After 15 years Anne Green passes the reins to Jo Steffens
According to Anne Green the departing general director of WordFest it’s the small things that stick. There was the time Todd Babiak was reading at The Banff Centre and mentioned a train whistle just as that very sound rippled up the Bow Valley. There was the time that a light dusting of snow fell on the city and the authors from warmer climes infected everyone with their bristling meteorological joy.
After 15 years as the founding director and steering the festival from an event with about 40 authors and 25 events to a sprawling literary shindig with more than 70 authors and 60 events Green is finally hanging up her reading glasses (at least in a professional capacity).
It would seem a perfect time to step aside with a changing industry and a successful festival firmly entrenched in the city’s cultural consciousness.
“I wouldn’t say that the changes in the industry has any influence on my decision” says Green. “The industry is changing and there is new technology and I did say that some people don’t have to work quite as hard as I have to to stay on top of the curve with the new technology. The festival has always been very interested in using the technology.”
“I think it’s important that somebody is here that is forward looking with that media.”
That somebody is Jo Steffens a Calgary native who has spent the last 10 years in New York City. Steffens was the curator at the Municipal Arts Society where she oversaw the organization’s library. She was a founding board member of the Independent Booksellers of New York City. She has edited books and was the senior editor for an entertainment website with a books section which she oversaw.
Taking the reins of Calgary’s premiere literary festival however wasn’t even on her radar until the call went out.
“I was not intimately familiar with it. WordFest started actually the year that I left Calgary” says Steffens 10 days after arriving back in the city.
“I applied for the job. A friend in Chicago who said he was looking out for me sent me an ad that was in one of the publisher’s weekly trade journals.”
Needless to say the immediate run-up to a large festival is a hectic time and Steffens is simply trying to keep her feet under her. She already possesses a natural knack for promotion and cautious language and she has no immediate plans for any big changes.
“It’s a little too early. It has been a whirlwind and I’m really excited about this year’s festival. Naturally my mind has gone a little bit toward next year but really I’m focused on this year’s festival” she says.
“Nothing definite. I just want to maintain Anne’s legacy. I want to tweak maybe little things if it seems like the right thing to do. I don’t like a top-down approach; I really prefer an organic approach.”
Steffens has experience editing architecture books including Unpacking My Library which looks at the bookshelves of architects.
“Well I’m interested in some programming that would include non-fiction writers writing about the city. You can also of course invite fiction writers who also write on the city but that’s a topic that I’d like to pursue possibly” says Steffens.
She’s also interested in some of the multimedia books that are entering the market with increasing frequency but she says the rise of e-books happily doesn’t affect the festival or its organization. This is about people getting together face-to-face to share a love of literature.
This year her primary role is straightforward.
“I’m attached to Anne and I’m shadowing her and meeting as many people as I can and getting out to as many events as possible” she says.
As for Green she’s looking forward to taking it easy for a while.
“My first plan is to just take a little time for myself spend a little time with my family and take care of a few things that are sitting on my floor at home waiting for me just catch up on my life a little bit” she says.
And will the festival be giving her a lifetime pass to the festival she helped create and nurture?
“I actually would be really offended if they didn’t” she says.
