This year’s festival is bigger and better than ever
With an expanded schedule that includes panel discussions, live chats and more, there’s something for every book-lover
The Word On The Street festival isn’t back on the streets just yet — but it’s bigger and better than ever, with plans in the works for a new hybrid festival and year-round programming for authors and book-lovers alike.
The 2021 WOTS festival includes three virtual stages where panelists participate in “kitchen table” conversations during an expanded programming schedule. Rather than a single weekend, the festival runs until Sun. Sept. 26, with up to eight panels each day. Book-lovers can watch digital events live, but they can also watch any of the panels on-demand, year-round. And all programming is free.
Moving forward, WOTS is expanding from an annual in-person event every September to a year-long hybrid model involving both in-person and virtual programming. Festival organizers plan to continue this hybrid model into next year, with an in-person celebration to cap off the year held in the spring (starting in 2022) and a secondary event in fall.
Last year, festival organizers tried to replicate the feel of the in-person event in a digital format, with plans to switch back to the traditional format this year. But with too many uncertainties surrounding the COVID -19 pandemic, they decided to cancel the in-person event for 2021 — but take a new (and inspired) approach.
“Last year, we realized we were going to have to transition into a virtual space pretty quickly, so in 2020 our focus was on capturing that same kind of sprit of the in-person festival,” says Rebecca Diem, digital strategy and communications manager of The Word On The Street Toronto. “This year, we’re really leaning into the advantages of doing it virtually again before pivoting to a hybrid model.”
When the pandemic hit, “we thought it would be an end to this beautiful festival,” she says. But instead, WOTS set up a digital studio and started testing virtual events.
In July 2020, WOTS established The City Imagines, a monthly streaming event about books that shape cities. And while it’s civic-minded, it’s also fun. In February, for example, gossip columnist Lainey Lui interviewed author Adam Bunch on his book, The Toronto Book of Love, a collection of romantic stories from Toronto’s past.
Festival organizers also started an ongoing Book of the Month series. “It’s an interesting format where we can go deeper into the ‘behind the scenes’ of what shaped that author’s story,” says Diem. “It’s not just a straight reading — it allows for that deeper connection between the reader and the author.”
The virtual format also allows WOTS to feature authors from coast to coast to coast. “It is far more accessible for creatives living in other cities,” says Diem. “It’s really expanded our ability to highlight Canadian and Indigenous authors from all over Canada.”
With on-demand content, WOTS is accessible to more book-lovers. “Our YouTube channel has dozens of amazing conversations between authors, panelists and thought leaders from all over Canada,” says Diem. “When we started out with virtual programming, our YouTube channel had 12 subscribers. Now we have 600. And our content is evergreen — it’s up there year-round.”
For this year’s festival, WOTS partnered with local bookstores and Kobo to offer a book-shopping experience for titles featured at the festival. “And we’ve set up a limited number of in-person, socially distanced book signings,” says Diem. “So, we’re supporting authors and bookstores by having three authors in each of our official bookseller locations to do book signings.”
Once it’s safe to do so, WOTS will return to an in-person festival model — going back to the streets — but with a hybrid component that makes the festival accessible to book-lovers anywhere in the country.