Program Overview
Presented by the PEI Writers’ Guild, Innovation PEI, the PEI Events Innovation Fund, the City of Charlottetown and more, this four-day literary experience includes new signature events and author workshops, facilitated by some of Canada’s best writers in fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
Wild Threads Literary Festival 2022 will be taking place in Charlottetown from Thursday, September 14- Sunday, Sept. 18th
PRESENTERS 2022
SIGNATURE EVENTS FEATURES
PEI WRITERS’ GUILD WRITE-IN #1 | THE GALLERY – COFFEE HOUSE & BISTRO
Thursday, September 15th; 2:00- 4:00 pm
Come join the PEI Writers’ Guild for its first annual Wild Threads Write-In! Meant as generative and open-ended, this two-hour session will bring you in communion with your work-in-progress. Not meant as instructional, this writing window is just meant to give you the time and space to write, to develop your characters, think of new voices, or explore new topics in poetics and prose.
PRICE: FREE
TICKETS: Wild Threads Literary Festival
OPENING RECEPTION | TBD
Thursday, September 15th, 4-6 pm
Come join the PEI Writers’ Guild and the artistic team for a warm welcome to Wild Threads Literary Festival, 2022. Here you can mingle with other writers, talk about which events you are looking forward to, or gain a sympathetic ear for your work-in-progress. This literary reception is an elegant festival opener.
PRICE: FREE
TICKETS: Wild Threads Literary Festival
IN-CONVERSATION WITH PETER MANSBRIDGE | FLORENCE SIMMONS PERFORMANCE HALL
Thursday, September 15th, 7:30-9:00 pm
Sponsored by Simon & Schuster and the Bookmark, this interview with Peter Mansbridge is inspired by the reporter’s journalistic tell-all, Off the Record. In conversation with PEI’s own television darling, Louise Martin, this heart to heart at the Florence Simmons Performance Hall is not to be missed. Do you have a question for Peter? After their chat, audience members will have a chance to ask questions of their own, and get their book signed at the book table.
PRICE: FREE
TICKTES: Wild Threads Literary Festival
AFTER THE END & BEFORE THE BEGINNING: BRINGING YOUR BOOK TO MARKET | GENEVIEVE LOUGHLIN, POWNAL STREET PRESS | CLLC
Friday, September 16th, 10-11:30 am
Your manuscript is finally finished, and now it’s time to get it out there! Many people struggle with that next step. For many writers, the answer is a mix of editorial and prep for a traditional publisher. Genevieve Loughlin from Pownal Street Press will take first time authors through the daunting channels of the what to do next: whether you want 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.
PRICE : $15 | TICKETS: Wild Threads Literary Festival
Join celebrated author and publisher of Pottersfield Press, Lesley Choyce, as he shares a few of his character building secrets. Lesley will speak to writers from the perspective of both an author and an editor, and plans to leave 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.
PRICE: $15 | TICKETS: Wild Threads Literary Festival
PEI WRITERS’ GUILD WRITE-IN #2 | THE GALLERY – COFFEE HOUSE & BISTRO
Friday, September 16th, 3-5 pm
Come join the PEI Writers’ Guild for its first annual Wild Threads Write-In! Meant as generative and open-ended, this two-hour session will bring you in communion with your work-in-progress. Take the time this exploratory window is meant to give you time and space to write, to develop your characters, think of new voices, or explore new topics in poetics and prose.
PRICE: FREE | TICKETS: Wild Threads Literary Festival
THE BLACK VOICES WRITERS’ CIRCLE | CLLC
Friday, September 16th, 7:00-9:00 pm
Celebrating the talent of Black writers on this Island, PEIWG’s Wild Threads presents The Black Voices Writers’ Circle. Through R&B, Hip-Hop, poetry and storytelling, this experience aims to highlight the ways Black writers express themselves within their own community and the world while celebrating their artistic and literary genius. This event will take place at the Charlottetown Library Learning Centre on September 16th at 7PM with a special performance from the Umbrella Collective.
PRICE: $20 | TICKETS: Wild Threads Literary Festival
GREMLINS IN THE FUSEBOX: POETRY AS THE SEAT OF EXPERIENCE | CLLC WORKSHOP WITH CHRIS BAILEY Saturday, September 17th, 10-11:30 am
Join writer Chris Bailey as he explores 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 will focus on using poetry —in flexible terms—to find common ground. Writers are asked to bring a poem they love, and to workshop a new variation of it. Come unite the best of memoir and poetry as you blend the two through connective tissue.
PRICE: $15 | TICKETS: Wild Threads Literary Festival
FIRESIDE CHAT: STEVE PATTERSON & PATRICK LEDWELL | TRAILSIDE MUSIC HALL
Saturday, September 17th, 1-3:00 pm
Steve Patterson, host of CBC radio’s long-running hit production The Debaters, brings his sense of humor to Charlottetown in a very special Fireside Chat with PEI’s own top-tier entertainer and celebrated author, Patrick Ledwell. Sponsored by Penguin Random House, these two will have much to discuss, including Patterson’s newest book release—Dad Up! Stick around for a book signing after the chat and have Steve Patterson personally autograph your book for you.
PRICE: $20 | TRAILSIDE TICKETS: FIRESIDE CHAT
TOO FUNNY: COMEDY SHOW WITH PATRICK LEDWELL, MEG MACKAY & STEVE PATTERSON. HOSTED BY SHAWN HOGAN | TRAILSIDE MUSIC HALL
Saturday, September 17th, 7-9:00 pm
That’s right, folks! Wild Threads Literary Festival has hit the comedy scene—hard. Hailing from Ontario, PEI and Nova Scotia, this power trio of comedians will be airing out all the summer’s dirty laundry, and Charlottetown won’t know what hit it! Hosted by the PEI Writers’ Guild’s own Shawn Hogan, this exclusive event will feature Baroness von Sketch Show and This Hour has 22 Minutes writer Meg Mackay, PEI’s own funny-man Patrick Ledwell, and headlined by none other than CBC’s The Debaters host Steve Patterson. This one of a kind show will be sure to bring a boatload of regional laughter to the Trailside Music Hall and is not one to be missed.
PRICE: $35 | TRAILSIDE TICKETS: TOO FUNNY
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 18TH
BRUNCHY SUNDAY READINGS | TBD
Sunday, September 18th, 11- 1:00 pm
Join us for some Brunchy Sunday readings. Sponsored by Mawenzi House and Nimbus Publishing, this event will feature award-winning Mi’kmaw poet Rebecca Thomas and RBC’s PEN Canada New Voices Award Winner in 2022, Fareh Malik. Accompanied by the captivating Atlantic Canadian Instrumentalists Inn Echo, this event aims to satisfy both culinary and literary delights.
PRICE: $20 | Tickets: Wild Threads Literary Festival
WILD THREADS LITERARY OPEN MIC
Sunday, September 18th, 4:00- 5:30 pm | TBD
It is always fun to wrap up a literary weekend with a few tones of home, and what better way to showcase your work then to read a snippet from your new memoir? Join the PEI Writers’ Guild and more for this celebration of words and wit, in whatever form you like from fantasy and fashion to travelog or tragedy. Writers are asked to sign up through the weekend at Wild Threads Literary Festival events; ten writers will be featured and will be given five minutes each. Kick the nerves and ramp up your author game.
PRICE: FREE
TICKETS: Wild Threads Literary Festival
PRESENTED BY THE PEI WRITERS' GUILD 