WELLINGTON COUNTY – The county has put out a call for local writers to get involved in a new festival and event series taking place over the spring.
The first Wellington County Writers’ Festival is a celebration of local writers with a planned kick-off event at the Wellington County Museum and Archives (WCMA) on April 23.
“Writing has always been a fundamentally important way of expressing oneself and I think now more than ever people have been reverting back to writing during the pandemic,” said Jana Burns, Wellington Place administrator. “I think we want to celebrate that.”
Burns explained the intent is to be accessible to writers beyond those from traditional backgrounds including young people writing in journals, bloggers, podcasters, illustrators, journalists or playwrights among others.
“Anyone of any age that has any kind of creative writing that they’ve produced, we want to give them an opportunity to share their material with the community,” Burns said.
Local author Pat Mestern said she thinks this is a great idea as Wellington County is home to a lot of writers who don’t get the recognition they deserve.
She also said she sees it as an opportunity for budding writers to network and learn from established authors.
“There are people that have probably not been in the industry or the business before and they have an idea for a book and they just need questions answered,” Mestern said.
“It’s really neat that all these people are getting together and that some questions can be answered like how to find a publisher or how to self-publish.”
Burns explained this is a collaborative effort between the WCMA and county library staff with joint-events having been identified in their strategic plan as a logical partnership on events.
“Both the museum and the library have hosted many successful writers programs over the years and I guess the idea of turning these smaller events into a big collaborative writers festival just seemed like a great idea,” said Rebecca Hine, chief librarian.
Beyond the kick-off event, Hine explained there will be a series of programs hosted at various library branches throughout Wellington County culminating in a final full-day event at the Hillsburgh branch on June 25 to coincide with the launch of the library’s summer reading club.
Applications to take part in the event open Monday Jan. 17 and are accepted until Feb. 1. Burns said she doesn’t want people to feel intimidated about applying or participating and encourages a wide range of people to join in the celebration.
More information and future updates on the festival can be found here.
