Our guest printers are Amos Kennedy (Kennedy Prints!) and Lindsay Schmittle (Gingerly Press).

Schedule of events:

LITERARY READING: Friday 7:00 p.m.

Literary readings by Ray Cronin, Sean Howard, Annick MacAskill and Alison Smith at St. James Anglican Church Hall, Kentville. All of these authors have recent trade books published by Gaspereau Press.

AUTHORS’ SALON: Saturday 10:00 a.m.

Author’s salon at the Wickwire House B&B (with Ray Cronin, Sean Howard, Annick MacAskill & Alison Smith). This is just an opportunity to have an informal discussion with some of our authors about the craft of writing.

BOOK ARTS TALK: Saturday 10:00 a.m.

Lindsay Schmittle of Gingerly Press will talk about her The Printed Walk project and her 2017 Appalachian Trail thru-hike at St. James Anglican Church Hall.

OPEN HOUSE: Saturday 1:00–4:00 p.m.

Open House at the Gaspereau Press printing works, 47 Church Avenue, featuring demonstrations in printing, binding and typecasting by Amos Kennedy, Lindsay Schmittle and some of our inky staff, family and friends.

PANEL DISCUSSION: Saturday 7:00 p.m.

A panel discussion on ‘Print, Protest & Change’ featuring Amos Kennedy, Lindsay Schmittle, poet and peace activist Sean Howard and cartoonist and street artist J.J. Steeves. At St. James Anglican Church Hall, Kentville. Socializing to follow at the printing works.

All events are free. Please feel free to contact info@gaspereau.com if you have any questions.

2017 Wayzgoose will be held on the weekend of 21 October, 2017

Featuring two very extra special awesome guest printers from far, far away Myrna Keliher & Michael Hepher of Expedition Press, Kingston, Washington, and Clawhammer Press, Fernie, British Columbia

Friday Evening Authors’ Reading
7:00 pm, St. James Anglican Church Hall
Featuring readings by Gaspereau Press authors Brian Bartlett, Allan Cooper, Sue Goyette & Sean Howard.

Saturday Morning Authors’ Salon
10:00 to noon, Wickwire House B&B
Featuring Brian Bartlett, Allan Cooper, Sue Goyette, Sean Howard & hosted by Monica Kidd

Saturday Morning Book-Arts Panel
10:00 to 11:30 am, St. James Anglican Church Hall
“How to Get Your Start in Letterpress Printing,” a frank discussion about how one might begin to get seriously inky-printy, featuring Myrna Keliher (Expedition Press), Michael Hepher (Clawhammer Press) and Stephen Quick (Weathervane Press), moderated by Andrew Steeves

Saturday Afternoon Open House at Gaspereau Press
1:00 to 4:30 pm, 47 Church Avenue
Featuring Myrna Keliher and Michael Hepher, plus Laura MacDonald of Deep Hollow Print & Tina Arsenault of Arquoise Design, as well as the folks at Gaspereau Press & sundry other inky fellows demonstrating various sorts of printing, binding & typecasting

Saturday Evening Lochhead Memorial Book-Arts talk
7:00 pm, St. James Anglican Church Hall
Featuring some swinging music by Zakary Miller and illustrated talks by Myrna Keliher & Michael Hepher

All events are free and open to the general public. The venues are located within the town of Kentville: Gaspereau Press (47 Church Avenue); St. James Anglican Church Hall (18 Prospect Avenue, Side door); Wickwire House B&B (183 Main Street). Some financial assistance for the event was provided by the Government of Canada through the Canada Council for the Arts and by the Province of Nova Scotia through the Creative Industries Fund. So, like, thanks for investing in our community.

2016 Wayzgoose will be held 22 October

Wea€™re getting excited about this weekenda€™s Gaspereau Press Wayzgoose & Open House. Here are the latest details on the festivities and the location of the events. All events will take place on Saturday October 22nd. These events are free and open to the general public.

A¶ Saturday at 10:30, THE AUTHORa€™S SALON, moderated by Monica Kidd and including authors Erin Brubacher, Matt Robinson and Carmine Starnino (Wickwire House B&B, 183 Main Street, Kentville).

A¶ Saturday at 10:30, SCREENING OF a€?MAKING FACES,a€™ a documentary film by Richard Kegler; and PANEL DISCUSSION on the legacy of type designer Jim Rimmer featuring panelists Richard Kegler, Patrick Griffin and Rod McDonald (Upper Room, Kings Arms Pub, 390 Main Street, Kentville).

A¶ Saturday from 2:00 to 4:30, OPEN HOUSE at the Gaspereau Press Printing Works (47 Church Avenue, Kentville) featuring demos by our American guests Richard Kegler, Amos Kennedy and Amelia Fontanel, local letterpress printers Laura MacDonald (Deep Hollow Print) and Tina Arsenault (Arquoise Design), the Gaspereau Press crew and a veritable whirlagust of visiting printers, bibliophiles & typophiles.

A¶ Saturday at 7:00, A WAYZGOOSE EVENING with poetry readings by Erin Brubacher, Matt Robinson and Carmine Starnino and a panel discussion on a€?What the Heck is Going On in the United States?! (In the Book Arts)a€¯ with panelists Richard Kegler, Amos Kennedy and Amelia Fontanel (Upper Room, St. James Anglican Church Parish Hall, 18 Prospect Avenue).

Yup. Should be fun.


What's a Wayzgoose?
Well literally, Wayzgoose 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

2015 Wayzgoose will be held 24 October

A public celebration of printing and the book arts.
All events are free and open to the public.


SATURDAY MORNING EVENTS
10:00 to 12:00 WRITERa€™S SALON
Wickwire House B&B, Kentville,with Harry Thurston, Monica Kidd, John Leroux & Carole Langille.

10:30 to 12:00 TYPE DESIGN PANEL
Gaspereau Press Printing Works, Kentville, with Kevin King, Patrick Griffin, & Rod McDonald.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON EVENTS
1:30 to 4:30 OPEN HOUSE
Gaspereau Press Printing Works, Kentville, with lots of hands-on demos with our special guests
Nicholas Kennedy (Trip/Print Press, Toronto)
George Walker (wood engraver, Toronto)
Kevin King (calligrapher, Toronto)
Laura McDonald (Deep Hollow Press)

Plus a cast of volunteers likely to include book-arts luminaries Tina Arsenault, David Brewer, Thaddeus Holownia, Monica Kidd, Julie Rosvall, Steven Slipp, Joseph Steeves, Stephen & Gayle, Quick, and the Gaspereau Press staff.

1:30 to 2:30 ARCHITECTURAL WALKING TOUR
Architect and historian John Leroux will guide a tour of downtown Kentville buildings, starting outside the Gaspereau Press Printing Works (weather permitting).

4:00 COMMUNITY PHOTOGRAPH
Order of New Brunswick recipient Thaddeus Holownia will make a group portrait of the crowd in front of the Gaspereau Press Printing Works (weather permitting).

SATURDAY EVENING EVENT
7:00 to 10:00 WAYZGOOSE EVENING
Celtic Hall, Paddya€™s Pub, Kentville, with poetry readings by Harry Thurston and Monica Kidd, and the Douglas Lochhead Memorial Book Arts Talk presented by Nicholas Kennedy (Trip/Print Press). Cash bar.



The twelfth annual Wayzgoose was held in Kentville, Nova Scotia, on Saturday 22 October 2011. Click here for the schedule of events.

19 & 20 OCTOBER 2007: This 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 yearÄĀĀĀĀĀĀA€™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 (Quebecite).

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 a 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.

The Twelfth Annual Gaspereau Press Wayzgoose
Saturday 22 October 2011

Announcing the twelfth annual Wayzgoose & Open House to be held at the workshops of Gaspereau Press, Printers & Publishers, located at 47 Church Avenue, Kentville.

What's a Wayzgoose?
Traditionally, a wayzgoose is an annual supper hosted by the proprietors of a printing establishment for their employees. At Gaspereau Press, weā€™ve made our wayzgoose a much more public event, and one designed to increase community awareness about the book arts by bringing artists, writers and readers face to face with the people and the tools of the trade: type, ink, paper and the printing press.

Schedule of Events
9:00 am - Noon
Workshops: Printmaking and bookbinding workshops at the Kentville Civic Building. $40 fee. Pre-register at info at gaspereau dot com or 902 678 6002.

10:00 am - Noon
Morning Shop Talks and Demonstrations: The offcut paper sale will also be in its early hours. Free admission.

2:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Open House at Gaspereau Press: All sorts of demonstrations. Free admission.

7:00 - 10:00 pm
Evening Presentations at the Kentville Rec Centre: George Walker will present an illustrated talk entitled Printmaking and the Visual Narrative. This evening will also include readings from their recent Gaspereau Press titles by Norm Ravvin, a Montreal novelist and Sean Howard, a Cape-Breton poet. Andrew Steeves will give brief tributes to two important and recently lost figures in the constellation of Canadian letters: Douglas Lochhead and Glenn Goluska. Free admission.

Event Locations
All events will take place in Kentville, Nova Scotia, at either The Gaspereau Press Printing Works 47 Church Avenue (Green building behind King's Arms Pub)or Kentville Rec Centre 354 Main Street (Brick building attached to Town Hall).

For more information or to register for a workshop, contact:
Gaspereau Press
47 Church Avenue, Kentville, NS B4N 2M7
info at gaspereau dot com Tel 902-678-6002