The Canadian International Ekamra Sports Literature Festival takes place September 18th Toronto, September 17, 2020: After two outstanding events in India, the only Sports Literature Festival in the world moves to Canada on September 18, for its third edition with an excellent roster of Canadian, and international sports authors and sport aficionados. Many are offering sneak peek’s of their books to a global audience online. Originally to have been held at a hotel in Brampton, Ontario, the Festival has moved online due to safety concerns from Covid-19.
The Ekamra Sports Literature Festival welcomes sports fans to listen to diverse speakers and intensely debated issues in a day-long event which will feature national and international sports insiders sharing their insight and passion.
Some highlights from the scheduled sessions: Olympic gold medallist Sami jo Small with her forthcoming book The Role I Played: Canada’s Greatest Olympic Hockey Team’; The Best of Canadian Sports Writing’, an anthology; The Thin White Line: The Inside Story of Cricket’s Greatest Scandal’ authored by Nick Greenslade, the deputy sports editor of The Times (London); 1982 Brazil, A Glorious Failure’ by Stuart Horsfield which looks at the story of one of the greatest sports teams ever that never won; Kevin Rempel’s book Still Standing: When You Have Every Reason To Give Up, Keep Going’ along with Kirsten Worley’s Woman Enough.’ CBC Sports’ Scott Russell will speak to the author of 1982 Brazil while another session with a panel addressing Gender Inequity in Sport will be facilitated by two-time Olympic speedskater and CBC Sports host Anastasia Bucsis.
The day will kick off with a session with hockey great Sami Jo Small, moderated by Teddy Katz, a former CBC Sports Journalist and founder of Think Redefined. Legendary Indian broadcaster Arup Ghosh will take the lead in the session featuring The Thin White Line, and the Canadian Sports Writing Anthology session will be facilitated by Toronto Star writer Navneet Alang.
In the first edition in 2018, the festival hosted 12 sessions over two days with nearly 50 speakers in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. Packed audiences heard former Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, field hockey guru Ric Charlesworth, multiple gold-medal-winning Olympic swimmer Stephanie Rice, fast-bowling legend Jeff Thomson, Indian Test batsman Ajinkya Rahane and former Test player Mohammed Kaif.
In 2019, the global appeal continued during the second Festival with Canada’s Kristen Worley launching her book Woman Enough’; The Daily Telegraph’s Tim Wigmore speaking about his book Cricket 2.0: Inside the T20 revolution’; Sri Lankan best-selling author Shehan Karunatilaka’s multiple award-winning book Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew’; British cricket star Monty Panesar’s The Full Monty and Australian sports writer Michael Sexton’s book on that epic Test match between India and Australia Border’s Battlers.
Sports are universal and express so many aspects of the human condition. It is wonderful to be able to bring the festival to Canada, home to so many sports greats and so many terrific authors, said Sundeep Misra, Ekamra Sports Literature Festival founder.
About Ekamra Sports Literature Festival: The Ekamra Sports Literature Festival is Asia’s and the World’s largest ever sports literary festival founded in 2018 and bringing together some of the biggest names from Indian and international sport. (PTI)
