By Yepoka Yeebo
When two Ottawa bookworms decided to start a literary festival, nobody thought it would work.
They were told they would run out of local talent, that no one would turn up. Ottawa was a big city, but the writing scene was small-town.
But Neil and Sean Wilson, the founders of the Ottawa International Writers Festival, decided in 1997 to go ahead, and in a big way.
The brothers got big-name writers on board, like Margaret Atwood and Ontario native Yann Martel, who won Britain’s Booker Prize in 2002.
The festival is now a massive bi-annual event held in Centretown.
It attracts coast-to-coast media coverage and spotlights Ottawa’s literary scene.
This year’s festival included internationally acclaimed authors like Lydia Kaw, Camilla Gibb and Devyani Saltzman, as well as personalities like former U.S. ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci.
The past nine years have seen the growth of Ottawa’s already vibrant scene, both in size and diversity.
Workshops, reading series, open-mike readings, independent magazines and small presses all increasingly display a wealth of talent.
It’s an explosion some attribute to the eclectic spirit of the festival.
“The beauty of Ottawa is that you can be a self-starter if you don’t see anything going on,” says Amanda Earl, the managing editor of Bywords, a poetry magazine for current and former Ottawa residents, which also hosts online listings of literary events.
James Moran is a Centretown resident and director of one of Ottawa’s longest running literary events – the Tree Reading Series – which celebrated its 25th anniversary at the festival.
He says the writers festival gives local writers a chance to see authors who would not normally make it to Ottawa.
“Ottawa is a very receptive place. There are a lot of writers, a lot of responsive people, and a lot of funding,” says Moran.
“The festival gives it annual focus, and it’s really inspiring for local writers.”
And Centretown seems to be emerging as the hub for the scene.
“You notice it a bit more in Centretown,” says Steve Zytveld, co-ordinator of the Dusty Owl reading series.
“There are more small independent bookstores where you can encounter local writers, and it’s more pedestrian, so people are more likely to see flyers for events.”
The festival set out with a very local focus, which Wilson says sometimes gets lost in a city full of national institutions.
“(They) end up doing work that doesn’t reflect the people of the city,” he says.
“So you’ll find a local theatre group competing for funding against the National Arts Center, where it’s rare to see local work.”
Between 15 and 20 per cent of the writers every year are from the Ottawa area, and Wilson says more are emerging and, more importantly, staying in Ottawa.
At the same time, however, the lack of major publishers and creative writing courses in Ottawa can drive residents to seek greener pastures in Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver.
But Moran stresses that it depends on what the writer wants.
He says the spirit of the self- starter means there are still plenty of opportunities to get published in the city, and cautions against being complacent.
“I think they’re lazy. If there’s nothing there, start something,” says Wilson.
“We did. Look how it turned out.”