Bookfest Windsor to feature 'brilliant array' of authors

Bookfest Windsor is back for its 20th instalment this year. The literary festival gets underway starting on Thursday and runs through the weekend as a virtual event.

Irene Moore Davis, chair of the festival's program committee, joined CBC Radio's Windsor Morning on Thursday to give us a read on what's in store this year.

"We have such a wonderful, brilliant array [of authors]," she said.

"We're really excited about our spotlight on Indigenous authors, which is happening Saturday night. Really fantastic writers from the Indigenous community across Canada," she said, referencing authors including Bevann Fox, John McDonald and Chief Stacey Laforme.

This year's festival features about three dozen writers in total, and a vast range of subjects.

"We've got Thursday night thrillers... three books all about true crime based in here in Canada," Moore Davis said.

One of those books is Will Toffan's Watching the Devil Dance, which is about a spree of murders in Windsor in the 1960s.

Saturday afternoon's programming is a celebration of Black history featuring authors Cheryl Thompson, Rochelle Riley and Funké Aladejebi.

Like last year, this year's event is taking place online only. While festival organizers are looking forward to getting back to an in-person event, potentially next year, the all-online format has the advantage of being open to anyone anywhere.

Access to the entire festival is priced at just $15.

"We're able to do that this year because we're not bringing people in on planes and trains and housing them in hotels. So we have a pretty low price this year and we hope everyone will avail themselves of the opportunity to celebrate literature with us," Moore Davis said.