July 19, 2014. Western Head, N.S. Readers' Festival.

I love the whole idea of the Port Medway Readers' Festival. They do it every summer. Three times over the summer, a Canadian author comes to Port Medway to read their work. The meetings are held in The Old Meeting House of Port Medway, built in 1832. The seats are on risers up to the top of the building, where the audience faces each other with an isle down the center. The building is small, holding 175. After a 45 minute talk, followed by a 15 minute Q & A, everyone is invited to the fire hall for light refreshments. It is a perfectly splendid event. Tonight it was packed because the visiting author was Jane Urquhart. She has written 7 novels and books of short along with 4 books of poems. Her work has received numerous awards, and is well known in Canada. The whole creative process is a mystery to me so listening to this wonderful writer and her stories filled me with joy. For 20 years she owned a small cottage in Ireland and much of her work is infused with Irish themes. Now she has sold that tiny home, so it will be interesting to note how it affects her writing. Tonight she read from her book Sanctuary Line. And she read from a book to be published in 2015 and that she has not completed. Gill and I went together and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. It was a lovely evening, all due to a bunch of volunteers who love reading. Their web site is www.portmedwayreadersfestival.com. My hats are off to them.