Learning from Anishinabek authors at LitFest 2026 – Anishinabek News

June 1, 2026

THUNDER BAY — Anishinabek authors Waubgeshig Rice and Nolan Schmerk delivered workshops and presentations at the Northern Ontario Writers Workshop’s (NOWW) LitFest 2026, held May 22-23 in Thunder Bay. Rice, a Wasauksing First Nation citizen who wrote the bestselling novel, Moon of the Crusted Snow, and its sequel, Moon of the Turning Leaves, opened LitFest 2026 with a reading and question and answer session on the evening of May 22 at Definitely Superior Art Gallery before delivering an Adapting Oral Storytelling to Literature with Waubgeshig Rice workshop and a LitFest Gala and Awards Party keynote presentation on May 23 at the Italian Cultural Centre. Schmerk, a Fort William citizen who wrote a children’s book, Microphone Melody, delivered a Hip-Hop 101: A Conversation about Culture with Nolan Schmerk workshop on May 23.

“I think it’s really crucial in a region like Northern Ontario to be able to gather like this, to be able to highlight our storytellers and our writers and really to be able to advocate for ourselves as writers and storytellers on the bigger national stage,” Rice says during his keynote. “Unfortunately, regions like ours get overlooked because of the big behemoths in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and so on, but you can hear the momentum building here, and I think what you’ve created with LitFest and the work of NOWW altogether is really establishing a literary force here in the region.”

Read More: https://anishinabeknews.ca/2026/06/learning-from-anishinabek-authors-at-litfest-2026/