Wordfest presents Emma Donoghue & Eleanor Wachtel, Oct. 15 @ 7pm

Emma Donoghue writes in many genres including theatre, radio drama and literary history, but is best known for her fiction, both historical (Slammerkin, The Sealed Letter, Astray, Frog Music) and contemporary (Stir-Fry, Hood, Landing, Touchy Subjects). Her seventh novel, Room, won the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Commonwealth Prize, and was short-listed for the Man Booker and Orange Prizes. It went on to sell over two million copies. Donoghue scripted the film adaptation of Room, directed  by Lenny Abrahamson and starring Brie Larson, which won the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival People’s Choice Award and was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Born in Dublin, she now lives in London, Ontario.

The Wonder

A small community in 1850s Ireland is baffled by Anna O’Donnell, a child said to be living without food. Tourists flock in droves to her family’s cabin, and a journalist is sent to cover the sensational story. Enter Lib, an English nurse trained by Florence Nightingale, hired to keep watch for two weeks and determine whether or not Anna is a fraud. As the girl deteriorates, Lib finds herself responsible not just for her patient’s care but for getting to the root of what could be a murder happening in slow motion.