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Winterset in Summer 2026 will take place Thursday, August 6 to Sunday, August 9.
Unless otherwise noted, all sessions are at the Beaches Theatre & Gallery.
Winterset In Summer
When: Thursday – Sunday, August 6 – 9, 2026
*This doesn’t include Lisa Moore’s Writing Workshop at Sandy Cove Hall on Friday and Saturday morning.
$150.00
Free Admission/All readers welcome. No ticket required.
When: Thursday, August 6, 7:00 pm
Where: Society of United Fisherman (SUF) Hall, Church Street, Eastport, NL
Returning for its second year, this event welcomes book clubs and all other interested readers to talk with beloved book club guest Susie Taylor who will read from Vigil, her raw and brilliant short story collection about life in today’s Newfoundland, which earned Susie the 2024 BMO Winterset Fiction Award. Admission is free, and we’re happy to provide appetizers and a drink. Added bonus: our host is Angela Antle, former journalist and winner of the 2025 BMO Winterset Award – so one winner hosts another!
When: Friday, August 7, 1:00 pm
Well-known to many of us for their media presence and all-around creativity, Heather Barrett and Karl Wells bring us their fascinating books on Newfoundland’s past and the people who lived it. Barrett’s Mill Girls takes us from the island’s shores to Ontario’s textile mill jungles, introducing us to the adventurous women who made the trek before us. A household name in the province for decades, Karl Wells, a former CBC personality, shares light and dark moments from his life and career as an openly gay man in Openly Karl. In the hands of interviewer and accomplished literary person-about-town Ramona Dearing, the conversation will be wild and deep.
$25.00
When: Friday August 7, 3:00 pm
Souvankham Thammavongsa and Ian Williams in conversation with William Ping on excellence in craft – what a treat! Thammavongsa earned her second Giller Award in Fall 2025 for Pick a Colour, which delves into the tensions between surface appearances and complex inner lives in contemporary Canada. Also a Giller winner, Ian Williams in You’ve Changed crafts a story about a builder who renovates his desires and turns his world upside down. Shortlisted for the BMO Winterset Award for Hollow Bamboo and a familiar voice from CBC Radio, host William Ping is a rising literary star.
$25.00
When: Friday, August 7, 8:00 pm
We’re opening tonight’s session by celebrating the winner of the first ever Winterset in Summer Literary Festival Flash Fiction Contest, developed in partnership with Riddle Fence. Lisa Moore will read the prompt that started it all and introduce the contest winner; and Trudy Morgan-Cole will read her winning story, “Bonnie’s Place,” described by the judges as “tender, funny, and beautifully observed.”
And then: for our 25th anniversary season we are pleased to present our Irish connection! Writer Niamh Campbell of Dublin, Ireland, winner of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2021, will talk about her new novel Make Strange, where a woman is unsettled by her child’s accounts of having lived a previous life; and Newfoundland writer Michael Crummey will talk about winning the 2025 Dublin Literary Award for his novel The Adversary, the story of a sister and brother battling for primacy in a fictional 19th century Newfoundland town. The unforgettable Noreen Golfman, former chair of the Winterset in Summer Festival and literature lover par excellence, will host
$25.00
When: Saturday, August 8, 10:30 am
Stories of adoption raise questions about identity, belonging, and the nature of support. Brittany Penner’s memoir Children Like Us tells from the inside the story of a Métis child adopted into a Mennonite home in the 1980s; and Sharon Bala’s much anticipated novel Good Guys about the charity sector and the flurry of celebrity child adoptions in the 21st century make for a fascinating conversation. Our host is Michelle Porter, who is a poet, memoirist, and writer of the novel A Grandmother Begins the Story. Michelle teaches creative writing at Memorial University.
$25.00
When: Saturday, August 8, 1:00 pm
In 2024 for the very last episode of a famous radio program about literature called Writers and Company, Giller-winning writer Madeleine Thien interviewed retiring host Eleanor Wachtel. Now it’s Wachtel’s chance to turn the tables and interview Thien – about her luminous novel Book of Records, about imagination and the writing life, and who knows what else. Guaranteed to be filled with insight, humour, and just plain literary lusciousness, this talk is not to be missed.
$25.00
When: Saturday, August 8, 3:00 pm
In Korea, a woman kills a stranger and her life is transformed. In Thailand, another woman kills a friend and her life is transformed. Come to this utterly gripping session featuring Ann Y.K. Choi speaking about All Things Under the Moon and David Bergen discussing Days of Feasting and Rejoicing. Former CBC host and devoted reader Ted Blades will bring us through the twists and turns of the two labyrinths.
$25.00
When: Saturday, August 8, 8:00 pm
It’s the big night! Tonight we fête the Winterset Award winner and finalists in a night of special conversation. Winner of the 2023 BMO Winterset Literary Award Holly Hogan will talk with 2025 winner Angela Antle of Saltbox Olive, and finalists Debbie McGee of Cautiously Pessimistic, and Mackenzie Nolan of Veal about the creation of their marvelous books. Please stay afterward for nibbles, chats, and fun as the live music of stellar musicians Bill Brennan and Al Henderson helps us celebrate our 25th year.
$25.00
Free Admission/Open to the public. No ticket required.
When: Sunday, August 9, 10:00 am
In an effervescent session that has become one of our board’s personal favourites, we decant some sparkling new literary gems created in this year’s Winterset Festival creative writing workshop, designed and run by the legendary Lisa Moore. Host Jennifer Guy will moderate.
When: Sunday, August 9, 11:30 am
Wayne Johnston, the famed, controversial writer of such books as The Colony of Unrequited Dreams and Jenny’s Boy, has a remarkable new novel coming this spring. We know you’re dying to hear what he has to say about The Novice of Holloway Hall, and host Elisabeth de Mariaffi, writer of four books and editor of Riddle Fence, is just the person to lead the conversation.
$25.00