Jane Urquhart, one of Canada’s best-loved authors, will be headlining the 2025 Lakefield Literary Festival on July 18 and 19.
Along with Urquhart, the lineup of Canadian authors at this year’s festival includes Jennifer Robson, Helen Humphreys, Martha Baillie, Adelle Purdham, Sheung-King a.k.a. Aaron Tang, Canisia Lubrin, Lana Button, and Nadia Hohn.
Over two days at the Bryan Jones Theatre at Lakefield College School (along with the popular children’s tent at Cenotaph Park), each author will present their latest work, engage in spirited conversations with a moderator, respond to audience questions, and sign their books. There will also be a reception with the festival authors.
The festival kicks off on Friday, July 18 at 7 p.m. in the Bryan Jones Theatre with “Imagining History,” where authors Jennifer Robson (born and raised in Peterborough) and Helen Humphreys (born in England and currently living in Kingston) will discuss their respective works of historical fiction.
Robson’s Coronation Year brings a diverse cast of characters together in London’s Blue Lion hotel on the eve of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, where they encounter an unexpected menace that threatens to destroy the celebration. Humphreys’ Followed by a Lark explores the upheaval of 19th-century life through the eyes of the American writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau, author of Walden; or, Life in the Woods, imagining his experiences in a world transformed by rushing industrial change.
The festival continues at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 19 with the children’s tent at Cenotaph Park featuring Lana Button, author of Cow Said Boo, and Nadia Hohn, author of Malaika Carnival Queen.
Back in the Bryan Jones Theatre at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, “Family Matters” will see Toronto writer Martha Baillie and Peterborough writer Adelle Purdham discuss their two memoirs focusing on the challenges of family life, including mental illness and disability.
Baillie’s There Is No Blue is a trilogy of essays about her own dysfunctional family that won the 2024 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Non-Fiction. Purdham’s debut book I Don’t Do Disability and Other Lies I’ve Told Myself is a series of essays that focus on the challenges of raising a daughter with Down syndrome.
During “New Dimensions” at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday in the Bryan Jones Theatre, Vancouver-born Sheung-King (the pen name of Aaron Tang, who now divides his time between Toronto and China) and St. Lucia-born poet Canisia Lubrin (currently living in Whitby) will discuss their works that reflect the international nature of contemporary Canadian literature.
Tang’s second novel Batshit Seven, which won the 2024 Atwood-Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, explores the transnational experience of a displaced millenial languishing in Hong Kong and dreaming of Canada.
Lubrin’s debut novel Code Noir, named after the infamous set of 1685 decrees regulating ownership of slaves in all French colonies, explores black life in the Americas throughout history. Her book, which was shortlisted for the 2024 Atwood Gibson Fiction prize, just won the $150,000 U.S. 2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction — the largest international literary prize for women writers.
At 5 p.m., festival-goers can gather at Lakefield College School to mix and mingle with all the authors and enjoy served hors d’oeuvres and a wine and beer cash bar.
The festival concludes in the Bryan Jones Theatre at 7 p.m. on Saturday, when Jane Urquhart will discuss her latest novel In Winter I Get Up at Night. Longlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize, the book transforms the everyday reality of a Saskatchewan teacher into a sweeping tale of love and loss in mid-century Canada.
Urquhart, who lives in Colborne in Northumberland County, is the author of eight internationally acclaimed novels.
Her debut novel, 1986’s The Whirlpool, is the only Canadian novel ever to win France’s Prix du Meilleur livre etranger (Best Foreign Book Award). Her subsequent novels were even more successful, with 1993’s national bestseller Away winning the Trillium Award, 1997’s The Underpainter winning the Governor General’s Literary Award, and 2001’s The Stone Carvers a finalist for the Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award and longlisted for the Booker Prize.
Admission to individual events at the Lakefield Literary Festival is $30 (except for the reception which costs $50), with a $100 pass available for all the events except the reception and a $135 all-access pass for all events including the reception. Admission to the children’s tent is free.
Tickets and passes are available now at lakefieldliteraryfestival.com.
The Lakefield Literary Festival was established in 1995 as a celebration of Margaret Laurence, who lived in Lakefield from 1974 until her death in 1987, 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 also lived and wrote in Lakefield.
