Author Susan Juby will be kicking off the fall series of readings put on by the Sidney and Peninsula Literary Festival and Tanner’s Books this month.
Juby and author Arthur Black are both Leacock Medal for Humour winners and will be doing a reading from their recent books. Juby will be doing a reading of The Republic of Dirt, the second book to The Woefield Poultry Collective.
The book is a comedy about farm life, involving a group of people outside of Nanaimo, in Cedar, who are trying to get a derelict farm off the ground.
“In the case of The Republic of Dirt, I’m kind of sending up the romanticization of farm life. Farm life is extremely difficult and most of us aren’t cut out for it so I’m having a little bit of fun with that,” she told the PNR.
“I also like putting together peculiar groups of people and seeing how they can forge out community out of their various different oddnesses.”
Currently residing in Nanaimo, Juby has about 11 books published and writes comedies for teenagers, comedies for adults and has written a memoir. She currently teaches creative writing at Vancouver Island University.
Although she doesn’t live on a farm herself, she has wandered around farmers markets and often feels impressed by everyone, so she decided she would write about it.
“I grew up on a little hobby farm but I managed to have absorbed very little of that,” she said.
In writing her books, her process is in the amount of research she does.
“For instance in that book (The Republic of Dirt) there’s a mule, so I read countless books about working with and training mules…”
Juby has a new teen novel coming out in July called The Fashion Committee, set at a fictional private art high school in Nanaimo, and is currently at work on a comedic crime novel for adults.
For more information on Juby, people can visit her website at susanjuby.com.
The readings will begin at 7 p.m. at The SHOAL Centre. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at Tanner’s Books and online at sidneyliteraryfestival.ca.
All proceeds from ticket sales will go to support the Sidney and Peninsula Literary Festival.
For more information contact Janet Daines at janet@daines.ca