Peter Robinson wins $10,000 Harbourfront prize

The International Festival of Authors announced today that mystery author Peter Robinson is this year’s recipient of the $10,000 Harbourfront Festival Prize, “based on the merits of his own published work and the time he has invested in nurturing the next generation of literary talent.”

Robinson was selected by a jury comprising John van Driel, vice-president of programming operations at Classical 96.3 FM, National Post reporter Mark Medley, and IFOA director Geoffrey E. Taylor. Previous winners include Wayson Choy, Helen Humphreys, Paul Quarrington, and Jane Urquhart. The prize will be presented on Oct. 30, the closing night of the IFOA.

Event photo: Geoffrey Taylor gets schooled

As reported earlier on Quillblog, IFOA head Geoffrey Taylor has been awarded an honorary degree from the School of Creative & Performing Arts at the Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. The ceremony took place on Saturday, Nov. 7.

Taylor, left, receives his degree from John Davies, the president of Humber. Of all his many appearances in our event photos, this may be the first time that Taylor is the least snazzily dressed one in the shot. (Photo courtesy of Ricky Mugford)

IFOA news: Geoffrey Taylor to receive honorary degree, Urquhart to read Munro

Geoffrey Taylor, director of Harbourfront’s Reading Series, is to receive an honorary degree from the School of Creative & Performing Arts at the Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. Taylor, who has been with Harboufront Centre for 20 years, is being honoured for his contribution to the promotion of Canadian books and authors.

Over the last five years, Taylor has been responsible for the International Festival of Authors, has served as a jury member for both the Toronto Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Awards, and has been an adviser to the Humber School for Writers. In 2008, Q&Q included him in a list of the most influential people in Canadian publishing.

Taylor will be presented with the degree at a ceremony on Nov. 7.

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The IFOA has also confirmed the lineup for its second annual presentation of the Rogers Writer’s Trust Fiction Prize shortlist. For the reading on Oct. 28, the following authors will be reading:

• Douglas Coupland will read from Generation A
• Annabel Lyon will read from The Golden Mean
• Andrew Steinmetz will read from Eva’s Threepenny Theatre
• Jacqueline Larson will read from Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood’s English-language translations of Nicole Brossard’s Fences in Breathing
• Jane Urquhart will read from Alice Munro’s Too Much Happiness on behalf of Munro, who is unable to attend the event

The winner of the $25,000 award will be announced on Nov. 24 in Toronto.

Orhan Pamuk and the IFOA audience revolt

Orhan Pamuk seems to cause a bit of a stir wherever he goes. The Nobel Prize-winning Turkish novelist is perhaps best-known on these shores for his legal battles with the Turkish government over remarks he made concerning the Armenian genocide and the killing of Kurds. The fight, which he ultimately won, made him a symbol of the struggle for free speech around the world.

So it was perhaps only natural that, during Pamuk’s onstage interview Thursday night as part of the International Festival of Authors, interviewer Carol Off would ask him to discuss the current political situation in Turkey. Apparently, Pamuk was reluctant to talk politics, and even said he preferred not to do so as part of a “talk show.” When Off persisted, members of the audience began yelling for her to stick to the subject of Pamuk’s new book. One attendee, who was sympathetic to Off, said he’d “never seen an audience revolt before.”

There were also reports that Pamuk arrived at the event only minutes before it was to begin, and had to walk past the long line of ticket-holders waiting outside the venue, some of whom, not recognizing the author (we hope), shouted for him to get in line like everyone else.

Tough crowd.

Free books, free readings on the streets of Toronto

The International Festival of Authors took to the streets this morning in downtown Toronto to drum up public interest in the fest, which gets underway at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre on Oct. 21. Festival organizers hired a rag-tag band of actors to give impromptu readings from a number of books featured in the fest – including Ian Weir’s Daniel O’Thunder (Douglas & McIntyre), Lauren Kirshner’s Where We Have to Go (McClelland & Stewart), Nicholson Baker’s The Anthologist, and Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger – and to give away hundreds of free books. [UPDATE: Organizers are handing out backlist titles by some of the authors featured at the fest, so don't expect to get a free copy of The Anthologist.]

Organizers will repeat the stunt at Nathan Phillips Square from noon to 1 p.m. See below for photos from this morning’s happening.

Battle of the bloggers, IFOA edition

Toronto author Andrew Westoll has been doing a fine job as the official blogger for this year’s International Festival of Authors. In fact, it seems he’s been doing such a good job that National Post society columnist Shinan Govani has been ripping off his reporting – or so Westoll alleges.

The controversy (okay, the tiff) is concerning Westoll’s fly-on-the-wall account of a Friday night dinner conversation between novelist and critic Francine Prose and a handful of other IFOA authors (including Q&Q’s own Nathan Whitlock). On his blog, Westoll relates several telling details from the exchange, in which he observes Prose playing with her food (“I watched Francine pick the pepperoni off her pizza”) and overhears an anecdote concerning Laura Bush.

Govani’s write-up (scroll down) seems to draw from the same well of first-hand experience:

As the celebrated and perfectly-named Prose flicked pepperoni off her pizza, we hear, she told people about the “Laura Bush moment” she had some weeks back when she had an opportunity to visit the White House. Long story short: She kinda told the First Lady off.

The weasel word here is the vague “we hear” embedded in the first sentence. The verdict: while this isn’t an example of straight-up plagiarism, a hat-tip to Westoll would have been the gentlemanly thing to do.

Litbloggers weigh in on Giller picks

A brief survey of responses to yesterday’s Giller shortlist announcement:

• Bookninja argues that Marina Endicott’s Good to a Fault got the nod by advertising on Bookninja.com
• Oddsmaker Pinnacle Sports places the smart money on Rawi Hage’s Cockroach
• IFOA blogger Andrew Westoll feels bad that Nino Ricci and Steven Galloway were left off
• Alberta librarian Peter Bailey bemoans the lack of Western Canadian nominees

Photos from the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award

Last night, the winner of the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers was announced. This being the first year the award is sponsored by the RBC Foundation, the ceremony was held, appropriately enough, in the 40th floor reception suite of the RBC building on Toronto’s Bay Street. Below are some photos from the event.

Marjorie Celona (back to camera), whose story “Othello” won this year’s award, is congratulated by judges Michelle Berry and Andrew Pyper. (The third judge, Natalee Caple, was unable to attend the event.)

(More photos after the fold…)

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