Halifax spoken word artist Shauntay Grant reads a series of poems inspired by North River iron artist Gordon Kennedy at the opening gala of this weekend's Cabot Trail Writers' Festivall in St. Anne's Bay. The festival continues through Sunday at North River....

30 September, 2011

[See update below.] Don't miss the Cabot Trail Writers' Festival in Tarbot and St. Anne's. The creators of this annual event, now in its third year, have put together a fantastic program this year. On Friday night, last year’s Halifax Poet Laureate, Shauntay Grant, will premiere five spoken word pieces, commissioned for the festival and inspired by five sculptures by North River blacksmith Gordon Kennedy. Several of the festival participants will present workshops Saturday, and the evening program includes readings by Nova Scotia native and Giller-prize winner Johanna Skibsrud, Inverness-born short story writer Alexander MacLeod, and music by the jazz quartet The Synchronics. A...

28 September, 2011

Contrarian will be at the Inverary Inn's Thistledown Pub in Baddeck this evening to lead a discussion about blogging sponsored by the Cabot Trail Writers' Festival, the group that organized this event last fall. In addition to an annual fall festival, the group plans a series of satellite events, of which tonight's discussion is the first. I'll be talking about the writerly (journalistic, aesthetic, ethical) aspects of blogging; Mike Targett will be on hand to backstop me on those issues, and to add his technical smarts to the discussion. The pub serves supper from 5:30 to 8; The fireside blogging discussion,...

06 March, 2010

- Carol Kennedy photo Cape Breton's Fall colors peak between the first and second weekends of October, and this year foliage tourists have four worthy festivals to chose from. The Hike the Highlands festival offers 23 guided hikes in a variety of distances, difficulties, and locations around the Cabot Trail from September 11 to 20. The festival also features workshops on nature photography, GPS, and geocaching, together with various social and musical events. The first annual inaugural Cabot Trail Writers' Festival in North River, October 2 to 4, features readings and workshops by authors Donna Morrissey (Kit's Law & What They Wanted),  Douglas...

09 September, 2009