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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!
A gripping historical debut novel about the mysterious kidnapping of Métis boys and a town set on edge, told against the backdrop of the North-West Resistance of 1885
During a game of buffalo hunters, young Nikosis Eriksen’s cousin goes missing in broad daylight, leaving nothing but scuff marks in the muddy spring snow. It’s the first in a series of kidnappings of local Métis boys that sets the town of Lac-aux-Trois-Pistoles, Saskatchewan, on high alert. As the new detachment of North-West Mounted Police drag their feet, the women of the Eriksen-Desjarlais family, Niko’s Nimama, Auntie and Chapan, take on the desperate search for Cousin.
Gun-slinger Kate McCannon and her band of women and children have been living in a camp outside town while the family men have joined Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont in the resistance. News of the victory at Duck Lake arrives in the camp as McCannon and the women join the search for the missing boys. When a missing boy is recovered alive yet badly wounded, the need to find Cousin becomes all the more pressing. It isn’t until Niko discovers the true identity of the man responsible for the kidnapping that he is forced to grapple with his own identity and his truth, and resolves to bring Cousin back from his captor’s clutches, no matter what it takes.
Told in the unforgettable young voice of Niko, Treat Them as Buffalo is a remarkable debut novel about the violent events of 1885 and the survival of a people when threat comes from every direction.
BLAIR PALMER YOXALL (he/him/his) is a writer and poet. His fiction has won the Striking Prose competition and the James Patrick Folinsbee prize in English and been shortlisted for the Norma Epstein Foundation Award and an Indigenous Voices Award. His poetry and fiction have appeared in Glass Buffalo, The Fiddlehead and Carving Space: The Indigenous Voices Awards Anthology. Yoxall is a citizen of the Métis Nation of Alberta and of Métis and settler parentage. He holds an MA in English in Indigenous literature and Westerns, and enjoys fly-fishing in the Alberta Rockies. Treat Them as Buffalo is his debut novel.
A comprehensive, user-friendly, full-colour guide to more than 300 bird species found throughout the prairies, aspen parklands, foothills, mountains, boreal forests, Canadian shield, and urban areas of the province of Alberta.
Situated at the convergence of the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, and North America’s vast boreal forest, Alberta boasts a great diversity of landscapes and habitats. From turquoise glacier lakes nestled between towering peaks, to spruce- and sphagnum-dominated muskeg, to labyrinthine badland canyons, to expansive grassland dotted with sagebrush, to islands of green space amidst sprawling cities, this province has much to offer outdoor enthusiasts, including birders!
More than 300 species of birds occur every year in the province, and well over 400 have been observed at least once within its borders. This guide aims to assist those who wish to find, observe, identify, and better understand the birds around us―whether it be an American Robin nesting in a city park, a White-tailed Ptarmigan foraging in the alpine tundra, or a Turkey Vulture soaring over the badland hoodoos.
With clear descriptions designed to be accessible for beginner and intermediate birders, this extensive guide is also useful for experts in the field. It comprises 305 full-page species accounts for regularly occurring species and 29 abbreviated accounts for more rarely occurring birds. Each full account includes the most up-to-date species name; one to four full-colour photographs; a colour-coded range map; a clear description of appearance, status and distribution, habitat, behaviour, and sounds; and tips on where to where to find the species. Other user-friendly features include a glossary, tips on equipment and observation techniques, information on habitat and species conservation, and recommendations for further reading. With so many birds to see and hear in every region of the province, A Field Guide to the Birds of Alberta is the definitive guide for locals and visitors alike.
Born and raised in northern Ontario, David R. Scott began venturing from home to find birds at age sixteen and has been an avid birder and naturalist ever since. After moving to southern Alberta, he came to love the birds of the prairies, badlands, foothills, and mountains as well as those of the boreal forest on the Canadian Shield. A librarian by trade, David works at the University of Lethbridge and serves as chair of the Alberta Bird Record Committee and the Christmas Bird Count editor for the province. He has also spent several years on the board of Nature Lethbridge and has authored and coauthored articles published in Nature Alberta Magazine, North American Birds, and Western Birds. David resides in Lethbridge, Alberta with his wife, Emma, and son, Lewis, who recently received his first pair of binoculars.
