Learning from Anishinabek authors at LitFest 2026
By Rick Garrick
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.”
Rice says they had a good turnout for his workshop.
“We were talking about different ways we can just speak our stories into existence,” Rice says. “Whenever I do this kind of thing, I get to learn a lot too because participants will share their insights and their practices, and it just makes me a better writer, too.”
Rice says he was fortunate to be raised in his community on Georgian Bay during his reading and question-and-answer session, which was hosted by Ryan Mackett.
“I came from a pretty humble upbringing, we didn’t have hydro or running water in the house that I grew up in, so my childhood was all about hauling water from the well, chopping wood, bringing wood inside and harvesting different stuff from the bush like willow bark,” Rice says. “I was really lucky to have that tangible relationship with it, and I think that really informs my humanity not just as an Anishinaabe person but just as a human being. I really respected that relationship from a very early age, and it’s something I’ve tried to carry with me throughout my life.”
Schmerk says he spoke from the heart during his workshop.
“[The] key points were learning how to express your own voice in a way that is respectful, hopefully do it in a way that ties in with rhyming couplets, and that you’re willing to share what it is you have when it is ready with other people,” Schmerk says. “Seeing that audience participation is really what keeps me going — to me, it’s an indication that I’m moving in the right direction, people are paying attention, and what more can I ask for.”
Schmerk also highlighted the Hip Hop in the North workshop he does on Tuesdays from 5-7:30 p.m. at the Thunder Bay Public Library’s Mary JL Black Library.
“Every Tuesday, we’re doing word warm-ups, I’m introducing people into the beat-making machine, and also, we’re trying to solve the riddles as far as different words go for different types of themes, songs,” Schmerk says. “I just try to guide the participants if they don’t know where they’re headed, and at the same time, once they have a vision of things, then I sit back and I listen to them.”
Rice says Schmerk’s workshop was super cool.
“Just as a music fan, it’s really neat to see the process and just be a part of his creativity — it’s super cool,” Rice says.
LitFest 2026 also featured an Ontario Arts Council Grants with Alana Forslund workshop on May 23. Forslund is the northern arts representative at Ontario Arts Council.