Gaspereau Press Annual Wayzgoose:

This year:

The ninth annual wayzgoose will be held in Kentville, Nova Scotia, on 24 & 25 October 2008. Please check back for more details in the coming months.

What's a Wayzgoose?

Well… literally, ‘wayz’ is an old word for stubble grain, and a wayzgoose is a wayz-fed goose. In the early days of printing, the owner of a printing establishment would hold an annual dinner for his employees, to show his gratitude or his grandness, or both. The featured dish was traditionally a wayzgoose, which suggests that such a dinner might have been held sometime just after harvest, which is about the time of year when Gaspereau Press holds its wayzgoose in Kentville, Nova Scotia. This brings us to the newer definition of the word. Today, a wayzgoose is more often a gathering of printers and bookbinders. The Gaspereau Press wayzgoose is an annual event that got underway in 2000, just a few years after the press was first established. Since its inaugural year, the Gaspereau Press wayzgoose has grown into a weekend-long celebration of literature and the book arts, with workshops, hands-on demonstrations, an open house, a paper sale, author readings and an evening round-table discussion. It’s a chance to learn a little or a lot about books and publishing, throw in your own two cents’ worth, meet new and established Canadian authors, hear them read from their latest work, and enjoy the odd pint of beer and a little music in the process. Here are a few highlights from years past:

Highlights from past events

19 & 20 OCTOBER 2007: Last year’s wayzgoose was part of Gaspereau's tenth-anniversary celebrations. The weekend featured special guests photographer and letterpress printer Thaddeus Holownia and author George Elliott Clarke. The weekend opened with poetry readings on Friday evening by George Elliott Clarke (Trudeau), Allan Cooper (The Alma Elegies), Monica Kidd (Actualities) and Harry Thurston (Broken Vessel). The Press’s musician in residence Bob Snider was back with songs from his new release, A Maze in Greys. Saturday morning included bookbinding and calligraphy workshops and shop talks with guest artist Thaddeus Holownia and type designer Rod McDonald. Holownia’s photographs and letterpress books were on display, and in the boardroom McDonald conducted a session on how digital type is made. In the afternoon Bob Snider read from his new book, On Performing, and Peter Sanger, Elizabeth Paul and Alan Syliboy gave a joint presentation from their collaborative work, The Stone Canoe. Many people came through the shop for the open house later that afternoon, participating in a four-stage letterpress keepsake project. The weekend wound up with a tenth-birthday bash that evening. Thaddeus Holownia gave a slide presentation of some of his photographs, and George Elliott Clarke delivered a celebratory synopsis of the Press’s first ten years in the trade. (Note: The transcript of Clarke’s talk will appear in Gaspereau Gloriatur Vol. 3, scheduled for release this spring.)

20 & 21 OCTOBER 2006: The seventh annual Gaspereau Press Wayzgoose opened with a Friday evening poetry reading. Poets Peter Sanger (Aiken Drum), Tim Bowling (Fathom) and John Terpstra (Two or Three Guitars) read from their new collections. Bob Snider returned for a second year to play between readings. Three workshops were in session on Saturday morning: bookbinding with Ruth Legge, "Writing Real Life" with John Terpstra, and a brand new addition, paper marbling with Joe Landry. At the print shop, special guest William Rueter of The Aliquando Press was on hand with a display of his private press work and printing demonstrations on the Vandercook. Saturday afternoon began with prose. Authors Robert Bringhurst (The Tree of Meaning), Sean Johnston (All This Town Remembers) and Elaine McCluskey (The Watermelon Social) read selections from their newest titles. At the open house later that afternoon, visitors had the opportunity to participate in printing demonstrations and discuss with the several printers, designers, typographers and authors on site. The weekend wound up with an evening round table on the meaning of typography given the current level of access to type and page design programs. With the help of a lively audience, panelists William Rueter (printer, The Aliquando Press), Rod McDonald (type designer), Stan Bevington (printer and publisher, Coach House Books), Robert Bringhurst (author and typographer), Glenn Goluska (designer), and Andrew Steeves (publisher, Gaspereau Press) wrestled matters of taste, democracy and rules of thumb.

21 & 22 OCTOBER 2005: The sixth annual Gaspereau Press Wayzgoose began on Friday evening with poetry readings by Jan Zwicky (Thirty-seven Small Songs & Thirteen Silences), Ross Leckie (Gravity's Plumb Line), Harry Thurston (A Ship Portrait) and Michael deBeyer (Change in a Razor-backed Season). Musical entertainment was provided by Bob Snider, whose book On Songwriting was also released by Gaspereau Press that season. Saturday morning included workshops on bookbinding (with Ruth Legge), writing (with Ross Leckie) and calligraphy (with Jack McMaster). At the shop, printer-publisher Tim Inkster and wood engraver George Walker provided demonstrations and banter on their respective trades. In the afternoon an audience gathered at the Cornwallis Inn to hear four prose authors read from their new work: Don McKay (Deactivated West 100), Peter Sanger (White Salt Mountain), John Terpstra (The Boys) and Harrison Wright (Probing Minds, Salamander Girls & A Dog Named Sally). That evening, a feisty group of panelists and audience members met for a round-table discussion on "The State of the Literary Press in Canada." The panelists were: Andrew Steeves (Gaspereau Press), Tim Inkster (The Porcupine's Quill), Don McKay (Brick Books), David Caron (ECW Press) and Melanie Rutledge (Canada Council for the Arts). Many an opinion was sounded.

22–24 OCTOBER 2004: The fifth annual Gaspereau Press wayzgoose started on Friday evening with poetry readings by K.I. Press (Spine), Carmine Starnino (With English Subtitles), David Helwig (The Year One) and Allan Cooper (Gabriel’s Wing). Saturday began with morning workshops. A non-fiction workshop was led by Noah Richler and the ever-popular bookbinding workshop by Ruth Legge. At the new Gaspereau Press printshop, Wesley Bates and Rudolf Kurz led a drop-in talk on printmaking, and Jack McMaster gave hands-on demonstrations with his Albion iron press. In the afternoon Glenn Goluska gave a retrospective lecture and slideshow on his career as a designer and typographer in the United States and Canada. That evening people gathered at the Cornwallis Inn Dining Room for a public round table on "The State of Reviewing in Canada." The discussion was moderated by David Helwig, with panelists K.I. Press (The Danforth Review), Martin Levin (The Globe & Mail), Noah Richler (National Post), Carmine Starnino (Books in Canada) and veteran reviewee Thomas Wharton. The Sunday afternoon prose reading included new work from Larry Lynch (Learning to Swim), Thomas Wharton (The Logogryph), Jonathan Campbell (Tarcadia) and William Hamilton (At the Crossroads: A History of Sackville, New Brunswick).

18 & 19 OCTOBER 2003: The fourth annual wayzgoose got underway with Saturday morning workshops. A poetry workshop was facilitated by Jan Zwicky and a bookbinding workshop by Ruth Legge. In the afternoon, poet and typographer Robert Bringhurst gave a public lecture entitled "The Body of the Reader and the Body of the Work." The crowd at this year’s lecture and open house was bolstered by a mighty contingent of students from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. On Saturday evening people gathered for a public round table exploring "The Limits of Punctuation." The discussion was moderated by Susan Haley with panelists George Elliott Clarke, Jan Zwicky and Robert Bringhurst (was there ever a more wildly divergent collection of views on this matter?). The weekend wound up with Sunday afternoon readings by John Terpstra (Disarmament), Susan Haley (The Murder of Medicine Bear) and George Elliott Clarke (Québécité).

19 & 20 OCTOBER 2002: By year three, the wayzgoose had grown into a two-day event. Saturday morning included a writing workshop with John Terpstra and a bookbinding workshop with Ruth Legge. In the afternoon, typographer and type designer Rod McDonald gave a public lecture entitled "The Evolution of Type: How we got here from there." Following this an open house with book arts demonstrations took place at the Gaspereau Press printing works. The evening featured a public forum on writing place, moderated by Peter Sanger with panelists Heather Pyrcz, Michael deBeyer and John Terpstra. The weekend concluded on Sunday afternoon with readings by Larry Lynch (An Expectation of Home), John Terpstra (Falling into Place) and Michael deBeyer (Rural Night Catalogue).

20 OCTOBER 2001: In its second year, the wayzgoose expanded to include a writing workshop with Don McKay and a public lecture by Wesley Bates on "Fine Press and Private Press Printing." Along with the open house and book arts demonstrations, the event also included a public round table on "Nature Writing in the New Millenium," moderated by Susan Haley, and readings by Allan Cooper (Singing the Flowers Open), Don McKay (Vis à Vis) and Deanna Young (Drunkard’s Path).

14 OCTOBER 2000: The inaugural Gaspereau Press wayzgoose was a Saturday event that included an open house, book arts demonstrations, an authors’ dinner and a public round-table on "The Writer’s Role in a Small Community," moderated by Kent Thompson.