Ben Charland is a writer, podcaster and creative consultant. Ben’s work is informed by the many hats he’s worn over the years: playwright, theatre director, artistic director, tour guide, actor, political hack, traveler, teacher, government worker, blogger, speechwriter, manager and (yes) traffic coordinator for a paper shredding company. He’s lived in four continents and has been lucky to visit over 50 countries, but the common thread for Ben is unrelenting curiosity. 

Ben hosts the weekly podcast What On Earth is Going On?, which covers wide and varied topics with guests such as poet and biographer Rosemary Sullivan, fantasy author Guy Gavriel Kay, Canadian actor Aurora Browne, and many more. 

While Ben has been involved with Kingston WritersFest since 2018, he and his family now live in Whitehorse, Yukon, where he is helping to build a new society for writers and readers called Yukon Words. 

Appearing in: 7. The Long Term Crisis in LTC

Past Festival Appearances

2020: 3. Our Canadian Values: Can They Heal the World?, 4. Elevator Pitch: “Mega Drop” Fiction, 8. Reaching for Hope: Transformation of a World in Peril
2019: 32. The Fiction of Guy Gavriel Kay: Where Fantasy and History Collide, 35. The Reality Bubble