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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!
Rough & Messy Justice brings to life the Rocky Mountains’ Crowsnest Pass of 1920, a place of rugged geography, a mining economy, and diverse culture. Against this backdrop, an armed robbery of a CPR train leads to a dramatic shootout at the Bellevue Café between police officers and two of the three Russians bandits, recently arrived from the mines of Butte, Montana. The book meticulously details the crime, the shootout, and the thrilling manhunt for the escaped bandit.
The story continues with an account of the trial and its flawed application of the law, revealing overt racism in the press and police correspondence, a law enforcement coverup, a biased judge and jury, a lackluster defence counsel, and confused trial witnesses. These elements contribute to the tragic hanging of an innocent man.
Rough & Messy Justice critically examines social and racial prejudice, law enforcement misconduct, and judicial incompetence, exposing a wrongful conviction that challenges traditional assumptions about equality under the law.
W. Keith Regular PhD. Keith Regular holds a Master of Arts in History from the University of Calgary and a PhD from Memorial University of Newfoundland. Specializing in modern Indigenous and non-Indigenous social and economic relationships, his current research focuses on legal history and the dispensing of justice in the early 20th-century Canadian West, particularly in the Crowsnest Pass. He is also author of the book Neighbours and Networks: The Blood Tribe in the Southern Alberta Economy. Keith lives in Cranbrook. B.C.
Deeply moving and authentic, this debut novel in verse—winner of a Schneider Family Book Award Honor—follows teenage Evie through her eating disorder treatment and recovery―a perfect choice for readers of Wintergirls and Louder Than Hunger.
Evie has just barely acknowledged that she has an eating disorder when she’s admitted to an inpatient treatment facility. Now her days are filled with calorie loading, therapy sessions, and longing—for home, for control, and for the time before her troubles began. As the winter of her treatment goes on, she gradually begins to face her fears and to love herself again, with the help of caregivers and of peers who are fighting their own disordered-eating battles. This insightful, beautiful novel will touch every reader and offer hope and understanding to those who need it most.
Lauren Seal is a writer, librarian, and the third Poet Laureate of St. Albert in Alberta, Canada. She mentors the teen and young adult poets of a spoken word youth choir and her poems have been published in various anthologies. This novel-in-verse, her first book, is inspired by her own experiences with anorexia, anxiety, and hospitalization. When she’s not busy recommending books to library patrons, Lauren can be found reading, writing, and composing poems in her head on long dog walks.
This newly revised and expanded edition of the prize-winning Victory Gardens for Bees empowers and inspires gardeners to create beautiful spaces while supporting wild pollinators.
Although bee populations continue to be threatened by environmental stresses, new sources of hope have appeared in the years since Victory Gardens for Bees was first published. As author Lori Weidenhammer makes clear in her expanded introduction, as well as in fully updated planting charts and descriptions of community projects and online resources, there are more ways than ever to participate in building the much-needed community networks that turn gardens, fields and landscapes into healthy environments for bees. Just as citizens banded together to plant Victory Gardens to offset the perilous food shortages of World War II, collective effort can turn our gardens and communal spaces into lifesaving shelters for these essential creatures.
Through detailed garden plans and planting guides, Weidenhammer shows how bee-friendly plants are easily grown by novices and seasoned gardeners alike, and how they can be used in creative combinations for plots and pots of all sizes.
Victory Gardens for Bees is also buzzing with DIY projects that will provide nesting sites and essential supplies for precious pollinators. With plenty of photographs to help readers identify bees of all stripes, beekeeping tips and other interesting bee-phemera, this book is a must-have for anyone who wants to do their part to save the bees.
Lori Weidenhammer, aka Madame Beespeaker, is a performance-based interdisciplinary artist and educator. She is a settler originally from Cactus Lake, Saskatchewan. It is in this place, bordered by wheat fields and wild prairie, that she first became enchanted with bees. For several years she appeared in the persona of Madame Beespeaker, practising the tradition of “telling the bees”. As a food security volunteer, artist and activist Lori works with students of all ages on learning about native bees and gardening for pollinators. She is a founding member of the Native Bee Society of BC and a recipient of the Entomological Society of Canada’s Norman Criddle Award for her work as an amateur naturalist.
Lori is passionate about creating habitat and conserving native habitat for native bees, as well as reworking food systems to be more sustainable for the land, native bees and the humans that work the land. Visit Lori Weidenhammer at https://loriweidenhammer.ca/.
A powerful story of a young girl who celebrates her grandmother’s art and the connection between them, in dual language Blackfoot and English!
Naaahsa says art is a language everyone understands. Sometimes we make art together. We draw, we bead, we sing. Sometimes Naaahsa tells stories in Blackfoot. I even get to go with her to see her art show at the National Gallery. Naaahsa is famous for her art, but I love her hugs best!
Naaahsa is an Artist! is a celebration of art, artists, and Indigenous women artists in particular. Each page comes to life with bold patterns, shapes, and Naaahsa’s encouraging words that may inspire young readers to want to make art themselves.
This dual language edition contains the story in both Blackfoot: Kainai Nation and English.
Hali Heavy Shield is a multidisciplinary artist and a member of the Blood Tribe of Southern Alberta. Her first book for children was inspired by the many adventures she’s had with her mom, Faye, who is also an artist. Hali’s work is influenced by experiences in her home community, including Blackfoot stories, significant sites, family, and women as sources of strength and goodness. She lives in Lethbridge, Alberta.
Krogstad is a TEDx speaker and bestselling author of the book Glass Half Full of Poetry. A spoken word poet, eternal optimist, and workshop facilitator, teaching life skills including self-confidence, self-expression, and community-building, she has performed her poetry and presented hundreds of workshops in dozens of cities across Western Canada and beyond.
Miranda’s poetry ranges in topic from child’s play to empowerment, giving life’s obstacles a feel-good finish. A member of the 2016 national wild card team and the 2014 slam team, a member of the 2013 International spoken word program at the Banff Center, a Calgary Arts Development grant recipient, and a 2-time Canada Council for the Arts grant recipient, she has since co-founded the spoken word network YYSpeak to create a communal and supportive space for spoken word artists. Visit mirandakrogstad.com for more information.
