An infusion of hot young writers, some added glamour and a dose of Irish charm make this year's author's fest a book-lover's fantasy

Books

A solid evening

By Zoe Whittall Posted on Oct 31, 2008 at 12:54 AM

The IFOA house was packed tonight by the time Maeve Binchy's voice came over the loudspeaker. Groups of booklovers mixed with local authors like Catherine Bush and Shyam Selvadurai. Novelist and poet Alison Pick was our gracious host, introducing award-winning poet Lorna Crozier who started off the night. 

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Books

Winning reads

By Zoe Whittall Posted on Oct 30, 2008 at 12:48 AM

Last night I attended a reading by the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize finalists, a diverse mix of writers. Some I'm just discovering, like the very witty Rivka Galchen, the prize-collecting Rawi Hage and cutie pie Lee Henderson.

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The author of this blog partying at the IFOA gala. For more images of authors and partiers, see the bottom of this article.

Susan G. Cole

Books

Scene, heard, and read at the IFOA gala

By Susan G. Cole Posted on Oct 28, 2008 at 12:47 AM

What makes an authors festival party rock? Writers, of course. And they were out in full force at last night's International Festival of Authors gala.

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Francine Prose and Anita Shreve's latest Oprah-approved novel

Books

Conquering Oprah-book club phobia

By Zoe Whittall Posted on Oct 27, 2008 at 12:16 AM

I made a festival rule after IFOA 2007: to only attend panel discussions, parties and Q&A's where the social gaffes, heated debates, and interesting insights abound.

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Book Review

Not so Big Easy

By Susan G. Cole Posted on NOW | October 22-29, 2008 | VOL 28 NO 8

Amanda Boyden knows how to keep a narrative moving, but her quintet of New Orleans voices doesn’t quite harmonize.

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Authors Festival

Benioff’s semi-charmed life stories

David Benioff leads one of those charmed existences that seem to happen only in movies.

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Book Reviews

The 19th Wife

By Zoe Whittall Posted on NOW | October 22-29, 2008 | VOL 28 NO 8

Polygamy voices

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Books Feature

Junot Diaz

By Barrett Hooper Posted on NOW | October 22-29, 2008 | VOL 28 NO 8

Junot Diaz teaches creative writing at MIT.

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Book Reviews

Atmospheric Disturbances

By Susan G. Cole Posted on NOW | October 22-29, 2008 | VOL 28 NO 8

Novels like Atmospheric Disturbances don’t come around very often. It’s a book of ideas, yet it’s full of emotion. It’s got romance, science, mystery, speculation. The narrative is elliptical, but it’s got a very precise logic.

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Book Reviews

The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics Of Contemporary Art

By Leah Sandals Posted on NOW | October 22-29, 2008 | VOL 28 NO 8

Market madness

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Book Reviews

Submarine

By Susan G. Cole Posted on NOW | October 22-29, 2008 | VOL 28 NO 8

Debut dazzles

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Book Reviews

The Wasted Vigil

By David Jager Posted on NOW | October 22-29, 2008 | VOL 28 NO 8

Aslam ascends

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Books Feature

How to do the International Festival Of Authors: October 23-November 1

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Book Reviews

Coventry

By Susan G. Cole Posted on NOW | October 22-29, 2008 | VOL 28 NO 8

Hail Humphreys

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Book Reviews

In The Dark

By Lesley McAllister Posted on NOW | October 22-29, 2008 | VOL 28 NO 8

Billingham thrills

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Book Review

More

By Sigcino Moyo Posted on NOW | October 22-29, 2008 | VOL 28 NO 8

More scores

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Book Reviews

Child 44

By Glenn Sumi Posted on NOW | October 22-29, 2008 | VOL 28 NO 8

Tom Rob Smith’s Child 44 has been compared to Gorky Park and 1984. But reading just a few pages of the British novelist’s unputdownable debut thriller convinces you that his voice is totally his own.

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Books Feature

Festival Listings

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• The Dictator, Throne Of Games, Old Man Luedecke, TEA on Council and what to do in Toronto on Wednesday
• David Miller’s Occupy The Mic
• Byron Sonne, G20 hacker, is free
• Greg’s does the Distillery District
• The mystery of Father John Misty
• Kelly Straughan named director of the Toronto Fringe
• PS I Love You at the Garrison, Del Toro talks Hitchcock, Swan Lake, and everything else to do in Toronto today
• Casino debate will have to wait
• Adi Nes
• A pow wow at the 3030
• The messianic Edward Sharpe And The Magnetics
• Adam Nayman talks Kubrick, AltDot Comedy Lounge, Jeff Rubin takes on Big OIl, and everything else to do in Toronto today
• Ty Segall takes Toronto
• Maniacal Mares of Thrace
• Is Rob Ford homophobic?
• Tuu’luq’s Family and Self-Portrait With Straw Hat
• Who will pay to run Transit City?
• Occupy The Mic
• A B.I.T.T.E.R. aftertaste
• Pick and choose
• Mayor of a thousand snubs
• Jewish Film Festival, Ty Segall at the ’Shoe, the Art of Decolonization, and everything else on in Toronto this weekend
• Weekend eating: May 12-13
• The Revenge of Rave
• Occupy The Mic with David Miller, Citizen Gangster, Mares Of Thrace and what to do in Toronto today
• The Shipment
• Outside the megaplex
• Waiting on Wellesley
• Film Friday: Dark Shadows, The Dictator, Edwin Boyd and more
• NOW Talks presents: Occupy the Mic with David Miller
• High
• Toronto Jewish Film Festival, Hightimes 4, Yinka Dene Freedom Train and what to do in Toronto on Wednesday
• Something fishy at the Black Hoof
• Guu’s new noodles
• Ford allies refuse to move meeting from Jewish holiday
• Bugging Glenn Sumi
• Doug Ford buries hatchet with Daniel Dale
• Preview: The Shipment
• The Craigslist Project
• Wrapping up Hot Docs
• Ford snubs another queer group
• Del Toro on Hitchcock, Musicians against the Northern Gateway Pipeline, Quintron and Ms. Pussycat, and everything else on in Toronto today
• Easy does it again on College
• Quixotic
• Acts Of Exposure
• Adi Nes at Contact, Ride the Tiger at the Drake, and everything else on in Toronto on a Monday
• Ford facing second budget revolt
• Doug Ford unfazed by radio show AIDS rant
• A walk through Toronto housing history
• L’Atelier and Dolly’s Book Club
• Same Spiritualized
• Kid Koala’s Space Cadet Headphone Experience
• Street Food Block Party
• Introducing Prince Innocence
• Petunia and the Vipers
• Unfamiliar Eleanor Friedberger
• Masturbate-a-thon
• Uncock thy fist, sir!
• Fords face another ethics probe
• Spiritualized at the Phoenix, Jane’s Walks, the last screening at the Cumberland, and everything else on in Toronto this weekend
• Weekend eating: May 5-6
• Crash
• Film Friday: Marvel’s The Avengers, Headhunters, Detachment and more
• LCD Soundsystem, Marvel’s The Avengers, Jerry Seinfeld and what to do in Toronto on Friday
• One hour of protest, four days of Hitchcock
• Agwa/Correria
• NXNE Film revs up
• Fighting Harper’s reel pain
• Sayonara, Cumberland
• Parkdale Portraits
• Jarvis passes crash test
• RIP Adam Yauch, MCA
• Rob Ford versus Daniel Dale
• Rose Cousins, Hot Docs, OMB Tour and what to do in Toronto on Thursday
• Figuring out Ford’s land purchase
• Toronto Thaw Festival
• Occupy Barrick Gold
• Designer dossiers
• Occupy reboots at May Day protests
• Chickery dickery dock
• The church of Willis Earl Beal
• Tribeca winner screens at Hot Docs
• Half Broken Social Scene, half Stills: Eight And A Half
• Kids on TV + Diamond Rings
• Momofuku to open in Toronto... sometime.
• Occupy May Day, Miike Snow at the Sound Academy, Fillip Launch, and everything else to do in Toronto today
• Thomas Mulcair meets the CAJ
• Addison Groove go deep
• Capturing Cousins
• Theatre festival preview – The Tennessee Project
• Health board slows down speed limit plan
• Willis Earl Beal at the Drake, Hot Docs continues, Contact Photography Festival, and everything else to do in Toronto today
• Fords take aim at top doc
• Hot Docs, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Clean Train Festival, and everything else to do in Toronto this weekend
• Super surplus
• Weekend eating: April 28-29
• Paris 1994/Gallery
• Hole lotta pain
• Elaquent beats
• Kathleen Turner Mini Film Fest

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