The Lakefield Literary Festival is bringing Canadian journalist and author Steve Paikin to Lakefield College School’s Bryan Jones Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 22nd for a conversation about the current state of political leadership in Canada.
Best known as the award-winning host of TVO’s flagship current affairs program The Agenda with Steve Paikin, the Hamilton native is also the author of eight books, including his critically acclaimed 2022 John Turner: An Intimate Biography of Canada’s 17th Prime Minister. Paikin is also a documentary producer, whose Return to the Warsaw Ghetto won the Silver Screen Award at the US International Film and Video Festival, and a political podcaster.
A graduate of the University of Toronto with a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University, Paikin also holds honorary doctorates from McMaster University, Victoria University, Laurentian University, York University, and honorary diplomas from Humber College, Centennial College, Mohawk College, and Fanshawe College. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in December 2013 and invested into the Order of Ontario in January 2014.
The March 22nd conversation with Paikin, which will be moderated by Lakefield Literary Festival board chair John Boyko, will also include a question-and-answer session withthe audience and an opportunity to meet Paikin and have a book signed.
Tickets of the event cost $30 and are available in person at Happenstance Books and Yarns 44 Queen Street in Lakefield or online at lakefieldliteraryfestival.com.
Attendees at the event will also be the first to hear about the author lineup for the annual festival, which will take place on July 19 and 20 in Lakefield.
The Lakefield Literary Festival was established in 1995 as a celebration of Margaret Laurence, but has since become a celebration of the rich literary heritage of Lakefield and the surrounding area, including the works of Catharine Parr Traill, Susanna Moodie, and Isabella Valancy Crawford, all of whom lived and wrote in Lakefield.
The festival celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2019 and, after a three-year pandemic hiatus, resumed in 2023 with Waubgeshig Rice, Kai Thomas, Sheila Heti, Harley Rustad, Iain Reid, and Catherine Hernandez among the Canadian authors attending.
