The 2012 Frye Festival has officially started! Atlantic Canada’s largest literary happening features more than 30 renowned authors from here and abroad who will take part in more than 50 public events. Book clubs, conversations, workshops, evenings of words and music, family events, and much more will take place from April 23 to 29 in Greater Moncton. The complete program is available at www.frye.ca.
Some of this year’s great guest authors include Terry Fallis, Dave Bidini, France Daigle, Antonine Maillet, David Gilmour, Eva Stachniak, Freda Wishinsky, Nora Young, Marina Endicott, and many others. Popular Frye events such as Soirée Frye (Thursday, April 26, 7 pm), Night Howl (Thursday, April 26, 9:30 pm), Beer and Books (Friday, April 27, 5 pm), KidsFest (Saturday, April 28, 9:30 am), and Frye Jam (Saturday, April 28, 10 pm) are on the menu and promise to be memorable moments!
A three hour Writing for drama workshop with Marshall Button will be held on Friday, April 27 from at 1 pm at the Dieppe Arts and Culture Centre. Admission is $20 and the workshop will take place in French and English.
On Saturday, April 28, two of Canada’s greatest minds will unite in Moncton! We will travel back in time as Marshall McLuhan and Northrop Frye meet at Toronto’s Pearson airport in February 1978 (Moncton City Hall, 2 pm). The conversation will precede an original talk on Northrop Frye by Ian Balfour entitled “Northrop Frye Beyond Belief”. Entrance is Pay What You Can.
The Launch of a special edition of Ellipse magazine will take place the same day at 4 pm in the Delta Beauséjour lobby. The magazine special issue will mark the 100th anniversary of Frye’s birth and will feature new writing by authors from the Maritimes and across Canada, all of which will honour this great thinker. The event will feature a reception and readings. Entrance is free and refreshments will be served.
Great time for families!
Again this year, KidsFest will take place on Saturday morning from 9:30 am to noon at the Moncton Public Library and will feature readings, workshops for kids, games, and fun for the whole family! This year, the kids will get to meet and hear stories by Marie-Louise Gay, Frieda Wishinsky, Carole Tremblay, and Arthur Slade. Admission is free.
Budding Writers will take place at the Capitol Theatre in Moncton on Saturday April 28 at 2 pm and will feature students from grade 5 to 8 reading their own work.
Culture and the Critic and the Maillet-Frye Lecture
There are still tickets available for Culture and the Critic on Friday, April 27 at 8 pm at the Empress Theatre. The chance to hear some of Canada’s great minds, authors and cultural critics talk about how the age of digital media affects the role of the critic today. The Globe and Mail’s John Doyle, CBC’s Nora Young and novelists David Gilmour and Terry Fallis will lead the discussion.
This year, the Antonine Maillet-Northrop Frye Lecture will be presented by Acadian and Goncourt Award-winning author, Antonine Maillet. Maillet will give a talk at théâtre l’Escaouette at 8 pm on Saturday April 28. The presentation will be in French (simultaneous translation provided) and a Q&A and reception will follow.
Feed your imagination!
In addition to the evening extravaganzas, roundtables, authors in conversation, books clubs, and writing workshops, the Festival offers many other activities that put the spotlight on literature and the love of words.
Tickets
Most of the Frye Festival events are Pay What You Can. Tickets prices are as follows:
· Soirée Frye: $23 (regular) and $10.50 (students)
· Culture and the Critic: $23
· Maillet-Frye Lecture:, $23 (regular) and $11.50 (students)
· Frye Jam: $14
Tickets are on sale through the Capitol Theatre Box Office and its points of sale: Frank’s Music, Dieppe Arts and Culture Centre, Monument Lefebvre, Université de Moncton, and théâtre l’Escaouette.
The detailed program for the 13th annual Frye Festival is available at www.frye.ca. It is also possible to keep abreast of any news via Facebook (Frye Festival Frye) and on twitter (@FryeMoncton).
Bread ‘n Molasses will be attending the festival beginning on Thursday and live tweeting from events, follow @Breadnmolasses on Twitter.
