Creative Writing instructor’s novel shortlisted for Leacock medal

Creative Writing instructor Susan Juby's novel, The Woefield Poultry Collective, has been shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. The winner of the prize will be announced April 26.

“Being nominated for a Leacock is a tremendous honour because so many of my literary heroes have been Leacock winners and I'm proud to be associated with our fine tradition of funny Canadian writers,” says Juby.

Juby has been teaching creative writing at VIU for more than three years. Her next course, Introduction to Creative Nonfiction (CREW 202), will be offered next fall.

The Woefield Poultry Collective is Juby’s first book for adult readers. Her highly successful Alice MacLeod series, set in Smithers, BC, was written for young adults. Alice, I Think was turned into a TV series.

As described on her website: “Woefield Farm is a sprawling thirty acres of scrub land, complete with dilapidated buildings and one half-sheared, lonely sheep named Bertie. It's ‘run’— in the loosest possible sense of the word—by Prudence Burns, an energetic, well-intentioned 20-something New Yorker full of back-to-the-land ideals, but without an iota of related skills or experience. Prudence, who inherited the farm from her uncle, soon discovers that the bank is about to foreclose on the property, which means that she has to turn things around, fast.

“But fear not! She'll be assisted by Earl, a spry 70-something, banjo-playing foreman, with a distrust of newfangled ideas and a substantial family secret; Seth, the alcoholic, celebrity-blogging guy-next-door, who hasn't left the house since a scandal with his high-school drama teacher; and Sara Spratt, a highly organized eleven-year-old looking for a home for her prize-winning chickens, including one particularly randy fellow soon to be christened Alec Baldwin.”

Juby’s new novel, Bright's Light, will be released by HarperCollins this August.

On the Web:

[Stephen Leacock Associates announcement]()

[Times Colonist story]()

[Susan Juby]()

[Creative Writing and Journalism at VIU]()