Lauren B. Davis to participate in StoryFest

By Walter J. Lyng, October 10th, 2012

Of the many events taking place as part of the Greenwood Centre's StoryFest in Hudson (ongoing until Oct. 30), one event of particular significance is the Meet the Author session with Lauren B. Davis happening at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 16 at the Hudson Village Theatre (28 Wharf Rd.)
The author, whose most recent novel, Our Daily Bread, was longlisted for the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize, says she's looking forward to participating in this event in the community which her own father and stepmother once called home.
“I'm going to be doing a reading and talking about how the book came to be and perhaps a little bit about the writing life in general,” she says. “There'll be some time for questions and answers and then we can hang out and do some socializing.”
Although Our Daily Bread has come to be highly praised, Davis is the first to admit that the project almost never saw the light of day.
“This book very nearly wasn't published,” she says. “I submitted it to my agent probably six or seven years ago and it was turned down by everybody. Then a couple of years ago, a writer friend of mine in the States asked to read a couple of chapters and he said he thought he had somebody who would publish this. It turned out to be a very mall literary press in Oregon and I thought 'Well, better there than in my bottom drawer.'
“I'm not sure how, but the book made its way into the hands of the past president of the National Book Critics Circle and she named it as one of the best books of the year in the Boston Globe.”
Eventually published by Harper Collins, the book takes its inspiration from the Goler Clan of Nova Scotia, a multi-generational pack of incestuous mountain dwellers who Davis came to be familiar with when she lived in the province. Now a resident of the U.S., Davis says she was reminded of the Goler family when she realized just how polarized present day American society is.
“There is always somebody who is considered 'them,' or 'those people,' or 'the other,'” she says. “This story I heard about the Goler clan started to resonate more and more and I thought it was a really great metaphor for any number of people considered to be 'the other,' whether it's economical, ethnic or religious.”
For more information, visit www.greenwood-centre-hudson.org/storyfest.html