Keynote by Icelandic First Lady Eliza Reid & Ivy Award Presentation

Eliza Reid and Errol Sharpe

Keynote by Icelandic First Lady Eliza Reid & Ivy Award Presentation

Eliza Reid and Errol Sharpe

11:00am

Monday, October 25, 2021

The 14th edition of the International Visitors (IV) Programme will welcome publishing leaders from across Canada and around the world to take part in exclusive virtual opportunities for professional development during the Festival. The IV Organizing Committee invites all who are interested in publishing and love the written word to join them for the Programme’s Keynote Address, by Ottawa-born author and First Lady of Iceland Eliza Reid, and Ivy Award presentation.

What we can learn from Iceland’s love for books Iceland is a book-loving nation? The tiny North Atlantic island has one of the world’s highest rates of book publishing and book buying. In fact, a book is the most popular gift of the holiday season, and the annual “Christmas book flood” has attracts international attention. This talk examines Icelanders’ love of the written word and how we can foster this passion elsewhere. It also reveals some of the challenges of keeping book buying rates high in the face of competition from other media. Finally, Reid will discuss the joys and challenges of a publishing industry that operates in a “micro” language.

The Ivy Award is given annually in recognition of an outstanding contribution to Canadian publishing. This year, the Ivy Award will be presented to Errol Sharpe, a publisher at Fernwood Publishing.

English captioning is available for this video. Please click the ‘CC’ button in the video toolbar to turn it on.

The IV Programme is funded by:

Canadian Heritage Canada WordmarkOntario Creates Logo

Presentation

The 14th edition of the International Visitors (IV) Programme will welcome publishing leaders from across Canada and around the world to take part in exclusive virtual opportunities for professional development during the Festival. The IV Organizing Committee invites all who are interested in publishing and love the written word to join them for the Programme’s Keynote Address, by Ottawa-born author and First Lady of Iceland Eliza Reid, and Ivy Award presentation.

What we can learn from Iceland’s love for books Iceland is a book-loving nation? The tiny North Atlantic island has one of the world’s highest rates of book publishing and book buying. In fact, a book is the most popular gift of the holiday season, and the annual “Christmas book flood” has attracts international attention. This talk examines Icelanders’ love of the written word and how we can foster this passion elsewhere. It also reveals some of the challenges of keeping book buying rates high in the face of competition from other media. Finally, Reid will discuss the joys and challenges of a publishing industry that operates in a “micro” language.

The Ivy Award is given annually in recognition of an outstanding contribution to Canadian publishing. This year, the Ivy Award will be presented to Errol Sharpe, a publisher at Fernwood Publishing.

English captioning is available for this video. Please click the ‘CC’ button in the video toolbar to turn it on.

The IV Programme is funded by:

Canadian Heritage Canada WordmarkOntario Creates Logo

Presentation

Featured Authors

Eliza Reid
Eliza Reid is a journalist, editor, and cofounder of the annual Iceland Writers Retreat. Eliza grew up on a hobby farm near Ottawa, Canada, and moved to Iceland in 2003, five years after meeting the man who later became her husband, Gudni Th. Jóhannesson. When he took office as President of Iceland on August 1, 2016, Eliza became the country’s first lady. In that capacity, she has been active in promoting gender equality, entrepreneurship and innovation, tourism and sustainability, as well as the country’s writers and rich literary heritage. Eliza Reid's Festival appearance is generously supported by Icelandair. Eliza Reid appears as part of Nordic Bridges 2022.

Read more about Eliza Reid

Errol Sharpe
Errol Sharpe is a publisher at Fernwood Publishing. He holds an MA in Atlantic Canada Studies from Saint Mary’s University. He is the author of A People’s History of Prince Edward Island (1976) and a co-author of In Pursuit of Justice: Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op and the Fair Trade Movement (2014), and Milton Acorn: The People’s Poet with Kent Martin (Fernwood Publishing, 2015). He has authored chapters in a number of books, including “Cloistering Criticism: or Breaking Bonds?” in 21ˢͭ Century Socialism: Reinventing the Project, Henry Ventmeyer, ed. (2011), and “A Precarious Niche: Canadian Owned English Language Publishing in Canada” in Studies in Political Economy, Vol. 100, #1 (2019).

Read more about Errol Sharpe

11:00am

Monday, October 25

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