A lot going on at Mabel Murple’s in River John

Book shoppe hosting award-winning authors this weekend

For the second weekend in a row, Mabel Murple’s Book Shoppe and Dreamery in River John will host a gathering of award-winning authors as it celebrates Atlantic Canada publishers.

“We didn’t open last year, so this year I decided I wanted to celebrate Atlantic publishers,” said store owner Sheree Fitch, herself a beloved and highly acclaimed author. “As much as I love authors, of course, the publishers have been so amazing to deal with from the point of view of being a bookseller.”

Fitch likes to describe the process of a book coming together as an “incredible chain of book being.”

“From the author, the editor, then there is the design person, the distributor, the person in the warehouse who packs it, there is so much involved,” she said.

“I don’t think I really appreciated the importance of sales reps, for example. I knew they were important; they go into shops and say, ‘here is this book, you should carry it.’ But being a bookseller and calling them and asking, ‘hey, I’m looking for this kind of book,’ they know just like that.”

Fitch said she has tremendous respect for Atlantic publishers.

“I have this little, tiny nineweek business, I can’t imagine the risks, the hard decisions publishers have to make,” she said. “So having Gaspereau (Press) here for me, they are some of the most beautiful books we’re publishing in Atlantic Canada.”

Gaspereau authors on hand July 18 included Shalan Joudry, Bren Simmers, Anne

Simpson, Harry Thurston and Sue Goyette.

Joudry, from Bear River First Nation, said the day marked only her second chance to interact with the public since COVID restrictions were lifted.

“It’s a little bit emotional after not being able to share with people for so long and see their responses,” Joudry said. “Just to be this close to people, see their body language and the opportunity to enjoy each other’s company; events like this make you realize what you’ve been missing out on.”

Antigonish’s Simpson expressed similar gratitude.

“It’s quite lovely to be with people again,” she said. “When you’re writing, it’s just you. You’re all by yourself, working away, and you don’t know if anyone has a response to anything. So when you come together and have a picnic day like today, it’s lovely.”

Simpson said it’s about sharing.

“We’re knitted together by words, so that is the beauty of it,” she said. “When you have one person read, that’s nice, but when you get a number of people reading, then you get a real sense of the whole; that

is what is great about Sherri doing this.”

This weekend, July 23 to 25, all three days include special events.

Tomorrow, Monica Graham and Martha Vowles will be on hand with their books Senior Moments and Senior Management.

Goose Lane Publishing will be celebrated Saturday and Sunday — Saturday from noon to 3 p.m., authors Beth and Peter Powning, Benoit Lalonde and Michael Haynes will be in the authors’ tent while on Sunday, from 1 to 4 p.m., it’s Tyler LeBlanc, Riel Nason and Jon Tattrie.

“Everyone has been isolated for so long, the opportunity to come together is pretty awesome,” Fitch said.

For more, visit mabel murplesworld.ca or check out the shop’s Facebook page.