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St. Albert's STARFest takes flight

The literary festival brings together a lineup of six Canadian writers

STARFest, St. Albert’s premiere literary festival, signals the city’s salute to Canadian authors whose diverse literary voices create a bridge between different worlds. 

This year STARFest introduces six authors from Oct. 17 to 28 at St. Albert Public Library’s Forsyth Hall. The lineup’s first three authors — Kevin Chong, Guy Vanderhaeghe and Elizabeth Hay will be discussed in this article. 

The following three writers, Rose Sutherland, Claudia Dey, and Conor Kerr will be previewed in the Gazette’s Oct. 17 edition. 

Vancouver-based Kevin Chong, the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist launches the festival on Thursday, Oct. 17 with his metafiction novel The Double Life of Benson Yu.  

The novel starts in a Chinatown housing project where 12-year-old Benny lives with his sick grandmother. When she is hospitalized, Benny manages to survive until a social worker discovers he is living on his own. With no family, a neighbour named Constantine, a man who believes he’s a reincarnated medieval samurai, takes him in and an unusual bond forms between the two. 

The story’s narrator, an adult Benson Yu and creator of a bestselling comic book, struggles to continue the story of Benny and Constantine. As the adult Yu injects more of himself into his work, a dark backstory emerges, and Yu is forced to face his demons. Spoiler alert: Benny was abused by a trusted adult who was considered a protector. 

“There are certain school experiences such as bullying that affect kids. Or you might have relationships with people who let you hang out with them and then denigrate you. But Benson is much more scarred. It’s cut from the same cloth as bullying, but it’s a much more toxic cycle and he needs to explore this toxic cycle,” said Chong. 

A big influence for Chong was Jagmeet Singh’s 2019 memoir, Love & Courage. In it, the federal NDP leader opens up about deeply disturbing episodes of sexual abuse at the hands of his martial arts instructor. 

“Benson is abused by Mr. C in the comic book, someone who does martial arts. He can’t maintain the fiction and it loses integrity.”  

Presenter David Berry, a writer of graphic novels, will start the conversation with Chong. 

Three-time Governor’s-General Award recipient Guy Vanderhaeghe promises to entertain the audience with Because Somebody Asked Me To, a collection of short essays. The individual writings cover essays, reviews, the difficult craft of writing fiction, growing up on the prairies and the struggle to find a voice as a writer. 

Senator Paula Simons, a good friend of Vanderhaeghe, will interview the author who claims five novels, a collection of short stories, historical novels and plays. Vanderhaeghe and Simons presentation takes place Friday, Oct. 18. 

“She is such an engaging interviewer. You see her experience as a reporter. I have some people tell me no matter the author, they always buy tickets to see her. She has such a way of making interesting conversation,” said Julie Ruel, STARFest director. 

The third author in the STARFest lineup is Giller Prize winner Elizabeth Hay chatting about her novel Snow Road Station. Leading the conversation on Sunday, Oct. 20 is regional writer-in-residence Katie Bickell. 

Snow Road Station looks at aging, thwarted ambition, unrealized dreams, the enduring bonds of female relationships and love’s capacity to surprise. It’s the winter of 2008, and Lulu Blake, once a sexy actress now in her sixties, blanks her lines. 

Out of work and feeling humiliated, she returns to her Ontario hometown where family and friends go through a round of weddings, sap harvests, love affairs and personal turmoil. She rekindles a relationship with an old friend Nan, and they ruminate about growing old. 

“Her novels are very atmospheric, but at the heart it’s about two women who contemplate their future. There is beauty in her writing and depth of emotion. Anyone can connect depending on the place in their lives. The book is centred around women, but men will enjoy it too,” Ruel added. 

Tickets are $7 online at starfest.ca. 


Anna Borowiecki

About the Author: Anna Borowiecki

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