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IFOA XXX: October 22
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.
As close as you’re going to get to Garrison Keillor for a little while, sadly. Illustration by Sasha Plotnikova/Torontoist.
Today’s Events
8 p.m. — Interview: Orhan Pamuk (Fleck Dance Theatre)
8 p.m. — Interview: Eoin Colfer (Lakeside Terrace)
8 p.m. — Garrison Keillor (Brigantine Room) **CANCELLED**
Garrison Keillor was supposed to be tonight’s hot ticket. One of the biggest names slated to make an appearance at the IFOA, he had to cancel at the last minute due to illness. If you’re one of the eager fans who already purchased a ticket to this event you should be getting a call from the IFOA box office shortly to make refund or ticket substitution arrangements, if you haven’t already.
Fret not, however, for there are alternatives and juicy ones at that.
Like many who consider themselves reasonably avid readers, we hadn’t heard of Orhan Pamuk until he began collecting some rather famous awards, but though we came late to the party we are no less dedicated revellers for all that. Pamuk’s detail-rich prose is transporting, and his combination reading and interview was our personal choice for tonight even before Keillor cancelled.
If you like your literature to take you even farther afield than sixteenth-century Istanbul, then you might want to check out Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer, who will be appearing tonight as well. The immensely popular science-fiction and fantasy writer will, no doubt, face questions on what it is like to try to fill a giant’s shoes: Colfer was commissioned to write a sixth installment of Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy last year, and the resultant book, And Another Thing…, is the major topic up for discussion in his interview. Oh, and if you wind up at this particular gathering, be sure to say hi to our new books.torontoist.com editor, James Grainger—he is the official master of ceremonies for the event!