October 3, 2011—Tomorrow, Little Lake Park in the Town of Midland will become home to the eighth installation in the Project Bookmark Canada series. This Bookmark will feature a passage set right in the park, from the novel The Queen of Unforgetting by Sylvia Maultash Warsh, published by Cormorant Books.
“We’re very pleased to bring this portion of The Queen of Unforgetting to the community where it’s set,” says Miranda Hill, Founder and Executive Director of Project Bookmark Canada.
Project Bookmark Canada installs plaques (called “Bookmarks”) bearing text from stories and poems in the exact physical locations where literary scenes are set. The nationally registered charitable organization is building a cross-Canada network of site-specific literary installations that will allow Canadians and visitors to read their way right across the country.
This eighth Bookmark is made possible through an initiative called Ontario: Read It Here, produced in partnership with Open Book Ontario (OpenBookOntario.com)—the organization that connects the public to Ontario’s vibrant literary scene—and the Creative Book Publishing Program at Humber College. Ontario: Read It Here is generously funded by the Ontario Media Development Corporation.
Each Bookmark in the Project Bookmark Canada series is installed on public—or publicly accessible—land, and the enthusiasm of local governments is vital to the initiative. “The Town of Midland has been instrumental in assisting us to Bookmark this site and to promote its role as a literary setting,” Hill says. “It’s wonderful to see a community celebrate its stories in this way.”
“Midland is honoured to have Sylvia Maultash Warsh’s novel The Queen of Unforgetting Bookmarked in our Little Lake Park,” says Midland Mayor Gord McKay. “This is a wonderful occasion to celebrate our community’s literary heritage.”
Cormorant Books, publisher of The Queen of Unforgetting, also lauds the inclusion of the passage in the Bookmark series. “Cormorant Books is particularly pleased to have a passage from The Queen of Unforgetting by Sylvia Warsh chosen for inclusion in Project Bookmark,” says Marc Côté, publisher of Cormorant Books.
“The idea of celebrating our country's literature by situating it in the very locations where the stories take place helps to make our stories and poems a greater part of everyday life. These plaques enrich our experience of walking in a park or crossing a bridge. They tell us that our nation isn't just the geography and history of a region, it's more than that because it lives in our imaginations in the specific settings of many different books,” Côté says.
Author Sylvia Maultash Warsh is also excited to see her writing become a visible part of the park. “I'm very honoured that The Queen of Unforgetting has been chosen to be part of Project Bookmark Canada. It's a thrill to think of the words from my book going on permanent display in Little Lake Park in Midland, a place I've felt a connection to since I was young,” she says.
“What a remarkable feat of public awareness—to connect the story in a physical way with the actual place the story describes. It will be a pleasant shock of recognition for people to stand in the park near the World's Best Fries and read the words on the plaque that describe the spot,” says Warsh.
The Bookmark for The Queen of Unforgetting will be unveiled by author Sylvia Maultash Warsh and Deputy Mayor Stephan Kramp on Tuesday, October 4 at 11 a.m. in Little Lake Park. Members of the public are invited to attend the unveiling, to learn more about the Bookmark series at projectbookmarkcanada.ca
and to find articles and interviews about the book, the author and the area at OpenBookOntario.com.
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Contact:
Miranda Hill, Founder and Executive Director
Project Bookmark Canada
905-975-1797
miranda.hill@projectbookmarkcanada.ca
www.projectbookmarkcanada.ca
@BookmarkCanada
Bryan Peter, Director of Parks and Recreation Town of Midland 705-526-4770 ext 3207bpeter@town.midland.on.ca www.town.midland.on.ca
