October 23, 1996
(Tourism, Culture and Recreation)

The following is being distributed at the request of The John Cabot (1997) 500th Anniversary Corporation:

E. Annie Proulx to participate in Cabot Summit of the Sea

E. Annie Proulx, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Shipping News, has accepted an invitation to participate in the Summit of the Sea. The Summit of the Sea is a series of conferences and meetings examining the sustainable development of ocean resources, to be held in St. John's in September 1997 as part of the John Cabot 500th Anniversary Celebrations. The Summit of the Sea is the premiere environmental initiative of the 1997 celebrations, and is expected to attract over 3,000 delegates from around the world.

The Summit of the Sea Core Conference, scheduled for September 1-6, 1997 will feature a session on Oceans in History and Culture that will examine the past and future of coastal communities. Proulx will join the session as part of a panel responding to keynote speakers Dr. Leslie Harris, President Emeritus of Memorial University, and Dr. Federico Mayor, Director General of UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

"The organizing committee was looking for an internationally known and respected writer, someone who could talk intelligently about small communities in a universal sense, yet was somewhat familiar with Newfoundland, and E. Annie Proulx was one of the first people suggested." said Dr. Ches Blackwood, Chairman of the Summit of the Sea Board of Trustees. The internationally-acclaimed, best-selling The Shipping News was set in Newfoundand and the author spends part of each year on the Great Northern Peninsula. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature and the National Book Award in 1993.

The Summit of the Sea Board of Trustees also hopes to work with the Writers Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador to stage an evening reading session by Proulx and a number of Newfoundland and Labrador writers for whom she expressed admiration.

Among other confirmed participants in the Summit of the Sea are Dr. D. James Baker, Chief Administrator of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Dr. Sylvia Earle, a prominent oceans advocate, marine scientist and advisor to the WWF International, and Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Fred Mifflin.

Contact Gillian Marx, (709) 729-2832.