Over the weekend of Sept. 26 and 27, thousands of bookworms headed to downtown Toronto’s David Pecaut Square for The Word On The Street (WOTS), Canada’s largest free book and magazine festival.
It is easy to measure a major cultural festival by the size of its crowds or the star power on its stages, but the pulse of this weekend came from WOTS’s vendors. Independent publishers, local booksellers, and zine creators lined Canada’s largest outdoor book market, which was the ultimate proof that Toronto’s reading community is thriving. “We had a fabulous time at WOTS this year,” shares Anjula Gogia, manager of Another Story Bookshop. “It was so well organized and promoted, and our booth was jam-packed for the whole weekend. We were thrilled to put so many books in readers’ hands. We can’t wait for next year!”
For the York community, the weekend also carried a strong campus connection. It was impossible to miss just how deeply York’s footprint was stamped across the lineup. Several of the festival’s biggest stages featured York alumni who have turned their education into writing careers.
Among them was USA Today bestselling thriller author Jennifer Hillier, who studied Mass Communications and Psychology at York and the University of Waterloo. This academic background pairs naturally with her latest dark thriller, “Heart of Glass.” Hillier was joined by fellow York alumna Alison Gadsby, who brought her darkly speculative short story collection, “Breathing Is How Some People Stay Alive,” published by Guernica Editions.
Urbanism and Francophone literature were also strongly represented by alumni. Award-winning author Jay Pitter, who completed her Master in Environmental Studies at York, took the stage to speak on her newest release, “Black Public Joy,” exploring how cities, equity, and public spaces shape our communities. Meanwhile, Trillium Book Award winner and Glendon College alumnus Didier LeClair helped anchor a vibrant conversation on translation and identity alongside the September release of his historical thriller, “The African Prince, the Translator, and the Nazi.”
David Pecaut Square remained busy throughout the weekend. Alongside headliners like TSN investigative reporter Rick Westhead, fantasy author Kelley Armstrong, horror author Nick Cutter, and Polaris Music Prize winner Rollie Pemberton (Cadence Weapon), visitors filled the outdoor seating areas to hear panels on everything from the urban housing crisis to the resilience of Canadian arts. Nationally recognized moderator Janet McMordie, who led the “Competition and Community” panel, notes how the festival’s atmosphere elevated these discussions. “The best part was watching the conversation move beyond the books and become a genuine exchange between a group of really thoughtful writers,” she reflects, adding that the team “created a lovely space for authors, moderators, and readers to connect around books and ideas.”
With a busy marketplace alongside authors commanding the festival’s stages, the weekend offered a reminder of the role live literary events can play in Toronto’s reading community.
