About the Writers Festival
The imagination is our most valuable renewable resource. So, twice a year we convene an international celebration of ideas to recharge our imaginations. From politics to poetry, science to music, history to thrillers, we celebrate the full diversity of the word and the gifted writers who guide us in our exploration of the world. Our year-round special events keep the ideas coming between Festivals.
We believe that a love of reading and learning should be nurtured throughout our lives and that literacy is a birthright. Whether offering writing workshops to the homeless, hosting a Nobel Laureate, organizing our biannual literary celebrations or bringing authors into area schools, our goal is the same: to create an environment that activates creativity and encourages the love of reading, learning and self-expression.
The Ottawa International Writers Festival is dedicated to providing a welcoming, respectful and comfortable environment for all. In response to complaints of harassment or inappropriate behaviour that are brought to the attention of staff, guests may be asked to change their behaviour or to leave, at the discretion of the festival. Festival staff will use their judgment to respond to any incidents or allegations.
Diversity is a fundamental feature of our community and our programming. All races, religions and sexual orientations have and will continue to play a prominent role on and off our stage. We affirm and acknowledge that fundamental human rights include protections from harassment and discrimination. We are committed to empathy, compassion and respect in all our interactions.
Our work is rooted in a recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family. These fundamental rights are the very foundation for freedom, justice and peace in the world, and we are committed to continuing to work to ensure that our community is welcome, respected, and safe. Our performance venue is fully accessible, hearing assist technology is available to all patrons, and accommodations will be made to ensure no one is excluded from participating in our activities. If you have any questions or concerns about equity, access, or safety please do not hesitate to contact us.
About Oneness-World
Oneness-World Communications is a charitable corporation (Charitable # 86830 7778 RR0001) whose mission is "to promote an appreciation of the cultural arts in Canada through public events; to create and manage public events that promote literacy and the cultural arts; and to provide related services. The most visible manifestation of this mission is the Ottawa International Writers Festival, Spring and Fall Editions."
In addition to our annual literary Festivals and our Write On! literacy program for young readers, we also host year-round literary events and literacy programs for the disadvantaged.
Board of Directors
Beth Green (Board Co-Chair)
Beth brings decades of hands-on and executive-level experience in the corporate and not-for-profit sectors to the Ottawa International Writers Festival. Over the last few decades, she established and led the communications, marketing and philanthropy function of a national front-line health charity; optimized and led the marketing, branding and communications function at a large local fundraising charity; led the communications and stakeholder relations practice at a national public affairs consulting firm and led communications and media relations for a national telecommunications alliance. She has earned local, national and international awards for her work.
Beth is a former director and chair of the Ottawa chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators and a past director of the Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre Foundation Board. She has a BA in English Literature from the University of Ottawa and is a lifelong lover of reading.
Lucy van Oldenbarneveld (Board Co-Chair)
Lucy is perhaps best-known as a radio and television reporter and host for CBC Ottawa and a long-time advocate for charitable health and community organizations. With decades of journalism experience, Lucy now supports others as a media trainer, communications strategist and public speaker. She helps clients in Canada and abroad make sense of the media landscape and understand what journalists are looking for and how to face their questions with confidence. She also continues her reporting as time and opportunity permit.
Lucy has taught journalism in Rwanda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and led critical thinking workshops for young women in Lesotho. She has delivered media training courses to Syrian and Yemeni political exiles in Berlin and Istanbul, supporting their efforts to tell stories that attract media attention to important issues facing their homelands.
Lucy began her CBC career as the Host/Producer of the afternoon show in Whitehorse, Yukon. She joined CBC Ottawa in 2003, working as a field reporter and Friday host of the popular Ottawa Morning radio show before becoming CBC Ottawa's evening news anchor. She previously worked for Deutsche Welle world radio service in Cologne Germany as a reporter and host. Lucy has worked as a voice actor in Beijing (the English voice for millions of Chinese children learning the language), has written and staged a one-woman show and acted in theatre and numerous films.
In 2020, Lucy was recognized with a Canadian Screen Award win, and has numerous Gemini nominations and the Gold World Medal for Best Talk/Interview program at the New York festival. In 2012, Lucy won the prestigious Founder's Award at the Yorkton Film Festival for her work as director of the documentary North Boys. She has a soft spot for bad 80's pop songs and has been a regular host of author talks for the festival for more than twenty years.
Dr. Andrew Sharpe (Treasurer)
Andrew is founder and Executive Director Emeritus of the Ottawa-based Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS). Established in 1995, CSLS is a national, independent, non-profit research organization whose main objective is to study trends and determinants of productivity, living standards and economic well-being.
He has held a variety of earlier positions, including Head of Research at the Canadian Labour Market and Productivity Centre and Chief, Business Sector Analysis at Finance Canada.
Andrew holds an MA and PhD in economics from McGill University, a maîtrise in urban geography from the Université de Paris-Sorbonne, and a BA from the University of Toronto. He is also founder and Editor of the International Productivity Monitor, co-developer (with Lars Osberg) of the composite Index of Economic Well-being, and served from 2005 to 2024 as Executive Director of the International Association for Research on Income and Wealth (IARIW), an international research association dedicated to the advancement of knowledge relating to income and wealth.
Kimberly Quiogue Andrews
Kimberly (she/they) is a Filipino-American poet and literary critic. She is the author of BETWEEN (2018, Finishing Line Press), winner of the New Women's Voices award, and A Brief History of Fruit (2020, University of Akron Press), winner of the Akron Prize for poetry. Her scholarly book, The Academic Avant-Garde: Poetry and the American University, was published by Johns Hopkins University Press and was recently a finalist for the Modernist Studies Association Book Prize. Her critical work has won the Ralph Cohen Prize from New Literary History and a development grant from the American Council of Learned Societies. Her writing across genres has appeared in a wide range of journals and literary magazines, and has received multiple Pushcart Prize nominations and awards from the Academy of American Poets.
Born in Philadelphia and raised in Allentown and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, she received her BA in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University, an MFA in poetry from Penn State University, and a PhD in English Language and Literature from Yale University. She is currently Associate Professor of English and director of creative writing at the University of Ottawa, and she also serves as an editor of the literary magazine Cherry Tree. Although she struggles to get people to believe this, she actively enjoys Canadian winters.
Sean Casey
Sean is a Partner at PAA Advisory | Conseils based in Ottawa where he leads the firm's Arts & Culture/Not-for-profit sector practice group. He also has experience working with clients in the technology, transportation, health care, agriculture and sport sectors over the course of his two decades in public affairs. This includes an extensive background in dealing with intellectual property and copyright issues.
Over the past 15 years, Sean has established his practice group as the industry leader in assisting Canada's cultural industries to advance their public policy agendas on regulatory, policy and funding issues. This has included providing government relations advice and assistance to clients in the film, television, music, book publishing, performing arts and not-for-profit sectors. He has extensive experience examining and accessing funding programs available to organizations and working on complex issues within the Heritage, Industry, Finance, International Trade and Immigration portfolios.
Prior to entering the advisory business, Sean worked in federal and municipal politics. He has a degree in Journalism from Carleton University and worked as a radio journalist earlier in his career. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Diefenbunker Cold-War Museum in Ottawa and provides pro-bono advocacy advice to sector organizations across the country.
Stephen McGill
Stephen is a writer, strategist, and the President and Creative Director of McGill Buckley, the Ottawa-based branding and marketing company he co-founded in 1996. For over three decades, he has helped shape the voice and vision of healthcare, non-profit, businesses and community organizations across Canada.
His work has earned national recognition. Strategy magazine named him one of Canada's top creative directors, and he has been listed in Who's Who in Canadian Advertising and Who's Who in Canadian Business.
Stephen's writing and creative direction have supported organizations including the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health, Roger Neilson Children's Hospice, Perley Health Foundation, Queensway Carleton Hospital Foundation, and the Ottawa Food Bank. He is a frequent speaker on brand storytelling and strategic communications for groups like the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) Ottawa-Gatineau, the Canadian Marketing Association, and the International Association of Business Communicators.
He has also contributed his time as a board member for the Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre Foundation (past chair), Bruyère Continuing Care, Bruyère Foundation, CPRS Ottawa-Gatineau, and the Ottawa Community Loan Fund.
At the heart of his work is a simple belief: storytelling, when grounded in truth and told with clarity, can move people, and move the world.
Jodie Medd
Jodie is a queer white settler of Irish and British descent, born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, located on the traditional territory of the Three Fires Confederacy of the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi nations. She is full Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature and the Feminist Institute for Social Transformation at Carleton University (BAH, Queen's University; MA and PhD, Cornell University). She teaches, researches, and publishes in the fields of queer and feminist literature and theory.
A former board member of the Lambda Foundation, Jodie helped establish Carleton's Sexuality Studies program and enjoys working to bridge community, creative, pedagogic, and academic spaces. She feels most alive when cold water swimming, baking, hiking, and learning in community.
Kagiso Lesego Molope
Kagiso is an Indigenous South African Canadian novelist and playwright. Born and raised in South Africa, Kagiso graduated from the University of Cape Town and moved to Canada at age 21. She obtained her masters degree in English Literature from Carleton University. She was the first Black author to win the Percy FitzPatrick Award. She was also the first Black novelist to win the Ottawa Book Award in 2019. Her first novel, Dancing in the Dust, was the first novel by an Indigenous South African author to be on the IBBY List. McClelland & Stewart has acquired world rights to her fifth novel We Inherit the Fire. In 2019, Kagiso also won the Pius Adesanmi Memorial Award for her book Such A Lovely, Lonely Road.
Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah
Debbie is Co-Director of Policy and Advocacy at Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights. Before joining Action Canada, she was Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Gender & Sexual Diversity (CCGSD) and has been instrumental in advancing the rights of 2SLGBTQ+ youth and communities.
She has spoken at Parliamentary and Senate standing committees and has appeared in numerous media outlets. She has held several advocacy and policy-oriented positions in government and non-profit organizations, including Oxfam Canada and Global Affairs Canada.
Debbie is an accomplished community educator, feminist activist, and social justice advocate driven by the mission of creating a more inclusive, equitable, and safe world. She has continued to dedicate her time to local progressive organizing, including most recently as a commissioner for the Ottawa People's Commission on the Convoy Occupation.
Rémi Samson
A lifelong lover of language, meaning-making and storytelling, Rémi is a seasoned bilingual lawyer and executive with a deep understanding of the power of language to effect change.
Rémi has been a member of the Barreau du Québec since 2000. He holds degrees from Laval University (LL.B.) and the European Academy of Legal Theory (LL.M.), and pursued graduate studies in linguistics and applied language studies at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. He has lectured on legal theory and legal writing at the University of Ottawa.
Rémi worked as a lawyer with the Supreme Court of Canada from 2001 till 2021. During that time, he advised the Court on a wide variety of subjects, edited the Court's judgments, administered the Law Clerk Program, and handled many aspects of strategic communications, including dealing with the media. For six years, he was the Chief Justice's speechwriter.
Since leaving the public service, Rémi has turned his focus to the not-for-profit sector, serving as Chair of the Board of Directors of MAX Ottawa Community Health, a charitable organization dedicated to improving health and wellness for queer people. As Chair, Rémi led the organization through two periods of executive leadership transition, developed a comprehensive governance framework, and championed the publication of both a retrospective and a strategic plan to promote the work of the organization to government funders and community stakeholders.
Mary Taggart
Mary has degrees in English and Education from the University of Ottawa and studied residential decor at Algonquin College. She was the owner and publisher of the now-retired Ottawa At Home magazine. She focuses her career on all things writing and reading through her book club #marysmustread, which she shares through social media and local television. As an author, Mary's writing combines her passion for all things home and family. Her work has appeared in numerous publications across Canada. Her debut novel, LEFT UNSAID has been acquired by Amphorae Publishing Group for publication on June 1st, 2027.
Carly Watters
Carly began her publishing career in 2009 in London at the Darley Anderson Literary, TV and Film Agency. She has a BA in English Literature from Queen's University, an MA in Publishing Studies from City St. George's at the University of London, and is a graduate of Harvard Business School's Business of Entertainment, Media and Sports program.
She's been a literary agent for 15 years and represents award-winners and bestsellers in a variety of categories. She is known for her long-term vision for her authors and being an excellent collaborator with a nose for commercial success. She has close ties to publishers in the major markets and works directly with film agents to option film and TV rights to leading networks and production companies. Her clients' books have been translated into 40 languages, optioned for TV, adapted into films, turned into podcasts, and have been on every bestseller list from coast to coast, including the New York Times, USA Today, the LA Times, the Washington Post, the Toronto Star, and the Globe and Mail.
Carly recently completed two terms as Vice President of the Professional Association of Canadian Literary Agents (PACLA) and is also a member of the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA).
Writers Festival Programming Streams
Poetry Cabarets
Renowned poets performing at the top of their game and interacting with the audience is live literature at its best. Some would argue that poetry needs to be read aloud. We would agree and add that there's nothing like hearing the cadence and tone of poems when delivered by the authors themselves.
The Big Idea
Audiences in Ottawa, as befitting a national capital and an international city, demand the highest level of debate and discussion. THE BIG IDEA, our town-hall style discussion with audience participation, covers the issues of the day.
Fiction
This is where book-lovers come to hear their favourite stories come to life as read by the author. More than a reading, our Fiction events also feature on-stage conversations where authors engage with the audience and their peers. Often funny, occasionally moving, and always fascinating, The Writing Life is an opportunity to spend time with the greats, to meet up-and-coming authors, and to get to know the inspiration behind the works.
The New Science
With climate change, clones, superbugs, genetic discoveries and life on Mars making headlines around the world, it's not just experts at the NRC or intellects on campus who are fascinated by the latest scientific breakthroughs. Cutting-edge developments presented to general audiences in an interactive setting are the essence of 'The New Science'.
Film/TV/Theatre/Music
Some of the world's best writing is happening outside the pages of books. The Writers Festival regularly features staged play readings, feature films, documentaries, CD launches and songwriters circles. Innovative programming expands the Festival's reach to youth, reluctant readers and the community at large.
History/Biography and Other Non-Fiction
With non-fiction topping bestseller lists, Festival programming features a growing number of acclaimed biographers and popular historians. With a special focus on Canadian events and including local as well as international authors, we offer audiences the opportunity to explore the world from many perspectives and to spend time with many of the most fascinating characters of today and yesteryear.
Pre-2021 Archives
View events from before 2011 here.