The AfterWords Literary Festival was co-founded by Ryan Turner and Stephanie Domet, and in the fall of 2019 its inaugural edition featured twenty writers from across Canada, the United States, and abroad.  

In 2020 and 2021, due to COVID-19, the festival went online and presented a similar slate of writers, including New York Times bestselling author Roxane Gay and Booker-nominated novelist Avni Doshi. The festival also hosted widely acclaimed Canadian authors such as Lawrence Hill, Katherena Vermette, Souvankham Thammavongsa, and Sheila Heti. In 2022, the festival returned to primarily in-person events, hosting authors such as Jody Wilson-Raybould, David Bergen, Jesse Wente, and Kim Stanley Robinson. And in partnership with Halifax Central Library, we expanded our children's events into a full weekend of programming in both English and French.  In 2023, we'll once again present in-person programming in venues around Halifax, November 1 to 5. Sign up for our e-newsletter to find out who's coming to AfterWords this year.