Annie Proulx will undertake a Canadian tour this fall, thanks to a multi-group collaboration.

Kingston WritersFest and the Ottawa International Writers Festival‚ in conjunction with Simon & Schuster Canada and the U.S. Embassy, will host the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and PEN/Faulkner Award–winning Seattle-based author’s visit to Canada on Sept. 29–30. Proulx’s trip will serve as a mini Canadian tour for her latest novel‚ Barkskins‚ released domestically from S&S Canada in June.

“She’s someone that has been on our radar for a long time, but it just felt like one of those fantasies that was never actually going to happen‚” says Aara Macauley‚ Kingston WritersFest’s administration and writers services manager. “Where Annie is in her career, the incentive for her to travel is more about an interesting opportunity as opposed to promotional or financial incentives. Partnering with Ottawa WritersFest was natural for us to give her the chance to see two historically significant Canadian cities‚ and for the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa to get to host her and see her as well.”

Though the fests have lineups this year that include big-name authors like Emma Donoghue‚ David Mitchell‚ Eleanor Wachtel‚ and Charlotte Gray‚ Macauley says ticket sales have already surged following the announcement of Proulx’s participation. The two fests collaborated in a similar manner in 2014‚ along with the Winnipeg International Writers Festival and Montreal’s Blue Metropolis international literary festival‚ to bring Canadian-New Zealand author Eleanor Catton to Canada following her Man Booker Prize and Governor General’s Literary Award wins for The Luminaries. Macauley says Kingston WritersFest is interested in taking on more of this type of joint endeavour to secure headlining authors from overseas.

“We’re lucky in that a lot of the writers festivals in Canada talk with each other and are friends. There’s a mutual front in getting big names to Canada because it benefits everybody in terms of relationships with publishers and audience interest‚” Macauley says. “When you’re touring someone from thousands of kilometres away, they might not want to just stop in for one day‚ so lining up multiple events and really garnering some buzz is advantageous for everybody.”