IFOA: Break from past pays off for authors' fest
Place: Toronto
Event: Announcement for the International Festival of Authors Toronto 2007.
This edition of Toronto's IFOA makes more room for graphic novels, non-fiction and kids' lit, James Adams writes
Geoffrey Taylor thinks there are essentially two kinds of people who attend an authors festival. And after heading up the last three instalments of the country's premier literary jamboree, he should know whereof he speaks.
He'll get to test his thesis again next week when Toronto's International Festival of Authors begins, for the 28th time, its annual 11-day celebration of la vie littéraire. Director since 2003 of the International Reading Series at the city's Harbourfront Centre, the organizer of IFOA (pronounced eye-foe-ah), Taylor acknowledges there's no hard-and-fast rule governing audiences at a literary festival, especially one like his that draws more than 12,000 participants to a potpourri of readings, round tables, interviews, special events and the occasional party.
"But," he acknowledged the other day, "I think there are people who say, 'I can read the book myself. I'd like to hear more about where the author is coming from, the stories, the process of writing.' For that person, the onstage interviews and round tables are the big draw - and this year Taylor and his team have scheduled more than 15 such events.
"Then, on the other hand, there are those who like to hear the author's voice, the cadence he or she brings to the work," he said, adding that, "reading, like opera, isn't necessarily for everyone." For such connoisseurs, there's no lack of opportunities this season, including appearances by Man Booker nominees Lloyd Jones, Mohsin Hamid and Anne Enright, U.S. writers David Leavitt and Tracy Chevalier, and the five 2007 Scotiabank Giller nominees, among others. (…)
"If we rested on our laurels, yes, certainly the other festivals nationally and internationally would surpass us," Taylor observed. "But the fact is, we're a moving target constantly trying to do new things." (…) "As long as we're doing it before everyone else, we'll be the one to watch."
Event: Announcement for the International Festival of Authors Toronto 2007.
This edition of Toronto's IFOA makes more room for graphic novels, non-fiction and kids' lit, James Adams writes
Geoffrey Taylor thinks there are essentially two kinds of people who attend an authors festival. And after heading up the last three instalments of the country's premier literary jamboree, he should know whereof he speaks.
He'll get to test his thesis again next week when Toronto's International Festival of Authors begins, for the 28th time, its annual 11-day celebration of la vie littéraire. Director since 2003 of the International Reading Series at the city's Harbourfront Centre, the organizer of IFOA (pronounced eye-foe-ah), Taylor acknowledges there's no hard-and-fast rule governing audiences at a literary festival, especially one like his that draws more than 12,000 participants to a potpourri of readings, round tables, interviews, special events and the occasional party.
"But," he acknowledged the other day, "I think there are people who say, 'I can read the book myself. I'd like to hear more about where the author is coming from, the stories, the process of writing.' For that person, the onstage interviews and round tables are the big draw - and this year Taylor and his team have scheduled more than 15 such events.
"Then, on the other hand, there are those who like to hear the author's voice, the cadence he or she brings to the work," he said, adding that, "reading, like opera, isn't necessarily for everyone." For such connoisseurs, there's no lack of opportunities this season, including appearances by Man Booker nominees Lloyd Jones, Mohsin Hamid and Anne Enright, U.S. writers David Leavitt and Tracy Chevalier, and the five 2007 Scotiabank Giller nominees, among others. (…)
"If we rested on our laurels, yes, certainly the other festivals nationally and internationally would surpass us," Taylor observed. "But the fact is, we're a moving target constantly trying to do new things." (…) "As long as we're doing it before everyone else, we'll be the one to watch."
by James Adams, Globe & Mail, 13 October 2007
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