Alan Doyle is returning to Wordfest on November 19, 2025, with perhaps his most personal book yet, The Smiling Land: All Around the Circle in My Newfoundland and Labrador. The conversation, hosted by Nita Prose (the bestselling author of The Maid, who was Doyle’s first book editor in a previous life), includes an audience Q&A and book signing.

For those who know Alan Doyle through his career with Great Big Sea, or his solo music pursuits, you know this book will be filled with curiosity about a place so near and dear to the author’s heart. But for the uninitiated, this book is a traveller’s experience of exploring his home province and bringing you along for the ride.

“I’m a fan of travel writers like Bill Bryson who take you with you wherever they go,” says Doyle. “They tell you what they see and you feel like you’ve been somewhere with them when you read one of their books. That’s what I was trying to do.”

And that’s exactly what he does. Doyle invites you into his minivan along with his wife and 18-year-old son as they explore the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, taking in every detail. It’s like having your own personal tour guide to show you the details of each fantastic place you visit. “I’m generally really curious and nosy. I love to travel to new places and go back to places. I like the minutia of the place.”

But if you were expecting that guide to be an expert on all things, well, you might find yourself learning along with him about all the magical places that make up this incredible province. “I assumed I knew everything about Newfoundland and Labrador because I’ve been talking about it for so long. And I realize ‘Oh – I didn’t realize this place was so big.’ I bet I said ‘Oh!’ 300 times on this journey. The premise of the book became ‘Follow me around Newfoundland and Labrador because I know everything about Newfoundland and Labrador, and watch me discover I don’t know very much about it at all.’”

That’s the beauty of this book: you’re exploring the island along with the author and you’re taking it in one sense at a time. “I love taking a second and recognizing everything your eyes or ears or nose are taking in,” says Doyle. There’s a lesson in that for all of us: whether we’re travelling to new places or revisiting our favourites, there’s always something new to discover if you just stop and take it all in. That’s the beauty of it. And that's what you'll experience reading this book.

And if you’re travelling with a teenager, Doyle has some excellent advice to make sure everything goes smoothly: “Let them take their devices, for God’s sake,” he says. “Let them experience stuff at least in part the way they want to experience it. If they miss the odd thing because they’re not as eye-opened as you might be – that’s alright. It’s not the end of the world. They’re taking in a lot more than we think they are. They’re capable of multitasking in a way we don’t think they are.”

See Alan Doyle at Wordfest this November and take a journey with him around the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in the pages of The Smiling Land.

Kate Barker