
On Friday, Jan.10, the Charlotte Street Arts Centre welcomed an eclectic crowd of about 100 readers, writers and thinkers to ponder over the beauty of words.
The event titled For the Love of Books was also a fundraiser for the Charlotte Street Arts Centre and the Fredericton Public Library.
Some of the presenters included writers such as Ambrose Albert, Jocelyn Anderson, Thandiwe McCarthy, Ryan Griffith, Joanne LeBlanc-Haley, Eric Hill and Philip Lee, among others.
They talked about the impact books had on their lives growing up, their journey to become authors and the implications of the current mainstream media world on reading and writing.
Philip Lee, author and chair of the journalism department at St. Thomas University, called on fellow travellers and students to write in their own voices and not be seduced by technology to do their writing.
“I keep on writing with my own mind and my own voice. I’m making this inquiry into the truth about writing because I can’t imagine a world without a new generation of fellow travellers,” said Lee.
Lee added that artificial writing is receiving more funding than all of the Apollo space missions put together.
Thandiwe McCarthy, a writer and Black Canadian activist from New Brunswick, echoed Lee’s ideas that reading, writing and thinking go hand in hand.
McCarthy found solace and safety in books from the anxiety-provoking culture which surrounded him as he faced bullying while growing up in Woodstock.
“I didn’t really feel safe except inside of books and the LP Fisher Library in Woodstock,” he said. “This sense of self that started these little sparks inside me so that I could feel safe exploring and seeing these new characters.”
He concluded his lecture with a call to action.
“I dare you all to read,” he said.
Sue Sinclair, poet and director of creative writing for the English department at the University of New Brunswick, described the event as a “crazy and beautiful marathon.”
Sinclair said For the Love of Books paves the way for people to become avid readers as well as offering opportunities for fresh perspectives and learning “what gets called a book.”
Jocelyn Anderson, a poet and mental health therapist, brought the audience into a world of fairy tales with Finding a Fairy by Kareem Kaby. A book that has been passed down through four generations of women in her family.
“It’s a fantasy land with the universal secrets, wisdom and healing we need now… Fairy tales speak to something deep within us … and in a roundabout way, it brings us closer to ourselves, not further away,” said Anderson.
Anderson captivated the audience by referencing a Neil Gaiman fairy tale, emphasizing that fairy tales are not about facts but, about finding comfort in the idea that dragons can be defeated.
“We all have a connection to stories somehow, in our ancestry, which is a really beautiful shared history. In the contemporary, I think it’s just beautiful to come together in person,” said Anderson.
She said young generations may face challenges regarding the “attention economy” due to the everyday use of technology and social media.
“It’s like 10 hours or something that you need to dedicate to one thing,” she said.
Anderson and another presenter agreed that one way to tackle this challenge is to encourage young generations to read material they want to explore and not impose books on them.
“It doesn’t matter what you’re reading. I think it’s just to start reading something and hopefully, that will sort of bloom into something else,” said Anderson.