GREENSTONE, Ontario – When you take all the books of all seventeen authors and pile them one on top of the other, how high do they reach?
Add in all the unpublished manuscripts as well as the multiplicity published articles of these seventeen authors, and you have quite a pillar.
“It could be Northwestern Ontario’s response to the CN Tower,” said Edgar J. Lavoie, Chair of the Committee sponsoring Squatchberry Literary Festival. The Festival runs in Geraldton on Canada Day weekend during that community’s celebrations of its 75th Anniversary of Incorporation.
The Festival program begins Friday evening with a feature presentation by author Charles Wilkins. Wilkins began his public career with The Circus at the Edge of the Earth. He is expecting the publication of his sixteenth book early in the new year, titled Little Ship of Fools.
On Saturday, June 30th, authors will read from their works and lead workshops. Clarence Michon, a filmmaker and script writer, is also an accomplished performing songwriter, and has gathered some local musicians to showcase their own works.
Peter Fergus-Moore will read from The Demon Dragonfly & the Burning Wheel, a thriller set 1930s Thunder Bay. Jane Jantunen, a non-fiction author, relates some of her experiences as a wildlife custodian in Gone Wild.
Lee Chambers, a teacher in the film program at Confederation College, has a young adult thriller titled The Pineville Heist. Marianne Jones’s book of poetry, Here, on the Ground, won first in the June 2011 Word Guild competition.
Elle Andra-Warner, author of several histories, will read from Edmund Fitzgerald: The Legendary Great Lakes Shipwreck. Amy Jones specializes in short fiction, her first collection being titled What Boys Like.
Lorna Olson writes for magazines; she contributed to the recent book Movers & Mavericks about Thunder Bay personalities. Maureen Arges Nadin has a column in The Chronicle-Journal that focuses on science and technology, as in her article Musing with John Glenn.
Alan Wade examines the criminal side of human nature; he has published in periodicals, and has a book manuscript looking for a publisher. William Hryb, a print and broadcast journalist, co-hosts a regular weekly Internet radio program called Crime Beat.
Annette O’Brien writes a column for The Chronicle-Journal called Independence. Michael Christie’s collection of stories, A Beggar’s Garden, was long-listed for the 2011 Giller Prize.
Edgar J. Lavoie, an historian and first-time novelist, will read a tale from his soon-to-be published The Annals of Goshen, featuring a mythical community. Margie Taylor, writer and broadcaster, writes about aging with dignity in 60 is the new 20. She is launching the book on June 28th in Thunder Bay.
The keynote speaker at the Squatchberry Banquet on Saturday evening is Arthur Black, well-known writer and humorist. His popular column is syndicated in 54 weekly papers. For many years he was a familiar voice on CBC-Radio Thunder Bay.
Registration forms as well as program and author descriptions are available on the website: SquatchberryFestival.ca. Early registrants will qualify for seating at the banquet.