What makes Toronto a truly great city for curious readers however is the number of opportunities we have for meeting with authors and listening to them read and comment on their work. Sometimes this happens at festivals held at specific times of the year, like the International Festival of Authors, held at Harbourfront each October, but there are plenty of opportunities throughout the year, offered by a wide variety of different groups. Below I’ve highlighted some of the organizations that bring these writers to us, and list some of the offerings available this April and May to provide some example. See the What’s On page for even more listings.
I’ve already done a post about the great programming offered through the Toronto Public Library, but as many of the programs involve bringing in writers, I have to mention it again here. While many of the “big ticket” events happen at the Toronto Reference Library on Yonge Street, they do make sure to spread the events out to the various branches as well. Often, this involves repeating events, so if you’re unable to catch a talk one night, you might have another chance. For example, award-winning author Hugh Brewster will be speaking about his new book on the sinking of the Titanic, which happened 100 years ago this year, at the Reference Library on April 3, and then on subsequent dates at the following branches: Albert Campbell, Port Union, Danforth/Coxwell and Annette Street. All library lectures are free, although some do require you to reserve tickets in advance.
Harbourfront Centre has been inviting authors to Toronto since 1974 through its Authors at Harbourfront series. Upcoming guests include John Boyne, Sadie Jones and Farley Mowat. Tickets are generally $10 but free for members, youth and students, and programs often feature more than 1 author.
It’s long been a tradition for bookstores to host book launches and signings and Toronto’s book sellers are definitely keeping the tradition alive. Indigo hosts author events fairly regularly, usually at either their Manulife Centre or Yorkdale locations. Coming up, Nicholas Sparks and Kelley Armstrong. While these events are usually limited to book signings, there are occasionally more in-depth offerings. For example, on April 11, Heather Reisman will be in conversation with Dr. Sanjay Gupta about his new book Monday Mornings. Our independent bookstores and publishers also host their share of events, so watch for them. Or better yet, check out Open Book: Toronto, a goldmine of literary event information.
In addition to these big players, lots of other groups host authors from time to time. Coming up for example, the Italian Cultural Institute teams up with the University of Toronto Press to launch Elena Lamberti’s book Marshall McLuhan’s Mosaic. So with all these book-related events going on, not to mention all the other great offerings out there, the only hard part is finding the time to fit it all in! Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment