Gremlins in the Fusebox: Chris Bailey on the Art of Finding Poetry Everywhere

Poet and fisherman helped authors explore the process and production of poetry using your own life experience as a guide. Whether your material is the city or the sea, this workshop focussed on using poetry —in flexible terms—to find common ground.

Creating Memorable Characters in Fiction, a Workshop with Lesley Choyce

Celebrated author and publisher of Pottersfield Press, Lesley Choyce, shared a few of his character building secrets. Lesley spoke to writers from the perspective of both an author and an editor, and left plenty of time for audience questions on the ins and outs of craft and publishing aspects of fiction. He published his 100th book in 2021,  Broken Man on a Halifax Pier, by Dundurn, and his latest work is a creative nonfiction travel tale called, Around England with a Dog.

After the End & Before the Beginning: Bringing your Book to Market

Genevieve Loughlin of Pownal Street Publishing told the tale of how a book goes from manuscript to market. From taking first time authors through the daunting channels of the what to do next, Genevieve explained what to do next: whether that is to build a book proposal to showcase your book’s marketing potential to publishers, hit the market directly through self-publishing, or call in support from freelancers to make your book the best it can be.

Thanks to the Bookmark and Simon & Schuster, Wild Threads was able to welcome Peter Mansbridge to the Florence Simmonds Performance Hall. We were especially pleased to have Louise Martin join, our very own anchor from “Compass”.

Here are a few highlights from the event: