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Ritter’s Digest | Author Erika Ritter plans to “plop some huge ideas on the table” at Litfest this weekend.

LITFEST
Various venues. Oct 21-25. Tickets available through TIX on the Square (420-1757/tixonthesquare.ca). Info and full schedule: www.litfestalberta.org.

Brain food. Is it the ooey-gooey equivalent of a sweet cinnamon roll, or perhaps the heartiness of an Alberta sirloin steak? Or maybe it’s the crisp simplicity of a Granny Smith apple or an exotic rich curry.

According to festival director David Cheoros, this year’s Edmonton International Literary Festival (a.k.a. Litfest) has something to appeal to every kind of taste. “Our theme for this year’s festival is ‘Brain Food,’ which is a very apt phrase,” he says. “As writers and readers, we’re all fed by ideas. Ideas nourish us as much as the food we eat. So we’re thrilled to have such a great smorgasbord of ideas for people to choose from.”

Litfest is one of the few literary festivals in Canada that focuses exclusively on nonfiction, and this year 29 writers are in the lineup to discuss their books, as well as issues surrounding themes in their work — themes as wide-ranging as addiction and mental health (courtesy of Dr. Gabor Mate’s In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts) to the experiences of men and women in polygamous communities in Bountiful, B.C (The Secret Lives of Saints by Daphne Bramham) to the rediscovery of classical music (Eric Siblin’s Cello Suites).

“One of the things that excites me about Litfest is that it’s all about crafting intimate experiences for audiences,” Cheoros says. “Reading a writer’s words is an incredibly intimate act. It’s a cerebral connection between reader and writer, and our events at Litfest try to reflect that intimacy by creating a real opportunity for exchange and dialogue between readers and writers.”

Many of the events are panel discussions, like “The Art of Memory,” in which Marusya Bociurkiw, Caterina Edwards and Leilah Nadir will discuss the challenges of adapting personal experiences into written memoir. Other events, like “A Brunch of Writers” and the “Nonfiction Kitchen Party,” use food and music to enhance the audience’s experience and exchange of ideas and discussion.

And for writers coming to Litfest, the experience is akin to going to summer camp. “I’m excited about meeting everyone and sharing ideas,” says local author Caterina Edwards. “It’s so inspiring to talk with other writers and to discuss their work. I always get a renewed sense of interest in my own work by talking with writers who have had similar experiences.” Edwards’ new book, Finding Rosa, is both a biography of her mother and a memoir of her own experiences as she helps her mother battle Alzheimer’s.

Edwards is also involved behind the scenes at Litfest, helping organizers to choose and invite writers from across the country. “Canada has such a rich literary tradition,” she says, “and it’s wonderful to be able to bring so many talented and celebrated writers to Edmonton. It’s a great opportunity for everyone to personally connect and discuss this kind of work. Sometimes nonfiction writers are overlooked at festivals, because nonfiction isn’t always considered creative work. But there’s great literary importance to a lot of nonfiction, and we’re delighted to celebrate it in Edmonton.”

For Erika Ritter, the well-known author, dramatist and journalist, it’s the chance to debate and discuss that draws her to Litfest. “I’m really looking forward to great conversations about so many different topics,” she says. “Literary nonfiction is a fast-growing genre, and I’m glad to see that there’s a festival that truly recognizes it for its value to the literary world.”

Ritter’s own work recently focuses on the uncomfortable politics of human-animal interaction. Her book The Dog by the Cradle, The Serpent Beneath is a critical look about the way humans treat the animals that share their lives and their environment. Unflinching, and for animal lovers, sometimes uncomfortable, Ritter’s essays are bound to raise plenty of issues to lead to those “great conversations.”

“That’s the beauty of a nonfiction festival,” Ritter says. “Huge ideas are plopped on the table, and it’s a chance for all of us to put on our critical thinking hats and to discuss issues we’re passionate about.”