STARFest returns to St. Albert

Book lovers gathered in St. Albert for the final night of the St. Albert Reader’s Festival, commonly known as STARFest. The annual festival has a long tradition of uniting readers and writers.

“There’s a really, really strong community of readers in St. Albert that are really excited about literature, and they just really love the events,” said, Michelle Steinhusen, Director of STARFest.

Every October, STARFest turns into a gathering place for writers and readers of all ages.

Notable writers in attendance included author Waubgeshig Rice. Rice has received recognition for his work around the country, including being named as one of the Indigenous novelists reshaping North American science fiction, horror and fantasy by The New York Times.

“I feel really fortunate to be able to contribute that growing body of work. But you know the publishing industry has traditionally been like many industries. There’s systemic racism that’s involved, there’s an underlying representation of people of colour especially. So when there’s that lack of proper representation within the actual structure of the industry itself of there’s gonna be roadblocks that people like me naturally come up against,” said Waubgeshig Rice, Author of Moon of the Turning Leaves.

In addition to the nationally acclaimed books Legacy and Moon of the Crusted Snow, he is the author of the collection of short stories Midnight Sweatlodge.

STARFest took place from Sept. 24 to Nov. 1.

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