Wordstock – also known as “The Time Before and Between WordPlay and Read by the Sea Main Stage
Wordstock is a series of literary shenanigans designed to celebrate and foster writing and storytelling, also known as “The Time Before and Between WordPlay and Read by the Sea Main Stage." Wordstock typically includes:
A Writing Workshop
Join author Michelle Robinson for WriteWords – a workshop on “writing for children” on Friday, July 7th at 10:00 am, to be held in the Anglican Hall, 1917 Highway 6, River John
There is no limit to the number of participants but preregistration is required.
A Heritage Story Walk
Heritage Story Walk features visits to historic sites in and around River John, led by folks who know and share the stories of each location.
Family Campfire Stories
Thursday, July 6th, 6:30 p.m. at Caldera Distillery Inc. Bring your lawn chairs and your family-friendly jokes and stories.
Open Mic
Open Mic, hosted by the Pictou County Writers Group, is an opportunity for author to read their works before an encouraging and uncritical audience.
Pitch the Publisher
July 8, 9-10:30 a.m., River John Legion. Sponsored by the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association and Read by the Sea literary festival, this fan-favourite gives emerging authors 3 minutes to pitch their works to a panel of publishers. See below for how to apply.
Pitch the Publisher 2023
Do you have a manuscript burning a hole in your sock drawer, aching to be published? This might be your chance. At Pitch the Publisher, selected writers each have three minutes to stand at a microphone and pitch their manuscripts to a panel of publishers, in front of an audience. Publishers have five minutes to respond with feedback. Open to writers aged 18 and up.
Here’s how you can be one of the selected writers:
- Prepare a proposal. Describe your manuscript in two sentences or less, plus why you are the most qualified person to write it and why people would want to read it. State the genre and intended audience.
- Send your proposal (not the manuscript) and your contact information to Read by the Sea Pitch the Publisher by March 15, 2023:
- Email your proposal using the Contact Us form on this website, or
- Mail your proposal to Read by the Sea, c/o River John Library, PO Box 104, River John, NS, B0K 1N0.
- A jury will select 9 or ten entries that are most likely to succeed. We will contact the selected writers with their time slots for pitching to the publisher panel on July 8, 2023.
Open Mic
Following the Writers' Workshop at St. John's Hall, on July 2, 1-2 pm. As for the Writers' Workshop, please pre-register. Bring your writing - of any kind - and share it with an audience. Covid protocols will apply. This event will also be recorded for the website. (If you plan to attend both the workshop and Open Mic, you may want to pack a picnic lunch. We hope for sunshine!)
Writing Workshop
Michelle Robinson is the bestselling author of over fifty picture books including The World Made a Rainbow, She Rex, There’s a Lion in my Cornflakes, A Beginner’s Guide to Bearspotting, Grandmas from Mars and the Goodnight Spaceman series. Michelle is also the author of funny young fiction including Do Not Disturb the Dragons and Do Not Mess with the Mermaids. Her books have been translated into countless languages and are popular throughout the world. Michelle’s work has won several awards, including the Lollies Laugh Out Loud Book Award, Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Award, the Stockport Children’s Book Award and the North Somerset Teachers’ Book awards. She has delivered writing workshops for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Golden Egg Academy and The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook. Michelle lives in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia with her husband, son and daughter, and a cat named Chicken.
Workshop overview:
Strong Writer, Strong Stories
While writing can be extremely enjoyable and rewarding, doing it well requires work. Roll up your sleeves and get stuck in during this wide-ranging workshop from a seasoned pro. Expect fun writing exercises relevant to all types of writing, plenty of practical tips, anecdotes from the world of children’s publishing, lively discussion — and to leave the session feeling motivated to write.
Book Auction
We’re auctioning off copies of books by our Main Stage authors, as a fundraiser and because they are simply fabulous books! Here’s how it works: View the list of auction items below, then use our ‘Contact Us’ form or email [email protected] (include the word “auction” in the subject line) and tell us:
1. Your name, email address and phone number
2. Which auction item you’re bidding on (you can bid on as many items as you like)
3. The amount of your bid
The auction will close at 5 p.m. July 9, at which time we will award the items to the highest bidders.
This is your chance to snag some great books and support Read by the Sea at the same time (how awesome is that?).
Auction Item #1: Kill the Mall, by Pasha Malla. $25 value. Minimum bid: $15
Auction Item #2: Kill the Mall, by Pasha Malla. $25 value. Minimum bid: $15
Auction Item #3: Crow, by Amy Spurway. $22.95 value. Minimum bid: $15
Auction Item #4: Crow, by Amy Spurway. $22.95 value. Minimum bid: $15
Auction Item #5: Fishing the High Country, by Wayne Curtis. $19.95 value. Minimum bid: $15
Auction Item #5: Fishing the High Country, by Wayne Curtis. $19.95 value. Minimum bid: $15
Auction Item #6: I’m Finding My Talk, by Rebecca Thomas plus companion book I Lost My Talk, by Rita Joe (both illustrated by Pauline Young). Value: $45.90. Minimum bid: $30
Auction Item #7: I’m Finding My Talk, by Rebecca Thomas plus companion book I Lost My Talk, by Rita Joe (both illustrated by Pauline Young). Value: $45.90. Minimum bid: $30
Auction Item #8: I’m Finding My Talk, by Rebecca Thomas plus companion book I Lost My Talk, by Rita Joe (both illustrated by Pauline Young). Value: $45.90. Minimum bid: $30
“I like the fact that Read by the Sea gives me a chance to get better as a writer. It’s great to see so many people get together in a shared love of books, reading, and writing.”
Ray Burns, writer, journalist, reader
Meet The Pitch Panel
Boularderie Island Press is located in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. On average, they publish between 3-5 traditional trade book publications and co-publications each year. They have published more than 50 books, including The Appendage Formerly Known as Your Left Arm by Julie Curwin, which won the Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short Fiction at this year’s Atlantic Book Awards.
Paul MacAllister, Monster House owner/author published his first book, There and Back Again: A Herman Tale in the Fall of 2015. He then began Monster House Publishing, a New Brunswick based publishing house for children’s books. Since then, Monster House Publishing has launched several works, including the recent Mi’kmaq Alphabet Book by Shyla Augustine, which was nominated for a New Brunswick Book award this year, and has a second edition on the way!
Chocolate River Publishing was established to raise the profile of New Brunswick in Anglophone children’s literature. Their main focus is on the types of books that kids from kindergarten to grade twelve want to read. They should tell a great story, have strong characters, the action should move fast, and humour doesn’t hurt! What-cha Doing by Kim Renton was nominated for a New Brunswick Book Award this year.
Best-selling author Brenda Thompson founded Moose House in 2019 to publish fiction, non-fiction, and other materials written in or about rural Nova Scotia. The press serves folks who are writing material that excites and compels them, even though it might not have a large-enough potential market to attract larger publishers. They have published 25+ authors in their first two years. Two Crows Sorrow was shortlisted for The Miramichi Reader’s 2020 Very Best of Historical Fiction award and was on Atlantic Books’ Chapters Indigo bestsellers list in January 2020. Their goal is to build up their catalogue with entertaining, challenging, eye-opening stories, plays, essays, and book-length explorations into subjects of local interest. Moose House is proud to be a member of the Atlantic Publishers’ Marketing Association, which supports publishers across Atlantic Canada. Their publisher and staff, and many of their authors, are members of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia.
Penguin Random House
Penguin Random House Canada, the country’s largest book publisher and part of an international publishing company, was established in 2013 by merger and has a Canadian publishing history going back to 1906. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, with office locations in Mississauga, Ontario, and Vancouver, British Columbia, and more than 230 employees across the country, it is the literary home of world-renowned Canadian authors such as Margaret Atwood, Leonard Cohen, Kim Thúy, Alice Munro, Michael Ondaatje, David Chariandy, Dionne Brand, Richard Wagamese, and Chris Hadfield. It is made up of 19 diverse imprints, publishing adult and children’s fiction and non-fiction print and digital trade book publishing.
“Read by the Sea is so great. River John is lovely, and the festival is run by volunteers with deep roots in the community. It’s a fantastic literary getaway in a beautiful place by the sea.”
Stephen J. Maher, author, Read by the Sea 2021 writing workshop instructor and interviewer
Page Turners
* Note** Due to unforeseen circumstances, there are no current book club sets available this year. PageTurners will return next year.