Earlier this year a major milestone for Calgary’s premier literary year-round festival passed with little fanfare, as Wordfest hit 30.

That decision came about as a result of discussions about how to make the milestone a celebration of everything that Wordfest has accomplished with authors and members of the literary community, rather than putting a focus on the organization itself.

But now the more-than-a-festival is putting on a celebration, filled with some of the most celebrated Calgary authors sharing original seven-minute stories inspired by the idea of “the way we Calgary’d.”

“One of the things was not to have the big quote, unquote anniversary celebration during the festival, and so we decided to do it in June. We decided to focus on the Calgarians who made Wordfest, and that was really liberating, because now we can figure out how to celebrate Calgary as a city, and all the Calgarians who contributed,” said Shelley Youngblut, CEO of Wordfest.

“It’s really about, how did Calgary, how did being in Mohkinstsis, how did being here influence your writing, influence your career, influence your contribution. So, it seemed like the perfect theme for a celebration of Calgary and local writers.”

Among the authors who will be speaking will be Stephen Leacock Medal finalist Ali Bryan, Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing award winner Marcello Di Cintio, Giller Prize winner Will Ferguson, Vues d’Afrique Festival Internationale award winner Cheryl Foggo, Governor General’s Literary Award winner Richard Harrison, winner of Canada Reads Joshua Whitehead, and two-time finalist for the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Award Teresa Wong.

Youngblut said the challenge was deciding who would be a part of the seven presenting.

“For example, Kris Demeanor and Deborah Willis, well, they’re doing a show during the festival. And there’s Natalie Sue who just got listed for the Leacock Prize for Humour. Natalie’s doing a show during the festival,” she said.

“If you’re looking for more local writers, well, they’re going to be at the festival, or they’ll be in year round events. But the ones that we do have, I think, are a really good cross section of people from the past, the present, and the future [of Wordfest].”

Youngblut said that the evening would be hosted by much loved Calgary musician Tom Phillips because of his unique connection to the world of books.

“Why is Tom Phillips on this lineup? Tom was a bookseller, that’s how he made his living for years and he was part of Wordfest. He and Will Ferguson went on a cross Canada tour for Wordfest back in the 90s,” she said.

A chance to get signed first editions from Wordfest’s history

As part of the evening, Wordfest will be opening up their extensive archive of first edition signed books for sale.

“There’s a signed John Irving first edition in this collection—John Irving doesn’t sign anymore. So that’s an incentive to come down,” said Youngblut.

As for whether there was any sadness about selling off part of the archive, she said that it was actually an opportunity to be generous to the community.

“I think part of the thing that’s so great about it is there’s always going to be another book, there’s always another great author, there’s always another great read, there’s always another big idea. I think the fact that those can be then spread out throughout the community,” Youngblut said.

“What’s better than sharing a book?”

Other aspects of the archive, such as the extensive collection of posters throughout the years, props from Wordfest branding campaigns, and other Wordfest items will be put on display as part of an ongoing exhibit at the Central Library.

“What’s amazing about it is it’s all of the great graphic designers in Calgary. Janine Vangool was the very first one, she came in 1996 and she went on to create Uppercase Magazine, which is this international phenomenon,” Youngblut said.

“Peter Mahler, I don’t think there’s an arts organization in Calgary that didn’t benefit from Peter, but he designed all of the posters in the 2000s, then Danae Thompson, who used to be my art director at Swerve, and then Jason Logan who is an internationally renowned creative director both in New York and in Toronto.”

She said that the quality of those graphics over the decades was astounding.

“I cannot get over how bonkers what we did visually has been over the years.”

The Way We… Calgary’d is being held at the Central Library on June 10, with the 30th anniversary exhibit on display from June 8 through 15.

Tickets are on sale for $25 at wordfest.com.