Blog: You wouldn’t expect a small city like Moose Jaw to be the centre of the literary world, writes ex-pat Rebecca Lawrence.

But that’s just what happened last weekend at the 14th annual Saskatchewan Festival of Words.

Many renowned authors took part, talking about their work and giving advice to budding writers.

It is amazing that a city of 35,000 people is able to play host to such an incredible festival. Guests included Man Booker prize-winning novelist Yann Martel and Canadian novelist and editor MG Vassanji.

Normally you would expect to have to travel to a much larger city to hear so many authors speak and enjoy a weekend discussing books and writing.

But the people of Moose Jaw have this opportunity right on their doorstep.

The festival began in 1996 after Moose Jaw poet Gary Hyland came up with the idea when he realized there were no literary festivals in the Prairie provinces.

It has now been running for 14 years and is extremely well known and loved in Canada.

Through work I was able to take in a few festival events and I was privileged to meet Canadian author Jack Hodgins, an award-winning writer living on Vancouver Island.

He is best known for his novels The Invention of the World and The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne.

Hodgins held a writing workshop for non-beginners. It was his first time at the festival and he told me it is an event respected across the country.

“It’s remarkable that the town and community can host something like this,” he told me.

I went to hear author Steven Galloway read from his novels Finnie Walsh and the Cellist of Sarajevo.

He was extremely amusing and said if his parents had kitted him out in hockey gear perhaps his career would have gone another way – instead they made him read.

In a previous interview with Galloway, he told me the Festival of Words is one of only two invitations he had accepted to read at this summer.

He told me he loves coming to Moose Jaw because of the enthusiasm of the crowd.

“It seems like everyone in town comes out to these events and you get to talk with readers in a way you do not have the opportunity (to) at larger festivals,

“I would never say no to Moose Jaw. I like the entire province of Saskatchewan,” he said.

During the festival I also listened to Alice Kuipers, a British author who moved to Saskatoon about seven years ago.

I enjoyed her reading so much I ran down to the festival’s book store to buy her novel Life on the Refrigerator Door and returned quickly enough for her to sign it for me.

The festival is so successful because it is very intimate and really gives readers a chance to interact with authors.

For more information, see www.festivalofwords.com