Word on the Street - Have you heard?

At first glance, all you see is a bunch of white tents and tables with some books on it. There's nothing particularly snazzy about this. There are no bright colours, no deafening music, no giant sculpture. But then, you take a second glance. That's when you see it: what appeared to be a few tents with a few books has suddenly turned into a street festival.Word on the Street is an annual festival that runs the last Sunday of September. It covers all of Queens Park, starting from North of Wellesley, up to the tip of Queens park, and spilling slightly into St. Josephs and Hoskins Avenue. This event is far from the book fair most people imagine.

For the avid reader, this is heaven on Earth: countless tents, all selling books, and at excellent prices too. HarperCollins was selling first, second and third books of The Princess Diaries series for only $5. For pre-teens, they sold the first three installments of A Series of Unfortunate Events, for the same low price. Names such as Scholastic, BMV and Dorling Kindersley had tents selling educational books.

The endless variety was of the type most people only dream of. Not only did the books cater to various age groups, they also catered to hobbies, languages, and diverse interests. There were books from almost any genre imaginable, available in French, Spanish, Swedish, and Japanese. Genres ranged from science-fiction to women's studies, cooking, comic books, and religion, from audio to the predominant printed page.

The other half of the festival was dedicated to magazines. It is, after all, a "book and magazine" festival. The types of magazines that could be found at the festival spanned from well known to less recognized titles. For children, Owl had its own tent, as did many lesser known magazines. One tent offered subscription a slew of magazines.

The best part about this festival was that, though it did cover mainstream publishers, it also exposed the public to magazines that aren't as recognized. It would be an understatement to say that the festival had good finds; a more appropriate name for it would be the Library of Alexandria. There were many different magazines that catered to various interests (including human rights, politics, and literature and arts) that were on the whole less recognized.

Not to say that the festival consisted only of books and magazines for sale; keeping with the theme, there were many tents dedicated to the resources associated with reading and literacy. The Toronto Reference Library was offering access to similar resources, and they could be found scattered throughout the park.

There were different programs and workshops that were offered to assist with reading comprehension and literacy. This was an excellent venue to raise awareness for literacy issues not only in Toronto, but also in other countries. One tent was dedicated to raising awareness for literacy in Africa. "Loonies for Literacy," organized by the Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy, has been in attendance at the Word on the Street Festival for years to raise funds for literacy programs in Toronto.

A paradise for readers, this festival also offered something for aspiring writers. The Writers Guild of Canada had a tent dedicated to the future journalists and novellists, as well as the Toronto Writing Center, and the Canadian Council for the Arts, all of which were offering information on the union, or awards that could be won.

What made this festival even more enriching was the presence of the authors themselves. Guests included noted environmental activist David Suzuki and children's author Kenneth Oppel. Some gave talks about their books, and others appeared for book signings. It was a very relaxed atmosphere, without authors rushing off as soon as their time was up. Some authors had various appearances to be made at different tents and spent most of the day at the festival.

There was, of course, time for lunch in between all the shopping and book signings. Lining Wellesley were different tents catering to different types of culinary delights. South Indian, Jamaican, Italian and Thai cuisines were offered, along with a booth selling perogies and a lemon-shaped stand selling lemonade. The festival cuisine was rounded off with roasted corn-on-the-cob, and an ice cream truck offering cool delights.

Finally, what would a festival be without entertainment? At the top of Queen's Park, Newstalk Radio CFRB 1010 was broadcasting live as people milled around them. In the centre of the park, CityTV had a stage set up with live entertainment. A small group played a game of Street Scrabble, with a board and pieces one hundred times larger than your average household fare. Children were being entertained by TVO on stage, and a magician performed magic for a large crowd in front of Emmanuel College.

Aside from the indulgent shopping, the pan flute's calming sounds from the entertainment stage, and the overpriced ice cream, if you're not coming for the books (which you should be), the Word on the Street festival is still a great place to visit with your family. Don't feel too bad if you missed out this year. Word is, it'll be back next year.