By Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press

TORONTO - Nearly two decades ago, before he ever considered becoming a writer, Anthony De Sa attended Toronto's inaugural Word on the Street festival as a budding educator and rabid reader.

"I was walking around Queen Street and I still remember purchasing Margaret Atwood's 'The Robber Bride,"' the Toronto high school teacher and author, whose short story collection "Barnacle Love" was shortlisted for the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize, said in a recent interview.

"She was sitting there at a booth signing books and I remember being in awe. I also remember being in awe of Robert Munsch reading stories in the children's tent."

On Sunday, De Sa will be the awe-inspiring source for germinating writers as he appears at a Wordshop Marquee at the festival's 20th annual instalment.

He said his message will be one of "encouragement" for those curious about the craft but too intimidated to put words on the page.

"Fostering that idea that, even if it isn't published - and I think deep down inside that's every writer's ultimate goal - or publishable quality, it's still a recorded moment, something to be passed down to other generations, and I think that's important," said De Sa, who is now on a year-long sabbatical from teaching to write his second book.

"I have had my fair share of rejection letters but that certainly didn't dissuade me because it wouldn't have been the end of the world if I didn't get published."

Atwood will also be at the festival on the grounds of Queen's Park, using her LongPen technology to sign copies of her new novel, "The Year of the Flood."

She'll also participate in a Q&A that will be broadcast live to simultaneous Word on the Street festivals in Vancouver and Halifax. Kitchener, Ont., will also hold a Word on the Street festival on Sunday, but for technical reasons it cannot be a part of the live Atwood video feed.

Toronto's one-day Word on the Street festival will feature a total of 20 events and more than 200 featured speakers and performers on the grounds of Queen's Park.

Other attractions include the Money Matters Tent; the World Music Stage; and the Bestsellers Stage, with authors Bonnie Burnard, Kenneth Oppel and Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party.

May, who is promoting her seventh book, "Losing Confidence: Power, Politics and the Crisis in Canadian Democracy," has participated in Halifax's Word on the Street for many years and applauds the success of the franchise.

"Anything that promotes Canadian publishing, literacy, the connection between readers and authors, all of that I think is one of the things that makes great, healthy communities and also helps Canadian authors and Canadian publishing," said May, who divides her time between Ottawa and New Glasgow, N.S.

"It is critical that we promote Canadian books to Canadians."

Word on the Street was hatched in Toronto by a group of publishing industry executives from the Book and Periodical Development Council's communications committee.

The inaugural festival kicked off in 1990 as a non-profit charitable organization on Queen Street West with an estimated 40,000 attendees.

In 1994, it was incorporated nationally, and the next year, Vancouver and Halifax joined the event. Calgary came on board two years later but no longer holds it.

This year's Toronto event is expected to attract over 200,000 people.

Atwood has participated in Toronto's Word on the Street at least five times. At the 2006 festival, she conducted her first trans-Atlantic signing with her LongPen.

For De Sa, the festival is a "family tradition" for him and his three young boys.

"To see the thousands of people at Queen's Park ... just walking around and picking up books and flipping through them, it's a great sight," he said.

"I'm still enjoying the idea that I'm in the company of these incredible people that I think in so many ways have shaped the identity of this place we call Canada," he added.

"And not only Canada, I think it goes beyond that ... really defined writing internationally, some of these people, and I'm in awe of all of that."