The Write Stuff

Books by the Bay was filled with the right stuff on the past weekend. The Little Festival that Can is maturing into a must-attend weekend for northern writers and readers. The outdoor setting on beautiful Callander Bay of Lake Nipissing was the place to be on Saturday if your youngsters were interested in learning how authors create their books or even if they wanted to have a hands-on meeting with the skulls and skins of critters that are part of the world of author Jan Thornhill.

Friday evening the Muggles gathered at the Clarion to hear a number of our northern authors give short sample readings between the featured artists, Laurie Kruk and Lynn Johnston. While Kruk explained through her poetry the feelings we all have as we move from experience to experience (Learning to Love the Alien), I began to understand why US Immigration refers to us ‘aliens’. All this introspection came to a jolting stop when Max Burns, speaking as God, explained why we were booted from the garden. Who knew God had such a sense of humour?

The weekend master of ceremonies, Dan Lessard from CBC Sudbury, then sat down for a fireside chat with local artist Lynn Johnston. Try as he might, Dan could not get a definitive answer about when Lynn may wrap up the series, for it seems the family in For Better or For Worse has taken on a life of its own. As good as it was to see Farley back in the strip for a day, the maturing of the characters in Lynn’s daily vignettes makes it a must read for millions of people.

A weekend of listening to writers from all genres makes one realize just how much influence writers have in our daily lives. Books are an obvious result of people writing, but when we move from the bound paper to newsprint, plays, music, comics, TV and movie scripts and political speeches we begin to get a glimpse of the importance of writing and communication in our lives. Fiction writers span the spectrum from political speeches to Harry Potter, while non-fiction can be the news reports, textbooks or writings such as the book on the plight of our songbirds as chronicled by Bridget Stutchbury on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday evening highlighted Canadian icon, Margaret Atwood. MC, Dan Lessard tried to set the stage for Atwood by relating his experience of the previous evening when he tried unsuccessfully to buy a double-double chocolate donut. Somehow, the thought of eating such a concoction at that time of day sounded like fiction to me, but he insisted the story was true and perhaps an existential experience in a Margaret Atwood novel. A few people in the audience may have thought that Margaret misspoke when she called the master of ceremonies Joe Les Lard, but I could see that he was already a character in one of her future short stories. And who knew that Margaret Atwood was so funny. Her droll speaking voice accented her dry wit and she soon had the attentive audience holding their sides in laughter.

Festival attendees were still buzzing about the previous days as they boarded the Chief Commanda on Sunday morning. It was a perfect morning for a cruise to the islands where Daren Renaud gave a history of the Nipissings. There may have been some artistic foreshadowing as Richard Levesque sang ‘Danny Boy’ while across the ocean, Padrig was winning the Claret Cup.

Our compliments go to everyone who volunteered at Books on the Bay, from the people who shepherded the writers around Callander, to those who worked behind the scenes preparing lunches and dinners, or setting up the venues. We now know why the name Suzanne is listed as a reference in Webster’s definition of a dynamo. Good luck to the future Books by the Bay festivals. It is the write stuff.