Torontoist has been busy as a beaver (we wish we could think of a more literary allusion than that, but we’re a little exhausted) at the IFOA this week. Monday night found us at a rollicking party full of the week’s literary stars. Amazonian Zadie Smith held court in one corner of the room, while we demonstrated why handshaking should be outlawed at cocktail parties in front of our crush-of-the-week Charles Montgomery. Beer in one hand, lemon tartlet in the other, we got so flustered that we forgot to ask if people tack “Burns” onto the end of his name at every opportunity. On Tuesday night we took in Marsha Lederman’s interview with the hilarious David Rakoff (we just finished his latest, and you should too) and Jonathan Safran Foer. Both fellows were witty and articulate, deftly turning Lederman’s occasionally awkward questions around into well-spoken, thoughtful answers. Rakoff discussed his recent acquisition of American citizenship, but explained that he feels less like an American and more like a New Yorker, especially now that America is over its brief sympathy for New York and back to thinking of it as a “nest of pervs.” Foer stopped the proceedings at one point to charmingly announce that he had just noticed that he’d stepped in dog poo and felt it best to draw it to everyone’s attention so that no one thought he’d let out a nasty. We were especially taken by his stripey socks, until we noticed that he was wearing an identical pair the next day. Perhaps he should pay a visit to Chocky’s before the festival is over.
Torontoist has been busy as a beaver (we wish we could think of a more literary allusion than that, but we’re a little exhausted) at the IFOA this week. Monday night found us at a rollicking party full of the week’s literary stars. Amazonian Zadie Smith held court in one corner of the room, while we demonstrated why handshaking should be outlawed at cocktail parties in front of our crush-of-the-week Charles Montgomery. Beer in one hand, lemon tartlet in the other, we got so flustered that we forgot to ask if people tack “Burns” onto the end of his name at every opportunity.