The Charles W. Stockey centre rang with the voices of four internationally renowned authors on Wednesday evening, as Patrick de Witt, Will Ferguson, Helen Humphreys and Madeleine Thien read from their most recent books.

The performance hall was filled with enthusiastic readers who enjoyed an evening spent with these impassioned authors.

The evening was sponsored by Seguin Township, John Sallinen of Remax Real Estate, Dr. Robert Guthrie, Barb Kerr of Investors Group, Dr. Colin Shapiro, Canadore College, Distler Construction, Parry Sound Books, Roy Hardie & Kerrie Mutrie of GED Achievement, Dr Margaret & Dr. Chris Ibey, Dr. Dennis Stern, Dr. Brad Hunkin & Dr. Maureen Thompson, Dr. Dan and Dr. Kathleen Moquin, Scotiabank, The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, and The Town of Parry Sound. Some of the sponsors joined the local committee for dinner prior to the reading for an opportunity to meet the authors before the evening began.

Patrick deWitt was surprised to find that Judy Cameron of Pointe au Baril had a photograph of his mother to show him – Judy and Patrick’s mother were childhood friends who have recently re-connected.

Will Ferguson was greeted by a couple who were his host family when he worked for Canada World Youth.

Madeleine Thien lives in Berlin with author Rawi Hage who read from his first novel, DeNiro’s Game, here in 2006 at the  Stockey Centre. Madeleine passed along his greetings, saying she now understands why Rawi talks so often about his wonderful experience in Parry Sound!

Helen Humphreys. who has read at the Stockey Centre twice before, has many fans in Parry Sound who were happy to welcome her once again.

This was the fourth time Parry Sound has hosted the International Festival of Authors, and they plan to return about this time of year again in 2012. Both our spectacular landscape and the exceptional venue of the Charles W. Stockey Centre make Parry Sound a top stop on this Literary Festival road trip.

Waub Rice wowed the crowd at the Charles W. Stockey Centre. Reading from his first book  Midnight Sweatlodge, Waub also talked about his experiences growing up both on Wasauksing and in Parry Sound. Waubgeshig Rice is a very personable and charming young man who shows promise as a writer, we wish him luck in the future.

The Authors are coming! The International Festival of Authors Parry Sound

The International Festival of Authors will be back in Parry Sound on Wednesday 2 November at 7:30 pm. Once again, from the Charles W. Stockey Centre stage, four internationally renowned authors will present impassioned readings from their most recent books. And, once again, we have 2 women, Helen Humphreys and Madeleine Thien, and 2 men, Patrick DeWitt and Will Ferguson.

Last week we introduced the women, the week, the guys.

Patrick DeWitt will read from his most recent novel The Sisters Brothers. This novel is on all shortlists for the big literary prizes this fall, Canada’s Giller Prize, and the Governor General’s Literary Award, as well as the prestigious Man Booker Prize.

The Booker Prize judges describe The Sisters Brothers as “a dazzlingly original novel, a darkly funny, offbeat western about a reluctant assassin and his murderous brother. It is Oregon, 1851, and Eli and Charlie Sisters, notorious professional killers, are on their way to California to kill a man named Hermann Kermit Warm. On the way, the brothers have a series of unsettling and violent experiences in the Darwinian landscape of Gold Rush America. Charlie makes money and kills anyone who stands in his way; Eli doubts his vocation and falls in love. And they bicker a lot. Then they get to California, and discover that Warm is an inventor who has come up with a magical formula, which could make all of them very rich. What happens next is utterly gripping, strange and sad. Told in deWitt’s darkly comic and arresting style, The Sisters Brothers is the kind of western the Coen Brothers might write – stark, unsettling and with a keen eye for the perversity of human motivation. Like his debut novel Ablutions, it is a novel about the things you tell yourself in order to be able to continue to live the life you find yourself in, and what happens when those stories no longer work. It is an inventive and strange and beautifully controlled piece of fiction and displays an exciting expansion of Dewitt’s range.”

Patrick deWitt was born 1975 in British Columbia, Canada, and has also lived in California, Washington, and Oregon, where he now resides with his wife and child. His first novel, Ablutions, was published in 2009, and was a New York Times Editors’ Choice.

It is a particular coup to have Patrick deWitt as one of the authors who will read from the stage at the Charles W. Stockey Centre on Wednesday 2 November, at 7:30 pm.

Will Ferguson, the other guy, will read from his most recent book, Canadian Pie.

Will Ferguson is a familiar name to Canadians. He is an award-winning novelist and travel writer, and is the author of more than a dozen books ranging from budget travel guides to works of literary fiction.  He is a three time winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour – for Happiness in 2002, Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw in 2005, and Beyond Belfast in 2010. He is truly a very funny guy.

Born and raised in a former fur-trading post in Northern Canada. “Closer to the Arctic Circle than the American border”, he now lives in Calgary, in the foothills of the Rockies, with his wife Terumi and their two young sons.

As a teenager Will Ferguson lived and worked in Ecuador, South America, as part of Canada World Youth. A graduate of the York University Film School, he studied screenwriting and film production, before spending five years in Japan, first on the Amakusa Islands south of Nagasaki and then later on the Kyushu mainland.

Will Ferguson has walked across Northern Ireland in the rain, and has hitchhiked the length of Japan, following the springtime “Cherry Blossom Front” that washes across Japan every year. As a college student, he once worked as a professional space cadet at the CN Tower’s “Tour of the Universe.”

In 2010, As one of the head writers for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics Closing Ceremonies, Will wrote material for William Shatner, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara and Michael J. Fox.

These two men will join Helen Humphreys and Madeliene Thein on the stage at the Charles W. Stockey Centre, on Wednesday 2 November at 7:30 pm – four authors performing impassioned readings from their work.