St. Catharines Festival of Readers Ramps Up Literary Engagement in Niagara Region

From November 3rd to 5th, The Festival of Readers: St. Catharines will bring acclaimed Canadian authors to the vibrant Niagara region. With guest authors including Tomson Highway, Kevin Sylvester, and Dionne Brand, it's set to be a fantastic series of events. 

We got the chance to speak to Artistic Director Gregory Betts about the festival (now in its sophomore year), including how they balance and shape their line up, and the St. Catharines literary scene. 

He tells us about the small but mighty literary community in the area, the importance of engaging with readers outside the literary circle, combating illiteracy in the region, and much more. 

If you're interested in attending the festival, check out their website for full event details, including the opportunity to attend a five-course vegan dinner with the festival authors. 

Open Book:

You have a spectacular line up this year. When you're programming the festival, what do you look for in terms of the authors you invite, the balances you're trying to strike, and other concerns?

Gregory Betts:

We are thrilled by the quality of the authors coming to the festival this year. As a growing festival, we don’t cover every genre, but we have a range of interests that we look for, including Indigenous literature, experimental literature, and children’s authors. In general, though, we try to imagine how individual authors will fit into the events we are building and how each moment will flow into the next.

For instance, we have a ceremonial Indigenous welcoming on Saturday morning. We begin with a roundtable discussion and workshop called “Reading the TRC in Niagara” that will look at some of the foundational texts of the region, including treaties, wampum belts, and the Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. After this event, two Indigenous authors (Sara General and Melanie Florence) and a fabulous local bestseller (Eve Silver) will lead a panel on Young Adult fiction. In thinking about foundational texts, we wanted to expand that and think about the stories we are telling our young people. Social Justice and Indigenous themes continue throughout the day, though the evening programming is more celebratory and fun, ultimately resolving in sound poetry and surrealism.

OB:

Tell us a little about how the festival came to be and how you became involved.

GB:

I’ve been organizing literary events in St. Catharines ever since I moved here 11 years ago. The literary community is small, but there is a great reservoir of love and interest in books and writing. We’ve been very fortunate by the quality of authors who have visited the city over the years, and it has been highly stimulating throughout. I decided to launch the festival when I learned that the Niagara region has one of the worst rates of literacy in the country, with an astonishing 52% functional illiteracy rate. Instead of catering to the literary community specifically, I wanted to create an event that would engage the community, a place to come and celebrate the love of reading and to recognize the importance of literacy. A place, literally, FOR readers.

OB:

What do you hope to achieve with the festival? Where do you see it five or ten years down the line?

GB:

This is our second year, and the depth of community support has already grown by leaps and bounds. I was talking to Eve Silver the other day about some of the authors who live in the region, or are connected, who are not coming to the festival. There are lots of ways to grow and lots more people I would like to see get involved! I would like it to become a mainstay on the cultural stage for the region. I would especially like it if someone gets inspired by the event and opens up an independent bookstore in the city (we have some great used books stores, but none that sell new books).

OB:

Tell us about an event in the festival that you're especially looking forward to.

GB:

Tomson Highway is reading and performing at the very end of the festival. Right before he comes on stage, however, he has offered up his stage to let three students perform their work in front of the 500+ audience. These students will be the shortlisted finalists in our first ever Festival of Readers Poetry Prize. Having already seen the quality of the submissions (though the shortlist hasn’t been determined yet), I am very excited to see the students shine in the bright lights.

OB:

What can you tell us about the literary community in the Niagara region?

GB:

There are some really excellent authors in St. Catharines, including novelists, poets, YA authors, science-fiction, and creative nonfiction. We currently lack a central hub to help the writers come together, so the community is rather diffuse. I do hope that the Festival of Readers helps to bring the wider community of authors and readers together. There are already encouraging signs across the region that people are getting more active and engaged – with very successful reading series in Grimsby, Queenston, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Port Colborne. I should also give a shout-out to Southbrook Winery, who feature Canadian poems on some of their wine bottles.

OB:

What are you reading right now?

GB:

Claudia Cornwall’s At the World’s Edge: Curt Lang’s Vancouver 1937-1998, a lovely literary history of an eccentric at the margins of the avant-garde in Vancouver. 

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The Festival of Readers: St. Catharines is a new, annual event designed to celebrate the love of reading and help to build a literary culture in the Niagara regions.