Soirée and Readerity Talk

The annual Bookmark Soirée takes place October 23 at 7 pm in Studio One, Confederation Centre of the Arts. The event offers an evening of conversation with fellow book enthusiasts. The highlight is the 2025 Bookmark Readerity Talk: Conversations with Books featuring Charlottetown author Bren Simmers in conversation with Deirdre Kessler and John Flood. Refreshments will be served. RSVP to charlottetown@bookmarkreads.ca.

 The Readerity Series, now in its seventh year, is a Bookmark initiative to promote 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 free at the event.

Bookmark’s passion for books and reading—and its motivation for this project—is well articulated in a quote from Mark Hansen, a professor of political science, who said, “The bookseller’s passion—for books, for the experience of reading, for the culture of the written word—is a source of inspiration for readers. Even more important, it is a crucial support for readers as they convey their enthusiasm to their children, their students, their friends, and their associates…We must cultivate readers as farmers tend their fields.”

The inspiration for Readerity evolved over several years through Bookmark’s interaction 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.

 Bren Simmers is the author of four poetry books, including The Work, If, When, Night Gears, and Hastings-Sunrise. Her first book of nonfiction, Pivot Point, is a lyrical account of a nine-day wilderness canoe journey. Her work has won the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, CBC Poetry Prize, Malahat Review Long Poem Prize, and Arc Poem of the Year Award, and has been a finalist for the Governor General’s Award in Poetry, J.M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award, Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award, and City of Vancouver Book Award. When she isn’t writing, Bren is shepherding other people’s projects as the Managing Editor of Island Studies Press at UPEI.