Fredericton kicked off its first literary festival on Monday, Sept 18.
Word Feast was created by Fredericton’s cultural laureate, Ian LeTourneau, who was tasked by the city to boost cultural awareness.
“As cultural laureate, I’m tasked with writing poems for important city occasions, like the swearing in ceremony of the mayor and council last year,” said LeTourneau.
“But I’m more broadly an advocate for the arts in the city.”
Word Feast is LeTourneau’s legacy project as his two-year term as cultural laureate comes to an end.
“[The City of Fredericton] gave me a legacy fund so I could come up with an idea to leave something behind,” said LeTourneau.
Word Feast will feature book readings from authors across the country, as well as workshops, musical acts and lunchtime talks.
The festival will put on five workshops for aspiring writers and will cover poetry, dialogue, memoirs and graphic novels.
Word Feast runs from Sept 18-24, but the mainstage events will be on Friday and Saturday.
Friday will see Toronto author Rebecca Rosenblum give a lecture titled “Sorry, not sorry: Unlikeable characters in Canadian literature and why we kind of love them” at UNB’s Memorial Hall. The event will start at 8 P.M.
On Saturday, Rosenblum will be teaming up with another author and a pair of musicians to present “Words and Music.” This event will also be held at Memorial Hall at 8pm. Tickets for both events can be purchased at Westminster Books.
“Friday night is the one I am most excited about,” said LeTourneau.
“But it’s almost like asking me to pick which one of my children I love the most. I am looking forward to the whole festival. It’s going to be awesome.”
