July 14, 2022 – Kingston, Ontario – For Immediate Release: Kingston WritersFest announces Heather  O’Neill, Joshua Whitehead, Maude Barlow and Gabor Maté among its author line up for Fall 2022, and following a 2-year hiatus, the return to an in-person Festival September 28-October 2. 

Artistic Director Aara Macauley revealed the major highlights of the 2022 season Wednesday night at  the new intimate event space Curate.Social, including the return of favourite events like Author! Author!  (Guy Gavriel Kay) The Big Idea, and Book Lover’s Lunch, as well as exciting new additions like a Literary  Trivia Night (hosted by Ali Hassan) and Last Chapter Brunch (David Adams Richards). 

“This year’s festival is all about celebrating where we are – back together, in person, and reflecting on  what we, collectively, have navigated over the past two years,” said Macauley. “Our theme for  2022 is Beneath the Surface, and it recognizes the desire to have deeper conversations about the issues  and causes that have dominated our thoughts, and the headlines since COVID-19’s appearance.” 

Events centered around mental health and addiction, environmental, political and social activism, and  racial, cultural, gender and sexual identity are in the foreground of this year’s Festival. This is also a  celebration of excellent writing, and there are numerous award-winning authors returning with exciting  new works of fiction, poetry and nonfiction. 

Carol Off will return to host The Big Idea, welcoming Tajja Isen, Stephen Marche, and Robyn Maynard  for conversation around (an investigation into) the weaponization of words, like freedom, facist, and  woke, which have seen their meanings twist and transform to inject odious ideas into the public space. 

Macauley also presented the marquee event in KWF’s new Beneath the Surface series: The Myth of  Normal featuring Gabor Maté, an internationally renowned author and speaker who is highly sought  after for his expertise on addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the relationship of stress. 

Authors Shyam Selvadurai, Nita Prose, Martha Wainwright, Eva Stachniak, and Elamin Abdelmahmoud  were also announced, as were local-grown talents like Nancy Jo Cullen, Iain Reid, Helen Humpreys, 

Merilyn Simonds, and more. Local author and poet Sarah Tsiang, who read from her new poetry  collection, Grappling Hook during the launch event, will also be featured as part of the Fall festival. 

Now entering its 14th festival season, Kingston WritersFest also announces the return of their popular  immersive 2- or 4-day writing retreat. The Retreat features 12 Writers Studio Master Classes, instructed  by a curated faculty comprised of award-winning, and renowned Canadian authors.  

Kingston WritersFest runs from September 28 – October 2, 2022 at the newly renovated Holiday Inn Kingston Waterfront. 

For more on Kingston WritersFest, this year’s events, and author line up visit kingstonwritersfest.ca. Festival Passes and single event tickets are now on sale.