Local authors focusing on upcoming literature event in Halifax

CITYnews halifax / By Steve Gow.

A popular celebration of Atlantic Canadian literature is returning to North End Halifax this weekend.

For the past four years, Word on the Hill has been a popular block party outside Nimbus Publishing’s headquarters on Strawberry Hill Street, picking up after the Word on the Street festival was forced to cease during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On top of a massive book sale of overstocked titles, the event also features book signings, refreshments and a kids’ corner featuring acclaimed children’s writers like Mermaid Lullaby author Brianna Corr Scott and Lana Shupe, author of The Lonely Little Lighthouse.

However, Nimbus Publishing’s general manager Terrilee Bulger says the main event is Word on the Hill’s author readings.

“That’s really why we do it,” Bulger says. “It’s great to be able to get rid of the extra stock as well but I think being able to showcase new writers to such a big community is way more important.”

This year, some of the authors taking part include screenwriter and novelist Susan Rodgers, authors Michelle Hébert and Jessica Ilse as well as Halifax’s first Métis poet laureate Lorri Neilsen Glenn, whose latest book, The Old Moon in Her Arms: Women I Have Known and Been, was published in April.

“She really is passionate especially about women writing memoirs,” adds Bulger. “So she will give tips on how to write your own story, how to write your own biography, that kind of thing.”

Word on the Hill takes place this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 3660 Strawberry Hill St.