Media Release
For immediate
release
July 18, 2005
Margaret Atwood to accept The Banff Centre’s National Arts Award at WordFest 2005
Banff Distinguished Author Series: Margaret Atwood
Saturday, October 15, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Main Dining Room, The Banff Centre
Tickets $16
Margaret Atwood, one of Canada’s most important literary figures, winner of the Booker Prize, the Governor General’s Award, and the Giller Prize, poet, novelist, essayist, critic, and children’s book author, will add another honour to a career-long list of accolades. The Banff Centre has named Atwood as the latest recipient of the Banff Centre National Arts Award, and will present her with the prize on October 15 as part of the Banff Distinguished Author Series at WordFest: Banff-Calgary International Writers Festival.
Best known for her poetry and eleven topical, thought-provoking novels, beginning with The Edible Woman in 1969, and continuing through Surfacing, The Handmaid’s Tale, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, and 2003’s Oryx and Crake, Atwood is a literary star whose work transcends Canada’s borders. Noted for her feminism and mythological themes, Atwood's work has been regarded as a barometer of feminist thought. She has also been a tireless advocate for human rights and artists around the world, and has been closely identified with both PEN Canada and Amnesty International through much of her career. She brings along her latest novel, The Penelopiad, an extraordinary retelling of the Homeric story of Penelope and her hanged maids to this year’s WordFest.
The National Arts Award was first given in 1951 originally as the University of Alberta National Arts Awards, and continued by The Banff Centre beginning in 1980. Recipients of this distinguished prize read like a who’s who of the top artists in Canada in visual, literary, and performing arts. Past honourees include Zacharias Kunuk, Timothy Findley, Denys Arcand, Douglas Cardinal, Robertson Davies, R. Murray Schafer, Margaret Laurence, W.O. Mitchell, Jack McClelland, Maureen Forrester, Vincent Massey, A.Y. Jackson, and Mazo de la Roche.
Today, the National Arts Award consists of a $5,000 cash prize and a two-week creative residency at The Banff Centre’s Leighton Artists’ Studios. The award rotates each year between literary arts (including playwriting), media and visual arts, theatre or dance, music or opera, and Aboriginal arts. It recognizes significant contributions to the development of the arts in Canada, with an emphasis on artists who have dedicated a portion of their careers to the development of the next generation of artists.
WordFest: Banff-Calgary International Writers Festival, one of Canada’s premier literary events, celebrates its 10th Anniversary October 12 to 16. An all-star roster of national and international writers headline readings, panel discussions, poetry cabarets, and other literary adventures for kids, youth and adults.
The Banff Distinguished Author Series, sponsored by The Banff Centre, is an annual WordFest celebration of leading voices in writing today. Tickets for this event can be purchased through Ticketmaster at (403) 777-0000 or The Banff Centre Box Office at (403) 762-6301 or 1-800-413-8368.
Media Contact
Jill Sawyer
Media and Communications Officer, The Banff Centre
403.762.6475