Prélude / Prelude (2020 Edition)

The Frye Festival, founded in 1999 in Moncton in honor of the great literary critic Northrop Frye, is Canada’s largest bilingual literary festival. Every spring, it brings together authors and artists from here and abroad to celebrate literature, foster dialogue between cultures, and connect the public with the most influential voices in the contemporary literary scene.

Through its deep roots in the Acadian, Francophone, and Anglophone communities of the Atlantic region, and through its educational and digital initiatives such as the Discours/e platform, the Frye plays a key role in showcasing the region’s cultural and linguistic richness, while reaching out to national and international audiences.

Judy Marie Augustine is a poet from the Esgenoopetitj First Nation. She was born on the first day of summer in the city of Miramichi. The third of seven children, she was raised by her maternal grandmother, whose name she bears. It was her grandmother who encouraged her to read every day, sparking her love of words.

Despite her deceptively Irish appearance, Léonore Bailhache (she) hails from Normandy, France.

Author, translator and feminist, Léonore studied French Sign Language at the University of Poitiers, and holds a Master's degree in contemporary literary creation (University of Le Havre and ÉSADHaR).

Léonore is passionate about children's literature and its feminist icons (in their own way), from Anne Shirley to Fifi Brindacier to Georgia Nicholson, to name but a few. She has been published twice in Ancrages: Piscines publiques in issue 35, a literary translation of Megan Gail Coles' poem Swimming Pool (from the collection Satched, House of Anansi, 2021), and Océan du souvenir, in issue 41.

Léonore has lived in various provinces of the country known as Canada, and has worked at the Frye Festival, Bouton d'or Acadie, and the Freeze Frame Media Arts Centre in Winnipeg. Since 2018, she has made her home in Siknikt (Moncton), on the unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq peoples, where she lives with her partner and their beloved if bouncy dog, Gazelle.

Marie-Christine Collin is originally from the small village of Saint-Léonin in northeastern New Brunswick. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in Education (French Studies) from the Université de Moncton in 2012. Since 2017, she has worked as a community development officer for the Francophone South School District. A writer in her spare time, she has contributed to several projects published in the literary journal Ancrages.

Reem Fayyad Abdel-Samad is a Lebanese-Canadian writer and singer who has been living in Moncton, New Brunswick, since 2010. She holds a Master of Science in Environmental Health from the American University of Beirut and has worked in Beirut and Dubai before transitioning to a career in public health in Canada. A committed community advocate, she supports immigrant integration and social cohesion while publishing poetry in Arabic and performing at multicultural events.

Thandiwe McCarthy is a 7th generation African Canadian spoken word poet, writer, public speaker, and the culture correspondent for Maritime EDIT magazine, where he highlights Black community leaders and artists. Known for his unique "Vibe Harvesting" performances, he creates poetry spontaneously at events across the Maritimes.

Thandiwe has co-founded the New Brunswick Black Artists Alliance and organized the provincial event Emancipation Celebration. He played a key role in having August 1st recognized as Emancipation Day in New Brunswick. Though he has stepped back from volunteer work, his contributions have left a lasting impact on the community.

The "Still Here Initiative," celebrating fifteen generational Black New Brunswick families, is gearing up for a national art exhibition at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and a globally distributed book published by Goose Lane Editions, both launching in July 2025.

Thandiwe's memoir, "Social Oblivion: Raised Black in New Brunswick," is available now.