Another achievement for talented artist

A true Canadian renaissance man has confirmed he’ll be in the Friendly City for this summer’s Festival of Words, running from July 18 to 21 in Moose Jaw.

Writer, musician and documentarian Dave Bidini will be coming to town during the literary festival to promote his latest book, A Wild Stab for It: This Is Game Eight from Russia. The book celebrates the 40th anniversary of one of the most famous sporting events in Canadian history.

Bidini gathered interviews from artists, athletes, politicians, and pundits, recounting their memories of Sept. 28, 1972, the climax of the Summit Series between Soviet Russia and Canada. The book tackles the historic sports event from both sides of the benches, offering personal accounts and insights.

Organizers for the Festival of Words announced Wednesday that Bidini had confirmed his appearance at the upcoming literary festival.

“He confirmed early on and it was actually thanks to Angie Abdou,” Sarah Simison, the operations manager for the Festival of Words, told the Times-Herald. “She was here for last year’s festival, and was tweeting about what a great time she was having, and Bidini took notice.”

She said it’s not the first time social media has helped with landing writers for the festival, and it continues to spread the reputation of the literary event.

“We’re getting more confirmations through Facebook," she said, "and the entire social media aspect is becoming a bigger thing for us.”

Simison added Bidini has been in the news recently for his past involvement with a late Canadian music icon.

“He was one of the people responsible for talking Stompin’ Tom Connors into coming out of retirement,” Simison said. “He’s a really interesting person who will be a great presenter for the festival, he has so much knowledge with sports, art and literature.”

Bidini is the only person to have been nominated for a Gemini, Genie and Juno. He is a founding member of the band Rheostatics, and has written 10 books, including On a Cold Road,Tropic of Hockey and Home and Away.

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