Plaques marking historic locations are a common sight in tourist spots around the world, but what about markers indicating notable literary passages?
Project Bookmark Canada is a charitable organization whose goal is to place markers across the country with text from literature in the exact, physical locations where the scenes are set.
Since 2009, they’ve installed 13 “bookmarks” in Ontario, Newfoundland, Manitoba and British Columbia. Their goal is to get more funding so they can place hundreds of poster-sized ceramic plaques from coast to coast.
The website gives a good overview of the project’s origins, goals and ways that the public can get involved.
For the traveller, the website is useful for highlighting the locations of the bookmarks and details of the books and authors they honour. While the text descriptions are fine, I think it would be more helpful if there were maps on the website that pinpoint these locations. It would certainly be more necessary if they add many more markers.
The first plaque was placed in Toronto to mark Michael Ondaatje’s book In the Skin of a Lion and the most recent plaque was placed on October 24 in Winnipeg to honour The Republic of Love by Carol Shields.
Even if you never visit any of these plaques, this website might introduce you to some great Canadian authors and their books.
http://projectbookmarkcanada.ca