Canada’s largest literary award, the Giller Prize, was handed out last night, but in another room across downtown from the Four Seasons, many of Toronto’s aspiring writers, book lovers, journalists, and university students gathered for quite a different evening. They came to see Joan Didion, the widely loved and widely read American author, who was [...]

Bookworms, start your engines. The International Festival of Authors kicked off today, and to help you see the best of the fest, we’ve previewed eight events from this year’s calendar that caught our eye. McLUHAN 100 READING/INTERVIEW: Clay Shirky Friday, October 21, 8 p.m. Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay West Clay Shirky is, in [...]

LITERATURE PEP RALLY: If you’re a bibliophile, you have probably been counting the days until the International Festival of Authors opens. While tomorrow is the official start, you can get a quick taste of the excitement today at an IFOA pep rally, “complete with pom-poms and cheering,” as well as contests and book giveaways. A [...]

Book awards season is upon us, and the biggest of them in Canada is the Giller Prize. A few minutes ago, at a press conference at the Four Seasons, the shortlisted books for this year’s prize were announced. They are: David Bezmozgis for his novel The Free World (HarperCollins) Lynn Coady for her novel The [...]

Left to right: Daniels Faculty Dean Richard Sommer, John Shnier, Amy Lavender Harris, and Atom Egoyan inside Jackman Hall. Photo by John Howarth. You may be aware already, but we here at Torontoist publish a regular column entitled Reel Toronto, in which the proficient and perceptive penman David Fleischer exposes the flicks that use Toronto [...]

Helen Guri reading from her debut poetry collection, Match, at the Coach House Books spring launch. Photo by Erin Balser/Torontoist. Twice a year, the coolest members of Toronto’s literati gather to celebrate the upcoming books to be published by Toronto’s coolest independent press, Coach House Books. Such was the scene on Wednesday night, when over [...]

Chang Liu, former emerging writer, reading his work to fellow TOK: Writing the New Toronto, Book 5 contributors. Photo courtesy Diaspora Dialogues. Diaspora Dialogues isn’t just the name of your English literature grad school seminar—it’s also a Toronto literary organization running innovative programs with the city and the storytellers who live here. Designed to support [...]

Author Andrew Borkowski. Photo by Brendan Ross/Torontoist. Andrew Borkowski has spent most of his life writing, but it wasn’t until the death of his parents that he found the inspiration for his first book of short stories, Copernicus Avenue. By his own admission, the fifty-four-year-old writer spent much of his life “noodling around trying to [...]

The clock is ticking, usually reticent authors are primping, and in a few short hours Canada’s literary establishment will be donning tuxedos and evening gowns in preparation for tonight’s Giller Prize black-tie gala dinner and awards ceremony. Writers typically tend to elbow patches and cozy knits—the “sequins and spit-shine shoe” look comes but once a [...]

Every morning during the International Festival of Authors we’ll be previewing the day’s events and making our picks for the ones that seem most promising. The Giller Prize shortlist. Illustration by Sasha Plotnikova/Torontoist. Today’s Events 12 p.m. — Interview: R.O. Blechman and Seth by Sean Rogers (Brigantine Room) 12 p.m. — Reading: Annabel Lyon, Nikos [...]

Every morning during the International Festival of Authors we’ll be previewing the day’s events and making our picks for the ones that seem most promising. The literary stylings of Broken Social Scene. Illustration by Sasha Plotnikova/Torontoist. Today’s Events 8 p.m. — Non-Fiction Night: Tim Cook, Dani Couture, Lorna Crozier, Graeme Gibson (Brigantine Room) 8 p.m. [...]