Word on the Street festival spreads the magazine love to six cities this year

This Sunday September 23 from 11 to 6 is the bazaar and meet-n-greet that is Word on the Street, the national book and magazine festival. In Toronto, there are literally hundreds of exhibitors, many of them indy magazines, ranged in booths around Queen's Park. In Halifax, book and magazine publishers will be showing what they make on the waterfront. In Kitchener, the exhibitors are in place  around Kitchener City Hall (having outgrown downtown Victoria Park). In Saskatoon, they're downtown, in Civic Square and around City Hall. In Lethbridge, they're at the Main Library.

(Note:  Vancouver's three-day version takes place Friday 28th through Sunday 30th.)

WOTS, as it's called, started in 1990 in Toronto and has since expanded year by year. Lethbridge and Saskatoon, for instance, started last year.

Many people enjoy the fairs for their lively crowds and events such as author readings and other entertainments. Others find it's a great place to find out about magazines they never heard of and, often, to get a great one-day-only discount on subscriptions. 

To see the range of magazines participating (and these vary widely from one city to the next; not all magazines can manage to staff all cities),  click around the online exhibitors' catalogue for the Toronto WOTS. You'll see familiar magazines large and small there. Here's an arbitrary sampling: Alternatives Journal, Dandyhorse, Descant, This Magazine, Taddle Creek, The Walrus,  Toronto Review of Books, The New Quarterly, The Dance Current, Toronto Life,  NOW magazine, WORN Fashion Journal, The Grid and Zoomer.