HISTORY

In April 2006, not long after TYPE books opened its doors on Queen Street West, a small group of volunteers worked with co-owners Samara Walbohm and Joanne Saul to plan an after-school reading program for neighbourhood children. Having created their bookstore to build a community gathering place, they embraced the idea with enthusiasm.

Our first program, Reading in the City (formerly known as Word-Play), for Grade 3 to 5 students, has run every fall and winter since 2006. Writing in the City, a creative writing workshop for Grade 6s was introduced in September 2010. In the summer of 2011, Word-Play offered a two-week summer camp called Filming in the City. In 2019, we added the Book Club in the City to our roster of programs. The Book Club is for Grade 7 and 8s who’ve participated in other Word-Play opportunities.

Word-Play was granted charitable status in 2008 and we held our first board of directors meeting in 2009.

Today, Word-Play is a robust volunteer-run organization working collaboratively to build lasting relationships with children and their families, our Teacher Candidates, volunteers and the literary community.