Ottawa's Festival of Ideas Since 1997

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Upcoming In-Person Events

Past Events

Mon May 4 • 5:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

Wish you were here.

Sun May 3 • 10:00am • Christ Church Cathedral

Wish you were here.

Sat May 2 • 10:00am • Christ Church Cathedral

Wish you were here.

Fri May 1 • 5:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

Wish you were here

Thu Apr 30 • 5:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

Wish you were here

Thu Apr 16 • 7:00pm • Knox Church

POSTPONED: Magdalena: River of Dreams

with Wade Davis

Sat Mar 21 • 7:00pm • Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre

POSTPONED: 2020 Munro Beattie lecture

Wed Mar 11 • 7:30pm • Library and Archives Canada

Resilience Is Futile: The Life and Death and Life of Julie Lalonde

with Julie S. Lalonde

Wed Feb 26 • 7:00pm • Fourth Stage, NAC

From the Ashes: In Conversation

with Jesse Thistle

Tue Feb 11 • 7:00pm • Library and Archives Canada

The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power

with Desmond Cole

Thu Jan 30 • 7:00pm • Knox Church

Successful Aging

with Daniel Levitin

Wed Dec 11 • 7:00pm • Library and Archives Canada? - Alfred Pellan Room

A Matter of Facts

With Laura A. Millar

Tue Dec 3 • 6:30pm • Jackson Cafe at the Ottawa Art Gallery

O Canada Reading Group

Tue Nov 12 • 7:30pm • Library and Archives Canada

Scotty: A Hockey Life Like No Other

with Ken Dryden

Thu Nov 7 • 7:00pm • Wabano Centre

Tawaw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine

With Chef Shane Chartrand and Jennifer Cockrall-King

Tue Oct 29 • 8:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

with Ivan Coyote

Tue Oct 29 • 5:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls

With Mona Eltahawy

Mon Oct 28 • 7:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

An Earthling’s Guide to Outer Space

with Bob McDonald

Mon Oct 28 • 5:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

A Thousand Small Sanities

with Adam Gopnik

Mon Oct 28 • 12:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

with Naben Ruthnum and Nathan Ripley

Sun Oct 27 • 4:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

Daughter of Family G

Sun Oct 27 • 3:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

with Rick Prashaw and Amanda Jette Knox

Sun Oct 27 • 1:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

Laughing Matters

with Laurie Gelman and Dave Hill

Sat Oct 26 • 4:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

We Have Always Been Here

with Samra Habib

Sat Oct 26 • 3:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

The Vagina Bible

with Dr. Jen Gunter

Sat Oct 26 • 1:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

with Sally Armstrong

Fri Oct 25 • 12:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

Graphic History

with Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm and Katherena Vermette

Thu Oct 24 • 7:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

In My Own Moccasins

with Helen Knott

Thu Oct 24 • 6:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

with Robyn Doolittle

Sat Oct 5 • 2:00pm • Library and Archives Canada

To Speak for the Trees

with Diana Beresford-Kroeger

Tue Oct 1 • 7:00pm • Southminster United Church

CANCELLED: A Beginner's Guide to Japan

One on One with Pico Iyer

Wed Sep 25 • 7:30pm • Library and Archives Canada

Book Launch: Truth Be Told

with Beverley McLachlin

Tue Sep 24 • 7:00pm • Library and Archives Canada

Book Launch: Murdered Midas

With Charlotte Gray

Fri Sep 20 • 7:00pm • Southminster United Church

From Where I Stand

with Jody Wilson-Raybould

Mon Sep 9 • 7:00pm • Southminster United Church

On Justin Trudeau

with Aaron Wherry and John Ivison

Wed Jun 12 • 7:00pm • Library and Archives Canada, Alfred Pellan Room (2nd floor)

Indigenous Writers’ Gathering

with Colleen Cardinal, Suzanne Methot and Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm

Wed May 29 • 7:00pm • Dominion Chalmers

Mon May 27 • 7:00pm • allsaints event space

Book Launch: TEARDOWN: Rebuilding Democracy from the Ground Up

Tue May 7 • 8:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

On Short Stories, Comics and Mentorship

with Téa Mutonji and Vivek Shraya

Mon May 6 • 8:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

with Alicia Elliott and Terese Marie Mailhot

Mon May 6 • 5:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture

with Bruce Pascoe

Sun May 5 • 8:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

Beyond Binaries

with Lorimer Shenher, Kristen Worley and Joshua M Ferguson

Sun May 5 • 6:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

The River of Life

with Yasuko Thanh and Samra Zafar

Sun May 5 • 1:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

True North Rising

with Whit Fraser

Sat May 4 • 9:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

with Douglas Rushkoff

Sat May 4 • 4:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

The Reality Bubble

Sat May 4 • 3:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

Einstein's Unfinished Revolution

with Lee Smolin

Sat May 4 • 1:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

The Art of Diplomacy

with Bruce and Vicki Heyman

Fri May 3 • 7:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

Secrets from My Vietnamese Kitchen

Fri May 3 • 6:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

The Words of My Father

with Yousef Bashir

Thu May 2 • 8:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

Defending Democracy

with Michael Adams and David Moscrop

Thu May 2 • 6:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society

with Nicholas A. Christakis

Thu Apr 18 • 5:30pm • Irene's Pub

Unilateral Acts: A History of Legal Doctrine – Author Meets Readers

With Betina Appel Kuzmarov

Wed Mar 27 • 7:00pm • Library and Archives Canada

Son of A Critch

With Mark Critch

Thu Mar 21 • 5:30pm • Irene's Pub

Illegal Markets, Violence, and Inequality: Evidence from a Brazilian Metropolis – Author Meets Readers

With Jean Daudelin

Mon Mar 18 • 7:00pm • Library and Archives Canada

Misfit: autistic. gay. immigrant. Changemaker.

With Andreas Souvaliotis

Sat Mar 16 • 2:00pm • Southminster United Church

The Secret Wisdom of Nature

with Peter Wohlleben

Thu Mar 7 • 7:30pm • Southminster United Church

Making the Most of our Longer Lives

with Carl Honore

Thu Feb 28 • 7:30pm • Southminster United Church

Mourning Has Broken: Love, Loss and Reclaiming Joy

with Erin Davis

Thu Feb 21 • 7:00pm • Library and Archives Canada

Ladies, Upstairs!: My Life in Politics and After

With Monique Bégin

Thu Feb 21 • 5:30pm • Irene's Pub

Opening the Government of Canada – Author Meets Readers

With Amanda Clarke

Tue Feb 19 • 7:30pm • Library and Archives Canada

The Untold Story of Black Train Porters

With Cecil Foster

Sat Feb 9 • 7:30pm • NAC

Sensing Transgender: Lana and Lilly Wachowski

With Cáel M. Keegan

Thu Jan 24 • 5:30pm • Irene's Pub

Getting a Life: The Social Worlds of Geek Culture – Author Meets Readers

With Benjamin Woo

Tue Jan 22 • 7:30pm • NAC, Alan and Roula Rossy Pavilion

Towards a New World: Poetry and Change 50 Years after the Congress of Black Writers

with David Austin

Mon Nov 19 • 7:00pm • Library and Archives Canada

Defying Limits: Lessons from the Edge of the Universe

With Dr. Dave Williams

Thu Nov 8 • 7:00pm • Centrepointe Theatre

Rick Mercer’s Final Report

Thu Nov 1 • 7:00pm • Southminster United Church

My Stories, My Times

with Jean Chretien

Sun Oct 28 • 4:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

The Extreme Centre

Sun Oct 28 • 2:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

The Secret History of Soldiers

Sat Oct 27 • 9:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

I’m Afraid of Men

with Vivek Shraya

Sat Oct 27 • 4:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

with Darrel J. McLeod and Tom Wilson

Sat Oct 27 • 2:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

How Schools Can Prepare Our Children

for the Challenges of Tomorrow with Kelly Gallagher-Mackay and Nancy Steinhauer

Thu Oct 25 • 6:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

Trust: Twenty Ways to Build a Better Country

with David Johnston

Sat Oct 20 • 4:00pm • Library and Archives Canada

Book Launch: Atelier

with Chef Marc Lepine

Thu Oct 18 • 5:30pm • Irene's Pub

Diaspora and Media in Europe

Wed Oct 17 • 7:00pm • Ottawa City Hall

City of Ottawa Book Awards / Prix du Livre D'Ottawa

Mon Oct 1 • 7:00pm • Library and Archives Canada

Book Launch: All Things Consoled with Elizabeth Hay

Hosted by Charlotte Gray

Thu Sep 27 • 5:30pm • Irene's Pub

General Idea: Life & Work

Sarah E.K. Smith

Thu Aug 30 • 7:00pm • Southminster United Church

America, The Farewell Tour

with Chris Hedges

Tue May 1 • 8:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

Invaluable Lessons from My Father

with Heather O’Neill

Mon Apr 30 • 8:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

Race, Repression and Resilience

with Robyn Maynard and Chelene Knight

Sun Apr 29 • 4:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

The Lives of Women and Girls

with Elizabeth Renzetti

Sun Apr 29 • 2:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

Man Up: Understanding Masculinity

with Rachel Giese and Daemon Fairless

Sat Apr 28 • 5:00pm • Manx Pub

Plan 99: Spotlight on Biblioasis

with Amanda Jernigan, Rachel Lebowitz, Richard Sanger and Paige Cooper

Sat Apr 28 • 4:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

The Spinning Magnet

with Alanna Mitchell

Sat Apr 28 • 2:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

Endure: Mind, Body, and the Limits of Human Performance

with Alex Hutchinson

Sat Apr 28 • 12:00pm • Christ Church Cathedral

with Ruth Marshall and Kate Harris

Fri Apr 27 • 6:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

The Power of Kindness

with Dr. Brian Goldman

Thu Apr 26 • 8:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

Decolonizing the Dialogue

with Lee Maracle

Thu Apr 26 • 6:30pm • Christ Church Cathedral

12 Ways to Honesty in Canada

with John Ralston Saul

Thu Apr 19 • 7:00pm • Centretown United Church

The Boy on the Beach

with Tima Kurdi

Thu Mar 29 • 7:00pm • Library and Archives Canada

Jan Wong and Jackie Kai Ellis in conversation with Hattie Klotz

Mon Mar 26 • 7:15pm • Southminster United Church

Enlightenment Now

with Steven Pinker

Mon Mar 19 • 7:00pm • Library and Archives Canada, Pellan Room (2nd Floor)

Canada Reads 2018:

Forgiveness with Mark Sakamoto