20+ Proven Performers to Entertain Thousands at Telling Tales
Award-Winning Festival Announces Detailed Plans for Year Two
For Immediate Release:
September 7, 2010
More than 20 of Canada’s best-loved children’s authors, illustrators, musicians, and storytellers will visit Hamilton’s picturesque Westfield Heritage Village to meet their fans and lend a hand to raise funds for local literacy programs on Sunday, September 19, from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.
• Presenters include: Adwoa Badoe, Robert Blunsdon, Hugh Brewster, Creative Theatre Company, Wallace Edwards, Natale Ghent, Linda Granfield, Elize Hartley, Jude Johnson, Rukhsana Khan, Monica Kulling, Andrew Larsen, Kenneth Oppel, Gillian O’Reilly, Pearls of Time, Shelley Peterson, Turkey Rhubarb, Ken Roberts, Philip Roy, Ken Setterington, Kevin Sylvester, Jeremy Tankard, Maureen Sawa reading Shin-chi’s Canoe, written by Nicola Campbell and illustrated by Kim LaFave and winner of the 2009 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, Frieda Wishinsky, and Paul Yee.
• Presentation stages include: the Bandstand, the Jerseyville Railway Station, the Large Meadow, the Lockhart Meadow, the Mountsberg Church, the Native Village, the One-Room School House, and the Summer Stage.
In addition, festival-goers can enjoy:
• Famed Westfield buildings staffed with engaging interpreters
• Chats with costumed literary favourites – you might meet Charles Dickens, Anne of Green Gables, or Winnie the Pooh!
• Two fun-filled activity centres
• A wide selection of presenters’ books and CDs for purchase at Bryan Prince, Bookseller’s on-site retail tent and an autographing area to get those purchases signed
• Telling Tales Book Swap & Shop – leave your used children’s books and pick up something that is new to you for just a loonie or a toonie.
Additional Festival Highlights Include:
• Kick off of Adult Basic Education Association’s Life Long Learning week. Last year, the popular event week welcomed 50,000 participants to over 1,400 events. For more information on Adult Basic Education and Life Long Learning Week, please visit http://www.abea.on.ca/llw/
• Spotlight on Shin-chi’s Canoe, winner of the 2009 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, written by Nicola I. Campbell, illustrated by Kim LaFave, and published by Groundwood Books. Join Maureen Sawa, Director, Public Service and Community Development, Hamilton Public Library, and a former board member of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, for her reading of Shin-chi’s Canoe at the Bandstand at12:30 p.m. For more information on this exciting award program, please visit: http://www.bookcentre.ca/awards/
• The suspense is over! The winners of our annual Bookmark Contest – a joint project of the Hamilton Public Library, The Hamilton Spectator, and the Telling Tales Festival – will be announced from the Bandstand at 1:00 p.m.
About Telling Tales: A Family Festival of Stories: Launched in 2009, this free festival drew over 4,000 attendees from across Ontario in its first year, and established its unique mandate: to entertain children and families of all ages and, equally importantly, to raise money for Hamilton-based literacy programs. Earlier this year the festival won Tourism Hamilton’s Award of Excellence for best festival in the medium budget category and honourable mention in the category of best rookie event of the year. In 2009, Telling Tales raised $20,000 in donations and sponsorships and directed these funds specifically to the Hamilton Literacy Council, the Summer Literacy Program, Early Literacy Hamilton, and the Original Griffin Literacy Project. Organizations interested in building their local literacy projects are invited to submit their written request to the Telling Tales Litercy Funding Committee. Full details can be found on our website at www.tellingtales.org. While Telling Tales is free to attend, donations to literacy are accepted and encouraged.
The festival extends special thanks to its host partners – Westfield Heritage Village, operated by the Hamilton Conservation Authority; the Hamilton Public Library and the Rotary Club of Hamilton Sunset. Key financial support from TD Bank Financial Group, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, CHML/Y108 Children’s Fund, and many local Rotary clubs is gratefully acknowledged.
The festival’s media partners are The Hamilton Spectator, Y108/AM900 CHML/VINYL 95.3 FM, and CHCH Television.
Telling Tales is pleased to recognize the invaluable assistance of its community partners and its many in-kind donors and sponsors. The festival’s community partners include Adult Basic Education Association/Lifelong Learning Week; Boys and Girls Clubs of Hamilton; Bryan Prince, Bookseller Ltd.; Early Literacy Hamilton; Frontier College; Hamilton Association for Residential and Recreational Redevelopment Programs (HARRRP); Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board; Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board; Hamilton Literacy Council; and YMCA.
Among the festival’s many in-kind donors and sponsors are Arcelor Mittal Dofasco, Bermingham Foundation Solutions, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, The Carnegie Gallery,Friends of Hamilton Public Library, Friesen’s Corporation, First Student Canada, Hamilton Scenic Specialty, Hamilton Video and Sound, Hillfield Strathallan College, Imagination Plus, Michelangelo Catering, Nove Studio, Outdoor Convenience, Realtors’ Association of Hamilton-Burlington, Rockton World’s Fair, the Russell I. Ellman Fund of the Hamilton Community Foundation and Spencer’s Mercantile.
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Media Contact:
June Dickenson, Marketing Chair
Direct: 647 477 6000 or 905 689 0388
E-mail: junedickenson@cogeco.ca
Full details at: www.tellingtales.org
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Issued by Stephen Weir
