Frye Festival, Day #4

Suddenly, there simply aren’t enough hours in a day, no matter what you do! The big day had arrived: Margaret Atwood’s plane was landing at 2:46 pm and I was picking her up!

I spent the day in a very nervous state. I did a nice interview with Dan Ahlstrand at Rogers 91.9 that was fun and informative and then on to a French for the Future meeting (I’m on the board and they were having a local gathering of French immersion students). A great story from John Ralston Saul was recounted about the benefits of bilingualism and the speaker used the example that if you speak two languages, you can read both Antonine Maillet and Margaret Atwood. It was amazing to watch the kids, because when he said Atwood’s name, they all reacted, knowing she was coming to their town!

Due to a front page article about Jean-Christophe Rufin, there is even greater interest in his talk with Jean Fugere tomorrow night and we discussed changing the set-up in order to accommodate more people.

I just keep receiving feedback about how amazing Kenneth Oppel is in the schools. What talent!

At noon I attended a round table discussion on the topic of Writer as Witness. Johanna Skibsrud spoke about the fact that no matter what happens, our present moments are always made up of our past experience, thus affecting the way we see things. Moncton-based Melvin Gallant spoke about writing history and how the witness is the vehicle and how sometimes you have to discern if it is what you think, or what the witness or character thinks. And finally, Gilles Leroy spoke about the reliability of the witness and how when reading any account of almost any happening there is always more than one version, so one must be aware of the interest of the person writing the account.

I then raced back to headquarters and checked in with the team. Danielle LeBlanc, Roxanne Richard and James Fogerty are all looking extremely good considering their complete lack of sleep over the last few weeks! I am amazed at their stamina. I got to meet the extraordinary Sylvia Tyson and she was lovely and funny.

I popped in to Shandi Mitchell’s book club which was going along swimmingly with Suzanne Pelham-Beliveau’s great questions. And then finally, it was time. Time to go to the airport.

I had agonized over whether I should bring snacks for Margaret, how I should dress, what I should say, questions I should ask, and when I got to the airport I saw that the flight was delayed. Yikes. More nerves. I sat down and started chatting with the gal sitting beside me. I mentioned that I was nervous because I was picking up Margaret Atwood. She had no idea who Margaret was (which, I must confess, did calm me down a bit, helping me to realize, as everyone had been telling me, she is a regular human being, just like the rest of us!).

At last her plane got in and I quickly realized what a warm, caring, engaged and funny person she is. We chatted in the vehicle (mostly about her dismay over the endorsements that national media were giving to certain prime ministerial candidates) and made it to the hotel in one piece (which was a relief, because I’m not really known for my good driving when I’m driving a famous author…just ask Dennis Lee!). I presented Atwood to Danielle and had to leave immediately for a run-through of Soirée Frye. I’ve been hosting this event for years even though I’m not particularly comfortable on stage and this year I had a new co-host: Gabriel Robichaud. While I knew I wouldn’t be subjected to the public humiliation I usually endure with my old co-host, I didn’t really know what to expect from Gabriel. What a guy! He has such a great sense of theatre and instantly came up with a brilliant idea to tie the event together. We went over the script and I raced home to get ready for the evening.

I had the great opportunity to meet all the winning students of the writing contest. What an impressive group! I was particularly impressed that some of the kids had travelled so far to attend from Saint John and Caraquet. The contest is truly provincial now with winners from all over the province. I had never seen the lobby of the Capitol so crowded so early in the evening with the students and their entourages; you could feel the excitement in the air!

So much more to tell about the hilarious green room banter, the fabulous musicians and authors backstage, the swarming and the flush, however, for the record, I want to state right here: it was a “royal flush” and I had absolutely NOTHING to do with it! Out of time now, but just ask and I will tell all...I've got some great stories!