Volunteers...we love you!

We had yet another storm here in Moncton on Wednesday night, but it didn’t seem to impact the kind, generous and fun-loving Frye Festival volunteers! More than 60 people attended our volunteer orientation session to pick-up their passes, t-shirts and to meet some of their fellow community builders, despite the freezing rain (on April 20!).

I am just constantly impressed by the goodwill and generous spirit of people in our community. The hundreds of people over the years who have driven authors to schools, who have taken tickets at the door, hosted book clubs, moderated discussions, picked up authors at the airport, accompanied authors to events, stuffed envelopes and run errands…it is all just so impressive.

Yesterday I met with the guys who will be participating in the “Hockey and Hops” event and they all were so well prepared, reading the book, pondering their questions, and taking their volunteer roles so seriously.

Just this morning at “Imagination at Work” the first official event of the 2011 Festival, volunteers of all ages gave out t-shirts and certificates to creative kids, got photo releases from parents, completed surveys, lugged stuff and inspired so many kids.

This afternoon I spoke with Suzanne Cyr our French Program Chair (Frye Festival volunteer for 11 years!) and she told me about the wonderful synchronicities that are already underway…local booklovers who have made arrangements to take authors out for special dinners (or host them in their homes!), scenic tours that have been planned for authors, and just generally, local people going out of their way to welcome authors and provide them with opportunities to really experience our unique community. This is why authors come to Moncton and love the Frye Festival. Thank you volunteers!

Great Teachers

Some might argue that Northrop Frye’s greatest legacy was the educated imaginations of the many students that he touched through his teaching. In a recent book by Frye scholar Robert D. Denham entitled: Remembering Northrop Frye: Recollections by His Students and Others in the 1940s and 1950s Bob recounts how he wrote to 78 people who appeared in Frye’s 1949 diary and 59 responded, all with stories about their great interactions with Frye.

This week I had the opportunity to meet another great teacher. I was at a wonderful art and poetry opening at the Moncton Public Library (which will be on during the entire Frye Festival, so check it out!) when a woman introduced herself and we began a conversation. The woman in question is Karen Bauer and she is a recently retired English teacher. Karen spoke about her love for teaching and how much she and her students had enjoyed the Festival over the years (and of course how excited they all were to be able to meet Margaret Atwood!).

When I started to ask her more specific questions about authors she had had in the classroom, well the stories really started to come out! She recounted how last year Christian Bök had come to her classroom. Initially, she was a bit sceptical about his book when she received her copies from the Festival, but she had a look at it and passed it on to some of the students. No one really knew what to make of it. However, when Christian came into the classroom, the students were completely engaged – but not necessarily the serious English students. Christian’s approach seemed to appeal even more to the musicians in the class, who didn’t necessarily feel the need for an English class!

Karen also recounted the visit her class had from Miriam Toews. As anyone who has read Miriam knows, she captures that time in adolescence when you still live under your parents’ roof, but you have a lot of flexibility to go off and do things under the radar that your parents would probably not approve of! Needless to say, the students were mesmerized by her stories and her completely captivating manner.

When I asked Karen why she thought that having authors in the classroom was important, she had a few reasons. Yes, students are savvy these days and they like to meet the “real” author. The authenticity of the “real live author” is definitely a big factor. However, she also cited the authors’ varied experiences of being writers as very important. There are so many different ways of becoming a writer, a point that always seems to impress the kids. And finally, Karen thought that by meeting the authors, who while it seems that they have these extraordinarily exciting lives, the kids appreciate that in reality authors are ordinary people who have followed their dreams.

I didn’t realize that Karen was such a huge Festival fan. In fact, she had attended the very first Frye Festival back in 2000 at the Aberdeen Cultural Centre. But, like many great teachers, she had followed the youth performance events over the years. She is a huge fan of Café Underground and she recounted the story of one of her students, Ed McNamara who in Grade 12 read “one chapter from his upcoming novel” at Café Undergound three years ago. Ed was very empowered by the experience of reading (but also by being interviewed by the media and all the positive follow-up to his reading) and Ed has furthered his studies in literature in Montreal and has already had one of his plays produced. Karen was so pleased that an extremely bright student like Ed had had this opportunity, but she also noted that it is often the struggling students who are most impacted by the Festival, the ones who realize through their various interactions, that their voice matters.

So, thanks to all the great teachers all over New Brunswick who invite Frye Festival authors into their classrooms, prepare their students for the visit and then allow the world of imaginative literature to inspire their students.

Building Community

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to build community lately. I don’t know if it has been the stories about the anonymity of social media or the collapse of the UK’s pub culture that has got me thinking!

During the Festival’s recent Strategic Planning Process I started thinking a lot about what the Frye Festival means. What would happen if it disappeared tomorrow, who would care? There were all the obvious answers such as the more than 10,000 kids who are impacted, the teachers who see a child suddenly appreciate the value and fun of reading by meeting a word expert in their classroom, the booklovers from all over the region who take a week off work so that they don’t miss a single event, the local authors who get the chance to shine on an international literary stage, the aspiring authors who are inspired through workshops and encounters with bestsellers, the volunteers who get to know the behind the scenes excitement of the Festival and who get the opportunity to really get to know an author, the administrative and creative professionals who are hired to produce the Festival, and the list goes on.

But what about an even more intangible outcome of the Festival, the building of community? The Festival has always had as one of its key values the idea of bringing the two linguistic communities together in a meaningful way, but what about even going beyond that?

We are so lucky in Greater Moncton to live in such a hospitable and friendly town, but as the snow mountains grow and our opportunities for social interaction are somewhat diminished by weekly snow storms, the need to interact socially seems to increase. I’m a huge reader and normally, there isn’t much that can drag me away from a cozy chair and a great book, but even bookworms need outings!

This week I had some amazing opportunities to get out in the community and share a passion for the written word and the beautiful, wonderful, extraordinary experience of the book.

My first opportunity was with a new book club (and I mean new…this was their first meeting!). I arrived with my book bag and had the opportunity to meet a great group of passionate readers who had met through an ad on Kijiji! Chatting with these women about the authors who are coming to the Festival, demystifying some of the events, and getting them excited about the Festival was so much fun…and I think I may have recruited a few volunteers in the process! I’ve got four more book club meetings set-up for the next week and I look forward to meeting people who value the time that they get to spend with a book and who enjoy the opportunity of discussing the experience with others. Let me know if you would like me to drop by your book club – I usually have a great door prize!

My next opportunity took place on Wednesday night at Frye Academy. There were 13 high incredible school students taking part in the final battle of the books to choose the 2011 winner of the Frye Academy Award. Besides the students and moderator there was an interested audience and a few members of the media…all on a miserable, grey, slushy February night! To see the enthusiasm, excitement and pure passion of the kids as they discussed and debated the books was truly awe-inspiring. Of course, for me, the best part of all was to speak with one of the students who participated last year too and to get her feedback on how incredible she had found the experience and to have her tell me how much she would like to be a member of the selection jury next year when she is in university. Frye Academy has had a big impact on her life.

And finally, last night during our annual Preview Party for Frye Fans (if you didn’t get an invitation just sign up for our newsletter and you will get one every year along with all the latest Festival happenings) more than 100 people braved an ice storm to have a sneak peek at the Festival’s 2011 roster. Meeting fellow human beings face-to-face, chatting about a shared passion, lamenting the weather and sharing laughs and a sip of wine was simply the perfect antidote to February.

The Frye Festival provides so many opportunities to get out, mingle with fellow book lovers, discuss new ideas and feed your imagination and to be inspired. I’m not sure how to measure the impact of this, performance indicators, anyone? But I do know that the Frye Festival has made an indelible mark on New Brunswick. It has inspired change and hope and brought our communities together like no other event. As Canada’s only bilingual international literary Festival and Atlantic Canada’s largest literary event, the Frye Festival is firmly established in the psyche of the province and will continue to grow, improve and inspire future generations to see the power of the imagination.  What’s the value of that?

Meeting Margaret Atwood

In January 2010, I met Margaret Atwood. I was at the Toronto International Airport, lining up to have my fingertips dusted for bomb residue by Transportation Canada when my friend let out a little shriek and we both turned around and exclaimed “It’s Margaret Atwood!” I took a few deep nervous breaths, fumbled for my business card, and awkwardly presented myself to her. There was absolutely no mistaking the curly hair and distinct features. Canada’s preeminent author, poet, novelist, essayist, op-ed writer and Twitter-er was standing in front of me, diminutive in a large winter coat. I thrust my card at her and mumbled something about inviting her to the Festival, year after year. She looked down at my card and graciously told me that she had heard good things about the Frye Festival. “Will you come?” I asked.  “Yes” she said, “not this year but next…follow up with my office”. Well, of course I did as soon as I landed and I am so thrilled that this April Margaret Atwood will attend the Frye Festival.

There will be two main opportunities for you to hear Margaret Atwood. The first will be at Soirée Frye, the Festival’s annual “literary smorgasbord” – one-hour, four authors, two musicians, writing contest winners, all followed by an open reception in Greater Moncton’s beautiful Capitol Theatre.

The second opportunity takes place on Saturday (April 30^th) again at the Capitol Theatre, as Atwood delivers the 2011 Antonine Maillet-Northrop Frye Lecture. Following this historic lecture
(that we hope to live-stream, available to all 126,000 Atwood followers on Twitter!), Atwood will have an on-stage discussion. And then for the groupies, Margaret has agreed to sign some books, in person (no long-pen!).

Of course, if you are lucky there will be another very special opportunity to have lunch with Margaret and raise funds for the Frye Festival’s Foundation at the same time. There will only be 25 tickets available at a cost of $200 each (a $150 tax receipt will be available) and each will include a beautiful lunch at Dieppe’s gourmet restaurant, L’Idylle.

If you haven’t read a lot of Atwood, I would personally recommend my favourite novel, the near-future dystopian Oryx and Crake. (It is so difficult to choose! I also loved The Robber Bride and of course, The Handmaid’s Tale.) Atwood calls Oryx and Crake:  “a joke-filled, fun-packed rollicking adventure story about the downfall of the human race.” Here is a great reading/lecture by Atwood about Oryx and Crake at MIT: http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/196 . (It is funny to note that the only reason that she made it to MIT was that a student passed her an invitation during the Giller Awards!)

I truly can’t believe that we will finally have the great honour have having Northrop Frye’s former student, “Oracle Atwood” in our midst this April. Tickets go on sale at http://www.tickets.moncton.ca/ on February 21^st, 2011. For all the details visit: http://www.frye.ca/.

The Challenge

This year, for the first time ever in the Frye Festival's history, I've challenged all of our board members to each raise $1,000 for the Festival, so I guess I had better lead by example!

I don’t think there is a more important social issue in New Brunswick than literacy and that is why I have spent the last twelve years of my life volunteering full time for the Frye Festival. No, we aren't teaching kids to read and write -- that is the job of our school system. But we are getting kids excited about words and what it means to be literate in our society…and every year during the Frye Festival more than 10,000 students get to meet authors in their schools, all at absolutely no cost to our school system.

Despite my enormous passion for the Frye Festival and everything that it stands for, I still find it incredibly difficult to ask people for money. So, here goes, this is my compelling argument for why you should consider donating some money to the Frye Festival!

In this world of divergent viewpoints, there is one thing that everyone agrees on: literacy is a good thing. Who is against literacy? No one. However, our country’s rates aren’t terrific and New Brunswick’s are some of the lowest in Canada.

•  Did you know that 60-68% of Anglophones and Francophones respectively in NB cannot read beyond a Grade 4 level?
•  Did you know that just a 1% improvement in literacy rates in Canada would translate into a $32 billion increase in national income?
• Did you know that raising literacy skills could create thousands of new jobs, lower unemployment and significantly raise personal income – all of which could play a big role in combating poverty?

But, we all know, improved literacy rates extend well beyond economic gain.  What is the value of reading to our kids before bed? What is the value of a child meeting an author in his classroom and being inspired to write a poem? What is the value of a student winning a writing contest and deciding that she wants to be a writer? What is the value of a reluctant reader meeting an author who opens the world of imaginative literature to her? What is the value of kids being empowered to read lots of books because it is cool to read books? What is the value of an adult reading a book, feeding her imagination by meeting the author and becoming a more tolerant and civil citizen? What is the value of a 75-year-old who has never had a passion for reading, but given the chance to meet a "real live author" devours book after book?

Did you know that reading may make us better moral citizens? Recent research indicates that the number of storybooks that small children have access to is a direct predictor of how they are able to understand other people’s mental states.

Canada’s only bilingual international literary Festival and the largest literary event in Atlantic Canada relies heavily upon grants from government and corporate sponsors. But, increasingly, we are seeking support from community-minded individuals like you. Feeding the imaginations of kids all over our province every year is not without its costs. We pay for all authors’ travel and accommodation costs and for every school visit and event. Also, every year the Frye Festival:

• brings more than $1 million dollars to the local economy during the last week of April;
• puts Moncton and New Brunswick on the world literary stage through positive national media coverage;
• employs many creative professionals;
•  helps local businesses such as cafes, restaurants, booksellers and hotels during a traditionally slow tourist time;
•  brings national corporate dollars to our local community that wouldn't otherwise flow here; and
• assists more than 90 different partners to achieve their goals.

But, it is the less tangible accomplishments that are so important. In addition to the more than 10,000 students every year who meet Festival authors in their classrooms, there are the many creative kids who get the chance to perform their own work. The feedback from teachers, students and parents about the profound impact that these encounters have are awe-inspiring. The Kindergarten student who came home after meeting a Festival author in her class and insisted that she needed to write a new story every day, because stories are important; the middle school student, going through a tough year, who was able to express himself through writing and presenting his words, overcoming a difficult bullying situation; the high school student who performed five years in a row during the Festival and said that the Festival was the highlight of her high school life.

This is a minuscule sampling of the stories we have heard, and they don’t come close to telling the whole story.

Please consider making a donation to the Festival. All donations over $10 will receive a tax receipt and donors of $500 or more will be recognized in our program (120,000 copies printed and inserted in all NB dailies and in all copies of the Globe and Mail in Atlantic Canada). You can donate  on-line and immediately receive a tax receipt.

Literacy begins in hearts, not heads…we all need to be inspired to open that book and allow it to transport us. 

Thank you!

Dawn