2024 Winterset Bios
17 April 2024
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The Festival began on August 8th with a high-flying event in the celebrated International Departure Lounge of Gander Airport. Known as a near-perfectly preserved 1959 gem, it is widely considered to be one of the most important Modernist rooms in Canada. The lounge is home to Kenneth Lochhead’s mural, “Flight and Its Allegories”. Writer Jane Urquhart used the mural as inspiration for her book The Night Stages. Jane read from The Night Stages and Mireille Eagan, Art Gallery Curator at The Rooms, provided an interpretation of the mural.
Readers/Writers: Jane Urquhart
Host: Mireille Eagan
Jazz musicians Al Henderson and Florian Hoefner offered musical entertainment for this event.
The first panel discussion, “Fly Girls” with Jane Urquhart and Larry Dohey, was hosted by Jamie Fitzpatrick. It featured the role women played in aviation.
Readers/Writers: Jane Urquhart, Larry Dohey
Host: Jamie Fitzpatrick
Larry Foley, Andrea Monro, and Sherry Ryan delivered an evening that was both entertaining and informative. These talented musicians performed their original work and discussed what inspires them to write and perform.
Singers/Songwriters: Larry Foley, Andrea Monro, Sherry Ryan
Host: Tom Allen (CBC’s Shift)
WiS, in keeping with its mandate to promote and support this province’s emerging writers, selects three new voices to participate in Saturday afternoon’s “New Voices” panel. This event provides attendees with an excellent opportunity to hear promising new writers read from and discuss their work, the struggles of getting published and a myriad of details that inspired them to become “writers”.
Readers/Writers: Terry Doyle, Susan Sinnott, Susie Taylor
Host: Heather Barrett
Saturday morning’s panel featured Gander resident Glen Cooper, writers Gary Collins and Jamie Fitzpatrick (a Gander native) in discussion with host Glen Carter on how flight and aviation created a town.
Readers/Writers: Glen Cooper, Gary Collins, Jamie Fitzpatrick
Host: Glen Carter
Host: Heather Barrett
Host Heather Barrett broadcast Weekend AM live from the Beaches Arts & Heritage Centre. Interviews with writers, musicians, Festival patrons and local residents made this a must-hear event.
“BMO Winterset Award Voices”Eleanor Wachtel hosted this popular event, featuring the three BMO Winterset Award finalists for 2018. The finalists and award winner, Heather Smith, read from their work and engaged in conversation about various aspects of their writing, their inspirations, and their life experiences as published authors.
Readers/Writers: Melissa Barbeau, Robert Chafe, Heather Smith
Host: Eleanor Wachtel
The Royal Canadian Legion hosted its famous fish supper. Two sittings: 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. This was an independent event.
The Festival concluded Sunday afternoon with internationally-acclaimed (and Newfoundland-born) journalist, Gwynne Dyer, in discussion with Dr. Noreen Golfman on “The Future of Democracy.”
Readers/Writers: Gwynne Dyer
Host: Noreen Golfman
Following on the very successful Botanical Walks (2017) and the Geology Walks (2018), WiS arranged 3 hikes on the new Damnable Trail Network. This showcased the scenic beauty of the Eastport Peninsula while offering a guided walk through these newly developed trails.
Principal Sponsors
Government of Newfoundland & Labrador
Government of Canada
Sponsors
Donors/Supporters
2019 – Festival Friends
2019 – Jennifer Morgan TNNP Children’s Writer
From August 5-8, WIS again partnered with Terra Nova National Park in a Children’s Writer in the Park Outreach event for 2019. For the past several years WiS has provided a writer for a 4-day program in TNNP at the children’s activity centre; WiS provides the writer and TNNP provides the venue and accommodations. Additionally, the writer hosts an afternoon event in Eastport. The 2019 writer in residence was Jennifer Morgan.
“It was June 1919 and a real live Vickers Vimy bomber was parked in the field behind Ralphie’s house. But when Mr. Alcock and Mr. Brown were finally ready, everyone took off running. That’s when Ralphie, slowed down by his limp and cane, thought he would miss out on the most important event of his young life…”
Jennifer Morgan is a storyteller, illustrator, and printmaker from St. John’s. At 2 p.m. on Tuesday, August 6th she’ll be telling her family story about her great-uncle Ralph Moyst. This story is based on the chapter book by her father, George M. Morgan: “Alcock and Brown and the Boy in The Middle” (Tuckamore, 1994) which Jennifer illustrated.
Jennifer also lead a walk looking for flat things in nature, then participants made a cyanotype photographs from their discoveries. These photographs create a blue outline of the silhouetted object. Cyanotypes are a good activity for all ages.
“Flight and its Allegories” The Festival began on August 8th with a high-flying event in the celebrated International Departure Lounge of Gander Airport. Known as a near-perfectly preserved 1959 gem,
