BOOKS AND THEIR AUTHORS COME TO HUDSON

If you’re a compulsive reader, keep an eye on October. And Hudson!

For once again, StoryFest, Greenwood Centre’s sparkling celebration of writers and stories, is coming to town.

From Oct. 1 and the moment local humorist, dramatist and now novelist Lorne Elliott steps on the Hudson Village Theatre stage, right through to Oct. 29, when Newfoundland novelist and poet Michael Crummy brings down the curtain, StoryFest promises to serve up one delicious literary treat after another.

Among the headliners is Michael Ondaatje, perhaps the most honoured of all Canada’s literary figures. He will be front and centre at Village Theatre on Oct. 18.

Ondaatje’s accomplishments are legendary. He is a five-time recipient of the Governor General’s Literary Award and a winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize — and a runner-up for both. Internationally, his novel The English Patient earned him the prestigious Booker Prize and was later made into an Oscar-winning motion picture.

But, and this is perhaps StoryFest’s underlying strength, he is only one of this year’s participating authors to have received similar high honours.

Emma Donaghue (who appears Oct. 9) was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Governor General’s Award in 2010 for her novel Room, while Josip Novakovich (who will participate in the Oct. 5 Writers’ Workshop) was placed on the short list for this year’s Man Booker International Prize, in recognition of his full body of work.

Charles Foran (Oct. 15) was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award in 1995, as was Michael Crummy in 2001. That same year Crummy also made the final cut in the Scotiabank Giller competition.

And then there is Linda Spalding, the 2013 winner of the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, for her novel The Purchase. She will be the special guest at a literary breakfast on Oct. 19.

As it happens, Ondaatje and Spalding are husband and wife. With six Governor General Awards between them, they are quite possibly the only wedded couple in Canada qualified to occupy a niche in the “family” corner of Canada’s pantheon of literary ex- cellence.

Audrey Wall, Greenwood’s executive director, first met the literary twosome last winter at the Governor General’s reception for award winners. One conversation led to another and a few months later both laureates had kindly accepted Wall’s invitation to read at StoryFest.

“We are particularly fortunate and honoured that Michael Ondaatje and Linda Spalding found themselves free to join us this year,” Wall said recently. “We gladly welcome them — and in such stellar company as Helen Humphreys, Emma Donoghue, Charles Foran, Michael Crummy and our own Lorne Elliott.”

The informal listing of literary honours and awards that appears above was prepared with the help of my colleague on these pages, Terry O’Shaughnessy.

Our intention was to underscore the fact there is nothing extraordinary about the number of acclaimed literary figures attending StoryFest this year. Rather, their presence reflects a pattern of accomplishment that seems to hold true for participating authors every year.

Why even Louise Penny, author of the prizewinning Inspector Gamache mystery series, is a former guest reader, having taken part in a Pre Story Fest event in early 2010. Her latest release, How The Light Gets In, currently sits at No. 1 on the New York Times Best-Seller list.

Such uniform excellence only confirms what organizers have long believed, that authors have come to regard StoryFest as a literary destination of some importance.

“Every year we claim that this year’s collection of authors was the best yet,” notes Susan Gilmore of the StoryFest committee, “and every year that turns out to be true.”

Once the rest of the country learns out it, she says — watch out.

Or, as O’Shaughnessy suggests, borrowing from Miss Jean Brodie, “StoryFest Alumni are the always the crème de la crème.” For more StoryFest information visit greenwood-centre-hudson.org or call 450-458-5396. Baseball historian Bill Young was a founding member of Greenwood’s StoryFest program. He lives in Hudson.