Transforming the Joe Burke Wolfe Island Literary Festival with watermarks

Michael Crummey shares his watermark at LitFest. (Photo by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper)

There are 35-million reasons why Canadians love water. The Watermark Project tries to underscore that point by bringing attention to something that’s so easily forgotten.

Good or bad, happy or sad, confusing or clarifying: water transforms. Always moving and shifting, leaving new spaces for imagination and growth. So when you ask any Canadian - including Canadian writers – about their memories of water, something special and personal emerges.

Wolfe Island is my watermark. And every spring I look forward to the LitFest. Here, I’m surrounded by the Great Lake I know best and the people I admire most.

Thank you to Michael Crummey, Helen Guri, Paul Vermeersch, Dani Couture, Bernie Finkelstein, and Darryl Webster for shaping this year’s LitFest. It was its most successful year yet.

Thank you to everyone for sharing your watermarks with us too. Each watermark is unique. And one by one, you’re helping us chronicle the influence of water in Canadian culture.

And finally, thank you to everyone who joined us at Wolfe Island this year. It’s humbling to see how this event has grown with the community. Can’t wait for next year.