The first Cabot Trail Writers Festival was held in 2009, but its creation was inspired by something that took place a couple of years earlier, when Africadian poet George Elliott Clarke accepted an invitation to read to a tiny rural book in North River, Cape Breton.

Word of mouth spread eagerly and widely, and when Clarke arrived to the island he found himself reading to a room packed wall to wall with attentive, grateful listeners. In that response and enthusiasm, the festival founders recognized the need and opportunity for programming that would bring books and authors from across the country into the room (and into conversation) with the readers (and writers) of this island.

And so the Cabot Trail Writers Festival was born directly out of the community, spontaneously and organically, out of the way that Cape Breton showed up for literature that one night in North River.

Honouring those origins, with our programming we strive to foster the communities of readers and writers in Unama’ki/Cape Breton, facilitate their two-way participation in a wider literary culture and conversation, and cultivate an inclusive, engaging, inspiring & accessible festival in an intimate rural setting that celebrates literature’s unique ability to connect us:

• WHERE readers connect with writers (and with one another),

• WHERE the diverse communities of Cape Breton, of Canada & of Turtle Island connect together,

• & WHERE culture connects with place.

We invite writers from around the island & across the country, from a multiplicity of cultural/ racialized backgrounds and lived experiences, working in all genres and at all career stages, and partner with our island’s Mi’kmaw, Acadian & Gaelic communities to create opportunities to share their literary culture in their language.

With the books and voices and conversations we host, we expose our audiences to the myriad joys of reading—in a warm and festive atmosphere, among music and food and friendly faces—but amidst this safe & welcoming space we also expose them to literature’s singular power to widen our perspective on the world, even when it’s challenging or uncomfortable.

Beyond the festival weekend, we also foster the next generation of writers through author school visits and our Raise Our Voices youth mentorship program; we honour the legacy of one of our island's great writers and celebrate the writers who follow in his foot steps by administering the Alistair MacLeod Award for Short Fiction; and we coordinate a wide range of other activities designed to inspire, engage and build community among writers and readers across the island, year-round.

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• Charitable tax receipt

• Advance notice of ticket release for festival

BIBLIOPHILE (Silver level: $250–499)

• Charitable tax receipt

• Advance notice of ticket release for festival

• Thank you by name (if wished) in festival social media & e-newsletter

TOP-SHELF READER (Gold level: $500–999)

• Charitable tax receipt

• Advance notice of ticket release for festival

• Thank you by name (if wished) in festival social media & e-newsletter

• Invitation to KINDLING annual event

LITERARY LION (Platinum level: $1,000+)

• Charitable tax receipt

• Advance notice of ticket release for festival

• Thank you by name (if wished) in festival social media & e-newsletter

• Invitation to KINdling annual event

• Inscribed & signed copy of book by featured festival author