Alberta has a rich cultural landscape and an expanding arts community. If you’re a writer looking to meet others in your industry, let me share the most established writers festivals in the province. You may meet your next agent!
9+ writers festivals in AB
*in alphabetical order*
Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival
Website: https://www.banffcentre.ca/banffmountainfestival
Where: Banff
When: Nov 1-9, 2025
What can I expect? This festival started in 1976 and has become a staple in the Canadian (and beyond!) storytelling landscape. From their website, “We promote understanding and appreciation of the world’s mountain places by creating opportunities for people to share and find inspiration in mountain experiences, ideas, and visions. Following the festival each fall, our annual World Tour reaches more than 45 countries on 7 continents, making us the largest adventure film tour on the planet.” Wow! You’ll experience panels, special events, networking, live readings and screenings, and more. This festival is busy and inspired.
Edmonton Poetry Festival
Website: https://edmontonpoetryfestival.com/
Where: Edmonton
When: The month of April, 2025
What can I expect? A diverse and interesting assortment of events running the entire month! It’s their 20th anniversary. This festival focuses on amplifying local voices and fostering creativity. Poetry slams and readings, cross-city events, and a multitude of craft-improving activities are in store for those who attend, not to mention the networking potential!
LitFest Alberta
Website: https://litfestalberta.org/
Where: Edmonton
When: October, 2025
What can I expect? Canada’s first and only nonfiction festival, LitFest Alberta offers remarkably challenging programming to attendees looking to improve their craft. The festival highlights tough topics involving heavy trauma, but does a great job of balancing them out with uplifting and connecting moments between attendees.
STARFest
Website: https://www.starfest.ca/
Where: St. Albert
When: October 17-28, 2024; TBD 2025
What can I expect? STARfest attracts top-quality authors for panels and keynote, many with Canadian literary awards, so it should come as no surprise to learn the festival focuses on fostering creativity by pairing seasoned authors with neophyte ones. If you enjoy intimate and engaging conversations with authors and writers, this is the festival for you.
Taleblazers
Website: https://www.yabs.ab.ca/taleblazers/
Where: Alberta
When: October-November, 2024
What can I expect? An annual children’s literature festival directed specifically to children and youth with lots of positive exposure and conversations with authors. This festival is unique in that it operates across the entire province and also offers “bookings” rather than static festival events—though there are some of those too. You’ll need a membership to the organization to enjoy this festival.
The Word On The Street
Website: https://thewordonthestreet.ca/lethbridge/
Where: Lethbridge
When: September 20, 2025
What can I expect? This is Southern Alberta’s biggest literary event, and it shows! You’ll find creative panels, a book table, tons of conversation and collaboration, and skill building at this one-day event. It is a fun day for all, but particularly writers who can take advantage of the programming.
The Writers’ Guild of Alberta Conference
Website: https://writersguild.ca/
Where: Calgary
When: June 7-8, 2025
What can I expect? This is a serious event filled with structured programming dealing with literary and market trends. The workshops and panels, masterclasses, and networking opportunities will help you strengthen your writing craft and increase your confidence in moving forward with your writing career. You’ll find precise information on improving your craft here.
When Words Collide
Website: https://www.whenwordscollide.org/
Where: Calgary
When: August 15-17, 2025
What can I expect? Every August, authors and writers of all calibres come to Calgary to attend this writing festival that strives to give insight into the business of writing, as well as provide inspiration for ongoing projects. Aside from the regular programming you’d expect to find, the festival also has a writing contest called the War of Words that you can enter your work into. Who knows, you may find a new home for your work.
Wordfest’s Imaginairium Festival
Website: https://wordfest.com/
Where: Calgary
When: October 15-19, 2025
What can I expect? Wordfest provides year-round programming on top of this yearly festival. As the name suggests, it’s focused on creative possibility and output. Since 1996, Wordfest has been introducing authors to new ideas, new friends, and new outlooks. Improve your skills through the festival’s workshops, panels, and networking opportunities.
Is it writers festival or writer’s festival or writers’ festival?
Ah, an editorial note. Surprise! (Borrowed from my OG article on this for BC.)
What’s correct, writers festival or writer’s festival or writers’ festival? You’re going to love the answer. It depends! It depends on your preference, and what way you wish to stress the phrase. Is it a group of writers getting together, a festival for writers, a festival by writers, something all of the above? And since it comes down to usage, really, I took a look at Google Ngrams to see which form took precedence.
Writers festival is seeing a strong uptick in recent years, which is no surprise when you consider the wider linguistic trend of “less-is-more” punctuation. For example, CMOS recently changed the rule for a comma before the word “too” (such as used above in this very article). That said, writers’ festival still outshines the other two spellings. As such, I’ll provide one more argument to why writers festival is gaining traction and is perhaps the more correct usage these days: Merriam-Webster’s entry for farmers market. It is the preferred spelling for the event, over farmer’s market and farmers’ market.
Which do you use?
Right Your Writing 