presents OCTOBER 12-25, 2016 2 STARFest 2016 — St. Albert Readers Festival 3 Welcome to St. Albert Public at a glance Library and to STARFest Wednesday, October 12. 7pm STARFest is a stellar event IAN BROWN Hosted by Jana Pruden and we, as Trustees, see Forsyth Hall it as a shining example Friday, October 14. 7pm of the innovation and CLARA HUGHES Arden Theatre creativity that has made your library award- Saturday, October 15. 7pm winning. Passion and GAIL ANDERSON- Hosted by Laurie Greenwood dedication, from both DARGATZ Forsyth Hall Charmaine Brooks those who organize and Sunday, October 16. 2pm Library Board Chair those who attend, has PLUM JOHNSON Hosted by Gail Sidonie Sobat resulted in an annual community event that Forsyth Hall has put St. Albert on the literary map. In this Tuesday, October 18. 7pm special year as we plan our new branch library, ALISSA YORK Hosted by Paula Simons we thank you for your continued commitment Forsyth Hall and support—you are essential to our exciting future. Thursday, October 20. 7pm CAMILLA GIBB Hosted by Diana Davidson Forsyth Hall Welcome to St. Albert and to STARFest Friday, October 21. 7pm On behalf of the PETER ROBINSON Hosted by Wayne Arthurson City of St. Albert I wish Arden Theatre STARFest well. Thank you Saturday, October 22. 2pm to everyone who makes DONNA MORRISSEY Forsyth Hall this such a successful Festival, from the Library Saturday, October 22. 7pm staff and the many MICHAEL REDHILL/ Hosted by Marty Chan volunteers who plan INGER ASH WOLFE Forsyth Hall Mayor Nolan Crouse and deliver an excellent Sunday, October 23. 2pm event, to the great authors that are visiting our DIANNE WARREN Hosted by Marina Endicott City, and to you, the audience, for cultivating Forsyth Hall community here in St. Albert. Tuesday, October 25. 7pm ANITA RAU BADAMI Hosted by Angie Abdou Arden Theatre 4 STARFest 2016 — St. Albert Readers Festival 5 The Insider’s Guide to STARFest Tickets From memoirs to mysteries, STARFest welcomes writers from across the country who Tickets for events in will transport you to the Forsyth Hall at St. Albert Public Library ....... $5 Shuswap, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Newfoundland, and Tickets for events in on to India and Yorkshire! the Arden Theatre ..............................................$10 Heather Dolman Reflecting the character and Tickets for Clara Hughes in Festival Director geography of our country the Arden Theatre ..............................................$55 with a cast of well-rounded characters we welcome Tickets for all events except Clara Hughes a trio of popular Canadian storytellers: Gail available from: Anderson-Dargatz, Donna Morrissey and Dianne • www.STARFest.ca Warren. Take a 19th century trip to the Amazonian • The Main Floor Desk at rainforest with Alissa York and experience the St. Albert Public Library colours and customs of Indian life with Anita Rau • (780) 459-1530 Badami, runner-up in this year’s CBC Canada Reads. Tickets for Clara Hughes available from: For lovers of mysteries, STARFest welcomes Peter • Arden Theatre Box Office (780) 459-1542 Robinson, creator of Yorkshire’s DCI Banks, and • Ticketmaster outlets Inger Ash Wolfe, creator of Detective Inspector • Ticketmaster.ca Hazel Micallef. Wolfe is the alter ego of literary fiction writer Michael Redhill—two for the price of Find out more at one at this event! www.STARFest.ca As an alternative to fiction Ian Brown, Plum Johnson, Camilla Gibb and Olympian Clara Hughes offer stories of aging, family relationships, and overcoming challenges. Lot of food for thought! @ReadersFest You will experience, and be part of, great conversations with our talented hosts: Angie Abdou, Wayne Arthurson, Marty Chan, Diana Davidson, Marina Endicott, Laurie Greenwood, Jana Pruden, Gail Sidonie Sobat and Paula Simons. We hope you enjoy STARFest 2016. 6 STARFest 2016 — St. Albert Readers Festival 7 Ian Brown Facts Wednesday, October 12. 7pm Ian Brown is an acclaimed Canadian journalist and author, recipient of over a dozen national magazine and newspaper awards, and a TV and radio host. Consider the meaning of life with Ian Brown Brown has published four books: Freewheeling about the Billes family, owners of Canadian as he reviews his 61st Tire; Man Overboard: True Adventures with year. As someone North American Men; What I Meant to Say: The headed into the Private Lives of Men; and The Boy in the Moon: A last quarter of the Father’s Search for His Disabled Son. This was a game, Brown’s book book-length version of Brown’s series of Globe Sixty will resonate and Mail features dealing with his son Walker’s with all those who are facing rare genetic disorder. It won the Charles Taylor conflicting emotions on the Prize, which recognizes excellence in literary subject of getting older. He non-fiction, and was a finalist for the Governor will be exploring this and many General’s Literary Award for Non-fiction. of his other passions, including Brown’s newest book is Sixty: The Beginning of reading, with journalist the End, or the End of the Beginning? A Diary of Jana Pruden. My Sixty-First Year. He began keeping a diary with a Facebook post on the day of his sixtieth birthday. As well as keeping a running tally on how he survived the year, Brown explored what being sixty meant physically, psychologically and intellectually. Sixty was shortlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize. Jana Pruden is an award-winning reporter at The Globe and Mail, and the former crime bureau chief of the Edmonton Journal. She specializes in investigative features, narrative writing, and true crime. 8 STARFest 2016 — St. Albert Readers Festival 9 Clara Hughes Facts Friday, October 14. 7pm. Six-time Olympian and mental health advocate Arden Theatre. Clara Hughes is the only athlete in history to win multiple medals in both summer and In collaboration with winter games—for speed skating and cycling. Believing that actions off the track define us as much as those on it, Hughes inspires people toward success in all areas of their lives. Her Told with honesty memoir Open Heart, Open Mind is a raw but and passion, Open life-affirming story of one woman’s struggle Heart, Open Mind with depression. is Clara Hughes’ After more than a decade in the gruelling world personal journey of professional sports that stripped away her through physical confidence and bruised her body, Hughes and mental pain to began to realize that her physical extremes, her a life where love and emotional setbacks, and her partying habits understanding can thrive. This were masking a severe depression. She was revelatory and inspiring story determined to repair herself and has emerged is touching the hearts of its as one of our most committed humanitarians, readers. advocating for a variety of social causes both at home and abroad. Hughes recently championed Lawrence Hill’s book The Illegal in a four-day debate to win CBC’s Canada Reads 2016 where the theme was “starting over”. Refreshments, book signing and silent auction to follow this presentation. All proceeds from this event to support St. Albert Mental Health Initiatives. Sponsor: Photo credit: Simon Baker 10 STARFest 2016 — St. Albert Readers Festival 11 Gail Anderson-Dargatz Facts Saturday, October 15. 7pm Gail Anderson-Dargatz, whose fictional style has been coined as “Pacific Northwest Gothic” by the Boston Globe, has been compared by critics to Steinbeck, Atwood, Munro and Discover the people Rushdie. and landscapes that Anderson-Dargatz’s literary career began inspire Gail Anderson- when she won first prize in a CBC Literary Dargatz. The rural Competition for a story taken from an early characters and small- draft of her first novel, The Cure for Death by town settings of her Lightning. By the time a literary agent took award-winning books her on she already had a short story collection set her apart from ready to go: The Miss Hereford Stories, which many writers of her generation. was nominated for the Stephen Leacock Hear how family stories of the Medal for Humour. Thompson-Shuswap region Anderson-Dargatz’s novels A Recipe for Bees influenced her writing about and The Cure for Death by Lightning were ghosts, premonitions and international bestsellers, and finalists for the Canadian women in rural prestigious Giller Prize; and Turtle Valley and settings as she talks with A Rhinestone Button were national bestsellers. Laurie Greenwood. Her long-awaited new novel, The Spawning Grounds, is full of the qualities Anderson- Dargatz’s fans love: it’s an intimate family saga rooted in the Thompson-Shuswap region of BC, a bold story that bridges native and white cultures, saturated with the history of the place. The book will be published just prior to us welcoming Anderson-Dargatz to St. Albert. Host Laurie Greenwood is CBC Radio’s book columnist and former Edmonton independent bookstore owner. Photo credit: Mitch Krupp 12 STARFest 2016 — St. Albert Readers Festival 13 Plum Johnson Facts Sunday, October 16. 2pm Born in Richmond, Virginia, Plum Johnson spent her early years in Hong Kong and Singapore before her family settled in Oakville, Ontario. Experience what it In 1983, she established KidsCanada Publishing, was like to empty a and pioneered the first parenting publications in Canada. In 2002, she launched Help’s Here!, a house full of history resource for senior citizens and caregivers. and memories as Plum Johnson talks with Johnson’s first book, the memoir They Left Us Gail Sidonie Sobat Everything, won the 2015 RBC Taylor Prize and about They Left Us was nominated for a number of other awards Everything. It is a funny, including the Leacock Medal for Humour. touching memoir about the The book chronicles the year Johnson spent importance of preserving family decluttering and eventually selling her history to make sense of the past lakefront childhood home after her mother’s and nurturing family bonds to death—a home which hadn’t been decluttered safeguard the future.