2008 IFOA Preview

By Jared Bland • October 20, 2008 • No Comments

This week marks the beginning of the 29th annual International Festival of Authors in Toronto, and it’s a particularly impressive lineup: 135 writers from fifteen different countries, events spanning ten days and virtually all genres, top-notch Canadian scribes and international heavyweights alike. Given the barrage of literary talent, I thought it would be helpful to make some recommendations. The following are my personal picks for must-see events at this year’s festival. The list is by no means exhaustive, nor meant to imply that anything not chosen isn’t worthwhile—just the lay of the land as I see it, and what I’m personally planning on attending.

For more on the IFOA, be sure to check out our featured page here, where you’ll find Walrus articles by and related to this year’s participants. And don’t miss Andrew Westoll’s official IFOA blog.

Thursday, October 23, 8pm, Fleck Dance Theatre

Reading: Nadeem Aslam, Hermenegilde Chiasson, Joe Dunthorne, and David Adams Richards

I cannot imagine two books more diametrically opposed than Nadeem Aslam’s brooding, poetic take on present-day Afghanistan and Joe Dunthorne’s rollicking, hilarious account of a late-nineties boyhood in Wales. To borrow an obsession from Dunthorne’s novel, will the Fleck Dance Theatre stage be able to handle such cognitive dissonance?

Saturday, October 25, 1pm, Lakeside Terrace

Excuse me, but I have to write this down: Life as Material

Of particular note here are Rivka Galchen and Joe Dunthorne (again), and not just because the design of their recent novels is surprisingly similar. Also, David Benioff, who wrote The 25th Hour, one of my brother’s favourite books.

Saturday, October 25, 8pm, Lakeside Terrace

Reading: David Benioff, Junot Diaz, Lauren Groff, Aleksander Hemon, Kathleen McCracken

It’s the battle of prestigious Riverhead Books authors, as last year’s Pulitzer winner Junot Diaz reads opposite this year’s maybe National Book Award winner Aleksander Hemon. Who wins? The Penguin Group! (Also, Hemon gets bonus points for setting his novel in Chicago, which is the best city.)

Sunday, October 26, 2pm, Fleck Dance Theatre

Interview: Junot Diaz & Rawi Hage

How will Canada’s wonder boy stacks up against America’s wonder boy? Presumably Diaz will bring his Pulitzer and Hage his Dublin IMPAC prize, and the audience can decide which is more impressive. But seriously, with the estimable Rachel Giese of Chatelaine hosting, this is likely to be one of the very best events of the festival.

Sunday, October 26, 2pm, Studio Theatre

Reading/Interview: Don Thompson and the $12 million stuffed shark

Don Thompson’s new book, which I reviewed here, is fantastic. Mark Kingwell, who has said some things for us here and here, is also fantastic. This promises to be, in a word, fantastic.

Sunday, October 26, 3pm, Lakeside Terrace

Reading/Interview: Josef Skvorecky

If you’re not familiar with Josef Skvorecky, you should be. If you’re still not, you can read S. Randy Boyagoda’s piece on Skvorecky, his life, his work, and his new novel, Ordinary Lives, here. The very same S. Randy Boyagoda will be conducting this interview with one of the elder statesmen of Canadian letters.

Sunday, October 26, 4pm, Studio Theatre

Ben McNally Travellers Series: Julie Angus, Dervla Murphy, Andrew Westoll

Under Ben McNally’s impeccable curatorship, the Travellers Series has been home to many of the country’s finest non-fiction talents. No exception here is Andrew Westoll, who writes the IFOA blog, whose book is coming out very soon from M&S, and who will have a long feature on Bolivia in our upcoming January/February 2009 issue.

Wednesday, October 29, 8pm, Brigantine Room

Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize Readings

The fine folks over at the Writers’ Trust are doing yeoman’s work in support of Canadian writing and writers; show your support by helping celebrate the very fine shortlist for this year’s fiction prize, which includes Lee Henderson’s extremely good first novel, The Man Game, which I discussed with Lee here.

Saturday, November 1, 2pm, Fleck Dance Theatre

Reading/Talk: Ronald Wright: USA

Although, strictly speaking, this counts as self-promotion, I would list this event even if I were not hosting it. Wright’s one of the most interesting and influential figures in Canada today, and the argument for a new understanding of American history that he sets out in his new book, What is America?, is important, to borrow a phrase, now more than ever.

Saturday, November 1, 4pm, Lakeside Terrace

The Beat Goes On: Time & the Book

Hosted by my colleague Jeremy Keehn, this panel brings together some truly first-rate talent to discuss an issue that’s central to everything yet often left off the table. Perhaps David Bergen, whose excellent new novel is reviewed here, will explain exactly what’s going on with his masterly use of negative time in The Retreat.

2008 IFOA Preview

Posted in The Shelf •

The Walrus Foundation National Event Guide