Calendar :: All Events

About The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)

All 37 of Shakespeare's plays and his other works all in one performance. Ann irreverent, fast-paced romp through the Bard's play, "The Complete Works" was London's longest-running comedy.

WARNING: This show is a high-speed roller-coaster comedic compression of all of Shakespeare's works and is not recommended for people with heart or bladder problems, inner-ear disorders and/or people susceptible to motion sickness. Well, not really, but it is very funny and very fast-paced.

You can also visit King's Town Players's website.

About Collected Stories

by Donald Margulies | directed by Steve Powell

When a student and protégé develops from an insecure student to a successful writer, she has done so by writing a novel based on her teacher’s affair with poet Delmore Schwartz. The two women then have to deal with the moral dilemma of whether a person’s life events are suitable for another to use in the creative process.

You can also visit Domino Theatre's website.

About 1. PQ’s People Mix It Up!

Paul Quarrington was a storyteller in every medium he could get his hands on—novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, songs. Opening night brings together PQ’s People, the writers, musicians, actors, and filmmakers who knew Paul and have their own stories to tell about the writing life that produced 10 novels, including Canada Reads winner King Leary, the award-winning book and screenplay Whale Music, the TV series Due South, 7 full-length plays including a musical for children, 3 CDs with the Porkbelly Futures, as well as a posthumous solo CD, The Songs, and the memoir Cigar Box Banjo. Join Nino Ricci, Dave Bidini, Kim Moritsugu, Stuart Ross, Steven Heighton, Dan Hill, Cordelia Strube, Jim Garrard, Judith Keenan, and the Porkbelly Futures for an evening of stories in all their glorious forms.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 2. In Pursuit of Global Justice

Deborah Ellis, hailed as an important voice of moral and social conscience, takes us into the lives of young people in harrowing places—in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and right here at home. In her internationally acclaimed bestsellers The Breadwinner and Children of War, she explores the common ground that unites all peoples, quietly promoting the ideals of social justice between nations, races, and communities. The journey continues with her new novel for teen readers, No Safe Place, which lays bare the lives of young modern-day migrants. Also recently released is Ellis’s anthology of first-person accounts We Want to Know: Kids Talk About Bullying.

A Youth Project event for high-school students and adults.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 3. Your Backyard, 2050

Environmentalist and award-winning science writer Wayne Grady paints a grim future for Kingston in the face of unchecked climate change and species invasion. In a stimulating visual presentation, Grady draws on several of his books—his sweeping study of the Great Lakes; The Quiet Limit of the World, which tracks the first signs of global warming in the Arctic; his evolutionary essays, Bringing Back the Dodo; and Technology, his latest exploration into our past and future world. Is there anything we can do to change the picture?

A Youth Project event for high-school students and adults.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 4. Words Out Loud

Some say language evolved from music. This connection comes alive in spoken word poetry, which is among the oldest of the arts—and the newest, too. Written to be said, not read, performance poems find their roots in medieval ballads as well as contemporary rap, hip-hop, dub, and slam, drawing on the power of voice and gesture to give words meaning. Join Lara Bozabalian, spoken-word artist, published poet, and English teacher with the York Region District School Board, as she guides young writers from the page to the stage.

A Youth Project Writers Studio event for high-school students only.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 5. Starting Young

Karen Connelly knew from age 11 that she wanted to be a writer. At 17, she travelled to Thailand as a Rotary exchange student and lived for a year in a small village. Drawing on this experience, she wrote Touch the Dragon: A Thai Journal and won a Governor General’s Award—the youngest writer ever to receive the prize. Choosing the university of life over a formal education, she has lived all over the world. Now in Burmese Lessons, a memoir of her travels through a country caught in the grip of a fierce military regime, she turns again to Southeast Asia for her literary inspiration. In conversation with Merilyn Simonds.

A Youth Project event for high-school students and adults.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 6. In and Out of the Nest

A novelist and a memoirist take aim at the family and the nature of home in two perceptive and bitingly humourous works that speak to all ages. In Cordelia Strube’s Lemon, an acid-tongued teenager has every reason to flee: three mothers, one deadbeat dad, two dysfunctional friends, and a 60 percent average. Yet she cannot resist the need to find her true mother and a bond she scarcely believes possible. Iain Reid’s nonfiction debut, One Bird’s Choice, recounts his flight from the family farm for university and work, and then his surprising—and unsettling—decision to return in his late twenties. Moderated by Barbara Bell.

A Youth Project event for high-school students and adults.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 7. BookMark: Bronwen Wallace

Longtime friend and poet Joanne Page, author Lara Bozabalian, and the Bronwen Wallace Award-winner Alison Pick read work inspired by and dedicated to one of Kingston’s most beloved poets, the late Bronwen Wallace. Wallace will be honoured during the Festival with the unveiling of a Project BookMark plaque at the corner of Clergy and Princess at 12:30 pm. For details, visit projectbookmarkcanada.ca. Moderated by Carolyn Smart.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 9. Book Lovers’ Lunch

The Dewey Divas, insiders from Canada’s top publishing houses, offer a lively sneak preview of great book club picks—books to curl up with, books to spark debate, new voices, midlist gems, genre crossovers, and just darned good reads. Gather your book club and choose your winter reads. Price includes lunch. Cash bar.

Ticket must be purchased by September 17th.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 8. Paul Quarrington: Life in Music

Paul Quarrington was an award-winning and much-loved author, filmmaker, musician, and teacher. In this film by Judith Keenan, recorded in the months before he succumbed to lung cancer, Paul gives a rare and insightful glimpse into the inner workings of an artist in the act of creating. We witness the artist, and the man, reaching for a resolution to the question we all contemplate in the face of a suddenly abbreviated life: “What would you do?”

This is a free event.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 10. Cops & Authors

Peter Robinson and Louise Penny bring two of Canada’s favourite sleuths to Kingston —Inspector Banks and Chief Inspector Gamache—in brand new mystery novels hot off the press. Join Eric Friesen for an inside look at murder and mayhem and how they are resolved in Bad Boy and Bury Your Dead.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 11. In Search of Memory

Author of the acclaimed story collection China Dog and the hauntingly suspenseful novel, Midnight at the Dragon Café, Judy Fong Bates travelled to China to discover her family story and uncovered secrets that prompted the writing of her achingly beautiful memoir, The Year of Finding Memory. In conversation with Susan Olding, author of Pathologies, a memoir of adopting a Chinese daughter.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 12. Writing the Teenage Mind

For centuries writers have been trying to get inside the minds of troubled, rebellious youth. Shakespeare, Voltaire and Salinger, to name a few, have all dared to navigate these unpredictable waters. Is your inner teen struggling to be heard? Do you need tips on how to create a convincing teen-age voice? Has the adolescent world changed since you were skipping class or are there universal truths that can be explored in fiction? Whether writing adult, young adult, or crossover fiction, if your protagonist is a teen, novelist Cordelia Strube will help you get inside your character to create authentic dialogue, gesture, and vision.

A Writers Studio master class.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 13. Writing the Real

A sharp eye, a stout heart, a driven curiosity, a passion for facts, a belief that truth can sometimes be stranger and more engaging than fiction—what does it take for a writer to tackle the hard edge of reality in a nonfiction work? Join Dave Bidini, Wayne Grady, and Iain Reid in conversation with Larry Scanlan on the particular perils and pleasures of writing real life.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 14. The Shape of Memory

Life is an ongoing stream of memories, but how do you capture the myriad anecdotes, the bits and pieces of recollection, all the flotsam and jetsam of experience and shape them into a cohesive whole? The essential question is: Do you have a story? Novelist and memoirist Judy Fong Bates can’t give you a definitive answer, but she’ll share her writing experience and her own process for drawing the fragments together into a powerfully moving tale.

A Writers Studio master class.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 15. Battle of the Books with host Eric Friesen

Local luminaries face off as they defend one of the 10 books nominated for the Ontario Library Association’s prestigious Evergreen Award. A no-word-play-barred, flip-the-page battle in which defenders attempt to win over the audience to their choice in the wildly popular Kingston Reads competition. Come join in the fun and help choose the winner. Includes presentation to last year’s winner, Helen Humphreys, author of Coventry. Hosted by Eric Friesen.

This is a free event.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 16. Book Promotion for Luddites

Writers have to promote their books online—everyone says so—but what if you don’t know where to begin? What if you've never seen a Facebook page, or if you have, you only have a handful of friends (your family), so what’s the point? And where are you supposed to find the time? You’re a writer, not a blogger, much less a Tweeter. Novelist Sandra Gulland shows you a simple way to build your on-line following with a minimum of time and effort. She doesn’t make any promises, but you might even start to enjoy it!

A Writers Studio master class.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 17. Graphics Plus: The Story of Kenk

Is it a book? A comic? A film adaptation? KENK: A Graphic Portrait is a cutting-edge hybrid form of popular culture created not by a single author but by a creative team consisting of a writer, filmmaker, illustrator, and producer. It is soon to be an animated short, too— all based on the story of Igor Kenk, the man The New York Times has called “the world’s most prolific bicycle thief.” Join Queen’s alumni Jason Gilmore and Alex Jansen and team members Nick Marinkovich and Craig Small in conversation with author and filmmaker Clarke Mackey.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About A Cross-Country Photo Exhibit Tour presented by WaterCan

The Grand Theatre is pleased to present the Water for Life: An African Photo Exhibit. This photography exhibit features a powerful selection of images by internationally renowned phtoographer Peter Bregg. The exhibit includes forty photographs taken by Bregg during his travels to WaterCan project sites during the fall of 2009. Through this exhibit, WaterCan hopes to deliver its message of fighting global poverty by helping the world's poorest people gain access to clean water, basic sanitation and hygiene education.

As part of Culture Days, this exhibit is free of charge. The exhibit can be viewed at the Grand Theatre September 23 - October 6 from 2pm-5pm daily, and 12noon-5pm September 25 and 26. The opening reception will take place September 23 at 7pm as part of Downtown Kingston's Art After Dark, with Peter Bregg in attendance.

Visit WaterCan online for more information.

About 18. Hooked: A Theatrical Performance

Adapted for performance from Carolyn Smart’s astonishing collection of poems about obsessed women, Hooked: A Theatrical Performance promises an unforgettable evening of literary theatre. Originally designed as an intimate offering performed for a small group in seven rooms of a private residence, this production of Hooked is being staged by Gemini Award-winning actress Nicky Guadagni and director Layne Coleman especially for Kingston WritersFest.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 19. The Leadership Debate

What does it take to lead a nation? Are we in Canada bereft—or blessed? Or do voters just get what they deserve? Join political biographers Lawrence Martin (Harperland: The Challenge to Democracy), Richard Gwyn (The Man Who Made Us: John A. Macdonald, 1815–1867) and Conservative insider, outspoken Senator, and author Hugh Segal (The Long Road Back: The Conservative Journey) in lively debate under the gavel of Charlotte Gray.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 20. The Secret Lives of Birds

“Erudite and engrossing.” “Salacious and sage.” Hard on the critical success of Silence of the Songbirds, international bird biologist Bridget Stutchbury turns to bird behaviour in The Bird Detective. Why do birds divorce? Why don’t they treat their sons and daughters equally? Why do females sneak quick sex with neighbouring males? How is climate change affecting the way they behave? Stutchbury offers the answers in conversation with Wayne Grady.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 21. Past Perfect

Historical fiction has never been more popular. Some say we’re escaping from the pressures of the present; others contend the past is rich in stories that question and confirm who we are. Commonwealth prize-winner Joan Thomas explores 19th century Lyme Regis in Curiosity: A Love Story, while Sandra Gulland, author of the Josephine B. Trilogy returns to France, to the court of Louis XIV in Mistress of the Sun. In an intimate onstage conversation, Gulland and Thomas discuss the place of the past in the literary present.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 22. Penprick of Conscience

Can writers change the world? Should they try? Join this panel of distinguished authors who pursue, in a range of literary forms, profound questions of social justice and personal engagement in a troubled world. Deborah Ellis (No Safe Place), Karen Connelly (Burmese Lessons), Steven Heighton (Every Lost Country) & Larry Scanlan (A Year of Living Generously). Moderated by Jamie Swift.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 23. Poetry Beyond the Page

Poets, break out of the print ghetto! Move beyond the page, beyond the esoteric literary journals and small-run poetry books, even beyond the stage, to reach a wider audience. Join Jill Battson, who has let her poetry run with the cultural “big boys” in an attempt to infuse theatre, opera and visual art with poetry, as she gives pointers on how to expand your craft and audience and perhaps even use poetry for social change.

A Writers Studio master class.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 24. Funny Guys

Satirical columnist and two-time GG nominee Trevor Cole presents the diabolically deadpan wit of his third novel, Practical Jean, a wicked tale of female friendship that puts a fresh and macabre twist on “tough love.” In conversation with the mischievous, insightful and very funny Bill Richardson, who calls Cole’s novel, “the blackest comedy ever written about the white middle class.” Richardson and Cole explore their attraction to comedy as writers and discuss the very serious work of being funny.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 25. Gold Diggers

Devoted to reviving the fascinating characters of Canadian history—Susannah Moodie, Alexander Graham Bell, Mrs. King, Pauline Johnson—for modern readers, Charlotte Gray moves now to the Yukon in Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike. Join her as she traces the stories of Jack London, feisty entrepreneur Belinda Mulrooney, and Sam Steele of the North West Mounted Police, among others, in this portrait of frontier Canada populated by desperadoes and dance-hall girls, gamblers and men of God. An illustrated onstage presentation.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 26. Whose Story Is It?

You have a story in mind, but who is going to tell it? Having chosen a narrative point of view, how do you negotiate its vocabulary and style? Joan Thomas focuses on the Third Person Limited, specifically the free indirect style, as a way of capturing the subjective reality of your character and subtly moving beyond it. Whether your fiction is set in the past, present, or future, discover techniques for transforming the “limited” into the “particular” and fully exploiting the third-person voice.

A Writers Studio master class.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 27. The Madman & the Butcher

Tim Cook, Charles Taylor Prize winner and Great War historian at the Canadian War Museum, is renowned for his masterful histories of the First World War. In The Madman and the Butcher: The Sensational Wars of Sam Hughes and General Arthur Currie, he focuses on two key characters in the conflict and their personal war that led to one of the most shocking libel trials in Canadian history. In conversation with Eric Friesen.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 28. Literary Mysteries

Ilustrado, Miguel Syjuco’s debut novel, won the Man Asia Prize before it was published and has gone on to earn enthusiastic, awed reviews. An inventive, stylish tour de force, it investigates the untimely death of a fictional Filipino writer, drawing on the flotsam of a life. Vancouver writer Genni Gunn’s fourth novel, Solitaria, explores another kind of mysterious death that takes readers to Italy during the Second World War—and into the heart of family secrets and silence. Moderated by Wayne Grady.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 29. Reading Pictures

The creation of a picture book for children is deceptively simple. In order to pare down a story to its essentials while retaining rhythm, poetic images, humor, plot and a child’s vision of the world, writers need a rich visual counterpoint. Images in a picture book add multi-layered dimensions to a story by contributing details and sub-plots, and revealing the characters’ emotions through body language and facial expression. Marie-Louise Gay, creator of more than 60 children’s books, including the Stella and Sam series, explores how images can offer an enriched visual vocabulary that enhances a child’s appreciation of a story.

A Writers Studio master class.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 30. The Cello Suites

Eric Siblin was a pop-music critic and television documentary filmmaker (Word-Slingers, on competitive Scrabble), when he became obsessed with Bach’s Cello Suites and Pablo Casals, the Catalan cellist who found Bach’s music in a second-hand shop and brought it to the public. The award-winning Cello Suites interweaves these two stories with Siblin’s own musical awakening. In conversation with Eric Friesen and accompanied by internationally renowned Quebec Prix Opus cellist Denise Djokic.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 31. Worlds in Collision

Four novelists bring new works that explore themes of conflict and upheaval, both personal and political. Midway, by veteran Quebec novelist David Homel, features a man in full-flight “dromomania,” the particular hysteria that characterizes the male mid-life crisis. Poet-novelist Alison Pick's Far to Go follows one family’s journey through the tumultuous and traumatic events leading up to Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia. Kathleen Winter debuts Annabel, a poignant novel of mixed identity that sends its protagonist in search of both a physical and metaphoric home. And Kingston writer Richard Cumyn's fifth collection of short fiction, The Young in Their Country traces time's unpredictable path and the inevitable collisions between youth and age. Hosted by Rosemary Jolly.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 32. Putting Words in Their Mouth

The words a character speaks can make or break a piece of writing. It can reveal back story, illuminate character, move the narrative forward. With monologue, all attention is focused on one character who may be speaking his or her thoughts aloud, directly addressing another character, or speaking to the audience. Originally a poetic device, the monologue is now a standard of standup comedy routines. Join Deborah Kimmett for tips on how to write effective monologue that evokes an entire story through the words a character speaks.

A Writers Studio master class.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 33. International Marquee

Joyce Carol Oates is one of America’s most significant and honoured writers, a key figure in the English-language literary scene since the 1960s. From the 1966 story dedicated to Bob Dylan, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" to this year’s short-fiction collection Sourland, she has published more than fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. She has written Goth and horror fiction, mysteries under the pen names "Rosamond Smith" and "Lauren Kelly," and stories channelled from the Portuguese. Astoundingly prolific and fascinated by evolving culture, her work mixes Gothic estrangement with high social observation in such classics as Wonderland, Blonde, On Boxing, Foxfire, We Were the Mulvaneys, and The Falls. A unique reading and talk, followed by an onstage conversation with premier Canadian novelist Jane Urquhart.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 34. Vox Performa

Wrap up your day with a mind-bending cabaret of spoken word poetry featuring the best performers working in the genre today, delivering their words right to your cochlea. Experience the sweetly strange and drolly funny Scottish-Canadian multimedia performer Sandra Alland; amuse-bouches from Adeena Karasick, professor of Global Literature at St. John's University in New York; the soulful lullabies and hilarious diatribes of Ottawa’s Luna Allison; the electrifying rhythms of Vancouver slam poet/musician CR Avery; the outrageous insights of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam alumnus, the New York Lady Gaga of performance poets, Regie Cabico; & the provocative stylings of Brooklyn performance artist Todd Colby. Hosted by Cobourg Poet Laureate and spoken-word activist/impresario, Jill Battson. Cash bar.

Please note: Mature Content.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 35. Roslyn Rutabaga

Author/illustrator of a bookshelf of children’s books, Marie-Louise Gay will become even more of a household name in November when Caramba (about a shy cat with a special talent) is given to every grade one child in Canada as part of the 2010 TD Grade One Book Giveaway Program. Join Marie-Louise as she draws and reads from her latest Roslyn Rutabaga and the Biggest Hole on Earth! featuring a feisty, exuberant, and very muddy rabbit.

For families with preschoolers.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 36. Novel Architecture

What is structure in a novel? Pacing, dipping back and forth between memory and action, leaping from dialogue to description, unspooling/snagging time, every movement creating new meaning. In this session, Booker nominee Lisa Moore looks at suspense on the level of the sentence, the paragraph, the page, and over the trajectory of a story. Explore with her how the unfurling of time and action together can provoke an emotional reaction in our readers and build to revelation.

A Writers Studio master class.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 37. Travels with my Family

Children’s author/illustrator Marie-Louise Gay and novelist husband David Homel joined their talents to produce two books for middle–grade readers—Travels with My Family and On the Road Again!— about the incredible road trips of a family with two sons and a cat named Miro. (Coincidentally, they have two sons and a cat named Miro.) In a lively hour of stories and fun, Gay and Homel compare notes with kids on how they spent their summer holiday.

For families with children age 7 to 70.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 38. "Breakfast" Book Launch

Writing couple Merilyn Simonds and Wayne Grady launch their road-trip memoir Breakfast at the Exit Café: Travels in America, a look at our southern neighbour from the outside and a marriage from the inside. This event is free.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 39. Fantastic Fiction

Guy Gavriel Kay has become a world-renowned star of speculative fiction in the tradition of Tolkien. Author of 10 novels with over 2 million copies in print, Kay brings his 2010 release, Under Heaven, inspired by the glory of Tang Dynasty China. In conversation with De Quincey biographer Rob Morrison, he’ll explore the possibilities of parallel worlds in writing what Kay prefers to call “history with a twist.”

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 40. Married, with Manuscripts

Cohabiting, coauthoring couples: how do they do it? Marie-Louise Gay & David Homel compare notes with Merilyn Simonds & Wayne Grady on living and writing under one roof without moving into separate beds. All will be revealed! Moderated by Genni Gunn (who avoided hooking up with a writer).

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 41. Found Fiction

Truman Capote called it a nonfiction novel. Michael Winter calls it documentary fiction. Whatever it’s called, adapting found material to fictional forms is fraught with challenges. What’s appropriate? What’s allowed? Is everything up for grabs? Michael Winter traces the use of real people and events in his novels and reveals the techniques he’s discovered for converting experience and factual documents into engaging, dramatic story.

A Writers Studio master class.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 42. Author! Author!

Jane Urquhart, author of The Whirlpool, Changing Heaven, Away, The Underpainter, The Stone Carvers, and A Map of Glass and winner of the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, the Marian Engel Award, the Governor General’s Award, and the Trillium Prize, joins author and CBC host Bill Richardson to talk about her new novel, Sanctuary Line. Be there for a fascinating and free-ranging onstage conversation with one of Canada's most celebrated writers.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 43. Paul Quarrington: Life in Music

Paul Quarrington was an award-winning and much-loved author, filmmaker, musician, and teacher. In this film by Judith Keenan, recorded in the months before he succumbed to lung cancer, Paul gives a rare and insightful glimpse into the inner workings of an artist in the act of creating. We witness the artist, and the man, reaching for a resolution to the question we all contemplate in the face of a suddenly abbreviated life: “What would you do?”

This is a free event. For full author profiles please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About Canadian Brass Masterclass

Members of the Canadian Brass will conduct a masterclass for brass players. Admission is free and is open to the public. For more information please contact Dan Tremblay of the Queen's Faculty of Music at trumpetplayerbach@yahoo.ca.

About 44. Tales from the Rock

Newfoundland comes to Kingston! Michael Winter, best known for his Trillium-nominated The Big Why, presents his fifth novel, The Death of Donna Whelan, a “documentary fiction” based on a real-life St. John’s murder. February, by Lisa Moore, takes as its starting point the sinking of the Ocean Ranger off the coast of Newfoundland in 1982. In conversation with fellow Newfoundlander, novelist, and recent Parliamentary Poet Laureate John Steffler.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 45. Poets: Stage vs. Page

Are performance poets just “air poets” or have they freed themselves of the shackles of the printed page? Are page-poets hide-bound or keepers of a valued tradition? Come hear the debate as spoken-word artists Regie Cabico and Todd Colby face off with page-poet Steven Heighton and crossover poet Jill Battson, who has built a reputation in both worlds. Moderated by poet Genni Gunn.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 46. The Age of Persuasion

How did marketing eat our culture? Terry O’Reilly tells us every week on his popular Saturday-morning CBC-Radio show, taking listeners on a wild, irreverent ride through the history and hallways of advertising. You’ve heard the show, now read the book and meet the author. Hosted by Christina Decarie.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 47. LitDoc: In the Wake of the Flood

Hot from the Possible Worlds festival in Sydney, Australia, and the Edinburgh Book Festival, Scotland, Ron Mann’s documentary on Margaret Atwood’s world tour with her post-apocalyptic novel The Year of the Flood comes to Kingston for a free, pre-release screening. Featuring significant footage from the 2009 Kingston WritersFest opening-night production, In the Wake of the Flood traces the global book tour that left audiences gasping.

This is a free event.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About Opening Night with the Canadian Brass

Celebrating 40 years of making music, the country’s most acclaimed quintet will launch the new Grand Theatre season on a brash and brassy note. With more than 80 recordings to their credit, their repertoire ranges from Bach to the Beatles — all in meticulously crafted transcriptions that are setting new musical traditions in brass performance. Known for their sense of humour, musical excellence and fancy running shoes, this concert will be a must-see for audiences of all ages.

Visit the Canadian Brass online, follow them on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

“The enthralling sound of a brass choir…programs that feature virtuosic musicianship, masterful interpretations and flashes of humour… all these ingredients make the Canadian Brass the world’s leading brass ensemble.” – Washington Post

Performance Sponsor - Elaine & Michael Davies

About 48. Saturday Night SpeakEasy

CBC host and author Bill Richardson guides you through the final evening event of Kingston WritersFest, a free-flowing night of words and music with Michael Winter, Deborah Kimmett, Miguel Syjuco, John Steffler, Jill Battson, Trevor Cole, David Homel, Genni Gunn, Lisa Moore, and CR Avery, reading to the original jazz stylings of Bunny Stewart’s Trio Without Words. Cash bar. Doors open at 7:30 pm.

For full author profiles, please visit the Kingston WritersFest website.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About 49. Cook Not Mad Sunday Brunch

Named in honour of Canada’s first cookbook, this brunch serves up three of life’s great pleasures—food, wine, and books—and features the internationally renowned food writer Dorie Greenspan in a pre-release presentation of Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours, a feast of traditional and new-nouvelle French cuisine as it is cooked at home. Author of 9 cookbooks and winner of 5 James Beard Awards, Greenspan has collaborated with some of the world’s foremost chefs and restaurateurs, including Pierre Hermé, Daniel Boulud, and Julia Child, who said, “You write recipes just the way I do.” In conversation with noted Canadian food critic James Chatto. Brunch menu by Dorie Greenspan in collaboration with Jamie Hussey, Executive Chef of Dox, Holiday Inn. Includes wine sampling.

PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE OF VENUE

Tickets must be purchased by September 17.

You can also visit Kingston WritersFest's website.

About Mickey Rooney

Let’s Put on a Show!
Starring Mickey Rooney and Jan Rooney
featuring Julian Gallo (tenor) and Lenni Stewart (soprano)

This one has to go into the believe it or not category! Hollywood legend Mickey Rooney, who is turning 90 on Sept.23, is crossing Canada on a farewell tour and will make a stop at Kingston's Grand Theatre on Wed. Sept.29. Along with his wife Jan Rooney, 2 singers, and a three piece band, he will sing songs, show film clips, and tell tales of his 80+ years in show business. The man who was married to Ava Gardner (and 7 others), co-starred in half a dozen Judy Garland movies, and counted Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor among his close friends, certainly has lots of material to work with.