Frye Festival / Festival Frye
If you live in the Moncton area, or
are looking for an excuse to take a road trip, check out the Frye
Festival/Festival Frye from April 22 to April 28. In its 14th year, it
is the country’s only bilingual literary festival (and Atlantic Canada’s largest
literary festival).
This year Frye Fest is showcasing 30
renowned and budding, regional, national and international authors (who
combined boast 40 literary award wins and nominations) in 50+ events, from music
and reading showcases, roundtables, book clubs and workshops to school visits, a
trivia night and family activities. Many of the events are either free or pay
what you can.
“This year, I think what’s
most impressive about our line-up is that each and every writer in his own
right is just a fantastic storyteller and a really, really strong writer,” Danielle
LeBlanc, the festival’s Executive Director, eagerly shares. “All of the books
that are featured in our program are some of the best books that came out in
2012 and to put all of these amazing writers together on one stage is just
providing fantastic opportunities for Atlantic Canadians to come and meet these
people and share ideas and just get talking about books…”
Just some of the
highlights of this year’s Festival Frye include Kidsfest (which features
Mascot Palooza, readings, a giant cake, family fun activities and is jointly
celebrating the Moncton Public Library’s 100th Birthday); the Maillet-Frye
Lecture, which will be delivered by Allister MacLeod, followed by a
Q&A hosted by CBC’s Michael Enright (tickets are going fast); and events like Soirée Frye and Frye Jam are
combining author readings with music, including acts such as Montreal’s Leif
Vollebekk and New Brunswick’s Les
Hay Babies.
“If someone is looking
for a chance to get to know an author for an intimate look at the writing
process and how a book came about, then I would recommend the book clubs,”
says LeBlanc. “They’re one-on-one conversations with a featured author and we
just invite everyone to come and meet the author. Even if you haven’t read the
book, it’s a good way to discover what the book is about and then maybe go out
and buy it.”
LeBlanc adds that
something different they’re doing this year is “No Such Thing as an
Uninteresting Life”—a combined breakfast buffet and talk led by The Globe
and Mail obit writer, Sandra Martin. LeBlanc is also thrilled that
through the festival’s School Youth Program, authors will make a combined total
of 130 school visits which equates to reaching about 10,000 students in five
days.
LeBlanc explains that as
a bilingual festival, authors will participate in the language in which they
write, and that this year there is about an equal representation of English and
French authors. Simultaneous translation will be provided for a number of
events, including Friday night’s “A Window to the World/Une page ouverte sur le
monde.” “That night is featuring four past GG
[Governor General’s Literary Award] winners,” says LeBlanc. “It’s going to be
very interesting because all of these people wrote about outside Canada. So we
have Peter Behrens who wrote about Ireland, Kim Thúy who wrote
about Vietnam, Perrine Leblanc’s book takes place in Russia and Marq
de Villiers, who is a non-fiction writer, writes about all over the place,
but mostly Africa.”
For more information
on Festival Frye’s schedule, participating authors and more, visit: www.frye.ca
