STARFest presents Esi Edugyan

Rescheduled from Oct. 10. New location: St. Albert United Church, Green Grove Drive.

Delve into the stories of people displaced by history with much-acclaimed writer Esi Edugyan whose brilliantly conceived and gorgeously executed novels have taken black literature in a whole new direction. She will be in conversation with Jesse Lipscombe.

Esi has just won the Scotiabank Giller Prize for her book Washington Black.

The work of Esi Edugyan exhibits her interest in people settled far from their ancestral homelands. Her first novel, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne, depicts a Ghanaian man who immigrates to Canada, exploring the Black history of the prairies.

Edugyan's second novel, Half-Blood Blues, tells the story of African American jazz musicians trying to escape Germany and France. It won the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the 2012 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Governor General's Award for English Language Fiction. It was championed on CBC’s Canada Reads in 2014.

Edugyan’s new novel will be published shortly before her visit to STARFest. Washington Black is a dazzling, original novel of slavery and freedom, ranging from the cane fields of Barbados to the icy wastes of the Canadian Arctic, from the streets of London to the deserts of Morocco.

Edugyan's talent was recognized from an early stage in her career. The critical attention she has garnered suggests that she has become an influential and essential part of the Canadian literary landscape.

Jesse Lipscombe is an actor, singer, writer, producer, entrepreneur, businessman and personal trainer. He is from a 5th generation Alberta family (some of the first Black settlers in the Prairies), and a two-time recipient of the Black Achievement Award of Excellence.

Tickets $7 available from the Library's Customer Service Desk or by calling 780-459-1530. Tickets on sale July 9.

   Get all the details at www.STARFest.ca