Events

Pedlar Nuit at the Victory Cafe is on October 1 at 7:30 p.m.

The Pedlar Press authors reading are: Roo Borson, Stan Dragland, Brian Henderson, Maureen Scott Harris, Nathaniel G. Moore, Joanne Page, Stan Rogal and Sara Tilley.

Karen Connelly (The Lizard Cage, Vintage Canada), Dennis Lee (Yesno, Anansi) and Susan Perly (Love Street, The Porcupine's Quill) are reading on the opening night of the second season of the Rowers Pub Reading Series on October 1 from 7:30 to 10:00 p.m.

The Rowers Pub Reading Series is at Harbord House, 150 Harbord Street, Toronto. www.rowerspubreadingseries.com.

Fiendish fashion, fearless vampire killers, and a devilish Hollywood twist...
Join ECW and Derek McCormack for the launch of his phantasmagorical new novel The Show that Smells. At Trash Palace, 89-B Niagara Street (down the alley, follow the sandwich board to the back door entrance), Toronto. On Thursday, October 2 at 7:00 p.m.

Free admission! Inexpensive bar and goodies! Books for sale!
RSVP to simon [at] ecwpress [dot] com

Samantha Warwick will launch her new novel Sage Island (Brindle & Glass) at Over Joy Lounge, 884 Queen Street East, Toronto on October 2 at 7:00 p.m. The evening also features two other novelists, Jessica Westhead (Pulpy & Midge, Coach House Books) and Claudia Dey (Stunt, Coach House Books).

Hosted by Alex Boyd

What is "graphic poetry"? Does it combine words and images in a manner unlike its more familiar cousin, the graphic novel? Sandra Kasturi and David Clink will co-host "Graphic Language", a joint launch designed to shed light on such perennial aesthetic riddles. Paola Poletto and Jake Kennedy assembled a collection of graphic poetry, Boredom Fighters (Tightrope Books). Sean Stanley and Kristi-Ly Green collaborated on a graphic novel, Etcetera and Otherwise (Tightrope Books). After moderating a group discussion with these four creators, Kasturi and Clink will turn their microphones over to a "graphic poetry slam".

Diaspora Dialogues presents Where You Are Right Now at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche on October 4 from sunset to sunrise. At The Town Square (in the Celia Franca Centre) at Canada’s National Ballet School, 400 Jarvis Street

For more info, contact Julia Chan, 416-944-1101 x 277, julia [at] diasporadialogues [dot] com

Sleuth of Baker Street hosts crime fiction writers John McFetridge (Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and Dirty Sweet, ECW Press) and Declan Burke (The Big O, Harcourt). Don't miss this opportunity to hear the authors read from their thrilling new books and purchase signed copies! Free and open to the public.

Randall Maggs (Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems, Brick Books), Catherine Graham (The Red Element, Insomniac Press), Adam Getty (Repose, Nightwood Editions), Judith Miller and Andrew Hood (Pardon Our Monsters, Esplanade Books) are reading at the LitLive Reading Series at the Sky Dragon Centre, 27 King William Street, Hamilton. On Sunday, October 5 at 7:30 p.m.

Big laughs are guaranteed as the awesomely hilarious comedy troupe Monkey Toast, The Improvised Talk Show grill Richard Crouse (The 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen, ECW Press) in an Inside the Actor’s Studio-style interview. Free and open to the public.
A This Is Not A Reading Series event.

At the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen Street West, Toronto
Monday, October 6 at 7:30 p.m. (doors 7:00 p.m.) free

Author Burke Mudge will be reading from his new book, The Marriage Lease at Joy Of Reading at the Lorne Park Branch Library, 1474 Truscott Drive, Mississauga. October 7 at 2:00 p.m.

Based out of the famously creative hub of Toronto's King West Village, Burke Mudge can usually be found working altruistically under the gracious fluorescent glow of an exceptional office environ. A graduate of the University of Western Ontario with a degree in English, he credits women, fine red wines, robust coffees, latin percussion, Franz Kafka, Ernest Hemingway, Tom Robbins, Leo Tolstoy, and Muay Thai Kickboxing as his ongoing inspiration.

Biblioasis and Pages' This Is Not A Reading Series are gathering together the first annual meeting of the Royal Order of the Indolent to launch Mark Kingwell's, Joshua Glenn's and Seth's The Idler's Glossary. Kingwell will share the stage with his co-creators Glenn and Seth, who plan to sit and watch him work.

Mark Kingwell is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto and a contributing editor of Harper's Magazine. Among his 12 books of political and cultural theory are the national bestsellers The World We Want (2000) and Concrete Reveries (2008).

Head to The Ossington on on Wednesday, October 8 to celebrate the launch of Dora Borealis (ECW Press) by Daccia Bloomfield. The launch is at 8:00 and it's a Free event. Snacks will be served. Cash bar.

Daccia Bloomfield is a writer, visual artist, and independent curator. For several years, she co-directed an art gallery called Virus Arts, which lovingly served Toronto’s diverse arts and literary communities. She is a founding and contributing member of Good Morning Press, an art collective/small press whose mandate is “beauty at all costs.” Daccia makes a living by writing copy and throwing art parties. She lives and works in downtown Toronto.

The launch for Mike Barnes's The Lily Pond: A Memoir of Madness, Memory, Myth and Metamorphosis (Biblioasis) is on Thursday, October 9 at 7:00 p.m. (cocktails at 6) at The Miller Amphitheatre at St. Joseph's Heath Care Centre in Hamilton (50 Charleton Ave. East)

The launch for The Lily Pond is during Canadian Mental Illness Awareness Week. This is a memoir of the author's 30-plus years living with bipolar disorder. The narrative evolves through changing vantage points as a patient, family member and a caregiver to his wife who, during the writing of the memoir, was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Class Works (NSCAD Press) presents the first comprehensive examination of venerated Canadian photographic artists Carole Condé and Karl Beveridge. Fellow artist and curator Lisa Steele will have a conversation with Condé and Beveridge about their longstanding collaborations with labor unions and other highlights of a remarkable career in contemporary "political art". A This Is Not A Reading Series event. Special co-presenter: FUSE Magazine.

At A Space Gallery, 401 Richmond Street West, Toronto
Thursday, October 9 at 8:00 p.m. (doors 7:30 p.m.) free

The Coach House Books' launch is at Stones Place (1255 Queen Street West) on October 9th at 8 p.m. Head to the launch for a night of short readings and celebration. Don't miss the release of Mike Hoolboom's The Steve Machine, Michael Blouin's Chase & Haven, Margaret Christakos's What Stirs, Jeramy Dodds's Crabwise to the Hounds, Kyle Buckley's The Laundromat Essay and Darren O'Donnell's [boxhead]. Get these books hot off the presses.

Coach House Books 2008 Fall Launch
* Featuring readings by Mike Hoolboom, Michael Blouin, Margaret Christakos, Jeramy Dodds, Kyle Buckley and Andrew Shaver (for Darren O'Donnell)
* Music by Echo
* Thursday, October 9, 2008
* Stones Place, 1255 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON

Toronto Public Library's Writer in Residence, Karen Connelly (The Lizard Cage), will be leading a workshop on Creative Non-Fiction as a Literary Form in the Beeton Auditorium of the Toronto Reference Library. On Saturday, October 11 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Colleen Craig, author of Afrika (Tundra Books) will be at Toronto Public Library's "Focus on Youth" on Tuesday October, 14 at 1:30 p.m. at the Humberwood Library, 850 Humberwood Blvd, Toronto.

How do you accurately capture the inner life of a thoughtful, sensitive young woman within the pages of a graphic novel? To celebrate the release of Fear of Fighting (Invisible Publishing), acclaimed writer Stacey May Fowles and celebrated illustrator Marlena Zuber will compare notes about their creative process with those of the writer and co-creator of Skim, Mariko Tamaki. Also on the bill is a live set by Tomboyfriend.

EMANUEL HALDEMAN-JULIUS AND THE "GIRARD SCHOOL":
The radicals, eccentrics, and misfits behind America's most prodigious (and least-remembered) mail-order publishing empire.

WHEN: Wednesday, October 15, at 6:30 pm
WHERE: Power Plant Reading Room, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto
ADMISSION: Free

Attention bibliophile obscurists: next week, Monkey's Paw proprietor Stephen Fowler will present a 30-minute show 'n' tell on the subject of the once-famous Little Blue Books (and other pamphlets) published by the Haldeman-Julius Company of Girard, Kansas.

In 2006, Laura Albert was exposed as the true author of the bestseller Sarah, a purported autobiographical novel by an abused, homeless 12-year-old boy named JT LeRoy. What prompted a young woman named Savannah Knoop to don a disguise and pretend to be the non-existent LeRoy at public functions? At the launch of Girl Boy Girl: How I Become JT LeRoy (Seven Stories/PGC) Knoop will discuss her role in a media hoax that made international headlines.

At the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen Street West, Toronto
Wednesday, October 15 at 7:30 p.m. (doors 7:00 p.m.) tickets $5 (Book Rebate)

Mike Barnes, will launch his new book, The Lily Pond: A Memoir of Madness, Memory, Myth and Metamorphosis (Biblioasis) on Wednesday, October 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Toronto mental health and psychology specialist Caversham Booksellers, 98 Harbord St. in Toronto. Free.

Head to the Press Club, 850 Dundas Street West, Toronto, on Wednesday, October 15 for the launch of the Pivot Reading Series. The readings start at 8:00 and admission is free. Readers at the launch are: Alex Boyd (Making Bones Walk, Luna Publications), Leigh Nash, Rebecca Rosenblum (Once, Biblioasis) and Paul Vermeersch (Between the Walls, McClelland & Stewart).

Draft Reading Series 4.1 presenting new works by Martha Baillie (The Incident Report, Pedlar Press 2009), Dawn Chapman, Carol Marquis, Karen Petersen and Jessica Westhead. Wednesday, October 15 at 8:00 p.m. at SOMA Restaurant and Lounge, 703 Queen Street East (a little west of Broadview on the South side), Toronto.

With the $5 admission fee you get a copy of Draft, a limited-edition publication available only at these readings.
For further information please call 416 433-4170 or email draftreadings [at] gmail [dot] com .

Celebrate the launch of Mansfield Press's 2008 poetry lineup! Hosted by Denis De Klerck and Stuart Ross. Featuring:

Alice Burdick, Flutter
Jason Heroux, Emergency Hallelujah
David W. McFadden, Be Calm, Honey: 129 Sonnets
Karen Moe/Catherine Owen/Joe Rosenblatt, Dog
Corrado Paina, Souls in Plain Clothes

At Magpie, 831 Dundas West, Toronto. On Thursday, October 16 at 7:30 p.m.

Illustrator and author stef lenk hosts "Maple Tree Day".

Mary Wallace will launch her exquisite Inukshuk Journey by teaching us how to build our very own inukshuks. Marilyn Baillie will present a powerpoint show based on her trailblazing new book, Animals At The EDGE: Saving The World's Rarest Creatures. Partner: Maple Tree Press.

At the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen St West, Toronto
Saturday, October 18 at 9:00 a.m. (doors 8:30 am) free

Crow's Theatre, in association with Mammalian Diving Reflex, presents Darren O'Donnell's [boxhead] (Coach House Books). The play will preview twice at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (12 Alexander Street, Toronto) before the official run begins. Directed by Chris Abraham. Tickets can be purchased at a special preview rate through www.artsexy.ca.

Saturday, October 18 at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 19 at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets $15 (Sat), PYWC (Sun)

Wednesday, October 29, 8:00pm at the Lakeside Terrace at Harbourfront Centre. Go to the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

Don't miss Nightwood Theatre's curtain-raiser - an excerpt from their current production of Wild Dogs, adapted from the Helen Humphreys novel of the same name. Also, Helen Humphreys, Margot Livesey, Richard Price, and Paul Quarrington read from their latest works. Alison Pick hosts.

For more information about Nightwood Theatre and their production of Wild Dogs, please visit their website nightwoodtheatre.net.

Thursday, October 30, 12:30pm in the Brigantine Room at Harbourfront Centre.

Is it a teddy bear? Is it a rabbit? Is it a stuffed dog or cat? Whatever it is, it’s looking for a child to love it. Cary Fagan presents his wonderful picture book Thing Thing (Tundra Books) (JK to Grade 3), illustrated by Nicolas Debon. Kyle Buckley hosts.

To purchase tickets and for further information please call the Harbourfront Centre School Visits registrar at 416-973-4091.

The Sumach Press book launch for Whose University Is It, Anyway?: Power & Privilege on Gendered Terrain, edited by Anne Wagner, Sandra Acker & Kimine Mayuzumi, is on Monday, October 20 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. In the OISE Boardroom 9th floor at 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto. Cash Bar.

Anne Wagner, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and cross-appointed to Child and Family Studies at Nipissing University. Her areas of research focus on gender, race and (higher) education, critical pedagogies and violence against women.

Christopher Moore, Beaver columnist, to interview Maggie Siggins about her new book, Marie-Anne: The Extraordinary Life of Louis Riel's Grandmother (McClelland & Stewart) at the U of T Bookstore Reading Series on October 20 at 7:30 p.m. At Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Avenue, Toronto. FREE.

Award-winning crime writer Giles Blunt departs from his acclaimed series featuring John Cardinal in No Such Creature (Random House Canada). Max, a theatrical old master thief with a penchant for quoting Shakespeare, takes his naïve young nephew, Owen, on an increasingly dangerous road trip through the American southwest. Blunt will perform a concert with No Such Band.

At the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen St W, Toronto
Monday, October 20 at 7:30 p.m. (doors 7:00 p.m.) free

Lola Lemire Tostevin reads from her latest novel The Other Sister at Nicholas Hoare Books (45 Front Street East) on October 21 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Contact 416-483-1321 ext. 2 for details. Reading followed by a reception and signing. The event is free.

Head to Bryan Prince Booksellers on Tuesday, October 21 at 7:00 p.m. for the Hamilton launch of Rebecca Rosenblum's Once (Biblioasis), a collection of all-too-real comedies and tragedies, and Mike Knowles's novel Darwin's Nightmare (ECW), a story of a violent chain of events.

After spending thirty-five years working with such seminal bands as Led Zeppelin and Nirvana, what does Danny Goldberg think of today's music industry? At the launch of his memoir about his influential career Bumping Into Geniuses, (Penguin Group Canada) Goldberg will share some hilarious anecdotes and thought-provoking analysis of the rock business with Rob Bowman, York University's Grammy Award-winning Professor of Musicology.

At the Gladstone Hotel 2nd Floor Gallery, 1214 Queen St W, Toronto
Tuesday, October 21 at 7:30 p.m. (doors 7:00 p.m.) free

Crow's Theatre, in association with Mammalian Diving Reflex, presents Darren O'Donnell's [boxhead]. The play will run until November 2nd at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (12 Alexander Street, Toronto). Directed by Chris Abraham. Tickets can be purchased through www.artsexy.ca.

Tickets $20-$29, PWYC

On Wednesday, October 22 from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m., Robert A Wright, author of Three Nights in Havana: Pierre Trudeau, Fidel Castro and the Cold War, will be chatting live online at Book Buzz, the online book club for Toronto Public Library. Robert A Wright's website it http://www.robertwright.ca

The International Festival of Authors (IFOA) was inaugurated in 1980 with a mandate to bring together the best writers of contemporary world literature. Like the weekly reading series, the IFOA includes readings, interviews, lectures and round table discussions as well as public book signings and a festival bookstore. The IFOA also presents a number of special events including readings by Scotiabank Giller Prize, Governor General’s Literary Awards, and Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize finalists, as well as the highly anticipated awarding of the Harbourfront Festival Prize.

For more information, go to www.readings.org.

2008 IFOA confirmed authors include:

Julie Angus
Nadeem Aslam
Stéphane Audeguy
Ken Babstock

On Wednesday, October 22 at 6:00 p.m. at the Fleck Dance Theatre (formerly Premiere Dance Theatre) at the Harbourfront Centre.

To lead off its 25th anniversary year, PEN Canada holds a Gala Benefit on the opening night of IFOA. Making a rare trip to Toronto to support PEN's vital work on behalf of writers in exile and freedom of speech, Booker Prize-winning author Roddy Doyle is interviewed by Tony Award-winning writer, actor and director Don McKellar. The CBC's Evan Solomon hosts.

Proceeds go to PEN Canada.

Tickets: $35 for onstage event ONLY. Limited number available.
Start time: 8 pm
Purchase at the link above or at 416-973-4000.

Tickets: $125

The International Festival of Authors (IFOA) was inaugurated in 1980 with a mandate to bring together the best writers of contemporary world literature. Like the weekly reading series, the IFOA includes readings, interviews, lectures and round table discussions as well as public book signings and a festival bookstore. The IFOA also presents a number of special events including readings by Scotiabank Giller Prize, Governor General’s Literary Awards, and Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize finalists, as well as the highly anticipated awarding of the Harbourfront Festival Prize.

For more information, go to www.readings.org.

2008 IFOA confirmed authors include:

Julie Angus
Nadeem Aslam
Stéphane Audeguy
Ken Babstock

Jan Rehner, author of On Pain of Death (Sumach Press), will be at Wychwood Library, 1431 Bathurst Street (Bathurst & Melgund Road) for a reading and talk on Thursday, October 23 at 2:00 p.m.

Jan Rehner teaches academic and professional writing at York University. She has travelled to France many times, and visited many local French Resistance museums. Her previous publications include poetry and academic works as well as her first mystery, Just Murder, which won the 2004 Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Crime Novel.

To herald the arrival of his debut novel, The Steve Machine (Coach House Books), acclaimed filmmaker Mike Hoolboom presents "The Last Book: A Magical Journey To The End of Print". Set in a not-so-distant future, when everyone is named 'Steve', Hoolboom's five-part multi-media extravaganza is an elegy for the last book ever published. "The Last Book" will feature performances by violinist Reena Katz and magician Jack Fuller.

At the Rivoli, 332 Queen Street West, Toronto
Thursday, October 23 at 8:00 p.m. (doors 7:30 p.m.) free

Readings on Thursday, October 23 and 8:00 p.m. at the Fleck Dance Theatre (formerly Premiere Dance Theatre) at the Harbourfront Centre. Catherine Belyea hosts. Visit the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

Nadeem Aslam (Pakistan/U.K.) is the author of Maps for Lost Lovers, a New York Times Notable Book which received the 2005 Kiriyama Prize and was shortlisted for the 2006 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and Season of the Rainbirds.

The International Festival of Authors (IFOA) was inaugurated in 1980 with a mandate to bring together the best writers of contemporary world literature. Like the weekly reading series, the IFOA includes readings, interviews, lectures and round table discussions as well as public book signings and a festival bookstore. The IFOA also presents a number of special events including readings by Scotiabank Giller Prize, Governor General’s Literary Awards, and Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize finalists, as well as the highly anticipated awarding of the Harbourfront Festival Prize.

For more information, go to www.readings.org.

2008 IFOA confirmed authors include:

Julie Angus
Nadeem Aslam
Stéphane Audeguy
Ken Babstock

On Friday, October 24 at 8:00 p.m. at the Studio Theatre at Harbourfront Centre. Visit the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

Nadeem Aslam, Lauren Groff and Dan Vyleta start where all good stories should: at the beginning. Rachel Harry moderates this round-table event.

On Friday, October 24 at 8:00 p.m. at the Lakeside Terrace at Harbourfront Centre. Visit the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

Between them Joan Barfoot, Emma Donoghue, Amara Lakhous, Francine Prose and Anita Shreve have published more than 40 books. Hear stories of family strife, old-age mischief, and small-town murder and mayhem when they read from their new novels. James Grainger hosts.

The launch for Butcher's Block (PistolPress), written by Deanna Fong and illustrated by Bilyana Ilievska, and We Will Be Fish (PistolPress), written and illustrated by Jp King, is at Freedom Clothing Collective - 939 Bloor Street W. (just West of Ossington), Toronto, on Friday, October 24 at 8:00 p.m.

Deanna Fong's Butcher's Block reflects on one's emotional connection to fixed locales. Using the age-old conflation of food and sex as a vehicle, this collection of poetry negotiates consumption with wry language, poetic deftness, and incisive illustrations, remembering the trail of people left behind when one balances a domestic and nomadic way of life.

Carey Toane, Faye Guenther and Dani Couture (Good Meat, Pedlar Press) will be reading at Tinto at 89 Roncesvalles on October 24. The show starts at 8 p.m. and it's free. Emily Schultz (Songs for the Dancing Chicken, ECW Press) will be hosting.

On Friday, October 24 at 8:00 p.m. in the Brigantine Room at the Harbourfront Centre. Visit the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

Poetry by His Honour Herménégilde Chiasson; a career's shortest book from the inimitable Rohinton Mistry; a new novel from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo; breathtaking debut novels from award-winning poet Owen Sheers and journalist Nathan Whitlock.

The International Festival of Authors (IFOA) was inaugurated in 1980 with a mandate to bring together the best writers of contemporary world literature. Like the weekly reading series, the IFOA includes readings, interviews, lectures and round table discussions as well as public book signings and a festival bookstore. The IFOA also presents a number of special events including readings by Scotiabank Giller Prize, Governor General’s Literary Awards, and Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize finalists, as well as the highly anticipated awarding of the Harbourfront Festival Prize.

For more information, go to www.readings.org.

2008 IFOA confirmed authors include:

Julie Angus
Nadeem Aslam
Stéphane Audeguy
Ken Babstock

On Saturday, October 25 at 12:00 p.m. in the Brigantine Room at the Harbourfront Centre. Visit the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

IT'S IRISH! - IFOA's special focus on the literary traditions of the Emerald Isle - begins with a round table on the country's history. Celebrated Irish historians Diarmaid Ferriter and R.F. Foster talk to IT'S IRISH guest curator Colm Tóibín.

Toronto Public Library's Writer in Residence, Karen Connelly (The Lizard Cage), will be leading a workshop on The Art of Writing Memoirs in the Beeton Auditorium of the Toronto Reference Library. On Saturday, October 25 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

On Saturday, October 25 at 1:00 p.m. At the Lakeside Terrace at the Harbourfront Centre. Visit the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

Four authors presenting their fiction at IFOA talk to Susan G. Cole about the influence of fact. A round table with David Benioff, Joe Dunthorne, Rivka Galchen and Owen Sheers.

On Saturday, October 25 at 1:00 p.m. in the Studio Theatre at Harbourfront Centre. Visit the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

Mia Kirshner and fellow contributors Karen Connelly and Lauren Kirshner present this "paper documentary" comprising four journals - one each for Chechnya, Burma, Mexico and Malawi - published with support from Amnesty International.

On Saturday, October 25 at 2:00 p.m. in the Brigantine Room at Harbourfront Centre. Visit the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

Bert Archer moderates a round table on contemporary Irish literature with authors Dermot Bolger, Emma Donoghue, Hugo Hamilton and David Park.

On Saturday, October 25 at 3:00 p.m. in the Studio Theatre at the Harbourfront Centre. Visit the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

Lynda Barry presents What it is and is interviewed by Peter Birkemoe, co-owner of the Beguiling in Toronto.

On Saturday, October 25 at 4:00 p.m. at the Lakeside Terrace at the Harbourfront Centre. Visit the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

In this round-table event, Joan Barfoot, Francine Prose and Frank Westerman talk to Globe and Mail Books editor Martin Levin about realism and the contemporary novel.

On Saturday, October 25 at 5:00 p.m. in the Brigantine Room at the Harbourfront Centre. Go to the IFOA website to purchase your tickets.

As election fever continues to rise, a panel of frequent contributors to both the New York Review of Books and the Guardian weighs in on the presidential election in the United States. Panelists include: Michael Tomasky, editor of Guardian America, Richard Adams, D.C. Correspondent for the Guardian and Peter Galbraith, a contributor to the New York Review of Books.

On Saturday, October 25 at 5:00 p.m. in the Studio Theatre at Harbourfront Centre. Go to the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

The doyen of book-jacket design, Chip Kidd, talks Bat-Manga with The Beguiling manager, Christopher Butcher.

Readings by John Connolly, Ildefonso Falcones, David Park and Frank Westerman on
Saturday, October 25, 8:00 pm in the Studio Theatre at Harbourfront Centre. Go to the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

Authors from four countries read from books originally written in three different languages. James Grainger hosts.

On Saturday, October 25 at 8:00pm at the Fleck Dance Theatre (formerly Premiere Dance Theatre) at Harbourfront Centre. On October 25 at 8:00 p.m. Go to the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

Readings by Dermot Bolger, Paul Durcan, Anne Enright, Arnon Grunberg, Nam Le. Arresting poetry, prose, and short fiction from three countries and two languages. Catherine Belyea hosts.

Readings by David Benioff, Junot Díaz, Lauren Groff, Aleksandar Hemon, Kathleen McCracken on Saturday, October 25 at 8:00pm at the Lakeside Terrace at Harbourfront Centre. Go to the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

Tales of war, hard times, and family secrets from four young authors making big waves in the literary scene south of the border. With a poetry reading by Kathleen McCracken. Richard Clewes hosts.

Readings by Jeffery Deaver, David Ebershoff, Donna Morrissey and Ross Raisin on Saturday, October 25, 8:00pm in the Brigantine Room at Harbourfront Centre. Visit the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

A nail-biting thriller about identity theft from international bestseller Jeffrey Deaver, an historical murder mystery from David Ebershoff, vintage Canadiana from Donna Morrissey, and a dark journey inside a sociopathic mind from newcomer Ross Raisin. John van Driel hosts.

The International Festival of Authors (IFOA) was inaugurated in 1980 with a mandate to bring together the best writers of contemporary world literature. Like the weekly reading series, the IFOA includes readings, interviews, lectures and round table discussions as well as public book signings and a festival bookstore. The IFOA also presents a number of special events including readings by Scotiabank Giller Prize, Governor General’s Literary Awards, and Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize finalists, as well as the highly anticipated awarding of the Harbourfront Festival Prize.

For more information, go to www.readings.org.

2008 IFOA confirmed authors include:

Julie Angus
Nadeem Aslam
Stéphane Audeguy
Ken Babstock

Humber Writers' Circle is on Sunday, October 26, 11:00am in the Studio Theatre at Harbourfront Centre. Visit the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

Presented by the Humber School of Creative & Performing Arts. Listen to an experienced author talk about the craft of writing. Network with other writers. Have the first page of your fiction or narrative non-fiction manuscript assessed by an agent, author and creative-writing teacher.
Author/Literary sage: Colm Tóibín.
Assessor: John Pearce, Literary Agent, Westwood Creative Artists.
Host: Kim Moritsugu, author and teacher of creative writing at Humber.

What I wish I'd written: Writers on other writers is on Sunday, October 26, 12:00pm at the Lakeside Terrace at Harbourfront Centre. Go to the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

In this round table event, David Ebershoff, Arnon Grunberg, Aleksandar Hemon, Andrew Miller and Simon Montefiore talk to Charles Foran about their influences and inspirations.

Reading/Interview with Sarah Vowell on Sunday, October 26, 12:00pm at the Fleck Dance Theatre (formerly Premiere Dance Theatre) at Harbourfront Centre. Visit the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

The New York Times bestselling author of Assassination Vacation talks to Ian Brown about America's past - this time: the Puritans in 17th Century New England. Also includes a reading from The Wordy Shipmates. Catherine Belyea hosts.

Canzine, Canada's Largest zine fair and festival of alternative culture, is on October 26 from 1:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Gladstone Hotel. $5 gets you in the door for zines, film screenings, readings and a copy of the Comedy Issue of Broken Pencil Magazine.

1:00 - 7:00 p.m. Giant Zine Fair! Over 150 zines from across Canada on display and for sale! The heart of the event, indie publishers both in print and online come from across the country and the continent to show their wares! Be amazed at the creativity, ingenuity, and sheer weirdness!

Bill Douglas talks to Chip Kidd and Lynda Barry and turns the old adage on its head. On Sunday, October 26 at 1:00pm in the Brigantine Room at Harbourfront Centre. Go to the IFOA website to purchase a ticket.

Interview: Junot Díaz & Rawi Hage on Sunday, October 26, 2:00pm at the Fleck Dance Theatre (formerly Premiere Dance Theatre) at the Harbourfront Centre. Visit the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Riverhead), and Rawi Hage, whose second novel Cockroach (House of Anansi Press) is currently shortlisted for both the Rogers Writers' Trust and Scotiabank Giller Prize, are interviewed by Rachel Giese. Catherine Belyea hosts.

Don Thompson and the $12 million stuffed shark on Sunday, October 26, 2:00pm at the Studio Theatre at Harbourfront Centre. Go to the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

Don Thompson delves into the economics and psychology of a contemporary art world in which formaldehyde sheep and unmade beds inspire both rapture and disgust as they turn heads and grab headlines. He reads from The $12 Million Stuffed Shark (Doubleday Canada) and is interviewed by Mark Kingwell. Joanne Tod hosts.

Presented in association with The Power Plant.

Home is where the plot is: a round-table event on Sunday, October 26, 3:00pm in the Brigantine Room at the Harbourfront Centre. Go to the IFOA website to purchase a ticket.

In this round-tale event, Sandra Martin talks to Anne Enright, Amara Lakhous, Nam Le, and Margot Livesey about the roles of home and domesticity in their fiction.

Crime & Mystery: Psycho-Babble: getting inside a character's twisted mind is on Sunday, October 26, 4:00pm at the Fleck Dance Theatre (formerly Premiere Dance Theatre) at Harbourfront Centre. Visit the IFOA website to purchase a ticket.

In this round table event, John Connolly, Jeffrey Deaver, Elena Forbes, and Ross Raisin talk to Globe and Mail crime reviewer Margaret Cannon about the darker side of some of their fiction.

Sunday, October 26, 4:00pm in the Studio Theatre at Harbourfront Centre. Go to the IFOA website to purchase a ticket.

For the first time, the bi-annual Ben McNally Travellers Series takes place as part of IFOA. Join host Ben McNally as Julie Angus, Dervla Murphy, and Andrew Westoll share tales from the Atlantic, the Urals, and the Last Eden of Suriname.

Presented with Event Partner Outpost Magazine.

A fiction-lover's fantasy, with readings from five new novels. (P.S. The city of Toronto is a main character in two of them.) Alison Pick hosts.

Rivka Galchen’s writing has been published in the Believer, New Yorker, Harper’s, Esquire and Scientific American, and she was the recipient of a 2006 Rona Jaffe Foundation

Hugo Hamilton is the author of the New York Times notable memoir The Speckled People and its sequel, The Harbor Boys.

As a journalist, Mohammed Hanif has worked for Newsline, India Today and the Washington Post.

Sunday, October 26, 5:00pm in the Brigantine Room at Harbourfront Centre. Go to the IFOA website to purchase a ticket.

Victoria Glendinning talks to Jane Urquhart about Love's Civil War, a catalogue of a love affair as revealed through the letters of Elizabeth Bowen. Ania Szado hosts.

Biographer, critic, broadcaster and novelist Victoria Glendinning’s acclaimed biographies include Vita: The Life of V. Sackville-West and Trollope, both of which won the Whitbread Biography Award.

Ania Szado is the author of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize regionally-shortlisted novel Beginning of Was.

Reading/Interview with Josef Škvorecký on Sunday, October 26 at 3:00 p.m. at the Lakeside Terrace at Harbourfront Centre. Go to the IFOA website to purchase a ticket.

Thirty years after his first reading at Harbourfront Centre, Josef Škvorecký presents his new novel, Ordinary Lives, and is interviewed by S. Randy Boyagoda. Alison Pick hosts.

The International Festival of Authors (IFOA) was inaugurated in 1980 with a mandate to bring together the best writers of contemporary world literature. Like the weekly reading series, the IFOA includes readings, interviews, lectures and round table discussions as well as public book signings and a festival bookstore. The IFOA also presents a number of special events including readings by Scotiabank Giller Prize, Governor General’s Literary Awards, and Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize finalists, as well as the highly anticipated awarding of the Harbourfront Festival Prize.

For more information, go to www.readings.org.

2008 IFOA confirmed authors include:

Julie Angus
Nadeem Aslam
Stéphane Audeguy
Ken Babstock

Join ECW and Alex Gillis for the launch of his new book, A Killing Art at 7 Numbers Restaurant, 307 Danforth Avenue, Toronto. On October 27 at 6:00 p.m.

Head to the launch for a high-flying Tae Kwon Do demonstration, including sparring and board breaking, by the author and former world champion! Book signing and to follow. Hors d'oeuvres will be served. Cash bar (featuring one of Toronto's finest selections of Scotch whiskey). This event is free and open to the public.

Graphic artist and author, Shaun Tan (The Arrival, Tales from Outer Suburbia, Tundra Books), is appearing at the Northern District Branch of the Toronto Public Library, October 27th at 7:00 p.m.

Tundra author Shaun Tan has been illustrating young adult fiction and picture books for more than ten years. His brilliant wordless book, The Arrival, won The CBCA Picture Book of the Year, The NSW Premier’s Book of the Year, and the Community Relations Commission Award, and received a Special Mention at the 2007 Bologna Ragazzi Awards. He lives in Australia.

The launch for The Bite of the Mango (Annick Press) by Mariatu Kamara with Susan McClelland is on Monday, October 27 at the Gladstone Hotel. The Bite of the Mango is the astounding story of one girl’s journey from war victim to UNICEF Special Representative.

Mariatu Kamara will embark this year on a North American speaking tour as a UNICEF Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflicts. A documentary about her life is in development.

Susan McClelland is an award-winning journalist and recipient of the 2005 Amnesty International Media Award. She also lives in Toronto.

The International Festival of Authors (IFOA) was inaugurated in 1980 with a mandate to bring together the best writers of contemporary world literature. Like the weekly reading series, the IFOA includes readings, interviews, lectures and round table discussions as well as public book signings and a festival bookstore. The IFOA also presents a number of special events including readings by Scotiabank Giller Prize, Governor General’s Literary Awards, and Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize finalists, as well as the highly anticipated awarding of the Harbourfront Festival Prize.

For more information, go to www.readings.org.

2008 IFOA confirmed authors include:

Julie Angus
Nadeem Aslam
Stéphane Audeguy
Ken Babstock

Tuesday, October 28, 10:30 a.m. in the Brigantine Room at Harbourfront Centre. Go to the IFOA website to purchase a ticket.

Join author Patti McIntosh onstage at YoungIFOA, and a doctor from Médecins San Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) live in Darfur! Patti McIntosh’s book, Ollie’s Field Journal: a 9/10 Happy Story from Africa (Grades 4 to 6), is a beautifully produced and inspiring book that encourages children to become active in issues affecting their world – particularly malnutrition. Kyle Buckley (The Laundromat Essay, Coach House Books) hosts.

Shaun Tan will be signing his book Tales from Outer Suburbia at The Beguiling, October 28th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Tundra author Shaun Tan has been illustrating young adult fiction and picture books for more than ten years. His brilliant wordless book, The Arrival, won The CBCA Picture Book of the Year, The NSW Premier’s Book of the Year, and the Community Relations Commission Award, and received a Special Mention at the 2007 Bologna Ragazzi Awards. He lives in Australia.

Tuesday, October 28, 8:00pm at the Studio Theatre at Harbourfront Centre. Go to the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

Everyone has to start somewhere, and authors are no exception to the rule. Richard Price, Peter Robinson, Meg Wolitzer and Ronald Wright share their own beginnings. Moderated by Vit Wagner.

Tuesday, October 28, 8:00pm at the Lakeside Terrace at Harbourfront Centre. Go to the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

Poetry by Sue Sinclair, and new novels from acclaimed authors Stéphane Audeguy, Amanda Boyden, Linda Grant and Simon Montefiore. Anne Hines hosts.

Tuesday, October 28, 8:00pm at the Fleck Dance Theatre (formerly Premiere Dance Theatre) at Harbourfront Centre. Go to the IFOA website to purchase your ticket.

Two Governor General's Literary Award-winners, Don Domanski (All Our Wonder Unavenged, Brick Books) and Nino Ricci (The Origin of Species, DoubleDay Canada), one Pulitzer Prize finalist (Deborah Baker), and two critically acclaimed authors, Leif Enger (So Brave, Young, and Handsome) and Amitav Ghosh (Sea of Poppies), read from their latest books. Catherine Belyea hosts.