It was a lovely afternoon

"It was a lovely afternoon—such an afternoon as only September can produce when summer has stolen back for one more day of dream and glamour."
-L.M. Montgomery
Emily Climbs

Read more quotes by L.M. Montgomery.

Image credit:
Photograph by World of Anne Shirley.

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Created September 25, 2025.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Nadia Ragbar on Anne of Green Gables

Toronto author Nadia Ragbar is a fan of Anne of Green Gables. Nadia Ragbar's debut novel entitled The Pugilist and the Sailor was published this week. It's the story of conjoined twins Bruce and Dougie Reuben. "Dougie is an ambitious amateur boxer, having dragged his brother into the ring since childhood. Bruce is a bookkeeper who has become smitten with Anka. Unaware of the facts of the twins’ physicality an epistolary relationship unfolds between Anka and Bruce, as he wrestles with broaching the topic of separation with Dougie."

In an interview with Jean Marc Ah-Sen for The Toronto Star, Nadia Ragbar spoke about books she loves, her comfort reads, authors that inspire her, and how she defines literary success. Nadia Ragbar reads widely, and it is an interesting interview.

What stood out to me most as an Anne fan was when Jean Marc Ah-Sen asked Nadia Ragbar, "When you were 10 years old, what was your favourite book?" and she responded, "I was very into the “Anne of Green Gables” series, alongside the TV miniseries and sequel from the mid-1980s. I suppose it was my Harry Potter."

It's always nice to sight another Anne of Green Gables fan, and I hope her debut novel is a success.


Image credits:
Left: Photograph of Nadia Ragbar from The Toronto Star.
Right: Photograph of Megan Follows as Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel © Sullivan Entertainment.

Reference:
Ah-Sen, Jean Marc. (August 17, 2025). Toronto’s Nadia Ragbar, author of a novel about conjoined twins, on her love for Leonard Cohen and ‘Anne of Green Gables.’ The Toronto Star. Retrieved from: https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/torontos-nadia-ragbar-author-of-a-novel-about-conjoined-twins-on-her-love-for-leonard/article_0426a7fe-4db5-465a-a292-d43434ce6a69.html.

Created September 22, 2025.
© worldofanneshirley.com

LEGO IDEAS Anne of Green Gables Project Achieves 10,000 Supporters

Good news for Anne of Green Gables and LEGO fans! A proposed Anne of Green Gables LEGO set designed by Iyan Ha has achieved 10,000 supporters on the LEGO IDEAS website last Friday. Now the design will undergo an expert review by LEGO to see if the product will be approved for production.

I first posted about the project here last year when the project had 1,366 supporters. I'm really excited that the Anne of Green Gables project idea has reached this milestone! Let's hope that the idea is approved and goes forward into production. 


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 September 21, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Pen Pals Play Starring Megan Follows and Michelle Clunie

Last weekend, I was lucky to catch Megan Follows in a performance of Pen Pals at the DR2 Theatre in New York. The off-Broadway play is billed as, "the extraordinary story of two friends that unfolds over decades."

Having loved Megan Follows's performance in Anne of Green Gables (1985) and its sequels, I was happy to have the chance to see her on stage.

The plot of Pen Pals is as follows: "Bernie and Mags live in two different countries, they’ve never met, and yet they’re best friends. Because they’ve been pen pals for over fifty years. Since they were teenagers, they’ve shared every aspect of their lives with each other. The trivial bits, the most intimate details, all the happiness, all the heartache. They’ve told each other things they wouldn’t dare tell another soul. Even though Bernie lives in New Jersey and Mags is from England, the women are closer to each other than anyone else in the world. Come witness the journey of their lifetime. In their own words."

Pen Pals is a two-woman play starring Megan Follows as Mags and Michelle Clunie (Queer as Folk) as Bernie. The script was written by Michael Griffo and inspired by the true friendship of Griffo's mother and her pen pal. Pen Pals is a story told through letters written over many years. Throughout the show, the actresses read the letters from binders. Unfortunately, they did not memorize their scripts, which made the staging seem more like a rehearsal run-through than a final performance. Still, I found it interesting to watch both the writer and the recipient of the letters at the same time. The story was humorous and emotional, and both actresses gave good performances, though they were a bit ill-matched. Michelle Clunie tried overly hard to capture the youthful exuberance of a teenager; meanwhile, Follows failed to portray a youthful vibe and seemed to be a middle aged woman from the very start.

By the end of the play, much of the audience was in tears. I thought the script felt manipulative with the emotional moments piling on as the end drew near. I felt especially sorry for a soon-to-be bride and her bridesmaids who came to watch the show as part of a bachelorette party. They clearly did not expect to experience such a teary, roller coaster ride. Their joyful mood had entirely evaporated by the end of the show, and as they stood outside the venue after the show, they all looked kind of stunned. I felt the same. It wasn't the happy story we were expecting. I guess that stories about life and friendship are not always simple or straightforward.

As a person who appreciates letter writing, I enjoyed the uniqueness of the script, and its focus on letters and lasting friendship. Overall, I enjoyed the story, and I was really glad to watch Megan Follows perform in person, which made the show extra special for me.

What's a bit sad is that Pen Pals is presented with a rapidly rotating cast that switches every two weeks. Unfortunately, Megan Follows's run from September 3rd to 14th is already over.

Here is the list of actresses set to perform in the show during its current 2025 run:

August 15 – August 31 - Nancy McKeon and Gail Winar
September 3 – September 14 - Michelle Clunie and Megan Follows
September 17 – September 28 - Sharna Burgess and Paige Davis
October 1 – October 12 - Kathleen Chalfant and Ellen McLaughlin
October 15 – October 26 - Kate Burton and Pauletta Washington
November 12 – November 23 - Sharon Lawrence and Maureen McCormick
November 26 – December 7 - Mystery Stars to be Announced
December 10 – December 21 - Emily Skinner and Donna Lynne Champlin


Here's a photograph of Megan Follows performing on stage in Pen Pals by Russ Rowland from the BroadwayWorld website. The article includes several more photos from the play.



Here are a few photos I took of the stage prior to the show, the back of the performance postcard, and the posters outside the DR2 venue.











Official Site:
Pen Pals
Pen Pals Digital Program

Image Credit:
Photograph of Megan Follows on stage in Pen Pals by Russ Rowland from BroadwayWorld.
All other photos by World of Anne Shirley.

Links:
Papadatos, Markos. (September 8, 2025). Chatting with Megan Follows: Canadian actress and director. Digital Journal. Retrieved from: https://www.digitaljournal.com/entertainment/chatting-with-megan-follows-canadian-actress-and-director/article.

Rabinowitz, Chloe. (September 5, 2025). Photos: Michelle Clunie and Megan Fellows in PEN PALS Off-Broadway. BroadwayWorld. Retrieved from: https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-broadway/article/Photos-Michelle-Clunie-and-Megan-Fellows-in-PEN-PALS-Off-Broadway-20250905.

Created September 20, 2025. Last updated April 30, 2026.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Becoming Green Gables Podcast

The latest episode in the Witness to Yesterday podcast series by The Champlain Society is called Becoming Green Gables: The Diary of Myrtle Webb and Her Famous Farmhouse. In this episode, host Nicole O'Byrne speaks with author Alan MacEachern about his book Becoming Green Gables: The Diary of Myrtle Webb and Her Famous Farmhouse, which was published in 2024. It's the history of Green Gables, the farm and home that inspired the setting of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables.

Here are details on the podcast from The Champlain Society's website.

Episode Details:

Nicole O'Byrne speaks with Alan MacEachern about his book Becoming Green Gables: The Diary of Myrtle Webb and Her Famous Farmhouse. In 1909 Myrtle and Ernest Webb took possession of a Cavendish, Prince Edward Island farm—ordinary except that it was already known as the inspiration for Anne of Green Gables, written by Myrtle’s cousin, L. M. Montgomery. The Webbs welcomed visitors to “Green Gables” and took in summer boarders, making their home central to PEI’s growing tourist trade. In the 1930s the farm became the centerpiece of a new national park, though the family remained its caretakers for another decade.

During these years Myrtle kept a diary. When she began in 1924, she was a forty-year-old homemaker managing a household of eight; by 1954, she was a seventy-year-old widow, no longer resident in what had become the most famous house in Canada. In Becoming Green Gables, Alan MacEachern reproduces a selection of her diary entries, using them to explore topics from modern conveniences to wartime hosting and visits from “Aunt Maud” herself.

Alan MacEachern is professor of history at the University of Western Ontario and has written widely on Canadian environmental history.

Series Description:

Witness to Yesterday

This series of podcasts furthers the Champlain Society's mission of deepening awareness of Canada’s documentary past and of the people who created it. Hosted by Greg Marchildon, Nicole O’Byrne, Larry Ostola, and Simon Nantais, each podcast examines a particular document, the people behind it, its significance, and its relevance to today.

This podcast is made possible by the members of the Champlain Society who work hard to bring to life original documents in Canadian history. We want to thank a number of Canadian scholarly book publishers including the University of Toronto Press, UBC Press and McGill-Queen’s University Press for their financial support.

Credits:

Podcast series: Witness to Yesterday
Episode 330: Becoming Green Gables: The Diary of Myrtle Webb and Her Famous Farmhouse
Date: 19 September 2025
Host: Nicole O'Byrne
Special Guest: Alan MacEachern
Published by The Champlain Society


Official website:

Becoming Green Gables: The Diary of Myrtle Webb and Her Famous Farmhouse at The Champlain Society

Image credit:

Screencapture from The Champlain Society's website.


Created September 19, 2025.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Cavendish Literary Festival

The first-ever Cavendish Literary Festival is taking place on September 26–28, 2025. The event aims to gather readers, writers, and storytellers "to connect over books, share their big ideas, and let their imagination wander in the very place that inspired the iconic works of L.M. Montgomery."

The three-day festival includes a literary walk through Cavendish, as well as workshops on bringing a novel to life, getting published, and journaling. There are talks by several authors, including one on Jane Austen and L.M. Montgomery and another on food writing. The festival also includes sessions on mindful movement for creative writers and flow yoga. There will be an open mic stage for writers, poets, and storytellers.

Here is the event description, according to the Festival's official website:

"Readers, writers, and storytellers are invited to join us for the first-ever Cavendish Literary Festival.

The festival features three delightful days of intimate events, including workshops, author talks, and wellness retreats, all set within Cavendish’s charming countryside, with venues no more than ten minutes apart.

In this inaugural year, we are proud to celebrate local, regional, and national voices who shaped our cultural identity and inspire and support new writers just beginning their journey.

Come find kindred spirits, feed your creativity, and celebrate the transformative power of literature."

You can purchase a festival weekend pass, which includes several events, or purchase individual tickets on the Festival's website. Tickets for the "Secret Paths: A Literary Walk through Cavendish," an activity of interest to Anne of Green Gables fans, must be purchased separately.

The Festival Weekend Pass (CA$149.00 + CA$7.45 fees + CA$23.47 taxes) includes:
- Access to three Featured Events with spotlight authors Donna Jones Alward, Antonio Michael Downing and Linden MacIntyre
- Your choice of five curated sessions
(*Secret Paths: A Literary Walk through Cavendish and Oven Mitts and Oyster Rakes: Sensual Storytelling in Food Writing with Stuart Hickox are not included in the Festival Ticket Package and must be purchased separately.)

Secret Paths: A Literary Walk through Cavendish (CA$65.00 + CA$3.25 fees + CA$10.24 taxes)
- A guided 7 km stroll through L. M. Montgomery’s favourite spots in Cavendish, followed by a lunch


The event sounds like great fun for readers and writers to connect in the same special setting that once inspired L.M. Montgomery to create Anne Shirley. 


Official Websites:
Cavendish Literary Festival

Image Credit:
Screencapture of the Cavendish Literary Festival website.

Created September 19, 2025.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Puffin Clothbound Classics

This summer, Puffin released a new version of Anne of Green Gables as part of their Clothbound Classics series.

Pictured above are 15 of the 40 books in the series. From left to right and top to bottom, they include:

• Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
• The Railway Children by E Nesbit
• A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
• Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono, Joe Todd-Stanton (Illustrator)
• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
• Grimms' Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimmm (The Brothers Grimm), George Cruikshank (Illustrator)
• Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen
• The Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Call of the Wild by Jack London
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

I love the new cover designs, and I only wish the entire Anne of Green Gables series was available as a matching clothbound paperback set. Could you release the other seven novels in the Anne series, pretty please, Puffin?

Image credit:
Collage of Puffin Clothbound Classics.

Created September 17, 2025.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Anne of Green Gables Miniseries at the Atlantic International Film Festival

The 45th annual Atlantic International Film Festival will take place from September 10–17, 2025 at Cineplex Cinemas Park Lane in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The festival is holding a free screening of Anne of Green Gables (1985) starring Megan Follows as Anne Shirley and written, directed, and produced by Kevin Sullivan. The free screening is in celebration of the adaptation's 40th anniversary and will take place at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday September 14, 2025 in Theatre 6.

Here's the synopsis from the festival's program (with my corrections):

Now 40 years since its premiere, the most treasured screen adaptation of Lucy Maude Montgomery’s classic of Atlantic Canadian literature returns to the big screen. Megan Follows stars as Anne Shirley, a spirited orphan whose arrival transforms life in Avonlea. Starring renowned theatrical actress Colleen Dewhurst and an unforgettable role for the beloved character actor Richard Farnsworth (as Mr. Hammond Matthew Cuthbert) this Emmy-winning miniseries continues to charm and captivate audiences of all ages.

Director: Kevin Sullivan
Writer: Kevin Sullivan, Joe Wiesenfeld
Producers: Ian McDougall, Kevin Sullivan
Cast: Megan Follows, Colleen Dewhurst, Richard Farnsworth, Patricia Hamilton
Country: Canada
Province: Prince Edward Island
Runtime: 200 minutes + 10 minutes intermission

Along with the special screening of Anne of Green Gables, the festival features 60 films, including seven world premieres. The Festival Pass costs $200, the Weekender pass costs $100, or you can purchase general admission tickets or various ticket packages. See the website for more info about the fun event!

Official Websites:
Atlantic International Film Festival

Image Credit:
Screencapture of the Atlantic International Film Festival's '25 Program Guide.

Reference:
DiRisio, Haeley. (August 18, 2025). Atlantic International Film Festival celebrates 45 years next month. CTVNews. Retrieved from: https://www.ctvnews.ca/atlantic/nova-scotia/article/atlantic-international-film-festival-celebrates-45-years-next-month/.

Created September 2, 2025. Last updated September 24, 2025.
© worldofanneshirley.com