Each year Wordfest selects and interviews writers from its annual Festival who have received a GG award in various categories.

The interviews explore the writing process, the impact of winning a Governor General’s Literary Award and the contribution of the literary arts to Canada’s cultural landscape.

Kenneth - Oppel - Wordfest - 2014 - GG - Podcast

Kate - Pullinger - Wordfest - 2014 - GG - Podcast

Kim - Thuy - Wordfest - 2014 - GG - Podcast

Round - Table - Wordfest - 2014 - GG - Podcast

Since 2011, the GG Podcast has featured readings and conversations with past nominees and recipients of the prestigious Governor General'd Literary Awards in the categories of Fiction, Children's Literature Text, Children's Literature Illustration, Drama, Poetry and Non-Fiction.

To kick off this year's edition of the GG podcast, this short episode shares some highlights from the podcast of the last five years.

2015 GG Podcast - Highlights from Past Episodes

In this episode, we feature Elizabeth Hay who was a GG finalist in 1997 for her novel, Small Change. She was also a finalist in 2003 for her novel, Garbo Laughs.

This year, Elizabeth Hay graced the Big Secret Theatre in Calgary for 20th anniversary Wordfest. In advance of her appearance, we asked a fan of her most recent novel to review the book for us.

In the live-recording portion of the episode, Elizabeth Hay reads from her new novel, His Whole Life, and then chats with host Lisa Murphy-Lamb about truth-telling in fiction.

2015 GG Podcast - Elizabeth Hay

This episode features Cathy Ostlere. The theatrical adaptation of her first book, Lost: A Memoir, earned her a nomination for a 2012 Governor General's Literary Award for Drama. The memoir is a heartrending story of a woman’s search for her missing brother.

Cathy Ostlere appeared in a unique event at the 20th anniversary Wordfest in October 2015 where she confessed to the audience a secret that she kept from her family.

2015 GG Podcast - Cathy Ostlere

Activism is broken. In recent years we have witnessed the largest protests in human history. And yet these mass mobilizations no longer change society. Now protest is at a crossroads: innovation or irrelevance. Drawing on his unique experience as a founder of Occupy Wall Street, in his first book, The End of Protest, Micah White explores the theory, tactics and principles of social change. He appears in conversation with Blake Brooker, live at the Big Secret Theatre in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Micah White in Conversation with Blake Brooker

Wordfest is a not-for-profit organization that brings readers and writers together through the power of story. Wordfest’s main event is a literary festival each October that features upwards of 70 writers from the local, national and international stage. The Festival has approximately 65 separate events and attracts an audience of over 14,000. Events during the Festival and year-round include poetry and spoken word performances, current event panels, publishing industry workshops, youth and multilingual programming and marquee showcases that feature the biggest and brightest stars of the book scene. They often include music, visuals and technology.