“A LITTLE GROUP had been formed, Friends of the Heritage Theatre. They put up posters and planted rosebushes and helped in the building and it was great. They had a last meeting at the end of the summer, and asked what can we do? Steve said, when I go back I’ll see about organizing a writers festival.” -Charlie Payne

“UNLESS THERE WAS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, economic development, I was not interested in doing it. If it was purely artistic, with no connection to the community, it wouldn’t work. Woody Point had a sense of itself, of its past with its merchant houses. But in 1999 it was not that. At first the full-time community stood back and watched. There was some thought: who do you think you are? And then Wayne Johnston cancelled one week before the first festival started. We were screwed. But then we got Gordon Pinsent. And he is a rock star.” – Steve Brunt

You can read the full story on Woody Point Heritage Theatre and the Writers at Woody Point in The Newfoundland Quarterly’s Summer print edition. On sale in Broken Books, Johnny Ruth, Chapters, The Travel Bug, Afterwords, and other retailers across the province. Newfoundland Quarterly: Summer 2017, Doing it the Write Way.