Read Local Month: Louisbourg or Bust
March is Read Local Month at public libraries across Nova Scotia. Each week, a new Atlantic Canadian eBook will be featured and all library users will be able to download the book instantly: no wait list! All you need is your free public library card.
Access to the featured Read Local eBooks is specific to where you have your library card. If you are a Halifax Public Libraries user, you can visit the Read Local collection at halifax.overdrive.com, and if you use another Nova Scotia Public Library, head to novascotia.overdrive.com. The featured book will be highlighted at the top of the page all week for both library systems.
Week Three (March 18-24)
Louisbourg or Bust, by RC Shaw (Pottersfield Press). Halifax | Nova Scotia
No cellphone. No spandex. Way too many hills. Louisbourg or Bust is a surf pilgrim’s tale fuelled by remote waves, Hungry Man Stew, and blind optimism.
With a Nova Scotia road map in one hand and a fat copy of Don Quixote in the other, RC Shaw hatches a plan. He builds The Rig, a Frankenstein-inspired bicycle-plus-trailer to haul his camp gear and surfboard. Then, for no logical reason, he circles the Fortress of Louisbourg with a black marker and vows to lay siege to it. On a clear June morning, he kisses his family goodbye and creaks off down the road in search of adventure for adventure’s sake. No gadgets, no safety net. Just the restless pulse of the Atlantic Ocean as it rips and tears at the clay headlands of the Eastern Shore.
As the lark gets real, Shaw is forever changed by the gnarly soul of Nova Scotia’s fogbound, fading coastline.
Download the eBook now from Halifax Public Libraries or Nova Scotia Public Libraries
RC Shaw has an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of King’s College. His most recent publication was the lead essay in the February/March 2018 edition of The Surfer’s Journal. He lives with his wife and young family in Cow Bay, Nova Scotia.
Book Trailer from Bebop Film Collective:

See photos of the Louisbourg or Bust adventure on Instagram
Read Local Month Author Event!
Come hear RC Shaw read from Louisbourg or Bust at Halifax Central Library on March 19th at 6:30 pm
Further reading:
- CBC Radio interview
- Chronicle Herald interview
- Stephen Kimber talks writing process with RC Shaw/ (King’s Journalism)
- Ken McGoogan blogs about the book
Join the conversation: #IReadLocal #LouisbourgorBust #AtlanticCanadianeBooks
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