Yarns and Fiddle Strings in Woody Point, Newfoundland

I was on a mission to meet Louise Penny.

But first, some background. I just returned from a thoroughly live-in-the-moment week at the annual Writers at Woody Point festival. The setting is spectacular — a tiny town of Crayola-coloured houses set at the end of a road on the shores of Bonne Bay, Newfoundland, and tucked cozily amid the majestic mountains and fjords of Gros Morne National Park.

My experience there took me a world away from my hometown of Kingston, Ontario, where I had been doing intense reading in preparation for my role as leader of Classical Pursuits upcoming Paris Café Culture tour. A fond temporary “goodbye” to Balzac and Zola, and an enthusiastic “hello” to all of the famous CBC Radio and TV personalities who would engage many of my favourite Canadian writers in lively and unpredictable conversations. Yes, I admit that I was just a little starstruck!

On my first day at the annual Writers at Woody Point festival, I was reminded of Toronto Pursuits yearly reunion; both local participants and CFAs (Come From Aways) greeted each other with wide smiles, big hugs and heartfelt “So great to see you again!”s. Just like at TP, there was a real spirit of community.

During the week, the small Heritage Theatre audience sat in rapt attention as the invited writers revealed the individual challenges they faced on their journey to creating a good book. And because we were in Newfoundland, there were also a lot of hearty belly laughs! Each conversational exchange was punctuated by a musical interlude whose tunes told tales of love and loss on the sea. Fiddles, button and piano accordions, guitars, cellos and all manner of homemade instruments drove the beat of Newfoundland’s traditional music straight to the heart. Whisked up in the magic of the experience, I just couldn’t help toe-tapping, clapping, hooting and hollering along with the crowd.

Some of my personal highlights were:
— The hilarious repartee between Peter Mansbridge (Canadians’ most esteemed news anchor) and Rick Mercer (Canada’s funniest comedian) as they recounted their less-than-illustrious lives as young students

— Author Ann-Marie Macdonald spontaneously jumping up on stage to do a Maritime jig to the traditional music of CBC radio host (and Newfoundlander) Tom Power and his impromptu circle of 25+ local musicians

— The evening there was a province-wide power outage an hour before showtime, and volunteers quickly scoured the town for a generator and a couple of living room lamps and white Christmas bulbs which they made into necklaces for the hosts and writers to wear around their necks on stage. Et voilà, an entirely acoustic evening of conversations and music.

— The cod bites at the Merchant Pub, which was always abuzz with the tales of yarn-tellers and music-makers from town and “away”

Back to my mission: I really wanted to meet Louise Penny, whose books I often reach for when I feel the need to let myself fall into the intrigues of a cozy mystery. (I have long been a fan of Louise’s Inspector Gamache series, and last year I even had the opportunity to lead a “Three Pines” tour to Quebec’s Eastern Townships where we visited many of the spots which inspired the author’s stories.)

Through the sea of fans in Woody Point’s Heritage Theatre, I managed to navigate my way to Louise’s side; she was gracious and funny and interested in knowing about our upcoming Classical Pursuits tour to Quebec City. On this tour we’ll read one of my favourites of the Gamache series, Bury Your Dead. The intrigues of the mystery take place right within the walls of the old city Vieux-Québec, where we’ll go on a Louise Penny-themed guided walk. Louise suggested that we get a picture of the two of us with a signed copy of the book. And so we did. Mission accomplished!

If you are interested in hearing Louise’s own exuberant reaction to the Writers at Woody Point festival, you can go to her website at www.louisepenny.com and check out her September newsletter, which even includes fantastic clips of unforgettable traditional Newfoundland music.

And now, it’s back to my exciting work with Balzac and Zola for our upcoming Classical Pursuits adventure in Paris. I hope they will both forgive me for any occasional drifts back across the ocean to the irresistible land of yarns and fiddle strings.

— Suzanne