Frye Festival

The festival began in 1999 and honours noted literary critic Herman Northrop Frye (1912–1991), who spent his formative years in Moncton, graduating from Aberdeen High School.

During his stay he had the chance to meet and talk with many Monctonians, and he was able to visit his old home and the grave of his mother in Elmwood Cemetery.

In December 1999, a public conference featuring two Canadian literary superstars, Antonine Maillet and John Ralston Saul, was organized at the Capitol Theatre by the Greater Moncton Economic Commission, Vision TV, and the Aberdeen Cultural Centre.

More than 450 award-winning authors, from every continent and recipients of almost every major international literary prize, have now attended the Festival.

The Festival is the proud recipient of the 2005 Lieutenant-Governor's Dialogue Award, the 2007 Éloize for Event of the Year, the 2009 TD Canada Trust Arts Organization of the Year by the New Brunswick Foundation for the Arts, and the 2014 Commissioner of Official Language's Award of Excellence—Promotion of Linguistic Duality.

Picture of the Northrop Frye bronze statue. He is sat on a bench with a book in his lap.
Northrop Frye statue at the Moncton Public Library
Frye Festival logo as of September 2021