TORONTO—The Word on the Street is set to educate, entertain, and remind Torontonians of the importance of literature at its annual street festival on Sunday.
All authors attending the festival are Canadian, offering visitors a great chance to find new home-grown talent, like David Suzuki and Jeff Rubin, who will appear at 3 p.m. at the festival’s Scotiabank Giller Prize Bestsellers Stage.
Welcoming eBooks, eReaders
Though ebooks are on the rise, already dominating traditional print in the U.K. (114 eBooks sold per 100 prints sold), Gentlemen says the festival hasn’t seen that impact turnout.
They have in fact welcomed eBooks and have hosted a “Sony Reader Lounge” in previous years, where people can speak to Sony staff and learn about eReaders.
The festival added “Digital Drive” in 2010, allowing people to discuss how the digital revolution affects all aspects of publishing, including social media, eBook publishing, online magazines, and more.
The Scribendi.com Workshop Marquee will host a segment called “Straight to eBook” this year, where an ebook author and Iguana Books, an eBook publisher, will discuss the revolution.
Many exhibitors have both paper and ebook versions of their books.
Expanded Program Site
The festival is within walking distance from the Queen’s Park or Museum stations on the Yonge-University-Spadina line, or the Bay or St.George stations on the Bloor-Danforth line.
The festival is also bike-friendly. “Festival patrons are encouraged to leave their car at home and use pedal power to make their way to The Word On The Street,” states the website. A free bike checkup will be given at the festival’s south end.
This year, the Toronto location has expanded its program site, stretching from the Queen’s Park turf, where the festival has been constrained to in the last eight years. Now it stretches from Bloor to College.
“We’re interspersing the author venues into the exhibitor marketplace, so we’re going for a very lively site location,” says Gentlemen.
It has also stretched its programming to 13 venues, with two new additions this year—a non-fiction and a Penguin Pavilion venue.
Renowned Programming
