The Blue Castle at 100: Symposium & Exhibit Launch at the University of Guelph

On Friday, October 23, 2026, the University of Guelph and the L.M. Montgomery Institute at the University of Prince Edward Island are co-sponsoring a special event to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of L.M. Montgomery's novel The Blue Castle.

The special event includes a symposium and an exhibit launch at The University of Guelph. The symposium will take place from 9:00 am–3:30 pm (EDT) on October 23, 2026 in the McLaughlin Library 246 Robert Whitelaw Room.

You can register to attend the event in person, and if you don't live nearby, you can register to view the event online at the University of Guelph website.

Here are the details on the event from the L.M. Montgomery Institute:

In 1922, L.M. Montgomery and her family vacationed in the Muskoka Lakes region of Ontario. The beauty of rugged landscape inspired her to write The Blue Castle (1926), a departure from her previous works, and her only novel set entirely outside of Prince Edward Island. In celebration of the 100th anniversary of this unique, beloved text, join us for a one-day symposium and exhibit launch, hosted by the University of Guelph’s McLaughlin Library in partnership with the L.M. Montgomery Institute at the University of Prince Edward Island. Hear presentations about the novel’s literary legacies and learn more about the Muskoka region that captured Montgomery’s imagination.

The Blue Castle at 100: L.M. Montgomery’s Ontario Story, Event Schedule

9:00–10:30 AM, Welcome and Session 1: “The Blue Castle’s Productive Disruptions”

Session Chair: Heidi Lawrence (Brigham Young University)
Rita Bode (Trent University), “Family Life Interrupted”
Laura Robinson (Chair, LMMI Management Committee, Acadia University), “‘mosque and palace and minaret’: Decentering Whiteness in The Blue Castle”
Melanie Fishbane (Western University), “Finding Her Happy Hour: Queering Happily Ever After in The Blue Castle”

10:30–11:00 AM, Refreshment Break

11:00 AM–12:15 PM, Session 2: “Time, Place, and Things of The Blue Castle”

Session Chair: Heidi Lawrence (Brigham Young University)
Allison McBain Hudson (Current LMMI Visiting Scholar, Dublin City University), “Objects as Agents of Change in The Blue Castle”
Tara K. Parmiter (New York University), “‘The Son of Purple Pills’: The Nature of Family Shame in The Blue Castle,”
Andrea McKenzie (York University), “A Jazz Age Fairy Tale

12:15–1:30 PM Lunch on your own (many options available on and near campus)

1:30–2:30 PM, Session 3: “100 Years of The Blue Castle: The Exhibit Overview”

Exhibit Curators: Ashley Shifflett McBrayne (University of Guelph) and Emily Woster (The College of St. Scholastica)

2:30–2:45 PM, Special Guests: Jack and Linda Hutton, from Bala’s Museum with Memories of Lucy Maud Montgomery

2:45 PM-, Refreshments and time to explore the exhibit

Official Websites:
Registration for the Symposium and Exhibit Launch - The Blue Castle at 100: L.M. Montgomery's Ontario Story at the University of Guelph
Symposium & Exhibit Launch: 100 Years of The Blue Castle at the University of Guelph - schedule and info at the L.M. Montgomery Institute webpage

Image Credit:
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. Book cover of the 1941 Harrap edition.

Created September 28, 2026.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Support an Anne of Green Gables Project at LEGO IDEAS, Part II

For the past two years, I've been following Iyan Ha's efforts to make an Anne of Green Gables LEGO set a reality. The first attempt failed, but he is trying again. Iyan Ha's LEGO project recreates Green Gables and includes five minifigures: Anne Shirley, Matthew Cuthbert, Marilla Cuthbert, Gilbert Blythe, and Diana Barry. The intricate design involves 2,935 LEGO bricks, and you can model several pivotal scenes from L.M. Montgomery's novel.

The product idea has a chance of becoming a real LEGO set if it gains 10,000 supporters. After it reaches this goal, the idea will undergo an expert review by LEGO before the project is approved for production. Last month (when I took this screencap), I became supporter #1,372. As of today, the project has gained the support of 4,968 people!

You can sign up to support the project too at the Anne of Green Gables project page at LEGO IDEAS. Let's hope the proposal succeeds and goes into production!

Official Website:
Anne of Green Gables Product Idea at LEGO IDEAS by Iyan Ha

Image Credits:
Screencapture of the Anne of Green Gables Product Idea by Iyan Ha at LEGO IDEAS.

Created September 22, 2026.
© worldofanneshirley.com

The Blue Castle Book Club Read

This September, Reddit's Book Club Community has selected L.M. Montgomery's The Blue Castle as one of its Gutenberg Novella selections. First published in 1926, The Blue Castle celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, making it a special time to read or re-read the story. Anyone who knows me, knows that Valancy Stirling is one of my favorite literary heroines. Years ago, I wrote The Blue Castle Encyclopedia (beware of spoilers in it if you're new to the book) and several other webpages about the book, back when there was little info about the story online at all.

Reddit's Book Club community is great fun. The moderators hold multiple concurrent book club reads each month. You can drop in and participate in as many discussions as you like. Here's a look at the book club's calendar. For September, it includes Katabasis, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Blue Castle, Hungry Ghosts, The Vegetarian, Ficciones, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Books of Jacob, The Moonstone, Parisian Days, Shattered Gods, City of Illusions, Among the Burning Flowers, 2010: Odyssey Two, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Platform Decay, Sweet Berries, The Trouble With Peace, plus The Monthly Mini and Poetry Corner. Beyond having a wide selection of options to read, I love that the Reddit Book Club is an open community and not a walled off part of the internet.

The Blue Castle discussion schedule has three check-in dates:

September 16, 2026 - Discussion 1 - Chapter I through XIII
September, 23, 2026 - Discussion 2 - Chapter XIV through XXVIII
September, 30, 2026 - - Discussion 3 - Chapter XXIX through end

I hope you'll join us in reading The Blue Castle this month!


Website:
[Schedule] Gutenberg Novella | The Blue Castle by L M Montgomery

Image Credits:
Edited image of The Blue Castle (1926) from archive.org.

Created September 13, 2026. Last updated September 18, 2026.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Prince Edward Island Oyster Club Shirt

Sometimes, I come across things that are tangentially related to Anne of Green Gables that make me think about Prince Edward Island and Anne Shirley. Is it the same with you?

Back in June, I was browsing clothes in an Anthropologie store, and this bright, lilac pink button-down shirt caught my eye. The back read, "FRESH CAUGHT Oyster Club," and below that was written, "Prince Edward Islands." (I wonder if the designer meant to place an apostrophe in there and write "Island's" or just added an extra "s" by mistake?)

Regardless, I was so excited to see Prince Edward Island mentioned that I snapped the photos below of the front and back of the shirt:



I'm left wondering if the designer likes Anne too, or was this just a cute idea for a summer vacay shirt? Alternatively, maybe the shirt is a reference to Carley Fortune's romance This Summer Will Be Different. Her modern tale is set on PEI, refers to Anne of Green Gables throughout, and featured a leading male who chucks oysters. What do you think? Am I silly for thinking of Anne Shirley? ;)

Anyhow, if you like the Prince Edward Island Oyster Club shirt, it's 50% off right now.


Image Credit:
Product Photographs of the Prince Edward Island Oyster Club Shirt aka the Maeve Shrunken Bennet 100% Cotton Embellished Buttondown Shirt by Anthropologie. Store photographs by World of Anne Shirley.

Created September 12, 2026.
© worldofanneshirley.com

The Anne of Green Gables LEGO IDEAS Project Was Not Approved

Sad news for Anne of Green Gables and LEGO fans. You may have seen my prior posts about Iyan Ha's design proposal for an Anne of Green Gables LEGO set. In September 2024, I posted about the project and gave info on how to support it in the hopes that LEGO would produce the set. Last September, we learned that the project received the support of over 10,000 people and would undergo an expert review at LEGO.

Since then, the expert review was completed. Unfortunately, Iyan Ha's proposal was not approved for production.

Fortunately, Iyan Ha is remaining positive, just like Anne Shirley, and is planning to re-render and re-submit a revised version of the project. Let's hope the second try will be successful!


Official Website:
Anne of Green Gables Product Idea at LEGO IDEAS by Iyan Ha

Image Credits:
Image of the Anne of Green Gables Product Idea by Iyan Ha at LEGO IDEAS.

Created July 23, 2026.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Amybeth McNulty will Star in Lucy. Maud alongside Megan Follows

Roughly a year and a half ago, there was exciting news of an upcoming limited series called Lucy. Maud based on the life of Lucy Maud Montgomery. The series is being produced by Megan Follows, known for portraying Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Green Gables (1985), Edwina Follows, and Mary Young Leckie. Last year in February, their team attended the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) to secure financing, presales, and international distributions for the series.

Since then, there has been little news about the series, and although I've received emails with questions about it, I've had no news to share. I was hoping for some info as I watched Megan Follow's virtual keynote at the L.M. Montgomery Institute's Biennial Conference last Saturday. I hope other visitors to this site joined in to experience the speech too.

Following her engaging keynote, Megan Follows received a question about the series and whether it would be available for viewing in Japan. Follows gave little away. She didn't mention a timeline for when the series would be complete, and she didn't elaborate on whether the series would be available for viewing around the world. I thought that Follows seemed insecure about speaking at an academic conference, and I wasn't sure why. She certainly has expertise of her own that Anne and Maud fans greatly admire.

Though there wasn't any news about Lucy. Maud at the conference keynote, C21Media released an article with some new information about the series on Tuesday. Neshama Entertainment, a Toronto-based producer, is now developing the series. The other new piece of info is that along with starring Megan Follows, the series will also star Amybeth McNulty, who played Anne Shirley in the CBC and Netflix’s Anne with an E (2017–2019).

Isn't it cool that the series will star not one but two actresses who played Anne Shirley? Hopefully, there will be forthcoming news about the distribution of the series, and hopefully those who live outside of Canada will be able to watch it too.

Reference:
Pinto, Jordan. (June 30, 2026). Canada’s Neshama develops limited series on life of Anne of Green Gables author. C21Media. Retrieved from: https://www.c21media.net/news/canadas-neshama-develops-limited-series-on-life-of-anne-of-green-gables-author/

Image Credit:
Photograph of Amybeth McNulty as Anne Shirley in Anne with an E.

Created July 2, 2026.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Watch Megan Follows's Virtual Keynote at the LM. Montgomery Institute Conference for Free on June 27, 2026

On Saturday, June 27, 2026, Megan Follows, the actress known for playing Anne Shirley in Sullivan Entertainment's Anne of Green Gables (1985) and its sequels, will give a keynote at the L.M. Montgomery Institute's Biennial Conference at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown. Her speech, entitled "Anne of Everywhere: How A Redheaded Girl from PEI Became Canada's Greatest Cultural Ambassador and Changed my Life Forever" will take place from 11-12 pm ADT. It's sure to be a special event for all of the attendees.

What's also special is that even those who aren't attending the conference this year can join in and watch the keynote at a free online event. You can register to receive a free ticket to attend the keynote virtually at eventbrite. After registering, you'll receive a Zoom webinar link to attend the virtual event on June 26th. [Note that all who have registered for the full conference (in person or virtual) will already have access to this event].

For those who wish to attend the full conference, there is still time to register for both the in-person and virtual versions through June 17th. The "L.M. Montgomery and Change" conference takes place from June 24–28, 2026. It is a hybrid conference, and all sessions will be live-streamed, so people may either attend the event in person or participate virtually.

If you plan to attend the full conference in person, tickets cost $425 for the general public and $350.00 for students. The full virtual conference registration costs $300 for the general public and $200.00 for students. You can also register for in-person day and half-day passes, lunch tickets, the awards banquet, and a bus tour.

The draft conference schedule is up on The L.M. Montgomery Institute’s Conference Website, so you can take a look at all the panels and speeches that will take place.

Official Website:
L.M. Montgomery and Change: The L.M. Montgomery Institute’s 17th Biennial International Conference

Image Credit:
Image from the L. M. Montgomery Institute's Eventbrite registration webpage.

Created June 14, 2026.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Visit Anne's Kitchen at South Korean Tim Hortons Locations

Tim Hortons locations in South Korea are currently featuring a special Anne of Green Gables collaboration called "Anne's Kitchen" that offers special Anne-themed foods, beverages, decor, and gifts.


The Canadian coffee chain established its first locations in South Korea in 2023, and plans to add 26 new stores in the country this year to double its store count. At a press briefing in January, An Tae-yeol, the chief brand officer for Tim Hortons in Korea, explained that they are implementing a premium cafe model that invests strongly in interiors, seating, and service in contrast to the Canadian model, which is optimized for speed. An explained, "Rather than replicating a store in Toronto exactly, we are trying to express the Canada that exists in customers' imaginations...Tim Hortons has a surprisingly rich set of stories rooted in Canadian culture and literature. We are working to share those stories in a way that feels natural and engaging."



In line with these goals of portraying Canadian culture to the Korean market, Tim Hortons Korea is featuring a special Anne of Green Gables collaboration with Anne-themed foods and beverages, allowing customers to "Rediscover Anne of Green Gables with Tim Hortons." The collaboration began on March 25, 2026 and will conclude on May 10, 2026.



Tim Hortons is offering nine special foods and beverages that tie in to Anne Shirley's storyline. The items are accompanied by charming illustrations and visuals from the 1979 Anne of Green Gables anime series produced by Nippon Animation as part of the World Masterpiece Theater series. Each product has a chapter and storyline card that explains its meaning and reference point. It's a great way to introduce a new audience to Anne of Green Gables and also connect with longtime fans of Anne Shirley.

Chapter 1 - Green Gables - a frothy cotton candy matcha latte reflecting the colors of Anne's new home in Avonlea.



Chapter 2 - Flower Crown - a floral milk tea cake ringed with an array of berries like Anne Shirley's Sunday School crown of flowers.



Chapter 3 - Tea Time with Diana - a raspberry jam scone to share with a kindred spirit.



Chapter 4 - Violet Jewelry - a violet yuzu quencher that reminds us of Marilla's amethyst brooch.



Chapter 5 - From Gilbert - a heart-shaped lollipop with the phrase "You are Sweet!" that is reminiscent of the candy heart Gilbert Blythe gives Anne Shirley in class at the Avonlea school.



Chapter 6 - Maple Forest - a maple milk tea reflecting Anne's love of changing seasons and the Canadian autumn.



Chapter 7 - Dear Diana - a raspberry cordial iced tea that recalls Anne's raspberry cordial/currant wine mix up.



Chapter 8 - Matthew's Gift - a cherry chocolate ganache cake that reflects the colors of the chocolate brown dress with puffed sleeves that Matthew gives Anne as a gift. It is soft and sweet like Matthew's love for Anne.



Chapter 9 - Marilla's Recipe - a green tea chocolate pound cake. Marilla notices that Anne has grown up and doesn't make the same mistakes while baking like mistaking liniment for vanilla.



Here are photographs of the Anne-themed foods and drinks available at South Korean Tim Hortons locations during the collaboration period:

Green Gables - Cotton candy matcha latte



Flower Crown - Floral milk tea cake



Tea Time with Diana - Raspberry jam scones



Violet Jewelry - Violet yuzu quencher



From Gilbert - Heart-shaped lollipops 



Maple Forest - Maple milk tea



Dear Diana - Raspberry cordial iced tea



Matthew's Gift - Cherry chocolate ganache cake



Marilla's Recipe - Green tea chocolate pound cake



Along with the array of foods and beverages, Tim Horton's offers some Anne of Green Gables-themed gifts too, including an Anne of Green Gables teapot with matching teacup and saucer and a darling Anne Shirley apron.



I really wish I could visit and try all the goodies. Has anyone had the chance to visit Anne's Kitchen? How was your experience?

Image credits:
Images from the Tim Hortons Korea Instagram page.

References:
Choi, Kyong-ae. (January 28, 2026). Tim Hortons to double Korea outlets on localization push. Yonhap. Japan Wire by Kyodo News. Retrieved from: https://english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/69390.

No, Kyung-min. (January 28, 2026). Why Korea matters to Tim Hortons’ global future. The Korea Herald. Retrieved from: https://www.theinvestor.co.kr/article/10664884.

Created April 28, 2026.
© worldofanneshirley.com