FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 29, 2003
Antigonish, NS - The Coady International Institute at St. Francis Xavier University is hosting WordFest in commemoration the 150 years StFX has been fostering social change through innovative writing and thinking.
Date: Saturday, May 31
Place: StFX Crystal Cliffs historical site (Highway 337), Antigonish
Time: 1-5pm
Guest readers will be sharing their poetry, stories and folklore from local and global traditions including Mi'kmaq, Acadian, African-Canadian, Gaelic, Filipino, Nigerian, Fijian and Israeli.
This public event will present over 20 accomplished Atlantic Canadian authors, poets and storytellers, including: Sheldon Currie, Donna Morrissey, Rita Joe, Marie-Colombe Robichaud, Reed Jones, Anne Simpson, Lindsay Marshall, Lewis MacKinnon, Pam MacLean, Peter Sanger, Linda Little, Martine Jacquot and Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaasen.
Donna Morrissey, international award winning author with two national best selling novels, on the topic of how the written word can affect social change:
"More than the tail-end of a radio program we catch driving home from work, or a television show we catch glimpses of whilst flicking through the channels, a book moves with us. It is ours. We chose it, bought it, and now we open its covers and pour ourselves into it. We question, examine, challenge, change the concepts written on the pages before us .... And when we feel this sort of ownership, there often grows a great desire to present our selves, to re-create - as with the old alchemist who worked by consulting the spirit within, and bringing it forward into matter to create the philosopher's stone; the source of all healing, and of all knowing. We re-create ourselves through learning. We are the philosopher's stone. We are spirit contained in matter. And it is from ourselves that the greatest potential for healing and affecting change occurs."
International stories and poems will be read by community leaders from around the globe attending the Coady International Institute's educational programs in community-based development. Over 45 development professionals have traveled to the Coady Institute in Antigonish from across Canada and from such countries as Botswana, Belize, Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, India, Israel, Jamaica, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, the Philippines and Uganda. Many will be sharing stories that are used as part of the oral tradition in their own countries - stories that are often used by development professionals to reach out to community members and educate them on social issues such as peace, justice, and human rights.
There will also be a special Kids' Korner with Clifford the Big Red Dog.
The Coady International Institute has been educating community leaders from around the world since 1959. Over 4,400 graduates and partners in more than 130 countries are helping millions of women, men and children to build stronger communities and brighter futures.
For more information, contact:
| Breton Murphy | Phone: | 902.867.3648 |
| Communications Officer | Fax:; | 902.867.3907 |
| Coady International Institute | E-mail: | btmurphy@stfx.ca |
| St. Francis Xavier University |