Once again the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts has scored big with patrons. The festival, which has catered to the eclectic tastes of readers for the past 30 years, is truly a force to be reckoned with.
A pre-festival event this year the documentary film Northwords was featured on Wednesday night. Narrated by the multi-talented CBC personality, Shelagh Rogers, the film followed five Canadian authors for seven days in the far northern reaches of Labrador. Commissioned to highlight the 100th anniversary of Parks Canada the showing was the premiere of the movie.
The lush scenery and the poignant stories of an Inuit elder as well as the efforts of young Inuit women to learn their culture made for excellent visuals. Noah Richler, one of the authors in the film and Rogers added their personal observations after the showing to the appreciation of the rapt audience.
Andy Johnson and Lenora Joe, part of the Sechelt singers and dancers, opened the writers' portion of the festival with a welcoming song. Many speakers over the four days remembered to acknowledge that the festival was hosted on the traditional territory of the Sechelt people. Perhaps no one was more cognizant of this than Richard Wagamese, an Ojibway First Nations author who is one of the finest orators and writers in Canada. This was his second appearance at the festival and a standing ovation signaled the esteem the audience holds for this writer.
One of the most touching moments of the festival occurred when Sechelt Band member Teresa Jefferies informed the crowd that the Sechelt Indian Band had launched a class action suit against the government of Canada to seek redress for the day students of the Sechelt Residential School. There were few dry eyes in the pavilion when the tiny elder had finished speaking.
Longtime crowd favourite Wayson Choy set the tone for the entire festival on Thursday night with his conversation with the sold-out crowd. Tell your stories, he urged the listeners. And they were thankful he took his own advice. There is no better raconteur anywhere.
There were many delights at this year's festival, one of the largest in Western Canada that invites only Canadian authors.
They ranged from our own founding mothers to Gail Bowen the Prairie mystery writer in top form Friday morning to Linden MacIntyre, the investigative journalist from CBC's Fifth Estate. Bowen had the crowd rolling with laughter with her easy speaking style and MacIntyre had the crowd hanging on his every word.
There were so many top events. From JJ Lee with his fashionable bum-patched pants to the wry humour of Kim Clark and Robyn Michele Levy to the tongue-in-teach stories of Michael Crummey to the one and only Coaster Dr. Eric Paetkau there were laughs aplenty.
There aren't enough words to describe how wonderful the festival is, here's to 30 more.
- Cathie Roy
