Eighth Annual Gaspereau Press Wayzgoose

Gaspereau Press will host its eighth annual Wayzgoose on October 19 & 20, 2007, in Kentville, Nova Scotia. The weekend will feature special guests photographer and letterpress printer Thaddeus Holownia and author George Elliott Clarke. Also on the agenda: a shop talk and printing demonstrations, workshops in bookbinding and calligraphy, as well as public readings, the launch of several new Gaspereau Press titles, and our tenth birthday bash. Come and join us for a celebration of book arts, literature, and ten years in the trade. The schedule of events is as follows:

FRIDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 19
Poetry Reading – 7:30 p.m. at the Kentville Rec Centre. Come listen to readings by poets George Elliott Clarke (Trudeau), Allan Cooper (The Alma Elegies), Monica Kidd (Actualities) and Harry Thurston (Broken Vessel), and music by Canadian folk legend Bob Snider. Free admission. Cash bar.

SATURDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 20
Bookbinding Workshop – 9:00 a.m. to noon at the Kentville Rec Centre. Book artist Ruth Legge will facilitate a bookbinding workshop for 10 people. During the three-hour workshop, participants will have the opportunity to ‘case bind’ their own blank book. No previous experience is required. Materials will be supplied. To apply for this workshop, please send us a letter (by mail or to info@gaspereau.com) including your name, mailing address, telephone number and email. Participants will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis. A waiting list will be kept in case of late openings. $25 registration fee must be paid by October 12 in order to secure your spot.

Calligraphy Workshop – 9:00 a.m. to noon at the Kentville Rec Centre. Designer and illustrator Jack McMaster of Wolfville, NS, will facilitate a workshop for 10 participants. This workshop is intended to introduce participants to the basics of calligraphy and hand lettering. No previous experience is required. Materials will be supplied. To apply for this workshop, please send us a letter (by mail or to info@gaspereau.com) including your name, mailing address, telephone number and email. Participants will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis. A waiting list will be kept in case of late openings. $25 registration fee must be paid by October 12 in order to secure your spot.

Shop Talk – 10:00 a.m. to noon at the Gaspereau Press print shop. Featuring special guest photographer and letterpress printer Thaddeus Holownia. If you’re not taking part in a workshop, drop in and putter around the print shop. Take a look at Thaddeus’s recent photographs, some of the limited edition book projects from his Anchorage Press, and see how his vintage, large-format view-cameras work. As well, there will be a session with type designer Rod McDonald on how digital type is made. The popular offcut paper sale will also be in its early hours. This is a drop-in session and the admission is free.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON, OCTOBER 20
Prose Reading – 1:30 p.m. at the Kentville Rec Centre. Come and listen to a reading by Bob Snider (On Performing), and a joint reading and presentation by Elizabeth Paul, Peter Sanger and Alan Syliboy (The Stone Canoe). Free admission.

Open House – 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. at the Gaspereau Press print shop. Join us for demonstrations of modern and antique printing methods. Meet with artists, authors and presenters, purchase books and offcut paper. Special guest Thaddeus Holownia will be on hand to discuss his work as a photographer and printer. Light refreshments will be served. Free admission.

SATURDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 20
Tenth Birthday Bash – 7:30 p.m. at the Kentville Rec Centre. Come celebrate Gaspereau Press’s tenth birthday with music by Bob Snider, a slide presentation by Thaddeus Holownia, and a talk by George Elliott Clarke. Free admission. Cash bar.

BACKGROUND
Gaspereau Press is a Nova Scotia owned and operated trade publisher based in Kentville, Nova Scotia. Gaspereau Press produces quality short-run paperbacks and limited edition hardcovers of both literary and regional interest. The press was established in 1997 by Gary Dunfield and Andrew Steeves, and is one of the few publishers in Canada that publishes its books in-house, using a combination of antique and modern production methods.

The wayzgoose tradition dates back to seventeenth-century England when the menu item of choice at a printer’s dinner was the wayz- (or stubble-) fed goose, hence wayzgoose. These days the word is used to describe gatherings of book artists. The Gaspereau Press wayzgoose has become an annual public event t0 celebrate the process of creating books: from authors and writing, to typesetting, printing and binding.

For more information contact
Beth Crosby at Gaspereau Press
47 Church Avenue, Kentville, NS, B4N 2M7
902-678-6002, info@gaspereau.com