The 2009 Festival
We had a wonderful first festival. We sincerely thank the Festival Committee, our guest artists, sponsors, volunteers, and attendees for coming together so perfectly. Even the weather was just "what we wanted", providing those photo opportunities the location deserves.
From the Authors
Read here what our guest authors had to say about their visit to our festival. We thank them for taking the time to let us know what they thought, and really appreciate their glowing compliments!
Donna Morrissey
"I love the Cabot Trail Writers Festival for its warm, cozy and yet intriguing atmosphere. It makes for great interaction between the writer and reader, and left me feeling fulfilled and sad to leave. And that countryside—OMG, I'll never forget that drive through the Cabot Trail!!"
Douglas Arthur Brown
"Like everything in life, it is a question of quality, not quantity. It is not about the thousand people who turn out for your reading at a festival in a big city. It is about the welcome by the festival organizers and volunteers in a rural setting, asking you if you want an extra pillow for your bed. It is about avid readers turning up to your early morning reading, standing room only, some of whom also serve you your meal at lunch. It is the bookstore created for the weekend event, the opportunity to interact with other artists throughout the weekend, and the opportunity to meet, one-on-one, with folks who have taken the time to read your book, reflect upon it and ask you intelligent questions. And at the end of the weekend, after workshops, readings, and great food, you leave the event more relaxed and fulfilled than when you arrived. This was my experience at the Cabot Trail Writers Festival."
Susan Zettell
"A local feel-good event, my Cabot Trail Writers Festival was an intimate affair where I was honoured and fussed over by the organizers and by my own community as a writer, while being privileged to read and work and play with writers as talented and witty as Donna Morrissey and Douglas Arthur Brown. Along with the musical talent of the Poe Trio and Bill Conall, the excellent food, stunning vistas, funky venues, and the interested and interesting and often rapt participants, my Cabot Trail Writers Festival was a five-star experience, one I will always remember."
And the winner is...
Our festival survey, offered to attendees at the door, enjoyed the highest survey response rate we've ever seen. We think the reason for that is, in part, the draw prize we offered to all who completed their surveys. You can still see that prize here.
The winner of the survey draw was Ann Thompson of Middle River (thanks for letting us post your name!). We thank her and all respondents for taking the time to help us review our work, and, Ann, we hope you love the pottery as much as we do!
Do mark your calendars for the second annual Cabot Trail Writers' Festival, scheduled for October 1–3, 2010.
Below, you can visit our original "home page".
The first annual Cabot Trail Writers Festival 2009 will be held at North River on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island. The festival will take place over the weekend of October 2 through 4, when the leaves will just be turning their faces toward autumn.
This puts us snugly between this year's Hike the Highlands, the annual hiking and nature festival running September 11–20, and Celtic Colours International Festival, Cape Breton's best-known music festival, running October 9–17.
Photo © courtesy of Carol Kennedy
The Authors
Our inaugural lineup of authors includes Newfoundland's award-winning Donna Morrissey, author of Kit's Law and What They Wanted (Penguin), the latter named to "The Globe's top fiction of 2008" (The Globe and Mail).
Joining Donna will be Cape Breton's Douglas Arthur Brown, whose 2008 novel Quintet (Key Porter) is the winner of the 2009 Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize.
As well, we will be delighted to feature the Cabot Trail's own Susan Zettell, who recently published her first full-length novel, The Checkout Girl (Signature Editions 2008), after teasing us with her successful short stories.
The Music!
Because the now-famous Celtic Colours will follow our festival by just one week, the thoughts of all Cape Bretoners will naturally turn to music.
We are very excited, then, to invite you to our opening night Literary Cabaret, which will feature selected readings from her work by Donna Morrissey, in an evening of written words punctuated by the music of the Poe Trio—guitarist Paul MacDonald, fiddler and luthier Otis Tomas, and bassist Ed Woodsworth.
Our wrap-up Sunday Brunch with all the authors will highlight the living practice of story-telling in a performance by the Cabot Trail's Bill Conall, a musician and author who just has a way with a story (The Rock in the Water, Hidden Book Press 2009; finalist, 2010 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour).
