Press Conference
30 mars 2010
For immediate release
Fifth Anniversary of BookFest in the Gaspé Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands
Chandler, Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 – The fifth anniversary of the regional literary event BookFest will be celebrated from April 19th to April 25th. Today, the steering committee unveiled the rich and varied program: meetings with authors, book displays, workshops, shows, literary meetings and contests. Nearly 600 activities in schools, bookstores, municipal libraries, and in public, cultural and community places are on the menu for the week so that everyone can together share the joy of reading! The official launch of the week will take place on Radio-Canada Gaspésie-Les-Îles on Monday, April 19th, on the Bon pied, bonne heure! show.
This year, BookFest is giving a tribute to the Gaspesian poet and artist Françoise Bujold, an extraordinary multidisciplinary creator: poetry, engravings, short films, workshops with children; in all of these, she was an originator.
We are happy to announce that the prolific author Bryan Perro will be the Pen Holder for our event. He will be visiting schools, and will be at the general public meetings in the Gaspé Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands. Anne Bernard Lenoir, David Lonergan, Éric Dupont, Josée Kaltenback, Marie Christine Bernard, Nadine Poirier, Paul Bossé, Prouche, Raquel Rivera and Sheree Fitch will also be on tour, and 24 other authors will present meetings, lectures and launches. It will be a unique opportunity to talk with them.
The 5th anniversary will be starring the Pass It On! game, which is played by leaving a book that you enjoyed in a public place so that it can be picked up, read, and passed on. It is also a chance to find out what your colleagues and friends are reading! Pass It On! labels are available in the 5 participating bookstores and 27 municipal libraries, as well as at www.livresenfete.org. Moreover, children in the 12 daycare centres in the Gaspé Peninsula will be playing Pass It On! with Monsieur Flo, in collaboration with the Fonds jeunesse René-Lévesque.
Our bookstores are generous collaborators: Alpha in Gaspé, Liber in New Richmond, L'Expression in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, Plaisance in the Islands, and Tabacado in Chandler are all offering sets of books for the Reading Nooks Participation Prize. They will be featuring our touring authors, and will distribute the contest crossword and Pass It On! labels. In addition, Alpha and L'Expression will be displaying youth literature in the schools in their area, and Liber will have a display at the literary breakfast in New Richmond.
Families are invited to participate in the Réseau BIBLIO's Treasure Hunt that will take place in the 12 participating municipal libraries. In collaboration with the Fédération québecoise du saumon atlantique, Yvon Côté will be the guest speaker at the supper talks Les mots à la bouche (A Taste for Words). Salmon will be featured. Two literary breakfasts with authors will be broadcast on the CIEU-FM radio station from New Richmond and on Radio-Gaspésie from Gaspé.
In the host towns Chandler, Gaspé, New Richmond, Sainte-Anne-des-Monts and in the Magdalen Islands, the local committees have been busy for months coordinating the many activities in their areas. They have over 600 volunteers who believe in developing our region by boosting reading habits: we are proud of them.
This year once again, schools are bursting with original activities. The young people will have the opportunity to meet authors and invite parents and friends to share in their work on reading and writing. Two actors from the youth show Sam Chicotte on Télé-Québec will be on tour in the region and the Cool Choices activity on our website will concentrate exclusively on them.
Our collaborators among others are : the Chic-Chocs, René-Lévesque, des Îles and Eastern Shores School Boards, the host towns, the bookstores, the Musée acadien du Québec in Bonaventure, Arrimage, Corporation culturelle des Îles, and the Gaspésie Literacy Council.
BookFest wishes to underscore the support received from its major funding partners, the Conférence régionale des élu(e)s, (CRÉ-GÎM), the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC), l'Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québecois (UNEQ), the ministère des Affaires municipales, des Régions et de l'Occupation du territoire (MAMROT), the Canada Council for the Arts, and the ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine (MCCCF). The event is also supported by Télé-Québec Gaspésie-Les-Îles, CHAU-TV, Graffici, Belcor, the Fonds jeunesse René-Lévesque, the Caisses Desjardins and Hydro-Québec, which is presenting the authors' tour.
For more information about the program, get the 5th anniversary brochure, or go to www.livresenfete.org
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Source: Yolande Fortin, BookFest Communications Head
418-763-5604
communication@livresenfete.org