Renowned local authors, award-winners, nominees and fan favorites will be turning the pages to the delight of audiences during this year’s Elora Writers’ Festival on May 26.
Six authors are taking part in the afternoon event, held at the Elora Centre for the Arts from 1 to 4pm.
“I’m really excited about this year’s line-up, especially because we are able to offer two local authors,” said Roxanne Beale, owner of Roxanne’s Reflections in Fergus and one of the festival organizers.
“It’s a great mix of genres this year.”
Author Ailsa Kay has returned to her hometown of Fergus after two decades in Toronto.
As a co-founder of the literary festival, along with Amy Appleford, Kay was instrumental in beginning Words by the Water in 1994, which has grown to become the Elora Writers’ Festival.
Kay’s first novel, Under Budapest, was published in April by Goose Lane Editions and she will read excerpts to the audience, which organizers anticipate will be sold-out.
Sonia Day, a gardening columnist for the Toronto Star who now resides in Belwood, recently won the top prize from the U.S.-based Garden Writers Association for her latest publication The Untamed Garden: A Revealing Look at Our Love Affair with Plants.
From Waterloo, author Carrie Snyder will bring her second book, The Juliet Stories, published by House of Anansi and shortlisted for the 2012 Governor General’s Award.
Snyder’s first book, Hair Hat, was nominated for a Danuta Gleed Literary Award for short stories, and more recently was selected as one of five finalists for Canada Reads Independently: 2010. She has also won a CBC Literary Award for short fiction (2006).
Terry Fallis, a satirical author who covers Canadian politics, returns after his 2010 appearance at the festival with his latest book Up and Down.
In February, 2011, Fallis’ The Best Laid Plans was crowned the winner of CBC’s Canada Reads. McClelland and Stewart published the sequel entitled The High Road in September 2010. It was a finalist for the 2011 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. The publishers have now released Fallis’ third novel, which he will present at the reading.
Crime writer Robert Rotenberg’s first novel Old City Hall, set in Toronto, was shortlisted for The British Crime Writers’ Association’s John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Award at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards. Since then he has published The Guilty Plea (2011) and Stray Bullets (2012).
Rotenberg’s new book Stranglehold will be released in May, just in time for the festival audience to get a first listen.
“Robert has been into the store for a signing and he is so charming,” said Beale.
Andrew Westoll’s latest best seller is The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary, the true story of a remarkable family of chimpanzees who spent decades as test subjects in a medical research lab, and are now slowly recovering in an animal sanctuary near Montreal.
The book won the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, was shortlisted for the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, and was named a book of the year by the Globe and Mail, Amazon.ca, Quill and Quire and CTV’s Canada AM.
As chair of the Elora Writers’ Festival, which is supported through the Elora Arts Council (EAC), Barb Lee is looking forward to the event.
“The event is always a lot of fun. The Elora Arts Council is happy to be a part of the Elora Writers’ Festival and the amazing roster every year,” Lee said. “I’m thrilled with the line-up for this year. I am always dazzled with the talent here, but the local talent with Ailsa and Sonia is exciting.”
Festival organizers acknowledge both the support of the EAC the Writers’ Union of Canada.
The Elora Writers’ Festival is on May 26 from 1 to 4pm at the Elora Centre for the Arts, at 75 Melville Street. Admission is $20 and includes a reception, question-and-answer period with the authors, appetizers and wine.
Tickets are available at Roxanne’s Reflections in Fergus, by phone at 519-843-4391 or online at www.roxannesreflections.ca.
