim Hoang of Vancouver created a three-panel comic which was selected to win a library of signed graphic novels from Raincoast Books as well as some terrific drawing pens courtesy of Sanford. Also, Eileen Wong of Vancouver won a prize package of books, t-shirt, and more for finding the most words in the giant word search puzzle on Literacy Lane.
Big thanks to everyone who participated and helped out -- exhibitors, authors, sponsors, hosts, volunteers, site crew -- we couldn't do it without you and are grateful for your support!
