Wordfest is Oct. 23 at the Elora Centre for the Arts.
The walls will be ringing with laughter and applause for local writers and featured readers, Brad Smith and Sonia Day.
Brad Smith of Dunnville, Ontario has worn many hats from farmer to trucker to bartender and more. These give him a realistic attention to detail in his novels, All Hat, Red Means Run, Crow’s Landing and Shoot the Dog.
He read from his Virgil Cain trilogy at the Elora Writers’ Festival and was a hit. He knows about troubled men with checkered pasts and has been compared to Elmore Leonard and his style is labeled “country noir”. Like any good writer, however, his writing goes beyond narrow definitions or comparisons. He is very much his own man and his writing reflects that.
Sonia Day writes weekly for the Toronto Star and just published her first novel, Deer Eyes. It is set in a fictional rural location that is quite similar to Belwood, Fergus and Elora as well as New York. Day is a seasoned and award-winning writer who knows how to twist a plot. She sets the urban and rural lifestyles and characters in stark contrast and slams the reader with a shocking ending. The listener may hear about some familiar characters, attitudes and settings that may leave them guessing. Day has also read at the Elora Writers’ Festival and now brings her story to Wordfest.
The open mic section of the program also boasts some talented readers who will enrich the evening with spoken word, excerpts from their books and short pieces of original writing.
It is an entertaining and stimulating evening for only $6 admission. Doors open at 7pm and the start time is 7:30pm. Check www.eloracentreforthearts.ca for more information.
