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River John

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This tale begins with the the birth of a baby lamb, a lamb whose baaa is heard throughout the village of River John, which is its home. It is heard by the fishermen and farmers, the fiddlers and the preachers, the children and the gardeners and by all the people, even Polly MacCauley.

Polly MacCauley lives alone in the woods and keeps to herself. She is somewhat of a legend in the village. But she is renowned for her wonderful woollen creations.

When Polly hears the baa of this little lamb she knows that it is a special lamb indeed. However, in a faraway land, the Count Woolliam and his sister Woolamina also hear this baa and they vow to find this lamb and keep it for themselves, to provide them with all the wool that their greedy hearts desire. But when the whole community rallies to protect Star, this very special lamb, the evil Count and his sister are so moved by their love that they have a complete change of heart.

Such is the legacy of this little lamb called Star. But her story does not end there, for it is then that she goes to live with Polly MacCauley and her true gift is revealed. And it is then that Polly MacCauley is finally able to complete her finest, divinest, wooliest gift of all.

Beloved wordsmith Sheree Fitch gives readers something wonderful and new in this latest work. Part folktale, part fairytale, it is a yarn that is meant to be told and retold, like a traditional tale that is handed down through the generations. It is a story that weaves along gently, revelling in wordplay and poetry and prose tripping merrily off the tongue.

Exquisite descriptions and delicate turns of phrase make the story beautiful and haunting and lovely. But at its heart, it is still a tale with a crucial message for all the world, a message of “healing and hope,” and of the importance of community and being “better when we are together.” It is a whimsical celebration of art, beauty and the power of creating for the good of all.

The folk-art style of the illustrations captures the cadence of the story. They are rich and luminous combined with delightful sketches and line drawings flowing joyfully from one page into the next, looping around and above and beneath and through the text. Although long for a picture book, this is a playful and heartfelt tale that will truly resonate with all ages.

Polly MacCauley’s Finest, Divinest, Woolliest Gift of All
Sheree Fitch, illustrated by Darka Erdelji
Running the Goat, Books & Broadsides

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Photos by Chris Lambie

A bookstore born of adversity in River John had lots of happy customers on opening day.

Children’s author Sheree Fitch and her husband Gilles Plante hosted hundreds of people at Mabel Murple’s Book Shoppe and Dreamery July 3, an effort that began on their 42-hectare hobby farm after locals lost their two-year fight to save River John Consolidated School.

“In the face of that, my husband and I said, ‘Well what do you do when things close?’” Fitch said during a break from the festivities. “You open something up.”

She estimated there were more than 200 people in the crowd for the opening of the granary her husband, a retired CBC cameraman, converted into a bookshop.

Powwow dancers from Millbrook First Nation and the musical duo Wild City Roses entertained the crowd, made up mostly of families with young children, many of them blowing bubbles in the breeze with soap Fitch provided at the gate.

Children’s authors Marie Louise Gay and Alan Syliboy were also on hand to read to the audience.

“It’s about creating positive space in the country, a rural area,” Fitch said of her new venture. “It’s about having conversations about books. It’s about telling stories. It’s about carrying on the tradition of oral storytelling [and] celebrating books.”

After 30 years as an author, Fitch said she wanted to be able to help celebrate Atlantic Canadian literature. She’s hoping the spot, which is full of shady trees to read under and farm animals to pet, will inspire others to dream when they come to visit.

“The dreamery is the pasture,” Fitch said. “The dreamery is looking out there and seeing the horses and the donkeys.”

She imagines visitors will take a book or their journal out into the field and spend some time enjoying this idyllic setting she and her husband call home. “There are reading nooks down there. There’s writing nooks down there. Having a picnic with your family.

“I want people to go out in nature and enjoy books and stories. I learned to read in my grandmother’s oak tree. So literacy, literature, imagination–it’s all combined for me. If after today, four people a day trickle through here, I’ll be happy.”

The plan is to stay open until September. “We know that we could not sustain this on a dirt road in rural Nova Scotia during the winter,” she said.

She doesn’t have a huge inventory on hand. “I chose, I think, really wisely. There will probably be some things that don’t sell that can carry over for next year.”

The 60-year-old writer has a 10-year plan. “If I could work until 70 that would be great.”

The opening attracted visitors from New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and as far afield as Saudi Arabia. “Somebody’s from Washington, somebody’s from San Francisco, somebody’s from Toronto, somebody’s from Alberta,” Fitch said. “We’ve got people who have come here from all over, which is really pretty incredible.”

She’d like to see more bookstores open in small places like River John. “The big-box store–we want them to succeed. That’s all very good. And Amazon, you can, yeah, sit at your desk and order a book,” Fitch said. “But more and more … face-to-face, cheek-to-cheek, eyeball-to-eyeball, this is still what we need. I’m not anti-technology at all. But if we don’t have this, that’s dangerous. I think that we forget what stories can be.”

As Fitch told the crowd, numerous friends helped pull the effort together, doing everything from painting murals and fences to building reading nooks around the farm.

“This is a place that love built,” she said. “This is what love looks like, people.”

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Pitch the Publisher

Do you have a manuscript collecting dust in a drawer, melting your USB stick, or nestled among millions of other files on your hard drive?

If so, Read by the Sea has the event for you!

The River John literary festival is once again hosting Pitch the Publisher, a Dragon’s Den-like event with a literary twist. It will be held Saturday, July 8 from 9:00am to 10:45 am.

Preregistered participants will get five minutes to argue for their manuscript in front of at least three regional publishers. If one of the publisher’s takes interest, they will offer you a contract. If more than one publisher takes an interest, they will compete for you.

Want to participate? email Monica Graham at monicagraham@tncwireless.ca, Katie Ingram at production@atlanticpublishers.ca, or by filling out the contact form on the Read by the Sea website. We’ll ask your name, contact info and a short (no more than 100 words, please) blurb about your book idea.

There are only seven spots, so apply early!

Helpful documents

The Publishing Process – This is where we demystify the publishing process by walking you through the transformation from unpublished manuscript to published book

Pitchers Guide to Pitch the Publisher – This guide will help you prepare your pitch and know what to expect at Pitch the Publisher

Note: if you pitched a book in 2016, you may pitch again this year, but not the same book.

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Work and more work linda little Toiling away on his family’s country farm, Tom yearns to go to town despite his parents’ assertions that “there’s nothing there but work and more work.” Needing to see for himself, he hitches a ride and discovers that there is always lots of work to be done. Undaunted, his wandering heart takes him farther. He goes to sea and visits many cities around the world where he finds marvelous treasures.

Eventually his travels take him back to his own cottage in the country. He is eager to share with his parents how the world is a fascinating place, filled with people who are “busy making beautiful things,” this simply confirms for them the truth that they had suspected all along.

This book has all the charm of a traditional folktale, including its pleasing and poetic turns of phrase. Tom’s joyful spirit as he embraces all of the wonders that the world has to offer is inspiring and infectious. We are nonetheless reminded that not everyone sees the world the same way, as Tom himself discovers. Perez uses subdued and earthy tones for his richly detailed illustrations that bring each scene to life. Little’s notes at the back of the book add a wealth of interesting background information.

Work and More Work
by Linda Little, illustrated by Oscar T. Perez
$18.95, hardcover, 32 pp.
Groundwood Books, March 2015

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Read By the Sea 2014
From left: Alexander MacLeod, Steven Galloway, Russell Wangersky, Guy Vanderhaeghe, Sharon Butala, Frank Macdonald and Sylvia Hamilton at Read by the Sea 2014

On the planning side, the events of a literary festival are but one piece of a long process. Author and Read by the Sea committee member Linda Little give us the scoop

In 2015, Read by the Sea, the great little literary festival that could, will be rounding up a slate of terrific artists for book-lovers on Nova Scotia’s north shore. While the day is a highlight of the summer holidays for many, the work that goes into producing the event is prodigious. Long before the venues are booked and posters go up, long before the airplane tickets are purchased and the accommodations reserved, the business of producing a literary festival begins.

GristThe festivities happen on two days. This year’s WordPlay for kids kicks off at the Tatamagouche Creamery Square on Saturday, June 20th. Andy Jones, Linda Little, and Starr Dobson (and a goat!) will lead the adventures. The Wild City Roses will provide song and dance and general hijinks.

The adult Read by the Sea event unfolds at the River John Legion Gardens on Saturday, July 11th. This year’s theme is Blood and Soul. The day opens with the mystery writers’ Blood stage with Maureen Jennings and Giles Blunt. After music and mingle and a picnic, the Soul stage features Linden MacIntyre and memoirist Isabel Huggan. There will be interviews, Q&As, live music, book sales and lots of opportunity to hang out with writers and fellow book-lovers.

Funding and author selection are the two big pieces of the puzzle that must be set in place about a year before the show goes on. Here’s how it all happens:

Read by the Sea has two main events: WordPlay for children and Read by the Sea for adults. In each case the committee considers the roster they would like to offer their audience. They look for variety, impact, entertainment value and potential to spark thought and discussion when choosing authors. Who would the audience like to see and who will bring new insights?

For both stages the committees look for a mixture of lively and profound, authors who speak to our lives here on the north shore and authors who open doors to experiences beyond our own. Names are tossed about: who has read what, and what’s excellent? How would one author mix with another? What themes arise by juxtaposing writers X and Y? Once the preferred roster, the “dream team,” is agreed upon committee members begin to contact the authors.

PunishmentOne thing Read by the Sea has learned over the years is not to discount writers because they might say no. Sure they might, and some do, but most writers are happy to receive the invitation. Festivals offer a terrific opportunity for writers to connect with their audiences and to gain new fans. While large festivals may have 50 or 60 writers and thousands of people in attendance over several days, a small festival with a single stage consolidates the audience and can actually offer more listeners in one session than the larger events. Furthermore, authors who accept a Read by the Sea invitation often prefer the intimate, down-home atmosphere of the rural festival to the larger, more commercialized urban events.

Once the organizers have settled on the roster and contacted the potential authors they put together their first grant applications. Fund-raising is a central task for any festival committee. Read by the Sea has held many fund-raisers in its 16-year history but the core of its funding comes from granting bodies such as the Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Nova Scotia, and the County Councils. A successful grant application sets out the vision for the organization and paints a detailed picture of the event. Then there is the post-festival reports to be sent to all granting agencies.

There’s a year’s worth of work behind the summer festival. But no need to dwell on that—let’s just enjoy Read by the Sea for all it’s worth!

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