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The Saskatchewan Festival of Words Inc. is a registered non-profit organization based in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Established in 1996, it promotes literacy and celebrates in various forms the imaginative use of words, written or oral, by Canadians. The organization operates on a year-round basis offering literacy and literary programming with an annual four-day summer festival held the third week of July in Moose Jaw. The 14th edition of the summer festival takes place July 15-18, 2010.

History
In 1996, a founding committee led by local teacher and poet Gary Hyland began laying the groundwork for a literary festival in the city of Moose Jaw. Realizing the need to differentiate from other book-based literary festivals, the founders developed a festival concept emphasizing all aspects of creative language and promoting literacy and lifelong reading. Books and authors would be the foundation of the festival, but variety would come though the addition of storytellers, illustrators, journalists, editors, singer-songwriters, filmmakers, dramatists, and actors. It was also early in the planning stage that efforts to provide programming for a variety of age groups and that year-round programming promoting literacy, creative writing, and life-long reading would be part of the organization's vision. Over the following months the Living Skies Festival of Words was born and all of these goals would come to pass. In June 2010 the organization will formalize a name change to become the Saskatchewan Festival of Words Inc.

Volunteers
Over 140 volunteers contribute to the delivery of programming offered by the festival. Volunteers play a key role in all areas from planning programming to fundraising. The annual summer festival sees volunteers donate over 1,000 hours of time in a four-day span and is the backbone of its success.

Membership
The festival has over 500 paying members from across Canada, the United States, and as far away as Australia. Membership in the organization is a way for people to show their support for the organization. In return, members receive a regular newsletter containing information on upcoming events.

Summer Festival
The annual summer festival is the centerpiece event for the organization. It takes place in the third week of July in Moose Jaw beginning on Thursday and closing on Sunday. One of the guiding principles behind the summer festival is to provide intimate venues allowing for high levels of interaction between writers and readers. Another principle is to offer a program that promotes both established and emerging voices working in a variety of genres and mediums. Workshops, plenaries, Q&A sessions, readings, panel discussions, live entertainment and trivia contests give attendees plenty to choose from. More than 30 presenters attend each year with approximately 60 events held during the four days.

Venues
All festival events, except the Thursday night film, occur in a two-block radius in the heart of historic downtown Moose Jaw. The Moose Jaw Public Library, Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery, The Moose Jaw Cultural Centre, and the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa and Resort are the main venues of the festival.

13 Festivals and Counting
Since the first summer festival in 1997, the reputation and popularity of the Saskatchewan Festival of Words has grown. Literary heavyweights such as Margaret Atwood, Alistair MacLeod, Joy Fielding, Lorna Crozier, John Ralston Saul, Jane Urquhart, Lawrence Hill, Robert Currie, Yann Martel, Robert Sawyer, Guy Vanderhaeghe, David Adam Richards, Elizabeth Hay, Nino Ricci, Pamela Wallin, and dozens more have attended over the years.

2010 Summer Festival
The 14th annual Saskatchewan Festival of Words takes place July 15-18, 2010. The following presenters have been announced: The list will be updated as presenters are announced.
 * Yann Martel (announced at close of 2009 festival)
 * Alice Kuipers (announced at close of 2009 festival)
 * Lorna Goodison (announced at close of 2009 festival)
 * Afua Cooper

Spring Launch
In the third week in April the festival holds its annual Spring Launch announcing all confirmed presenters for the summer festival. The list of presenters had in the past been a closely guarded secret prior to the launch. However at the close of the 2009 festival, organizers broke with tradition revealing the names of three presenters for the 2010 edition with more names to be revealed over the following months through the festival's website and other communication channels. The Spring Launch also serves as the platform for announcing the recipient of the Honour's Award. Established in 2001, the award is presented annually to recognize a citizen's lifelong contribution to the community of Moose Jaw.

Festival Programme
Thursday Features
 * Film: the festival officially begins with a film on Thursday evening
 * ReadCeption: a handful of presenters give mini readings from their work.
 * Workshops: aspiring writers learn from published professionals in a number of genres. The 2009 festival offered a poetry workshop with Tom Wayman and a drama workshop with playwright Sharon Pollock.
 * Kids Ink: a half-day workshop for children ages 10-13, comprised of writing exercises, dramatic play, music, and tips to help youngsters explore creative expression.
 * The Great Big Book Club: a chance for festival attendees to discuss with the author, his or her latest work. In 2009 festival goers spent the afternoon with Joan Barfoot discussing her work Exit Lines.

Friday Features
 * Tribute Luncheon: each year the festival pays tribute to either a person or an organization.
 * Presenter Sessions: up close and personal sessions offered throughout the day giving a wide variety of options to festival goers. Anywhere from 2-4 sessions occur in a given time slot. Sessions are 50 minutes and run from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
 * Friday Feature: held in the Mae Wilson Theatre, featuring top Canadian literary talents. In 2009, moderator Mary Lou Finlay led a discussion with a panel of presenters on the topic of "How I Found My Writer's Voice."
 * Literary Trivia Night: a fun-filled literary trivia event held in a pub setting with teams of four vying for prizes and glory.

Saturday Features
 * Presenter Sessions: up close and personal sessions offered throughout the day giving a wide variety of options to festival goers. Anywhere from 2-4 sessions occur in a given time slot. Sessions are 50 minutes and run from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
 * Book Launch: each year a Saskatchewan publisher launches a new work. In 2009 Coteau Books launched Jeanette Lynes' The Factory Voice.
 * Saturday Feature: held in the Mae Wilson Theatre, featuring top Canadian literary talents. Jack Whyte took the stage in 2009 interviewed by Ed Willett.
 * Saturday Night Entertainment

Sunday Features
 * Presenter Sessions: up close and personal sessions offered in the morning. Anywhere from 2-4 sessions occur in a given time slot. Sessions are 50 minutes and run from 10:00 am to noon.
 * Wind-up Luncheon: catered lunch with entertainment, book draws, and a final chance to purchase and have books autographed.

2009 Summer Festival
Life is an Open Book was the theme of the 2009 festival, which saw over 3,500 individual paid admissions. A total of 62 events were held and 32 presenters took part in the four-day festival, including:
 * Joan Barfoot
 * Marina Endicott
 * Sharon Pollock
 * Fred Stenson
 * Tom Wayman
 * Jack Whyte

The complete schedule of events from the 2009 festival is available by clicking the image to the right.

Year-Round Programming
The Saskatchewan Festival of Words provides year-round programming to the province in three areas:

1. Outreach Services Aimed primarily at supporting literary and film artists, publishers and film companies with exposure in Saskatchewan, raising funds for the summer festival, keeping a high profile for the festival, and sponsoring the Performers Cafe in cooperation with the Writer-In-Residence program.

2. Youth Services: Aimed at promoting literacy, reading and writing skills among school-age children and young adults, and spreading word of the festival among these age groups.

3. Summer Festival: Aimed at providing wide public exposure to Canadian writers (authors, storytellers, songwriters, dramatists), and filmmakers with an emphasis on Saskatchewan content.

Program Components
Program components supporting the three above-mentioned areas include:

Books for Kids: The goal of the Books for Kids project administered by the festival is to promote literact and lifelong reading by providing books for school children to take home and read with their parents or on their own. The program is aimed at children in elementary school and in the past 11 years has distributed 3,700 books to 56 schools throughout the province and three day cares in Moose Jaw.

Writer-in-Residence: When funding allows, the festival has contracted a writer-in-residence to provide writing workshops at Moose Jaw and area schools and with local writers. Since 2008, writer/director/cowboy poet Ken Mitchell and writer Ted Dyck have completed terms as Moose Jaw writer-in-residence.

Teen Writing Experience (TWE): In partnership with Sage Hill Writing Experience, the festival organizes an annual weeklong workshop for Saskatchewan teens ages 14-18. Selected teens work with an established writer and guest presenters to learn the craft of writing. TWE begins on the Monday leading up to the summer festival and culminates with each participant reading from the work they developed during the workshop on the Friday of the festival. Billets are arranged for non-local attendees.

The Great Big Book Club: Involves participants selecting and discussing a book by a Canadian author at a weekend retreat. A version of the book club also takes place during the summer festival.

CineView Saskatchewan: This branch of the Festival, in partnership with the Toronto International Film Festival and Galaxy Entertainment, presents alternate feature films monthly through series passes and individual tickets.

Moose Jaw Honours Award: In 2001 the Festival in partnership with Heritage Moose Jaw instituted the Moose Jaw Honours Gala, an evening banquet at which a citizen of Moose Jaw and district is honoured for lifetime contributions to the community. In 2004 the format was changed and the award is now presented at the Saskatchewan Festival of Words Spring Launch in April. The 2009 Honours Award was presented to the festival founder Gary Hyland.