Authors have their say at Word on the Street festival

By Lethbridge Herald on September 26, 2023.

Herald Photo by Justin Seward Freya Forster paints a tree on the mural wall during the Allied Arts Council Lethbridge's Arts Day at the Word on the Street Lethbridge Book and Magazine Festival on Saturday.

Justin Seward
Lethbridge Herald

The annual Word on the Street Lethbridge Book and Magazine Festival allowed attendees to listen a variety of authors and learn more about other various organizations in the city on Saturday.

Something new this year was that the festival had the addition of the Allied Arts Council of Lethbridge’s Arts Day where people could participate one-pound clay challenges and sit in on arts demonstrations and enjoy other activities.

Local author Jenna Greene was on the Kids’ Zone Stage talking about her new release novel “An Owl Without A Name.”

The novel takes place at Coaldale’s Alberta Birds of Prey Centre and it’s a fictional story of an owl falling from a tree and after has to figure what happened.

“He will keep asking him what his name is and he doesn’t know,” said Greene.

“He figures out if he can find out his name, all his problems will be solved and everything will make sense. He’s on a quest to find his name.”

Greene’s stories are derived from dreams and signs among other things.

“This the first story that ever is based on real life in that my husband and I and my daughter, we moved to an acreage and then six months later,  we came home and there was an owl stranded in our fence,” said Greene.

“And so we called the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre, and they came and untangled him and took him to the centre for recovery and rehabilitation. And then I just thought, well I know what we thought, what did he think? This poor little teenage owl, it’s probably a big deal for him, so what was his perspective and what might have happened next?”

Greene comes to the festival every year but this was her first as a speaker.

“It shows that there are authors here and everywhere and it makes it more tangible,” said Greene.

“There’s the authors and you can talk to them and say, ‘well how did you do what you did or how did you make that a story,’ and then it lets kids know that  they can tell their own stories.”

She met authors who made Prairie cookbooks, non-fiction authors and fellow young adult type book authors.

Pincher Creek poetic author Sid Marty spoke about Oldman’s River at the event.

The book has poems about southern Alberta, the mountains of B.C. and Alberta and talks about rural life, loves and losses.

“I’ve always been writing poems,” said Marty.

“So although I was making my living as a non-fiction writer and a journalist, I kept on writing poems and publishing them and publishing books of poetry along the way, as well. So this is just a culmination of all that effort and… beautiful landscapes of southern Alberta are very inspiring, the people are very inspiring and what can I say, it’s been what I’ve been attending to for a long time.”

Marty was impressed by the festival.

“It’s a huge success,” he said.

“Great crowds of people obviously who all love books of all kinds. So, really nice to see this.”

“It’s a really great opportunity to bring people together and give people an event to bring them out and a chance to interact,” said Elisabeth Hegerat, the Lethbridge Public Library’s manager of Community Advancement. “It’s also a great way for people to experience some of the great talent we’ve got here in Canada on our literary scene and for some of our local arts community and writers to get together, and meet, and network and talk to other authors.”