THUNDER BAY – LitFest 2024 will have a special guest touring Thunder Bay’s literary scene this spring.
Guy Gavriel Kay is looking forward to wandering the streets of Thunder Bay. You may see him skiing or sailing depending on the weather, said Heather Dickson, president of the Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop.
For Dickson, having Kay as the keynote speaker at LitFest 2024 is “literally a dream come true.”
Dickson said Kay reflected on not visiting Thunder Bay sooner.
“He's an international bestseller. All of his books are best sellers translated into bazillion languages. And he's still like, “oh yeah, maybe I can go do a ski jump” and I know he's joking, but he wants to spend a little bit of time and see different areas of Thunder Bay.
“Go to Sleeping Giant Brewery or downtown Port Arthur to see some spots - maybe go sailing. He wants to kind of experience a little bit of that. I think he's almost open to anything,” said Dickson.
Kay’s novels including A Brightness Long Ago, Children of Earth and Sky and the recent All the Seas of the World, are often classified as historical fiction - however, as a fan of his work, Dickson described the fantastical element Kay weaves into his writing.
“It's still grounded in human history and human emotion. It's never dragons with him. It's never necessarily just magic and dragons and sword and sorcery. It's the human journey with fantastical elements which I find captivating. I love his style and how he can weave those two elements together,” said Dickson.
During Litfest, Kay will offer public readings and book signings at Enter Shine and Indigo. He will also participate in a writer's salon.
“We're looking at setting up one or two, what we're calling salons, which are kind of like round tables, and we talk about our writing and the process and inspiration and writer's block and plot. He has 16 works out there.
"He has a lot of experience with all of those elements so we can just hope that he's going to be able to help some of our authors hear his ideas and his thoughts. He is going to be inspiring for me for sure,” said Dickson.
Kay will follow up the festivities as the keynote speaker at the Literary Contest Award’s Gala.
The Awards Gala will also honour the winners of the 2024 NOWW Annual Writing Contest, which is still open for submission until Feb. 29.
In previous years, the contest saw more than 140 writers enter from across the country and around the world.
