The Port Medway Readers' Festival, founded in 2002 by Cynthia Wine and Philip Slayton, is an opportunity for readers to listen to and meet writers, during July and August, in an informal and friendly village setting. The Festival continues the tradition of the Tennysonian Reading Circle , started by the ladies of Port Medway in 1903. So far the Festival has featured William Weintraub, Donna Morrissey, Calvin Trillin, Jane Urquhart, Robert MacNeil, Marq de Villiers, Sheila Hirtle, Howard Norman, Wayne Johnston, Lisa Moore, Margaret Atwood, Graeme Gibson, William Kowalski, and Joan Clark.