Port Burwell Writer’s Festival on Victoria Day weekend

Kim Epple. (Contributed Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

There are many Tillsonburg connections to the inaugural Port Burwell Writers’ Festival planned for the Victoria Day weekend.

Kim Epple, who lived in Tillsonburg for many years and graduated from Glendale High School, is the event organizer. She attended public school in Port Burwell until she was eight, when her family moved to Tillsonburg. After graduating from Mohawk College’s nursing course, she was a nurse in many northern communities in Nunavut, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario. The latter included a stint in Pickle Lake, where she ran into former Tillsonburg and Port Burwell resident Bev Hickey.

Epple wrote the book “Go North” about her experiences in the north. She now lives in St. Catharines, and writes for the local paper Merriton Matters, is a member of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Writer’s Circle and has been published in the Canadian Nurse.

The writer’s festival concept came about when Epple visited Port Burwell for a school reunion and stayed at the bed and breakfast owned by former Tillsonburg resident Jim Hevenor. The two were talking, Epple mentioned she wrote as a hobby, and Hevenor said several writers lived in Port Burwell. She suggested the concept of a writer’s festival, which he agreed was a great idea.

“We have a boatload of writers who have come from the area and people are not aware of that,” she said.

The theme of the festival is Port Burwell. Epple has lined up 18 writers for the event.

“I focused on finding writers who have a connection to Port Burwell and the area,” she said. “All the writers who are participating have a connection to Port Burwell. I have had to say no to dozens of writers.”

Featured writer Kelly Young has written two mystery series and two thrillers. She was born in Tillsonburg and lived in Pt. Burwell before earning a BA in English Literature and retiring to Chatham-Kent.

“I wasn’t initially certain that I qualified as a ‘local’ author,” Young admitted recently, “but organizer Kim Epple assured me that authors who either currently live or previously lived in the area were welcome.”

Tillsonburg councillor, business owner, and author Kelly Spencer will attend. She wrote her second book, “Destiny, Life and Self-Leadership,” at the former Catholic retreat outside of Pt. Burwell after meeting the owner of the property at the time, Lesa Kirk, and saying she was looking for a place to write.

Another Tillsonburg native, David Stover, is now the owner of book publisher Rock’s Mills Press and will give a presentation on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. about writing memoirs.

Doug Lester, who taught in Tillsonburg for many years and recently published the book "With a Little Bit of Luc"k about growing up outside town, will be another of the authors at the event.

Of course, Port Burwell’s most famous author is Fred Bodsworth, who the Port Burwell library is named after. Author of the “Last of the Curlews”, this book was adapted into a television movie and won an Emmy Award.

Linda Emerson, who is from Port Burwell and now lives in Nashville, will sell her CDs at the festival. She works at Ryman Auditorium, the original location of the Grand Ole Opry.

Local authors will be at the book sale at the Parish Hall on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and at the exhibit at the Port Burwell Marine Museum and Lighthouse from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Guided walking tours will start at the museum on Saturday through Monday.

Many community events, held in conjunction with and outside of the writer’s festival, will continue throughout the weekend. These include a barbecue at the Legion on Friday night, an 189th-anniversary service at Trinity Anglican Church on Sunday at 11 a.m., firefighters pancake breakfast from 8 to noon on Sunday, and tours of the HMCS Ojibwa.

A special showing of Netting the Waters, a movie by Simcoe resident Darryl Granger about the commercial fishing industry, will take place at Periscope Playhouse on Saturday at 7 p.m. Granger will be on hand for the event.

A complete schedule is available on Facebook under Port Burwell Writers’ Festival.

Epple hopes to make the festival an annual event.

“For our first year, I think it’s a good start,” she said. “From here we can see what people are interested in and continue to grow from here.”