While a very famous story takes place deep in the hundred acre wood, there are other stories coming to life tucked in a small forest in Dunedin.
For the third consecutive year Rina Barone and Simon Heath are bringing back the Dunedin Literary Festival known as Words in the Woods.
Barone owns Curiosity House Books in Creemore and Simcoe Street Books in Collingwood, and is a co-founder of the festival.
Heath is also a co-founder of the event and is a resident of the small hamlet of Dunedin, located near Creemore. He has a background in theatre with experience as a director and producer, but since moving to Creemore has been pursuing literary work as an author of several novels. He was at the parkette one day and thought it would make a good site for a festival.
“It’s this beautiful little park in Dunedin and it really doesn’t get used often,” said Heath. “I thought this would be a perfect and beautiful venue for a festival. It’s right on the Mad River. It is just a quiet little setting where we can tuck things away and have a much more intimate type of event.”
The festival takes place on Sept. 8 starting at 11 a.m. with a wide range of free, family-friendly events including author readings, word and music collaborations in the Dunedin Hall, merchants, food and beverage vendors, a mobile bookshop, face painting, panel discussions and a beer tent hosted by Creemore Springs. There will be three children’s authors, Paul Covello, Kevin Sands and Kevin Sylvester, doing readings in the kids’ tent as well.
In the evening is the signature event, featuring Heather O’Neill, author of The Lonely Hearts Hotel, paired up with Toronto musician Kevin Quain for an event that will pair readings with music, discussions and audience questions.
“It’s going to be super cool,” said Heath. “It’s really just about creating a completely unique event that anybody goes to see an event at the festival is never going to see that anywhere else.”
The signature event is ticketed, and will take place at Dunedin Hall. Tickets are $25 and available online here.
All are welcome to Words in the Woods, and the festival goes on rain or shine. Since the event is largely outdoors, dress accordingly.
Here’s a list of authors, guests and moderators attending this year’s Dunedin Literary Festival.
Adult authors
Arif Anwar, The Storm (Harper Collins, 2018)
Karma Brown, The Life Lucy Knew (Park Row, 2018)
Tish Cohen, Little Green (Harper Collins, 2018)
David Demchuk, The Bone Mother (ChiZine Publications, 2017)
Claudia Dey, Heartbreaker (Harper Avenue, 2018)
Wayne Grady, Up From Freedom (Doubleday Canada, 2018)
Uzma Jalaluddin, Ayesha at Last (Harper Avenue, 2018)
Heather O’Neill, The Lonely Hearts Hotel (Harper Collins, 2017)
Iain Reid, Foe (Simon & Schuster, 2018)
Heidi Sopinka, The Dictionary of Animal Languages (Hamish Hamilton, 2018)
Amy Stuart, Still Water (Simon & Schuster, 2018)
Children’s authors
Paul Covello, Every Day Canada (Harper Trophy, 2018) Ages 4 and under
Kevin Sands, Call of the Wraith (Aladdin, 2018) 10-14 years
Kevin Sylvester, Minrs 3 (Simon & Shuster, 2018) 8-12 years
Guests
Kevin Quain, Singer-songwriter
Day Merrill, Poet Laureate (2018-2020), Town of Collingwood
Moderators
Kerry Clare, author (Mitzi Bytes, Harper Avenue, 2017)
Antanas Sileika, author (The Barefoot Bingo Caller, ECW Press, 2017)
Laurie D. Graham, poet, editor and publisher of Brick magazine (Settler Education, McClelland & Stewart, 2016)
Martha Sharpe, owner of Flying Books
Simon Heath, Executive Director – Dunedin Literary Festival
