River John Literary Festival

Patrick and I went to River John yesterday to check out the literary festival. It was worth driving in the downpour -- easy for me to say since I wasn't doing the driving -- we both had a great time.

We arrived at two, just in time for the main event, the book readings. I had not expected the turn-out that greeted us. River John is a tiny village teetering at the edge of the north coast. I pictured perhaps a couple of dozen book aficionados in the audience. Instead, there was a packed venue. The readings had been moved into the auditorium of the elementary school because of rain and there were, easily, 300 people there. I am a poor judge of these things, but Pat figures there could have been as many as 400 people in that room. We saw licence plates from Virginia, Maine, Illinois and Ontario. What a terrific turn out to honour writers and their works.

Don Hannah was first up. Don is a playwright and his first novel, The Wise and Foolish Virgins (doncha love that title?) won the Thomas Raddell Award for Fiction. He read from his latest work, Ragged Islands, "a moving, witty and tender portrait of a woman whose life has been shaped equally by family secrets and by the turbulent history of the twentieth century." (Random House) The protagonist is 85-year-old Susan Ann who escapes her children and a Toronto hospital to embarks on a search for answers to her life's mysteries before dying. His reading made me want to gobble this book up.

You can find out about Ragged Islands here.

You can buy it here.

Next to read was Ami McKay from her award-winning and best-selling novel, The Birth House. (She has recently sold the movie rights to her book.) I have already discussed The Birth House on this blog. Ami actually read little from her book, but talked at length about its inception -- moving from Illinois to Nova Scotia and buying a house that she later discovered had been the community birth house. As she gathered stories from the local women, she knew she had a story to tell and began some really in-depth research to begin the book. It was very interesting.

You can find out more about Dora Rare and The Birth House here.

You can buy the book here.

After a break, during which the most delectable sweets were available for purchase (we had almond squares), Freeman Patterson read from his book of inspiration and photography, The Garden. Freeman is a pretty spiritual guy. Besides being a wonderful photographer and writer, he is a theologian and avid gardener. The Garden combines all these things into a simply beautiful book. Now, I'll confess, this isn't wouldn't be my first choice for something to read -- just give me a good novel -- but there is something entirely appealing about learning stillness and living in the moment.

Read about The Garden here.

You can buy it here.

Sadly, the local Fire Chief made an announcement that cars parked next to the station would be towed as a wedding was scheduled for 4:30. A number of people left at that point and missed the last reader, Joan Clark, who read from An Audience of Chairs. Joan told us that it had taken her thirty years to muster the courage to write this book, she had made attempts at various times in her life before succeeding in 2005. An Audience of Chairs tells the story of Moranna, a woman dealing with mental illness whose husband has deserted her and taken her children from her. She has learned to deal, more or less, with her illness and has come to terms with living alone and then she meets Bun, the man who becomes her lover. It is this encounter that Joan chose to read. "Through a series of flashbacks, we learn more about the devastating effects of Moranna’s mental illness on her life and that of her family. But An Audience of Chairs also gives us a glimpse into the mind of a true iconoclast and wild spirit, who has managed despite overwhelming odds to keep hope alive." Random House.

You can read about the book here.

You can buy it here.

Patrick and I were too late to buy tickets for the dinner -- smoked pork chop or veggie lasagna -- so grabbed a bratwurst at a chip stand and headed over for the open-mic portion of the festival. Unpublished authors were given a chance to gt up their courage and read from their works. I froze when I was approached to read. I wasn't ready. I wanted to see what one of these things were like before I jumped in. I declined and then lived in fear that I may be called if there weren't enough volunteers to read. Fortunately, for me, the rain started again and Pat thought we should leave before dark.

The novices who had more guts than I were at various stages of publication readiness, but there were those who were there. I am constantly amazed at the talent I run into everywhere. I wish I could remember names of people because there are a couple of people there who I would have liked to be able to tell you to watch for. If I can track them down, I'll let you know.

(And I know I'm a complete disgrace for not reading.)

Colleen