Warning: The St. Lawrence Writers Festival May Cause Excessive Reading!

Every September something magical happens in Brockville! The St. Lawrence Writers Festival - For readers and writers alike takes over Arts Hub Brockville from September 10 to 13.  It is one of those rare events where you can spend an entire weekend up close and personal with award-winning authors, listen to them talk about imaginary people—and absolutely love every minute of it!  

Even if you’ve never been to a literary festival, don’t worry. You don’t need an English degree. You don’t need to have read every book on the bestseller list. You simply need curiosity and a love of stories. Because whatever your literary passion, we’ve got you covered! 

Love romantasy? Prepare to discover dragons, magic, impossible love stories and enough enchanted kingdoms to make your GPS give up.  

Prefer historical fiction? Travel through centuries without worrying about airport security.

Romance? There’s an entire cruise for that. (And yes the swashbuckler pictured will be on the Love Boat Cruise September 12!)

Literary fiction? Of course.

Writing workshops? Bring a notebook.

Can’t resist poetry? You’ll find words that make you laugh, think, cry, and occasionally wonder why you’ve never written a poem yourself.

Hilton the cat’s Book Launch? Pawsitively! 

You can enjoy biographies, literary fiction, humour, memoirs, and other books that simply keep you turning pages long after you should have gone to bed. 

But one of the best parts of the festival is meeting the authors themselves.  And here’s a little secret about writers. They are normal people. Really! They shop for groceries, drink far too much coffee, and occasionally talk to themselves — although they like to call it “developing dialogue.” They delete perfectly good sentences, celebrate a comma being in exactly the right place and occasionally stare at a blank screen for hours.  And yet they manage to turn all that chaos into stories that make us laugh, cry, fall in love, and travel to places we’ve never been.  Ultimately, they produce books we can’t put down.

You’ll tell yourself you’re only buying one book.

Then you’ll meet the author.

Then they’ll sign it.

Then the person sitting beside you says, “Oh, if you liked that one, you HAVE to read this one.”  Suddenly you’re carrying a stack so heavy it qualifies as upper-body exercise.  But never fear we have these handy tote bags for sale for only $3 which will be wonderful keepsakes!

But the festival isn’t just about books. It’s about conversations. It’s about discovering writers and wondering how you’ve lived this long without reading them. It’s about meeting people who become instant friends because they loved the same book you did. And who knows, you may leave inspired and perhaps convinced that the novel you’ve been talking about writing for the past decade deserves another chance.

So mark your calendar.  Charge your phone for your author selfies.  Stretch your bookshelf. (Because books have a funny way of multiplying when you’re surrounded by Canada’s best writers.)  

Prepare to discover that the next great adventure doesn’t begin with “Once upon a time.”  It begins with Brockville!

Save your seat today at:   www.stlawrencewriterssfestival.ca

Article by Katherine Hobbs