To book festival tickets, you can place your order on-line by clicking the button below or you can book over the phone by calling (902) 224.5231.
***UPDATE ON AFTERNOON EVENT & LOCATION***
Due to the forecasted rain this afternoon, with regret, we’ve made the decision to shift our event to our plan-b location, about 6 minutes farther north along the Cabot Trail and still in the national park: the Interpretive House at Mkwesaqtuk/Cap-Rouge Campground.
We’ll hold Ginette Chiasson’s and Mary Louise Bernard’s presentations indoors at the beautiful Interpretive House, at this campground.
Apologies for the last minute change of plans, but we expect to have a beautiful experience together in this new location, and so look forward to seeing you there: details below.
EVENT: In Our Own Words | Acadie: Storied Land - A Walking Tour of Cap-Rouge.
DATE: Sunday, Oct.6
TIME: 3:30 p.m.
LOCATION CHANGE:
Mkwesaqtuk/Cap-Rouge Campground
18283 Cabot Trail,
Chéticamp, Nova Scotia
GPS Coordinates:
Latitude: 46.7146726
Longitude: -60.9331773
•2024 FESTIVAL SCHEDULE•
|FRIDAY, OCT.4|
FRIDAY NIGHT READING SERIES
7:30 p.m. • $40
Our ever-lively opening event features readings by Dominique Bernier-Cormier, Sig Burwash, Charlene Carr, David Chariandy, Andrea Currie, Anne Koval, Ann-Marie MacDonald and Jesse Thistle (hosted by Alexander MacLeod). This event will be held in the beautiful Great Hall of the Clans, alongside a blazing hearth, at the Gaelic College in St. Ann's.
•••••••••••
|SATURDAY, OCT.5|
Writing Workshop with Andrea Currie
9 a.m. • $30
What stories from your life experience do you find yourself sharing in conversations? What makes these stories signficant to you? How do the themes in these stories connect you to others in the human family? Explore these and other questions with author Andrea Currie in this workshop linking memoir and creative non-fiction.
Writing Workshop with Dominique Bernier-Cormier
9 a.m. • $30
In this two-hour workshop with poet and translator Dominique Bernier-Cormier, participants will find poetic inspiration in words and concepts not found in English, and will draft poems using alternative translation techniques such as phonetic or associative translation. Previous poetry experience is not required, and participants do not need to speak languages other than English.
WRITERS’ SALON Lunch, Panel, Q&A
11:15 a.m. • $35
Authors Sig Burwash, Charlene Carr and Andrea Currie will join a panel conversation and audience Q&A with moderator Alexander MacLeod, exploring the writing process and where they find inspiration, sharing stories about their publishing experiences, and offering wisdom and advice for aspiring writers about what they've learned along the way... (Meal is included in ticket price.)
WRITERS’ SALON Heard in the Highlands
1:30 p.m. • Free
An inspiration walk among the changing colours of the forest surrounding the Gaelic College, featuring Cape Breton writers Trena Christie-MacEachern, Tyra Denny, Verna Feehan, Frank Macdonald & Susan Paddon sharing short readings of work commissioned by the festival exploring the theme of what inspires them. The walk will end in a live musical performance by guitarist Sam Wilson and upright bassist Gabriella Ciurcovich.
***Note: This is a free event, but to help us plan for audience size and to ensure we can reach you in the event of any last-minute chance in location, etc., we appreciate you registering in advance. Thank you!***
Please dress for the weather and meet at the junction of MacKillop Road and the Cabot Trail, just east of the Gaelic College entrance. In case of rain, performances will take place in the Pavillion, a sheltered outdoor performance area at the rear of the Gaelic College campus.
WRITERS’ SALON WordStorm
2:45 p.m. • Free
As part of our Writers' Salon exploration of what inspires us, we'll host a half hour shared creative space (amidst gentle live music by guitarist Sam Wilson and upright bassist Gabriella Ciurcovich), inviting people to come together in one room to freewrite and discover what emerges on the page.
***Note: This is a free event, but to help us plan for audience size and to ensure we can reach you in the event of any last-minute chance in location, etc., we appreciate you registering in advance. Thank you!***
WRITERS’ SALON Coffeehouse & Open Mic
3:15 p.m. • Free
Following WordStorm, we'll serve coffee and pastries and invite willing writers in the audience to share a short reading on stage as we gather and listen and learn together.
***Note: This is a free event, but to help us plan for audience size and to ensure we can reach you in the event of any last-minute chance in location, etc., we appreciate you registering in advance. Thank you!***
Slide Show & Presentation with Anne Koval
4:15 p.m. • Free
Anne Koval (art historian and author of Mary Pratt: A Love Affair with Vision) will share a 45-minute presentation and slide show, exploring the life and work of this iconic Maritime painter.
Saturday Night at the Festival
Doors open at 6 p.m. • $40
6 p.m. • Pre-Event Reception (optional).
Featuring live music by guitarist Sam Wilson and upright bassist Gabriella Ciurcovich, cash bar (including alcohol-free drinks), hors d'oeuvres, and a chance to browse the bookstore and meet with other audience members, authors and members of the festival team. Ticket holders are invited to come early to take part in this if they wish, or they can simply arrive for the formal programming that begins at 7.
7 p.m. • A Reading & Conversation with David Chariandy
Festival Co-Chair Monika Dutt interviews David Chariandy (award-winning author of books that include Brother and I've Been Meaning to Tell You: A Letter to My Daughter).
8:15 p.m. • A Reading & Conversation with Ann-Marie MacDonald
Author and co-director of Halifax's AfterWords festival Stephanie Domet interviews Ann-Marie MacDonald (playwright, actor and bestselling author of books that include Fall on Your Knees and, most recently, Fayne).
•••••••••••
|SUNDAY, OCT.6|
Writing Workshop with Ann-Marie MacDonald
9 a.m. • $30
What I did on my summer vacation. Five hundred words. Go!
Writing Workshop with Charlene Carr
9 a.m. • $30
Have you ever had a story in your heart for years but there never seems to be enough time to get it on the page? That's about to change.
Join Charlene to learn the tips, tricks and mindset shifts that helped her publish eleven novels in a little over a decade and be working on a twelfth. We'll focus on the beauty of story discovery and outlining, the magic of giving in to awful first drafts, and how embracing them can get you to the wonder of triaged revisions!
Charlene will also provide time at the end to answer questions on all things next steps, such as how to make sure your novel is ready to enter the world, and the important next steps of taking either a self-publishing or traditional publishing route. So come with those questions ready!
***Participants are also invited to bring along an idea or mini-outline for ONE scene either of a new work or work in progress.***
Brunch with
Jesse Thistle
11:15 a.m. • $40
A delicious array of brunch offerings will be served and then Jesse Thistle, author of the 2019 memoir From the Ashes: My Story of Being Indigenous, Homeless, and Finding My Way and 2022 poetry collection Scars & Stars, will share a reading and discussion about his work with host Alexander MacLeod. (Meal included in ticket price.)
Walking Tour of Cap-Rouge
3:30 p.m. • Free
***UPDATE ON AFTERNOON EVENT & LOCATION***
Due to the forecasted rain this afternoon, with regret, we’ve made the decision to shift our event to our plan-b location, about 6 minutes farther north along the Cabot Trail and still in the national park: the Interpretive House at Mkwesaqtuk/Cap-Rouge Campground.
We’ll hold Ginette Chiasson’s and Mary Louise Bernard’s presentations indoors at the beautiful Interpretive House, at this campground.
Apologies for the last minute change of plans, but we expect to have a beautiful experience together in this new location, and so look forward to seeing you there: details below.
EVENT: In Our Own Words | Acadie: Storied Land - A Walking Tour of Cap-Rouge.
DATE: Sunday, Oct.6
TIME: 3:30 p.m.
LOCATION:
Mkwesaqtuk/Cap-Rouge Campground
Discover the stories and history of the former communities of Cap-Rouge, an Acadian settlement north of Chéticamp. Ginette Chiasson (author of Cap-Rouge: Former Hamlet of Chéticamp) will share the history of these remote, vibrant communities amidst the highlands, and the families and way of life that were changed forever when Cap-Rouge was expropriated to create the national park in 1936. Mary Louise Bernard (author of Sweetwater Maiden: The Legend of Maple Syrup) will offer an introduction to this region in context as the homeland of the Mi'kmaq and about the historical friendship between the Mi'kmaw and Acadian peoples.
Mkwesaqtuk/Cap-Rouge Campground
18283 Cabot Trail,
Chéticamp, Nova Scotia
GPS Coordinates:
Latitude: 46.7146726
Longitude: -60.9331773
This event is part of a multi-year project called In Our Own Words, exploring the island's Mi'kmaw, Acadian and Gaelic languages and literary cultures. This year's edition of the project is centred on celebrating contemporary and traditional Acadian literature, including story and song.
***IMPORTANT NOTES:***
• Though this event is free, those who do not have a park pass (and are not Mi'kmaq or youths under 18) will need to purchase a national-park day pass at the booth located right on the Cabot Trail at the park entrance. (Day passes are $9 for adults, $7.75 for seniors aged 65+ and $17.50 for a family pass that can cover up to seven people arriving in single car.) And though we aren't charging for tickets, to help us plan for audience size and to ensure we can reach you in the event of any last-minute chance in location, etc., we appreciate you registering in advance. Thank you!
Sunday Supper in Grand Étang
5:30 p.m. • $40
5:30 p.m. • A Conversation with Dominique Bernier-Cormier & Réjean Aucoin (English*)
Local author Clive Doucet will interview Dominique Bernier-Cormier & Réjean Aucoin about their work, exploring Acadian literary culture, language, dislocation and identity.
6:20 p.m. • Supper & Chansons et histoires (bilingual / bilingue*)
Chef Paula Fortune will prepare a simple and delicious traditional Acadian meal, while on stage, local musicians Robert & Adèle Deveaux share Acadian folk songs and stories. (Meal is included in ticket price.)
7:30 p.m. • Reading by Dominique Bernier-Cormier & Réjean Aucoin (bilingual / bilingue*)
Author Dominique Bernier-Cormier will read from Entre Rive and Shore, a rich, poetic exploration of Acadian history and identity, illuminating what it means to live "between two identities, two worlds, two languages," while local author and Canadian Senator Réjean Aucoin reads from Le tapis de Grand-Pré ("The Magic Rug of Grand Pré"), a children's story that is a beloved local favourite, published almost 40 years ago, which brings to life the rich heritage and history of the Acadian people.
8:10 p.m. • Une conversation avec Dominique Bernier-Cormier & Réjean Aucoin (Française*)
L'auteure et historienne locale Dr Barbara LeBlanc interviewera Dominique Bernier-Cormier et Réjean Aucoin à propos de leur travail, explorant la culture littéraire acadienne, la langue, le déplacement et l'identité.
*Please note, the evening's program will include both English and French. Tickets are priced to cover the meal, music and reading, so the conversation(s) can be considered an optional free addition.
Anglophone audience members may wish to attend the first, second and third events and depart before the fourth (an interview that will be conducted in French), while francophone audience members are welcome, if they wish, to skip the first (an interview that will be conducted in English) and attend the second, third and fourth. Bilingual audience members can of course enjoy the entire evening of programming (the different moderators of the two conversations will ensure each conversation is unique, exploring different perspectives and topics with the two guest authors).
This event is part of a multi-year project called In Our Own Words, exploring the island's Mi'kmaw, Acadian and Gaelic languages and literary cultures. This year's edition of the project is centred on celebrating contemporary and traditional Acadian literature, including story and song.
2024 FESTIVAL AUTHORS
Ann-Marie MacDonald
is a novelist, playwright, actor, and broadcast host. Her novels are Fall On Your Knees, The Way the Crow Flies, Adult Onset, and Fayne. In 2019 she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. She is married to theatre director Alisa Palmer, with whom she has two children.
Photo credit: Lora MacDonald-Palmer
Charlene Carr
studied literature at university, attaining both a BA and MA in English, including a study program at Oxford. She independently published nine novels, before releasing Hold My Girl and We Rip the World Apart with HarperCollins Canada.
Photo credit: Charlene Carr
David Chariandy
was nominated for the Governor General’s Award and the Scotiabank Giller Prize for his first novel, Soucouyant. His second novel, Brother, won the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and the Toronto Book Prize. His most recent book is a memoir entitled I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You: A Letter to My Daughter.
Photo credit: Glen Chua
Jesse Thistle
is Métis-Cree, from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and an assistant professor in Humanities at York University in Toronto. From the Ashes, his memoir, was the top-selling Canadian book in 2020, the winner of the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Nonfiction, Indigenous Voices Award, and the High Plains Book Award, and also a finalist for CBC's Canada Reads. His most recent book is the poetry collection Scars & Stars.
Photo credit: Marta Hewson
Sig Burwash
is a visual artist whose practice includes watercolour, collage, ceramics, animation, illustration, and comics. Their work is both imaginative and rooted in their lived experience, including cabin building, forest stewarding, motorcycling and crewing on fishing vessels. Originally from kEluwi'sst- Rossland, B.C., they now live in Unama’ki (Cape Breton). Sig’s debut graphic novel, Vera Bushwack, was released to acclaim in 2024.
Photo credit: Ashley McKenzie
Anne Koval
is a professor of Art History, Museum and Curatorial Studies at Mount Allison University. She has written numerous books and her writing on contemporary art has appeared in several edited volumes. She has curated exhibitions at the Owens Art Gallery, Mendel Art Gallery, Banff Park Museum, and more. Her most recent book is Mary Pratt: A Love Affair with Vision.
Photo credit: Alexandrya Eaton
Dominique Bernier-Cormier
is a Québécois/Acadian poet currently living on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ in Vancouver. He writes in both French and English, and his poems often explore notions of hybridity, translation and belonging. His latest book, Entre Rive and Shore, is a finalist for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize.
Andrea Currie
is a writer, healer and activist born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and currently living in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. She is a psychotherapist working in Indigenous mental health and has accompanied the We'koqma'q Residential School Survivors on their healing journey for the past twenty years. Her first book, Finding Otipemisiwak: The People Who Own Themselves, will be released in fall 2024.
Photo credit: Ken Woroner
2024 FESTIVAL MUSICIANS
Sam Wilson
is a guitarist whose practice as a performer-composer focuses on creating instrumental music for improvisers. Her current artistic music is wild spaces and site specific responses, evident by her latest release Wintertides. Sam collaborates with many artists around the Maritimes, including Andrew Jackson, Nicola Miller, Gabriella Ciurcovich and Andrew MacKelvie.
Gabriella Ciurcovich
is a multi-instrumentalist and composer based in K'jipuktuk/Halifax. Gabriella is active in Halifax's improvised music community, and also performs regularly with local folk, pop, jazz and experimental groups. She writes for her own songwriting project, Popuri. She holds a BMusic in Jazz Performance from the University of Toronto.
Robert Deveaux
is a chanteur, violoniste, and collector of Chéticamp song traditions. He is a sought-after resource and treats the repertoire he keeps with the same spirit of sharing as tradition-bearers before him. He recently teamed up with two members of Le Vent du Nord on Art Populaire, an album paying tribute to the Acadian folk song repertoire of Chéticamp.
Adèle Deveaux
is 14 years old and has grown up deeply immersed in Chéticamp’s song traditions, often diving into her father’s archives of old recordings, lyrics and melodies. She has performed at local festivals and concerts, and last year was a featured musician on the youth stage at Le Festival Chants de Vielles in Quebec.