Muskoka’s Literary Scene
Focus on: Muskoka
A Guide to Muskoka’s Literary Scene
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Focus on: Muskoka
Open Book: Ontario is celebrating the vibrant writing communities across our province with our new "Focus On" series. For the frosty month of December, we head north for Focus On: Muskoka! Check in with us all month long to find out about literary hang-outs, habits, landmarks and opportunities in this beautiful region of Ontario. We'll highlight events, introduce key players in the community, promote the local literati and publish new articles about the literary experience in Muskoka. You won't want to miss our regional Recommended Reads or our monthly contest...a $50 credit at the local bookstore of your choice!
Muskoka Landmarks
Midland, ON
About the Bookmark
On October 4th, 2011, the Town of Midland became home to a plaque commemorating author Sylvia Maultash Warsh’s novel, The Queen of Unforgetting, published by Cormorant Books. The plaque will display a passage from the novel set in Little Lake Park, where the permanent installation will be displayed.
Minett, ON
Almost a century ago, Muskoka was known as Canada's Literary Summer Capital and was part of a large network of Chautauqua assemblies across North America.
Huntsville,
The Muskoka Novel Marathon is an annual 3-day novel writing event held on a (hopefully!) sunny July weekend and which raises funds and awareness for adult literacy in Muskoka. Started in 2001 with just four writers at a coffee shop in Huntsville, the Muskoka Novel Marathon now raises thousands of dollars annually for YMCA Muskoka Literacy Services. Writers join us from across Ontario and beyond to attempt to write a novel (or a collection of short stories or poems) in 72 hours, some at our Huntsville venue and others as remote participants from the location of their choice.
Muskoka Literary News
Submitted by erinknight on June 25, 2013 - 7:48am
Alma Fullerton is an award-winning children's author living in Midland, Ontario. Although she's an accomplished visual artist, her newest book, Community Soup (Pajama Press), is the first book she's illustrated herself. Directed towards children ages four to seven, Community Soup gives young Canadians a fun look at everyday life in a Kenyan village, including a mischievous herd of goats.
Today, Alma tells Open Book about why she writes for children and how she gets it all done.
Submitted by clelia on January 17, 2013 - 3:48pm
Peter Jennings is an author who lives in a sweeping log residence on a pristine lake, which he shares with his wife Louise. In his guest blog, he tells Open Book about the research that went into writing his most recent book, The Power of Happiness: How to Get Happy in Unhappy Times.
Submitted by erinknight on December 17, 2012 - 8:35am
By Erin Knight
The wordsmiths and booklovers of Muskoka have always taken their reading and writing seriously. As early as the 1920s and 30s, this beautiful region of cottage country was known as "Canada's Summer Literary Capital." Some of Canada's best known writers — Bliss Carmen, Dorothy Livesay, Charles G.D. Roberts, E.J. Pratt — visited Tobin Island on Lake Muskoka to speak and share their work at summer-long "Chautauquas."
Much has changed for Muskoka in the intervening 80 years, but a love of reading and a commitment to community has persisted. Today, Muskoka is home to the vibrant arts and learning association Muskoka Chautauqua, based in Port Carling. The organization took the name "Chautauqua" in celebration of the region's strong literary heritage.
"Muskoka Chautauqua is a vibrant cultural hub where people gather to engage in the arts, lifelong learning, reflection and conversation," explains Gayle Dempsey, director of development, aboriginal and arts education at Muskoka Chautauqua. "We hold literary events, author’s talks and lectures as well as concerts and performances, arts in education programs, art exhibitions, demonstrations and workshops, culinary celebrations, summer arts camps and children’s festivals."
Submitted by erinknight on December 11, 2012 - 9:02am
By Erin Knight
There's a ray of light in Canadian publishing, and it comes to us not from Toronto, the traditional hotbed of the industry, but from the snowbelt town of Bracebridge. These days, authors and publishers are accustomed to bad news — mergers, bankruptcies, funding cuts — so you might be both heartened and surprised to hear that a new literary agency and publisher is on the scene. Walden House (Books & Stuff) was co-founded by Muskoka resident Brenda Paterson in April 2011 — and Brenda has all the spark and optimism required for launching herself and her authors into the uncertain waters of publishing today.
Walden House, which bills itself as being "playfully old-fashioned" and "author-centric," is a marketing and publishing company that was born, as they say, of love. "In conversation with an author of an amazing story, we started to examine how one gets published in these times," recalls Brenda. "Do you go ebook, self-published? How do you get on the radar of large publishing houses when it was becoming so difficult to get any attention from existing literary agencies? There had to be a better way." The goal of Walden House is "to bring excellent writing and inspiring messages to the widest audience possible." They began by focussing on young adult manuscripts, and have since expanded to self-help books and adult fiction.
Submitted by phil on December 6, 2012 - 12:03pm
By Phil Miletic
I have never been a member of a book club — okay, I’ve been a member a reading group, yet this was in a university setting, so it was a tad different, even astronomically different if you consider that we just read one book (Finnegans Wake by Joyce) and never finished reading it, ever. (Why? Because you can never finish reading it, and anyone who has said they have is lying.) I mean book clubs outside of school. To be honest, I don’t know many book clubs, and the first book club that springs to mind — and Google’s too — is Oprah’s. This gives off the impression in many minds that book clubs are targeted towards a female demographic. And this is why, when I was introduced (electronically) to the Muskoka-based Golden Beach Men’s Book Club, I found it odd that a book club was an all male’s book club. Some of us at Open Book assumed that these men were reclaiming a little bit of book club "territory" from women. I figured that this latter statement was a fitting first question to pose to the group of bookclubbing men. Their answer, however, was a typical male response: “…What?” (Warning: Some male stereotypes will appear — and have already— but don’t worry, these guys are harmless. So sit back, relax, put on your favourite Stones album and enjoy.)
Submitted by erinknight on December 4, 2012 - 8:46am
By Lizann Flatt
I’ve been living in Muskoka for some 18 years now. I moved here as a result of my husband’s job and, while raising our three kids, I’ve spent my spare minutes writing and/or freelance editing. Is it hard to be a writer in a rural area outside of the cultural and cutting-edge vibe of a metropolitan city? No — not, as it turns out, if that rural area is Muskoka. The more Muskoka-based writers I’ve gotten to know over the years, the more I’ve seen the connection to being inspired by Muskoka’s natural beauty and the desire to help our peers, no matter what genres we write in.
Submitted by erinknight on December 3, 2012 - 8:34am
Open Book: Ontario is celebrating the vibrant writing communities across our province with our new "Focus On" series. For the frosty month of December, we head north for Focus On: Muskoka! Check in with us all month long to find out about literary hang-outs, habits, landmarks and opportunities in this beautiful region of Ontario. We'll highlight events, introduce key players in the community, promote the local literati and publish new articles about the literary experience in Muskoka. You won't want to miss our regional Recommended Reads or our monthly contest...a $50 credit at the local bookstore of your choice!
Submitted by erinknight on December 3, 2012 - 8:14am
by Phil Miletic
Muskoka has been inspiring authors and artists (and movie stars) for decades. Whether you prefer the idyllic summers or the wonderland winters, you'll find a book in our recommended reads to take to the dock next summer or to the fireside this December. Look for character-driven novels and historical fiction, fascinating memoirs, cutting-edge journalism, sharp poetry and endearing children's books in our selection of books by some of the many talented authors who call Muskoka home.
Submitted by erinknight on December 3, 2012 - 8:02am
Muskoka has book-lovers like it's got snowflakes in December. This month, Open Book invites Muskoka bookworms to enter to win $50 to spend at the bookstore of your choice. To enter, send an email with the Subject heading "Muskoka" to contests@openbookontario.com and tell us your favourite Literary Landmark in Muskoka. Please include your name and mailing address in the email.
Submitted by erinknight on September 20, 2012 - 7:31am
As part of our mapping of literary Ontario, we're highlighting five things about literary life in communities throughout the province. What do our cities, towns and villages have to offer writers, readers and the curious? Follow Five Things Literary to find out.
Today's feature on literary life in Muskoka was contributed by Lizann Flatt, whose book Counting on Fall, the first in a new Math in Nature children's series, has just been published with OwlKids Books. Lizann will be in the Children's Activity Tent at Toronto's Word on the Street Festival on Sunday, September 23rd. Find out more at the WOTS website.
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