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The Word On The Street has been renowned for the quality and diversity of its event programming and our 2026 festival promises to offer the best so far. Check out our schedule for Saturday, September 19, 2026!
Did you know that space exploration is good for life here on Earth?
Living in space has led to many breakthroughs that can improve our lives. Research done on the International Space Station has led to new discoveries that have saved lives on Earth. Satellites in space let us communicate easily on our phones and power the GPS devices we use. And space exploration has even helped us learn how to purify water more easily and harness solar power, so we can take care of Earth’s ecosystems and resources.
Still, space exploration requires a lot of resources like money and fuel. Can we justify using fossil fuels to fly rockets during a climate crisis? And how do we make sure we’re not messing up the rest of the solar system? Is exploring the cosmos really worth the cost? To answer those questions, Beyond Earth dives into space exploration and its impact. Because it’s not about finding planet B, it’s about preserving planet A―and using space exploration to get us there.
Yolanda Ridge is the author of three books in the Orca Footprints series, What Poo Can Do, Microbes to the Rescue and Beyond Earth, as well as two other juvenile nonfiction titles from Annick Press. She’s also written several middle-grade novels, including two environment-themed titles for Orca Young Readers. She has a master of science degree and is adept at making complex concepts understandable—a skill she uses in her science writing and teaching. She lives in Rossland, British Columbia.
Did you know that space exploration is good for life here on Earth?
Living in space has led to many breakthroughs that can improve our lives. Research done on the International Space Station has led to new discoveries that have saved lives on Earth. Satellites in space let us communicate easily on our phones and power the GPS devices we use. And space exploration has even helped us learn how to purify water more easily and harness solar power, so we can take care of Earth’s ecosystems and resources.
Still, space exploration requires a lot of resources like money and fuel. Can we justify using fossil fuels to fly rockets during a climate crisis? And how do we make sure we’re not messing up the rest of the solar system? Is exploring the cosmos really worth the cost? To answer those questions, Beyond Earth dives into space exploration and its impact. Because it’s not about finding planet B, it’s about preserving planet A―and using space exploration to get us there.
Oliver Ridge is a Schulich Leader scholar at the University of Western Ontario. He’s been inspired by the beauty of space for as long as he can remember and hopes to pursue a career in astrophysics. This is his first published book.
The cocktails: strong.
The hookups: messy.
The corpse: a real buzzkill.
Private investigator Verona Montero hikes fifteen kilometers to a cliff-top lodge in the Canadian Badlands to dodge cheating dirtbags and a crush with better abs than boundaries. She expects R&R. Instead, a sex-bomb named Harper turns up planted in the front garden—daisies and all—and a storm turns the only road out into a mud smoothie. With the cops days away, Verona gets promoted to PI-in-residence with a complimentary bar tab and a house full of alibis that smell like last night’s tequila.
The lodge is an adult summer camp for bad decisions: late-night room changes, motives with teeth, and alibis flimsier than a motel towel. When the body count starts flirting with plural, Verona’s strategy is simple—ruin evenings, crack egos, and make the killer sweat through their resort wear. Otherwise her weekend getaway could turn into a permanent check-out.
Kayleigh Suggett writes the kind of mysteries she couldn’t find on the shelf: the ones where the detective is a “private dick” (mostly because she likes the pun), the humor is unapologetically crass, and the plot moves faster than a billionaire fleeing a crime scene.
Inspired by the subversive, absurdist wit of authors like Christopher Moore, Kayleigh created Verona Montero to fill the gap between “polite” mysteries and gritty noir. Having spent years in customer service, she’s seen the absolute weirdest of human behaviour—and she’s putting it all on the page, unfiltered and with a perfectly snide simile for every occasion.
When she isn’t documenting “crotch headaches” or chasing killers through the rainy pubs of Ireland, Kayleigh is a wedding singer, a choir nerd, and a frustrated solver of NYT crosswords. She lives in Calgary, AB, with her husband and son, where she remains a proud member of the Crime Writers of Canada and a firm believer that most situations simply require a F*ck It smoothie.
A warrior must embrace her own darkness—and a dangerous attraction to a mysterious shadow prince—to save her world in this captivating companion to The Forest King’s Daughter, perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Holly Black.
Fearless Thea has never known life outside of war. As the favorite daughter of the Sylvan King, she’s a relentless fighter who longs to lead the army, ignoring the pretty clothes and fanciful notions others enjoy. But when elaborate gowns full of dark magic begin appearing on her hearth each evening, she eventually gives in to temptation and tries one on—and is whisked away to a forgotten land of shadows.
The prince of the shadow realm is a handsome host, and it’s clear he knows something about the long-ago disappearance of Thea’s mother. Thea does all she can to resist his charms and uncover the truth, but their dangerous attraction grows. Meanwhile, shadows are seeping into the living realm, and Thea may have to embrace her own darkness if she has any chance of saving her beloved sisters and home from an otherworldly threat.
The New York Times bestselling author of the Frostblood Saga delivers a spellbinding series about the daughters of the powerful forest king, with simmering romance and plot twists that will leave readers desperate to enter the Thirstwood.
Elly Blake is the New York Times bestselling author of the Thirstwood series and the Frostblood Saga. She lives in Southwestern Ontario with her husband and kids and invites you to visit her online @Elly_Blake or at EllyBlake.com.
Exiled from his community, a young Innu man finds himself adrift on the streets of Montreal.
Released from prison after ten years spent behind bars for the murder of his violent, alcoholic father, Élie Mestenapeo finds himself out in the world again, but alone. Banished for life from his community, Nutashkuan, he heads south to Montreal, where he becomes part of a new community—Cree, Nakota, Inuit, Innu, Mohawk, and Atikamekw come together in Cabot Square. There, Élie meets Mary and Tracy, Inuuk twin sisters who take him under their wing; Jimmy, a Nakota man who hands out hot meals to those the city has forgotten; and Mafia Doc, an aging, self-proclaimed nurse who refuses to abandon his tent even as winter’s brutal cold descends. When old wounds threaten to reopen, Élie’s loved ones worry what a search for truth might do to him and the community around him.
In this deeply compassionate novel, Michel Jean gives voice to those living on society’s margins. With tenderness and unflinching honesty, he reveals lives scarred by violence and addiction but also sustained by resilience, kinship, and the faint, persistent light of hope.
MICHEL JEAN is an award-winning writer, and former news anchor and investigative journalist, much appreciated by the Quebec public. He worked at Radio-Canada and the Quebec television network TVA before devoting himself full-time to his writing. He has published over a dozen books including his bestselling novels Kukum, an exploration of his Innu roots and winner of the Prix France-Québec, and Qimmik, which deals with a harrowing chapter of Inuit history. His work has been translated into several languages. his most recent novel being Kabasa. Michel Jean has also edited two short story collections featuring Indigenous voices: Amun, released in fall 2016, and Wapke, published in May 2021, both of which are available in English.
Michel Jean is Innu from Mashteuiatsh, and his native origins resonate in many of his writings.
New York Times bestselling author Aurora Ascher’s hilarious and hot blend of spicy demon romance and cozy fantasy featuring a half-mad demon with questionable morals, a goth witch who kicks ass and takes names, and a magical library in a castle in Hell. Perfect for fans of Hannah Nicole Maehrer, Brynne Weaver, Jenna Levine, and Kimberly Lemming.
A villain always has a plan . . . but she’s a complication he never saw coming.
Murmur, the nefarious Necromancer, is losing his mind. His army of souls screams in his head, and his dreams are filled with bone-chilling visions of his approaching death. To save himself, he will unleash a torrent of destruction unlike anything Hell has seen before . . . But for his plot to succeed, he requires one final ingredient: the blood of a certain headstrong witch.
This witch can rescue herself . . .
Suyin, leader of the Montreal coven, hides her dread beneath a tough exterior. Unusual abilities she can’t explain are taking over her life, and she’s haunted by ominous dreams. Her fears are realized when she’s captured by a demon with bloodshot eyes. Murmur plans to leave her in his dungeon, but Suyin has no intention of making this easy for him. Bargaining with demons is dangerous business, but she’ll do anything to survive.
Enemies may become lovers, but fate has other plans.
Forced into close proximity, things begin to shift between Suyin and her captor. But as the Necromancer’s machinations reach a pinnacle, he is faced with an impossible choice: achieve his master plan, or free the woman who resurrected his dormant soul.
Aurora Ascher is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling paranormal romance & fantasy author. After her breakout success with Sanctuary of the Shadow, she released her Hell Bent series which continued to hit the bestseller lists again and again. Her books have been translated into over 8 languages. She loves misunderstood monsters, redeemable anti-heroes, and epic happily-ever-afters.
Although Aurora always loved reading, she never expected to become a writer. At age 5, she started playing the piano, which culminated in a professional career touring and recording with her prog-hop trio. She also paints, and is a total coffee snob who has invested a great deal of time into perfecting her latte art. But one fateful day, after binge reading yet another romance, her first book popped into her head and wouldn’t leave her alone until she wrote it down. She hasn’t stopped since.
In the rare spare moments between playing with her son and renovating her house with her husband, Aurora sits in her book-filled office and writes like a fiend. Her endlessly patient husband and endlessly impatient toddler await her return, when she emerges from her cave like a bear in the spring.
Before moving to Montreal, Aurora spent several years travelling in Asia, Australia and her own huge country. After a decade in the city, she and her family settled back in beautiful British Columbia, surrounded by the mountains and lakes of her homeland.
From bears navigating valleys filled with visitors to black swifts nesting in remote canyons, A Single Syllable of Wild follows the paths of animals seeking to survive in increasingly popular protected places. The poems in this collection consider climate change and habitat loss while also celebrating resilience. Part field guide and part biography of the lives of endangered species, these lyrical snapshots reimagine our relationship with the Rocky Mountain National Parks and the animals who inhabit them. In her debut collection, Angela Waldie invites us to explore the trails and turquoise rivers of beloved and threatened wild places.
Angela Waldie is a writer, editor, and university instructor, living in Treaty 7 Territory, in Calgary, Alberta. As she grew up in Creston, BC, her poetry often crosses and recrosses the Continental Divide. Her debut poetry collection, A Single Syllable of Wild, was published by Frontenac House in April 2026. Her poetry has appeared in Arc, Prairie Fire, The New Quarterly, Grain, Event, The Goose, FreeFall, The Antigonish Review, and various anthologies.
