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The Word On The Street has been renowned for the quality and diversity of its event programming and our 2025 festival promises to offer the best so far. Check out our schedule for Saturday, September 20, 2025!
A debut novel by an exciting new voice in Canadian literature, I Want to Die in My Boots weaves fact and fiction to tell the true-ish story of horse thief Belle Jane.
I Want to Die in My Boots is the untold story of Belle Jane, the woman who ran one of Canada’s largest cattle thieving rings in the 1920s, who brilliantly broke every taboo, took the names of five different husbands, and nearly followed the tragic end of her great hero, the outlaw queen Belle Starr.
Dark and daring, meticulously researched and mostly true, I Want to Die in My Boots is a lyrical, unconventional literary novel that gives voice to the unheard in a long-forgotten world. After leaving Montana for a third husband and the ranch she’d always wanted, Belle settles in Saskatchewan, before spending her final years in Penticton, reading tarot cards for strangers.
Written a century after her arrest, this fictional tribute to Belle Jane, an unsung hero in Canada’s west, is inventive yet thoughtful, a work of Prairie literary fiction that takes an edgy twist to history. I Want to Die in My Boots will appeal to readers of Annie Proulx, Sheila Watson, Robert Kroetsch, and Maggie O’Farrell, and to viewers of Yellowstone and The Power of the Dog.
Natalie Appleton studied journalism at the University of Regina and creative writing at City University London. Her literary travel memoir, I Have Something to Tell You, followed publication of an essay in The New York Times. Natalie has won Prairie Fire’s Banff Centre Bliss Carman Poetry Award and Room Magazine’s Creative Non-fiction Contest. She lives in the Okanagan with her husband and sons.
Journey of the Heart will guide you down a healing path with iitsisaanowa, her Na’aa, Da’daa and Creator as you look inwards and to nature for hope and strength. This book is a powerful example of how Blackfoot traditional values are the key to healing as individuals and as a community. With reflections and mindful invitations to be still to find the answers we need, iitsisaanowa demonstrates and models how truth, reconciliation and telling our own stories brings us together in ceremony.
Iitsisaanoowa (Vision Beyond), Elder Christina Fox has worked for the Holy Spirit Catholic School Division for over 20 years. During that time, she has shared her Blackfoot knowledge and traditions with students and staff at many of the division’s schools. In her role as First Nations Liaison Support Worker, Fox has dedicated herself to ensuring today’s Indigenous students never experience the same kind of environment she did as a residential school student. She treats each child with dignity and respect.
Her presence in the schools provides support and care to everyone, whether a child, a staff member, a parent or a grandparent. Fox shares her knowledge of the Blackfoot way of life and teachings, thereby tending to the spirit, soul and heart of those in her care. She offers Blackfoot language classes, drumming, beading, teepee teachings, information on the importance of land acknowledgements, serves as an Elder in Residence for kindergarten students and is a spiritual guide for staff. Fox is instrumental in planning celebrations, such as school powwows, that promote history and traditions and generate an awareness of and appreciation for Indigenous culture, heritage and language.
Her hours of service often extend beyond the school day. She will visit families in their homes in the evenings and on weekends to gently guide them, pray with them, and show they are cared for outside the school day. Fox also provides music ministry for Mass and serves St. Martha’s parish as a Eucharistic Minister.
In 2016, Fox received the school division’s Share the Mission award. This award honours those who have offered outstanding or long service, accepted demanding challenges, set new standards, contributed to the Catholic atmosphere in schools, demonstrated involvement and leadership in community or parish organizations and reflected the division’s mission statement in their actions.
Each summer, Fox travels to Lac Ste. Anne, a sacred place of healing for Indigenous people. This annual pilgrimage allows her to embrace healing and her faith as a child who experienced residential schools. While the wounds of the past won’t be forgotten, her strong faith and advocacy for youth and their families give her hope in the ongoing path of reconciliation.
A chilling tale about what happens when we mess with nature.
In 1942, a young entomologist, Thomas, is sent to a remote island to work on biological weapons for the Allied military. The scientists live like prisoners while they produce anthrax and look for the perfect virus carrier among the island’s many insects.
Sixty years later, in the same region of Quebec, a heat wave unleashes swarms of horseflies while humans fall prey to strange flights of rage. Theodore is living a simple life, working double shifts and drinking to forget, when a horsefly bite stirs him from his apathy. He impulsively kidnaps his grandfather, whose dementia has him living in the past on Grosse Île.
The horseflies, meanwhile, know a few secrets…
Loosely based on historical fact, Horsefly is a terrifying tale about the ways in which we try to dominate nature, and how nature will, inevitably, wreak retribution upon us.
Mireille Gagné was born in Isle-aux-Grues and lives in Quebec City. Since 2010, she has published books of poetry, short stories, and the remarkable novel Le lièvre d’Amérique (2020), which “possesses a universal wisdom, the kind that is passed down from generation to generation and from which we too often lose our way.”
Three sisters spend an adventure-filled summer in the Canadian wilderness, exploring rock quarries, escaping bear attacks, and fighting over space in the backseat of the family pickup truck.
It’s the summer of 1990, and Amy (age 11), Beth (age 9), and Marion (age 6) are in for the family vacation of a lifetime. No, they’re not going Disneyland, Hawaii, or on a Caribbean cruise. No, they’re not flying to Germany to collect pieces of the Berlin Wall.
They will be looking at rocks, though. Lots of rocks. So many rocks.
You see, when your father is a geologist, that’s what you do on your summer vacation. You drive for days to the British Columbia–Yukon border, strapped in the backseat of the family truck with your sisters, fighting over the Gameboy, listening to your parents tell you “fascinating” facts about the scenery, playing the Little Mermaid soundtrack on a loop, and trying not to get elbowed in the face. Doesn’t that sound like a dream vacation? Well, it’s no luxury trip, but it has its highlights—from camping under the stars to wading in natural hot springs to flying a helicopter! And for Amy, Beth, and Marion, the memories they make along the way will last a lifetime. At least that’s what their parents tell them…
Jenna Greene is an author of YA and children’s fiction, best known for the award-winning Reborn Marks series, and co-host of the Jot Notes podcast, where she interviews authors from all over the world. When not writing or podcasting, she can be found in the classroom, teaching Grades 1 and 2. For more information, visit jennagreene.ca.
Set in the world of New York Times bestseller Seraphina, a boy on the run from a dragon—among other dangers—seeks refuge in a haunted abbey in this wholly original ghost story about what haunts us, and what connects us.
A few things to know about the town of St. Muckle’s: It’s too out-of-the-way to interest greedy lords, and too damp and muddy for marauding dragons to burn. And anyone, from a humble serf to a runaway nun, may earn their freedom by living for a year and a day within the town walls. Seven years ago, Charl and his mother fled to St. Muckle’s and made it their safe-haven, building a new life in this so called Peasant’s Paradise. But when Charl sees something impossible—a ghost—soon the embers of his past are threatening to engulf his world in flame. A tragic accident is quickly followed by murder, a deadly plague, and a mercenary dragon.
Charl manages to escape to an abandoned abbey outside of town, but finds no safety within those ruined walls. A treacherous nun, a chorus of murdered girls, and the fearsome Battle Bishop await, ready to ensnare him in a complex web of history, magic and fate. For some things should never be forgotten, however much they haunt us, and Charl will need all his wisdom and resiliency if he is to fight for the world he knows…and the people he calls home.
Rachel Hartman is the author of five young adult fantasy novels set in the world of Goredd: SERAPHINA, SHADOW SCALE, TESS OF THE ROAD, IN THE SERPENT’S WAKE and the upcoming AMONG GHOSTS. Her novels have been on the New York Times bestseller list and have received many awards, including the Morris Award, the Sunburst Prize, and the Monica Hughes Award. Rachel lives in Vancouver, BC, with her husband and whippet.
An activist priest provides sanctuary for an encampment of unhoused people in her churchyard
The housing crisis plaguing major urban centres has sent countless people into the streets. In spring 2022, some of them found their way to the yard beside the Anglican church in Toronto’s Kensington Market, where Maggie Helwig is the priest. They pitched tents, formed an encampment, and settled in. Known as an outspoken social justice activist, Helwig has spent the last three years getting to know the residents and fighting tooth and nail to allow them to stay, battling various authorities that want to clear the yard and keep the results of the housing crisis out of sight and out of mind.
Encampment tells the story of Helwig’s life-long activism as preparation for her fight to keep her churchyard open to people needing a home. More importantly, it introduces us to the Artist, to Jeff, and to Robin: their lives, their challenges, their humanity. It confronts our society’s callousness in allowing so many to go unhoused and demands, by bringing their stories to the fore, that we begin to respond with compassion and grace.
MAGGIE HELWIG (she/they) is a white settler in Tkaronto/Toronto, and is the author of fifteen books and chapbooks, most recently Girls Fall Down (Coach House, 2008), which was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award, and was chosen as the One Book Toronto in 2012. Helwig is a long-time social justice activist, and also an Anglican priest, and has been the rector of the Church of St Stephen-in-the-Fields since 2013
Environmental artists across the globe are using their creativity to help the environment and create a more sustainable world.
There’s no question that creating art makes our lives better. Just think about how happy you feel when you’re dancing, singing, painting or crafting. But have you ever stopped to think about how creating art might make the world better, too?
Environmental artists around the world are harnessing their creativity to help the planet. And their work isn’t just beautiful to look at. Some are creating important art that protects animal habitats, reclaims damaged natural environments, increases biodiversity and restores ecosystems. Others are raising awareness about local and global environmental challenges, including the climate crisis, soil erosion, pollution and habitat loss. Incredible art is featured, such as the Indigenous Art Park in Edmonton, artificial coral reef installations in the Caribbean Sea and a tree sculpture in Bristol, England, fitted with solar panels that can charge phones and computers. Let’s Get Creative: Art for a Better World encourages young readers to explore how creativity can make the earth a cleaner and greener place for everyone.
JESSICA ROSE is a writer, editor and arts organizer who lives and works in Hamilton, Ontario. A passionate advocate for people and places, she works for a number of not-for-profi t organizations focused on literacy, the arts, the environment, health and food security. A graduate of Carleton University’s School of Journalism, her writing includes the essay “Reclaiming Hamilton Through Artistic and Environmental Interventions” in Reclaiming Hamilton: Essays from the New Ambitious City (Wolsak and Wynn), Creating Healthy Communities (Rubicon Publishing) and the City of Hamilton Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP).
