Botanist Diana Beresford-Kroeger will serve as keynote speaker at the Words in the Woods literary festival

For the fourth annual Words in the Woods literary festival, held in Dunedin, Ontario, a community two hours north of Toronto, organizers are leaning into the festival’s picturesque forested setting. The keynote speaker at the festival, to be held Sept. 14, will be botanist, author, and environmental activist Diana Beresford-Kroeger in conversation with Simon Heath, executive director of the festival. Beresford-Kroeger’s new book, To Speak for the Trees: My Life’s Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom to a Healing Vision of the Forest, will be released September 24 by Random House Canada.

Beresford-Kroeger will be joined by musician Sarah Harmer, whose environmental activism has included campaigning to protect the Niagara escarpment in Ontario and joining protests against the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline in B.C. The event underscores this year’s theme of environmental sustainability, especially as it relates to forest preservation.

In addition, the full day of programming will feature panels with a total of 17 authors including Jennifer Robson (The Gown), Ann Hui (Chop Suey Nation), Nathan Ripley (Your Life Is Mine), and Antanas Sileika (Provisionally Yours). The festival is organized by author Simon Heath and Rina Barone, owner of Curiosity House Books in Creemore, Ontario.