Original Kids Theatre Company, a nonprofit charitable youth organisation, currently puts on productions at the Spriet Family Theatre in the Covent Garden Market. Literature London serves as a core setting in Southern Ontario Gothic literature, most notably in the works of James Reaney. The psychologist Richard Maurice Bucke, author of Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind and Walt Whitman's literary executor, lived and worked in London, where he was often visited by Whitman (the Maurice Bucke Archive are part of the Special Collections in The Weldon Library of Western University). Modern writers from this city include fantasy-fiction authors R. Scott Bakker and Kelley Armstrong, Man Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton, Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Bonnie Burnard and distinguished nominee Joan Barfoot. Emma Donoghue, whose 2010 novel, Room, was adapted into a 2015 Academy Award-winning film of the same name, also lives in London. WordFest is an annual literary and creative arts festival that takes place each November. Livability In 2020 and 2021, house prices rose significantly across Canada, especially in Ontario. The average price of a home in Canada in March 2021 was $716,828, a 31.6% year-over-year increase. Meanwhile, the average cost to purchase a home in London was $607,000 in January 2021; since then increasing to $641,072 in June 2021 according to LSTAR. As the COVID-19 pandemic has begun to decrease in severity as vaccinations in Canada reach close to herd immunity, the housing market in London is showing signs of a cool-down according to some realtors. In April 2021, the Bank of Canada reported that the primary reason house prices had increased to such an unprecedented extent was due to housing inventory reaching record lows. Nevertheless, the city's cost of living remains lower than many other southern Ontario cities. London is known for being a medium-sized city with big city amenities, having under 400,000 residents as of the 2016 census yet having all of the services one could find in a large city, including two large-scale shopping malls, Masonville Place and White Oaks Mall, regional health care centres, and postsecondary education hubs such as the world-class University of Western Ontario and well-known Fanshawe College. In mid-2021, London had an 8.75% cheaper cost of living, and 27.5% cheaper cost of rent, compared to nearby Toronto. London has nine major parks and gardens throughout the city, many of which run along the Thames River and