Stratford Writers Festival Highlights

The Stratford Writers Festival makes #StoriesMatter through intimate and interactive festivals and events. Look back (or see what you’re missing) with our highlights below.

Stratford Writers Festival 2019

Our 2019 season featured two weeks of events including two sold out events with Mary Berg! With ongoing writing workshops and the Rotary Club of Stratford Short Story Contest Celebration, we aim to give our attendees a blend of inspirational and practical experiences. With authors such as Becky Blake, David Stones, John Goddard and Terri-Lynn Penney, there were exciting events and thoughtful conversations throughout the entire weekend!

Stratford Writers Festival 2018

Our 2018 season featured two weeks of events including our Acoustic Christmas Songwriters Circle with Royal Wood, Peter Katz, Andrew Allen and Dayna Manning. We also started our school program with Eric Walters, Richard Scrimger and Shane Peacock. With authors such as Cherie Dimaline, Najwa Zebian, Jackie Kai Ellis and Anna Olson, there were exciting events and thoughtful conversations throughout the entire weekend!

Stratford Writers Festival 2017

Our 2017 season featured our first Songwriters Circle with Ron Sexsmith, Jason Barry, Emm Gryner and Dayna Manning. We also started our school program with Eric Walters, Richard Scrimger and Shane Peacock. With authors such as Scaachi Koul, Lee Maracle, Heather O’Neill and Terry Fallis, there were thoughtful conversations throughout the entire weekend!

Appetite for Words

Appetite for Words is our literary festival with a culinary twist!

The Appetite for Words Festival program features authors who have written about food, and fiction writers who allow food to become a strong component of scenes and/or the characters in their novels. The best part is, chefs from Stratford Chefs School create menus inspired by featured books so you can taste the words you’re reading. Our events also feature literary lunches at well-known Stratford restaurants and farm lunches in Perth County’s pastoral landscape.

Young Adult Stratford Writers Festival

We are passionate about encouraging the love of reading and writing especially in our younger generation! We operate a school program and also launched the Young Adult Stratford Writers Festival in 2017.

#CanLitPit

Each year we run #CanLitPit, a social media initiative intended to increase the number of Canadian authors published and supported by Canadian publishers and literary agents. On the day of the event, Canadian writers with a completed and polished manuscript post their pitch on Twitter for Canadian publishers and literary agents to see. If a writer’s pitch is favourited by a publisher or literary agent, the writer will follow the manuscript submission guidelines posted online or in the publisher or literary agent’s Twitter feed.

There are many events to choose from!

The thing about this festival is, writers want to come here because it’s a beautiful part of the country and audiences are great. I think it’s an excellent chance to come see your favourite author.

Michael Winter, Award-Winning Author

There’s just so much variety and experience at the Stratford Writers Festival that there’s something for everyone. It’s just delightful.

Mary Sanderson, Stratford Writers Festival Attendee

The Stratford Writer’s Festival is an amazing event, since the literary community in Stratford is both large and diverse. Having authors visit and share their books and writing experience benefits Stratford’s writing community, and all the dedicated readers here as well. It’s a great opportunity to hear from authors who otherwise wouldn’t be visiting our region, and to enjoy literature alongside other art forms like music and fine cuisine.

Melanie Kindrachuk, Stratford Public Library

Become a Festival Member

Be first to know about upcoming events and grab your tickets at early-bird prices!