Annual Bookmark Soirée

The annual Bookmark Soirée will be held in Studio One at the Confederation Centre of the Arts on October 1 at 7 pm. Along with hors d’oeuvres, wine, and conversation with other book people, the evening’s highlight will be the 2024 Bookmark Readerity Talk, featuring Fredericton author Lisa Alward in conversation with Deirdre Kessler and John Flood.

The Readerity Series, now in its sixth year, is a Bookmark initiative aimed at promoting books and reading. The idea is to give voice to Atlantic Canadian authors and their thoughts on the value of books and reading. Each author’s contribution is preserved in a limited-edition chapbook, which is given away for free at the annual Readerity Talk.

The inspiration for Readerity evolved over several years through Bookmark’s interactions with James Roy, David Denby, Merilyn Simonds, Sheree Fitch, Andrew Steeves, Gary Dunfield and John Flood, who coined the word Readerity, and allowed Bookmark to use it.

Lisa Alward’s short fiction has appeared in The Journey Prize and twice in Best Canadian Stories. She has won the Fiddlehead Prize and the Peter Hinchcliffe Fiction Award, been a finalist for The Malahat Review’s Open Season Award, and received an honourable mention in the Peter Hinchcliffe Award. She has also appeared on numerous longlists, including for the CBC Story Prize and Prism International’s Jacob Zilber Prize (three times). Born and raised in Halifax, NS, Alward completed an English degree at the University of Toronto and an MA at Queen Mary College in London, England.

After moving to Fredericton, New Brunswick, she began writing stories at age 50. Cocktail (Biblioasis) is her debut collection and the winner of the 2023 Danuta Gleed Literary Award, the New Brunswick 2023 Mrs. Dunster’s Award for Fiction, and longlisted for the 2024 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction.